Dip ink pens are a type of pen that requires a separated ink container for the actual pen to dip in and be able to use. They do not have ink stored within them and had to be dipped after a few words or lines. Dip ink pens can be expensive compared to the older times where they use quills and writing ink.
Dip ink pens may be inconvenient for everyday use in this generation especially with its price but it is acknowledged by artists and preferred by calligraphers because it can create a great difference between the shades of thick and thin lines. Dip ink pens can also be a source of satisfaction for pen collectors because these types of pens are commonly described as rare which they enjoy the nice old-fashioned experience of using.
Dip ink pens had evolved through the years with more flexibility and quality without removing its originality here are some types of dip ink pens that we use in our history and today:
Reed Pen
Reed pens are a type of pen that is made by cutting and shaping a strand of bamboo. It is one of the oldest tools for writing a dating back from the 4th century BC that is used by ancient Egyptians. They crafted these pens by a series of cuts and creating a split for the tip to act as an ink barrel until it is flattened and pointed enough. Egyptians used an improvised ink and material similar to the paper which is called papyrus where it is made from the pith of the papyrus plant for their Reed pens
Quill Pen
Quill pens are the original type of dip ink pens and a tool of our famous writings in history. These types of pens are some of the oldest instruments for writing primarily in the western world from the 6th and 19th century where the best source of quills is goose, swan and turkey feathers. This type of pen is not ordinarily used today because the tip of the feather is adjusted through sharpening depending on the thick and thin shade desired by the user where it may tear down the paper used if not stroked properly. Although Quill Pens may not be an applicable instrument today it is described as an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen.
Ink Brush
This is a type of pen where their bodies are usually made of bamboo and tip which may be hair from a goat, pig, mouse, buffalo, wolf, rabbit or Siberian weasel. The main purpose of this pen is for Chinese calligraphy as well as Japanese and Korean calligraphy. The price of these pens depends on the quality of the brush where they use such materials as gold, silver, jade, and ivory.
It is the better type of dip ink pen because its design and purpose today is more flexible and easier to use than the Quill pen and Ink brushes. Dip pens usually consist of metal nib that have a slit in the center of the nib which uses capillary action (the ability of the liquid to flow in a narrow space without the assistance of physical force but with gravity) to function and the body that is made of specialized wood or other materials such as metal, plastic and bone.
Dip pens have a variety of exchangeable tips or nibs to easily control the thick and thin shade which is appreciated by the artist for it provides smoothness than other pens and sometimes used by calligraphers for fine writing.
In the evolution of all these pens, we had created the most advanced type of dip ink pen. It may not be a pen that is dipped in ink but it follows its rules such as the slit in the nib and the capillary motion in the pens.
Fountain Pen
The Fountain pen can be described as a luxury pen because of its high-quality manufacture along with its price. A Fountain pen consist a the nib( the tip of the pen), the feed(a tube with three thin channels running down inside it that connects the nib to the reservoir), the collector(It collects ink flowing from the reservoir and stops too much flooding out at once) and the reservoir(the ink tube concealed in the pen’s handle). It is bought by pen collectors all over the world that require a great amount of money along with the historic pens that are used.
Today the most expensive fountain pen in the world is The Aurora Diamante Fountain pen which costs around one million dollars that contains over 30 carats of de beers diamonds on a solid platinum barrel and an 18kt solid gold nib.
Great writing doesn’t just found in the hands and minds of the writer, it is also found on the kind of pens that they used in writing. One of the best kind of pen that is very lovely to use in writing is the fountain pen or dip-ink pens. This iconic pens are used by many of the great writers in our time and is now costing a lot of money.
A writing tool is something that we have to appreciate because without these instruments communication and literature would be limited in our world, therefore, the evolution of our humanity may not be as strong as today. Along with the history of pens that dip in ink where great minds and the art of literature had used this fact had helped us remember that without the essence of pen historical writings may not be present today or even possible. We have to sometimes look back at the past to understand our present.
