A couple of years a ago I got interested in drawing with dip pen nibs again, specifically the vintage versions. There’s a few of the same ones that are still in production today and I’m sure they’re fine, but the original pre-WW2 nibs were largely hand-produced by women (and that will be a fascinating story […]
Read More…Back in the late 19th into almost the middle of the 20th century a dip pen and ink on paper was the standard media for black and white illustration. Every magazine at the time depended on the skill of those artists to bring alive various articles and also many advertisments. Companies needed them for illustrating […]
Read More…Steel pen nibs were made in a seemingly endless array of sizes and designs for over 100 years. There are a very limited number still being made today. All of them are based on the necessary shape of a barrel that was curved, plain at one end to fit into the holder and the slit […]
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A week or so ago I experimented with a variety of inks on the sketchbook and drawing papers I like best to find out how water resistant they are on each one. What I want to do is go out into the field with my dip pens and watercolors, draw something in ink and then […]
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Like, I suspect, most pen and ink artists, I’m always interested in new and interesting inks. And I just found some on Etsy that I tried out yesterday and will be using from now on to supplement the various, more standard black inks I use. NOTE: the seller specifically states that these water-based walnut inks […]
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I did this test last week because I’d like to be able to combine dip pen drawings and watercolor for working on location, either drawing first or watercolor first or back and forth, my choice without having to worry about it. The former means that I need ink that can take as wet a wash […]
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I’ve spent the last three mornings “test driving” a variety of dip pen nibs. There are quite a few nibs intended for drawing, but most were made just for writing. Some are very fine, some make a heavier line, others are monoline or do both thick and thin lines. Most are not expensive, one to […]
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This last couple of months or so I’ve been working my way through the nibs I’ve purchased that were specifically designed for drawing and drafting. For whatever reason, possibly because there weren’t as many made as the ones for writing or perhaps artists/draughtsmen (no “draughtswomen” back in the day) were harder on them, they can […]
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After a 20+ year hiatus while I focused on oil painting (which I’ll still be doing because I love that too), I’m circling back to my first love…pen and ink. Particularly dip pens, which is what illustrators and artists have largely used from the early 1800s until well into the early/mid 20th century. (Fountain pens […]
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