You can buy one, or you can make one. Folded pens are a recent development in the world of calligraphy, where product development cycles take centuries. The nib is a folded piece of metal with a curved edge. Here it is full-on and sideways: The inside of the fold acts like an ink reservoir. Varying …
A yatate is a portable brush and ink container, brought to you by the same culture that invented the bento box and Mobile Suit Gundam. A random encounter with yatates on Russ Stutler’s online sketchbook led me to eBay, where I stalked not only yatates but maki-e suzuri bakos, or writing boxes. I have one yatate …
Greg Minuskin does great work. He retipped the nib of a vintage Eversharp Skyline, then slit it twice to create a music nib. I can only imagine what a blob of iridium that used to be. To make a music nib write well, it’s not enough to align the tines, ensure the slits are clean …
This is a Tenba wrap. It is padded and has velcro on each corner. It was meant for small camera lenses and accessories, but I thought it would make a secure, though unusual, wrap for pens. Because it’s a simple wrap, there are no separators for pens. Daily users won’t mind, but maki-e might. Here …
This is the Derwent Safari. The cover is thick fabric given a suede-like treatment with obvious grain. It’s around 17 x 12 cm, and has 80 sheets of 200 gsm paper. The inside front cover has a flap. The back has a pocket. The sheets inside are thick and sturdy. Fountain pen ink, watersoluble graphite, …
I couldn’t resist grinding the nib of the Oldwin down to a fine. All Oldwin pens have medium nibs. It’s not a bad thing, but medium nibs are not my thing. And I wanted to see if the flex would be more noticeable. I have it down to half of its previous width, but the …
Poor Pentel brush pen. It didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to see if I could use fountain pen ink in it. I took off the white ring as instructed. Then I removed the stopper from the ink cartridge. (The cartridge is also the body.) The stopper isn’t meant to be removed; it’s there …
Automatic pens aren’t for automatic writing. Or maybe they are, if you’re channeling the spirit of a calligrapher who overdosed on iron gall. I bought a set of automatic pens on a whim more than a decade ago. The ferrules are loose. The plates of the nibs are pitted and ink-stained. It doesn’t matter. They …
Pens with glass nibs were popular during the war, because all metal went to the war effort. Today’s glass pens are all dip pens. The wartime ones had bodies made of cheap, cheerful material, and crescent or lever-filling systems. I love drawing with my Spors. The glass tip produces fine lines when used normally, and …
Why bother with horoscopes and psychic hotlines? The Google search box contains all the crowdsourced, search engine marketer-manipulated mysteries of the universe. It tells me what I want. (Mostly song lyrics. Plus death.) It tells me what today will be. (Lyrical. And better. I swear.) It tells me what tomorrow will be. And because in …