While calligraphy nibs enable beautiful lettering creations, they can also prove to be finicky creatures! We’ve all been there: you open up a new packet of nibs, insert one that you’ve been excited about using in your pen, and … ink won’t flow. Or, maybe the nib writes, but not without scratching into the paper with a vengeance. Solutions for these two problems — plus a few others — can be found in the six nib usage tips below!
Tip #1: Clean the Manufacturer’s Oils Off of New Calligraphy Nibs
Whenever you buy a new calligraphy nib, you can bet the manufacturer has applied oils to it. Why? Oils keep the nibs in mint condition as they await your purchase! And that’s great — you want your nibs to be in good condition when you receive them. The only problem is this: oil doesn’t play nice with most other liquids (i.e. ink), which can cause your ink to bead up on your nib as shown in the photo below.
If you experience issues when trying to use a new calligraphy nib, you need to clean the oils off. There are many different ways to do it (as detailed in this blog post), but my favorite is the “potato method”. Simply ease the pointy half of your nib into a russet potato and let it sit for fifteen minutes.
Once fifteen minutes has passed, wipe the nib off and get to writing!
I use the “potato method” to prime all my personal nibs as well as the nibs for the workshops that I teach. It’s a very effective, cheap, and simple way clean off the manufacturer’s oils and get your nibs in beautiful working condition!
Tip #2: Clean Your Calligraphy Nib Often While Writing
As you write, you want to avoid ink congealing on your nib. To do so, you should swish your nib in water every minute or two as you work. Remember to only swish around the part of the nib that has interacted with the ink! You don’t want to dunk the whole thing in; otherwise, the nib and the metal components of your pen will both start to rust.
After you swish the pen around for a couple of seconds, dry it off with a non-fibrous cloth; I like to use dinner napkins. Paper towels will work in a pinch, but pieces of them tend to get stuck in nibs. Those paper towel pieces won’t hurt the nibs, but they’ll certainly affect your writing! They have a penchant for dragging ink and consequently adding unwelcome character to anything you’re working on.
Tip #3: Avoid Rust on Your Nibs
If you’re plagued by rusty calligraphy nibs, remember not to let the barrel of your nibs come in contact with any liquid. Remember: you should only dip your nib in ink to just past the vent hole (as per The Beginner’s Guide to Modern Calligraphy) — there’s no need to dip it any further than that.
When you go to clean off your nib, you should only let the part of the nib that was in contact with ink come in contact with water. Dunk it any further than that, and you may unintentionally get water in the pen itself. That will lead to rusty metal components in the pen and a rust on your nib!
That said, if rust appears on your calligraphy nibs — especially on the shank (the blunt end), it’s really not that big of a deal. As long as you can still insert the nib into a pen, then … whatever. Sure, rust isn’t a very pretty sight, but if the nib functions well, there’s no reason why you can’t continue to use it. That said, it is much easier to insert smooth, non-rusted nibs into pens than it is to insert rough, rusty nibs.
To wrap up this tip, I want to remind you to wipe water and ink off your nibs with a cloth once you’ve finished using them. Make sure they are completely dry! After that, you can either store them upright in pens (as shown above), or in a nib tin, as shown below.
Tip #4: Change Your Writing Angle
If you suffer from scratchy nibs, the problem may lie in your writing angle. You see, our instinct is to write holding our pens vertically, as shown below. While this feels natural — after all, it’s how we write with pens and pencils — it will more than likely cause the nib to dig into your paper, pick up paper fibers, and hamper ink flow!
There is an immediate fix for this issue: change your writing angle. Instead of holding the pen vertically, try to hold it at a closer angle to the paper. You want to strive for letting the nib “skate” across the surface of your paper, and that’s much more achievable at an angle like the one shown below.
While the photos above show a straight pen, the same philosophy should be applied to oblique pens. If you experience a lot of scratchiness and a bit of erratic ink flow while writing, take a moment to examine the angle of your pen. Taking the angle down a few notches will more than likely help!
Tip #5: Realize that You Won’t Love Every Nib That You Try
Every calligraphy enthusiast has a couple of different nibs that he or she loves. Switching up nibs can be fun because the appearance of calligraphy changes depending on the shape and flexibility of the nib! For example, you can see that the Kaitlin Style calligraphy below looks very different when created with the Brause Rose nib versus the Nikko G nib.
While I recommend the Nikko G nib for beginners, it’s not for everyone. There’s at least one participant out of every calligraphy workshop I teach that gels much better with the Brause EF66 nib, despite it being much more flexible than the Nikko G.
Really, the nib — or nibs — that you will write the best with depends on your personal style. If using a certain type of nib endlessly frustrates you, feel free to pass on using it! There’s no need to force yourself to use something you don’t like just because others swear by it.
Tip #6: Know When to Call It Quits with a Well-Used Nib
It’s very difficult to predict how long calligraphy nibs will last. Their lifespan depends on a number of factors, including:
- The type of ink you use (and how acidic it is).
- How often you use the nib.
- How much pressure you tend to apply to the nib.
- What kind of nib it is.
I don’t mean to get all Yoda-esque on you, but when a nib has passed its prime, you’ll know it. It won’t be the appearance that tells you; in fact, both of the calligraphy nibs pictured above work equally well despite considerably more wear on the right nib. The telltale sign will be the way the nib writes. If the nib becomes scratchy and unpleasant to use, that’s how you know. I also start to notice less delicate upstrokes and a tiny bit of difficulty with ink flow!
I hope that these six tips help you to use your calligraphy nibs more comfortably and effectively! If you have any questions — or additional tips — please feel free to contribute them to the comments section below. Thanks very much, as always, for reading TPK! I am so glad to have you here, and appreciative that you took time out of your day to learn a bit more about calligraphy. Keep learning and experimenting, and you’ll continue to improve!
Warmly,
I’ve gotten new nibs recently and have cleaned the oils off of them. But I can’t seem to write smoothly with them, especially during my thin upstrokes.. it tends to be a bumpy upstroke. What may be the issue? 🙁
Hi Kimberly! Which nib are you having that issue with? I’d venture to guess that the problem is related to making upstrokes very slowly, which allows the nib to react to every shake or tremor of your hand. Try drawing those strokes a bit faster! Also, try using a fairly thin ink like iron gall or walnut ink. The thinner inks tend to write a bit smoother.
Hi. I used tge potato method for my hunt 101 nib and leonardt ef principal. After i removed them, the color has changed is that normal?
I have another question : i liked the leonardt nib but for the hunt seems to give huge downstrokes and odd shape. I am pressing too much?
Thanks
I think you might be. I used to do that with my hunt nib. Now that nib became rusted at the tip. I tried the potato method after that. Can I still use it or is it done for?
Hi Anusuya! It’s hard to say — a nib’s appearance doesn’t matter as long as it writes well, so I’d give it a shot and see if it still writes okay. If not, then it’s over, but if so, then there’s no reason you can’t keep using it! In my experience, a little bit of rust is just fine. 🙂
Hi Zahraa! Yep, that’s normal — don’t worry about it. 🙂 For the Hunt, I’d ease up on pressure — that will give you more consistent downstrokes!
Greetings Lindsey!
I recently started working with dip pens and i an experiencing a problem. After a a week or two the nib i will be stuck with ink between the two ends. Making the ink i dip it in run like crazy making it impossible to make thin lines. And after a while the nid will be useless because the two ends stay open by the tried ink. I have been cleaning the nib after using it by diping it in water and then drying it with a tissue. The last nib i’ve been using i tried to clean it without water and it has started to get ink stuck like the otehr ones but it’s not taht bad yet. Is there something i could be doing wrong? The ink i use is the Kuretake sumi ink and the nibs are deleter g-pen nibs.
Hi Basilus! I would just try to make sure you’re continuously cleaning your nib *as* you’re writing — every 2 minutes or so would be ideal. This will prevent the inky buildup that you’re referring to!
I stuck my new nibs in a potato (my favorite tip, thank you!!) and got distracted. They sat there for over a day and when I pulled them out they were coated with black gunk. The Nikko G nibs cleaned off just fine. My Ef66 nibs, however, look slightly corroded. Tried to write with one and it’s really scratchy and catching the paper something fierce. Any tips for fixing it or do I just need to accept that I ruined it and buy some more?
Hi Emily! Darn! Yeah — the EF66s do that if they’re left in for more than an hour or so. I’d say accept and get a couple of new ones. 🙁 Sorry about the bad luck!
Why would you use a potato? Just because it works, that doesn’t mean it isn’t weird. Just use alcohol like the rest of us.
Hi Anne! I am happy that alcohol works for you … the means justifies the end, right? 🙂 As the old cliché goes, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” I, personally, don’t think that using a potato is any weirder than using alcohol, saliva, toothpaste, matches, or other tried-and-true methods to get off manufacturers’ waxes, but we’re all entitled to our own opinions.
I love your blog, Lindsey! You are so generous is offering so much valuable instruction here, much of it for free!
I used to write italic, many years ago. I though I might get back into calligraphy again, but I’m so frustrated now. I ordered an oblique pen and a couple of Brause E66 nibs. I carefully cleaned a nib but couldn’t get it to write, no matter what I did. I set it aside for awhile and just focused on working with ordinary fountain pens. But I want those beautiful thick-and-thin lines. So I tried again. I re-cleaned the nib, sticking it in a potato as you suggested. Ink does cling to the tines but still won’t lay down on the page in spite of everything. I hold the pen at an angle to the paper, as I’ve always done. It ought to work, but it simply won’t. The tines spread but no ink makes its way onto the paper.
There must be some kind of magic to this, but I don’t possess the talent, unfortunately. I’d love to take some classes, but I can’t make a case for them when I can’t get the basic pen to make a mark.
I’m glad that so many others are having great success, though. I feel quite jealous, but, well, we’re not all intended to do all the things we want to, are we?
Ann
Actually, the Brause EF66 is notorious for the problem that you’re describing, and people in calligraphy workshops always deal with that issue! I wonder if you’ve seen this post? It’s an old one, but may help! Basically: if you can wiggle the nib to get *one* teeny tiny dot of ink on the paper, you should be able to write from that dot! You can also try “kissing” the very tip of the inky nib to your art water to encourage things to get going. 🙂 It’s frustrating, but I promise some extra attempts will be well worth it!
Hi Lindsey!
Thanks for sharing all your great advice! Question – approximately how many envelopes should a nib last for? Just doing basic, 3 line addresses, no extra special flourishes or anything. I realize the paper, ink and nib all factor into this and its not really easy to answer! 🤔😊
Hi Tasha! That’s almost impossible to answer … I’d say that my nibs typically last me about 6 months. I always keep several new ones on hand, though, in case the nib stops cooperating or its life is cut short by me dropping the pen on the floor!
Hi Lindsey,
What’s your favourite nib to use on rough handmade paper, and how do you avoid the nib from catching on the fibre all the time?
Thanks Gretl
Hi Gretl! I try to avoid writing on rough handmade paper, but if I have to, I generally use the Brause Rose nib since it has a fairly blunt tip. To keep it from catching, I approach the paper at a very gentle, non-vertical angle.
A much needed post. All my doubts cleared to point. How do I know if my ink is acidic or not? One of my older nibs which I had been using with speedball ink only is still as good as new. However two new nibs which I’m using with sumi ink have started to smrust like crazy. I don’t even know if it’s rust. It’s like the ink had eroded the smooth surface and it’s black! I never I used to dip the entire pen holder into water like cleaning a brush and no wonder it’s all rusty in a months time 😛 great tips. Thanks a lot 🙂
Hi Angela!
That’s a great question … I guess I just know that some inks are acidic because I’ve read that somewhere. 🙂 India inks, I believe, aren’t acidic, but sumi, walnut, and iron gall inks are. If the nibs are black from sumi ink, though, it doesn’t matter: as long as they still write well, you can use them!
Lindsey, I was wondering what would be the best way to get the dr ph martin’s India Bombay ink if it’s dried on the nib??
Hi Sunkyung! You could try scrubbing it off with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and water. If that doesn’t work and there’s still dried ink on the nib, I wouldn’t worry about it as long as your inkflow is fine. It doesn’t really matter what the nib looks like as long as it writes well. 🙂