it gets very intimidating, the level of skill around here but i will regret it if i miss this so i'm in. will give it my best! no early 'birds' from me 
I will need all the deadline time I can get!
That's the spirit. No one expects a masterpiece (although some here might come up with one), but rather a good try.
questions about flourishing and the 'old' masters: umm, how do you know when you are looking at a reproduction of nib on paper or engraving? in the book 'ornate pictorial calligraphy' - the inverse black and white on page 61 - what am I looking at?
You are looking at a photoengraving print of the original nib drawing, which may have been done in white ink on black paper or "flipped" from back ink on white paper. In general, you can be sure the print is made from an engraving if it was done prior to 1822 or so (as in
The universal Penman--George Bickham did the engraving), as that was the time photoengraving got it's start. Photoengraving wasn't at all common until photography developed further by the mid 19th C.. Lupfer, editor of
The Business Educator for many years, would sometimes flip submissions from the more common black ink on white paper to the reverse, for example, but it's hard to tell if the image to which you refer was flipped or not. My guess--probably not.
and just curious from a history perspective, what sorts of inks/colors were popular/ did they use back then? i imagine there's been quite a bit of innovation/ change or not really?
Black ink was king, but there are examples done in various colors of ink, as in
Real Pen Work.
and then for you guys - do you switch around different nibs when working on a single flourished piece?
I don't, but then I don't put words/letters in my flourishes (at least, not yet) that might require a broad point nib. The old masters had skills in all sorts or lettering (which I don't) that would require different nibs to be used in the same flourish.
