Technical Pen Refurbished #2

I found another Staedtler marmagno 2 technical pen in my stash of pens. Amazing.

I have picked up these pens second hand.  They looked like quality pens. 

Yes, it took another 24 hours to clean out this one cartridge of ink so I could refill it.

I have not been able to find out what the numbers mean or when they were manufactured.

This one makes a very thin line. 

The number 1 on one side and .45 on the other side.

I decided to try this FW acrylic ink which indicates on the bottle that it can be used in technical pens.

I have several colors but chose Sepia to have a neutral.  I would have liked black but I decided to shop my stash instead of buying new.

You see that permanence is 4**** which is good. I will test it out a bit later.

So here is my set up once the cartridge was cleaned.

I put some FW Sepia acrylic ink in this small glass container.  I did add 8 drops of distilled water to thin it out a bit.

I injected it into the cartridge with my blunt syringe and screwed the nib in place.

Put it into the barrel and let it stand for a little bit to allow the ink to descend into nib assembly.

I discovered this feature this second time around. Last time I used pliers top loosen the nib.

The cap has the wrench to loosen the nib!  What a cool thing.  

These are very well engineered pens.

Yes, the Sepia acrylic ink is waterproof.

You can see the writing I did with the pen once the ink was coming through the nib.

I just washed over with a water and a brush.

No movement.

Very good!

Inktober - 21 Sunrise

Inktober 2024 Challenge

21 Sunset

I penciled my rough sketch.

I finished it with my dip pen and the black acrylic ink on the mixed media paper.

I used colored pencils for my color today.  The good old Laurentian pencils I used in school (some may be from that time but many are not).

Inktober 2024 - 12 Doodle Around

Inktober 2024 Challenge

12 - Doodle Around

Dip Pen with Black Daler-Rowney Acrylic Ink

on Canson Fluid Mixed Media 154lb paper.

I created the circle then just drew shapes leading out from it.

I then filled each shape with marks being careful to not touch wet areas with my hand.  Not easy but possible with patience.

Triangles, circles, straight lines, wavy lines, scallops all came into play on this piece.

 

Inktober 2024 - 07 Boxed In

Inktober 2024 Challenge

07 Boxed In

Feeling a little bit like that this week.

I cut 3 squares measuring 3", 2" and 1". I traced these in pencil into a geometric design on my 5x7 Fluid Mixed Media 154lb paper. 

I used my dip pen with Rotring Payne's Gray acrylic ink to trace the boxes.

I added the pop of yellow in the .75" circle. 

Inktober 2024 - 02 House

Inktober 2024 Challenge

02 House 

I dug out my dip pen from last year and the black acrylic ink.

It took a while to draw it and then it was too fat for my 5x7 paper.

I traced digitally and stretched it to be taller.  It looks much better and fits on the paper.

Pencil, then inked with Black Acrylic ink. 

Watercolored with a yellow front door!

Inktober 2024 - Preparation

I am posting this retroactively after all my pieces are done.

This is what my desk looked like for the whole month of October.  Watercolors on the left with my small ceramic palette. A small light table and a grid sheet I created myself. Sheets and sheets of Canson Fluid Mixed Media 154lb paper which worked wonderfully. My dip pen with the red handle and the bottle of Daler Rowney FW Acrylic black ink. Black markers from several brands and in several sizes. The Staedtler Technical pen which I refurbished some time this month. I used a Staedtler 4H pencil for my initial sketching which was easy to erase with my Staedtler eraser. Three different sized watercolor brushes - a wide, #8 round, and a tiny one. Two dishes for water. A ruler or two. Scrap paper for checking color, etc. Rags for drying the brushes and general clean up.

The month has not be all fun and games. I awoke on September 29 with water squishing out from the vinyl planks in the front hall. I had dehumidifiers and fans running 24/7 for 2 weeks. I worked with ear plugs so I could even stand to be in this space. Watched TV with the captions on. Now four weeks in things are moving slowly. Adjusters have been in just about every week. The tear out crew was in October 3rd to pull up the vinyl and 2 feet of drywall. Plans are being made for me to move out while abatement takes place. 

Art Show - AAC - Redux Show 2024 - Slow Stitch Scroll

The Form Redux Show at the Spruce Grove Gallery opens today.  I have submitted 2 pieces to this show.  I started my pieces after discussions with a couple of people at the December reception for the Christmas Store. At the time it was being referred to as the 3D show.  When the official call came out in mid March it had morphed a little and offered a wider range of options. 

It is meant to reuse materials from one state into a new one.  

The fabric used for the scroll is a white tie dyed cotton sheet which I dyed again with green acrylic ink. All the elements are created with bits of leftover scraps of fabric, felt, thrifted embroidery thread and lace, even the flower on the tie is recycled from old earrings. The beads come from my stash.  The spool was originally purchased with decorative ribbon and saved for 10 years until its time came to shine. 

Title: Summer

Size: 4.00 T x 58.00 W inches

Medium: Slow Stitch Fabric Scroll with embellishments

Support: Wooden Spool

It is a slow stitch fabric scroll titled "Summer".  I chose to stitch the new green leaves of May in early summer to the rain and tulips blooming moving along to the insects coming to life represented by the ladybug, the robin represents the birds and their song then we move to the ponds being full of life represented by the dragonfly in the cattails, then we move to the flowers which start to bloom in the beautiful days of middle summer, there are mushrooms and snails and butterflies, the chickadee has been here and will stay all year as summer winds down and finally we have the beautiful sunflowers of late September. 

The elements are all original designs I made up as I went along.  The stitching alone took all of January 2024 then I had to back the piece, prepared the wood spool with several coats of Tung Oil. I braided the string used for the tie and the hanger on the spool.  I chose a large shell button for the closure and a silver flower for the end of the tie.  There is a clear bead at the bottom of the spool which keeps the hanger in place. 

It is on display at the gallery and is for sale.  The reception is Saturday April 27th at 1-3pm.

Art Project - Inktober 2023

#9

I decided to participate in the Inktober 2023 challenge.  They published a daily prompt list which I did not have time to follow.

I have been inclined to try this medium for a while and when the I was made aware that there was a Flickr Group I could join, I did.

I have some permanent fine tip markers. I used 90lb watercolor paper for my first few pieces because that is what I had on hand.  I pulled out what supplies I had and got started. 

#1

I used a Ultra Fine Point Sharpie marker for this piece on the light weight watercolor paper.

I was always inclined to want to paint afterwards which why I used watercolor paper.

I laid out my wavy river lines then marked up the vertical and horizontal lines on either side.

I added dimension with the color.

I knew I had tools I had used in the 1980s for calligraphy so I pulled those out. Turns out I had Speedball holders and quite a few calligraphy nibs most of which had a reservoir. I had picked up a small metal box of dip nibs recently so I pulled those out and cleaned them.   There were a couple of straight dip nibs so I put one in a holder and tried it out.  I did have several bottles of Daley Rowney FW Acrylic Inks in my stash as well.

#2

This is my next piece which was a straight steel dip pen nib and DR FW Purple Lake acrylic ink.

I was able to achieve quite fine lines, tiny dots and marks. Filling in the darker spaces was a bit challenging and the paper was not smooth enough.

The watercolor paper tended to lose bits of paper fiber that would get stuck in the nib.

Composition quickly becomes a challenge and I was just making marks at this point.  I had check out a few videos on line.

#3

This one used blue acrylic ink. 

I used smooth 110lb white card stock I use for card making for this piece.  That worked better with next to no issues with the paper surface.

Still using the Macleans Best Ever No.2 steel dip nib and a black dip pen holder. 

It was not a very good composition.    I chose just a small corner that I thought worked out pretty well.

#4

The pen and nib were getting more comfortable and I dug more colors to play with.

This is a dark green in the same brand as before and the red is a calligraphy ink.

The grasses I managed to make some very thin and other a bit thicker.

The composition when drawing something actual instead of abstract worked out better.

#5

Here the drawing was a bit challenging.  I did make a light pencil to start with which I erased once the piece was dry.

More new colors was kind of fun.  

I was wanting to fill a shape with patterns - not realistic but artsy.

Other than the wing I am happy with this one.

After doing some checking on line for direction on a good nib for a dip pen I decided to visit my local art supply store - Delta Art and Drafting Supplies.  

The Zebra G nib was recommended on line so I purchased one of those at under $3. I was looking for a black ink which I could then watercolor on top. 

The Daler Rowney FW Acrylic ink was recommended on sale about $7. I had to leave it dry completely before watercoloring over it.

Now, I wanted a paper I could use.  After considering that I am a beginner and a $70 pad of paper was out of the question I settled on a Canson pad for fluid mixed media.  The pad was also on sale for just about $9.  I went home with supplies for about twenty dollars which I hoped would help advance my art pursuits.

I also found on line a video that recommended a container of alcohol to clean your nib as you were drawing. I chose an old film container as it seals tight.  I use put in enough to the depth of my nib.

I selected one of the dip pen holders I had in my stash.  I have no idea when I acquired this vintage Eagle Pencil Company - made in Canada holder.  It has been well used but still in good shape. 

That is the Zebra G Nib installed ready to go.

#6

Here's my first piece with the new tools and supplies.  The paper is very nice.  

I divided the page into 4 pieces with score lines which would make a manageable amount of space to fill.

I looked at several owl line drawings on line and composed one of my own using aspects of the ones I had found.

I am happy with this drawing.

And here it is watercolored.

I painted a light wash over the whole piece then added color to the owl.

I love the yellow eyes and dark wings.  Of course, the color is just out of my head.

I mixed all my colors mostly and used some black gouache to darken some of my colors.

#7

Here's my next composition.  I drew a meadow with a tree, flowers and a little mushroom.  The original was rectangular but with more flowers on the right hand side so I just cropped it to square.  I had to lose a bit of the tree to keep the mushroom which of course was necessary.

It was then painted. Again an overall light wash so I don't have a white background. Blue to the top and green to the bottom.

#8

Here's just an abstract where I drew lines then filled in the spaces with pattern.

I found this one quite dark as all the patterns are quite heavy.

It has been fun to work on these projects, learn something new, be inspired to draw and get the right tools and supplies to have some success at it.

I will make more projects and look forward to Inktober in 2024.

You will find number 9 at the top of the post. This is a smaller version of the owl for the Macro Monday challenge I do every week.  The theme was spooky but the limitations are that the piece photographed can only be 3 inches.  I scaled down my first one which was about 4 inches tall down to 3 inches.  I did not capture the ink drawing before I painted it.  I was on a deadline and missed a step.  That is how it goes.  Then photographed the painting with dramatic light and I think it did Spooky really well.