Chapter 3

Putting Your Pen to Paper

In This Chapter

Looking at the parts of the Manuscript fountain pen

Using a Mitchell Roundhand dip pen

Getting your board set up

Drawing and using guide lines

Getting started

Before you actually begin lettering some of the alphabets in this book, make sure you’re familiar with a few simple things, such as how to fill the pen, how to get the pen to write correctly on the paper (not always as easy as it may sound), and how to take care of your pens. These are the kinds of things I want to touch upon in this chapter. I’ll explain the basics of using both the fountain pen and the dip pen.

I especially want to help you if your pen is giving you problems. I will also explain how to use the guide lines and how to create your own guide lines for calligraphy.

If you are uncertain about what kind of pen to use or what kind of ink to use in the pen, please refer to Chapter 2 where I describe the materials. Remember, never use waterproof inks in your fountain pen.

Using a Fountain Pen

I recommend that everyone who is beginning calligraphy start out using a fountain pen. The fountain pen makes practicing with a broad-edge pen as hassle-free as possible. Once you can handle the fountain pen, you are ready for the challenge of using a dip pen. See Chapter 2 for information on selecting a dip pen. Read the information below about how to fill a dip pen, and, when you’re ready, read in Chapter 15 about some special techniques in using the dip pen.

When you bought your fountain pen it may have come in a package unassembled. Before you do any of the practice work that is shown in this workbook you need to put the parts of the pen together, make certain that the pen has ink in it, and make sure that the ink actually flows out of the pen onto the paper the way it should.

Putting the pen together is pretty easy, but frequently getting the pen to write is somewhat of a problem. The pen is not always cooperative. You also have to hold the pen a special way to get it to write. I cover all these issues in the sections that follow.

In Chapter 2 I recommended that you use the Manuscript brand fountain pen as your first calligraphy pen. It is inexpensive, offers a good selection of nib sizes, is available in both right- and left-hand versions, can be used as a cartridge pen or as a pen that you fill from a bottle, and it is a pretty good quality pen for the low price.

Examining the parts of the pen

Take off the cap of your fountain pen and look over the parts. Each part of the fountain pen has a name. and it’s helpful to know these names. The fact is, you can use names like “thing-a-ma-jig” if you want to. Don’t worry, the calligraphy police won’t come and arrest you if you confuse a nib with a barrel, but it makes communication a whole lot easier if you’re speaking the same language as the guy behind the counter at the arts and crafts supply store.

Figure 3-1 shows you the following parts of a fountain pen:

Barrel

Ink cartridge (or adapter, depending upon which type of pen you have)

Nib (no true calligrapher ever calls it a pen point)

Cap

For this chapter, I use the 2B nib which is approximately 11/2mm in width.

You can choose between two types of fountain pens:

Cartridge: With a a cartridge pen, you just insert the ink cartridges and the pen’s filled with ink. The advantages are the ease and convenience and the fact that there is no mess. The disadvantage is it is frequently difficult to get the pen to write, because the ink has to flow out of the cartridge into the pen and down to the end of the nib.

Reservoir adapter: In place of the cartridge, this pen has a little pump mechanism inside the pen that enables you to fill the pen from an ink bottle. The advantages are the pen is ready to write immediately after you fill it and the bottle of ink is harder to misplace than the small cartridges. The disadvantages are the bottle of ink is not especially easy to carry with you and there is a greater possibility of getting ink on your fingers or even having an accident and spilling the ink.

Filling the pen — Fill ’er up!

How you fill your fountain pen depends on which type you have. Read the instructions that came with your pen to make certain you know exactly how filling the pen works for your particular pen. I include some general directions for filling both pen types in this section, but the instructions that came with your pen are the final word for filling your pen.

If you’re using a cartridge pen, first notice that the cartridge has two different ends — usually one end is flat and the other is tapered — so be sure you have the cartridge headed the right direction when you put it into the barrel (see Figure 3-2 for an example). If you’re using the Manuscript pen, just place the two cartridges back to back (the flat ends will be touching) so that the first cartridge acts like a spacer in the barrel. Then simply drop the cartridge(s) into the barrel and screw on the nib. When you screw on the nib, it should puncture the cartridge just right.

If you are using a pen with a reservoir adapter, which is my recommendation, you need to fill it from an ink bottle. All adapters have some kind of pump mechanism. Read the instructions to see if yours is the plunger type, the kind you squeeze from the sides, or the kind where you turn a knob. The Manuscript pen, for example, has a plunger type adapter. Push it in, put the nib into the ink, and slowly pull the plunger out.

When you fill the pen, it is best to submerge only the nib into the ink, but make certain it’s completely submerged (see Figure 3-3). If you dip it too far into the ink, you might have a little mess. If you don’t dip it far enough into the ink, it will not fill completely. Once the pen is filled, wipe away the excess ink with a paper towel.

Getting a grip on (actually, off) your pen hold

Regardless of whether you’re using a fountain or dip pen, you must hold it properly when doing calligraphy. Practice the correct way to hold the pen using a fountain pen. When you take up the dip pen, use the same hold. If you’re accustomed to writing with a ballpoint pen, you may have acquired a few not-so-good writing habits. The most common is gripping the pen too tightly. A tense pen hold can inhibit the control you need to do calligraphy. Such a hold can also quickly produce fatigue or writer’s cramp. Figure 3-4 shows a tense pen hold, the incorrect way to hold a pen.

The tense pen hold (as seen in Figure 3-4) shows the index finger angled upward and the middle, ring, and little fingers curved tightly into the palm of the hand. If your habit is to hold the pen anything like this, I encourage you to make an effort to relax and work on developing a new, better habit, which I show you in Figure 3-5.

Figure 3-5 shows the ideal pen hold — firm but relaxed. The index finger is curved just slightly, and the middle, ring, and little fingers are curved gently underneath.

Please study this illustration of the correct way to hold the pen. Practice positioning your fingers and angling the pen exactly as shown in Figure 3-5.

Combatting ink-flow problems

After you’ve assembled your pen, but before you begin doing calligraphy, you must see if you can get the pen to write. A unique problem for fountain pens, you will likely encounter some ink-flow issues when writing, especially when using a new cartridge or pen. If you are using a cartridge pen, it’s entirely normal for the pen to refuse to write immediately. The challenge is getting the ink out of the cartridge, down into the nib, and onto the paper. Meet the challenge by trying these techniques:

Hold the pen loosely with the nib pointed downward about two inches above a sheet of scratch paper. Tap the nib lightly on the paper several times. Avoid jabbing the pen into the paper—just let it slide through your fingers of its own weight. The idea is to coax the ink to flow down into the nib.

Hold the flat edge of the nib flush against the paper as shown in Figure 3-6 (don’t hold it an angle to the paper) and move the pen side to side in straight lines so that the direction of the side-to-side movement is in line with the flat edge of the nib.. The side-to-side stroke will help draw the ink down into the nib. This side- to-side technique is helpful for testing all pens. It not only helps in getting the ink to flow, but allows you to gauge the flow of the ink and get the “feel” of the pen. Practice this technique and adopt it as a standard way to test a pen prior to using it.

Another technique you might try to get ink flowing is to apply a tiny bit of pressure against the paper as you draw the nib toward you. If you try this, be extremely careful that you don’t press down too hard and bend the nib.

If none of these methods work, I have an almost no-fail technique for getting a cartridge pen started. Just unscrew the barrel and give the cartridge a little squeeze until you see a small droplet of ink form at the back of the nib. Make sure you do this while you’re holding the pen over a surface that won’t be harmed if you squeeze a bit too hard and the drop of ink accidentally goes splat onto whatever is underneath!

If you’re having problems with a fountain pen that you fill from a bottle, simply refill it. Refilling will saturate the nib with ink.

Once you get the pen working the first time, it should be easier to get it going the next time you use it. You definitely have to endure a “break-in” process. If you have trouble with your pen, treat it like a balky child: Be gentle and persistent and never lose your cool.

Sometimes a nib is particularly uncooperative (probably because there is an oily film on the nib). If you run into that situation, simply wipe the nib with ammonia. That should cure what ails it!

An Amazingly Talented Pen!

The calligraphy pen has a special flat nib, sometimes called a chisel-edge or broad-edge, and it’s this special edge that creates the beautiful ribbonlike appearance of real calligraphy where some parts of the letters are thick and other parts are thin. As you practice each alphabet in this book, hold your pen in the special way I describe for each alphabet, and your pen does all the rest. Your pen makes all those beautiful “thicks” and “thins” automatically (see Figure 3-7 for an example). You don’t even have to think about where to put the “thicks and thins.” When you hold the pen correctly, the pen will put them in the right places.

I’m sure you’re eager to make some kind of mark at this point, so discover what your pen can do. Have fun and experiment by making some marks and doodles. Look at Figure 3-8 to discover the kinds of marks you can make with your pen. Now give it a try: Grab a piece of paper and try to duplicate the doodles from Figure 3-8. Then see what else you can do — try making some doodles of your own.

See the thick and thin lines in Figure 3-9? Keep doodling and making marks, and discover just how you need to hold the pen to make the fattest and thinnest possible lines. Make as many as you want!

Taking care of your fountain pen

Using nonwaterproof ink in your pen makes taking care of your pen incredibly easy. In fact, there’s nothing special that you’ll have to do at all. When you change nibs and before you put the old nib away, you may wipe the old nib with a soft paper towel to clean off the excess ink if you want to, but you really don’t even have to do that. If the ink dries in your pen, usually all you have to do is refill the pen and you’re set to go again. If for any reason, you feel that you should rinse the nib, just run it under warm water or let it soak in a small bowl of water and then dry it with a clean, soft paper towel. Don’t ever use any soap or cleanser on the interior parts of the fountain pen, because they are just about impossible to rinse out of the pen. You might wind up doing calligraphy with soap-bubbles. That might be interesting.

To change the color of the ink in your pen, you have a couple options. You can flush out the old ink by soaking the nib in plain water and drying it before you fill it with another color or you can simply switch to a clean nib. If you’re using a cartridge pen, you can put in the cartridge with the new color and create a very interesting effect where the color of the letters change gradually as you write with the pen. If you’re filling your pen from a bottle, you’ll have to either flush out the nib or use a clean nib. You wouldn’t want to “pollute” the ink in the bottle with a different color.

Using a Dip Pen

After you’ve learned how to use a fountain pen, you’re ready to graduate to the next step up in quality — the dip pen. The beauty of the dip pen lies in its basic simplicity. It does an excellent job and is easy to take care of. Plus, dip pens can last forever. (To get an idea of how dip pens compare to other calligraphy pens, see Chapter 2. To read about the techniques required to use a dip pen, see Chapter 15). Because of their reliability and precision, I use only dip pens for important calligraphy.

I recommend using the Mitchell Roundhand dip pen (you can find out more about my recommendations for dip pens and other calligraphy materials in Chapter 2). Throughout this section, when I refer to a dip pen, the Mitchell Roundhand is the dip pen I have in mind. However, just in case you’re using a different brand, I point out any differences other brands may have if knowing those differences will be helpful.

Checking out the pen’s parts

Dip pens have three basic parts: the handle, the nib and the reservoir (see Figure 3-10 to see the parts of a dip pen). The simple design of the dip pen makes it easy to change nibs. You can also change the reservoir each time you change the nib.

Filling — not dipping — your dip pen

The reservoir slides on underneath the nib. The reservoir is brass and can be bent and shaped easily with the fingers so the fit is snug. It is best to have a separate reservoir for each nib so you don’t have to keep bending it everytime you clip it onto a different nib.

Before you try to fill the pen, check to make sure that the little reservoir fits correctly so it touches the back of the nib very close to the flat edge. Also make certain that the reservoir is snug so it won’t slip accidentally on the nib. (If you are using a Brause pen, the reservoir is on top of the nib, but everything else is basically the same.)

Filling a dip pen is easy if you know the trick: Don’t dip it! Although we call it a dip pen, I don’t recommend that you actually dip it in the ink. Instead, use a small round artist’s paint brush or a dropper stopper (like the one that comes in the Pelikan Fount India ink bottle) to place a droplet of ink in from the side between the nib and reservoir.

Another very interesting way to fill the Mitchell pen is to put a drop of ink into the little dimple that’s on top of the nib (see Figure 3-11). After you have put a drop of ink in the dimple, hold the handle near the end so it is horizonal and the ink drop is held just like it was in a spoon. Tap the handle of the pen once lightly on a hard surface. If done correctly, the drop of ink will pop down into the reservoir underneath, and you’re ready to write.

The wider the nib you’re using, the quicker the ink is used up. With a wide nib, you refill every two or three letters. Whenever you use a dip pen, you must refill frequently, but there is a rhythm to it.

If you’re using a different kind of pen such as Brause and Speedball, simply use a small paintbrush or dropper-stopper to insert a drop of ink in from the side. Don’t overfill, and, if you’re using a dropper-stopper, watch out for air bubbles when filling — they have a way of impersonating ink drops!

Don’t let the dip pen run dry. Fill it frequently so that your letters always look nice and dark. Don’t allow the letters to begin to look pale and thin as the ink in the pen begins to run low. Keep the pen full.

Taking care of your dip pen

You should always take the nibs apart and wipe them clean and dry with a paper towel before you put them away.

It’s probably not a good idea to store a nib in the pen handle. I prefer to keep all my dip pen nibs in one of those sectioned, clear boxes that have a snap-shut lid so they are protected from dust and humidity. It makes more sense to store your nibs separately from the handle because the dip pen has so many different size nibs that you would probably want to use a different size nib the next time you use the pen anyway.

The dip pen nibs can be given a more thorough cleansing than you would give a fountain pen nib. If the nibs become encrusted with dried ink, and they will if you use them a lot, I recommend that you use toothpaste and an old toothbrush to clean them up. Toothpaste does a super job. Rinse and dry the nibs thoroughly before putting them away. The steel nibs can rust if they are not dried thoroughly.

Using nonwaterproof ink makes clean up really easy. Even if the ink has dried on the nib, you can rinse it away with plain water. Waterproof ink not only creates a problem in cleaning if it should dry on the nib, but it tends to expand when it dries. It can act like a wedge in the slit in the nib and cause the slit to splay open which would make the nib useless.

Setting Up Your Board

Now that you have your pen ready, the next thing to do is set up the drawing table or board where you are going to do your calligraphy. See Chapter 2 to review the information on the kind of work surface and its size.

The set-up of a calligraphy board is unique. First, it is a good idea to tape down one or two sheets of paper (depending on the the thickness of the paper) that are almost the same size of the board to serve as a pad underneath the paper on which you do calligraphy. This paper can be any kind of smooth, clean paper. I wouldn’t use paper that has a fold in it or has anything printed on it. I use a single sheet of poster paper. Another option is a few sheets of drawing paper or layout bond paper. Across the bottom half of the board tape another sheet of heavy-weight paper (I like to use watercolor paper) that will serve as a shield or guard. Your hand rests on top of this sheet of paper while the paper that you’re doing calligraphy on, slides underneath. This will protect the calligraphy paper from getting moisture and oils from your hand. Tie an elastic band (available at fabric stores) across the top of the board. This is used to hold the top part of your paper in place. As you are lettering, you move the paper up line by line. The last thing you’ll need is a small piece of paper for testing your pen. This should be the same kind of paper as the paper you will be lettering on. See Figure 3-12 below.

Keeping Letters Straight: Drawing Guide Lines

Drawing lettering guide lines is not only easy, but extremely important when you want your calligraphy to look the best it can be. You use guide lines to keep your letters straight and even. For many of the alphabets you will need four lines (see Figure 3-13):

Writing or base line: The letters sit on this line.

Waist line: Shows the height of letters, such as a.

Ascender line: Indicates the height of the staff on letters such as d.

Descender line: Shows the length of the descenders on letters such as g.

The correct way to use the guide lines is not to try to write inside them, but to draw the letters so they just touch the lines. You’ll see more about how that works in the chapters that explain the alphabets.

Calculating the distance between lines

The spacing between the guide lines, measured in pen widths (the width of the nib you are using), varies from one alphabet to another. In each alphabet chapter, I tell you how many pen widths to use for spacing (Figure 3-14 shows you an example). When you’re ready to draw your guide lines, you first must calculate the distance between the lines: Multiply the the size of the nib by the number of pen widths the alphabet requires. For example, if the pen nib is 2mm wide and the alphabet requires five pen widths between lines, then the distance between the lines will be 2mm multiplied by 5, which equals 10mm.

The Manuscript company has a small ruler called The Manuscript Calligraphy Rule which can be used to measure the spaces between lines for the most commonly used pen nibs.

Using a T-square and drafting tape

This method requires a drawing board, a T-square, and drafting tape:

1. Align the bottom of your paper to your board using a T-square (see Figure 3-15).

2. Tape it down.

3. Mark along one side of the paper the distance between the guide lines using a ruler and a pencil.

4. Draw horizontals using the T-square (see Figure 3-16).

Using a ruler and right triangle

This method reguires a drawing board, a ruler that is at least as long as the piece of paper, and a right triangle:

1. Tape the ruler in a vertical position to the board, making certain that the increments along the ruler’s edge are on the right side (see Figure 3-17).

2. Place the paper against the edge of the ruler and tape it down (see Figure 3-17).

3. Slide a right triangle along the edge of the ruler and draw the horizontals at the correct intervals (see Figure 3-18).

A third way to draw guide lines?

There is another way that people have used to draw guide lines. Maybe it even came to your mind as you were reading about the two methods I describe above. It’s the method you may have used in school if you ever had to rule off a sheet of paper. First, you measured and marked the intervals along both sides of the paper. Then you used a straight-edge to connect the marks from one side to the other. This method is vastly inferior to the other two methods because of the time involved and the greater margin for error. I mention it only to warn you that you should not do it this way. Don’t use this method.

Loosening Up to Get Started

Calligraphy can be a highly rewarding pursuit. It should give you a great deal of pleasure and a sense of personal fulfillment. It can be a way for you to express yourself creatively, and it can even develop into a profitable business (see Chapter 20).

If you’re just beginning, go slowly and enjoy yourself. As you look ahead, make the decision to have fun. Don’t push yourself to achieve faster than is reasonable, but, at the same time, don’t close any doors of opportunity that may lie in your future either. Maybe at this point, you’re interested in simply acquiring a new skill that you can use for personal enjoyment and recreation — maybe the idea of selling your calligraphy doesn’t interest you in the least. Nevertheless, leave the door open to that possibility in the future. After all, none of us knows exactly what the future will bring.

On the other hand, while you should be enjoying yourself, one of the biggest obstacles calligraphers face is stress. You want to be calm and relaxed so you can take it slow and easy — calligraphy is not something you should try to do in a rush. Calligraphy isn’t something you can do very well if you’re feeling angry or upset. If you feel any tension in your hand or fingers, you’ll have a difficult time achieving your best.

Fortunately, calligraphers have discovered some tricks for relaxing:

Select a time and place that is pleasant and comfortable and without distractions. Avoid trying to do calligraphy if you feel rushed. Most people find it helpful to have some relaxing music playing in the background when they do calligraphy. If you are not opposed to drinking a small glass of wine, you may want to try that as well.

Make a conscious effort not to squeeze your pen too tightly. If you ever experience what is often called “writer’s cramp,” that’s a sure indication that you’re gripping the pen too tightly. Relax your grip.

Practice relaxation breathing. Breathe slowly. As you exhale slowly, draw a letter. Practice drawing the letters as you exhale. This is a very slow pace, but it is really helpful. Go slowly.

Do some warm-up exercises. On your own sheet of paper, practice duplicating what you see in Figure 3-19, concentrating on a relaxed pen hold and slow breathing.

Good posture and the correct pen hold are vital. Figure 3-20 shows the correct position of the paper, the arms, and the pen. In this figure you can see that the woman has the paper straight up and down in front of her. She holds the pen in a relaxed manner and is also using a stick in her left hand to press down on the paper so it won’t bounce as she letters on it. She has another long piece of paper under her hands that acts as a shield so moisture and oils from her hands will not transfer onto her work.