Three Pages with a Dip Pen

[Clydesdave]

I sat down to write a letter to Wanda under the promise to myself that I would do it with a dip pen. I have several holders and several nibs, and several inks, but I've never written anything of length with them, so I set off to explore the dip pen. I won't bore you with the mechanics of finding the right holder, suffice it to say I settled on the medium one, with no preference o're the small one other than chance. I found a long, slender, flexible, gold nib that I liked more than some and about as well as others. The ink came upon me due to its calming colour, not response to paper or sheen. After all, it is the dip and pen that I am excited to find.

 

I started my Dear Wanda with a vague idea of what I was going to write, with a bit of a surprise ending in mind, a teaser of my next letter, and that's all I had to write with. It didn't work out very well. I learned that I could forget what I was thinking in the time it takes to dip the pen. This is not because I have any malady of my mind, I'm quite certain my mind is as sharp as a tack. In proof of this, I will say that I'm as certain that every madman is confident of thier sanity, and surely only a sane person could say that. Let us say, I am capable of stringing two sentences together, even on paper, and as further proof, I will get back to the subject at hand. I could forget what I was writting in so short a time because dipping the pen was an un-planned interruption. In mid-word in fact, I would have cause to stop, dip the pen, and start mid-word again long after that particular word had stopped echoing in the vast, empty chambers of my mind. The word gone, nothing to hang the rest of the participle on, the idea dangling like a bubble on the breeze and the breeze in my mind just shy of earning a name. A few pages later, I re-read my ramblings and was horrified! Am I always this disjointed? It's terrible, my letter is terrible, but a promise is a promise and poor Wanda is going to receive it anyway.

 

I am not complaining. As a matter of fact, I am quite pleased with the discovery of my errant cognition. This is helping me understand my desire for fountain pens. Yes, you can write a lot more words without having to "dip" a fountain pen. I can certainly understand the desire and progression of nibs that hold more and more ink. But I've uncovered an understanding that has lay dormant in the gale for a long, long time. Consider the phrase "Crafting a letter".

 

I had approached my letter with a beginning and an ending and had left a large empty space between in which to be creative. I found, none to my surprise, that I am not creative on the fly. The elusive feather of phrase, left in the whirlwind of my mind, had no chance of course when the ink ran out. The flurry of modern day storm is always waiting to steal an idle moment in my head. Oh, I can sit and conjour by the hour if that is what I'm set to do, and I enjoy it greatly. I need to conjour my letter to Wanda, completely, before I set down to write it using a dip pen. Then I can draw the letter, as it appears in my mind, form the words one by one, not create them. I need to craft the letter that is already in my mind.

 

This is where the calm comes from that collects on my fountain pen. A memory from very old days when paper was too precious to waste on unbridled thoughts. When one collected thoughts prior to pen, or at the very least shut out other thoughts prior to dipping. The calm comes from demanding that the words be more important than the time it takes to write them. By taper, the illuminated world is not much larger than a desktop.

 

I've decided to keep my dip pens, if not so much to write than more to practice my sanity.

 

 

 

 

[Lozzic]

I think it may have been discussed somewhere else on this forum but dip pens are not only a different technology they are part of a different world altogether...

I am very glad you have decided to keep your dip pens, time and time again I see people try to use them but cast them aside as inferior and not worth their time; they are not inferior, they are simply different. The dip pen is from a world that was much slower in pace and as you say writing was carefully thought out and to a certain extent planned. Many people are so caught up in the modern speed of things that a dip pen is impossible to use, in fact most if not all old technologies are impossible to use for such people. Those that do use these old technologies are often teased for doing so. To use a dip pen one must be willing to learn and genuinely understand the materials at hand, they require patience and take longer to master than any other type of writing implement since. The ink used is crucial and the users understanding of its properties is essential, the user must know how fast a stroke can be created, when it is necessary to dip, how to properly touch off excess ink on the side of the bottle, how to manage their ink, and the list goes on. If you master a particular pen nib to the point at which you can do everything flawlessly and you know exactly when you run out of ink you can dip in advance without thinking about it which means no thought breaks and no breaks in the writing on the page.

This modern fast pace of life is often considered superior, or better, simply because it is fast, but I think that is totally wrong. I feel that the mind is often overwhelmed to the point at which nothing truly exceptional is possible, one cannot allocate enough time in a day to an activity. With the great wealth of knowledge at our disposal in the modern world one would think that there would be many masters of their fields but in actual fact this seems to have been counteracted by a lack of time resulting in many people who are good at what they do but fewer masters.

As you have said the dip pen requires that you gather your thoughts prior to writing, because of this it requires time and patience, a time and patience that the technological world does not have. When you use a dip pen for normal writing (i.e. letter writing, notes, essay writing etc not calligraphy) your mind is operating in a world that has long gone. I believe that one can potentially perform better in writing or thought as a result of this pace as long as one practices it and cultivates it so as to take it on naturally.

The fountain pen is from the end of that world, it still requires that little bit extra time spent on such things as filling from a bottle or screwing on the lid; that is difficult for the modern world to understand.

[dcwaites]

I have been writing long documents with dip pens since early University. My handwriting has never been suited to a ballpoint. So I guess that this is something that requires practice.

 

I have always written by deciding what direction a paragraph is going to go, and then crafting each sentence or phrase as it is needed. Once that sentence is crafted I can remember it over short pauses so that, for me, dipping is not a problem.

 

Currently, though, I find that I can write effectively with dip pen, fountain pen or on computer.

I find that writing with a dip pen is more pleasurable, looks better, and has more character than if I use a fountain pen.

 

Writing a crafted document with fountain or dip pen always means two to three revisions. First draft, second draft and final copy.

Writing a crafted document with computer also means revisions, but you are only editing a word, phrase or sentence at a time. For this reason, some people find that when first starting to write with a computer, their documents flow less fluidly than before. A classic case of this was when Douglas Adams used a computer to write a novel. There was much criticism that this book (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, I think) was less well-written than the previous Hitchhiker series.

 

One of the skills of using a dip pen is getting enough ink on it to write for several lines. This also means finding a nib that is a relatively dry writer. I have found that I can use an Esterbrook 314 Relief Pen with diluted Parker Quink Permanent Blue (1:1 ink:water) and can write 4 or 5 lines without re-dipping. With a Myers Post Office Pen I can only get 1 to 1 1/2 lines.

 

 

[Titivillus]

Yes dipping does sometimes cause some stream of thought ramblings but if you look there are large dip nibs that can hold more ink as well as reserviours that can be attached to extend the writing or even Esterbrook dipless pens.

 

For me letters are always streams that I base off of what I have received to dip in again and again.

 

Kurt

[Randal6393]

While not particularly used to dip pens, I am surprised that no one has suggested Edward Johnston's technique for filling a dip pen. He recommends using a small artist's brush to pick up the ink and fill the reservoir in either a dip pen or a quill. Not only is it faster than dipping and wiping a pen, the brush carries enough ink to fill the reservoir two or three times.

 

If one decides to try this technique, should use a brush that is new, need not be of great quality, and wash with soap and water after each session.

 

Best of luck,

[jakespeed]

Nice piece, Clydesdave. Informative with a tasty undercurrent of dry humor.

[Paddler]

Clydesdave,

 

The bagpipe of my mind is apparently not as fleet of thought as yours is. After a dip, I can still capture my thought as it ricochets around in the near-perfect vacuum.

 

Paddler

 

[PAKMAN]

Wow I haven't managed to write more than a letter or more before my dip pens were empty much less a line. I get so worn out trying to write with one that I give up after a few words!

[Iridium]

Wow I haven't managed to write more than a letter or more before my dip pens were empty much less a line.

 

You either need to use higher viscosity inks or nibs that have larger reservoirs.

 

I get so worn out trying to write with one that I give up after a few words!

 

If all else fails, you could try dipping a fountain pen nib (in fountain pen ink only).

[MYU]

I don't know why, but "Shananananana" always seems to come to mind when I hear someone mention "dip pens".

[johnboz]

Clydesdave, you might have trouble crafting a letter while writing with a dip pen, but you seem to do pretty well writing a post on a computer! You captured your thoughts very well.

 

Now here's the question. Knowing what you wanted to write about, could you have written your original post so eloquently with a dip pen?

[Clydesdave]

Now here's the question. Knowing what you wanted to write about, could you have written your original post so eloquently with a dip pen?

 

Thank you for your compliment. As to the question: I don't know, I haven't sat down to write Wanda a better letter. I am going to try to compose the letter and then write it with a dip pen, as I prescribed. I believe I can look at this objectively and I'll let you know. Of course, after Wanda gets the second letter, she may disagree.

[lwetzel]

I have a love you know relationship with dip pens. I like the permanence of the product and as I am a writer that is important to me. However I get frustrated with the start and stop of the thing. However the appeal of the ancient weighs heavy on me and I really like the idea of dip pens. I keep thinking of a little film clip I saw of Woodrow Wilson signing documents with a steel pen and inkwell on his desk in the White House. And all my favorite guys: Moses, the Apostle Paul, Chaucer, Dante, Dickens and every other writer before the last part of the 19th century, wrote with some form of one. Pretty good company. Also I find that I tend to edit as I go on the computer and so lose some of my ideas. A dip pen helps me focus on what I am writing. Incidentally I have found the dipless pen an interesting and useful cross between dip and fountain pens. They were Shelby Foote's choice.

[Chris]

Delightful - thank you.

 

Clydesdave, your posting reminded me why I use a fountain pen - to allow thoughts to organise themselves in my mind (note the hint of wishful thinking here!) as I write them down rather than simply dump them onto paper using a biro. I have not used a dip pen, but I can imagine how those same thoughts might decide to re-arrange themselves whilst re-inking the nib.

 

Pity then the poor scribe using a quill who has to break off and renew the point or even re-fashion a new pen - thoughts would take any such opportunity to escape forever.

 

Chris

[Clydesdave]

Well, those are interesting thoughts; The scribe, who might have to fashion an entire pen whilst holding that thought, and the computer editor who might loose that thought just as quickly as a dip because he has to pause to edit. I think I'll apluade the scribe who may have heard it, and would have to retain it long enought to write it down, and that might have been a while.

 

I've written another four page letter since I wrote this, and I think I did alright. Once I understood how I would have to think, I think I thought alright, I think. But I'll have to work on it some more.

[Gran]

Nice to read this again. I enjoy the pace and the framing of thought when writing with a dip pen. It also improves my writing with a fountain pen. Thanks very much for the thread.

[AllWriteNow]

I really like the look of a Dip Pen written letter/card. The frustration etc of re-dipping every few words just got frustrating.

We have very nice ebonite dip pens available with Ebonite feeds. We're able to use Vintage nibs in these pens.

Super Flex nibs that don't run dry in a few words.

These hold a large amount of ink. Makes writing a short card easy with one 15 second dip.

 

Here is a photo of the pens.

 

The website All Write Now is being updated and some photos are missing.

Please hang in there with us as we update and improve the website.

 

 

Steve

[tamburlaine]

<snip>

 

Oh! I want one of those ebonite dip pens! I think I'll bookmark your site... thanks, luckygrandson!

Edited March 11, 2009 by tamburlaine