What Do You Do With A 1.1 Stub (Jowo)?

[pitonyak]

So you NEED to practice writing by moving your hand over the paper left to right, and NOT rolling your hand as you write.

 

But I WANT to roll my hand as I write. Just ask my muscle memory and my brain!

 

I inked up another 1.1 mm stub nib, also from Nemosine attached to the larger pen (Fission), but this time I inked it up with an ink I was told was wet: pilot iroshizuku kon-peki

 

This wrote better, especially since I am working on NOT rolling my hand. My next test, that I have simply not had time to do, is to flush the brown ink from the pen and load it with a wetter ink. I can no longer test with the pen filled with Kon-Peki because a friend of mine tested it, immediately fell in love with the pen, and that pen is now his; he is a very good longtime friend, and I still have others of the same make and model (but different finish).

 

As a side note,

 

1. I am still surprised that the medium nib on one of my cheap BAOER pens, which writes crazy well, lays down a thicker line (on average) than this 1.1 stub.
2. I think that with practice I will be able to show controlled variation in my writing using the 1.1 stub nib.
3. I need to practice controlled writing without rolling the pen; seems more of a problem with the #6 nib, but I think that is related to the size and weight of the pen as opposed to the nib size.
4. For this particular nib, clearly the ink really matters. This is an area that is relatively new for me as well.

I appreciate all of your kind help more than you can imagine. I took time to check out every comment and suggestion and I feel like I learned a lot. I feel like I also need to spend more time looking through some of the information; for example, how to hold your pen and some of the other links.

[Karmachanic]

Until you overcome your tendency to roll, you may find it helpful to look at the tip of the nib as you write.

[A Smug Dill]

For this particular nib, clearly the ink really matters.

I'd say it has at least as much to do with the feed supporting it — whether the channel is deep/wide/clear enough, and whether the channel and nib slit are properly aligned with each other — as the nib, which is the piece of metal.

 

On the Nemosine Fission (and the Nemosine Neutrino, too),

nib unit ≠ (just the) nib

because the nib unit that you can screw out and remove from the pen section consists of the nib as well as the feed and the plastic housing around them. A 'wetter' feed would go some ways to either augment or counter how 'wet' an ink is, and affect the writing outcome, without changing the metal nib (or requiring it to be 'tuned') in any way.

[ac12]

 

But I WANT to roll my hand as I write. Just ask my muscle memory and my brain!

 

 

You just have to work at it, and break the habit.

It WILL take a LONG time to retrain your muscles, but it can be done. I did it. But it takes dedication and hard work.

Every day for at least 30 minutes. Be aware of HOW you are writing during the day, and if you catch yourself rolling, stop it. In about 3 months, your muscles should be retrained.

 

If not, just use a roller ball or pencil.

[BaronWulfraed]

 

But I WANT to roll my hand as I write. Just ask my muscle memory and my brain!

 

Do you roll your hand when using a computer mouse? Try writing using the mouse. Then...

 

Treat the pen as if it were the mouse (if you use a mini/travel mouse you might try holding the pen while putting the mouse under your palm, and writing that way ).

[Steveg58]

While a normal tipped pen is very forgiving it will work best if the tip is positioned so the slit contacts the paper. Using a stub nib for a while will help teach you how to do that. A 1.1 stub can be used for some forms of calligraphy but these days I generally use mine for things like filling out cards where I want the wide nib to force my handwriting to a decent size with adequate visual weight.

 

Re: A Smug Dill's earlier comment about calligraphy styles a family friend once did my name in ornate black letter calligraphy done with a crow quill mapping nib (extra fine or finer). Sadly I can no longer locate it these many decades later.

[ardene]

When one's not rolling (i.e. rotating) the pen in their hand what you get is the top two writing samples. Compare with the OBB (oblique double broad) which isn't giving very pronounced line variation.

 

[pitonyak]

When one's not rolling (i.e. rotating) the pen in their hand what you get is the top two writing samples. Compare with the OBB (oblique double broad) which isn't giving very pronounced line variation.

 

This is an excellent example for me, thanks. I have been practicing a bit and purposely using the pen to get used to the nib.

[ardene]

 

This is an excellent example for me, thanks. I have been practicing a bit and purposely using the pen to get used to the nib.

 

I am very glad I was able to be of some help.

[farmkiti]

Writing with a stub takes a little practice. Don't sweat it; just keep writing and experimenting with how you hold your pen and you will see improvement over time. Also, don't forget that stubs need to be tuned just like any other nib. I like a stub that is smooth, but not overly so, with a little feedback left in it. I first learned to tune nibs on stubs because I've loved stubs ever since I discovered them very early in my pen collecting days. Of course, I destroyed a few nibs learning, but I only worked on really inexpensive pens, so no harm done. I eventually got a Pelikan M200 with a 14K M400 Broad nib reground to a stub by a talented nibmeister. A 14K stub! OMG that is still one of my sweetest nibs. However, when I received it in the mail, it needed just the slightest bit of tuning to suit me. Tuning a gold nib is much more tricky than a steel nib; it takes far fewer strokes to make a LOT of difference. When I finally tuned that gold stub and it came out just the way I like 'em, I was one happy camper.

 

Bottom line: give yourself time. Enjoy the process. Nobody learns overnight.

[Intensity]

The ratio of wide stroke to the thin stroke can vary significantly for all 3 tipping shapes: stub, cursive italic, and formal italic. Normally the smaller tipping size (something like medium or fine "italic" of some sort) give lower amount of line variation, while broader nibs give more line variation. The degree of line variation in the appearance of writing is a function of this ratio, not only how rounded the grind is. E.g. a small difference between horizontal and vertical stroke width with a formal italic nib will give less line variation than a stub or cursive italic with large difference between horizontal and vertical stroke width.

 

For instance, a Lamy 1.5mm steel nib is sometimes called a "stub" due to the rounded shape of the nib from the sides, but really it has no tipping and a high ratio of horizontal-to-vertical stroke width; the writing made with this nib has a high amount of line variation.

 

High amount of line thickness variation makes it easier to write in cursive with smaller size letters, particularly if rotating the pen about 45 degrees counterclockwise (for right-handed writing). I can easily write in fairly small cursive with said Lamy 1.5mm nib as well as a few of my wide cursive italics.