QUOTE (jack shephard @ Aug 24 2008, 05:05 AM)
hello FPN-ers!
my main hobby since finding this wonderful place has slowly but surely become lurking day and night. and of course it was inevitable that i have become thoroughly captivated with this flex nib people talk about. while it seems to produce beautiful results, the concensus seems to be that it is difficult to learn and use. i would like to give it a try. richard's nibs have been calling out to me for quite a while and this seems like the perfect opportunity, but i fear that i may never master the art and the $$$ (and richard's work, more importantly
) will go to waste. is there a cheaper solution? should i just go for it and learn how to use the damn thing no matter how difficult it is? or should i just stick to my stiff nibs
? i look forward to and appreciate your input.
jack
It all rather depends what you mean by "difficult to learn and use" and what you want to do with the nib. If you're referring to creating copperplate, etc., yes, that's a specific skill you will need to learn, but you don't *have* to do that with a flexible nib - you can just write "normally" with it saving its special effects for, well, special effects (or you could create your own style, or just have fun doodling with it). Flexible nibs come in a wide range of tip sizes, from extremely fine to extremely broad, and how easy they are to write with depends in part on the size of the tip (for my taste, ultrafine tips are nasty to write with, too sharp and scratchy; I've given up on some dip nibs for that reason). But if you want to be able to do copperplate, you will need a nib that's very fine before you start flexing it, so you'll have to decide what you want to do with the nib. This is a good reason own more than one pen with a flexible nib - very fine for when you want to be able to create very fine lines, broader when you want to "just write with it"; you can also go nuts and get a nib that's flexible and italic/oblique - there are great vintage German pens which offer that combination). Oh, and you're not necessarily "wasting" a nib's flex ability if you don't do copperplate etc. with it - flexible nibs provide a very comfortable "ride" when you're just writing with them (though if that's all you ever plan to do, spending a lot of money on, say, a vintage Waterman with a Pink nib would perhaps be a bit silly).
As for which are cheaper solutions, it again depends on what you want. If you want to be able to do good copperplate etc., you will need a pen with a very fine nib, quite a lot of flex, and fast "return" (i.e., which snaps back to very fine as soon as you stop flexing it). Lots of vintage pens provide this combination of features, but hardly any of them have any sort of label telling you which are which (there are exceptions, such as Waterman's Pink, Red, and Brown nibs, but they made lots of nibs like that with no marking at all); so unless you can rely on the seller or can test them in person, vintage pens are rather a gamble. The cheapest solution may be to send a pen you already have to Richard Binder for conversion to a flex nib (you would need to consult him first to make sure you have something suitable; a Pelikan with a 14K nib would work, for instance).
If you want flex but aren't so much interested in being able to create very fine lines and/or fast return, there are far more options, not only vintage (e.g. lots of English Mabie Todd Swans) but also modern (you can get a Namiki Falcon or Pilot Custom 74 with a "soft" nib for c. $100; I don't think I would recommend a Pilot Custom with a FA nib as a first pen because although these can be fiddled with to write almost as well as, say, a Waterman Pink nib, getting there is not cheap).
Simon
