I met Maybelline at a Sheaffer event where I was talking about using fountain pens for drawing. So I thought maybe I’ll write about the same topic. I use a variety of pens for drawing, mostly technical pens and fountain pens, and to a lesser extent, ballpoint pens. Technical pens are my favourites because I like the uniform strokes they produce. And for that reason, I also prefer fountain pens that produce uniform strokes. The sketch above was drawn with the Faber Castell Ambition (review). However, there are also fountain pens that are capable of producing more than uniform strokes. The advantage fountain pens have over other pens is the ability to choose your own inks and nibs. And with different inks and nibs, you can get different effects. Here are the points to take note of when choosing the fountain pen, nib or ink for drawing. Nibs The standard fine, medium and broad nibs are going to produce uniform strokes. They are great for technical works where details are required. In addition to the standard nibs, there are also the specialty nibs such as the fude, music, calligraphy, flex, falcon, zoom, Spencerian and many more, some of which you can see […]
Read More
At this time of year the cultural narrative centers on gifts—with the focus on the gifts we buy. While I enjoy those kinds of gifts as well as anyone, I’m cognizant that they are not the only kind of gift. Indeed other kinds of gifts can bring surprising joy. Sometimes the simplest written message can be significant– I’ve had just that kind of experience lately and it’s gotten me thinking. In the last two years three elders in my family have passed away. They were all in their 90s—with long memories full of family stories. I inherited many boxes of memorabilia which contained, it turns out, some intriguing writings and drawings. I came across one little chapbook my grandfather wrote to celebrate Christmas in 1920. In it, he wrote poems and stories to describe my grandmother at the piano, playing and singing and their happiness with their little baby, my mother. What a gift to find these stories and drawings now—this first Christmas without my mom! What a comfort to know that she was so loved within a happy family. I was reminded that as a child, seeing my grandfather’s writings, inspired me to learn penmanship. So he is to […]
Read More
Before the first day of Christmas, my fountain pen came to me: 12 bloggers on OFP. Merry Christmas Eve, dear readers! I know I haven’t been blogging very consistently over the last 2 weeks, and there are a number of reasons involved. One is that I have been ill for a week (yes, again. Grr…). Another is that I have been trying to work on getting more awesome stuff for this blog. I’m still working on it, and meanwhile, I have put together something exciting for all of you this holiday season: 12 days of Christmas with fountain pen bloggers! As you may know, the first day of Christmas starts on Christmas day itself, the 25th of December. It then runs all the way to the 5th of January, being the 12th day of Christmas. Starting tomorrow, we will have one fountain pen blogger a day, guest posting here on topics related to fountain pens and writing. I’ve already received some of their posts, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to enjoy it. Are you as excited as I am? Stay tuned! First post starts tomorrow! MaybellineI am the founder of this website. Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of […]
Read More
