Throughout this blog, I have somehow managed to forget to talk about the all important tools in detail, so here it is.
The diagram below shows two pen holders, oblique and straight and some pen points, also known as nibs. On the first two rows are pointed pens and on the bottom row are Italic nibs of different width and slant for, you guessed, Italic and Roman. Pointed pens are further divided into "flexy" and "rigid", or "stiff", according to their ability to flex. The top row shows flexy nibs and the middle row shows some rigid ones. A flexy nib is one that will lay down a wider line (or "will shade" in penmanship terms) when the pen is pressed downwards. Some nibs are "soft" or "springy" which means that the point will deform under pressure but will not give a thicker line. For Spencerian, one will need a flexy point. Rigid points can be used for Business Script, which essentially is the same as Spencerian without the flourishes and shading.
Worth noting is that Italic nibs are supplied with a reservoir, either over or under the nib. The left nib in the bottom row shows an "under-the-nib" reservoir while the one on the right shows an "over-the-nib" reservoir. Pointed pens on the other hand are not commonly fitted with reservoirs, though it is possible to do so. For this reason, they are more picky in terms of the ink used and nib preparation.
Preparing your Points
So you've bought your nibs and holders. You fit them together and dip them in your favourite ink to write. The pen burps out a blob of ink and does not write anymore. You are disheartened thinking there is something wrong with your technique, but this is not the case.
Nibs are made from steel, ink is made from water. Metal repels water and paper absorbs it. The fact that lubricating oil is used during the manufacturing process of the nib doesn't help. The result, any ink clinging to the nib after it is dipped is transferred to the paper instantly in the form of a blob. A bit of gum in the ink helps a bit but doesn't solve the problem.
A quick and dirty way is to pass the nibs over a small flame such as a lighter flame or a candle. Does not always work and will change the temper of the nib if not done right.
A slightly more civilized way to prepare a nib for writing is as follows. The first thing to do is to remove any traces of oil from the nib with a bit of soap and water. Then we need the all important surfactant. A surfactant is something that will bridge between the ink and the nib, something like soap which helps bring oil on dishes into the water. In our case, the surfactant of choice is saliva. Lick a piece of paper and rub that on the nib. Now dip ink in and enjoy. You should be able to write at least ten words if you don't flexy crazily on every opportunity. If not, repeat the process of soap and water followed by saliva. If all fails, throw out the nib and try another one because its probably got more to do with the nib than you.
After you write, just wet another piece of paper with saliva and wipe off the ink. A thorough cleaning with soapy water is not absolutely required unless you are using corrosive inks such as gallic ink or when changing colours.
A word of caution. Do not clean all the nibs after purchase because a clean nib will start rusting while a oil coated one will last for decades. Only clean the ones that you will use and expect it to rust or at least loose its shine in a few weeks.
Using the Pointed Pen
A pointed nib is meant to be pressed evenly and can only be dragged while pressed. To apply any amount of pressure on the upstrokes will cause the tines to snag on the paper and bend, instantly killing the nib. If your nib becomes scratchy on the upstrokes no matter how light your hand is, the tines are probably bent or misaligned and it is best to change it out. There is nothing worse than bent tines catching on the paper sending out spurts of ink droplets over your work. Press as much as the point can take without permanent deformation on the down strokes but use a little pressure as possible on the up strokes. Some amount of practice is needed before one gets used to the amount of pressure, or rather the lack of it, that is needed or tolerated when using the finest of pointed pens. With practice, it is possible to write without line variation using a flexy point, on newspaper!
The fact that the point has to be aligned on the main slant during the down strokes for shading means that it must be held pointing to the upper right hand corner of a piece of writing. It is somewhat impossible for right handed penmen to adopt this pen angle so the majority of the population will need an oblique holder such as the one shown above for Spencerian and other pointed pen lettering. The pen is held almost straight up and down the page as shown below and the holder orients the nib along the down strokes.
Lefties such as the author will have the choice of using a straight holder which means it will be much easier for them to use flexy fountain pens (which all all straight) to write. However, it is not uncommon for left handed penmen such as John DeCollibus to write down the page with words turned 90 degrees clockwise using an oblique holder as shown below.
When to Change a Point
Dip pen points cost next to nothing so don't hesitate to change a point when the line begins to thicken due to the point wearing out or when the point gets scratchy due to bent or misaligned tines.
Despite your greatest efforts not to bend the tines by using a little pressure as possible on the up strokes and to not misalign the tines by applying even pressure on the two tines at all times, it is almost inevitable that the tines will at some point become scratchier over time.
If it does not, the truly inevitable blunting of the point will affect its performance sooner or later. Pen points have no iridium tip unlike fountain pen nibs, with use the point gets wore away. The author was able to go through a point every week by writing 2 pages of A4 paper every day. Your nibs may be more long lived if you have a lighter touch but they are consumables. The advice is to stock up.
Some penmen say they keep blunted nibs for writing larger letters so you may wish to keep some of your old nibs for this reason.
It's not easy to use a flexy nib and even harder to use it well. From here till the next post, I bid you farewell and say to all readers, "Have fun practicing!"
