Editing The Pen Addict 191/transcript (section)

== Dip Nibs ==


'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I think that the most affordable and safest thing to start with would be dip nibs. And although they have a bit of a learning curve because, I mean, you have to understand what the dip nibs do, different dip nibs can do and you have to clean them and prepare them. But I mean, that's all very easy when you compare it to something like, you know, if you have a flex pen and you have to tweak it and get it ready to write. And also the investment, the financial investment is not as great with a dip nib as if you're looking at something like a vintage flex pen or even a modern flex pen because neither of those are really inexpensive. Right. So if you can't get to a pen show and try out some inexpensive vintage flex pens, which do exist, I would say the best thing is to grab some dip nibs and you can get some ink. Like pick a either have a look at like Instagram or like social media and see, like you said, see someone's handwriting that you like and just kind of see if you can mimic it or find a formal calligraphy style like copper plate. There's just tons of calligraphy books out there and just go for it and see if if it appeals to you.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. And once you start getting that nib on the paper, then you can kind of figure out, well, I can't really make these shapes, but these shapes on this other style is kind of right right up my alley.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Absolutely. Absolutely.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So out of your, I guess we'll call it a collection out of your your range of flex pens, flex nibs, what are your kind of go to nibs? It could be modern, vintage. What you know, if you had a few favorites that you could never fathom not having what what are your go to nibs?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I would say my top ones would be Waterman. They I have two Waterman music nibs. And so those are three tined, two split nibs, and they are flexible. So they're not extra fine to begin with. But they but because, of course, they have three times they flex quite well. So they give you a nice broad line. And I also have a I mean, the bodies vary. The bodies of the pens come on. So to me, I don't really care about the body. I just care about the nib. So I have an ideal number two nib. And it's fairly small, but it's an extra fine and it flexes with double or triple broad. Wow. And it's just outstanding. It boggles my mind that this was actually created and that it could still do this. And I do know that at some point, these nibs can wear out. And I know that some of them can have weaknesses. It's it's kind of scary to actually use them because I do worry that someday I won't have it anymore. But at the same time, I'm like, well, then there's no point in having it if I'm never going to use it. Right. So I just go for currently I go for Waterman. And. The ones that I currently use are not that cheap. Sure. But you can certainly get inexpensive Waterman. And if you go to a pen show and find a vintage seller, there are definitely ones you can get for like $50. Right. I mean, they're not going to be beautiful, but the nib is going to work. Right. I think that's most important.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And I think, you know, one of the reasons why like the nibs that you like are so popular.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's no one can make a nib with that range these days. I mean, you're not you can't go online and purchase a modern pen that's going to range from EF to double B. It's not going to happen pretty much. Right.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' It's not. And I know there are.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' There almost makes their extra for the nib. And I mean, they are very soft, but they don't snap back the same way that a vintage nib does. So you have to be careful with those. But you're right. They just don't have the range of flex that these vintage nibs have.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which I think why that I think it was a really good point to mention the dip nibs, because you can kind of get a really good range with these dip nibs for, you know, really inexpensively to at least test this stuff out to see if you like it. I mean, you can get some some wild variation, you know, on like a two or three dollar nib and a nib holder and some ink, you know, for for 15 bucks. You're all in just on testing, you know, to see if this is something that you like.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Exactly. It's the most affordable way to test flex.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Right. Right.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' And it's fun.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Speaking of fun, if you're going to if you're going to have fun and you're going to, you know, sit there on a Saturday, you're going to ink up your favorite nib, your favorite pen. And and just kind of show off like what's your style and things like that. What ink are you throwing in there? What what ink show off the flex the best?

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' I think the the overall answer to that is the lighter the ink, not too light, but I think like a medium light ink, it shows it off best because when it saturates, the pooling kind of darkens the ink. So you get the best variation in shading. So I tend to lean towards ink like the Diamine Autumn Oak, Omas Cepia, the the Ackerman's Huff Quartier Foon, which that is my absolute favorite green. I think that is just it's just stellar.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I will agree with you on that. That's I have that actually inked up in a needlepoint in my show notes right here. All the Aziza Q&A's I have for later are in that exact ink.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Oh, it's so good. And if you haven't tried it, you have to get some because it's it's outstanding and it's legible if you don't use it as a in a flex pen. I also use I like turquoise inks because they they do the same thing. But I tend to lean towards like Omas turquoise, which is a light turquoise and not a heavy green turquoise because it shades better. And my my other favorite like weird yellow green is the roller and cleaner. I cannot pronounce that. The old gold green. Yes, that's great. And for orange, of course, Apache Sunset. Yeah, because that's that's just like the go to for that.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's that's spectacular. I love all those inks. And the one actually that surprised me the most out of that is actually the Omas turquoise. I'm I was when I got into pens and inks, I was I kind of avoided the turquoise because I thought they were too light. But I just found the ink properties and shading of turquoises to be fantastic. And the Omas is one I haven't reviewed yet, but I have sitting here and was just really pleasantly surprised with not just the shading, but how it behaved. And it's just great all around ink.

'''Azizah Asgarali:''' Yeah, it's beautiful. That one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. Yep.