Your Expert Guide to Art Supplies in the UK
There’s a particular kind of magic in watching ink pool at the tip of a metal nib, hang there for half a second like it’s deciding whether to behave, then flow onto paper in a line that’s thick, thin, thick again — all because of how hard you pressed. That’s the appeal of dip pen … Read more
There’s a particular kind of heartbreak reserved for artists who spend an hour on a linework piece, reach for a watercolour wash to finish it off, and watch the lines dissolve into a grey smear right before their eyes. It happens more than anyone admits. The culprit is almost never bad technique — it’s the … Read more
Drawing ink for dip pens is a fluid, pigment or dye-based ink formulated to flow cleanly off a metal nib and dry into a crisp, controllable line, ranging from dense waterproof blacks to transparent washes of colour. If you’ve ever watched an illustrator drag a nib across bristol board and produce a line that goes … Read more
There’s a particular kind of chaos that happens on a calligrapher’s desk. A dip pen nib collection has a way of multiplying quietly — one Nikko G becomes three, then a Brause turns up in a birthday card, and suddenly you’re rummaging through a biscuit tin trying to remember which nib made that gorgeous Copperplate … Read more
A dip pen set for beginners is, in the simplest terms, a bundle of a nib, a pen holder and (usually) a bottle of ink that lets you dunk, write a line or two, and dunk again — no cartridges, no fuss, just you and the ink. It’s the same basic idea that scribes were … Read more