Iroful vs. Hahnemühle

 

Iroful paper: a geeky experiment

The Well-Appointed Desk recently published my review of Sakae Iroful paper. If you’re a fountain pen user, you probably already know about Tomoe River and other brands of papers made especially for fountain pens to enhance the sheen and shading of inks and eliminate feathering. Iroful paper was initially brought to my attention by a friend who writes with both pencil and fountain pen, and he said this paper was an enjoyable experience with both. I found this fascinating because fountain pens and pencils seem to have opposing requirements. Anyway, please go read the review for my thoughts on that.

Testing the paper for the review showed that while the surface is, indeed, pleasant for use with both pencils and inks, it’s not ideal for enhancing water-soluble materials. This did not surprise me – the surface feels like the opposite of watercolor paper, for example – but it had never occurred to me to think about the differences or directly compare a paper intended for fountain pen ink with a paper intended for wet media. So I thought it would be fun for this paper geek to think about this and make the comparison.

11/29/23 Diamine Eclipse ink, Platinum fountain pen (music nib), Iroful paper

When writing with a fountain pen, you want the ink to sit on the surface a while so that sheening or shading properties will have time to dry in place instead of sinking in immediately. A common complaint (especially among lefties) is that these ink-enhancing papers cause inks to dry more slowly, increasing the risk of smearing, and that’s the reason – it’s sitting on the surface longer.

11/29/23 Hi-Uni Deluxe 8B graphite pencil, Iroful paper

But isn’t that a property that a good watercolor paper also has? Watercolor painters want paper with sufficient sizing that will enable the wet pigment to sit for a bit before sinking in so that wet-in-wet techniques can be used and washes have time to flow before hard edges form. 

It seems reasonable to assume that a fountain pen paper would be effective with wet media, too. I don’t know enough about paper properties to understand how these two are different, but it’s easy to show the difference. In the swatches below, I’ve tested Diamine fountain pen ink, a Derwent Inktense water-soluble pencil and a Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle pencil. The tests were done in a Hahnemühle Akademie Aquarell sketchbook (not 100 percent cotton) and Iroful paper. In each case, I swiped a waterbrush through the swatch. As you can see, the colored pencils look more vibrant on Hahnemühle, both wet and dry, but the ink is more vibrant on Iroful – and an entirely different color. Actually, all the media look slightly different in color on the two papers (but that could simply be the influence of the paper colors). In addition, the fountain pen nib (my hefty, juicy Platinum music nib) left some scratchy-looking marks on Hahnemühle, but it looks much smoother on Iroful (as it should).

Swatches in Hahnemuhle Akademie Aquarell sketchbook

Swatches on Iroful paper

What did I learn from these experiments? Not much, but it gave this geek something new to ponder. Any other paper geeks have theories on why the common properties of these papers don’t have the same result? It can’t be the difference in tooth – hot-press watercolor paper is very smooth. 

Shown here are the sketches I made for the review.

11/30/23 Uni Pin brush pen, Inktense pencils on Iroful paper

InkTober, Days 21 - 26

 

10/21 - 26/23 Platinum 3776 Century fountain pen with music nib; Diamine Eclipse ink in Uglybook (Earthsworld reference photos)

In a couple of cases, I used an ink wash (without 
drawing a line first) to "paint" the negative space.

For Oct. 21 – 26, I tried something I considered doing for all of InkTober last year: hatching without making a contour drawing first. Thankfully, I waited a few moments, and the feeling passed. This year, six days of it was plenty!

Inspired by the artist kiwon.05, I first tried hatching without contours earlier that year. I speculated whether it was similar in concept to direct watercolor (which I hadn’t yet done at the time) – painting without the guidance of a line drawing first. Now that I’ve done direct watercolor myself, I’m here to say that it’s very much the same: Searching for the shapes, values and forms instead of the line. When I had a pen in my hand instead of a brush, the hard part was stopping myself whenever I went on autopilot and started to draw an outline! This technique requires focus before putting the pen point down.

Platinum 3776 Century pen with music nib

And speaking of pen point, for this page spread, I used my Platinum 3776 Century fountain pen with a music nib, which I hadn’t inked up in years. While it’s a lovely pen to use, it’s not my favorite for drawing (it can’t hold a candle to my beloved Sailor Naginata fude). It felt good to say hello, though, to a casual friend I hadn’t seen in a while.

#InkTober2019 Final Check-in: Goal Accomplished Sluggishly

After an enthusiastic beginning looking forward to becoming reacquainted with my favorite fountain pens, then an uninspired first week and still foundering by the third week, I finished InkTober 2019 with a dull thud, relieved that it was over. I may have gotten 31 sketches done (I didn’t count, but I was probably close), but most were uninspired and nothing different from what I usually do when I have a pen in my hand. I did enjoy using my trusty Sailor Naginata Fude de Mannen again, which I had neglected since I started focusing on graphite and colored pencils. But I had no creative breakthroughs or interesting experiments.

I shouldn’t say I had no interesting experiments: My Platinum with a music nib surprised me during life drawing by being so much fun. On Monday I used it again for the two-minute poses, and again I was pleased by its flow and fluidity. I also enjoy that a fountain pen seems to fly in the face of the age-old tradition of life drawing with a big chunk of charcoal. I plan to continue getting regular fountain pen fixes at life drawing. In fact, it’s a nice counterpoint to all the dry media I typical use there.

So I accomplished my InkTober goal after all: By reacquainting myself with a couple of my favorite fountain pens, I discovered a way to use them that I hadn’t explored before.

One more thing I learned (or re-learned) from InkTober is how useful it is to make value studies. Several times during the month, I made a thumbnail value study first in ink only, then sketched the same scene again in full color. But the thumbnail wasn't just a token InkTober sketch; it reminded me to pay attention to the values -- and that's always a useful thing to remember.

Shown here are the InkTober sketches from the last week of the month (other InkTober sketches done on location were already shown in the posts on those subjects). See my Flickr album for all the sketches from InkTober 2019.

I also started using this Uni Pin this month... I like
it a lot, and it may be my favorite brush pen.

#InkTober2019 Check-in: Fun at Life Drawing

10/7/19 Timothy (2-min. poses)

A big surprise so far this InkTober is the fun I had with a fountain pen at a life-drawing session. Years ago when I sketched regularly with fountain pens, I often used them at life drawing (here’s an example from 2014), sometimes raising eyebrows in the studio because it was apparently an unusual choice where most participants are using more traditional media like charcoal or Conte. I didn’t know any better, so when my choice was questioned, I always responded with, “Why not?”

Although I didn’t care about other participants’ reactions to my choice, over time, I used fountain pens less because even my broadest nibs felt too fine for large and fast drawings where detail wasn’t important compared to capturing the gesture. I eventually switched to broader and wetter brush pens, which I still enjoy using for shorter poses.

Since my main goal for InkTober this year is simply to reacquaint myself with my beloved fountain pens, I said to myself once again, “Why not?” I chose my Platinum 3776 pen with a very broad music nib, which flows fluidly. Filled with Diamine Autumn Oak ink in homage to the season, the Platinum was even more nimble than I expected it to be. It kept up with me on all the two-minute poses. I even like the look of the restated lines. I’m going to bring it again next time.

Laziness at the Locks

5/9/15 Diamine Eclipse ink, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

We’re busy getting ready to travel, but the day promised to be so warm (77 right now at 4:30 p.m.!) that we couldn’t resist sneaking out to the Ballard Locks for an hour or two for some sunshine. (The last time we were at the locks, we shivered as the Christmas ships passed through.) 

5/9/15 Sailor Doyou ink

On our way there, I was thinking I could be ambitious and try tackling the always-challenging wide view of the locks, the ships, the water and all manner of other difficult subjects that can be found there. But once I arrived, I felt as lazy as the day and brushed aside all ambition. I spotted two couples picnicking and reading in the grass. But more fun to sketch were the gulls below us as we crossed the locks. I don’t get many opportunities to sketch a gull from above! I wanted to sketch a few more, but just after I made these sketches, water came rushing through the locks, which sent the whole flock flying and squawking in a whirl of madness. 

5/9/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Canson mixed-media paper

The Food Court Essence

5/6/15 Diamine Eclipse ink, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

I’ve noted several times before that the Northgate food court is not the most inspiring sketching environment. It’s too dark, the arrangement of tables is awkward, and people tend to scarf down their meals and dash off quickly – not very cooperative “victims.” But since I was running a few errands at the mall anyway, I used the food court for a type of practice I don’t do often enough: very quick sketches that attempt to capture only the essence of a person’s gesture or posture.

For this type of exercise, I like to use a brush pen or, as today, my Platinum fountain pen with the big, fat music nib, which won’t allow me to start fussing around with facial features or other details. All I can get are the large shapes.

My inspiration for these is Manuel Hernández, a master of the gestural sketch. I have been following his sketches on Flickr for a long time. I so admire how he is able to capture a person’s mood, attitude or expression in the slump of a shoulder, the weight of the head or the impatient tapping of a foot. 

Freighthouse and Tacoma Dome Station

5/2/15 Sailor Doyou and other inks, Caran D'Ache Museum
water-soluble colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Freighthouse Square (also known as Freighthouse Station Market Place), a collection of eclectic shops, galleries and cafes, was the meeting place this morning for Urban Sketchers Tacoma. Since the day turned out as sunny as promised, I opted to sketch outside the Freighthouse, which is just across the street from Sound Transit’s Tacoma Dome Station.

I started my first sketch of a train that had just pulled into the station, but of course, it left after a minute or two. But I’m an expeditious sketcher, so while I waited for the next train to come along, I turned a few degrees counter-clockwise to sketch Kate sketching beneath a tree and tall lamp post. Each time another train came along, I added a few more lines to the first sketch. It took about five trains before I could finish.

Some sketchers met for lunch at the Olive Branch Café inside Freighthouse Square. It’s a delightful space appointed with beautiful antiques, including a vast collection of teacups and teapots that Liz Steel would approve of! In the true Urban Sketchers manner, Frances, Beverly and I sketched our table and surroundings as we chatted and waited for our food (the Olive Branch’s “leisurely” service facilitated multiple sketches). As hungry as I was, I sympathized with the young girl who was bored, impatient and restless in a chair that was several sizes too large for her. Well, I can’t say I was bored; sketchers are never bored. Just hungry!  

5/2/15 Diamine Midnight and other inks, Museum pencils

5/2/15 Platinum Carbon and other inks, Museum pencil

5/2/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Museum pencil

Ramen

3/20/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea ink, colored pencils, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

My noodles came too fast.

After ordering a bowl of miso ramen at Samurai Noodle, I figured I’d have plenty of time to sketch the large party of men who sat down at the table in front of me. But the service was way too fast. Finish my sketch? Or slurp down a huge bowl of steaming hot ramen? End of sketch.

A Rainy Morning at the Burke

3/15/15 Caran d'Ache Museum water-soluble colored
pencils, Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Planning a sketch outing in March is always iffy. Chances are good that it will rain, so scheduling an outdoor location would be pushing our luck. But chances are just as good that it will be warm and dry enough to sketch outdoors. At the Burke Museum on the University of Washington campus, we could hedge our bets: If the sun shone, the cherry blossoms on the Quad would be irresistible. If it rained, the Burke would be full of sketchable treasures.

I can safely say that all 20+ (maybe close to 30?) Seattle Urban Sketchers chose to sketch inside the Burke this morning, resulting in many delightful sketches of dinosaurs and human history artifacts.

By now I think I’ve sketched all of the Burke’s complete animal skeletons in the regular exhibits (someday I’ll finish every skull, femur and other individual bones), including the enormous mastodon. The first time I sketched it was nearly two years ago (which, according to my blog that day, was one of the first sketches made with my now-favorite Sailor fude pen). About a year ago, I sketched just its head and amazing tusks.

3/15/15 Caran d'Ache Museum pencils, Iroshizuku Asa-gao ink

Today I spent the bulk of my time sketching a slightly different angle of the mastodon, and instead of my favorite pen, I tried colored pencils. As usual, I didn’t scale my sketch accurately, so I ran out of room for its feet! Like the time I sketched the stegosaurus and had to put its tail tip on a separate page, I decided to start a new sketch and give the mastodon’s feet equal time.

To kill the last 20 minutes before our sharing time, I went out to the main reception area to sketch a long view of the Paraphysornis brasilienis. It may be one of my favorite prehistoric skeletons at the Burke; with a nickname like “Terror Bird of Brazil,” who could resist?

Many thanks to the Burke Museum for sponsoring Seattle Urban Sketchers’ visit today!

3/15/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea ink, Caran d'Ache Museum pencil

Epic Pen Search and Discovery, Part 6: Platinum 3776 Century with Music Nib

1/16/15 Platinum Carbon ink, Van Gogh watercolors, Stillman & Birn Alpha

(This is part of a multi-post series about my ongoing search for the ultimate variable-line-width fountain pen. To read other posts in the series, choose “Epic Pen Search” in the label cloud at right, below.) 

While I was experimenting with the Pilot Falcon nib (long before I got distracted by the L.A. Pen Show last week), I was still a little unsure whether I wanted a Sailor music nib like the one I had used (by borrowing from a member of the Pen Club) and was truly enamored with or to be swayed by reviews, which were leaning heavily away from the Sailor and toward the Platinum music nib. Ideally I wanted to borrow the latter to try, but no one I knew had one. Eventually influenced by reviews as well as my own curiosity, I decided to buy a Platinum 3776 Century.

12/28/14 Pilot Petit 1 cartridge ink, Stillman & Birn Alpha

You’ve probably noticed that my pen reviews are unlike most you see on fountain pen blogs – I don’t photograph or describe the box the pen came in, the clip, the filling mechanism, the body color and finish, etc. (You can find those kinds of photos and reviews easily enough elsewhere.) All I really care about is nib performance while sketching, and a little about the body weight or shape if they affect sketching. I’m not even very interested in what the nib looks like (other than the shape, which obviously influences performance). However, I will say that the Platinum’s music nib is quite lovely – it’s probably the most attractive of all the nibs I own so far.

Of the pen bodies with variable-width nibs that I’ve been trying during this Epic Search, the Platinum 3776 is a bit larger and heavier and feels more substantial than the others (and therefore costs a bit more). I knew that I tend to prefer pens with a larger girth when sketching, but I thought I also preferred lighter-weight pens (such as my old Sailor fude pen, which is a very lightweight plastic). It surprised me to learn that the Platinum’s weight as well as girth made it seem more stable and solid while sketching, and now I prefer that size and weight. In the latter part of my search, I started seeking out pen body types more similar to the Platinum 3776 rather than the smaller, lighter-weight Sailor 1911 Profit Standard. Unfortunately, most of the specialty nibs are available on a limited number of body types, so in many cases, I didn’t have much choice. 

Writing samples made with Platinum music nib.

Back to the nib. According to Gourmet Pens, the proper way to hold a music nib is at an extreme sharp angle – almost perpendicular – to the paper, and turned, producing a thick horizontal line and thin vertical line. I found that angle too awkward to sketch with, so I hold it at a normal sketching and writing angle for myself, and the nib produces the opposite results – a thick line in the vertical direction, and a thin line in the horizontal direction.

Since the only music nib I had ever tried (the Sailor) has a broad stroke but not overly so, I was surprised by just how wide the Platinum music nib’s widest stroke is – much broader than the Sailor’s. The first time I sketched with the Platinum, it felt almost like a chisel-cut marker – and felt that clumsy. (In fact, it felt similar to experiments with calligraphy nibs but less harsh-edged.) But I warmed up to it quickly, mainly because of the subject matter of that first sketch: a conductor, choir and orchestra performing at a holiday concert (see detail below). Since I couldn’t see much detail from a distance in a darkened church, the music nib gave me a nice, loose line ideal for sketching those kinds of figures.

12/13/14 Super 5 Frankfurt and Diamine Twilight inks,
Platinum music nib, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Another example of a situation in which the Platinum music nib excelled was during a yoga class, where I was invited to sketch (see detail below). I first tried using my familiar Sailor fude pen but soon found that its finer nib frustrated me by encouraging me to draw small and tight. Capturing the fluid motion of yoga required a looser, broader nib.

With more experimentation, I’ve found that the music nib isn’t ideal for all subject matter. As I typically like to get into detail when sketching faces or dinosaur skeletons, I feel somewhat hindered by the heavy line. On the other hand, if I just let the pen have its way (such as in the sketch below of a few men chatting at the food court), I am pleased by the looseness and line width variety I can achieve. It’s like sketching with a twig – but easier. J

1/26/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea, Platinum music nib

What’s more, the Platinum music nib (and the 3776 Century pen’s design in general) is beautifully reliable. It starts immediately every time, thanks to the pen body’s “Slip & Seal” mechanism that keeps it from drying out (apparently for up to 24 months, according to GouletPens.com’s marketing information). If that marketing copy is true, that’s one heckuva long idle time! I’m probably not going to test it for 24 months, but I’ve inadvertently left it idle for two full weeks, and it started up immediately.

Would I sketch with it regularly? No – mainly because, despite the line widths I can get with it, the range is still narrower than my old trusty Sailor fude. Although turning the Platinum music nib upside-down yields a relatively fine line, it can’t match the very fine line I can get with the Sailor fude turned upside-down (similar to an extra-fine conventional nib). Still, the Platinum music’s broad stroke has grown on me, as well as its reliability, and I’m happy to have the pen for times when my sketches would benefit from a looser line (more often than I probably admit to).

12/27/14 Diamine Sapphire and Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun
 inks, Platinum music nib, Caran d'Ache Museum pencil

12/18/14 Super 5 Frankfurt and Diamine Twilight inks, Platinum music nib

So although I was happy with the Platinum music, that Sailor music nib I was so smitten with was still on my mind. . . (stay tuned next week).

(Just in case it’s not obvious, unlike many blogs that review fountain pens, my blog has no sponsors or affiliates. Every pen I mention here was purchased by me at retail price.)

2/27/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea, Platinum music nib

You wouldn't know it from my photos, but the pen is a dark "Chartres Blue,"
not black.

Terrific Music and Foreshortened Limbs at Wintergrass

2/27/15 Diamine Sargasso Sea, Platinum music nib,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper

While sketching most of the day at Wintergrass, the annual multi-day bluegrass festival, I discovered a particular challenge of sketching jammin’ musicians: all those foreshortened limbs! But I love bluegrass, and there’s nothing more fun on a drizzly winter day than sketching to terrific music in a comfortable indoor venue. Last year, it was one of my favorite Friday ad hoc Urban Sketchers outings, and this year was even better.

In addition to scheduled concerts and lots of impromptu jamming, the festival offers lots of booths where vendors are selling various stringed instruments, including some lovely mandolins I sketched. Shoppers were encouraged to sit and try out instruments, and thankfully those players were slightly slower-moving sketching targets than jammers.

After sharing our sketchbooks, most of us took a break for lunch, and then Natalie and I stayed for more sketching in the afternoon. It’s a good thing we did, because we bumped into Michele, who couldn’t come in the morning. Since a group of three sketchers constitutes a sketchcrawl, we took a selfie.

2/27/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Pilot Falcon nib, Caran d'Ache Museum pencils

2/27/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Pilot Falcon, Caran d'Ache Museum pencils

2/27/15 Iroshizuku Take-sumi ink, Pilot Falcon, Museum pencil

2/27/15 Iroshizuku Asa-gao and Fuyu-syogun inks, Sailor fude pen, Museum pencils

2/27/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Sailor fude pen, Museum pencil

2/27/15 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink,
Museum pencil

2/27/15 Iroshizuku Asa-gao and Fuyu-syogun inks, Sailor fude pen,
Museum pencil

Natalie, Tina and Michele at the post-sketchcrawl mini-sketchcrawl.