I am a bit confused about the connections on some letters e.g. word "month" The connector between the "o" and the "n" Does it connect from the top or the bottom of the "o". Another one is say the word "form". Does the connector from the "r" to the "m" connect from the top or bottom (I mean a standard "r" not the french type that looks a little like an "s") Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks all for your quick response. I also sent a facebook message to Dr. Vitolo and he is always quick to respond. He told me to just start writing words and concentrate on the connecting hairlines and concentrate on obtaining symmetry
I have been trying to learn Engrosser's script for a while now. Whilst not having mastered the letters I am pretty good with all the capitals and lower case. So what is the next steps. Is to learn writing words instead of letters. Any guidance would be very much appreciated.
I am building up quiet a collection of nibs for a newbie. I buy than test and make a catalogue giving the nib a score out of 10 for flex and fineness of hairline. That way I get to know which nibs I will buy a second time. I have them group in little plastic zip top bags and some in small plastic tablet bottles which I group by maufacturer. I drop a few satchets of dessicant and they all go in a flat fishing tackle box which is about 300 X 300. find this a nice way to keep a hold of my growing herd.
I have another recent purchase that writes very similar to the Eagle College. It is a Mallat 132. Very small nib a bit Like the Brause 66 ef. I will post a picture and writing sample later in the day.
Hi. Yes after looking at the point of the nib with a loupe there are no lines and the surface has a brushed rough look. It is such a beautiful nib. Funny the ink seems to collect aa fair way from the tip after dipping but there are no start up problems or flow problems. Very well behaved and one of my favourites now
My latest nib acquistion is the Eagle Pencil Company College Pen Nib. What a great nib. Great flex and nice fine hairlines. Highly recommended from a novice. Shin I posted a picture because I know you dont recognise names. It looks very much like the Mussellman Perfection in shape
Hi David. We started this path together and I am so pleased you are finding sometime to practise. My experience is like a lot of previous posts. Just start with some guidelines and some examples of the lower case letters. I found my first mistake was not to be detailed enough in my trying to replicate the examples. Some of Joe Vitolos articles on IAMPETH stress little things like symmetry in the introductory curve and the exit curve. Also symmetry in the circular parts of the letter as well as the down strokes e.g. the first part of the down stroke of the letter "a" should be at the same angle as the second down stroke on the right side of the "a". I think I am speaking of Engrosser's script but I think it is still applicable (I may be wrong) But studying the form of the letter very carefully and then being very self critical after making the letter. Watch for symmetry at all levels. My limited experience tells me that this is a long learning curve but it is very fascinating. I am now looking at some very simplistic flourishes just to broaden the learning curve. I have made about another ten oblique pen holders so if you want to make some yourself let me know and I can send a bit of brass over to NZ as I owe you a favour with the sample calligraphy inks you sent me. I have quite a collection of dip nibs including the Musselman Perfection and a few other ones that I will post about later. Keep well.
I have been trying to learn Engrosser's script for a few months. Here is my latest exercise. I made a mistake with the Brause word. I got confused with the connector between the R and the A. I assume you connect at the top of the A. I like this nib for its flex and fine hairlines. I would be pleased to hear your criticism
I have an 319 Eva Extra and I have given it 9/10 (my humble inexperienced rating) I catalogue all my nibs and give them a score out of ten so that I can keep track. I also have an Eva 323 which is like a finger and I have noted it as 9/10 also. Also I just acquired a Musselman Perfection. Oh my god!
Welcome Renee! Hi from Melbourne! Maybe I'll see you at a Summer School someday
Oh yay! And thank you. I like the sound of that!
Hi Renee sorry I missed your original post. I am from the Gold Coast Queensland but was born and educated in Sydney. Know Camperdown well as I went to law lectures at the Sydney Uni. As far as materials are concerned we are at a great disacvantage in Australia. Whilst you can buy things like pen holders and nibs online the postage and freight makes things very uneconomical. So as far as pen holders and obligue nib holders are concerned I made them myself. Very easy and now I have about 12. I just bought a cheap Mont Marte painting brush set and cut off the brush and used the wooden handles. Also bought a few shorter hourglass pen holders on Ebay and pulled out the universal nib holder, and fitted my self made obliges. The obliques are also very easy to make. There is a video like which I will put at the end which you will find easy to do. Just need two things basically. Brass sheets and a bailing pliers. Again the bailing pliers are are available on the interest. You can get Rhodia paper at Office Works. Nibs are a different story. You basically have to buy overseas but luckily as nibs are so small and dont weigh much the postage is not too bad. Just try and find a seller who sells a bulk purchase at the right price. Again I will give you a couple of links. I sometimes buy some dream nibs singularly but it can become expensive. The Nikko G and Zebra G are readily available and are great nibs to learn with.
Here are some links and enjoy the ride.
Ebay seller Bart 12 has some nibs at a price I find reasonable I have also bought from Dip Pen/Nibs UK Company.
There is another guy from Germany http://www.kallipos.de/gb-calligraphy-shop.html The website is not very user friendly and they have an usual method of paying for it. You place your order and then some time later you get an email from him with an invoice. He does have a very large collection but again you have the currency different
There are a few odd places in Australia that you will find on Ebay but they only sell the very common nibs like the Zebra G and Nikko.
My path is quite unusual. I used to use a dip pen at school about 50 years ago. I got more enjoyment out of using it as a missile or javelin trying to land it nib first in a desk some metres away. Boys will be boys. Than I went through my working life using biros. About 12 months ago I noticed a friend of mine writing with a fountain pen and that sparked an interest in fountain pens. I purchased about 8 including a Lamy, Pelikan, Platinum, Faber Castelle, Waterman. I joined FPG and began to notice people discussing flexy nibs. I loved the different line variations these pens gave. I posted a thread and someone recommended a vintage Eversharp Skyline which did have a reasonable amount of flex in the gold nib. My interest had been sparked and I made another post looking for a more flexy nib. Some recommended the Marie Todd and then a knowledgeable forum member who was always first to come to your questions for help (Jo Sanztos) suggested I buy a dip pen and some nibs and try the flex nib experience. His advice was that it would be much cheaper than buying vintage pens with flexy nibs. So I took his advice and now I am hooked on dip nibs and presently learning how to write in the Engrossser's script. I am not sure I will ever become a calligrapher but the experience has been very rewarding and the search for nibs has been so exciting.
. This nib is a perfect counter to those who claim that they don’t make nibs as good as they used to. [/quote]
Can anyone tell me which nib besides Hunt that are still being produced. Also I would appreciate some advice as to any that may have fine hairlines and flexibility.
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