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Anyone Using Blown Glass Dip Pens?


dauodwa

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I came accross these recently on the J.Herbin website. I'm very interested to hear people's thoughts and experiences with this type of pen. Apparently the advantage is the whole body of the pen is filled with ink, meaning you can write a whole page without reloading.

 

Cheers!

Edited by dauodwa

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"Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind ... Then the Great Way is right before one's eyes."

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I use a J Herbin glass pen quite regularly and have given them as gifts to many people. The body of the pen is not filled with ink. The tip has spiral grooves that hold the ink.

 

The claim that one can write a whole page without dipping surprises me. Perhaps the design of the nib has changed very recently, although from the images the pens look the same as before.

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I have been curious about them too, but have held off because I wasn't sure how they'd write.

 

ENewton, do you find the pen scratchy? And is ink flow well regulated (or does it tend to just gush out onto the paper in one great deluge :P)?

Edited by candide

I was once a bottle of ink, Inky Dinky Thinky Inky, Blacky Minky Bottle of Ink!

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That claim surprised me as well, but it was in the description for one of these pens on their website. I was sceptical to beging with as how would you drow the ink into the body and then keep it there?

 

I too am interested in how you rate these pens for writing and what they are like to use.

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"Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind ... Then the Great Way is right before one's eyes."

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I've used a few glass dip pens.

The ones that I've tried, write very much wetter than any of my fountain pens. So they cannot be used very well for ink testing, as none of my pens put down that much ink.

You have to rotate the pen, as the ink in the spirals draws down, and the pen starts to run dry. Rotating brings in the use of a different set of spirals.

 

On a related topic, there is a Kickstarter project that is making a glass nib fountain pen.

I think they will be shipping their first batch this month.

http://www.winkpens.com/

Edited by ac12

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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I've used a few glass dip pens.

The ones that I've tried, write very much wetter than any of my fountain pens. So they cannot be used very well for ink testing, as none of my pens put down that much ink.

You have to rotate the pen, as the ink in the spirals draws down, and the pen starts to run dry. Rotating brings in the use of a different set of spirals.

On a related topic, there is a Kickstarter project that is making a glass nib fountain pen.

I think they will be shipping their first batch this month.http://www.winkpens.com/

That would be a very cool pen to have. You'd have to be extra careful no to drop it though!

 

I wish they showed an image of how the pen writes with standard ink...

 

Also I think you just picked my next FP for me...!

Edited by dauodwa

http://www.argonpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Samurai-Ronin-l-300x150.jpg

"Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind ... Then the Great Way is right before one's eyes."

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I have been curious about them too, but have held off because I wasn't sure how they'd write.

 

ENewton, do you find the pen scratchy? And is ink flow well regulated (or does it tend to just gush out onto the paper in one great deluge :P)?

 

They do make a bit of a sound if one moves the pen fast, as one might in sketching, but at the speed at which I normally write, my glass pen is no scratchier than a fine or extra fine point would be on the same paper.

 

As for ink flow, there are three tips I always give people. One is that before the first use, one has to wash the pen to remove residues from machining. I use undiluted dish soap for this purpose. The second--and this is where the deluge occurs if one doesn't know the trick--is that one should not submerge the whole nib into the ink! I usually dip it about half-way into the ink and then stroke the nib against the side of the bottle to let excess ink flow off. The third tip is the one ac12 mentioned, about rotating the pen to bring the spirals into play; I probably rotate the pen every few seconds.

 

With most inks, my glass pen produces a line width approximately equal to that of my medium point pens. Ironically, the inks I have found least well suited to use with a J Herbin glass pen are J Herbin fountain pen inks! They are too wet.

 

Of course, the ink eventually gets lighter and lighter as the ink runs out. The more uniform one wants the line to be, the more frequently one needs to dip. I kind of like the variation.

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They do make a bit of a sound if one moves the pen fast, as one might in sketching, but at the speed at which I normally write, my glass pen is no scratchier than a fine or extra fine point would be on the same paper.

 

As for ink flow, there are three tips I always give people. One is that before the first use, one has to wash the pen to remove residues from machining. I use undiluted dish soap for this purpose. The second--and this is where the deluge occurs if one doesn't know the trick--is that one should not submerge the whole nib into the ink! I usually dip it about half-way into the ink and then stroke the nib against the side of the bottle to let excess ink flow off. The third tip is the one ac12 mentioned, about rotating the pen to bring the spirals into play; I probably rotate the pen every few seconds.

 

With most inks, my glass pen produces a line width approximately equal to that of my medium point pens. Ironically, the inks I have found least well suited to use with a J Herbin glass pen are J Herbin fountain pen inks! They are too wet.

 

Of course, the ink eventually gets lighter and lighter as the ink runs out. The more uniform one wants the line to be, the more frequently one needs to dip. I kind of like the variation.

 

 

Thanks! :) That sounds better than what I was expecting from the pen, and I'll certainly keep in mind the tips. :) Certainly, if left to my own devices, I wouldn't think of not dunking the whole nib into ink.

I was once a bottle of ink, Inky Dinky Thinky Inky, Blacky Minky Bottle of Ink!

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They do make a bit of a sound if one moves the pen fast, as one might in sketching, but at the speed at which I normally write, my glass pen is no scratchier than a fine or extra fine point would be on the same paper.

 

As for ink flow, there are three tips I always give people. One is that before the first use, one has to wash the pen to remove residues from machining. I use undiluted dish soap for this purpose. The second--and this is where the deluge occurs if one doesn't know the trick--is that one should not submerge the whole nib into the ink! I usually dip it about half-way into the ink and then stroke the nib against the side of the bottle to let excess ink flow off. The third tip is the one ac12 mentioned, about rotating the pen to bring the spirals into play; I probably rotate the pen every few seconds.

 

With most inks, my glass pen produces a line width approximately equal to that of my medium point pens. Ironically, the inks I have found least well suited to use with a J Herbin glass pen are J Herbin fountain pen inks! They are too wet.

 

Of course, the ink eventually gets lighter and lighter as the ink runs out. The more uniform one wants the line to be, the more frequently one needs to dip. I kind of like the variation.

You've convinced me that they are worth a shot. Thank you for this detailed description.

http://www.argonpath.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Samurai-Ronin-l-300x150.jpg

"Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one's own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind ... Then the Great Way is right before one's eyes."

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They are quite fun, and the better ones, and I would expect the Herbin ones to be of that sort, will be quite smooth compared to a steel dip nib. It is obviously a mono-line nib, i.e. no flex. (glass is not known for its traditional flexibility, though I see some newer materials are beginning to change that) And they will write a bit thicker than what you might think.

 

Good luck! Between a glass pen, a reed pen and your feathered steel pen, you will be trying all kinds of interesting ways to write. Very cool!

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

Check out my Steel Pen Blog

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That would be a very cool pen to have. You'd have to be extra careful no to drop it though!

 

I wish they showed an image of how the pen writes with standard ink...

 

Also I think you just picked my next FP for me...!

 

 

I'm waiting for mine to arrive.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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I used to have a number of glass dip pens, until I sold them.

 

I don't know about writing a whole PAGE with a single dip. Perhaps half a page, yes, or at least two good-sized paragraphs. But a WHOLE PAGE?

 

I highly doubt it.

http://www.throughouthistory.com/ - My Blog on History & Antiques

 

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They do make a bit of a sound if one moves the pen fast, as one might in sketching, but at the speed at which I normally write, my glass pen is no scratchier than a fine or extra fine point would be on the same paper.

 

As for ink flow, there are three tips I always give people. One is that before the first use, one has to wash the pen to remove residues from machining. I use undiluted dish soap for this purpose. The second--and this is where the deluge occurs if one doesn't know the trick--is that one should not submerge the whole nib into the ink! I usually dip it about half-way into the ink and then stroke the nib against the side of the bottle to let excess ink flow off. The third tip is the one ac12 mentioned, about rotating the pen to bring the spirals into play; I probably rotate the pen every few seconds.

 

With most inks, my glass pen produces a line width approximately equal to that of my medium point pens. Ironically, the inks I have found least well suited to use with a J Herbin glass pen are J Herbin fountain pen inks! They are too wet.

 

Of course, the ink eventually gets lighter and lighter as the ink runs out. The more uniform one wants the line to be, the more frequently one needs to dip. I kind of like the variation.

Wonderful advise! Could not have explained it better than you did.

Ink, a drug.

― Vladimir Nabokov, Bend Sinister

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  • 1 month later...

I've bought a couple of glass nibs and they're on their way.

 

But what kind of holder do you use? I hope the collective wisdom of the network can answer this question before they get here.

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I only use glass dip pens very occasionally to test inks. They are too fine and stiff for regular writing, not to mention having to dip the pen in ink - not as transportable as regular FPs.

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I use one to test ink samples. Its different than a fountain pen, much more feedback but not unpleasant. Does make testing inks fun!

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Yep, I have a few glass pens. I don't use them that often these days, but I really enjoy the slower, more methodical process of writing with them. It's also fun being able to use pretty much any ink you want.

-- Doug K.

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I just got a J. Herbin dip pen a few weeks ago. Sale at a local store and I wanted something that I could use my shimmer inks with and not worry about clogging a feed.

 

Works wonderfully with the Diamine Shimmer inks, Noodler's inks as well.

 

I dip about half way and get roughly 3-4 sentences before I need to redip. The nib is a bit courser than a properly tuned metal nib....but I saw a video somewhere (GouletPens maybe??) where they used a fin grit sandpaper to smooth out the glass tip to provide less feedback while writing.

 

I do not use mine a lot, but I do appreciate the experience.

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I have 3 glass dip pens, from a traditional maker in the town of Lauscha, Germany (place often reported as home town of christmas baubles). They are real works of art, write very well and the only dip pens that have maintained my attention. They hold quite a lot of ink for a dip pen, I am not sure whether one can write a whole A4 page, but ink is enough for a few lines. I use them often for ink tests, or when I need to use an ink colour that I do not have in regular use, so filling a whole Pelikan M200 just for a couple of words would be troublesome. Also when I use Scribtol which is not fit for use in fountain pens.

 

The R&K glass dip pens are said to be very good as well.

 

The real drawback of glass dip pens is their fragility. Difficult to store, difficult to transport, the danger of breaking one is always there.

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I've bought a couple of glass nibs and they're on their way.

 

But what kind of holder do you use? I hope the collective wisdom of the network can answer this question before they get here.

 

 

If it is the swirled nib alone without the long body, then the proper nib holder is a fountain pen...

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