Ralph Reyes, Meet Jim Hinze

[whichwatch]

I first met Ralph Reyes when he set up at the table next to me at the 2018 Chicago Pen Show in May. Ralph was drawing huge crowds to see his nibs, which are some of the coolest, most creative things to hit the market in years. Ralph modifies and stacks nibs in multiple layers which are joined/filled with a metal and hand polished to produce pens that write extra fine when held in the normal way but write in various degrees of width from extra broad to paint brush when reverse writing, depending on how many nibs he has stacked. Best of all, they write like my favorite grind which is architect point, that is, narrower on the vertical stroke and broader on the horizontal. Ralph’s nibs are built to fit any pen that takes a Jowo #6 nib such as Franklin Christoph, Edison, Bexley, and others. I never got to try his nibs in Chicago, as Ralph was swarmed and I was busy tending my own table before Ralph quickly sold out. I did notice that he took an order for a custom nib with 9 nibs stacked atop one another!

At the recent Washington DC Show, I was reminded of this when the fellow who bought the 9 layer nib was showing it off to a friend next to where I was standing. Amazing! I headed to Ralph’s table and bought a nib that was right for me – a two layer piece. While Ralph’s nibs are really intended for calligraphers or possibly for artists, I wanted one to write with and the two layer nib was about as far as I could go. I was lucky to get one, as Ralph once again quickly sold out of all nibs he had brought.

Here are some pictures of the nib I bought. It (they?) start life as Jowo Broad before Ralph works his artistry.

http://www.fototime.com/%7BC9908E34-4925-4BF0-88BA-3467025F5D38%7D/origpict/h3.png

http://www.fototime.com/%7BAB4D2AE6-1585-41EE-9601-B8D28D9C28A6%7D/origpict/h4.png

http://www.fototime.com/%7BCA2A3847-9B9D-49AC-B521-96B803BDEC18%7D/origpict/h9.png

I don’t have a picture of the 9 layer nib Ralph created, but there is a picture on his website that gives the basic idea. One look at the nib gives you an idea of the breadth of the line it writes! You can see more on Ralph’s website (www.regaliawritinglabs.com)

http://www.fototime.com/%7B416AB426-7DA5-4023-955B-319A01EEAACB%7D/origpict/h6.jpg

Once I had the nib I purchased tuned to my satisfaction by Ralph’s expert hand, of course I couldn’t use just any old pen I had so had to find a new one. The pen that grabbed my eye was a piece on the table of Texas penmaker Jim Hinze (www.hinzepens.com). The blue and black coloration of the epoxy resin hand mixed by Jim reminded me a bit of the famed Tibaldi Impero. Before a crowd jumps on me, I am not saying they are the same. I know that Impero is a celluloid with marbled flakes of blue and gray/black while this one is an epoxy resin that is swirled. But I found the color combination reminiscent. Not the same. Different. But reminiscent.

I really enjoyed chatting with Jim about his background, his self-taught manufacturing process, the resins he mixes, and even the intricacies of thread design used on his pens.

http://www.fototime.com/%7B6ADD54EB-767E-4525-9AAD-EAF031E4FA5D%7D/origpict/h1.png

http://www.fototime.com/%7BB69505D6-05AE-4C38-BD46-517F2BF454CF%7D/origpict/h2.png

So with new pen and new nib in hand, I started writing. What a joy! The only thing I wish were different is that the pen writes extra fine in the “normal” position and requires reverse writing to get the broader line I really like. This is apparently because Ralph feels the nib looks better with smaller nibs stacked atop of larger. But Ralph is making me a nib stacked the opposite way so the pen will write broader in the normal position, apparently a request he has had from others as well. It might not be as artistic looking, but I’m greatly looking forward to having it delivered to me at the Ohio Show in November.

If you want to try a Ralph Reyes nib at a show, better get to his table early! His table is always crowded and based on past shows, he sells out early!

Click on writing sample to enlarge it

http://www.fototime.com/%7B3AE082C8-AE3F-4442-B918-B194D54F1964%7D/origpict/h8.jpeg

[farazqamar]

amazing!

[Driften]

Very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing.

[zaddick]

Seems like what Sailor did in the past, though they stopped at 3 in the stack.

 

They made the nibs to write broad upside down, like yours, or right side up like the one you ordered.

 

I am curious enough to learn more. Thanks for the review.

[Sk8rcruz]

Love it. The more ink, the better as far as using in my mixed media art and journal doodles. I have one of Jim Hinze’s pens, a Nebula, and I’m very pleased with it. We are working together at making me a custom pen with one of Ralph’s stacked nibs. Jim told me up front that it could take up to a year depending on what Ralph is working on. I’m fine with that. First he must meet with Ralph in person at a Pen Show (Philly is next) to place an order. Then Jim will have my pen blank poured (raspberry ends, pink middle, a raspberry and gold swirl, random honeycombs. And if I don’t get the exact nib I ask for that’s fine, too. So Ralph’s nibs, even if not widely available, can be had with networking, patience, $$, flexibility, but even more important, he is inspiring creativity and innovation. Like a FPN post by someone wanting to experiment in a similar way.

[Barry Gabay]

Ralph Reyes' is unquestionably the world's most innovative and talented custom nib maker working today. His work continues to amaze me with its vision and performance. He is an artist in the truest sense. His nibs fulfill the criteria presented for poetry (and art in general) in Horace's Ars Poetica. Ralph Reyes' nibs both delight and educate the audience.

 

More than a century ago, most people considered Louis Tiffany a craftsman, a very talented one, but someone who made decorative and functional objects, not art. Today, his work can be found in some of the world's greatest museums. During Tiffany's era, who would have imagined a contemporary lampshade or bud vase being included in a major museum's design collection? I predict the same reception will await Ralph Reyes' nibs 100 years from now.