Dipping Pens

Dipping Pens are a type of fine writing instrument that allows you to quickly dip your pen tip into a bottle of ink and begin writing. They are often used in Calligraphy. Dip Pens hold ink in the small yet deep grooves in their tip/nib as you write. Dipping pens have certain advantages over fountain pens - they can use waterproof and pigmented inks, or even traditional iron gall ink which would corrode fountain pens. Dip pens work best with thinner fountain pen inks though, because the thin grooves don’t allow the more viscous calligraphy ink to flow well. Thicker ink hugs the tip and dries, making it difficult to clean completely. Changing inks is as easy as dipping the pen tip into water, wiping with a cotton towel and then dipping the pen into new ink! Dipping pens are elegant and classic, usually made of wood, glass and sometimes metal, and are often art pieces unto themselves. They come in traditional straight form factors and also as Oblique Nib Holders.

Many pen enthusiasts have a variety of dipping pens in their collection since their simplicity allows a writer to try out many different types of inks in rapid succession.