Hey there, fountain pen friends! Jenni here, bringing you my matchup of the new Edison Winter Premiere Arctic Currents and Noodler's Blue. I was so excited to work with this pen because it is our newest edition of the seasonal exclusives and I love the way Edison pens write. Their nibs are perfection to me. Read on to hear more about my experiences.
My inspiration for this piece was the name of the pen, Arctic Currents. I wanted something lighthearted and fun, but with good detail that would look cool in a video. I decided glaciers would be awesome because they have tons of shadows and highlights, which would give the ink a chance to show off its shading potential. I wrote out the text and drew the outlines of the glaciers with the pen. Then I set to work with a brush pen to fill in the highlights and shadows. I gradually built up the colors darker and darker until I had pure ink to darken the shadows. I then went in a blended between the light and dark shadows with a water brush pen.
I loved this pen. The nib was amazing and wrote so well. More importantly for me, it sketches like a dream, which I didn't expect. I used it to make some edges on the mountains and clean up a few shadows and the quick movement of sketching really worked out well with this pen and nib. It didn't catch the paper, didn't have trouble putting down ink, and it was totally reliable whether I was drawing slowly or quickly sketching.
I probably would have chosen a different ink to go with this pen, something more teal. The Noodler's Blue is a bit bright for the colors in this pen but it was a fun ink to work with and worked well with the glaciers theme. The huge variation in shades were quite fun to play with. Because it is a wetter ink, it worked very well with the Edison nib, but also moved nicely with the water in the brush pen. This ink is undoubtedly great for art and ink washes. It's fairly bright, so I wouldn't use it as an every day ink in a conservative work environment, but it is a definitely good for journaling or writing letters.
If I were to do this piece again, I'd probably make it a little lighter. There are some spots that I see where I feel like I made the shadows too dark. I would try and leave more white and highlights on the ridge tops and be more selective about my dark shadows. I love that I started with the lettering first. I always start with the picture first and I feel like I end up messing up the piece at the end when I do the text. Starting with the text lets me get the technical hard stuff out of the way and then I can relax and create.
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The Edison Nouveau Premiere Arctic Currents is available for a limited time at GouletPens.com for $175 in nib sizes EF, F, M, B, 1.1mm and 1.5mm. You can find Noodler's Blue in a 3oz. bottle for $12.50 or a 2ml ink sample for $1.25.
Write on,
Jenni
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Write on,
Jenni
