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This Gold Glyph Is Mesmerizing

01/14/2014

From Office Supply Geek…

That’s a very supple dip pen with a calligraphy ink that is not intended for use in a fountain pen. Pretty, eh?

Posted in Doodles & Journals, Ink, Pen Use | Tagged , |

11 comments

  1. What ink is this?!?!?! Must. Own. This. Ink.

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         by La Plume Etoile 01/14/2014 at 1:00 pm
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    • Good question for which I have no answer. Perhaps a reader will recognize it and share the name with us.

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           by inkophile 01/14/2014 at 1:13 pm
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  2. I would love to know the ink as well as the calligraphy nib type!

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         by acw2acwa 01/14/2014 at 1:28 pm
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  3. I saw this on Tumblr about a week ago and wondered the same thing. mesmerizing, isn’t it?

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         by Kate's Bookshelf 01/14/2014 at 8:38 pm
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  4. The gold almost looks like gouache to me (maybe Turner’s orange gold, but you all know how hard it is to judge color on a computer monitor). The way something that seems like pigment gathers on the shade just where the cross stroke exits just doesn’t look like ink. Though if it were gouache I’d have expected the artist to have painted it on the underside of the nib instead of dipping it.

    As for the nib, I can’t quite make it out. The nibs commonly in use by pointed pen folks are usually darker, with the exception of G nibs, and that’s not a G nib.

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         by Joseph 01/15/2014 at 4:27 am
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    • Thanks for the info, Joseph. Gouache would explain the seeming thickness of the fluid. There is a discussion at Reddit about the ink where it is thought to be Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink. Very attractive whatever it is.

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           by inkophile 01/15/2014 at 11:56 am
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      • It seems a bit more orange than W&N ink, but again that may be my monitor.

        For reference, the common gold writing fluids used by pointed pen people are Winsor & Newton calligraphy ink, Schmincke Pearlescent Gold gouache, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Iridescent and Spectralite golds, and Finetec gold watercolor (comes in a set of six, Arabic Gold being everybody’s favorite). None of these work in a fountain pen, alas, though I’ve heard of people using them in the Pilot Parallel Pen.

        I’ve made sparkly writing fluids using PearlEx pigments bound with gum arabic, but there are easier ways to get a gold. A neat trick for punching up gold watercolor is to sprinkle some Schmincke Tro-Col powder on it (there are three golds).

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             by Joseph 01/16/2014 at 4:54 am
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        • Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. There is a package of PearlEx pigments around here somewhere as well as a bottle of gold W&N Calligraphy ink. Whenever they turn up, a little experimenting will be in order.

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               by inkophile 01/16/2014 at 10:25 am
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  5. Reblogged this on Crane & Co.: The Blog.

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         by craneandco 01/15/2014 at 11:24 am
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  6. I was reading the official Zentangle blog and gouache was mentioned as well. ” Gouache is a watercolor-like paint in a tube with a little more gravitas than the usual watercolor. I used a Turner® Gold Orange and a Holbein® Brilliant Gold. Both of these tubes of paint (approximately 0.5 ounces each) are a hefty investment . . . each around $20 a tube. I tell you all this because, well, someone is bound to ask! ” the link, if you are curious is http://zentangle.blogspot.com/2013/12/day-5.html

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         by Kate's Bookshelf 01/20/2014 at 10:13 am
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  7. If you go to your local ceramics or china shop, they should have something on hand. We like to polish rocks then detail them in gold. We fire them and you can’t believe how beautiful they get.

    Liked by 1 person

         by Ted Darling 03/25/2018 at 5:01 pm
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