Make your own bamboo pen.

If you have a knife, a collection of thin bamboo sticks originally meant to be home decor, and an idle mind, you can make your own bamboo pen.

Bamboo, knife
Bamboo, knife

Carve diagonally into the tip of the bamboo (if you didn’t pick yours up from a home store, but from your backyard, you’ll have to dry it in the sun first for a couple of days). Go in at a 45º angle first. Then carve the finer details in so that you end up with a teardrop shape.

Shaping the nib
Shaping the nib
Hollow out the pith to create a reservoir for ink.
Use small strokes to thin out the tip
Use small strokes to thin out the tip
The tip should be squared off cleanly, and should be thin enough to give you a soft yet defined line.
Slit the nib
Slit the nib
Use your knife to slit the tip (yes, just like a regular nib) to allow ink to travel. Extra points if you drill in a heart-shaped breather hole.
This is it, more or less
This is it, more or less

The bamboo absorbs some of the ink, of course, but the hollowed-out area can hold a tiny pool.

Dip into ink
Dip into ink
This was written with one dip’s worth of ink (Noodler’s Singapore Sepia).
Bamboo pen, writing sample
Bamboo pen, writing sample
The pen I whittled last night had a wider nib at first, then I trimmed it to achieve a finer line.
Bamboo pen, fine nib
Bamboo pen, fine nib

All the doodles on this Moleskine sketchbook page came out of a single bamboo pen, Waterman Florida Blue and Noodler’s Singapore Sepia.

Bamboo pen doodle
Bamboo pen doodle