Monday 10 June 2013

Fountain Pen Imprint Highlighting


Top to bottom: Summit S125, Sheaffer Snorkel,
Parker Duofold AF, Koh-I-Noor Chinagraph Pencil 3260/6.




Here's something I've not considered before; highlighting barrel imprints. I have to say, I'm delighted with the results, using a wax based china marker (akin to a crayon) as demonstrated in the fine Grandmia Pens video embedded below.





The marker used was a white Koh-I-Noor 3260/6 bought from eBay seller hobbyartandcraft, for £1.69 including shipping.

4 comments:

  1. I'm too much of a coward to do this in the (hemi-demi-)semi-permanent fashion shown, but I'm occasionally taken with an urge to try and show an imprint in a photograph. My solution is to swipe a little re-sacking talc over the impression; enough stays at the bottom of the marks to give contrast, but it's easily gotten rid of.

    That's an amazing imprint on the Summit, by the way. I understand the temptation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. And I understand your caution! Given enough rubbing over enough time, even brasses can be worn down. According to that bastion of veracity, Wikipedia, churches now provide replicas for, er, rubbing enthusiasts, to preserve the originals.

    The Koh-I-Noor is very soft and crumbley - it can't sharpen like a pencil, for example - so hopefully application hasn't been much riskier than an inconsiderate polish. I don't know exactly how these imprints were made (why don't we see them on modern pens?) but whoever stamped the Summit really took the job seriously!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello,
    I am interested in highlighting barrel imprints and have several vintage fountain pens with barrel imprints. Do you know whether the imprints where original filled in? I have a Blackbird that has the imprints highlighted but the rest are not.

    Thanks,
    Ash

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ash, the vast majority of fountain pen companies didn't highlight barrel imprints. I can think of one that did, Soennecken.

      Delete

Comments seem to be working okay again. You can try leaving one, it might work! If not, you can reach me on twitter if you like @Flounder_FPN