All Tools We Support
Tools are the part of the pen that touches the paper and leaves your mark behind. The shape and quality of your drawing and writing is determined by the skill of your hand and the tool you are using.
We could call all our tools "nibs" because most people are used to working with nibs in their pens. The Oxford English Dictionary uses the term nib to refer to the pointed end of a pen, which distributes the ink on the writing surface". I prefer to use the verb applies the ink because several forces help distribute the ink when it leaves the pen, such as gravity, surface tension and viscosity,
We make fountain pens that support a variety of tools including several types of nibs made from metal and acetate, brushes, and marker tips. Some of these tools are popular, some have been used for more than a hundred years, and some were invented more recently, All our tools fall into one of these four categories:
Metal nibs
Metal nibs are made from some sort of metal, usually steel, but also bronze and similar springy metals. The most popular metal nibs we support include:
- Our own Music and Sketch nibs. These nibs emulate Manga G nibs, but the tip isn't quite as pointed so they don't catch easily on the paper surface.
- Brause nibs including Bandzug, Blue Pumpkin, Ornamental, and Rose. This mix includes everything from pointed tip (Rose nib) to chisel tip for broadpoint lettering (Bandzug nib).
- Gillott 303 nibs made by Mitchell in England. This is the oldest nib in our list, close to 200 years old. It is very flexible and used to be the most popular illustration nib in the world.
- Hunt drawing nibs include the 22B, 56, and 101 Imperial nibs as well as their crowquill and hawk quill nibs. Hunt nibs with numbers are traditional pointed tip drawing nibs that vary in size but emulate the Principality nib of 100 years ago. The two quill nibs - crow and hawk - are traditional drawing tools, thin tubes with a sharp point that emulate the toe claws of a crow and a hawk respectively. Hollowed out bird toe claws the most popular drawing "nibs" before metal versions were invented. The metal versions remain very popular.
- Manga G nibs made by Nikko, Tachikawa and Zebra. These are very popular pointed nibs used by all sorts of artists for their fine and flexible tip, from Manga comic artists to calligraphers lettering with pointed pen calligraphy.
- Mitchell calligraphy nibs provide a range of tip widths and are popular with calligraphers for broad point and pointed pen calligraphy.
- Principal nibs made by Leonardt are the newest version of the famous Principality nib, and many artists think this is the best modern version. Genuine Principality nibs can sell for close to US$100 on auction sites.
- Specialty nibs that include Fude nibs, Naginata nibs, and Ball pointed nibs.
- Speedball nibs that are used to draw, letter, and write using a wide variety of styles. There are almost 30 tip variations so you can create all sorts of line widths and shapes.
Note: Some of these nibs are not yet available for sale, such as the Brause Blue Pumpkin, Mitchell and Speedball nibs. We are currently designing feeds for these nibs and will post them for sale soon.
Many more metal nibs can fit into our pens. We've never made an exhaustive list, but many old fashioned nibs have a similar size and shape to Hunt drawing nibs.
Quill nibs
The term plastic is a misnomer. Our quill nibs look like clear plastic but are made from acetate, so they are 100% recyclable. Our quill nibs behave like feather quills and reed pens. These were the first drawing tools of the modern age. A feather quill is derived from the pin feathers on a large bird, such as goose or turkey. They fall off the birds from time to time, and you shape the tip into a nib using a "pen knife". They are delicate to use and wear down quickly with use, but they were used to create many of the old documents we treasure today including the Magna Carta and Declaration of Independance.
We offer quill nibs in three sizes - small, medium and large. The small and medium quill nibs behave like a feather quill. The large quill nib behaves like a reed pen. You can shape the tip of quill nibs to suit your purpose - everything from chisel tip, oblique, to rounded tip. Our quill nibs last longer than original quill nibs.
Brushes
Brushes are a recent innovation for pens. Traditional brushes are designed to pick up liquid media, such as ink and paint, hold a good quantity in the brush hairs, then lay down a line of color when you drag the brush across the surface. A key feature of traditional brushes is their ability to hold a large volume of ink or paint using the scales on the side of each brush hair. This contrasts with "water brushes", which are designed to let ink and paint flow through easily from the back to the front, from the pen reservoir to the tip of the brush, which lets you lay down a line of ink or paint whose length is determined by the capacity of your reservoir.
Note: Brushes will be available beginning in December 2024.
Marker tips
Marker tips are fibrous nibs that lay down an even coat of ink or paint. In some cases with large market tips you can press down on the tip to compress it and expand your drawn line. Marker tips are another recent innovation that originally became popular with inks and paints made from alcohol and dyes. The technology of marker tips has improved rapidly, and now you can use marker tips with a wide range of sizes and flow-through characteristics.
Note: Marker tips will be available beginning in December 2024.
Other tools?
We hope to provide other tools in the future so you can expand the variety of line shapes and liquid media you can use.