Lettering Pens

[essayfaire]

I know there was recently a discussion of how to use these, but I don't think I want to.  My mother-in-law is clearing out a lot of things and knows I love pens, so she gave them to me.  If I were to run a PIF competition, would anyone be interested?  

 

I was thinking of doing a Cello puzzler where, a tune is mashed into the style of a composer and those who can identify the tune and the style, but I'm not sure if I can do audio over FPN; perhaps through an unlisted YouTube link....

 

Are these only useful if I keep them together or shall I aim for multiple winners?

[BigBlot]

Oh. My. Those are K&E lettering pens. Think they predated "Leroy," which used a technical pen, a holder, and a lettering guide. My guess is that these are filled with a dropper, a tiny bit of ink between the tines. They look like they have an adjustable gap, like pens used for drawing straight lines.

[essayfaire]

20 hours ago, BigBlot said:

Oh. My. Those are K&E lettering pens. Think they predated "Leroy," which used a technical pen, a holder, and a lettering guide. My guess is that these are filled with a dropper, a tiny bit of ink between the tines. They look like they have an adjustable gap, like pens used for drawing straight lines.

They are adjustable, which looks so strange on a pen.  At first I thought it might be a compass.

 

[BigBlot]

The adjustment is to vary the width of the line. They look a lot like ruling pens. Maybe someone here knows the correct way to use them.

[fkyu]

Ruling pens. From when graphic artists had to rule lines at precise widths, anticipating camera reduction. Also for very thin lines. One advantage is you can use the thickest india ink, and opaque white as well. Filled with an eyedropper, you could use them in a compass or with French curves. Easy to clean, but you had to keep the edge sharp. I’ve seen artists manipulate the adjustment knob while making the stroke, for very creative results.

Technical pens ( Unitech, Rotring, etc.) made them somewhat obsolete in graphic arts.

[pcravis]

ruling pens and dip pens

Edited May 24, 2021 by pcravis
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