Saturday, September 06, 2008

Monograms


I’ve been creating monograms lately ... using the 6.0mm Pilot Parallel pen and my favorite colour of J.Herbin ink, “Ambre de Birmanie”. Some letters are just so much fun! Like N and K.

16 comments:

Marc Carson said...

Ah, that's a beauty. Thanks for sharing the tools you used, too. Great color.

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Hi Alice!

First off; your work is stunningly beautiful. An inspiration for me to work harder and learn more and try new things.

Second. I just yesterday received my first two Pilot parallel pens in the mail. (Yay!) I'm still playing with them and love the responsiveness of the nibs, but I find the ink watery and too abundant.

I was tempted to try acrylic or gouache using the converter. Is that what you do? Are there any inks I dare not try? (I have an ultrasonic cleaner and have never had trouble getting other nibs clean no matter what kind of ink I use.)

Any advice would be most appreciated!

K

Alice Young said...

Thanks, Kim.

Yes, feel free to experiment with other inks in your Parallel pen. I use acrylics (most often FW acrylics) but a gouache mixed to ink-like consistency works well too. Do avoid pure India ink and most sumis. Basically, just experiment - you'll learn quickly which inks to avoid, and the pens come fully apart for cleaning, so you shouldn't 'wreck' any of them. Especially with that ultrasonic cleaner! (What a great idea - I think I will look into them.)

See my earlier post about re-filling the cartridges, which I find easier than filling the converter. You can use the provided ink for practice - and try it on a good quality ink-jet paper - the ink tends to sit on the paper surface and bleeds less than on normal bond.

Have fun with your PPP!

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Hello, again, Alice!

Thank you for responding, and so quickly! : D

I will search for your post about refilling the cartridges! I think I read it some time ago but at the time I didn't have the pens.

Blessings,
Kim

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Oh, I forgot to tell you; I found my brand new ultrasonic cleaner on eBay for less that $40. I LOVE it!

Alice Young said...

And thank you, Kim! I'm now looking at ultrasonic cleaners on eBay! Sounds like you're happy with yours... what brand/model did you get?

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Mine is a Kendal. I've got using it down to a science! I place two small glass jars into the water bath so that I can plop the dirty nibs right into the proper cleaning solution and I don't have to tear the whole thing apart to clean it! (meaning both the nibs AND the unit!)

Little pimento jars are good, or ready to use garlic jars

The ultrasonic cleaner has 5 different cleaning cycles--from 90 seconds to 8 minutes. A minute and a half usually does the trick.

Anonymous said...

soooooo beautiful, alice!

Alice Young said...

is that you, bean? hmmn, you might want to use some of these monograms...

Karen Faulkner said...

Hello! These are just beautiful. I featured your "KQ" monogram on my blog at http://karenfaulknerart.blogspot.com/ this weekend.

nikheel said...

Simply beautiful, Alice. They look like dancers :)

Wedding-Calligrapher said...

Hi Alice,
I think your work is beautiful, and so inspirational - so thank you. I come to your blog every now and then when I need a bit of uplifting - and your work always does the trick. :-)
Claire x

j said...

One reason why I love my parallel pens is that that make it so easy to practice. I often take a cheap pad of paper (like Bumble Bee which has a little tooth), put a liner underneath, and practice while sitting in a cafe.

j said...

Oh, and your work with the Herbin inks are gorgeous. Thank you for sharing.

Wendy said...

Those letters are so graceful and relaxed. Beautiful!

ag_xd said...

I love this, could you make one with my initials? adg and email it to me at ag_xd@yahoo.com i've been looking for something like this for my initials to get as a tattoo and can't find anything.