Tag: Twsbi

Fountain Pen Palette

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It took indigo, blue, burnt sienna, maroon, yellow, a touch of green, and plenty of black and white to sketch this young steer.

I now have eight TWSBI Go fountain pens, all filled with various mixes of de Atramentis Document inks. So far, my palette consists of grays, blues, dark red, yellow ochre, and one mellow green. I also keep one pen just for black, and a refillable marker for white as I’ve found white doesn’t really work that well in a pen, especially because I use it heavily.

I feel especially pleased with the feeder on the right.

These two sketches are my fourteenth and fifteenth in my Stillman and Birn Zeta sketchbook. Even though they tend toward neutral colors, I actually use a lot of all eight colors in my palette.

I can’t categorize this type of drawing or painting style in this sketchbook. Is it simply called illustration?

I put some ink in eye dropper bottles so I have the same size drops while mixing. It makes it easier to create accurate ratios.

Document inks are pigmented, lightfast, archival, and mixable. I have fuchsia, blue, yellow, cyan, black, white, and urban grey. I decided on getting the blue as well as cyan because I love blues and cyan is cool, like a phthalo blue, while the one simply called blue is warm, like ultramarine. The mix together beautifully and also make different greens and purples. I love the de Atramentis dilution solution, too.

Categories: Art Ink Pen

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Fountain Pens as an Art Tool

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I’m slowly filling an entire sketchbook with pen and ink drawings. These five TWSBI Go pens are filled with de Atramentis document ink.

I’ve jumped into the relatively inexpensive side of the fountain pen pool to find a perfect, green, reusable art tool that’s fun to draw with and easy to maintain. Have I found it? Yep.

I have some basic criteria for pens I’ll be using for hours and hours, and the TWSBI Go fit nearly all of them:

—affordable (under $20)

—decent sized (I dislike narrow pens)

—a snap cap (no twisting)

—easy to fill (it’s a spring, piston type)

—sturdy

—clear

—a nib that can “reverse” write to get a very thin line (it’s like having two pens in one)

My husband has a TWSBI Go, and I was able to try it out before deciding to buy five of them along with a mixing set of de Atramentis Document Ink (a post for another time).

Fountain pens may be one of the best eco art supplies I’ve bought in awhile. After investing in the pen and ink, it’s a reusable tool. Having spent some time and money on markers, I realized I had purchased a bunch of plastic that couldn’t be recycled. Of course, some markers can be refilled, but I didn’t want to head down that road.

My collection started with the adorable Wanaci Moonman Mini and grew from there.

One of the least expensive ways to get into fountain pens, other than buying one pen and one ink, is to get a set of Platinum Preppys or Jinhao Sharks, both under $5 and available in multiple colors. Keep in mind that most fountain pen inks are dye-based and will fade in sunlight, but they’re gorgeous and perfect for sketchbooks. For artists wanting lightfast options, look to de Atramentis document inks or other pigmented brands.

Categories: Art Ink Pen

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