Calligraphy pens (Flex)

Well, here we are, half way through June and finally the monsoons have set in and I'm back, trying to keep my blog going. As I was pondering on what should I blog about, many ideas came up and finally decided to blog on this one, a rather peculiar topic but an interesting one when you get to know about. And also blogging about this would do justice to the title of my blog.

Calligraphy is the art of writing, as we all know. The main instrument used in calligraphy is a calligraphy pen and of course followed by the skill. It is obvious that the pen used for calligraphy is a fountain pen, yes...its right, but the only thing is that calligraphy pens have a flexible nib for thin and thick strokes, that's whats gives the name calligraphy pens or flex.

 So what is this Flex nib or Flex?....how do they look like and what makes them different from the conventional fountain pens?.....

Flexible nibs produce variation in line thickness by applying high pressure on down strokes and low pressure on upstrokes. A flex nib is good because it allows a comfortable execution and a pleasing writing. This is how a flex nibs looks like...

  

Above shown is one example of how a flex nib looks like. Its made of steel or stainless steel, but usually stainless steel is preferred because steel corrodes easily. Before these metal flex nibs were invented Turkey feathers have been used for centuries and it was been used for a very long time. Flex nibs can be made from any material starting from the vintage turkey feathers followed by 14k gold, 18k gold, titanium, steel etc.

Another important feature in this flex nib is the tine opening, a separation present at the tip which allows the flow of the ink. Though its seems interesting to see the maximum opening of the tine, it may not be very useful. A wet noodle(superflex)  with large maximum tine opening is useless if the letters are small. Good flex  is the one that produces a pleasant result. Based on these tine opening and their flexibility, flex nibs are graded.

Flex nibs: Grades

• Rigid ("nail"): If you press more than normal on the paper, it will drill a hole.
• Soft: The pen feels like a spring. It “gives” under pressure. The line may or may not get wider under pressure but the line variation is not "significant" under "normal" force.
• Semiflex: A nib that is not only springy but it creates a "clearly" wider line when pressed during the down strokes. Flexing requires "some" force to be applied. There will be several people who may not be comfortable to flex on every down stroke, but occasional flourishes should not cramp your hand.
• Full flex: A nib that flexes easily enough to allow significant line variation on every letter.
• Superflex a.k.a wet noodle: A nib that flexes easily and to a considerably large opening under a low force. A characteristic of the wet noodle is in the lifting of the pen after flexing. In a semiflex or flex nib the pen bounces right back once the force is released. In the case of the superflex you almost feel that you have to consciously lift the pen. This may lead to loss of rhythm if the writer does not have a good hand control. 

There is no strict demarcation between the various grades. These are not discrete values. Not only this but these terms are relative. First, they depend on the individual strength of each writer (what is flex for you maybe semiflex for someone else). To make things a bit more complicated, these terms are used by the average user in a way that reflects their own experience. For example, a user, who has only tried modern flex, will not be able to appreciate that many vintage pens are much more flexible than most modern and will most often overestimate the flexibility of a nib.

The flexibility of a nib must be matched against the writing force and the dexterity of the writer. For this reason, the best way of selecting a flexible nib is to try it in person.

Capable feed:

Another important thing involved in calligraphy is the fine writing. To achieve this the flex nib should have a highly variable and rapidly changing ink flow. A good flex nib should have:

• sufficient flow to allow the formation of fat lines
• rapid reduction of the flow when switching from thick to thin lines (like in letters u, n, m, etc.)

The key to the reputation of vintage nibs as "best" flexers is usually the fact that they are very wet when flexed. Modern pens have feed that limit too much flow and as a result they starve the nib when they are flexed, i.e. the ink film breaks and instead of a fat line we get two fine lines, one from each tine. There is nothing worse than a nib that is capable of large opening but the feed can not supply ink to it.

So this is all about the flex nibs or commonly called as the calligraphy pens which is a very important tool for calligraphy.