Calligraphy pens?

[natane]

Setting: Modern-day, USA

Comments

[aliskye]

I'm confused whether you are looking for a dip pen (a holder and nips) or a fountain pen with calligraphy nibs?

Brause nibs are excellent and not very expensive (last time I bought nibs I got a full set for about $14.) Mitchell is also a good brand.

For fountain pens I like Rotrig.

Here's a catalog: http://www.johnnealbooks.com/prod_detail_list/7/4

[natane]

no, a fountain pen with nibs. sorry, i wrote that badly.

technically speaking i could have him use a dip pen, but i have no experience with them, so it'd be hard to write it.

maybe i was just looking at the wrong page, then? brause may be an option.

holy. crap. that website? i looked at it earlier today during my searches. it's literally about 1/2 hour from where i live. irony!

(the website didn't help much because i couldn't seem to find anything about quality and price, but i find it cool you posted it.)

[aliskye]

How cool is that? :)

Try this article: http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/pens/

And try gooling calligraphy fountain pens.

[natane]

awesome, i'll check the article, and the search term helps :D

[rattus_aerius]

Well I have a lot of pen holders like this in various colors. Also some crow quill holders. I have a lot of Speedball nibs. Also some by Leonardt. Most of mine I've bought here and there, never really bought a set.

[natane]

okay. thanks! that gives me some brand names to separate out from the 3000 i found by googling :/ one of the few times google has failed me.

[corvideye]

Once you try brause or mitchell, you can never go back to speedball. They're very prevalent but bad quality. I never thought it would make that much difference, but it really does!

[rattus_aerius]

I haven't bought any new nibs in a long time. Mine are probably 20 years old. ;) I need some new ones. XD

[germankitty]

I've had good results with Rotring art pens, but my very first set was from Sheaffer.

It really depends on the calligrapher's skill level, what kind of pen they prefer ...

[akiko]

I've also got a variety of Scheaffer pens.

[sand_or_snow]

I use my fountain pens for everyday writing, not calligraphy, for the most part, but I'm going to assume that there is some overlap.

In my admittedly limited experience (since I'm sure there are more pens like this; some Pelikans and Sheaffers have interchangeable nibs), the main fountain pens with exchangeble nibs are Esterbrooks (Esties). These are vintage pens, but are still good, fairly common and easy to get--and at a reasonable price either online or at antique stores (about $10-20/pen and $1-2/nib). And there is a lot of variety in nib sizes; AFAIK, Sheaffer pens have much more limited sizes (Small, Medium, Large). The only thing is they'd probably have to empty the ink sac first if they want to change nibs partway through, which probably wouldn't be a huge annoyance since they'd have a few pens and could keep their most often used nibs in them

[natane]

thank you! this is actually really helpful, and gave me a lot more of an idea of the economics of certain brands.

[saru_kage]

For (non-dip pen) calligraphy you're looking for a fountain pen with a certain type of nib. They're called italic nibs

[natane]

awesome! thank you so much!