Trialling the Namiki Falcon

[feiye]

I've been following everyone else's handwriting posts here and it's been very inspirational! I got my hands on a Mottishaw Spencerian approximation Namiki Falcon at the beginning of this week. It's my first time using a full flex nib and I'm finding it a completely new experience!

 

I don't really like my capitals and I'm trying to find exemplars of other forms which aren't too flourished, any suggestions? I've also found that while I can control my slant extremely well with non-flex and even semi-flex nibs, it seems to go out the window once I put the Falcon to paper. Anyhoo, samples below.

 

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk41/souveran/2008-flex.jpg

 

And just as a comparison, my cursive and my regular print/cursive hybrid. Excuse the red marks in the background, I wrote on the other side of the paper with Caran d'Ache Sunset which showed up in the scan

 

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk41/souveran/2008-handwriting.jpg

[jbb]

Very nice looking writing feiye. As far as advice goes: some paper will simply feel better with a flex pen and show shading better so test different papers. The rest is just practicing to get a feel for flourishes. I know that learning how to really lighten up my upstroke to get a fine line then pressing more on the downstroke to get a heavy line took me a while.

Edited July 30, 2008 by jbb

[feiye]

Very nice looking writing feiye. As far as advice goes: some paper will simply feel better with a flex pen and show shading better so test different papers. The rest is just practicing to get a feel for flourishes. I know that learning how to really lighten up my upstroke to get a fine line then pressing more on the downstroke to get a heavy line took me a while.

 

Thanks for the advice! It's still a work in progress and I'm usually a very light writer with fountain pens so it's the pressing down part that requires some confidence. I'm afraid of pressing too hard so my downstrokes are often wobbly. Also the nib itself feels so much more delicate than my daily writer (Lamy 2000, go figure ) so I'm easing up a lot when using the pen.

 

As for paper, I'm still new in that arena and I'm still learning! This was just some blank paper I had lying around which is fairly thin but doesn't feather or bleedthrough at all (although the Sunset did show up in the scan, you can't really see it in real life). I tried some paper in an art journal either only the nib kept catching so I let it be. Are smooth papers better for flex nibs?

[jbb]

As for paper, I'm still new in that arena and I'm still learning! This was just some blank paper I had lying around which is fairly thin but doesn't feather or bleedthrough at all (although the Sunset did show up in the scan, you can't really see it in real life). I tried some paper in an art journal either only the nib kept catching so I let it be. Are smooth papers better for flex nibs?

 

I personally don't like smooth papers for flex writing even though I like them for other sorts of fountain pens. I like something with a bit more "tooth" like a paper with 25% or 100% cotton content (Southworths, Crane, Eaton, Neenah.)

 

[pmsalty]

Thanks for the examples. I also want a flex nib Falcon from Nibs.com but for drawing not writing. So I am very interested in how it feels in your hand and how versatile in making lines it is?

PMS

[NeoTiger]

Hey, great writing Feiye! That's much better than anything I could attempt

[alexanderino]

Most impressive.

[theblackpen]

Beautiful!

[calliej]

I have read this post about 4 times and everytime I think I have posted only to find I havent!!

 

So - I keep coming back to it because it is inspiring, thank you Feiye........

 

It's the one post really that made me determined to search out a flex nib....

 

I actually really like your everyday print cursive too, it may not be as elegant but it still has a flair about it

[feiye]

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone!

 

I think I've become slightly more accustomed to using the pen but it's still a bit too unpredictable for me at times. I've gone back to trying out some semi-flex nibs and some full flex nibs that are slightly broader (fine-medium) before I attempt to tackle the Falcon again.