Stipula Nibs

[RudyR]

So......

I touched a Stipula Etruria (amber) then held it in the light and was immediately struck by the wonderful material it was made of . What I found also was that it sported a nice 1.1 nib. Question: Is the nib a stub or is it a true Italic nib? I have been playing with a 1.1 Lamy nib and was stuck by how nice the nib on the Stipula performed. It felt so well on dry test that at first I thought it was a medium. Anyone have more info on the 1.1 or 1.3 nib?

[Strang]

I have a Stipula Novecento black with rose gold trim which has a factory 0.9 stub. But I've had others like a 1.1 Guadi which was definitely an italic. I think they made both stubs and italics at different times. I may be wrong though.

[raging.dragon]

Are Stipula italic nibs cursive italics or crisp italics? If cursive it wouldn't surprise me if their italic and stubs were identical and they just used different terms at different times. I don't think there's any standard for differentiating a stub from a cursive italic, only that if a company is offering both at the same time the cursive italic will have more line variation (due to writing finer horizontally).

[elderberry]

I have two Stipula 1.1 italics, a steel one on the Passaporto and a gold one on the DaVinci. They're both very nice, smooth nibs with good line variation. If they really are crisp italics I couldn't say, probably not since they are not very picky considering the writing angle etc. Especially the steel one was great right out of the box, the gold italic needed some tweaking by John Sorowka and is now equally beautiful.

 

[wimg]

Actually, it depends on one's definition. A stub really is a word used in the far past as a synonym for an italic. However, with the renaissance of fountain pens as an enthousiast device , one or more decades ago, and the renewed interest in all kinds of nibs, the term stub was redefined to some degree, as being an italic with not a lot of variation, which is easy to write with. To me that means that it is a rounded italic, with a line variation factor (LVF) of less than 2, i.e., the vertical/horizontal line width variation factor. Anything more than 2, and I'd call it an italic.

 

From that POV, all Stipula italics, 0.9, 1,1 and 1.3, are essentially italics. The smallest LVF I have come across is 2.6 for a 0.9 italic (0.9 mm / 0.35 mm), although they will go to an LVF of 3 (0.9 mm / 0.3 mm) straight from the factory.

 

I have also found that different production runs have resulted in different categories of roundedness of these nibs, from very sharp to nicely rounded. Having said that, due to its relatively small LVF, the 0.9 italic has always been the easiest nib of all Stpula italics to write with, as it obviously is much more forgiving than the wider italics when it comes to tip positioning on the paper when wrting.

 

I also found that Stipula nibs are very true to their indicated nib width. A 0.9 really writes a vertical line of 0.9 mm, a 1.1 of 1.1 mm, etc. Obviously it depends a bit on the ink used, but measuring with Waterman Blue Black they are very true to these widths.

 

As to sharpness of nibs: I think it is an overengineered definition. Crisp, rounded, sharp, etc. really only need to depend on the width of the horizontal stroke, and from 0.2 mm it becomes a little hard to make it well rounded and still have an edge sharp enough to maintain a 0.2 mm stroke or less for that matter. Beyond, i.e., narrower, than 0.2 mm, and a nib becomes a paper cutter, and hence hard to write with. The wider the nib, th emore difficult it becomes to write with it, especially at any speed.

 

Warm regards, Wim

[RMN]

Actually, it depends on one's definition. A stub really is a word used in the far past as a synonym for an italic. However, with the renaissance of fountain pens as an enthousiast device , one or more decades ago, and the renewed interest in all kinds of nibs, the term stub was redefined to some degree, as being an italic with not a lot of variation, which is easy to write with. To me that means that it is a rounded italic, with a line variation factor (LVF) of less than 2, i.e., the vertical/horizontal line width variation factor. Anything more than 2, and I'd call it an italic.

 

From that POV, all Stipula italics, 0.9, 1,1 and 1.3, are essentially italics. The smallest LVF I have come across is 2.6 for a 0.9 italic (0.9 mm / 0.35 mm), although they will go to an LVF of 3 (0.9 mm / 0.3 mm) straight from the factory.

 

I have also found that different production runs have resulted in different categories of roundedness of these nibs, from very sharp to nicely rounded. Having said that, due to its relatively small LVF, the 0.9 italic has always been the easiest nib of all Stpula italics to write with, as it obviously is much more forgiving than the wider italics when it comes to tip positioning on the paper when wrting.

 

I also found that Stipula nibs are very true to their indicated nib width. A 0.9 really writes a vertical line of 0.9 mm, a 1.1 of 1.1 mm, etc. Obviously it depends a bit on the ink used, but measuring with Waterman Blue Black they are very true to these widths.

 

As to sharpness of nibs: I think it is an overengineered definition. Crisp, rounded, sharp, etc. really only need to depend on the width of the horizontal stroke, and from 0.2 mm it becomes a little hard to make it well rounded and still have an edge sharp enough to maintain a 0.2 mm stroke or less for that matter. Beyond, i.e., narrower, than 0.2 mm, and a nib becomes a paper cutter, and hence hard to write with. The wider the nib, th emore difficult it becomes to write with it, especially at any speed.

 

Warm regards, Wim

 

You mention 1.3 italics for Stipula. I did not know these existed. Is that an item from long bygone, or are thes still to be ordered?

 

I now have their .9 (18k) and 1.1 (actually 2, steel and 14k), so a 1.3 would be interesting. Would tha be a gold or a steel nib?

 

D.ick

Edited August 6, 2012 by RMN

[georges zaslavsky]

whether stubs or italics, stipula nibs write outstandingly well

Edited August 6, 2012 by georges zaslavsky

[wimg]

Actually, it depends on one's definition. A stub really is a word used in the far past as a synonym for an italic. However, with the renaissance of fountain pens as an enthousiast device , one or more decades ago, and the renewed interest in all kinds of nibs, the term stub was redefined to some degree, as being an italic with not a lot of variation, which is easy to write with. To me that means that it is a rounded italic, with a line variation factor (LVF) of less than 2, i.e., the vertical/horizontal line width variation factor. Anything more than 2, and I'd call it an italic.

 

From that POV, all Stipula italics, 0.9, 1,1 and 1.3, are essentially italics. The smallest LVF I have come across is 2.6 for a 0.9 italic (0.9 mm / 0.35 mm), although they will go to an LVF of 3 (0.9 mm / 0.3 mm) straight from the factory.

 

I have also found that different production runs have resulted in different categories of roundedness of these nibs, from very sharp to nicely rounded. Having said that, due to its relatively small LVF, the 0.9 italic has always been the easiest nib of all Stpula italics to write with, as it obviously is much more forgiving than the wider italics when it comes to tip positioning on the paper when wrting.

 

I also found that Stipula nibs are very true to their indicated nib width. A 0.9 really writes a vertical line of 0.9 mm, a 1.1 of 1.1 mm, etc. Obviously it depends a bit on the ink used, but measuring with Waterman Blue Black they are very true to these widths.

 

As to sharpness of nibs: I think it is an overengineered definition. Crisp, rounded, sharp, etc. really only need to depend on the width of the horizontal stroke, and from 0.2 mm it becomes a little hard to make it well rounded and still have an edge sharp enough to maintain a 0.2 mm stroke or less for that matter. Beyond, i.e., narrower, than 0.2 mm, and a nib becomes a paper cutter, and hence hard to write with. The wider the nib, th emore difficult it becomes to write with it, especially at any speed.

 

Warm regards, Wim

 

You mention 1.3 italics for Stipula. I did not know these existed. Is that an item from long bygone, or are thes still to be ordered?

 

I now have their .9 (18k) and 1.1 (actually 2, steel and 14k), so a 1.3 would be interesting. Would tha be a gold or a steel nib?

 

D.ick

Those were the gold nibs they discontinued several years ago, unfortunately. I do own a few pens with 1.1 italics .

 

Warm regards, Wim

[wimg]

whether stubs or italics, stipula nibs write outstandingly well

I wholeheartedly agree .

 

Warm regards, Wim