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redbike

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My college age son is interested in calligraphy. By that he means greater line variation vs. a specific style. He's left handed and his handwriting is not great. But right now he has the interest and time to work on it. I have a number of fountain pens, including a few with flexible nibs. But I'm a fast writer and really don't try for much line variation when I write, so I'm not able to teach him much. I'm looking for recommendations on what he can buy pen and nib wise that he can use for this new interest. Also suitable paper that's readily available. Thanks very much.

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  • redbike

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Good for him! Fountain pens, even those with tips that are thought of as being “flexible”, are simply not able to produce the greatly varied thicks and thins that can be produced by a dip pen. These varied line widths are what make calligraphy distinctive and beautiful. I have taught some calligraphy, and since he evidently wants to use his own style, I would recommend a simple dip pen holder, a “blue pumpkin” (a Brause Steno 361) nib and Moon Palace black calligraphy ink. You will hear of many other favorites, but this nib is smooth and scratches less than many other nibs. The MP ink is easily washable and feathers less than many other inks. He should use a superior grade ink jet paper, as it is inexpensive, smooth and unlikely to feather. I use and recommend “Hammermill 32 lb Premium Color Copy Paper.” Notebook paper or inexpensive printer paper will not work. There are many You Tube videos showing how to properly load and use a dip pen. These are my recommendations for beginners. You can find these and the following online on Amazon, Paper and Ink Arts, or John Neal Bookseller. If he is interested in Copperplate script, he should get an “oblique” holder to hold the pen at an angle easier for script writing. For Italic, I start my students with the 2.4 mm parallel pen, but there are modifications on Italic that use a dip pen. If he prefers printing, he should try that. Let me know if you have more questions! I have a lot of calligraphy info on my Pinterest site.

Edited by galem
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It should perhaps be emphasized that "calligraphy" tends to encompass to classes of pens.

 

Pointed/flex nibs used for Spencerian, Copperplate, and related hands. Variation is obtained by changing the pressure against the paper to spread the tines of the nib.

 

Flat/broad/stiff nibs used for Uncial, Black Letter/Gothic, Italic, et al. Variation is obtained by the /angle/ of the nib to the stroke direction

///////// (horizontal stroke)

looks thicker than

/
/
/
/
/
/  (vertical stroke)

and thinnest is

     /
    /
   /
  /
 /
/  (diagonal stroke)


 

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Thanks very much to you both for your helpful responses. He is excited to try this out. And I am excited for him, having tried unsuccessfully years ago to introduce him to fountain pens.

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As a lefty, I'll ask:

Does he write overhand, sidehand or underhand? Basically, where is his writing hand in relation to his line of writing?

 

If he writes underhand, and wants to learn flex writing, then, like galem said, a dip nib holder with a brause blue pumpkin nib would be a good start.

 

If he write overhand or sidehand, or doesn't care to learn flex, then a cursive italic nib would give line variation to standard writing and also be useful to start learning italic or other directional writing forms.

Rather than the Pilot Parallel, I'd suggest a Pilot Plumix or Pluminix, or a Pilot Metro or Prera with the cursive italic nib. That nib is wide enough for line variation and curved enough on the edges to be used for daily writing.

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As a lefty, I'll ask:

Does he write overhand, sidehand or underhand? Basically, where is his writing hand in relation to his line of writing?

 

If he writes underhand, and wants to learn flex writing, then, like galem said, a dip nib holder with a brause blue pumpkin nib would be a good start.

 

If he write overhand or sidehand, or doesn't care to learn flex, then a cursive italic nib would give line variation to standard writing and also be useful to start learning italic or other directional writing forms.

Rather than the Pilot Parallel, I'd suggest a Pilot Plumix or Pluminix, or a Pilot Metro or Prera with the cursive italic nib. That nib is wide enough for line variation and curved enough on the edges to be used for daily writing.

Frankly, I'm not sure how he writes and I'd need to see pictures of those hand positions in order to definitively say. I tried searching, but with unclear results. Do you have any links which show the positions you mention? Thanks very much.

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Ask him. Describe it this way:

 

Underwriting is what most rightys and some leftys do. They write with their hand below the line they're writing on the page.

This is the hand position needed to flex a nib since the writer pulls down on a nib to get line variation.

So your son would need to be/or need to learn to be an underwriter to use a flex nib for writing.

 

Lefty sidewriters and overwriters run their hand across the words as they write. At some point some teacher(s) complained about smeared writing.

I do this. I still use flex nibs to write because I like the bounce. But I can't flex the nib for line variation.

Instead, for line variation, I write with cursive italic, italic or stub nibs.

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This is a good video for left handed calligraphy...

 

 

Yes!

The first example is a lefty sidewriter position using an adaptive holder for a flex nib.

A writer doing this would move their hand across the line of writing.

 

Then he moves on to his own style which is lefty underwriter.

His hand is below the line of writing.

 

Beautiful writing.

Edited by cattar
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Belated comment: IF a left-handed underwriter, I don't think an "oblique" nib holder would be required. A left-hander would already have a straight nib holder aligned in the / direction, while a right-hander would use one to compensate for having the holder shaft held \ direction, the oblique then puts the nib /.

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Thanks for this additional input. He decided to wait on ordering a dip pen and nibs so he could try out a Waterman Hemisphere I have that has a CI nib ground by Letta at Pendemonium. I showed him how to obtain line variation using that pen. He writes slowly, which helps. And he certainly has the time to practice! Better yet, he has friends who use fountain pens, and one uses wax seals on her envelopes!

 

Thanks again for the helpful recommendations.

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