Persimmons on a dish. Osmiroid pen on an envelope, about 4" x 4".
Warning: Art tech talk coming up!
Yesterday, inspired by some recent posts by sketchers Shari Blaukopf and Liz Steele, I spent some time going through my fountain pens. I'm a fountain pen lover from way back, but I generally don't buy expensive pens, or collect them. It's a preferred sketching method for me, though, and I'm always open to trying new ones. My favorite pen is a Sheaffer, from their "Mediterranean Seas" series. I bought it from Levenger at least fifteen years ago, maybe twenty, and that series has since been discontinued. The pen has a beautiful gold-plated fine nib, it's flexible and responsive, and makes a lovely line. The only drawback is that you really can't use permanent ink in this pen, so combining a drawing with watercolor washes is not a good option unless the dissolving line is a desired effect. Yesterday I looked up this pen on eBay and was stunned to discover that pens of that series are now selling to collectors for $200 and more: at least four times what I paid for it. And to think I've been throwing it in my bag and not even thinking about it!
I bought a Lamy Vista a while back, for about $25, specifically because a lot of the Urban Sketchers were raving about the Lamy and its ability to accept Noodler's permanent inks, which come in a whole range of colors. It does work well with permanent inks, but the nib is just too stiff for me, and also too wide in the model I bought. Yesterday I ordered a replacement in extra-fine, and hope that will help, but I know now that I've been spoiled by using a very good pen. So I rummaged around in my boxes, curious to see what else was there. Among a number of defunct pens was an old Osmiroid from my calligraphy days. Osmiroid closed in the late 1990s, but I do have some good nibs still, and this pen seemed like it might be salvageable. I washed it out carefully and examined the bladder of the squeeze converter -- there was packed, dried ink in the base that I couldn't get out, but enough space to accept a small filling of ink. I did the drawing above with that pen, on the back of an envelope, and I liked the result: the thick and thin line is a nice option, and the pen felt familiar and happy in my hand. It will work as a dip pen, but I think it will hold enough ink for drawing purposes, if the bladder doesn't disintegrate. And I might be able to find a replacement converter - fountain pen people are pretty obsessive and apparently there's a lot of trading and selling that goes on online.
A few pens from my stash: top to bottom: Osmiroid, Lamy, Pilot, Faber-Castell.
Meanwhile, there are always technical pens in my bag, and that's what I use for quick sketches. The problem with these is the short life of the points: they wear down fast and render the pen unusable even when there is plenty of ink left. I don't use Sakura Micron pens anymore because of this; I've had better luck with the Pitt Artist Pens from Faber Castell, which come in different colors and point styles, but my preferred technical pen is the Pilot DR. It still wears down, but not as fast, and the ink is totally permanent.
OK! Fini!
When VR took up the graphic arts I revelled in buying her top end stuff which she might have baulked at financially. A wide (and long) sable brush comes to mind, Its luxuriance made it hard to hand over and the price was such that each hair had a significant price to the left of the decimal.
Later I bought her a Rotring kit, amused at the marketing problems implicit in the pronunciation - by Anglos - of the original German brand name. Are Rotrings a bit down-market? Destined for non-creative scribblers in the ad trade. I see the Faber Castell is called an artist pen? Can anyone buy one and thereby become an artist? Pen and ink drawing is rather forbidding, VR says, but won't say why.
Posted by: Roderick Robinson | December 10, 2014 at 11:37 AM