Pen and Ink Supplies.

[Kristen2026]

I'm new here. After looking at all the wonderful works it's really triggering my creativity. I'm especially interested in the tools used to create the ink drawings. My supplies are ancient. Still usable but I'm always open to new ideas. I have a Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pen set. I don't think they make that style anymore. Difficult to use and clean. I also have a wide assortment of dip pens with nibs and brushes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[txomsy]

It is difficult to make suggestions in general. Each one has personal preferences.

Personally, I tend to favor using a fountain pen with a "flexy" nib and water resistant ink. My preferred one is a Kaweco AL Sport or a Kaweco Liliput with a nib hand-tuned by "nibmeister" Pablo from fpnibs.com. But that s only because I like to always carry (at least) one with me in a pocket so I can pick it out for a quick sketch (for calligraphy I also use various italic nibs).

That is why I say it is personal: YMMV depending on use cases and preferences.

As for inks... I have a large assortment, depends on what I'm after. Koh-i-Noor Document, Rohrer & Klingner iron-gall (Salix and Scabiosa), Noodler's Black or X-Feather, Polar (when cross-country skiing in the Arctic), Eternal (Red Fox, Hunter's Green), funny (like ROme's Burning) and others, even Baystate Blue; Montblanc Permanent and Limited Editions; Parker (love the defunct Penman line), Cross, Sheaffer (vintage brilliant colors), Stipula Calamo (various greys and Saffron), Diamine (I specially like Skull&Roses, Golden Sands and Silver Moon, among others), OS Nitrogen, some of Troublemaker's inks I could get hold of when they were starting; and almost anything that suits my needs or preferences. If I were to settle for one, I wouldn't know, maybe Montblanc Permanent.

Dip pen nibs... I could get a full box of flex calligraphy nibs long ago, with something like a hundred, so it's going to be a long time before I need more. That said, I sometimes indulge in Zebra G nibs to put them on Jinhao fountain pens. For this, the titanium ones tend to last longer. I do also use some normal nibs EMF-modified (google it up) by myself to increase flexibility.

But as you see, I tend to favor mostly fountain pens that I can bring with me as EDC (Every Day Carry) so I can always have one at hand.

On a side line, the Kuretake brush pens are also great. I have a few, (industrially-) urushi lacquered, with sable hairs and metal body that can take fountain pen ink. Sturdy, versatile, great quality. The One Million Years edition were an outstanding buy, it is a pity it was a limited edition.

 

[LizC]

I use a micron pen for my pen and ink art and lately I've been making sketches with a gel pen. The finer point the more detailed drawing you can make. The smallest micron I use is .005, gel pen .05 Note that the gel pens are just writing pens and don't use archival ink but they are great for sketching

 

[Kristen2026]

It is difficult to make suggestions in general. Each one has personal preferences.

Personally, I tend to favor using a fountain pen with a "flexy" nib and water resistant ink. My preferred one is a Kaweco AL Sport or a Kaweco Liliput with a nib hand-tuned by "nibmeister" Pablo from fpnibs.com. But that s only because I like to always carry (at least) one with me in a pocket so I can pick it out for a quick sketch (for calligraphy I also use various italic nibs).

That is why I say it is personal: YMMV depending on use cases and preferences.

As for inks... I have a large assortment, depends on what I'm after. Koh-i-Noor Document, Rohrer & Klingner iron-gall (Salix and Scabiosa), Noodler's Black or X-Feather, Polar (when cross-country skiing in the Arctic), Eternal (Red Fox, Hunter's Green), funny (like ROme's Burning) and others, even Baystate Blue; Montblanc Permanent and Limited Editions; Parker (love the defunct Penman line), Cross, Sheaffer (vintage brilliant colors), Stipula Calamo (various greys and Saffron), Diamine (I specially like Skull&Roses, Golden Sands and Silver Moon, among others), OS Nitrogen, some of Troublemaker's inks I could get hold of when they were starting; and almost anything that suits my needs or preferences. If I were to settle for one, I wouldn't know, maybe Montblanc Permanent.

Dip pen nibs... I could get a full box of flex calligraphy nibs long ago, with something like a hundred, so it's going to be a long time before I need more. That said, I sometimes indulge in Zebra G nibs to put them on Jinhao fountain pens. For this, the titanium ones tend to last longer. I do also use some normal nibs EMF-modified (google it up) by myself to increase flexibility.

But as you see, I tend to favor mostly fountain pens that I can bring with me as EDC (Every Day Carry) so I can always have one at hand.

On a side line, the Kuretake brush pens are also great. I have a few, (industrially-) urushi lacquered, with sable hairs and metal body that can take fountain pen ink. Sturdy, versatile, great quality. The One Million Years edition were an outstanding buy, it is a pity it was a limited edition.

Thank you for your in depth response and some great ideas. The brush pens look fun to use. It's funny. I have a collection of fountain pens that I use for writing. Never thought to use them on my art work. My favorite is a Waterman Ideal..The Mont Bland Permanent ink sounds great. Thank you again for sharing.

 

[Kristen2026]

I use a micron pen for my pen and ink art and lately I've been making sketches with a gel pen. The finer point the more detailed drawing you can make. The smallest micron I use is .005, gel pen .05 Note that the gel pens are just writing pens and don't use archival ink but they are great for sketching

Thank you for responding. Do the micro pens dry out quickly?

 

[LizC]

No, not in my experience, they go quite a long way before they need to be replaced. What I like about them is that they don't clog like drafting pens, I used to use Staedtler drafting pens before I switched to the micron drawing pens

 

[Rikard]

I like fountain pens for drawing. And have had quite a few. Now I feel that I've settled for 3 different ones.
Montblanc 149 with a fine nib when I want uniform lines. (This is my least used pen)
Pelikan 400nn with a flex nib for when I want those beautiful varied lines.
A BAMF pen from Deisiderata. This one takes Zebra-G nibs as well as standard JOWO ones. I use mine with a fude type nib. It's a great pen for mark making, as the line width can be varied quite a lot.

Dip nib flex (flexible) fountain pens. Calligraphy. Drawing. Writing. — The Desiderata Pen Company®

Affordable, high performance, modern vintage, flex fountain pens. Writing instruments, designed, engineered and handmade with American labor in the USA. Fountain pens with a high-performance (dip nib) flex option. Designed and handmade in small batches in the USA. The Desiderata Pen Company. Made fo

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As for permanent inks I've tried Montblanc Pemanent, Rohrer Klingler and De Atramentis. I was only happy with the last one. The one from Montblanc was beautiful, but It took forever to dry would smudge even hours after application. And the Rohrer Klingler would dry up in some of my pens. But inks from De Atramentis dries quickly on paper and can stay in the pen for weeks and just works.