Hi, fountain pen friends! Jenni here, bringing you my matchup of Noodler's X-Feather with a Lamy LX Rose Gold. I was really excited to get my hands on this pen and try out this beautiful new nib and see how it compared to the standard Lamy nibs I've previously used. Want to hear more about my experiences? Read on below!
When Brian interviewed Ana Reinert of The Well-Appointed Desk a few months back for an episode of Goulet Guests, He asked her about other artists she followed. She mentioned Lisa Congdon and I started to follow her on Instagram. She recently did an illustration of an aging woman for an upcoming book that she is creating that really struck me. The image referenced letting go of hair dyes and embracing going grey, which I thought would be an awesome way to test out diluting black inks to get grey tones. I decided I wanted to do a piece that reflected on the aging of women and how beautiful it can be.
I began by using a ruler to draw a frame around the area I wanted to draw in. I really wanted the piece to look like a photo in a frame. Then I drew the profile of a woman in pencil, going over it with the pen when I was happy with how it looked. I added the eyes and lips then added some shading for dimension on her face and neck. I took my brush pen and dipped it lightly in the cap of the ink and tested it on a paper towel. Once you put the dark color down, you can't go back so I wanted to make sure the color was right before I put brush pen to paper. After I finished the shading, I began drawing in sections for the hair all the way to the edge of the frame. I knew I wanted lots of different hues of grey around her profile to really make her face pop but to also showcase a lot of color variation in the ink. Once I had my sections all outlined, I went in and began adding individual strands in varying thicknesses. In areas I wanted a lot of color, I drew a lot of strands closer together and less so in areas I wanted to be lighter. Then I let the piece dry overnight to be sure it was all dry before I started trying to work on my color variations.
X-feather is a water resistant ink but it still blurs and smears a bit when a lot of water is applied. I went over all my various sections with water in my brush pen to fill in each section of hair with some shading. Sections that had a lot of strands resulted in a darker color and less strands, a lighter color. I dipped the brush pen in the ink cap again to get a little color and darken up a few more sections. Once I was happy with the colors inside the hair sections, I went back over the outlines to darken them up again. After I was done with the hair, I went in and wrote the Audrey Hepburn quote next to the frame in pencil and went over it with the pen when I was satisfied with the lettering. When I went to erase my pencil lines, I smudged the ink a bit. I didn't realize how long X-Feather took to dry on Rhodia paper! If I were to do this piece again, I'd definitely let the piece dry overnight before trying to erase anything. I left the piece to dry again and came back the following day and finished my erasing.
I loved the Lamy LX in Rose Gold! I was never a huge fan of the standard Lamy nibs before I felt that they seemed to write a little too dry for my taste, but the LX is a very wet writer and I was using a Fine! It had a little bit of feedback but not too much that it was bothersome. This pen would be great for all writing situations, taking notes, journaling, school, letter writing, etc. I wasn't a huge fan of the triangular grip as it didn't sit well in my hands for long term writing but the nib was amazing. Overall, I really enjoyed creating this piece.
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You can find the Lamy LX Rose Gold for $56 at GouletPens.com. Noodler's X-Feather is available in 3oz. bottles for $12.50, 4.5oz. bottles for $19, or a 2ml ink sample for $1.25.
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Write On,
Jenni
