The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[fpupulin]

The short answer is: 7-8 tenths of a second. I imagine individual nib responses may vary, but in the case of my two 149 Calligraphy pens, it's practically identical.

7-8 tenths of a second is a short time, but not short enough to be avoided, allowing you to complete a downstroke, execute an upstroke, and transition from a broad stroke to a thin stroke instantly.

To achieve the broad-thin effect, when the downstroke is complete, the nib must be lifted from the paper for less than a second, so that the curve can be executed with the tines closed and the ink flow already pushed back between the prongs.

In the following photograph, I attempted to draw some letters as they appear in their final version, and, next to some of them, the different strokes they consist of. Between one stroke and the next, the nib is lifted from the paper.

 

For the ovals, I first draw a short, thin upper stroke of the right curve, and without lifting the nib, I draw the shadow curve. Then I lift the nib and continue along the right curve, from bottom to top, until I reach the upper edge of the curve, which I had already drawn at the beginning.

 

For the capital letter "A," the nib is never lifted except to draw the small central stroke.

 

I hope I haven't been too confusing in my explanation.

 

 

I should point out that, once I have learned this technique, it's also the best with all the other pointed-nib pens suitable for calligraphy I own, including the beautiful vintage Omas pens with their super-flexible Extra and Extra Lucens nibs.

[Vintage_BE]

On 12/3/2025 at 3:20 PM, Nick T said:

@Vintage_BE thank you so much for the link! I am intrigued by the process and will give this a go. Cheers!

Walnut husks in Europe (where I live) can be found under the trees somewhere between the end of August and mid October.  So my next brew is scheduled for October 2026. Many art supply stores sell « walnut » crystals (to be mixed with water). I suspect these are not really made from walnut husks but instead from peat (see https://www.cremonatools.com/mordente-noce-100gr-546761.html).

[Opooh]

On 12/6/2025 at 1:38 PM, Vintage_BE said:

Walnut husks in Europe (where I live) can be found under the trees somewhere between the end of August and mid October.  So my next brew is scheduled for October 2026. Many art supply stores sell « walnut » crystals (to be mixed with water). I suspect these are not really made from walnut husks but instead from peat (see https://www.cremonatools.com/mordente-noce-100gr-546761.html).

You can also try with the bulbs of wild chesnuts. It all is very tempting but I stay with the “ regular brands “ for my Montblancs.

 

[fpupulin]

Tranquillity of Sunday morning with my 149 Calligraphy... 

 

[ak47]

Your writing is a pleasure.

This time which ink did you use?

[fpupulin]

@ak47, this is Lamy Rhodonite, of their series of "crystal inks". I also have another magenta color in the same series, the "Beryl", which I perhaps prefer because it is a bit darker and more saturated, while "Rhodonite" is pinker and brighter.

 

But then again, why use magenta ink if not to make it shine?

 

Often, when I finish a charge of ink and wash my pen, before refilling it with the same ink or changing it for another, I let it play a little by dipping it in colors that I use less but that I nevertheless like to put to work on the paper from time to time.

 

Below, for comparison, is the Lamy "Beryl", although, alas, without the 149...

 

 

 

[fpupulin]

Today I tried a new lighting scheme, which aims to eliminate the dark line that usually forms along the longitudinal axis of the nib, caused by the reflection of the dark lens and camera.

 

To achieve this, I photograph through the hole in a translucent cone that "covers" the scene. Even so, however, the dark shadow of the camera remains slightly visible. A dear photographer friend and pen enthusiast, Giuseppe Nuzzo Corso (or Blackletters as his nickname), taught me that by directly illuminating the top of the cone, the reflection disappears.

 

Here is the result.

 

 

And a shot of the new lighting scheme.

 

[Christopher Godfrey]

Franco, is the main spotlight discharged or synchronised by a slave on the camera?  Super set-up!

[fpupulin]

Dear @Christopher Godfrey, the spotlight is synchronized as a slave of the main light on the left. I can, however, select the output intensity of both flashes independently, so to produce a bit more of shadow on the side opposite to the spotlight and improve three-dimensionality of the set.

[fpupulin]

A few years ago, a dear friend brought me a gift from France of various types of handmade paper, from an artisanal paper mill called Moulin Larroque, located near Bergerac. Because these beautiful papers use few chemical preservatives, the high humidity in my area sometimes causes foxing and browning to appear on the beautiful handmade sheets.

 

Since I truly love paper, I don't worry about it, because these stains give to the sheets a worn, aged look, which sometimes suits certain projects.

 

In this case, I used one of these sheets with light browning for the Christmas greetings dedicated to all the friends of this thread, focused on 149 Calligraphy.

 

I used two Montblanc inks. The "Corn Poppy Red" needs no presentations, as it is and behaves as a rich, joyful, pure and vibrant red. The other ink is much more mysterious and complex to me. It is a "Brown" from the Around the World in 80 Days series, but I imagine anyone would have a hard time defining it a true brown color. It is, basically, a dark grey, but with a barely perceptible blue-green undertone (nothing comparable to the true Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris, which is much lighter), not at all brown in my opinion but also with a unique elegance that I rarely find in other inks.

 

Even when the pen is only used for dipping, the 149's efficient feeder creates capillary action that allows some of the ink to penetrate the barrel, and you can quickly notice the window taking on the color of the ink in use. To prevent the inks from mixing, I therefore had to thoroughly rinse the pen between inks by sliding the piston back and forth until the water came out reasonably clear.

 

 

On the right of the card is figured a rare orchid, Aerangis spiculata, today truly threatened with extinction in its native habitats in the islands of the Indian Ocean. It reminds me of a flock of white birds that have just taken flight.

 

Season's Greetings to all!

[Scribs]

Thank you Franco!! These images are easily the nicest I've seen this season, and I doubt I'll come across anything that compares. We truly are blessed with the images you create and share here.

 

I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and New Year, may it be a healthy time. I extend the greeting to everyone else here, albeit it in a much less aesthetically enriching manner as Franco's.

[Uncial]

Are the Aerangis flowers spurred?

[fpupulin]

On 12/18/2025 at 6:26 PM, Uncial said:

Are the Aerangis flowers spurred?

 

@Uncial, yes, species of Aerangis, as most of the Angraecinae - which are widely distributed in the African continent, Madagascar and the island of the Indian Ocean, and rarer in the American tropics -  do have a spur. It contains nectar at the bottom, and it is very variable in size. Apparently, the size of the nectar spur played a crucial role in the speciation of the group, acting as a selection mechanism to attract only those nocturnal moths - the natural pollinator of Arerangis -  that have proboscises the precise length to fit the spur and attain the nectar. 

[Scribs]

5 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

@Uncial, yes, species of Aerangis, as most of the Angraecinae - which are widely distributed in the African continent, Madagascar and the island of the Indian Ocean, and rarer in the American tropics -  do have a spur. It contains nectar at the bottom, and it is very variable in size. Apparently, the size of the nectar spur played a crucial role in the speciation of the group, acting as a selection mechanism to attract only those nocturnal moths - the natural pollinator of Arerangis -  that have proboscises the precise length to fit the spur and attain the nectar. 

 

How do plants know which moth to attract, and then have all the specifics to make sure only that moth can get access to the goods? I suppose there must be some cosmic wikipedia or something... Or do you know Franco?

[Uncial]

Ah yes; Darwin and the large star orchid. I can place it now.

Thank you, I wasn't sure from the photograph if it was greenish aerial roots or spurs.

[fpupulin]

@Scribs, the more generalized attraction syndrome likely relies on more general signals, effective for a certain number of moths, such as white flowers, which are easier to spot at night, and scents to which moths are notoriously sensitive because they act as pheromones. Some of these volatile compounds, which mimic chemical attractants for nocturnal sphinx moths—the effective pollinators of Aerangis—have already been identified. Now, species with shorter spurs can be visited by a large number of moth species with proboscises of different lengths, but visiting those flowers can easily prove a wasted effort, as the nectar may have already been consumed by other moths with shorter proboscises. Spurs of the "exact length" suffer from less competition, and this facilitates the fidelity of moths with proboscises of that same "exact length." It is one of those highly specific coevolutionary relationships that have fascinated scientists since Darwin's time.

[fpupulin]

[Deleted. Posted in the wrong thread]...

[fpupulin]

As those who follow this thread have abundantly seen, I mostly ask my 149 Calligraphy to produce scripts (like the Copperplate), in which I want the shadows to be darker than the thin strokes, but within a certain limit, say, with a thickness about twice that of the highlights. In this way, the Cursive do has variations between "light and shadow," but at the same time it maintains a light appearance, which is the type of script I prefer.

 

Now, and this is a topic I've rarely touched on, the ability of a pen to produce thin and very broad strokes is certainly a required quality of a flexible nib, but it represents only one component of a quality nib. From my perspective, another essential quality is the ability to produce lines of intermediate thickness that have a certain consistency, responding in a measured—and I would almost say exact—way to a moderate amount of pressure from the hand.

 

When talking about 149 Calligraphy, it's usually stated that the stroke can vary from 0.3 mm (EF) to about 1.6 mm (BB) in thickness. But this doesn't mean that the "width" of this variation must always be used to its maximum. In fact, both my 149 Calligraphy pens allow me to maintain the two "extremes" of the variation I desire almost constant, simply by varying the intensity of the maximum pressure of the hand.

 

Here I am showing what exactly I means. The word “Francus” and the single letters on the left are written applying to the nib from zero to a light mid-pressure. On the right, the same word and the letters are written with pressure from zero to close to the maximum allowed by the nib. So you may have from the same nib a “gentle”, subtle cursive, or a bold, engrossed script. 

 

This is a lot of control for a pen.

 

 

[fpupulin]

And below is a test of the 149 Calligraphy in Engrossed Cursive, a text long enough to appreciate the pen's consistent behavior as it approaches the nib's maximum flexibility.

 

 

As we've commented on other occasions, beyond the nib's maximum flex, the tip of the feeder touches the paper, at least when using a writing angle around 45 degrees. The feeder's contact serves both as a warning not to overdo the pressure and as a protection for the tines from excessive pressure that could damage them.

 

As you can see from the photograph, nowhere in the text is there a trace of the thin lateral line that the feeder leaves on the paper when the maximum permitted pressure is exceeded. This indicates that the Calligraphy nib is probably capable of an Engrossed writing with slightly more bold strokes.

[Opooh]

@fpupulin yet another masterpiece, although I prefer Comme d’habitude by Claude Francois. Yeah, yesterday when I was young.