Dip Pen size

Whenever you decided to use dip pen or fountain pen, you might need to make a decision before you start with: about the nib size.


On average, nib size divided into 3 different sizes; EF, F, and M.
There are also B (Bold) and EB (Extra Bold), but those upper three sizes are the most popular sizes.

• EF (Extra Fine); 0.5 - 0.7mm : Very fine tip that you can draw elaborate stroke.
• F (Fine); 0.7 - 0.9mm : Regular tip size for writing.
• M (Medium); 0.9 - 1.0mm : Quite thick size, and usually for signature.

Also, there are two types of nib; steel nib and platinum nib.
Steel nib gives you more realistic feeling while you are writing, whereas Platinum nibs gives you more soft feeling. You can choose whatever you prefer to use.




Usually, Asia brands makes more fine nibs compared to Western nibs.
As Asia characters needs more strokes for writing, they produce more fine nib.
That means that not all EF, F size nibs are same size, so you need to test it before you buy.
If you want more handwriting feeling, I will recommend you some Asia brands.

Platinum - Nakaya

Sailor

Pilot - Namiki

Also there are some Calligraphy pen nib and for lettering nib.

ZIG Calligraphy pen

Hello, guys! Today I'm here to tell you guys about the 'ZIG calligraphy pen' from Japan.
Whenever I saw this pen, my first thought was 'Wow, that's something unique!'.
With this pen, you can do a LOTS of cool things!






Gradation is the most impressive effect that ZIG pen can give to us.
When you put each end to other end, dark color shifts to the light color and get blended. With this color mixing, you can give full effect of blending and color changing without converting your pen.

                                                                   

                                                                             


                         

This is tip of ZIG pen

Also, this pen has two different size tips.
Usually, people use big size tip to blend the color just because that is much easier to detect the color blending.
Small tip - in my case - is for small details and decorative things. You can use the small side of big tips but with small tips, you can have twisting effect because of the edge.

You can see the thick stroke and thin stroke in my work :)
That gives a huge effect as a detail or a decoration!

I just introduced you the marker pen in ZIG calligraphy pen, but there are also brush pen in it.
(Just because I owned marker pen, not I don't like brush pens.)
Both pens are able to do these effects, so you can choose whatever you prefer.

Marker and brush pen effects

Like always, have a great day and enjoy your calligraphy! :)

Real life Calligraphy

Today I'm gonna share some of my calligraphy work to give you guys some idea what we can do with it.
Usually, I use calligraphy things for special events such as celebrating birthday.
However, you can do whatever you want with your calligraphy skills.

In Korea, we have parents' day instead of Mother's day or Father's day. At that day, we give carnations to our parents. So, I draw two carnations with normal marker pen (like sharpie), and colored with color marker pen.
The special thing about my tool is, I cut my color marker pen from round to diagonal shape. At that time, I was very into making the gradation with colors. To make smooth gradation, I cut my pen.
Don't forget, you can always have various options on your way!

I'm also very interested in drawing, making stuff, especially new things. If there is a chance that I can, I would definitely try that out.
So, this is one of the result that I tried to challenge on new thing. I found cool pop up card template looks like a blooming flower.

It was just a flower pop up card at the very first time and I thought I can put some more work on this plain card. And this is the result!
It did not work out cool as I thought - which is sad for me -, but still I like that effect with my ZIG calligraphy pen. Tried to make that effect as a growing branch or greens but I'm not sure that I did well or not (Hahaha).

I'm pretty sure this is one of my cool work.

I like to use my gold and silver ZIG calligraphy pen - which has metallic effect - on the black paper.

Metallic ZIG calligraphy pen cannot to blending (maybe just for the gold and silver..?) but that's okay I still can deal with cool calligraphy work :)

I focus on small effects rather than big contents. After making a basic format of my work, I do small dots and lines even though that people can hardly see it. I personally think small things makes quality higher - but still, big outline is important too!

These are some of my calligraphy work that I did.

You can use your calligraphy anywhere, and anytime.

Do limits on your use of calligraphy ;)

Fountain Pen & Dip nib pen: What would you choose?

Quick question.
What does pops out when you think about the pens that uses ink?
Feather pen? Ink pen?
That's good answer, but in this post I will talk about fountain pen and dip pen - the well known calligraphy practice pen.

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Fountain Pen

Most people might think fountain pen is fancy thing to own and expensive, but the answer is NO.
Yes, there are some really expensive fountain pens but they are not necessary for our work.

The principle of Fountain pen

All you need is flexible nib to do the stroke.

This is how fountain pen works when you are writing.

So, you need a proper power whenever you do under stroke and upper stroke. 

There is two ink container for fountain pen. The cartridge and the converter.
Cartridge is easier to start with as a starter. As they are already filled with ink so whenever you put that in your fountain pen and run out of ink, all you have to do is change the cartridge and keep going on. Therefore, you don't mess up with your supplies.

Converter is more complex than previous one. This is modernized version of traditional bottle-filling system. You simply inter the converter in the same way you do with cartridge. The difference is that you need to screw the knob to draw the ink from the ink bottle through the nib into converter's chamber. It can be hard when you first try to do this. You might can mess up your desk or hand but still, it's fun!!

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You need to apply some pressure to give this effect!

Dip (Nib) Pen

Dip pen allows more choice with using variety of nibs, inks and holders.
You can convert the thing in fountain pen, but some pens is not compatible to use other brands ink or cartridge. So you can experience more variety with dip pen.

There are two main kinds of nibs: Italic nibs and flex nibs.
Italic nibs usually used for Gothic, Italic, and squared styles because it has a blunt edge.
In other wise, flex nibs are rounded with two tines that come to a point and they are able to draw a variety size of lines as they get splits.

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These are the major pens that you can use your calligraphy.
Congrats! You are gathering more and more about the calligraphy information :)
Don't forget, practice makes perfect.

I'll see you soon in next post!

Basic Calligraphy tools

Hey, guys!
Now you are ready to get some equipment for your calligraphy experience.
What do you need for your Calligraphy? Not much.
Some writing instruments, paper and practice material.


   1. Writing Instruments

It does not matter what kind of tools you use.
It can be whatever you want such as marker pen, dip pen etc. I'll introduce some general instruments in other post.
In my case, I was into the dip pen that I need to get the wooden pen holder and the nip.
That was exotic thing that I can try for my calligraphy.

   

    2. Paper





To do calligraphy, you'll need a paper to write on.

There are particular paper named as calligraphy paper, which is really smooth and thick paper that calligraphy pens won't scratch or bleed through of their work.
At the very first time, you don't have to get all these paper that you need.
You can try a lot of paper - it does not have to be calligraphy paper - and you will find some nice paper that works with you.







    3. Practice






And the most important thing... PRACTICE!!
Outstanding and expensive tools does not mean you are an expert of calligraphy.Practice makes perfect.
So you don't have to worry about other people's great tools.
Do not be discouraged!
Otherwise, you can be the expert with your lovely tools which is handy ;)








The important thing while you are doing calligraphy, it is not all about the results that you did.
It is about the joy and creativity that you focused on your work.
So... what are you waiting for? Just go for it!

What do you need for your first Calligraphy?

When you decided to start Calligraphy, the tool is one of the first thing that might pops out.
To start with, you can just with your pen or pencil in your pencil case.
Calligraphy is not a fancy thing to show off or brag to other people, so do not feel afraid about getting a outstanding equipment. You really don't have to!

Let's say that you start with marker pen (or any kind of pen) in your pencil case.
Before you start Calligraphy, it is important to understand the characteristic of each pen.

• Tip Material

There are two types of tips in felt tip markers.
One is thin with plastic nib usually covered in metal funnel (left) and the other is a sponge, fibrous tip usually shaped like a cone (right).

Plastic tips are very firm and dispense ink evenly and smoothly. Also, it draws line quite sharp and thin so it is good to write small messages or small exaggeration.
Sponge tips are more prone to losing their firmness over time, but their shape allows for more versatility. You can use the top of the tip to write finely, or turn it on its side to shade or color.

• Tip Size

To emphasize your message, it is important to choose proper tip size. Like other pens, makers comes with various tip sizes. Depending on the ink type and tip material, one brand's definition of a fine tip may not be as thin as another brand's. In general, Asian brand's tips are much thinner than Western brand's. I'll talk about this in other post.
Roughly, tip size can be separate into fine(F), medium(M), broad(B).

• Bleed through

Since markers cover a greater area and are disposed to dispensing more ink than other kinds of pens, bleed through is a legitimate concern especially when you're using the marker pen for writing.
Aside from the permanent and oil-based pens, you also have to consider about the paper which does not let the ink bleed through paper. Most calligraphy paper is eligible to soak the ink.







Now you have some basic ideas to understand the traits of marker pen!
Next following post will be the basic calligraphy pens or tools you might want it for your calligraphy.

Introductory

발없는새의 발없는 이야기

My name is Seonmyeong Oh (Don't be afraid, I also go by Samantha), the senior student at the University of Central Oklahoma, majoring the interpersonal communication.

This blog is about...
Calligraphy information, and some of my calligraphy works.
I'm also interested in the difference between western and eastern calligraphy style.
Not only calligraphy gadgets, but every tools that we can use for calligraphy such as woods, color pencil. To make feel people comfortable and interested in calligraphy ;)

Enjoy your Calligraphy!