Transcription
First thing, never, ever, ever. One of the biggest problems lots of people have with nibs is they start off with them, and the ink doesn't stick to the nib.
Hi, good afternoon. Um, I'm Paul Antonio. Today, I'm going to talk to you about nibs, specifically how to, how to use a new nib. That can be frustrating. It can also be problematic because if you think you have prepared the nib correctly and you haven't, then as soon as you dip into the ink, if you're a dipper. So, of course, the two types is dippers and brushes. Dippers dip into the ink, and brushes brush the ink onto the underside of the nail. With a brush, preferably a cheap. If you're using a cheap brush, just, just be careful that the filaments don't come off into the ink because that, that causes real issues.
So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to look at how to prepare a nib for writing copperplate script and some Spencerian script. And I'm also going to look at how to prepare broad edge nibs, so that you have a sense of how it works across the board. So, what I'm going to do is I'm using a Hunt 22B. So, we have two Hunts and a Speedball C series C2. This is a, um, this is a holder. So, let's put this here. This is a holder made by Chrysio. Um, it's one of my favorite holders because it's, it's absolutely stunning. It's really beautiful. And this is a holder still in its sort of prototyping phase, made by the Curious Artisan, Lenny at the Curious Artisan. So, this is a copy of a holder that was made by a very good friend of mine, and I love the way this feels and it holds. I'm sure Chris, you can talk to Chris about getting some of these as well.
How to prepare him? First thing, never, ever, ever put a pointed nib into flame. You put a pointed nib into flame. Most people put the pointed nib into the flame. They heat the nib until they can see just beyond this point of the nib heating up, by which time all of this is ruined. And then they drop the nib into the hot ink and they go, "Well, if you do that, you are changing the temp of the nib. The nibs are already temp. They already hardened. And if you do this and change the temp of the nib, you actually soften the nib. So your nibs will not last as long. Most importantly, the nib, the tip of the nib will not last very long. And that is an issue if you like really light, delicate, fine hairlines. Never going to help. Do not heat your nibs in a flame.
There are lots of ways to do it. You can scrub a little bit of toothpaste on the underside and the top side of the nib. Some people actually take 800 wet and dry grit sandpaper, just sand it a little bit. Usually, you know, if you're on site, you don't have time for all of that. But, you know what, saliva is your best friend here. So, most nibs have a little coating of lacquer on them to stop them, either lacquer, a little bit of oil to stop them from rusting when they are in the store. That's a nib. I normally put the nib. I gather up a little bit of saliva at the tip of my tongue and I rest the nib here. Most nib manufacturers will tell you not to do that because if you're clumsy and you swallow the nib, obviously you will have a problem. Uh, so what I, what I tend to do in my classes is I suggest to do this. I don't really understand why this is a problem. This is your saliva. It's your nib. It's your fingers. Make sure you have some tissue handy. Don't do this for somebody else. So, I gather up a little bit of saliva at the tip of my tongue, take it off, and I fill the nib with the saliva. Notice I'm not pressing on the nib, and so I fill it and I wait. If the nib changes color, you obviously have an acidic tongue. And I wait a little bit. The top side also has some saliva on it. So, it, it really does clean the nib off. And then I just rest it. Look, I'm not pressing. I'm just gently. There we go. Just gently cleaning the nib. And notice I am not pressing. So, look, the saliva has almost come off. But one of the things that's really great about this is, I don't know if you can see this. Let's get a little bit closer. There, you can see this nib has started to change color ever so slightly. So, let's see if we can get that. I probably can't get it. So, um, so I'm just going to do these other two nibs and I'll leave them there.
This is your holder. This is the flange, and this is the ferrule in here. So, what we want to do is we want to take the nib. I'm going to use orange so that you can see this. And we want to insert the nib. If you see these little prongs here, we want to insert the nib so it fits along the top curve, not inside here between the prongs, but above the prongs. This is really, really important. If you put the nib between the prongs, the prongs won't hold the nib in place. By putting the nib. There we go. You can see the prongs. By putting the nib at the top curve, between the prongs and the barrel of the ferrule, you get the nib held in place securely. If you insert the nib here between the prongs, then it will move around.
What I want you to do is this is how I insert a nib. So, I'm very careful. Pointed nibs get damaged very easily. So, I will press on this on the nib, slide it to the end of the table, take it from the underside. Notice I'm not pressing on anything. I'm just moving things. And then flip it over. Take the nib. There, notice I'm going behind the reservoir. You can see where my hand is. I'm not squeezing. I'm just holding it in place. And I'll take the nib. Now, this is where being OCD really does help. See this little gap here at the top of the ferrule? You can see that there. There you go. See a little gap there? Now, there you can just about see it. What I tend to do is I tend to. So, the gap is here. I tend to insert the nib just peeks out of the gap. So, the reservoir, which is this little hole or the eye of the nib, is in line with the center of the gap. There's a reason for this. You know, I'm just not just being obsessive-compulsive. I'm going to hold the nib behind the eye or the reservoir. And this is really critical. What I'm going to do is I'm going to. So, let's look down. Let's get into the light to look down the shaft of the nib there. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my hand behind the eye. I'm going to press down on the nib. I'm going to press down, which is up in this instance. See how the little flanges move? I'm going to press down. Notice the nib is quite far away from the curve. I'm pressing down and pushing in. It'll get to the point where there's no movement. I'm not shoving it into the ferrule. I'm actually just pushing it. There's no way it's going to go any further. So, that's really important because if you push the nib too hard or you squeeze here, you can damage. Do not ever hold it up on the side here. You'll cross the tines. So, these two things are the tines. Head. And once you cross the tines on a pointed nib, you've messed it up. If you mess it up, give up. You will never fix it, and you're wasting time. By pressing down and pushing in, it holds the nib in place better. That's how you insert a nib into a straight holder.
Now, as I'm looking at straight holders, at holders, I thought it would be wise to look at what happens with an oblique holder. But to hold it down on the desk, the holder. Now, I've already bent this flange. The holder sits there. Ideally, you want to insert the nib, the heel of the nib, into the flange. Now, notice if you hold the nib and you look down the top of the flange, you can see a really thin bit of light running down the center of the flange, down the top of the nib, down the center of the eye, out the ink channel, and out through the point of the nib. So, I'm going to just insert this until it doesn't move. There we go. Now, when you hold this nib, the first thing that happens is you're holding the nib here. When you are ready to write, the hand rocks over to write. So, the nib, which is held here, so that the reservoir is at the absolute. I'll hold it like a left-hander. So, when you hold the nib here, to see how the reservoir is on the top of that, the highest part of the curve. When you try to write, so look at what happens. I rest my hand, and the whole nib has rocked over. Look, the reservoir is no longer on the top. It's on the side. So, for a left-hander, well, I'll do this as a right-hander because left-handers don't really need to use a decoder. What you want to do is this. You want to get that reservoir onto the top of that curve. Right. This, which is rocked over, this is which is rocked over, has to be over here. So, you don't rock your hand over because you rock it back. Take the nib. Make sure your hand is in the right position, which is sitting in there. Middle fingers supporting the tool. You're not squeezing. You don't want a death grip for this. Take the back of the reservoir. So, I'm going to write. It's already it's rocked over. Take the back of the reservoir and turn. New. So, releasing. So, look at what's happening. I can move the tool from the back. So, I have to roll it in my fingers because my fingers are in the right. My hand, my fingers, and my hand and my wrist are in the correct place to start writing. So, you turn the page. Just put this on. Sorry. So, I'm turning the page and I'm getting ready to write, and I am in the correct position now.
For those of you who really want to understand how this works, I'm going to look at this in detail in the manual that I'm writing on copperplate script. What I want you to see is this. My hand, my arm is on the desk. I'm away from the edge of the desk, and I'm resting not on the whole flat of the muscle, which is shown in Spencerian, on my nose for an obvious reason because the pen hold was different. I am resting on this part of the muscle. So, essentially, half of that allows me to produce. Notice my posture is really good. I'm sitting upright. I'm leaning, and my legs are as far apart, my feet as far apart as my shoulders, so that when one foot is for the back, so that I can sit into the pelvic floor and I can lean into this area, so I can lean forward. One foot is supporting me, and the other foot is allowing me to move forward only to certain hand. Non-writing hand holding the page in place. Arm on the desk. So, this allows me to roll on this muscle. Notice I'm not doing this with my fingers. I'm actually rolling on this forearm muscle, and this is muscular movement, which is useful for all pointed pen scripts. It's actually useful for all colors.
And put this aside because I also want to show you how to use, how to insert rotation. So, this is a Speedball C series nib. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take the nib. Hold it away from the tip. Never hold the nibs on the side. I'm not squeezing. Gently holding in place, and I'm going to put this into. Go. And so, look, this is not moving. If it's moving, you get the whole thing right. It's actually rocking. So, I'm going to pull that out. Press down and up. That's not moving now. So, that's how you insert a broad edge nib. And again, I put some saliva on that. So, we've done that.
One of the things that really helps is, uh, I'm going to use some Pelikan 4001 ink because I've used Pelikan since I was nine. I love this ink, and this, this violet is such an amazing color. Now, I'm going to give you a little tip, which is in the manual. This is a great tip. For a long time, I did not share this tip with anyone. Now that I'm writing the manual, I thought, you know what, there's no sense in holding back information. So, I'm giving you everything I know. So, what I do is take the page. Some of you might have seen me do this in shows. Very rarely do this in a video unless it's a recent video. And then I curl the paper. See that curl? That allows the tools to interact with each other. I'm not taking the nib to the page onto the desk. I'm taking the nib to the paper and letting the paper interact within it. And that allows a much lighter, much more delicate, much more intimate letter form.
The most important thing about copperplate script is this. I was told that the script needs to issue. So, my chest is here. I was told the script, the axis of the script needs to issue from the sternum at a perpendicular angle. I found that that is not necessary. It helps, but if you can't do that, the one thing you must remember is the one rule you have to remember with a pointed pen script is the nib, including the tip, the ink channel, the reservoir, all the way up through that little hole, up the shaft of the nib, all must face the axis of the script. Copperplate script, I use 55 degrees. Copperplate script is written at 55. If you're writing at 55 degrees, the nib needs to face 55 degrees. Now, I have discovered, and again, I know I keep talking about the manual, but there's a lot in there. I have discovered something called the variance of tolerance. There is a variance of tolerance that allows you roughly five degrees, um, plus or minus the axis of the script, which is ideally it should be half of the variance, which is 2.5 degrees on either side of the script. You can't go up to five, but it, the more you move away from the two and a half, the more difficult it becomes. And so, what I'm doing is the nib is facing the axis of the script. So, what I'm going to do is write with it now. Notice, look at how much ink is on there. The ink's not dropped off. I'm just going to dip a little bit more. I'm going to dip a little bit more because I want to show you something else. So, I'm gliding on the tip of the nib. Now, I'm just going to show you very quickly. So, by holding the Spencerian, the oblique holder, I, I never do copperplate script with an oblique holder because, um, oblique holders weren't used to write copperplate script historically. So, this ink, this gouache, because I'm using gouache here, it's a little bit on the thick side. I prefer something a little bit thinner, but I'm actually using this thing to write the manual and be very conscious of the tools you're using. So, just now, I saw a little issue with the gouache. The gouache that I mixed up is for copperplate script. Um, if you're mixing gouache, be conscious of the, um, the consistency. If you live in a developed country, one of the best ways to work this out is the consistency of the gouache for painting. If you're painting heraldry, um, I was taught that gouache should be the consistency of single cream. For broad edge scripts, gouache should be the consistency of whole milk. For, so this is my own discovery, the whole milk issue. And for copperplate script, gouache should be the consistency of, um, two percent or skimmed milk, as, as we call it in the UK. And for Spencerian script, it should be the consistency of, uh, zero fat milk, which is really, really thin, which is almost like water. And I think Helen ended the lesson. Thank you very much for your time. Don't forget to, um, click subscribe to the Calligraphy Master and the YouTube channel. And, um, obviously my channel, Hold Onto Subscribe.com, or go to the Instagram, which is again, Paul Antonio Subscribe. Uh, thank you very much to Angie Van Gaalis for managing the phone. Um, her hand is probably hurting by now. And thank you very much to Calligraphy Masters for asking for this to be done. Thanks very much. Have a good day.