[Scott_Tarlow]

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So any pen recs?

One that does not hinder your imagination.

 

[Tangster]

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Very nice, I would never hope to even get close to that level. On the paper side, Rhodia notepads are one sale at the moment at Ryman for buy 2 get 1 half price. They very nice for my note jotting, but not sure about calligraphy. Worth a try if there is a store at your area.

Went looking for it at Rymans today, it's too thin. I wanted something along the lines of 150gsm+.

 

[Tsujigiri]

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So any pen recs?

For calligraphy fountain pens, calligraphy dip pens, or normal fountain pens?
 
I mostly use Speedball C Series for Italic writing and Esterbrook Bank Pens for copperplate dip pens, due to their wide availability. But you might be able to find some Brause or Mitchell italics, or Esterbrook Falcons or Hunt Imperial copperplates. I've gotten good results from those, and they aren't extremely rare.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

For calligraphy fountain pens, calligraphy dip pens, or normal fountain pens?

I mostly use Speedball C Series for Italic writing and Esterbrook Bank Pens for copperplate dip pens, due to their wide availability. But you might be able to find some Brause or Mitchell italics, or Esterbrook Falcons or Hunt Imperial copperplates. I've gotten good results from those, and they aren't extremely rare.

For the callig fountain pens, also, I'll be getting a decent drawing pen (Don't know if a drawing or fountain variant though) and mech pencil. Also, how about paper? I'd need a journal and a sketchbook.

 

[Tangster]

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For the callig fountain pens, also, I'll be getting a decent drawing pen (Don't know if a drawing or fountain variant though) and mech pencil. Also, how about paper? I'd need a journal and a sketchbook.

Sketching? Anything over 100gsm is great, 75 gsm+ is recommended. Derwent and Strathmore are good.
 
That said, I tend to just use cheapo printer paper...

 

[Tsujigiri]

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For the callig fountain pens, also, I'll be getting a decent drawing pen (Don't know if a drawing or fountain variant though) and mech pencil. Also, how about paper? I'd need a journal and a sketchbook.

For calligraphy fountain pens, Lamy has italic nibs for their Safari and Rotring has italic nibs on their "ArtPen." I got an ArtPen with a 14k gold nib in 1.5mm for $50, not sure if they still sell it. Lamys will be cheaper. There are also a great deal of other brands that offer italic nibs, but they're more rounded off on the corners for signatures, and don't come in chisel sizes. If you want to try copperplate, that will be somewhat more difficult with a fountain pen. Your best option would be to buy a vintage flexible nib or get a 14k gold nib and have a nibmeister like Binder thin it down and make it flexible. I think Noodler's recently introduced a cheap flexible nib that works decently, too.
 
For a mechanical pencil, my favorites from the ones I've tried are the Pilot Automac, Rotring 600, and Ohto Super Promecha. For a cheaper option, the Uni Shift Pipe performs quite well.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

For calligraphy fountain pens, Lamy has italic nibs for their Safari and Rotring has italic nibs on their "ArtPen." I got an ArtPen with a 14k gold nib in 1.5mm for $50, not sure if they still sell it. Lamys will be cheaper. There are also a great deal of other brands that offer italic nibs, but they're more rounded off on the corners for signatures, and don't come in chisel sizes. If you want to try copperplate, that will be somewhat more difficult with a fountain pen. Your best option would be to buy a vintage flexible nib or get a 14k gold nib and have a nibmeister like Binder thin it down and make it flexible. I think Noodler's recently introduced a cheap flexible nib that works decently, too.

For a mechanical pencil, my favorites from the ones I've tried are the Pilot Automac, Rotring 600, and Ohto Super Promecha. For a cheaper option, the Uni Shift Pipe performs quite well.

I think I'll go with the Lamy, as I'm not wanting to spend TOO much on a pen, and that Rotring 600 looks NICE! I might just get the pencil and some nice lead and a calligraphy pen and some paper later.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

I think I'll get the Uni Shift Pipe and a decent pen for writing, I might have to order this stuff after a monitor and turn table as it's getting to be expensive...

 

[Tsujigiri]

For just a normal writing fountain pen, Lamy is still a good option. TWSBI is a newer offering that has gotten a lot of attention recently, and then there's the tried and true Pelikan M200 if you want to move a little more upscale. Pelikan's piston filling system is excellent, and will give you more ink capacity than a normal cartridge/converter pen.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

For just a normal writing fountain pen, Lamy is still a good option. TWSBI is a newer offering that has gotten a lot of attention recently, and then there's the tried and true Pelikan M200 if you want to move a little more upscale. Pelikan's piston filling system is excellent, and will give you more ink capacity than a normal cartridge/converter pen.

I might get the lamy, and, do you have any recommendations of some calligraphy guides? Never have done callig before, so... yeah.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

Is this the ArtPen you were talking about? It's the same price of the Lamy Safari Callig Ed.

 

[Tsujigiri]

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I might get the lamy, and, do you have any recommendations of some calligraphy guides? Never have done callig before, so... yeah.

The Complete Calligrapher by Frederick Wong is a pretty good beginner's guide. I think that's what I used when I started learning English calligraphy. For Japanese calligraphy, though, I had to take a class.

 

[Tsujigiri]

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Is this the ArtPen you were talking about? It's the same price of the Lamy Safari Callig Ed.

That's the standard version with the steel nib. Mine is gold with an iridium tip and has a chisel that's not completely sharp. It's still ok for just messing around with calligraphy, and it's nice and convenient because it's a fountain pen. Here's a quick sample, apologies for the sloppiness (I'm rushing around with various things today):
 

 

[gopanthersgo1]

That's the standard version with the steel nib. Mine is gold with an iridium tip and has a chisel that's not completely sharp. It's still ok for just messing around with calligraphy, and it's nice and convenient because it's a fountain pen. Here's a quick sample, apologies for the sloppiness (I'm rushing around with various things today):

Looks great! If you're busy, don't reply, I'll order these later, or as a grad gift... (If my parents will actually fall for getting out of Junior High to be worth something...)

 

[Tsujigiri]

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Looks great! If you're busy, don't reply, I'll order these later, or as a grad gift... (If my parents will actually fall for getting out of Junior High to be worth something...)

Nah, no worries. Replying doesn't take much time. Setting up for calligraphy and taking the time to make something really legit does. I'll be leaving in like an hour or two depending on when my friend calls me, so I didn't think I'd be able to write out a good sample. Hopefully you can get an idea of the size and line variation of the 1.5mm Rotring nib from that, though. I actually started calligraphy at the end of middle school, too, it's a neat hobby. And your parents can probably be persuaded to get you something academic related and long-lasting like a nice pen. When I was in 8th grade, I wanted a Montblanc 149, but my parents wouldn't let me spend my money on one. They gave in, though, when I told them that if I played video games like most kids, I would have spent far more than that. It's just that when it's $50 here and there for each game, it adds up without being too noticeable. I argued that the pen would last a lot longer and be more useful to me when I got older, and that I shouldn't be penalized for spending my money more wisely. Luckily, that convinced them, because now that pen costs $200 more than it did when I bought it.