Josh's Corner
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Josh's Corner is for people who are new to collecting pens or to customized
nibs. He offers the opinions of one who has recently started collecting.
He hopes his perspective will be useful to others new to collecting.
Pen Review Omas Paragon, Black Hi Tech
Omas is a brand I've been interested in but I could
not afford. Both John and Pat are big fans of Omas so I finally bit the
bullet and got myself the Paragon. My first impression of this pen is
it's sleek yet subdued look. It doesn't shout yet it's quite elegant.
Their faceted design, unique to Omas, seemed odd at first but I was quickly
enamored with this unusual look. The Paragon is surprisingly light considering
it's size. The vegetal resin (AKA plastic) has a nice smooth feel to it.
The plastics Omas uses (vegetal resin in the solid color pens and celluloid
in the composite colors ) feel alive and warm.
Of course the real test is ink on paper. This pens writes wonderfully, it has a smooth feel with just the right amount of springiness in the nib . I like flexible nibs but if I try to write fast, a fine point becomes a broad with my hand. My medium Paragon remains a medium no matter how fast I write. This pen has become my favorite. How the pen looks, feels in my hand and writes lives up to my expectations.
Of course the real test is ink on paper. This pens writes wonderfully, it has a smooth feel with just the right amount of springiness in the nib . I like flexible nibs but if I try to write fast, a fine point becomes a broad with my hand. My medium Paragon remains a medium no matter how fast I write. This pen has become my favorite. How the pen looks, feels in my hand and writes lives up to my expectations.
Addendum: I have a little girl (she's 16 months now) and it's quite possible she took the Paragon and decided to put it somewhere. I am hoping that fortune will smile upon me, then my black Paragon will turn up again.
Italic Nibs
Before working with John and Pat I wondered, what's the big deal with italic
nibs? Would my writing really look nicer with one? Are they more fun? The simple
answer, yes! I have the good fortune of trying any and every italic that can
be cut on a
diamond wheel. My fast 'doctor style' scribbles are much more legible with an italic point. My friends tell me that my writing does look much better. If you've never tried an italic I strongly suggest it. All italics offer line width variation in your writing. For all except obliques, the down strokes are broader (as when writing the letter "l") and the cross strokes are narrower (crossing a "t"). Obliques, held in a certain manner are the reverse, the down strokes are narrower and the cross strokes are broader. If you want to try many italics, you may want to consider using a Pelikan or a Pilot Vanishing Point pen. Both of them have relatively inexpensive nib units that are easily changed so you can have many italic nibs for one pen. Before you decide italics are perfect, there are some drawbacks. Italic nibs are not as smooth as their rounded counterparts. Smoothness is something that can be adjusted somewhat , but this will be at the expense of crispness. The crisper and sharper it looks, the more it will tend to be scratchy or toothy. Also italic points are position sensitive. If you don't hold them properly they will skip. Below I've summarized the major italic point types I'm familiar with and my opinion of them. We break italics into four major categories, stub, cursive italic, formal italic and oblique. And each of these comes in varying sizes, but I'll stick to the major ones for simplicity: fine, medium and broad.
Stub - This is the smoothest of all the italics and therefore the least fine on the cross stroke. This is a good consideration for a first italic or for someone who likes smoothness more than crispness.
Cursive Italic - These can get very crisp or be almost as smooth as a stub.
Formal Italic - These are for calligraphers. They are hard to use because the upstrokes can catch on the paper. Although they make the crispest marks they will skip if they are rotated out of position. Formal Italics are worth a try if you don't write cursively and are prepared for a pen that is VERY position sensitive.
Oblique - As I described above, obliques are, as the name suggests, an angled italic and offer a similar degree of smoothness and crispness as described above. They can be cut to be very smooth or very crisp depending on your taste. Obliques require the pen to be rotated about 15 degrees, counter clockwise for left obliques and clockwise for right obliques. Sharper oblique angles, like 30 degrees are also traditional, and are more likely to make the vertical strokes finer.
The second important part of an italic point is how fine or broad it is. Much confusion arises here where two pen using worlds collide. Fountain pen users consider a broad to be around .8 mm wide. Calligraphers consider this a fine or extra fine. Their fine is 1.0 mm, their medium is 1.5 mm and their broad, 2.0 mm. The list below is from the fountain pen world.
Fine-Very tight, good for notes and small writing in general. I use a fine italic for making lists and general business use. The unfortunate side is they tend to be scratchy. To perform well, they require a light touch. We do not recommend a fine for your first italic.
Medium - While the writing can't be as small as a fine, these are smooth and offer greater line width variation. This is my personal preference for a daily writer.
Broad - These also tend to be smoother and offer an even greater line width variation. I use a broad italic sometimes but they tend to be on the big side for me. Good for big fun signatures.
diamond wheel. My fast 'doctor style' scribbles are much more legible with an italic point. My friends tell me that my writing does look much better. If you've never tried an italic I strongly suggest it. All italics offer line width variation in your writing. For all except obliques, the down strokes are broader (as when writing the letter "l") and the cross strokes are narrower (crossing a "t"). Obliques, held in a certain manner are the reverse, the down strokes are narrower and the cross strokes are broader. If you want to try many italics, you may want to consider using a Pelikan or a Pilot Vanishing Point pen. Both of them have relatively inexpensive nib units that are easily changed so you can have many italic nibs for one pen. Before you decide italics are perfect, there are some drawbacks. Italic nibs are not as smooth as their rounded counterparts. Smoothness is something that can be adjusted somewhat , but this will be at the expense of crispness. The crisper and sharper it looks, the more it will tend to be scratchy or toothy. Also italic points are position sensitive. If you don't hold them properly they will skip. Below I've summarized the major italic point types I'm familiar with and my opinion of them. We break italics into four major categories, stub, cursive italic, formal italic and oblique. And each of these comes in varying sizes, but I'll stick to the major ones for simplicity: fine, medium and broad.
Stub - This is the smoothest of all the italics and therefore the least fine on the cross stroke. This is a good consideration for a first italic or for someone who likes smoothness more than crispness.
Cursive Italic - These can get very crisp or be almost as smooth as a stub.
Formal Italic - These are for calligraphers. They are hard to use because the upstrokes can catch on the paper. Although they make the crispest marks they will skip if they are rotated out of position. Formal Italics are worth a try if you don't write cursively and are prepared for a pen that is VERY position sensitive.
Oblique - As I described above, obliques are, as the name suggests, an angled italic and offer a similar degree of smoothness and crispness as described above. They can be cut to be very smooth or very crisp depending on your taste. Obliques require the pen to be rotated about 15 degrees, counter clockwise for left obliques and clockwise for right obliques. Sharper oblique angles, like 30 degrees are also traditional, and are more likely to make the vertical strokes finer.
The second important part of an italic point is how fine or broad it is. Much confusion arises here where two pen using worlds collide. Fountain pen users consider a broad to be around .8 mm wide. Calligraphers consider this a fine or extra fine. Their fine is 1.0 mm, their medium is 1.5 mm and their broad, 2.0 mm. The list below is from the fountain pen world.
Fine-Very tight, good for notes and small writing in general. I use a fine italic for making lists and general business use. The unfortunate side is they tend to be scratchy. To perform well, they require a light touch. We do not recommend a fine for your first italic.
Medium - While the writing can't be as small as a fine, these are smooth and offer greater line width variation. This is my personal preference for a daily writer.
Broad - These also tend to be smoother and offer an even greater line width variation. I use a broad italic sometimes but they tend to be on the big side for me. Good for big fun signatures.
Overall I've found the best way to get exactly what I like is to experiment. Everyone has their own 'sweet spot' and I hope all fountain pen users will have a chance to discover what theirs is.