I didn’t think much about this at the time at all, but as a kid I went to a lot of extracurricular classes. Not in the “every moment of your life must be scheduled” way or the “this will look good on your college applications” way, either. We’d get course catalogs in the mail from Writers & Books or RMSC or the Memorial Art Gallery or local colleges or even just the town Parks and Rec, I’d find a writing workshop1 or something else that looked interesting2, and my mom would sign me up. She was cool like that.
Anyway, that’s how I ended up taking a calligraphy class that used black ink, dip pens and hardcore left-handed nibs when I was twelve. I was no prodigy, but I did get down the concepts and strokes. Since I’ve had those basic abilities for years since, I’m better at it than my non-artist self should be. The wobbles up there are because the nib on a Pilot Parallel is flat across, and also because it’s just so freaking BIG. I’m not used to it at all, and posture/stance is important. The medium-ish nib words come from flipping the Parallel to an angle that’s outlined in the pen’s paperwork as perfectly okay to do. There’s a lot of paperwork that comes with a Parallel, because there are some other cool things it can do — like ombre from one color to another. I’ve done it with a smaller-nibbed Parallel, and plan to give it a whirl with this one. I also want to see some of the sparkle inks with this pen, like the new J Herbin Fuchsia de Magellan.3 But first, I have to empty out a Pilot cartridge to refill. Converters and Parallels don’t really get along.
The Pilot V Sign Pen was something I didn’t know existed until I read this article. It’s basically a less stiff Flair Pen and that means sometimes there’s smudging, but I still use it sometimes for headlines and Stuff I Don’t Want To Forget But Will Anyway.
The rest of these samples are from a mini-haul. The Zebra Sarasas are for the Hobonichis. Was it those last two shades that took my money? It sure was. I haven’t put the Pilot Multi Ball to the test that’s on that page yet4, but I definitely need to hide it from the top of my desk because I keep grabbing it for regular paper purposes.
Til next time, which might be sooner than you think,
E
No exaggeration, I was in writing workshops most of the time from sixth grade through graduate school. I joined my first adult writing workshop when I was 15. (Thank you again, Writers & Books! If I were to ever run a workshop there, teenage me — and yeah, also adult me — would absolutely sob with joy.)
I did lots of theater. Summer day camps, improv. The best role I ever got was as a teddy bear in a children’s theater production. If you’ve met me in person, this should be no surprise whatsoever.
I keep imagining a J Herbin meeting where Marketing is like (in French, of course) “People like the pink so much, and we don’t have a pink ink yet!” and then J Herbin R&D sighs because they’re going to have to hit Wikipedia pretty hard this time. Magellan? Sure, whatever.
“On paper, it feels just like a normal gel pen, but it also writes on plastic, metal, glass, cloth, and more—hence the name Multi Ball. On smooth surfaces, mistakes can be easily fixed within six hours of writing by wiping the ink with a wet cloth. After the six hours has passed, the pen marks become permanent.” Thinking that blank playing cards will be a good starter test for this one. Almost hoping it doesn’t work, otherwise I’ll be on a quest for more colors. (Also….”hence the name Multi Ball”? You sure it’s not just “because suck it, Uniball”?)