Using my new dip nibs

[bigstick]

The least I can do for someone who led me to "newt's knickers".

[Bo Bo Olson]

Boil off factory grease and grease it up with my fingers....wonderful.

 

Surgeon's latex gloves, to handle the nibs....and no inky fingers.. ...Murphy says you will wipe your fingers on your shirt for the first time in years, with damp ink from the rubbers stamp latex, or chase an itch around your face.

 

No wonder everyone had so many pen holders....

 

Thanks folks , most of it copied to a new file.

 

I'm going to give my Pelikan Brilliant Black (my only black) a try...it has been sitting there since I opened the bottle, dipped a fountain pen and said, yep, a brilliant black, and closed up the bottle...not needing a black ink for anything I could think of.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Bo Bo Olson

[stonezebra]

Does licking a quill pen work as well? May have to buy different ink for it too.... No wonder all I ever get is blobs and other inky messes. Very discouraging. Thanks for the tips all!

[ZeissIkon]

Does licking a quill pen work as well? May have to buy different ink for it too.... No wonder all I ever get is blobs and other inky messes. Very discouraging. Thanks for the tips all!

 

I haven't used a quill, so I'm guessing, but I'd expect whatever is in saliva to work equally well on a feather quill as on steel. If you're using fountain pen ink, that's the rest of the problem -- try an ink with some gum arabic in it (India ink and similarly formulated colored "calligraphy" or drawing inks, for instance, or an iron-gall ink similar to Old World), it'll stay in the pen better, make nicer hairlines, and the pigment (carbon black, various colored pigments, or ferrous gallate/tannate) is more fade resistant than most dyes used in fountain pen inks.

[stonezebra]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to look for some new ink...

[lpanades]

I use an inespensive solution.

My father uses insulin and the insulin syringe has a cap in it's back and it is a nice ink reservoir to dip your nibs in. the exact wide of the nibs and the perfect lenght too.

 

I normaly write with dip nibs and commonly use regular fountain pen ink to write but I add some glue to add thickness, it's a kind go arabic gum but not so expensive but not so nice like the original, it's called vegetable gum. Using it i can thicken the ink and how much I do it more the ink last in the pen so I write a lot before has to re-dip the nib in the ink reservoir, this way i get so fine hairlines too.

 

Sharpening.

I use 2 ceramic pieces to sharpen the nibs if they get dull. One is and old fusible of ceramic and the other is a porcelain tile. The fusible has a rough texture so normaly i use it to grind the sides of the nib and the tile to grind the tip. To soften the nib tip i normally put it over the porcelain tile and my tumb together than i twist the nib using my tumb secure the nib in the middle side of it's nail, this does the nib turn in it's point without being drag sideways. I have a lot of expertise in sharpening knifes so doing it on nibs is not so dificult.

Some attention must be payed if the nib begins to scratching the paper, normaly it is not cause it is too much shapen but cause it has one of it's legs longer than the other.

When sharpening a nib use a bit of glicerin, if you have, or whater to lub the process and it gets easier done.

If your nib is too much dull you can use a Dremel tool to sharpen it but pay attention specially on the direction in which the disc is turning, ever use it with the disc friction pulling the nib or you can knead the nib leg.

Sharpen nibs did you hand so light and it is good for caligraphy if you have the right hand position. But sometimes they scratch a bit the paper and the ink must be thinken or it will transpass the paper.

[Chevalier]

I am sharpening the nibs with superfine Arkansas stones. Getting a pointed nib sharp again is a matter of luck, because it depends on many different factors, that change from nib to nib (same is true for the durability). The most important point is the use of shaded strokes, never do them too broad for your nib. The old masters have build up the extremely broad shades with multiple downstrokes.

 

One thing that helped me a lot saving lots of pointed nibs ... I used a quite flexible pointed nib with a fine bend tip (I don't know what they are called in English, but the German name is Kugelspitzfeder or Gleichzugfeder), during most of my pointed pen practice sessions. The hairlines aren't as fine, but the nib seems to last forever. It takes some time to get used to the difference of writing with a plain pointed nib, but the saving lots of good nibs is imho worth the incommodities.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Copied this again....I've gotten a couple of the Soennecken wet noodles, and some others with some flex.

 

So I can start trying.

 

I am glad I found a use for my Waterman Florida Blue.

[akugluk]

Some great ideas here. Two things that I've done recently:

 

As an experiment I tried saving some left over sumi ink that I'd ground, and two weeks later it is still perfectly usable. I've stored itu in a Tiny little ink jar I had.. probably no more than 1/4 oz. size. It seals well, is a perfect size for dipping, and I've had no trouble at all with the ink. I expect it'll go rancid eventually, but no sign of that so far. I like the stick ink much better than the bottle (not for any practical reason other than the amount of control I have over the ink shade.) Not having to grind it every time i want to sketch with it has definitely increased motivation- and mobility.

 

Second, I've delved into the world of grinding nibs. Had a hunt 102 nib where one of the tines had completely broken off (probably during a move) and rather than toss it I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what i could do with it. Broke the other off even, and ground it to a slightly rounded stub. It's not an ideal shape, but I've found that it gives some interesting effects to my handwriting. (unpredictability may not be high on the list of merits most people want in a pen... but i like it)

 

For cleaning, I've got a piece of tissue, a shot glass of water and a small squirt bottle of alcohol on my writing tray. I'll wipe, dip in water and wipe again to get the stubborn ink. Alcohol is for starting if the ink isn't flowing well. I only have a couple holders, and am never very careful about touching the nibs, so i find it easier to just give them a wipe down at the beginning.

[jbb]

Some great ideas here. Two things that I've done recently:

 

As an experiment I tried saving some left over sumi ink that I'd ground, and two weeks later it is still perfectly usable. I've stored itu in a Tiny little ink jar I had.. probably no more than 1/4 oz. size. It seals well, is a perfect size for dipping, and I've had no trouble at all with the ink. I expect it'll go rancid eventually, but no sign of that so far. I like the stick ink much better than the bottle (not for any practical reason other than the amount of control I have over the ink shade.) Not having to grind it every time i want to sketch with it has definitely increased motivation- and mobility.

 

Second, I've delved into the world of grinding nibs. Had a hunt 102 nib where one of the tines had completely broken off (probably during a move) and rather than toss it I figured it wouldn't hurt to see what i could do with it. Broke the other off even, and ground it to a slightly rounded stub. It's not an ideal shape, but I've found that it gives some interesting effects to my handwriting. (unpredictability may not be high on the list of merits most people want in a pen... but i like it)

 

For cleaning, I've got a piece of tissue, a shot glass of water and a small squirt bottle of alcohol on my writing tray. I'll wipe, dip in water and wipe again to get the stubborn ink. Alcohol is for starting if the ink isn't flowing well. I only have a couple holders, and am never very careful about touching the nibs, so i find it easier to just give them a wipe down at the beginning.

 

Thanks for sharing these ideas.