Sometimes the right tool shows up at just the right time and your whole work process just falls into step. For me, that tool was the new Kaweco Special Dip Pen. This elevates the dip pen out of the realm of old school or art school into a classic, modern tool for the modern calligrapher. The material for the Kaweco Special line is a matte black, faceted, anodized aluminum that has a nice weight to it. At the end, where the nib is inserted, there is a nice shiny bit of chrome giving the pen a polished look. It’s a lengthy tool, like a paint brush for a bit of an artsy look.
The pen comes with a fairly flexible nib (totally unlabelled so I have no idea what it is) but it will hold any standard nib so you can replace it with your favorite nib like a Zebra G, Nikko G or anything else, vintage or modern. I do recommend scrubbing the nib with standard white toothpaste to remove the oil from it in order get inks to adhere to it before using it. Lindsay over at The Postman’s Knock has several other tips for removing oil residue but toothpaste has become my recommended method.
I used the Kaweco Special Dip Pen to annotate all my new ink swatches from all the pen shows I’ve gone to this summer. I also used my favorite paintbrush for the ink swashes. It’s a Silver Black Velvet #6 round watercolor brush and the swatches are done on the last of my Maruman Mnemosyne Word Book cards. I don’t know what I will do when I run out of these cards.
Overall, the Kaweco Special Dip Pen is more expensive than a Speedball plastic nib holder but I think its worth it. If you’re the kind of person who would drop $100+ on a fountain pen than $36 on a dip pen nib holder probably doesn’t seem crazy. The Kaweco Special Dip Nib Holder feels nicer and weightier in the hand and looks much better too than a cheap $7 plastic one. If you know someone who uses a dip pen, it would make a good gift too.
The Kaweco Special Dip Pen is available from JetPens.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Kaweco for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Get a hole punch and one of these and you’ll be able to make your own round corner word cards. https://www.amazon.com/Sunstar-Kadomaru-Corner-Cutter-S4765036/dp/B0076FJ7SS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473460772&sr=8-1&keywords=round+corner+punch
Great to see this dip pen holder – it’s deluxe! As always, your color swatches are works of art.
Thanks, Mom! Sometimes its fun just to see the colors all lined up in a row!
Love your swatches!
So many beautiful inks in the world! Looking forward to more reviews. Will you be reviewing some of the Kobe inks?
Yes, I will be reviewing the Kobe inks shown here starting with #41 tomorrow!
It’s a Leonardt 30 pointed nib. 😉
The other really cool thing about this nibholder is that it is just that – the end unscrews to store your nibs in. Very well thought out.