Am I using them right?

[flummoxed]

Hello,

A friend recently picked up a few goodies while visiting one of the many used book stores in Paris. A couple of what look to be oblique holders and two bars of inks (I assume).

About the holders
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I've attached the pictures of the plastic holders and as you can see they have sliding nib holders (I am guessing again). The sliding unit has a '1' imprinted on it. My questions are,
- Are these for use with dip nibs?
- I have only been able to use Gillot 404, Esterbrook 354 and 355, William Mitchell 2 in the curved slot in the removable plastic holder.
- Nikko G, Tachikawa G and the Brause 361 fit in perfectly but are big. They tend to overshoot the vertical of the holder.

About the ink bars
-----------------------
As you can see from the image, the red and black bars have some writing in golden (and an image on the flipside in golden and white). They are not brittle and both of them don't have any distinct odour.
- Are these ink bars?
- Can I use them with pointed/stub pen calligraphy? Or are they solely to be usef for brush calligraphy?
- If I can use them for pen calligraphy, what is the best procedure to use them? I assume powder/grind them and mix with water? Or is it similar to making sandalwood paste (for those of you are familiar with using a sandalwood stick and making the paste) and then diluting it for consistency?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[AndyT]

Briefly, you are correct in assuming that those are oblique holders for dip nibs.  You've already identified their main limitation: smallish nibs only.

As for the ink sticks, you could do with an ink stone.  Most calligraphy suppliers stock them in a range of sizes and grades, and prices run from dirt cheap to ruinously expensive (the same can be said of ink sticks, actually).  Armed with stick and stone, you can engage in the meditative practice of ink grinding:



What?  Surely nobody expected me to link to one of those soporific ASMR videos? 

As for whether it's any good, why not try it and see?  Ought to be fine.

[garyn]

You found the 2 of the 3 limitations of the Speedball oblique holder
- It will fit a nib with only one size of curvature. 
- It will only fit the smaller nibs.  However this is a limitation of other oblique holders as well.
- The third is that the angle of the oblique flange cannot be changed, like you can do with a brass flange.

Having said this, it is a decent holder for a very low price.

[flummoxed]

Briefly, you are correct in assuming that those are oblique holders for dip nibs.  You've already identified their main limitation: smallish nibs only.

As for the ink sticks, you could do with an ink stone.  Most calligraphy suppliers stock them in a range of sizes and grades, and prices run from dirt cheap to ruinously expensive (the same can be said of ink sticks, actually).  Armed with stick and stone, you can engage in the meditative practice of ink grinding:



What?  Surely nobody expected me to link to one of those soporific ASMR videos? 

As for whether it's any good, why not try it and see?  Ought to be fine.

Thanks Andy! I'll give it a shot over the course of the week. Doesn't seem to be very different from using those vegatable dyed chalk sticks we used to get as kids to make colour pastes.

You found the 2 of the 3 limitations of the Speedball oblique holder
- It will fit a nib with only one size of curvature. 
- It will only fit the smaller nibs.  However this is a limitation of other oblique holders as well.
- The third is that the angle of the oblique flange cannot be changed, like you can do with a brass flange.

Having said this, it is a decent holder for a very low price.

Thanks, I've been using it with the nibs I've mentioned and I must say that the oblique is fun to use. I think it hass helped with my up stroke rather than my down stroke. This doesn't have any markings to indicate it is Speedball, but I think it serves me well currently.

[garyn]

For me, the biggest benefit of the oblique holder is that it lines up the nib with my downstroke.  So my downstroke is a DOWN stroke, rather than a diagonal stroke like it is with a straight holder or a fountain pen.  In fact I like the oblique holder so much that I now rarely use a straight holder, and if I do it is only because the nib won't fit in the oblique holder.

To use a stick ink with a dip pen, you need to be able to capture the liquid ink so that it can be used with the pen.  Maybe use an eye dropper or a small brush to transfer the ink to the nib.  The ink stone below is what I would use for a pen.  It has a trough at the end where the ink will collect, making it a lot easier to capture the ink and transfer it to a nib.

[penstaff]

Hi Gary, the Speedball plastic holder is quite nice to hold, but unfortunately as you found out the longer nibs stick out too far in front. I have modified this hilder to accommodate any length of nib by removing the back end of the holder. You can find one listed on Ebay for only $7.95 plus postage or if you would rather not wait for the end of the auction let me know and I will send you one. Just send $7.95 plus $3.95 postage and one will be in the mail to you.
Thanks for listening,
Harvey Anton ([email protected])

[flummoxed]

I finally got arond to using the oblique and the ink, I might have made it too runny like an FP ink. But here are the results, and as you can see, I need tonnes of practice!

Please do pardon the typos and the ugly floursihes.