Portal:Pens
Portal maintenance status: (October 2018)
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Introduction
A pen is a writing instrument used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Historically, reed pens, quill pens, and dip pens were used, with a nib dipped in ink. Ruling pens allow precise adjustment of line width, and still find a few specialized uses, but technical pens such as the Rapidograph are more commonly used. Modern types include ballpoint, rollerball, fountain and felt or ceramic tip pens.
Selected general articles
- Staedtler technical pens
A technical pen is a specialized instrument used by an engineer, architect, or drafter to make lines of constant width for architectural, engineering, or technical drawings. "Rapidograph" is a trademarked name for one type of technical pen. Technical pens use either a refillable ink reservoir (Isograph version) or a replaceable ink cartridge. Read more...
Pen spinning is a form of object manipulation that involves the deft manipulation of a writing instrument with one's hands. Although it is often considered a form of self-entertainment (usually in a school or office setting), multinational competitions and meetings are sometimes held. It is sometimes classified as a form of contact juggling; however, some tricks do leave contact with the body. Pen spinning is called pen mawashi or, more rarely and disparagingly, rōnin mawashi ("rejected student spinning") in Japan, where the pastime has been popular since at least the 1970s and where the Pen Spinning Association Japan is now dedicated to promoting the aspiring art form. Pen spinning has quickly gained international popularity through online video sharing and forums. According to Masaki Tsukada, chairman of the Japanese pen spinners, pen spinning now has dedicated movements in South Korea and the United States. Read more...
A quill pen is a writing implement made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, the metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen. The hand-cut goose quill is rarely used as a calligraphy tool, because many papers are now derived from wood pulp and wear down the quill very quickly. However, it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who noted that quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen. Read more...
Ink brush with golden dragon design, used by the Wanli Emperor (1563-1620).
Ink brushes (simplified Chinese: 毛笔; traditional Chinese: 毛筆; pinyin: máo bǐ; Japanese: 筆, translit. fude; Korean: 붓/筆) are used in Chinese calligraphy as well as Japanese calligraphy and Korean calligraphy which have a root of Chinese calligraphy. They are also used in Chinese painting and other brush painting styles. The brush was invented in China around 300 B.C. Together with the inkstone, inkstick and Xuan paper, these four writing implements form the Four Treasures of the Study. Read more...
A highlighter is a type of writing device used to draw attention to sections of text by marking them with a vivid, translucent colour.
A typical highlighter is fluorescent yellow, coloured with pyranine. Different compounds, such as rhodamines (Rhodamine 6GD, Rhodamine B) are used for other colours. Read more...
A rastrum (or raster) is a five-pointed writing implement used in music manuscripts to draw parallel staff lines when drawn horizontally across a blank piece of sheet music. The word "raster" is derived from the Latin for "rake". Rastra were used to draw lines on paper that had not been pre-ruled, and were widely used in Europe until printed staff paper became cheap and common in the nineteenth century. Some rastra are able to draw more than one staff at a time. Rastrology, the study of the use of the rastrum, is a branch of music manuscript studies that uses information about the rastrum to help find the date and provenance of musical materials. Read more...
An active pen (also referred to as active stylus) is an input device that includes electronic components and allows users to write directly onto the LCD screen surface of a computing device such as a smartphone, tablet computer or Ultrabook. The active pen marketplace has long been dominated by N-trig and Wacom, but newer firms Atmel and Synaptics also offer active pen designs.
An active pen is generally larger and has more features than a stylus. Digital pens typically contain internal electronics and have features such as touch sensitivity, input buttons, memory, writing data transmission capabilities, and electronic erasers. Read more...
Calligraphy (from Greek: καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument, brush, or other writing instruments. A contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".
Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be readable.[page needed] Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both. Read more...- Pen computing refers to any computer user-interface using a pen or stylus and tablet, over input devices such as a keyboard or a mouse.
Pen computing is also used to refer to the usage of mobile devices such as tablet computers, PDAs and GPS receivers. The term has been used to refer to the usage of any product allowing for mobile communication. An indication of such a device is a stylus or digital pen, generally used to press upon a graphics tablet or touchscreen, as opposed to using a more traditional interface such as a keyboard, keypad, mouse or touchpad. Read more...
Photo of the Hypertext Editing System (HES) console in use at Brown University, circa October 1969. The photo shows HES on an IBM 2250 Mod 4 display station, including lightpen and programmed function keyboard, channel coupled to Brown's IBM 360 mainframe.
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT display.
It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the screen in a similar way to a touchscreen but with greater positional accuracy. A light pen can work with any CRT-based display, but its ability to be used with LCDs was unclear (though Toshiba and Hitachi displayed a similar idea at the "Display 2006" show in Japan). Read more...
A permanent marker or indelible marker is a type of marker pen that is used to create permanent or semi-permanent writing on an object. In general, the ink comprises a main carrier solvent, a glyceride, a pyrrolidone, a resin and a colorant, making it water resistant. It is capable of writing on a variety of surfaces from paper to metal to stone. They come in a variety of tip sizes (ultra fine to wide), shapes (chisel point, bullet tip, and wide bristle), and colors (metallic, or ultraviolet reactive). Like spray paint, these markers contain volatile organic compounds which evaporate to dry the ink. Permanent marker is another name for "waterproof" marker. They have a potential for abuse as a recreational drug.
The permanent marker was invented in 1952 by Sidney Rosenthal. Read more...
Narayam (Malayalam: നാരായം) (Sanskrit: नाराचः) or ezhuthani (Malayalam: എഴുത്താണി) is a writing instrument (stylus) used since antiquity in South India, Sri Lanka and other proximate regions of Asia. Although similar to the modern day pen in shape and use, instead of using a colored ink, it scribes on the surface (normally a pre-treated palm leaf) creating fine scratches in the form of letters and shapes. In essence, the narayam is a long piece of iron with a sharpened or pointed end and fabricated to ergonomically fit into the writer's fist.
Narayam was the primary tool to scribe on Thaliyola, the pre-treated leaf of an Asian palmyra palm. Until the introduction of paper, the palm leaves remained as the primary medium for creating, circulating and preserving written articles in the region. Read more...
A gel pen uses ink in which pigment is suspended in a water-based gel. Because the ink is thick and opaque, it shows up more clearly on dark or slick surfaces than the typical inks used in ballpoint or felt tip pens. Gel pens can be used for many types of writing and illustration.
The general design of a gel pen is similar to that of a regular ink based pen, with a barrel containing the writing mechanism and a cap, and a reservoir filled with ink. The barrels can be created in many different sizes and designs; some have finger grips of rubber or plastic. The size of the nib or pen tip ranges from 0.18 millimetres (0.0071 in) to 1.5 millimetres (0.059 in). Read more...
A 2-imperial-fluid-ounce (57 ml) bottle of Quink brand, fountain pen ink
Fountain pen ink is a water-based ink intended for use with fountain pens. Read more...
A writing desk in a home
A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table-style work surface used in a school, office, home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading, writing, or using equipment such as a computer. Desks often have one or more drawers, compartments, or pigeonholes to store items such as office supplies and papers. Desks are usually made of wood or metal, although materials such as glass are sometimes seen.
Some desks have the form of a table, although usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit at (there are some exceptions, such as a partners desk), unlike most usual tables. Some desks do not have the form of a table, for instance, an armoire desk is a desk built within a large wardrobe-like cabinet, and a portable desk is light enough to be placed on a person's lap. Since many people lean on a desk while using it, a desk must be sturdy. In most cases, people sit at a desk, either on a separate chair or a built-in chair (e.g., in some school desks). Some people use standing desks to be able to stand while using them. Read more...
Close-up of traditional fountain pen with an iridium tip
A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor, the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Filling the reservoir with ink may be achieved manually, via the use of a Pasteur pipette (eyedropper) or syringe, or via an internal filling mechanism which creates suction (for example, through a piston mechanism) or a vacuum to transfer ink directly through the nib into the reservoir. Some pens employ removable reservoirs in the form of pre-filled ink cartridges. Read more...
A cartoonist (also comic strip creator) is a visual artist who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is often created for entertainment, political commentary, or advertising. Cartoonists may work in many formats, such as booklets, comic strips, comic books, editorial cartoons, graphic novels, manuals, gag cartoons, graphic design, illustrations, storyboards, posters, shirts, books, advertisements, greeting cards, magazines, newspapers, and video game packaging. Read more...- Stark's ink is one of a number of types of homemade inks whose recipes were widely available in the 19th century. People often made their own ink before
commercially available ink was inexpensively and easily obtainable.
Dr. James Stark was a chemist during the 19th century who experimented with ink recipes for 23 years. He tested 229 recipes for their durability on various kinds of paper to find the most stable iron gall ink recipe. He submitted his findings in 1855 to the Society of Arts in Edinburgh, Scotland. This recipe was the one he personally used. Read more...
A marker pen, fineliner, marking pen, felt-tip marker, felt-tip pen, flow marker, texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in India) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink-source and a tip made of porous, pressed fibers such as felt. A permanent marker consists of a container (glass, aluminum or plastic) and a core of an absorbent material. This filling serves as a carrier for the ink. The upper part of the marker contains the nib that was made in earlier time of a hard felt material, and a cap to prevent the marker from drying out. Until the early 1990s the most common solvents that were used for the ink were toluene and xylene. These two substances are both harmful and characterized by a very strong smell. Today, the ink is usually made on the basis of alcohols (e.g. 1-propanol, 1-butanol, diacetone alcohol and cresols). Markers may be waterproof, dry-erase, wet-erase (e.g. transparency markers), or permanent. Read more...
A nib is the part of a quill, dip pen, fountain pen, or stylus which comes into contact with the writing surface in order to deposit ink. Different types of nibs vary in their purpose, shape and size, as well as the material from which they are made. Read more...
A ruling pen is a drawing instrument for drawing with ink or with other drawing fluids.
A ruling pen contains ink in a slot between two flexible metal jaws, which are tapered to a point. It enables precise rendering of very thin lines. The line width can be adjusted by an adjustment screw connecting the jaws. The adjustment screw can optionally have a number dial. Read more...
HB graphite pencils
A pencil is an implement for writing or drawing constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing which prevents the core from being broken and/or from leaving marks on the user’s hand during use.
Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving behind a trail of solid core material that adheres to a sheet of paper or other surface. They are distinct from pens, which instead dispense liquid or gel ink onto the surface being marked. Read more...
Pen Museum is a museum in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom dedicated to educating visitors about the history of Birmingham's steel pen trade. The only museum in the United Kingdom devoted to the history of the pen making industry, the Pen Museum explains how Birmingham became the center of the world pen trade.
The museum is run by the Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association, which was established in 1996 as a registered charity and became a charitable incorporated organisation in 2018. Read more...
An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing. The artist or writer dips the brush, quill, or dip pen into the inkwell as needed or uses the inkwell as the source for filling the reservoir of a fountain pen. An inkwell usually has a lid to prevent contamination, evaporation, accidental spillage, and excessive exposure to air. A type known as the travelling inkwell was fitted with a secure, screw lid so a traveller could carry a supply of ink in their luggage without the risk of leakage. Read more...
Blotting paper, sometimes called bibulous paper, is a highly absorbent type of paper or other material. It is used to absorb an excess of liquid substances (such as ink or oil) from the surface of writing paper or objects. Blotting paper referred to as bibulous paper is mainly used in microscopy to remove excess liquids from the slide before viewing. Blotting paper has also been sold as a cosmetic to aid in the removal of skin oils and makeup. Read more...- A counterfeit banknote detection pen is a pen used to apply an iodine-based ink to banknotes in an attempt to determine their authenticity. Read more...
A mechanical pencil (US English) or propelling pencil (UK English), also clutch pencil, is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" /ˈlɛd/. The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and can be mechanically extended as its point is worn away. Other names include microtip pencil, automatic pencil, drafting pencil, technical pencil, click pencil, pump pen, pump pencil, leadholder, pacer (Australian English), pen pencil (Indian English), and lead pencil (Bangladeshi and American English).
Mechanical pencils are used to provide lines of constant width without sharpening in technical drawing and in quick, neat writing. They have also been used for fine-art drawing. Since they do not have to be sharpened, they are also very popular with students. Mechanical pencils were first used in the 18th century, with many designs patented in the 19th and 20th centuries. Read more...
James Mylne (UK), Polo Pony 1 (2008) ballpoint pen on paper
Since their invention and subsequent proliferation in the mid-20th century, ballpoint pens have proven to be a versatile art medium for professional artists as well as amateur doodlers. Ballpoint pen artwork created over the years have been favorably compared to art created using traditional art mediums. Low cost, availability, and portability are cited by practitioners as qualities which make this common writing tool a convenient, alternative art supply.
Ballpoint pen enthusiasts find the pens particularly handy for quick sketch work. Some artists use them within mixed-media works, while others use them solely as their medium-of-choice. The medium is not without limitations; color availability and sensitivity of ink to light are among concerns of ballpoint pen artists. The internet now provides a broad forum for artists to promote their own ballpoint creations, and since its inception ballpoint pen art websites have flourished, showcasing the artwork and offering information of the usage of ballpoint pens as an art medium. Read more...
Roller ball pens or rollerball pens are pens which use ball point writing mechanisms with water-based liquid or gelled ink, as opposed to the oil-based viscous inks found in ballpoint pens. These less viscous inks, which tend to saturate more deeply and more widely into paper than other types of ink, give roller ball pens their distinctive writing qualities. The writing point is a tiny ball, usually 0.5 or 0.7 mm in diameter, that transfers the ink from the reservoir onto the paper as the pen moves. Read more...- An Ultraviolet (UV) marker is a pen whose marks are fluorescent but transparent: the marks can be seen only under an ultraviolet light. They are commonly used in security situations to identify belongings or to protect from the copying of banknotes. UV pens can now be bought at some stationery shops to securely mark items of high value in case of theft. Read more...
Wax tablet and a Roman stylus
A stylus, plural styli or styluses, is a writing utensil or a small tool for some other form of marking or shaping, for example, in pottery. It can also be a computer accessory that is used to assist in navigating or providing more precision when using touchscreens. It usually refers to a narrow elongated staff, similar to a modern ballpoint pen. Many styluses are heavily curved to be held more easily. Another widely used writing tool is the stylus used by blind users in conjunction with the slate for punching out the dots in Braille.
Styluses were first used by the ancient Mesopotamians in order to write in cuneiform. They were mostly made of reeds and had a slightly curved trapezoidal section. Egyptians (Middle Kingdom) and the Minoans of Crete (Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic) made styluses in various materials: reeds that grew on the sides of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and in marshes and down to Egypt where the Egyptians used styluses from sliced reeds with sharp points; bone and metal styluses were also used. Cuneiform was entirely based on the "wedge-shaped" mark that the end of a cut reed made when pushed into a clay tablet; from Latin cuneus = wedge. The linear writings of Crete in the first half of the second millennium BC which were made on clay tablets that were left to dry in the sun until they became "leather" hard before being incised by the stylus. The linear nature of the writing was also dictated by the use of the stylus. Read more...
A penknife, or pen knife, is a British English term for a small folding knife. Today the word penknife is the common British English term for both a pocketknife, which can have single or multiple blades, and for multi-tools, with additional tools incorporated into the design.
Originally, penknives were used for thinning and pointing quills to prepare them for use as dip pens and, later, for repairing or re-pointing the nib. A penknife might also be used to sharpen a pencil, prior to the invention of the pencil sharpener. A penknife did not necessarily have a folding blade, but might resemble a scalpel or wood knife by having a short, fixed blade at the end of a long handle. One popular (but incorrect) folk etymology makes an association between the size of a penknife and that of a small ballpoint pen. Read more...
A dip pen or nib pen usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain-pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal, and plastic; some pens are made entirely of glass. Generally, dip pens have no ink reservoir, so the user must recharge the ink from an ink bowl or bottle to continue drawing or writing. There are simple, tiny tubular reservoirs that illustrators sometimes clip onto dip pens, which allow drawing for several minutes without recharging the nib. Recharging can be done by dipping into an inkwell, but it is also possible to charge the pen with an eyedropper, a syringe, or a brush, which gives more control over the amount of ink applied. Thus, "dip pens" are not necessarily dipped; many illustrators call them "nib pens".
Dip pens emerged in the early 19th century, when they replaced quill pens and, in some parts of the world, reed pens. Dip pens were generally used before the development of fountain pens in the later 19th century, and are now mainly used in illustration, calligraphy, and comics. Read more...
A digital pen or smart pen is an input device which captures the handwriting or brush strokes of a user and converts handwritten analog information created using "pen and paper" into digital data, enabling the data to be utilized in various applications. This type of pen is usually used in conjunction with a digital notebook, although the data can also be used for different applications or simply as a graphic.
A digital pen is generally larger and has more features than an active pen. Digital pens typically contain internal electronics and have features such as touch sensitivity, input buttons, memory for storing handwriting data and transmission capabilities. Read more...
Example of classic American business cursive handwriting known as Spencerian script from 1884.
Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. Today, this is most commonly done with a pen, or pencil, but throughout history has included many different implements. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called "hands" while an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as "handwriting". Read more...
Example of India ink on paper, Zeedijk by Gustaaf Sorel, (1939)
India ink (British English: Indian Ink; also Chinese ink) is a simple black or colored ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing and outlining, especially when inking comic books and comic strips. India ink is also used in medical applications. Read more...
A ballpoint pen knife is a multi-tool pocket knife consisting of a blade concealed inside an ordinary-looking ballpoint pen. The blade, typically 2 to 5 inches (51 to 127 mm) in length, is usually hidden. They first appeared as custom-made pens from various custom knife makers before being mass-produced by production companies. Read more...- The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade. Read more...
- Alizarine ink was created in 1855 by Professor Leonhardi of Dresden, Germany, by adding alizarin dye (derived from the root of the madder plant) to conventional iron gall ink. This added an attractive coloration to the ink, which was quite popular until it was replaced by more modern chemical inks.
An 1881 recipe for Alizarine ink may be found in the Household Cyclopedia of General Information. Read more...
A Reed pen (Greek: κάλαμοι kalamoi; singular κάλαμος kalamos) is a writing implement made by cutting and shaping a single reed straw or length of bamboo. Reed pens with regular features such as a split nib have been found in Ancient Egyptian sites dating from the 4th century BC. Reed pens were used for writing on papyrus, and were the most common writing implement in antiquity.
Reed pens are stiffer than quill pens cut from feathers and do not retain a sharp point for as long. This led to them being replaced by quills. Nevertheless a reed pen can make bold strokes, and it remains an important tool in calligraphy. Read more...
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro or ball pen, is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". The metal commonly used is steel, brass, or tungsten carbide. It was conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to dip pens and fountain pens, and it is now the world's most-used writing instrument: millions are manufactured and sold daily. As a result, it has influenced art and graphic design and spawned an artwork genre.
Pen manufacturers produce designer ballpoint pens for the high-end and collectors' markets. Read more...
Iron gall ink (also known as common ink, oak gall ink or iron gall nut ink) is a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources. It was the standard ink formulation used in Europe for the fourteen-hundred year period between the 5th and 19th centuries, remained in widespread use well into the 20th century, and is still sold today. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that Mexican-American Holocaust survivor Anthony Acevedo mixed snow and urine with the ink of his pen to ensure he could maintain his concentration-camp diary?
- ... that James Fugaté was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after it was revealed that he wrote Quatrefoil: A Modern Novel under the pen name James Barr?
- ... that an accidental release of farmed Atlantic salmon in Washington state was initially blamed on unusually strong tides during a solar eclipse?
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