@Tracie
I am still a novice, but here is what I learned...so far.
#1. The ink will dry on the nib and degrades how the nib writes. You need to periodically clean the dry ink off the nib. Higgins Eternal is much better than Speedball acrylic ink (which I used to use) which dried and caked on the nib. As for cleaning paper fibers, that is more than dipping, I have to clean the nib with a tissue to get the paper fibers out from between the tines.
I am still a novice with the pointed pen, and what I was told and am learning is that I need to learn to write lightly to keep the tip of pointed nib from scratching and digging the paper. I try to float the tip of the nib on the paper so that it is barely touching, and that seems to work for me. But it is still hard for me to do it consistently.
#2. Dip the nib into the ink so that the hole in the nib is covered with ink. That should put more ink onto the nib. However, if you are making WIDE lines, that will use up a LOT of ink from the nib, so you will have to dip more often.
#3. Not all paper is good to use with fountain or dip pens. I use Hammermill 28# Color Copy Digital. However, it has a querk, it has 2 different sides with different writing characteristics. I discovered this the other day when I could not get fine lines on the back of the sheet, but I could get fine lines on the front
?
- Get a sheet of it, and keep track of which side was up and down when you take it out of the package.
- Then write on one side then the other.
You should see a difference in how the ink behaves on the paper. The trick is to keep track of which side of paper is better and which way the paper is in the pack, so that you can take a sheet out and KNOW which side to write on.
#4. I think an inclined surface is better, but it is not always possible. The incline makes it easier to reach further, but that is more a concern for drafting, where the paper is taped down onto the table and you need to reach to the top of the sheet. But I still think it is more comfortable to have a slight incline to the work surface.