Sailor Calligraphy Pen

[Have Fun]

I've seen a few questions about the nature of Calligraphy Nibs so here is a sample of the nib character.

 

Apologies in advance for the handwriting, it should give others hope, & Caliken a heart attack.

 

The Sailor Calligraphy Pen is an oxymoron in my hands.

 

(Perhaps Sailor would like to pay me for the removal of the writing scan sample? .. in which case I'd settle for a Sapporo with medium nib)

 

Photos will follow when I can capture the pens colour, & can get a decent shot of the nib which is turned up at about 45 degree.

 

BTW the ink was Quink BlueBlack on inkjet paper

[Eric072691]

You've got better handwriting than me.. Thanks for the review.

[Have Fun]

Here are some photos

 

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

That looks like the Zoom nib from here.

 

I have two of them---yes, they do take getting used to, but now I like the way they write. They're not really 'calligraphy' pens, though.

[Have Fun]

No .... its similar but not the same ... the zoom is iridium but this is a flat nib bent upward ie the cheaper version .. I think the Zoom would be better quality & more consistent to write with

 

This pen is actually one of the most comfortable I have to hold .. better than the M200 in fact ... & I enquired from the UK agent whether I could get different nibs for it as this would be a very cheap good quality sailor then .. apparently not which is a shame .. since posting I have also toyed with the idea of modifying this nib in some way either as an italic or rebending / reshaping the tip ... though I don't know if spare nibs are available or how much they cost but it would be interesting to consider

Edited April 30, 2008 by Have Fun

[Sailor Kenshin]

Then maybe I have the cheaper version, too. It doesn't actually say Zoom on the nib.

[Shinichiro]

Weird...for me, that's definitely not a zoom nib! The zoom I have on my Sapporo has a big round ball point, so I'm a bit surprised when you say that this nib looks like the zoom. I'll try to get some pictures of mine to show you (but I'm taking exams at the moment so you'll have to wait a week or so).

 

Cya around!

Shinichiro.

[Renzhe]

It's more like a Superscript nib.

[FrankB]

I wonder what Sailor means by "calligraphy" for this nib? You are writing Latin characters and the nib might be constructed for Kanji. Sheaffer made a nib similar to this one for some vintage pens. The nib's tip had a sizeable chunk of iridium that met the paper to produce lovely true (F, M, lines. I only have two of those old nibs, but they are great.

 

For calligraphy, whether Latin, Greek or Cyrillic characters, I prefer standard square cut cursive or crisp italic nibs. I cannot see myself using one of these Sailor nibs with any success either.

 

Edit: That smiley face is supposed to be a "B," and I cannot get it out. Somehow, it is sort of appropriate.

Edited April 30, 2008 by FrankB

[scratchy]

Thanks for posting about this pen! I have been curious about it for some time, having already got a Sailor Professional Gear and a Sailor Sapporo. I assumed it was for writing in Japanese so I didn't think I would use it.

[Sailor Kenshin]

I took a better look at my navy blue Sailor pen and the Sailor site and it is most definitely not a zoom nib. It's more like the one I have on that cheapie calligraphy stick pen.

 

Someone got the blue pen for me on eBay---it was said to be a Zoom nib, and it was cheap enough. I enjoy the pen anyway, but I'm determined now to spend some real money for a real Sailor and either a Zoom or a Music.

 

Which pen to go with it? The 1911? The Professional Gear?

[SquelchB]

Wait, this is actually supposed to look like that? God, that's...weird.

[Dr.Grace]

As I just wrote in another thread on the Zoom nib:

 

I believe there's a misconception about what "calligraphy" means for Asian pens. It's nothing like the Western italic writing done with chisel-pointed nibs. Classical calligraphy in China and Japan (don't know about Korea) is typically done with a brush. Some of these nibs are trying to replicate some of the experience, or at least the line shapes, to a degree, of this kind of brush writing. So these Japanese nibs are not meant to be used for Western-style calligraphy, and you'll be disappointed if that's what you're trying to use them for.

 

Don

[PaulGeo]

(don't know about Korea)

 

FYI, Korean calligraphy is the same... with a brush either done entirely in Chinese, or with mixed Chinese and Korean characters.

[Taki]

As I just wrote in another thread on the Zoom nib:

 

I believe there's a misconception about what "calligraphy" means for Asian pens. It's nothing like the Western italic writing done with chisel-pointed nibs. Classical calligraphy in China and Japan (don't know about Korea) is typically done with a brush. Some of these nibs are trying to replicate some of the experience, or at least the line shapes, to a degree, of this kind of brush writing. So these Japanese nibs are not meant to be used for Western-style calligraphy, and you'll be disappointed if that's what you're trying to use them for.

 

Don

 

I've heard that very nice Asian calligraphy look just "messy" to many Westerners

 

This is a video of a young Japanese calligrapher, Koji Kakinuma

 

 

[encephalartos]

No, the photo above is not what a Zoom looks like. A Zoom has a very large, visible

rather triangular, yet rounded smooth tip. It's a nib where the tipping is extremely

visible to the naked eye. Because Sailors are free flowing, it lays down a lot of ink.

 

I also have a Togi Naginata MF nib in another Sailor. To me its tip looks like a

"baby" version of the Zoom's, though both of these are the large 21k Sailor nibs.

That one is a very enjoyable pen to write with, even with Western Italic letter forms.

 

[Sailor Kenshin]

Oooo! He's even grinding the ink!

 

Can't read what he wrote, though.

[Jasper]

I got this pen back in Dec...i've really enjoyed using it.

Here's a sample i just put together...i was using J. Herbin ink on Apica notebook paper.

Very nice for an inexpensive pen, i think.