"Pen and Ink | Sketch" (modern no-name pen)

[nimrod]

My first fountain pen purchase (last week) was a "Pen and Ink | sketch" along with a bottle of "Pen and Ink | sketch" india ink. It was disturbingly cheap ($18) but came with a converter and a square of suede to roll it up in. The box the pen came in and the ink bottle both have "Made in China for Art Supply Enterprises, Inc. Emeryville, CA" printed on them. The included instructions, and the name "sketch", suggest that the pen is primarily intended for artists interested in doing pen-and-ink sketches.

 

The nib on this pen says it's made of iridium (the word "iridium" is engraved on it) and so far it seems to work OK. Quickly drawing a vertical line on a piece of decent paper (HP premium choice laser) results in some skipping but this might be pretty normal; this being my first pen I'm not sure how fast I should expect ink to flow in one of these.

 

I found that the nib size that I chose ("fine" which is really more of a "medium" if you ask me) is too thick for writing traditional Chinese in 1/2" squares, so I've ordered a Lamy Vista with an x-fine nib which is hopefully on it's way to me now. I know that even the "student" Lamy pens are supposed to be pretty good so I guess I'll be able to better evaluate this no-name pen once I get the Lamy.

 

Basically I tried 6 or 7 stores in town, none of which had both a fountain pen and converter for less than $100 or so, before finally trying a store with a large selection of art supplies. They had both this no-name pen and some $8 or so pens that looked like they were made for kindergarteners (unusually small and decorated in "hello kitty" esqe style.)

 

The ink doesn't seem to be that great in my opinion. It does appear to be waterproof but isn't very dark. I probably should have bought a different ink.

 

Anyway, does anyone have one of these pens and if so what do you think of it?

 

(Here are some photos as requested. I'm not that experienced with macrophotography especially with this crappy digital camera and I had to use makeshift lighting, so the photos aren't that great.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following are scans of the instruction sheet that came in the box. Sorry I couldn't make the image smaller but it was tough to read when smaller than 1024 pixels wide.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2007 by nimrod

[Abhik]

nimrod, please upload pictures of your pen-ink and sketch!

abhik.

[sam]

how about some pics?

[Limner]

I vote for pictures, too-- I'm curious, I've never heard of it before.

[nimrod]

Ok, pictures uploaded (edited the original post). Let me know what you think.

[RLTodd]

What is considered "india ink" contains shellac and will clog up a fountain pen post haste. True India Ink is never to be used in a fountain pen.

 

Could it be that it is really Chinese Carbon Ink or maybe just analine dye ink that is grossly mislabled?

[Johnny Appleseed]

Judging from the box, the ink is actually typical fountian-pen ink, in the color "India Black". It may be a high-carbon ink like the Hero high-carbon black ink, or maybe just standard black ink. It isn't actually India ink.

 

Incidentally, my understanding is that traditional India Ink uses gum arabic as a binder, not shellac.

 

John

[nimrod]

What is considered "india ink" contains shellac and will clog up a fountain pen post haste. True India Ink is never to be used in a fountain pen.

 

Could it be that it is really Chinese Carbon Ink or maybe just analine dye ink that is grossly mislabled?

 

I thought that Chinese/Japanese carbon ink was basically the same stuff you'd get from grinding an ink stick on an ink stone and adding water. I didn't think it was waterproof. I think Carbon ink should also be darker than this stuff is, but maybe not. Whatever this stuff is it does appear to be waterproof. I wrote on some cheap paper and put it in the sink... no bleeding or coulds of ink in the water.

[nimrod]

I uploaded scans of the instruction sheet that came with the pen. I've added them at the bottom of the original post.

[smithsb]

What is considered "india ink" contains shellac and will clog up a fountain pen post haste. True India Ink is never to be used in a fountain pen.

 

Could it be that it is really Chinese Carbon Ink or maybe just analine dye ink that is grossly mislabled?

 

It looks like the label says "No-Shellac / India Black."

[Limner]

The hyperbole in the instructions (second scan) is certainly top-notch...

 

Is the nib at all flexible?

[nimrod]

Is the nib at all flexible?

 

It's a little bit flexible. I don't have any other pens right now to compare it with except for this $5 Sheaffer "calligraphy" fountain pen so I don't know how to tell you how flexible it is relatively speaking. I should get my Lamy Vista today though which should give me something better to compare with.

 

The tip is nowhere near as flexible as the pointed nib on this $2 dip pen that I bought so I don't think it's a special super-flexible tip or anything. My guess is that it's about average.

 

(Actually I guess I was lying when I said that this was my first fountain pen purchase. Before I bought this one I was looking for a cheap fountain pen and ended up buying this cheap italic nib sheaffer pen at office max for $5 just to see if it would work for what I wanted, which it didn't. If they can sell a cheap $5 italic nib pen then why can't they sell a cheap $5 rounded nib pen??? What is wrong with this country?)

[nimrod]

I got my Lamy Vista XFine fountain pen today and it's much nicer for writing than this "Pen & Ink" pen. The tip is more firm and smooth. For all I know the more flexible tip on this Pen & Ink pen might be more suitable for sketching though.

 

The "Pen & Ink" seems to drink ink much faster than the Lamy Vista. (If I'm not mistaken the Vista is a Safari but with a clear plastic body, just like the AL Star is an aluminum Safari. So I guess the same goes for those too.)

[Limner]

I may try to find one of these, just to play around with. I find firmer nibs (like the Lamy) to be easier for writing. I have a lot of difficulty writing casually with flexible nibs--but they're excellent for drawing and sketching.

[Tricia]

Thanks for posting this. In the Moleskine display in my local art supply store were quite a few "Pen & Ink" notebooks that look almost identical to the Moleskines. I didn't see any pens there, but the copy on the notebooks label mentioned using the fountain pen with the notebook (and another kind of pen, but my fountain-pen-focused brain has already forgotten it).

 

 

[nimrod]

More info on the ink (but not much more) is in this thread: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=41190

[inkypointer]

Just browsing here and found this review. After doing some searching online for this pen I located it here at ArtSuppliesOnline

It is on sale right now for $12.95. Also, they have replacement nibs for it in EF, F, and B along with the ink.

I found it interesting and wanted to let you who were interested know where to get this for play.

[alvarez57]

Ok, pictures uploaded (edited the original post). Let me know what you think.

 

 

That your camera isn't that crappy and maybe you need more lighting... I liked the pictures, at least the lens shows to have a decent definition. What brand is it, if you don't mind.

[nimrod]

That your camera isn't that crappy and maybe you need more lighting... I liked the pictures, at least the lens shows to have a decent definition. What brand is it, if you don't mind.

The lighting was just a 60W incandescent desk lamp at close-as-I-could-get-it range. The camera was a Cannon PowerShot S300 2.1Mpixel. I think the optics in the camera are probably pretty good (something people tend to ignore too often with digital cameras) but the CCD element is obviously not the latest.

 

The white balance (auto) was wrong for most of the shots and really needed to be set manually for incandescent light. I corrected for that in post-processing using the automatic stuff in Picasa. As you can see I'm not set up for professional photography.

 

I should probably buy a copy of photoshop elements at some point, and a newer camera.

 

After doing some searching online for this pen I located it here at ArtSuppliesOnline

It is on sale right now for $12.95.

 

Thanks for letting people know. This is the first I've seen it online. The distributor doesn't seem to have it listed on their own web site and this is the first I've seen it for sale online. Kind of an obscure little art supply.

 

The price isn't too bad, but it's probably possible to find a better vintage pen for $5 with a little work, assuming you don't want a cartridge/converter fill. I bought a "Hoover Deluxe" from Dillo for $5 which is a press-bar fill pen with better line width variation. I don't really sketch, however, so I don't know how suitable the hoover is for sketching.

[alvarez57]

That your camera isn't that crappy and maybe you need more lighting... I liked the pictures, at least the lens shows to have a decent definition. What brand is it, if you don't mind.

The lighting was just a 60W incandescent desk lamp at close-as-I-could-get-it range. The camera was a Cannon PowerShot S300 2.1Mpixel. I think the optics in the camera are probably pretty good (something people tend to ignore too often with digital cameras) but the CCD element is obviously not the latest.

 

The white balance (auto) was wrong for most of the shots and really needed to be set manually for incandescent light. I corrected for that in post-processing using the automatic stuff in Picasa. As you can see I'm not set up for professional photography.

 

I should probably buy a copy of photoshop elements at some point, and a newer camera.

 

Canon are pretty decent cameras. I have the PowerShot A75. I was talking with a friend of mine who's a professional photographer and who saw my pics. He agreed the camera is a pretty decent one and was amazed at the close-ups with the macro. Maybe the only problem the camera has is the pixels (3.2) in this case and the " granularity" of the picture...which improved since I bought a brighter light. I have Adobe Photoshop and honestly, barely use the edit feature.