November
2008
Paper and Ink Arts: Pen Nirvana
You artists out there will want to drop hints that all you want for Christmas is a shopping spree at Paper and Ink Arts.
They now have online shopping, but I highly recommend you contact them for a copy of their nifty catalog, which is easier to navigate.
For those of you who still enjoy doing it the old fashioned way, you won’t find a better resource for pen and ink. They have a wide selection of domestic and imported pen tips, many of them vintage copperplate nibs. For the serious calligrapher, letterer, or pen and ink draughstman, Paper and Ink Arts is a necessity.
The site also features tools for papermaking, book binding, and other hand crafter supplies.
The pen holders alone will dazzle, and you will enjoy having a beautiful rosewood or murano glass pen with which to ink your masterpieces.
Do we need the rosewood pen? No, but we want one.
Glass pens I do not need either, but they are pretty.
You’ll also find instructional videos for classic calligraphy techniques, such as Spencerian script.
Contact them to get their catalog, but check out the website regularly, because there are lots of items available online only.
Oh look, you can get gift certificates! More importantly, someone who loves you can get you a gift certificate!
BTW, I have mentioned how devoted I am to the Deleter pens from Japan, and I still use them for most of my inking. They are hard to get outside of shops where you can get manga art supplies.
The good news is the newer Deleter NeoPiko 2 pen is alcohol free, which means the ink will be far more lightfast than previous Deleter NeoPiko pens. I use the .03mm pen point for a lot of my work.
Since the original NeoPiko pens are being discontinued, you may have trouble finding them online now. You’ll recognize them because they have a grey body, while the NeoPiko 2 has a black body. Some stores are selling the original NeoPiko at a discount to clear out stock. I’d tell you where I got mine, but I just wiped out their entire remaining stock, so that would do you no good.
Ultimately, you are better off with the NeoPiko 2 anyway. I just bought this from Japanimation.com and got fast service.
IMPORTANT: if you are going to buy pens from Japanimation.com, do NOT use their online order form. Call instead. I saved 75% on shipping ordering via phone. Their site is set up to handle videos, and will assume the ten pens you buy are ten videos, and you will be charged accordingly.
Another important tip about the Deleter pen: these pens survive longest when used on smooth paper stock. While drawing a large, double page spread for Stealth Tribes, I went through many of them because I used a rougher Strathmore 500 rag board that tore up the pen points. At $3 per pen, that can add up.
More importantly, if you have to make corrections, and then use one of these pens over correction fluid, even after the fluid has completely dried, your pen is a goner. I went through seven of them in one afternoon, because I had not brought any ink or dip pens with me and had to meet a deadline with my Deleter markers.
Let your mistakes stand until the very end of the job, and then use your Pro-White. Then use another kind of pen to make final corrections.
If you must use your Deleter pen for corrections, immediately dip the point in water and try to gently rub the fluid out by running the pen point over clean paper. Sometimes it works, and other times, you’re out a $3 pen.
c
I love my glass calligraphy pen.
I lucked out and found one on sale for $12 at Target.
I get my supplies from Paper and Ink arts and they are very quick to ship the product to you.
my wood pen is probably 10 years old, still good, (the nibs are other story, they last like a month at most |D). I started to use brush for everything now, but damn, those pens are cool!
Cos I’m big, tough and manly, I use a steel pen holder. I do most of my inking with a brush though — I’ve never been able to ink properly with a Deleter-type pen. I hate the line they give.
I get a great line out of them, but then I work really small. I still use Crowquills sometimes, though.
It probably says more about my oversize, ungainly hands than it does about the inherent quality of the instrument. I’m always impressed that you can work as small as you do. For really fine, delicate work I have to use the crowquill — or a size 0 or 00 brush.
It’s because you’re so manly. You can’t control your testosterone power. You could beak that little pen like a twig, and spew it’s contents all over the room with the twink of your pinky.
Rapidographs! With a side order of Wite-Out.
Although I have used other tools from time to time, from dip pens to felt-tip pens and everything in between.