Link to [...]]]> Overnight I had an email from Casey asking me for instructions for the Rotring Rapidograph and I thought I’d upload the scans that Kate took for me to assist all the other Rapidograph owners out there that have pens without instructions!

Link to hi res image

Link to hi res image

Happy drawing!

So for a while I’ve been yearning to do calligraphy. I have a couple of books already, but I was confused as to what sort of pen I should buy first. Also, money was an issue, ha. When I found a bit of extra money in my [...]]]>

So for a while I’ve been yearning to do calligraphy. I have a couple of books already, but I was confused as to what sort of pen I should buy first. Also, money was an issue, ha. When I found a bit of extra money in my PayPal account I decided to have a look around JetPens (my favourite pen store!) because I needed to stock up on Pilot Hi-Tec-C pens. I came across the Pilot Parallel Pen and was intrigued… after some intense googling I decided that these were to be the pens I would start with! Lots of people rave about these pens and say that they are excellent for both beginners and professionals, however the most crucial factor in my purchase was cost – they are an awesome buy at US$11 each!

I had been anxiously awaiting my package from JetPens for over a week, and today I went down to check the mail and saw one of those yellow missed delivery slips just sitting on the top of the letterbox for the whole unit complex. Peering at the name on the slip, I nearly cried when I saw it was for me! The delivery person had mis-read the unit number on the address, and attempted delivery two days ago to the wrong unit. Boo! I’m glad that the residents of the other unit put the slip out for me to claim, even if there was a risk of it flying away. I’d been getting anxious!

6.0mm Pilot Parallel Pen – for this review I used the black ink

3.8mm Pilot Parallel Pen – using the red ink

The Parallel Pen is so named because the ink flows through two parallel plates. I’m not sure how other calligraphy pens work, but this is genius to me! The ink flows SO quickly and smoothly, I was quite surprised. Though one (small) continued annoyance is that I have to hold the pen at precisely the right angle in order to get a decent looking line without any gaps. I am a total noob, so hopefully this gets better as I get better!

The other thing is that the Pilot ink doesn’t work very well with plain old cartridge paper – as you can see here, there’s feathering and bleeding all over the place.

When I moved to a scrap of Arches Aquarelle paper, the result was much prettier. I just have to make sure I get my angles right! You can turn the pen and write with a corner of the nib for a very fine line, something I was quite chuffed to learn! Just make sure you’re using a sturdy paper because it ploughed through the cartridge paper when I tried it!

Another delightful thing about this pen is the Pilot mixable ink! I bought a packet of a bunch of colours, and I’m looking forward to trying them out when my penmanship improves :P To mix the colours you just press the nibs of two pens (filled with different coloured ink) together for a few seconds, and then write! You can see that even after most of the black has been wicked out, it still hangs around. I’d suggest cleaning the nib as soon as possible to avoid muddied ink colours. I bought some Noodler’s Bulletproof ink based on a few glowing recommendations, but I think I might end up using that on my drawings mostly!

I’m pretty pleased with my purchase… now’s the fun part – improving my hard core calligraphy skills. I’m fairly convinced that Pilot are my favourite pen makers right now!

Today I volunteered to pack swag for Semi-Permanent, and we were done in super record time. See, we were moving like ninjas, my phone/camera couldn’t catch up :P

I was excited to see my drawing in the book! It [...]]]>

Today I volunteered to pack swag for Semi-Permanent, and we were done in super record time. See, we were moving like ninjas, my phone/camera couldn’t catch up :P

I was excited to see my drawing in the book! It started raining as I was waiting for Nick to pick me up so my book got a little damp :(

Swaaaaaag. My fingernails are buggered now after handling so much paper. They used to be terrible at my old job when I’d be dealing with freshly printed stuff all the time!

aaaand I have to show you these pens that are in the swag bags… There are SO many different colours!

In the comments of my last pen review, Bob asked about the waterproof-ness of the Copic and the Pilot pens I had road tested. He was specifically interested in how they’d wash I think, so upon figuring out my new Rotring Rapidograph just [...]]]>

In the comments of my last pen review, Bob asked about the waterproof-ness of the Copic and the Pilot pens I had road tested. He was specifically interested in how they’d wash I think, so upon figuring out my new Rotring Rapidograph just before I decided to do some science and test the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, Copic Multiliner SP and Rotring Rapidograph.

The Pilot is conclusively not waterproof. Insofar as getting a nice wash out of it, I think you’ll be disappointed. The ink just sort of feathers out and becomes obnoxiously furry, and you can’t push it around with the brush at all.

I have decided that the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP is my natural enemy. It is useless if you want consistently nice, inky, black lines. It is waterproof, so I guess that’s one upside. I don’t know why the nib has started performing like this – I have hardly used the pen! It looks blocked to me, but I’m completely disinterested in purchasing another nib – unfortunately I bought a spare ink cartridge for this pen too. What a waste!

And now my new lover, the .10 Rotring Rapidograph. I bought it from an ebay seller in Malaysia and it didn’t come with instructions. So, I was furiously googling for information on how to assemble it properly for fear I’d do something wrong and render it unusable. Kate came to my rescue with a scan of her instructions and I discovered that I’d managed to assemble it incorrectly, so once it was all connected properly I was so happy to see the ink flowing perfectly!

I’m happy to say that the Rotring ink is waterproof, which suits my purposes perfectly as I occasionally use watercolour over an inked drawing.

Bob, I hope I’ve satisfied your curiosity on the subject of the waterproofosity of these pens!

I got my order from JetPens last week and I was so excited I thought I’d do a review. I ordered the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP, the 0.3 Pilot Hi-Tec-C, the Tradio Pulaman fountain pen and for fun, the Pentel Outline Marker.

I got my order from JetPens last week and I was so excited I thought I’d do a review. I ordered the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP, the 0.3 Pilot Hi-Tec-C, the Tradio Pulaman fountain pen and for fun, the Pentel Outline Marker.

I bought the Copic Multiliner in the finest available size, 0.03, so I could see just how fine a line I could get from it. It is definitely the finest tipped pen I own now! I feel like I ought to be super delicate with the tip though, and forget about quick up-strokes or curves – you definitely need to know where you’re placing your line with this pen. The ink isn’t true black either – I don’t know if that’s a result of the super fine nib or if the ink colour is indeed slightly feint.

Yuki recommended the Pilot Hi-Tec-C to me when I was looking for fine tipped pens. I was dubious because I have worked only with felt tip pens, and these are a gel pen. I was pleasantly surprised when I started doodling with the Hi-Tec-C though – the flow of ink is perfect, the colour is lovely and the line is fine. However, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 0.03 Copic above! This is a great pen for writing, it’s so smooth!

I have looked longingly at fountain pens for a while, knowing that if I scratched the itch I’d only end up with a rash. I found the Tradio Pulaman while browsing and decided I’d purchase it because it was reasonably priced and had a felt tip (which is more familiar to me, natch). I really really love writing with it, but I wish the felt nib was finer because it’s a little heavy in my mind.

Click the above images to get an idea of the felt nib, and the little “splashbacks” you get whenever you draw a curved line. I quite like the effect!

And finally, the fun pen! The Pentel Outline Marker basically has two inks, a heavier dark ink sinks to the bottom and forms a “stroke” of sorts around the silver ink. I wish you could get this in a white “fill” colour instead of the silver.

I ordered a 0.10 Rotring Rapidograph from ebay last week as well – I can’t wait to see how fine it is!