August 28, 2009

Crow Quill

Just couldn't resist trying out a dip pen. Grabbed a Speedball pen set that came with the standard pen and the crow quill. Matched it with a small jar of Higgins ink, and it's been working a treat. The Higgins ink doesn't bleed through the page like the fountain pen I had tried did.

The best part about the crow quill is that it forces you to be a little more confident with your strokes. There is not going back and forth with a nib (I'm pretty sure this is why writing in cursive was all the rage before the ball point came to be). If you try going back with the nib, you'll either pierce the paper, or stutter the nib making ink splash all over the paper. It also encourages you to make longer strokes, depending on the nib of course. Provided you're using a nib that releases more ink (the longer more flexible type), the long strokes just start to feel like they have a more sense of weight and unity; a pleasure to use.

Still getting used to the wrist movements needed to complete those long strokes, I think it may be because I'm used to moving fast and rather haphazardly with the pencil and regular pens.

Mostly Bridgman here. The only other thing are just some still life sketches.