Hi, fountain pen friends, Sarah here! My Monday Matchup for you today is a Noodler's Neoponset Acrylic Flex Fountain Pen in Black Python in Pearls paired with Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa.
I really wanted to create a drawing centered around the human form. Faces are very difficult to draw however, so I wanted to avoid that. I decided upon hands as a good subject. Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel felt like a really great place to draw inspiration because of the iconic hand gestures. I found this quote from Michelangelo really powerful too, so I decided to complete the piece by including it. To start, I printed a close-up, cropped image of the hands from the Sistine Chapel ceiling painting for reference. I got a general idea of how to sketch the piece and got to work. I flushed the pen out a few times and then inked it up. I outlined the shape of the hands to make sure they looked right. Then I grabbed a brush pen and used small amounts of ink to build up the shadows on the hands until they had the depth and dimension I was looking for. Once the hands were done and dry, I went back and wrote in the quote.
The Neponset is an interesting pen. It's not my favorite flex pen I've used but still fun. The pen was a bit finicky at the start and I experienced some hard starting, but after practicing a few strokes it began flowing smoothly for me. Once the pen started writing, I found that I loved the shading and moody color of the ink. The music nib was much more wet than the standard flex nib I was used to, so I found that large writing was helpful to utilize all of the flex capabilities. I knew that iron gall meant the ink was going to be water resistant and I wonder if that might explain the flow issues I had at the beginning. Since the ink is water resistant, it's not meant to be used as an ink wash. Once it was dry, it wasn't possible to move it at all with water. It was interesting to mix with water but it did not blend well and didn't like being watered down.
All in all, this ink would be great for writing more than art. The permanence of the iron gall ink makes it great for writing that you want to last. The color is dark and muted which would make it ideal for a professional setting or school, but the color is also elegant and unique which could be used for journaling.
If I were to do this piece again, I would do more experiments first to get a better feel for the pen and ink. I just went for it and started my drawing right off the bat, but more exploration of the water resistant qualities would have been helpful. Overall, I'm happy with the result and really enjoyed this matchup!
You can find the Noodler's Neoponset Acrylic Flex Fountain Pen in Black Python in Pearls
available at GouletPens.com for $75. Rohrer & Klinger Scabiosa is available in a 50ml bottle for $11.95 or as a 2ml sample for 1.25.
Have you ever tried an iron gall ink or another ink with special properties? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below!
Write on,
Sarah