Hello From A Newbie In The Uk

[jeremiah.l.burns]

Hi boys & girls,

 

I'm pretty much brand new to the art of formal writing. I'm a tech geek at heart and have always gotten by on my typing skills rather than my handwriting skills.

 

That said, I've got very limited experience with calligraphy, which I did for a semester in high-school (about 15 years ago!)and enjoyed very much.

 

Additionally, I've had a live-long (since about the age of 4) love of the works of Tolkien, and as such interest in the languages and scripts he utilized come naturally. (no bonus points offered for pointing out the nerd)

 

This all goes a long way to saying that I've recently begun playing around with an extremely inexpensive (£2) calligraphy set I found at the local discount book shop. It included a single barrel, 3 nibs, 3 small ink tubes (or whatever they're called) and a pump.

 

It was so inexpensive that it came with absolutely zero instructions and I tried utilizing the pump and one of the plastic ink tubes in combination. Fortunately, this was over the kitchen sink as I had no confidence in my guess.

 

One wasted tube of ink and very blue fingers later, I figured out how to insert the tube into the pen via a YouTube video.

 

I spent the next hour or two practising and thoroughly enjoying myself, when the ink began to run out. It was only a small tube, after all.

 

After some practice I seemed to be (sort of) getting the hang of how to hold the pen to achieve the desired effect, but I am also wondering if I need a wider nib as well.

 

As I didn't exactly break the bank on my current pen, and as I've only 1 "tester tube" remaining anyway, my question is this: where do you lovely people think I should go from here? I've no idea what nibs might be available for my essentially brandless pen, and I don't want to splurge on something really expensive and wonderful if it's not going to be fit for purpose, or if this spark of interest fizzles out in a week.

 

Incidentally, if you want to take a look at my first attempts (and laugh heartily at my failure) you can do so at the below links:

http://goo.gl/Vzbrd

http://goo.gl/hxoJL

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

-Jerry

[Stompie]

Hello and Welcome from Filkins!

 

Get yourself a bottle of fountain pen ink and a syringe - you can then fill up the little cartridges whenever you want to!

 

Goulet pens sell syringes with a needle - cause the pharmacist here won't sell you needles! - and I don't know if Scribblers here in the UK do or J and T Art maybe??

[Stompie]

If your hand is hurting, you holding on too tight!

 

A Fountain pen should be held so softly that someone walking past can just pull it out your hand with no effort.

 

But it's looking good there for a first go as such!

 

If you go to the Penmanship Forum, you will find lots and lots of stuff to look at that you can also print out, that will help you with whatever style you want to go for.

 

Have fun!

[Skoff]

Welcome Jerry,

 

I'm a Tolkien fan too, though more of the prose than the script. It's funny quite a few people I have talked to on here are in IT, myself included. I suppose getting into fountain pens etc is a natural antidote to all the time we spend using a keyboard.

 

Stompie has pointed you to a really good place to look for penmanship help ~ there are all kinds of resources in that sub-forum.

 

As regards calligraphy sets, I picked on up for about £15 from WH Smiths, I think it was a Manuscript set, it's got 6 nibs and the pen takes cartridges or a converter (that was included). I am sure it is far from being professional, but it's ok for the money to get started with. I think what you have done so far is great by the way!

[PAKMAN]

Hello and Welcome to FPN!! Glad to have you join us!!

[Sasha Royale]

Welcome, Jerry !

 

Ink on the fingers is a badge of honor.

Glad to have you share your experiences with us.

Warning: Fountain pens will make you late for supper.

 

Write with joy.

[Pen Nut]

Hello & welcome to you from Manchester

[jeremiah.l.burns]

You guys are awesome! Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I'll troll (not troll...you know what I mean) through the Penminship forum and see what I can discover.

 

I'll have a look for another pen set too. WH Smith sounds a good start.

[Lalique]

Aloha, Jerry:

 

Welcome to FPN!

 

Your calligraphy work looks very good. I'm impressed : ) . You might consider a Lamy Joy calligraphy set that you can see at this link, http://www.amazon.com/Lamy-Calligraphy-Set-Pen-Sets/dp/B001J3GTEI/ref=pd_sbs_op_4 and a converter for it that is for use with bottled ink, http://www.amazon.com/Lamy-LZ24-Refill-Converter/dp/B001DVXWRI/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1342659178&sr=1-1&keywords=lamy+joy+converter .

 

You may be interested in reading the article at the link about fountain pen maintenance, http://www.nibs.com/PenMaintenance.htm

 

I am happy you've joined us, Jerry.

 

Happy pen trails to you : ) .

[jeremiah.l.burns]

Wow! Thanks, Lalique! That's very kind and informative! Will have a look!

[Stompie]

Manuscript calligraphy pens - don't knock 'em. I enjoy mine thoroughly! So much so I had custom pens made to take the nibs.

 

If you do a search for a gent on here called Caliken, you will find a lot of his brilliant writings are with a manuscript pen.

 

I think Rymans are having a special on them at present.

[Marlow]

Hey Jerry and a +1 for the Lamy Joy set - the 3 nibs will give you a great experience of line variation, despite being a tad 'toothy' (which I like anyway). Fleabay is also a good source for those. The sheaffer no-nonsense italic set is also great, though not as well-balanced as the longer Lamys which resemble desk pens in shape, and you can pick up a nice vintage example for less than the lamy joys. (vintage ones have a hard plastic section, modern ones have a rubberized section). There are also the Rotring calligraphy pens which will be a tad more expensive but are also excellent.

 

I love the Tolkien calligraphy btw! Good-looking discipline already there!

 

Edited July 19, 2012 by Marlow

[Zanshin]

Hello and Welcome from Filkins!

 

Get yourself a bottle of fountain pen ink and a syringe - you can then fill up the little cartridges whenever you want to!

 

Goulet pens sell syringes with a needle - cause the pharmacist here won't sell you needles! - and I don't know if Scribblers here in the UK do or J and T Art maybe??

 

I got a syringe and needle used for fibre optic connectors as on here, the last two items on the page (C00-7991 and 7992). The needles are blunt so you won't give yourself an involuntary tattoo and are about an inch long and are perfect for ink and cartridges.

[jeremiah.l.burns]

Manuscript calligraphy pens - don't knock 'em. I enjoy mine thoroughly! So much so I had custom pens made to take the nibs.

 

If you do a search for a gent on here called Caliken, you will find a lot of his brilliant writings are with a manuscript pen.

 

I think Rymans are having a special on them at present.

I've definitely seen quite a few Manuscript pens floating about as I've been searching. They also don't seem overly expensive, which is great as I'm still in the "testing to see how well I like this hobby" stage.

 

I quite like the look of this set but I have a question: as it only comes with a single pen for multiple nibs, what's the best way of going about switching nibs for a single project? For example, in my Tolkien Tengwar (see top post), it would be very beneficial to be able to quickly and easily switch between a broad nib and a fine nib for the Tengwar and the Tehtar.

 

Can you put an ink cartridge (like those shown in the aforementioned set at Ryman) into a small nib and leave it aside until needed, or would you run a high risk of ink leaking/drying out? I suspect I really need a second pen barrel...and who knows, perhaps my existing pen barrel would accept the manuscript nibs.

 

Just another n00b question!

 

 

Hey Jerry and a +1 for the Lamy Joy set - the 3 nibs will give you a great experience of line variation, despite being a tad 'toothy' (which I like anyway). Fleabay is also a good source for those. The sheaffer no-nonsense italic set is also great, though not as well-balanced as the longer Lamys which resemble desk pens in shape, and you can pick up a nice vintage example for less than the lamy joys. (vintage ones have a hard plastic section, modern ones have a rubberized section). There are also the Rotring calligraphy pens which will be a tad more expensive but are also excellent.

 

I love the Tolkien calligraphy btw! Good-looking discipline already there!

 

Lots of great info, and thanks very much! It's good to have options! I assume when you say "toothy" you mean that it feels quite "grippy" and "scratchy" as it goes across the paper?

 

I got a syringe and needle used for fibre optic connectors as on here, the last two items on the page (C00-7991 and 7992). The needles are blunt so you won't give yourself an involuntary tattoo and are about an inch long and are perfect for ink and cartridges.

What a great idea! I wonder if one of our optical guys at work has a spare one or two floating around?

[jeremiah.l.burns]

Ooh, there's also this one. Same price, but comes with 2 pens but fewer nibs. As I wanted (potentially) a wider nib, I do wonder what's the better option for me.

 

Could just buy both, I suppose...

[Stompie]

 

 

Could just buy both, I suppose...

 

 

You are starting to fit right in!!!!! :roflmho:

[jeremiah.l.burns]

 

You are starting to fit right in!!!!! :roflmho:

Hahaha. Thanks!

[jeremiah.l.burns]

Have gone and done what can only be described as impulsive and drove 20 minutes out of my way to spend £20 on both the aforementioned Manuscript sets at the "local" Ryman.

[Stompie]

Have gone and done what can only be described as impulsive and drove 20 minutes out of my way to spend £20 on both the aforementioned Manuscript sets at the "local" Ryman.

:ltcapd:

 

 

 

 

And shortly you can do what I did:

 

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj229/Popsjill/pens/IMAG0170.jpg

 

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj229/Popsjill/pens/IMAG0173.jpg

 

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj229/Popsjill/pens/IMAG0175.jpg

[jeremiah.l.burns]

 

And shortly you can do what I did:

 

Ooh, pretty!

 

But I have woes! Oh noes!

 

My widest nib seems to have writing issues! It's completely inconsistent!

 

Look at this garbage (the red) compared to my cheapie £2 nib I was using earlier in the week (the blue)!