KCSteve
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
Dani Girl's thread about her new pen lead to a nice tip about making your own nibs out of bits of bamboo.
That lead me to thinking that a wooden nib might work where metal had failed me - in lettering directly on metal.
I grabbed a bamboo skewer out of the kitchen drawer, used my pen knife for it's actual purpose for once in my life, and
gave it a quick try - it WORKED!
So I decided to make myself a nib holder for my little bamboo nibs. Being the wealthy and accomplished artiste I am I sawed
off a suitable sized piece of 1/4" dowel and quickly drilled a hole in one end. Came out just a touch off axis but worked
fairly well.
For the second version I heated up some ThermoLoc and blobbed it onto the other end of the stick. I stuck a bit of bamboo
skewer into the blob and took my grip to form it to my hand. As you may know, proper use of ThermoLoc involves a lot of saying
ow so I didn't hold it very long. As it slowly cooled I redid the grip forming as needed. One important note: you have
to hold the 'pen' pointing straight up while it cools or the nib will slowly droop down.
If you've already made a nice bamboo nib do not use it for this - it took pliers, twisting, pulling, and basically destroying
that piece of bamboo to get it out. At this time the nibs fit very tightly in the hole. I expect that it will get a little
bit easier over time but the whole idea is for it to stay pretty tight.
The pictures give you and idea of the setup. When you have some lettering to do, use your ink pen to get it laid out the way you want
on paper, then use some Transfer Wax on the metal and use the bamboo nib to letter right on to the metal. The three nibs I've made so
far are one I shaved down with my pen knife, a 'scribe' point made by just clipping off the pointed end of the skewer, and a smaller
nib I did by using a sanding drum in a not-a-dremel. Slightly less messy to sand away the bamboo than carve it but slightly less
control.
I'm glad I was inspired into this - I just got a small job doing some Coptic (not Greek) lettering. I'm sure there's a font out there
somewhere I could I have used to do a transfer, but it will be a lot easier to just draw a line and write the symbols.
For those of you wondering why I couldn't do my layout with a pencil, well... I've wondered that myself. Just never can seem to get it
to draw out the thicks & thins right. It's just so much easier with a proper pen.
That lead me to thinking that a wooden nib might work where metal had failed me - in lettering directly on metal.
I grabbed a bamboo skewer out of the kitchen drawer, used my pen knife for it's actual purpose for once in my life, and
gave it a quick try - it WORKED!
So I decided to make myself a nib holder for my little bamboo nibs. Being the wealthy and accomplished artiste I am I sawed
off a suitable sized piece of 1/4" dowel and quickly drilled a hole in one end. Came out just a touch off axis but worked
fairly well.
For the second version I heated up some ThermoLoc and blobbed it onto the other end of the stick. I stuck a bit of bamboo
skewer into the blob and took my grip to form it to my hand. As you may know, proper use of ThermoLoc involves a lot of saying
ow so I didn't hold it very long. As it slowly cooled I redid the grip forming as needed. One important note: you have
to hold the 'pen' pointing straight up while it cools or the nib will slowly droop down.
If you've already made a nice bamboo nib do not use it for this - it took pliers, twisting, pulling, and basically destroying
that piece of bamboo to get it out. At this time the nibs fit very tightly in the hole. I expect that it will get a little
bit easier over time but the whole idea is for it to stay pretty tight.
The pictures give you and idea of the setup. When you have some lettering to do, use your ink pen to get it laid out the way you want
on paper, then use some Transfer Wax on the metal and use the bamboo nib to letter right on to the metal. The three nibs I've made so
far are one I shaved down with my pen knife, a 'scribe' point made by just clipping off the pointed end of the skewer, and a smaller
nib I did by using a sanding drum in a not-a-dremel. Slightly less messy to sand away the bamboo than carve it but slightly less
control.
I'm glad I was inspired into this - I just got a small job doing some Coptic (not Greek) lettering. I'm sure there's a font out there
somewhere I could I have used to do a transfer, but it will be a lot easier to just draw a line and write the symbols.
For those of you wondering why I couldn't do my layout with a pencil, well... I've wondered that myself. Just never can seem to get it
to draw out the thicks & thins right. It's just so much easier with a proper pen.