The Manuscript Pens- The Best Performance Per Price

[Myles_Ink_Calligraphy]

Today I would like to review one of my commonly used pens in my lettering/ calligraphy works: The Manuscript pens.

The Manuscript Company has developed a very phenomenal calligraphy tool commonly seen on many art supplies stores. Almost every art supplies carry these pens, as well as some department stores. Therefore, this pen is a very typical, affordable and a cheap pen, but what this pen can do will surprise you.

Nib/ Nibs- 7.9/10

Comfort- 8.2/10

Flow- 7.6/10

Design- 6.8/10

Price- 9.4/10

Recommended for: Lettering/ Calligraphy artists, fancy notetakers, and beginners

The pen comes with series of 5 nibs, varying from Fine to 4B. All nibs are italic ground, which means that the nib is cut very sharp and square. In calligraphic terms, the Manuscript pen is a broad edge pen. Broad edge pens will produce artistic line variation which will graduate from thin to thick lines. However, broad edge pens may give you the calligraphic strokes you desire, but it will not give smooth writing experiences like an iridium-tipped 24k two-toned Montblanc. For that reason, some fountain pen users will complain that this pen is almost impossible for daily writing. However, this pen works beautifully for calligraphic purposes and if you wish to see some exemplary, click on the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKyjqGdmC2k&t=27s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kA7mRrac4A

In regard to its writing quality, this pen has many ups and downs. The nib is very sharp and functional. It near-perfectly replicates a dip nib. When used for some veteran years, the nib will smoothen down and make lesser fine hairlines. The flow is dry enough to create sharp italic edges. If you find the flow too dry, you can easily remove the nib and the feed and create an incision along the ink channel to increase the flow. Sometimes, the nib cannot keep up with my writing speed and skips. If this occurs, the fine edges and cuts of a script may lose character. Do not expect this pen for quick and agile scripts like Spencerian or the Business.

On the other hand, this is a very functional pen for beginning and intermediate calligraphers. It's a common cartridge converter pen, which is very convenient for beginners and masters alike. Standard international cartridges are accepted and a variety of different inks can experiment with a cartridge converter. If you're new to fountain pens, you can explore the pen easily as the nib and the feed can be separated with a gentle tug. With this process, you can also swap with 5 different nibs included in the purchase. I typically only use 1 nib section and 1 feed and just rotate the nibs, and this saves a lot of time compared to sticking a cartridge to a fresh feed. Furthermore, this pen is very durable, I carried these pens to school for 3 years since Grade 7 and it was never damaged despite all clumsy schoolchildren that I usually accompany. I think that Manuscript made the perfect tool that was aimed at the calligraphy market and it makes sense that they are seen everywhere. This pen is near perfect for any person who never tried calligraphy and it surely gives them a very hands-on experience.

Another thing I wish to mention is that they are very affordable. They were my first pen I purchased when I scraped my lunch money. I took a store discount and bought their kit for around CDN $17. The pen is equivalent to the cost of a quality ink bottle or 2 Lamy nib replacements. At this price, it really convinces anyone to try if you want to try Broad- Edge scripts. Furthermore, when my nib wasn't performing well, I contacted their Q&A and asked for a replacement. They sent me one without a cost. I am not trying to advertise Manuscript, but it is hard for me to not be their fan.

[Myles_Ink_Calligraphy]

Hey FPN Users! I am trying to upload an image for this post. Can someone please tell me how to use this technology? This is so much harder than Instagram

[antichresis]

If you have the photos hosted on another site click the picture frame on the second row of the toolbar. This is after the subscript/superscript buttons and the hyperlink buttons. If you have it in your computer, click "Use Full Editor" bottom your text box. This leads you to another page with "Browse..." on the bottom left of your text box. Click browse, look for your file, then click "Attach This File" to upload.

Edited April 14, 2017 by antichresis

[GeneralSynopsis]

There are more nibs available for Manuscript Classic and Dodec than the five that come in a standard 5 nib set. The Cult pens page for replacement nibs has 15 different options. In the not very distant past there was also a sketch/music nib option (it was not a three tine music nib more of a soft-er fine italic) one of my favorite nibs. I have one in my Parsons Essential.

 

Suitability for every-day writing also depends on the user. I have used them that way (particularly pens with the sketch/music nib). But then I did my A-levels (Maths, Maths and Physics) and 1st year at university using an Osmiroid 75 with an italic point as my main pen.

 

There is also a butterfly nib for the Dodec, which will fit the classic as well.

Edited April 14, 2017 by GeneralSynopsis

[Myles_Ink_Calligraphy]

These are some of the kits widely available from many different stores. You may find different nibs from their Nib Service. It is my pursuit to purchase all their unique nibs such as the Scroll.

Edited April 15, 2017 by Myles_Ink_Calligraphy

[overwriter]

My wife and I were at Michael's a couple of years ago at Christmas buying wrapping paper, tags, ribbon, and scotch tape. She saw one of these, it was so cheap, and bought it. It wrote and still writes, very well. She made beautiful tags for the presents with it.