Lots of pens, but mostly the Pilot Parallel 6.0

I didn’t think much about this at the time at all, but as a kid I went to a lot of extracurricular classes. Not in the “every moment of your life must be scheduled” way or the “this will look good on your college applications” way, either. We’d get course catalogs in the mail from Writers & Books or RMSC or the Memorial Art Gallery or local colleges or even just the town Parks and Rec, I’d find a writing workshop1 or something else that looked interesting2, and my mom would sign me up. She was cool like that.

Anyway, that’s how I ended up taking a calligraphy class that used black ink, dip pens and hardcore left-handed nibs when I was twelve. I was no prodigy, but I did get down the concepts and strokes. Since I’ve had those basic abilities for years since, I’m better at it than my non-artist self should be. The wobbles up there are because the nib on a Pilot Parallel is flat across, and also because it’s just so freaking BIG. I’m not used to it at all, and posture/stance is important. The medium-ish nib words come from flipping the Parallel to an angle that’s outlined in the pen’s paperwork as perfectly okay to do. There’s a lot of paperwork that comes with a Parallel, because there are some other cool things it can do — like ombre from one color to another. I’ve done it with a smaller-nibbed Parallel, and plan to give it a whirl with this one. I also want to see some of the sparkle inks with this pen, like the new J Herbin Fuchsia de Magellan.3 But first, I have to empty out a Pilot cartridge to refill. Converters and Parallels don’t really get along.

The Pilot V Sign Pen was something I didn’t know existed until I read this article. It’s basically a less stiff Flair Pen and that means sometimes there’s smudging, but I still use it sometimes for headlines and Stuff I Don’t Want To Forget But Will Anyway.

The rest of these samples are from a mini-haul. The Zebra Sarasas are for the Hobonichis. Was it those last two shades that took my money? It sure was. I haven’t put the Pilot Multi Ball to the test that’s on that page yet4, but I definitely need to hide it from the top of my desk because I keep grabbing it for regular paper purposes.

Til next time, which might be sooner than you think,

E