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Dip Pen Writing

bokaba

By bokaba
in Fountain & Dip Pens - First Stop

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bokaba Mint

bokaba

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I have been working on my dip pen writing here for bit. I am using a Speedball oblique with a Speedball G type nib and Higgins Eternal ink on a Rhodia dot pad. How is my handwriting coming along? What types of ink are best for dip pen?

 

Thanks

 

Bokaba

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Runnin_Ute

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Looks like you are making some progress. As to your other questions you might get more response in the Creative Expressions pointed pen calligraphy sub forum.

Brad

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain

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thesteampunkraven NOS (New Old Stock)

thesteampunkraven

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I am actually using my own ink for my dip pen set. i mixed some pilot black ink with some dark green acrylic paint and some diamine sherwood green. I would recommend speedball's India ink as well as their pen cleaner.

SAFPA

Science Academy Fountain Pen Association

Calamus gladio fortior

The pen is mightier than the sword

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Randal6393 Antique

Randal6393

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Well, Higgins Eternal is a pretty good practice ink. Other inks of note for Copperplate are Iron Gall (McCaffreys, Blots, Old World), sumi ink (Moon Palace, several others), and acrylics (Ziller or any other good art gouache acrylic). Just about any good fountain pen ink can be used as well -- separate bottle, might need to add a bit of gum arabic on occasion. I am especially fond of Noodler's inks.

 

The Speedball G is more of a general artist's nib, you may benefit from trying a Brause Rose or Blue Pumpkin, any of the Hunt flexible nibs -- 101, 103, etc. -- or various other nibs available. There are several other G nibs that have better flex than Speedball -- Nikko, Tachikawa, and so on. There are several online stores that specialize in calligraphy supplies, Google is a help there.

 

As for paper, any good bond does for practice, final work may need a better grade of paper. You can usually get good paper at online calligraphy shops or a good art supply store.

 

Best of luck,

Yours,
Randal

From a person's actions, we may infer attitudes, beliefs, --- and values. We do not know these characteristics outright. The human dichotomies of trust and distrust, honor and duplicity, love and hate --- all depend on internal states we cannot directly experience. Isn't this what adds zest to our life?

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AAAndrew Antique

AAAndrew

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Looks like you're coming along. One thing to maybe focus on at this point in your progress is spacing, it's a common issue and one I fight all the time. Don't be afraid of spacing out the letters more, and leaving more space between words. It might also help to have some clear lines, both base lines as well as mid lines to help work on consistency of the small letters.

 

For ink, I use both iron gall inks (ESSRI, Diamine Registrars, Salix) but the cheapest that works great for practice is walnut ink. I get the powdered form, which is ridiculously cheap, a Jumbo Dinky Dip ink jar, and just add water. You shake it up, leave it for about 20 minutes and you're ready to go.

 

For practice paper, Black n Red notebooks work great, as do Rhodia. My favorite all-around paper for dip pens is Southworth 25% Cotton Premium Laser Paper, 32lb. A 300-sheet pack will last you quite a while.

 

A couple of good online sources for ink and nibs and such are Paper and Ink Arts, and John Neal Books. And a great source to get an assortment of vintage nibs is Pendemonium. Write Sam and ask her to recommend a sampler of vintage nibs for the kind of writing you like to do. She'll get you set up right.

 

And, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my blog where in addition to discussions of steel pen history, I also have some posts on how to pick a nib, holder, prep nibs, paper, ink, etc.... It's not exhaustive of all advice, but it's a place to start.

 

Keep writing, and come back and show us more sometime.

 

Andrew

 

“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. 

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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PAKMAN Ancient Artifact

PAKMAN

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Looks good! Way past what I've ever been able to do!

PAKMAN

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AAAndrew Antique

AAAndrew

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I tried all kinds of super calligraphy nibs for every day writing for the longest time. As I learned more about how steel pens were sold and used, I discovered that in school, you would start out with fairly firm pens. Your pens would get progressively more and more flexible as you got older and gained more experience and control over your pen.

 

So, I started using firmer, less-flexible dip pens. Now, even the fairly firm dip pens are as flexible as most any modern flex pen, but they are much easier to control and less of a strain to use. My writing also got better as I learned control and spacing, which was easier when I wasn't also trying to worry about flexing on top of it all.

 

Most vintage pens fall into this every-day writing kind of category. Esterbrook 048 Falcons (most all Falcons, no matter the make usually fall into this category, with some excepts which are firmer or more flexible), 788 spoon pens, and most Turner & Harrison pens are great for this every-day kind of writing.

 

Just something to think about if you're really interested in learning how to use dip pens for everyday kind of correspondence. (I pay my bills and write checks using my dip pens. I makes a chore more fun)

 

Here's a little something I just wrote using walnut ink on the 25% cotton paper. I printed the lines.

 

fpn_1512504289__turner_harrison_70.jpg

 

“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. 

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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sidthecat Antique

sidthecat

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I’m out on the bleeding edge - dropping gold nibs into fountain pens - and I’ve been shifting from R&K Sepia to Octopus Pinie (a reddish brown) because the latter ink has a slightly more lubricated quality.

For unmodified pens, I’m very fond of the Platinum iron-gall inks: my favorite is the Forest Black. They’re thicker than dye inks and lay down a very solid line. So far I haven’t tried it in any of my vintage pens - that’s a disaster waiting to happen - it’s what those nibs were made for, but not the pens.

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AAAndrew Antique

AAAndrew

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I wasn't aware of the Platinum iron-gall inks. Oh, goody! New inks to check out!

 

“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. 

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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AAAndrew Antique

AAAndrew

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AAAndrew, if you haven't tried any of the Fox & Quills Iron Gall inks they are quite worth a try. Haven't tried the elephant yet, but not a huge grey fan ......

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/482583856/fq-iron-gall-ink-batch-no-6-beetle-juice?ref=shop_home_active_6

Oh, my. More inks. :)

 

Thanks!

 

“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. 

"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

-Montaigne

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Honeybadgers Donor Pen

Honeybadgers

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Looks nice, my recommendation for a next step would be adding some space between the letters. It looks a little cramped.

Selling a boatload of restored, fairly rare, vintage Japanese gold nib pens, click here to see (more added as I finish restoring them)

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