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Pilot Parallel Vs Sheaffer Vs Dip Pens Vs Felt Tip


Lively

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Hi All,

 

My first calligraphy pens when I was a school kid were Platignum and Sheaffer ones, with F, M and B nibs. In late high school we were taught some calligraphy in Graphic Design classes with Marvy felt tip calligraphy markers. As an adult I have continued to play around with the Platignum and Sheaffer pens (I have 3 different types of Sheaffer pens). I've only used broad dip pen nibs on a couple of occasions, despite having used pointed dip pen nibs quite a lot in my efforts to learn Copperplate.

 

Recently I bought some Zig calligraphy markers - for the ease of use and the lovely colours, and because they were very, very cheap on sale. They're a bit of fun, but I don't love them.

 

I also bought a set of Pilot Parallel pens. These pens are fantastic! I love them so much - apart from the feathering and bleeding (even sometimes in my Spirax Platinum "non bleed" notebook, and on the super cheap budget writing pads from Officeworks that none of my bottled inks bleed on) although I'm confident they won't bleed when I refill them with other inks. Even when I just have to jot a quick note I'm inclined to use the corner edge of a Parallel pen instead of a normal pen.

 

My question is, do you think all the skills, and nuances of technique used when practising calligraphy with Pilot Parallel pens are equally applicable to and directly transferable to calligraphy fountain pens like the Sheaffer, and to broad dip pen nibs?

 

After using the Pilot Parallel pens for a couple of months, I became convinced that I would never buy another calligraphy fountain pen (until the price of the mini Sheaffer sets was reduced to $7.46 at Officeworks and I bought six of them :( ) and nor would I bother with broad dip pen nibs.

 

Now I'm wondering if using the Pilot Parallels is somehow non-authentic (which is how I tend to feel about felt tip calligraphy pens) and whether there will be a huge learning curve if I ever start to use broad dip nibs?

 

Do others consider the Pilot Parallel pens to be a serious calligraphy tool? Do professionals use them? Does everyone love them as much as I do?

 

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Zig make excellent felt markers, but as with all felt markers, they drag too much for my taste. Some people prefer them, and some use a penknife to keep them sharp, just as they did with quills.

 

do you think all the skills, and nuances of technique used when practising calligraphy with Pilot Parallel pens are equally applicable to and directly transferable to calligraphy fountain pens like the Sheaffer, and to broad dip pen nibs? [...] Do others consider the Pilot Parallel pens to be a serious calligraphy tool? Do professionals use them? Does everyone love them as much as I do?

 

Yes [...] yes, yes, pretty much.

 

The corners and edges of the Parallel aren't as rounded as calligraphy fountain pen sets tend to be. If you can write with the Parallel, you can pretty much write with anything, though you may not be able to replicate the writing on corners trick.

 

The Parallel is a better solution to the problem of very broad nibs than regular fountain pens with multiple tines that need to be kept aligned.

 

Now I'm wondering if using the Pilot Parallels is somehow non-authentic (which is how I tend to feel about felt tip calligraphy pens) and whether there will be a huge learning curve if I ever start to use broad dip nibs?

 

No. Maybe some people felt the same way when fountain pens took over from dip pens, or when dip pens took over from quills. ;) The learning curve with dip pens will be about how to supply them with ink, not how to write with them.

 

Calligraphers tend not to worry about whether something has a gold nib, whether the nib was made in-house, or even - 30 seconds from the end of the video - whether it was cut out of a drinks can and taped to the end of a stick.

 

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Thank you for your comprehensive reply :)

 

I have some of the double ended Zig markers, and most of them write quite well, but I think a few of them were old stock (probably why they were on sale) and are a bit streaky/can't do many letters in a row. These markers are a simple way to have access to lots of colours.

 

Even though I have a few Shaeffer calligraphy pens in my pencil case, along with the Parallel Pens, I always go for the latter because writing with them is such a pleasure.

 

I do like that a couple of less modern calligraphy books I have talk about making your own calligraphy tools - one suggests using the bamboo sticks from gardening shops for staking plants (or from your garden) - or any wooden stick if you don't have access to bamboo. It also mentions using cardboard and silver foil for making larger brushes/pens. I should have realised from that that anything that puts down ink is a valid tool.

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  • 5 weeks later...

 

Calligraphers tend not to worry about whether something has a gold nib, whether the nib was made in-house, or even - 30 seconds from the end of the video - whether it was cut out of a drinks can and taped to the end of a stick.

 

I am starting to feel the same way. If have a Pelikan M205 and a Pelikan M200 equipped with 0.7mm and 0.9mm nibs respectively. I was saving for an M400 with an italic nib from John Mottishaw but have since become undecided. It all happened after I started to use the wider nibs of my Manuscript pen. I have used the money saved to buy a drawing table. The way I feel about it is whenever we see a great photo, we tend to appreciate the beauty of the photo first rather than asking ourselves what camera or lens were used.

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I think it's a matter of producing the work regardless of the tools. The same goes in the photography world. The final product is what matters, not the tools used. When we hire a tradesman to fix something in our house, we don't start by asking what tools he/she uses :-)

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  • 6 months later...

I would not normally comment an an older post like this, but one of the comments about what tool was used towards the end of the video is bothering me. SO, for those who may happen upon this thread and think that the person in this video was using a taped together cut out from a can: no, he was not.

 

The tool used at about 30 seconds from the end of the video (right before the quill) is called a horizon pen (a.k.a. folded horizon pen, a.k.a. horizon folded pen), and while he does not use it very effectively or even properly, it is a legitimate calligraphy tool.

 

I agree with the previous poster, that it is the end result rather than the tools that are used which matter, but a knowledge of the tools available is essential. If you are going to use the tools, then you should know what those tools are and how they are used to produce a result.

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No worries, I just wanted to make sure that folks know what the tool is. I was only annoyed by the comment because I found my daughter attempting to cut up a can so that she could make a pen "like the one in the video"...I took my tin cutters away and handed her a horizon pen instead.

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