Top Ten Problems (1 thru 5)

Before I hear from anyone, I am going to anticipate what kinds of problems you might be having.

1. Catching and splattering.
If you hold the pen holder too tight and if you press too hard and if your nib is too perpendicular to the paper, the nib will catch and the ink will splatter. You need to write with a light touch and you do not need a death grip on the pen holder. It's hard to relax, but you must. Don't press too hard. Read no. 2 [below] there is more about pressure. If the nib is too perpendicular to the paper, you can have problems. Try holding the pen a little further back from the nib and have the entire pen at an angle, not straight up and down. [also read more about holding the pen in no. 5]

2. Can't make the variations of thick and thin in the strokes.
The thickness happens when you apply pressure on the nib. There is a slit in the nib and when you press down, the two tips spread apart and deposit a wider line of ink. You can only apply pressure when you are pulling a stroke from the top, down. From north to south. Once you are moving the nib back up towards the top of the paper, you must lighten the pressure so that you are just barely touching the paper. You might try to write with no pressure, at first, just to get the feel of ink on paper and then gradually start applying pressure (on the down stroke) as you get the hang of it.

3. The nib is repelling the ink.
Many nibs have a coating. The Nikko G nibs that I recommend don't seem to have a coating and sometimes I can just insert them into the holder and they write fine. But, other times the ink beads up. If you read the books, they will recommend passing the nib through the flame of a match. Or cleaning the nib with tooth paste or nail polish remover. And some teachers will warn you that there are scribes who put the nib in their mouth to make it ink friendly. They will tell you that you should never do that. So, of course, the daredevils try it and sometimes it becomes the preferred method. I won't recommend it. But, I also won't be hiding anything from you. You decide if you want to live dangerously. While it is dangerous, I guess it appeals to those of us who are lazy. I've heard about all the toxic things found in art supplies and fur shur, I do not put anything else in my mouth. And don't open tubes of paint with your teeth. I broke a tooth when I was in college and have not opened any paint tubes with my teeth since then. Painful as well as expensive to repair.

4. The ink is feathering.
Try a different paper. There are a lot of papers out there. Many scribes find a photocopy paper that works for practice. Sometimes I find Mead notebook paper and sometimes it is just fine. For practice paper, you just have to keep trying different kinds until you find one that works with you ink. If you have a really bad ink, you might need to get some different ink. I hesitate to name names, but I really dislike Higgins Eternal. It is so popular and other scribes use it all the time. I can't make it work. So, ink is a very personal thing. If you have tried a lot of papers and they all bleed, email me and we can chat about inks options. Once again, I find the Clairfontaine and Rhodia papers to be pretty nice for practice, although more expensive than photocopy paper.

5. Your first 4 suggestions have not helped.
How are you holding your pen? Many young people hold their pens with their fingers curled around in very curious grips. Back in the olden days, we learned to hold our pens like this. I have had students who curl their fingers around in curious grips that are so close to the nib they can't even see the tip of the nib. And after much coaxing, I get them to modify their grip to something like this and they whine a lot, but they do see good results. So....give it a try. It's not like I am trying to convince you to switch hands. It's a very moderate change and it will also keep your hand relaxed so that you can enjoy the whole experience rather than getting all knotted up and cranky.