Buy Dip Pens and Nibs

Dip Pen & Nib

Dip pens are a simple metal nib, usually without an ink reservoir, that you can use with any artist or fountain pen ink. Dip pens are popular for hand lettering and drawing with inks that are not suitable for fountain pens. If you look at the nib shape, you can work out what type of marks it can make. The most popular nib for drawing or modern calligraphy, like Copperplate and Spencerian, is the G nib (Nikko G, Zebra G or Tachikawa G) with its pointed tip and g-shaped slits that allow you to produce thin and thick lines through hand pressure. A Manuscript nib is a similar shape to the G nib, but is more flexible and gives more variation. For traditional calligraphy scripts, like Gothic and Italic, you can use a sharp edged calligraphy nib. Beginners can try the more forgiving A nib and then with some experience change to the chisel style C nib that produces very crisp strokes. Regardless of nib choice, most people use a straight dip pen holder and rotate the paper to write, however right handers might prefer an right-leaning holder (oblique) that makes it easier to keep the nib parallel to the slope of the desired writing.