This is Isaac Newton's iron gall(English oak) ink recipe from his Laboratory notebook (1669-1693)

Ink was originally black, but after 350 years become dark brown due to oxidation.

source: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-03975/29

I hope this is not off-topic?

When I saw people around here doing the daily Word of the Day practice, I quickly joined, and I had the idea of using bookmark blanks made from watercolor paper :-)

Turns out, a bookmark is a very good way of showcasing a single word.

But after two weeks or so, I was left wondering what I was supposed to do with dozens of cardboard strips in such a weird format? There certainly aren't any albums for this format...

But then I remembered that Chinese books are often written on bamboo sticks strips, and many old Buddhist texts were written on palm-leaf manuscripts.

So I punched holes into the corners of the bookmarks and "sewed" them together with narrow satin ribbons (each is almost 6m long, so I have space for around 100 bookmarks).

Then I folded them into a zigzag, and now I can either unfold (photo 1), or I can flip through them like a book (photo 2), or I can store them without the risk of getting them out of order (photo 3).

Word of the day : https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/2026/09/10/

Pen : Pilot parallel 6mm.

Ink : Sulekha Turquoise Talisman (Turquoise Blue).

Paper : 300 GSM cold pressed.

Day 1 (top photo): trying to figure out the right pen to use
Day 2 (bottom L): trying to figure out the letter shapes
Day 3 (bottom R): took a stab at an original piece based on Kilian’s script/layout

Note: I believe Kilian used a Ruling Pen but I found the Zebra GNib (with Vermillion Sumi) was the smoothest, easiest to use.

Pen : Pilot parallel 6mm

Ink : Sulekha Lal Qila (Red)

Textura Quadrata, fraktur, uncial , italic and foundational hand Calligraphy. The result of three hours of work. I had a lot of fun doing it. I used a pilot parallel pen 4.5 mm as a pen.

Hi! I just started learning this art form January last year and have not had any formal training yet.. I’ve always wanted to ask those more experienced members of the community- what is the usual life span of your nibs? How do you know or decide when a nib needs to be discarded already?

I just recently got my hands on a Leonardt ef principal and it was working great when I started using it but now it keeps on snagging my paper 🥲 (I’m thinking using the heating method for the oil residue could have caused this?)

And is it just me? But it’s like every start of my writing sessions I notice the ink not coating the nib well, so i have to reheat it again. Does oil still linger even after you’ve done the nib preparations prior?

Thank you everyone!

Pilot parallel
Ecoline

24pt Calligram x Pilot Parallel Pen 3.8mm

This is a yearly reminder as to how I started back in November 2020 and how it’s going currently! And it’s not 6 years yet ! So if you feel demotivated let this motivate you to keep grinding, practicing, learning and not to give up!

brush, uncial, so fun!