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Balsa pens

September 13, 2015 by Lin Kerr 1 Comment

This is a fantastic home-made pen that can do lettering from a 5mm stroke width to 5cm stroke width.

Buy some balsa that is 5mm in thickness. It is usually in a plank  approx. 45cm long and 7.5cm wide with a thickness of about 5mm.  In my photos the balsa has already been cut narrower, but ideally, do the mat (diagonal) cut while it is still 75mm wide.

12-09-15 balsa1-72

You can probably use a craft knife but a matt cutter does a lovely clean cut. Do two cuts 12cm apart, so that you have wide ‘pen’ 12cm long with two writing ends. A runcible pen! Then you cut this piece into the widths that you fancy. I cut a very narow 5mm one for children to write with in conjunction with my book ABC Uncials, or anything up to 2-3cm wide. Sometimes I just leave it really wide for enormous letters.
12-09-15 balsa pens-72

When you write with it using walnut ink (or any ink for that matter) it runs out of ink as you write leaving a lovely effect.
09-09-15 Balsa3-72
My 5mm ones are sweet, and I wrap them in masking tape as the ink travels upwards. Dip them into the ink and have the obliquue part uppermost when you write.

12-09-15 balsa abc-72
You can buy balsa wood at art shops or specialist craft shops.

15-10-15balsa pens1-72The balsa pens are approximately 5mm in width – like the Speedball C-0 nib. They are just to go on with and to use to play around with ink. I have wrapped each in masking tape so that when the ink creeps up the wood, fingers won’t get too inky!
The pen is a runcible pen (like the spoon in The Owl and the Pussy Cat) and when you write with it, the sloped edge must be uppermost, so it is labelled TOP!
15-10-15balsa pens2-72
Balsa pens get blunt or lose their edge quite quickly as they are fairly delicate. The real pleasure in using them is when you can make a HUGE Balsa pen and do massive letters! I always use a balsa pen on large sheets of paper to demonstrate when teaching. You can re-cut the edge when they are dry  or make a new one.

And they are wonderful to use in teaching. I use wallpaper lining stuck on the white board with masking tape.
The ink runs out and aslo the students can see the breakdown of the strokes and joins.04-11-15 Lin Demo1-72

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Comments

  1. EDWINA HUGHES says

    September 13, 2015 at 11:37 am

    Love the balsa pens so sorry I haven’t been able to get to any of your exhibitions this year. I have been researching nettles!! For dye that is! Hope book sales go sky high good luck x

    Reply

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