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Desk, Hooded Nib Pens, Poses, Fountain Pens and Ink Bottle

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  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    This page shows a Getty image with a different type of hand-hold on the pen.

    https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-unique-science-of-left-handedness

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    That is one way, but wouldn't work well with a fountain pen. Reason being that the ink takes longer to become touch dry, and as the hand moves across the page, everything would smudge. As for the finger positions, I have tried to replicate the three finger grip that is least tiring - the sort of grip that allows 8 hours of writing a day. The Getty image shows a very tiring grip that works adequately for ball points - the pen needs to be more vertical than an fp (because the burr that retains the ball shouldn't rub on the paper) and needs to be pressed into the paper. A properly adjusted fp should lay down ink at 45 degrees to the vertical and with only the pen's weight being the application force. Net result is that fp's, if held correctly, are much better for arthritic hands and carpel tunnel syndrome. Regards, Richard.
  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    richardandtracy said:

    That is one way, but wouldn't work well with a fountain pen. Reason being that the ink takes longer to become touch dry, and as the hand moves across the page, everything would smudge. As for the finger positions, I have tried to replicate the three finger grip that is least tiring - the sort of grip that allows 8 hours of writing a day. The Getty image shows a very tiring grip that works adequately for ball points - the pen needs to be more vertical than an fp (because the burr that retains the ball shouldn't rub on the paper) and needs to be pressed into the paper. A properly adjusted fp should lay down ink at 45 degrees to the vertical and with only the pen's weight being the application force. Net result is that fp's, if held correctly, are much better for arthritic hands and carpel tunnel syndrome. Regards, Richard.

     Good info! Sounds like I should get a fp myself ;-)

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    With my 'Semi-Retired www.fountainpennetwork.com Moderator' hat on, I'd definitely agree. Unfortunately, not a lot of new modern fp's are properly adjusted out of the box and it can take a little bit of fairly skilled work to fix.
  • K8sGraphicsK8sGraphics Posts: 56
    edited January 2022

    Thank you Richardandtracy for the pens and poses, they are awesome. On a bizarre side note - I'm ambidextrous. I tend to do most things left-side dominant, however, I do most of my writing right-handed and upside down. I've written upside down my whole life, drove my teachers crazy, well that and I hold my writing utensils wonky. So it's nice to see both styles of writing represented and not just right-handed. As always much appreciate your freebies. 

    Post edited by K8sGraphics on
  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    K8sGraphics said:

    Thank you Richardandtracy for the pens and poses, they are awesome. On a bizarre side note - I'm ambidextrous. I tend to do most things left-side dominant, however, I do most of my writing right-handed and upside down. I've written upside down my whole life, drove my teachers crazy, well that and I hold my writing utensils wonky. So it's nice to see both styles of writing represented and not just right-handed. As always much appreciate your freebies. 

    This is new to me. Pardon my curiousity {don't answer if you don't want to} - can you 'read' upside down writing or do you turn the page around to read it? And like the text online, do you read it like your teachers would or do you have to turn the screen around? {I know there's a feature on the computers to do that, now I know maybe one reason why}

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071

    Catherine, it takes a bit of practice, but most people can read upside down - if at varying speeds. I can read at about 25% normal speed when looking upside down, and if I practiced more, I'm sure it'd get faster. Who knows when the skill could become useful?

    Ks8Graphics, and everyone else, thank you so much for your kind comments. It's always a pleasure to find that some of the bits and bobs I do - normally for my own satisfaction - are useful to others too.

    Regards,

    Richard.

  • K8sGraphicsK8sGraphics Posts: 56
    edited January 2022

    Catherine3678ab said:

    K8sGraphics said:

    Thank you Richardandtracy for the pens and poses, they are awesome. On a bizarre side note - I'm ambidextrous. I tend to do most things left-side dominant, however, I do most of my writing right-handed and upside down. I've written upside down my whole life, drove my teachers crazy, well that and I hold my writing utensils wonky. So it's nice to see both styles of writing represented and not just right-handed. As always much appreciate your freebies. 

    This is new to me. Pardon my curiousity {don't answer if you don't want to} - can you 'read' upside down writing or do you turn the page around to read it? And like the text online, do you read it like your teachers would or do you have to turn the screen around? {I know there's a feature on the computers to do that, now I know maybe one reason why}

    Because I follow along as I am writing I actually read it upside down. To answer your question, I can read both upright and upside down, so if I am reading a book I read it like anyone else (unless I am reading something that someone across from me has in front of them). If I am reading what I am writing, I read it upside down. It's just that when you write upside down, you end up hiding your paper with your arms, so it was hard for them to see what I am writing and makes it tougher for them to make sure I wasn't cheating. Grade and Highschool here (at least when I was in school) was very conformist they wanted you to do everything exactly like everyone else. I also write microscopic and switch between cursive and print, using old school cursive which means some of my letters in cursive weren't technically correct by the school standard of writing. My brain is all kinds of weirdly wired.  Apparently, this also translates into my drawing. I usually draw with the paper sideways, but when I was teaching an afterschool art program I drew the image upside down on the table so that my students across from me could follow along. 

    Post edited by K8sGraphics on
  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    K8sGraphics said:

    Catherine3678ab said:

    K8sGraphics said:

    Thank you Richardandtracy for the pens and poses, they are awesome. On a bizarre side note - I'm ambidextrous. I tend to do most things left-side dominant, however, I do most of my writing right-handed and upside down. I've written upside down my whole life, drove my teachers crazy, well that and I hold my writing utensils wonky. So it's nice to see both styles of writing represented and not just right-handed. As always much appreciate your freebies. 

    This is new to me. Pardon my curiousity {don't answer if you don't want to} - can you 'read' upside down writing or do you turn the page around to read it? And like the text online, do you read it like your teachers would or do you have to turn the screen around? {I know there's a feature on the computers to do that, now I know maybe one reason why}

    Because I follow along as I am writing I actually read it upside down. To answer your question, I can read both upright and upside down, so if I am reading a book I read it like anyone else (unless I am reading something that someone across from me has in front of them). If I am reading what I am writing, I read it upside down. It's just that when you write upside down, you end up hiding your paper with your arms, so it was hard for them to see what I am writing and makes it tougher for them to make sure I wasn't cheating. Grade and Highschool here (at least when I was in school) was very conformist they wanted you to do everything exactly like everyone else. I also write microscopic and switch between cursive and print, using old school cursive which means some of my letters in cursive weren't technically correct by the school standard of writing. My brain is all kinds of weirdly wired.  Apparently, this also translates into my drawing. I usually draw with the paper sideways, but when I was teaching an afterschool art program I drew the image upside down on the table so that my students across from me could follow along. 

    That's interesting, thank you for sharing. It's great that you were allowed to keep and develop your skills.

  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    richardandtracy said:

    Catherine, it takes a bit of practice, but most people can read upside down - if at varying speeds. I can read at about 25% normal speed when looking upside down, and if I practiced more, I'm sure it'd get faster. Who knows when the skill could become useful?

    Ks8Graphics, and everyone else, thank you so much for your kind comments. It's always a pleasure to find that some of the bits and bobs I do - normally for my own satisfaction - are useful to others too.

    Regards,

    Richard.

    Guess it's just not something I ever thought of even trying to do.

  • RainRain Posts: 335

    As a leftie I thank you for these excellent poses as well as the awesome pen props.  Much appreciated.

  • nabob21nabob21 Posts: 917
    edited January 2022

    As a non-leftie, I find this discussion very interesting. I would would like to observe someone writing upside down like K8sGraphics does. That would be very cool to see. I once had a friend who could draw a picture using both hands at the same time. For example, if he was drawing a figure, he would start at the top of the head and draw both sides of the body at the same time, and not just as mirror images of each other. He once drew a picture of an archer that blew my mind as I watched him draw it. Interestingly, it wasn't a 'natural born' talent - he taught himself how to do it. He wasn't even naturally ambidexterous.

    Post edited by nabob21 on
  • ChumlyChumly Posts: 793
    edited January 2022

    A LOOONG time ago, there was a Radio Show called, "The Shadow".  A kind of super hero spy of the time (pre-dating Superman/Batman by almost a decade)....

    Anyway, by the time "The Shadow" was a black and white TV series, he had this cool right/left brain/handed thing where he would help solve mysteries by writing out crime solving questions right handed and then switch to left handed and answer them... Like:
    Right Handed  Why would a murderer place so many cut onions on the kitchen counter...?
    Left Handed:  Because the Myopic cook would constantly be rubbing their eyes thus..... yadda yaddda

    As a lefttie, I zeroed in on all that and thought it was pretty cool

    "What eveil lurks in the harts of men?  The Shadow Knows..... Muahhhaahaaahaaaa... Crime Doesn't Pay"

     

    Lastly, My brother collects old (Pre-1945) fountain pens.  He has hudreds if not thousands.   While he is left handed himself, and uses FPs exclusively, I struggle enough with regular pens... and have shied away from his attempts to convert me to the FP faithful.

    I don't change my grip because it is tiring, I just stop writting all together at that point.  My wife, a teacher, keeps telling me that "You write the hardest way possible, it will make you tired".... and I think, at this point in my life, I'd have better luck writting with my toes than trying to switch grips now.
    Everything I do is like block print... 

    Post edited by Chumly on
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited January 2022

    I have a confession. I have a few fountain pens. Maybe a few hundred. Less than a thousand. Probably. I have made about 400 kit pens too.

    The set below is typical:

    They look good, but I must admit I find them too heavy to use myself. I have my own design pens I wish to manufacture, and after 3D printing prototypes I am convinced they'll be pretty good. I have many of the parts I need to make a CNC lathe, and that is one of my near term projects to enable manufacture of my own pens.

    Regards,

    Richard.

     

    pens105and106small.jpg
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    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • BronzeDragonBronzeDragon Posts: 381

    These are great work, so thank you. Since I don't do many renders that might require this, I'm not sure where I would use these, maybe a contest of some kind that has a specific requirement, or, maybe if I could figure out a proper pose, it be used as aweapon for self defense if someone broke into your office. Anyway, don't mind my ramblings. This is very very good work. My congratulations.

  • Catherine3678abCatherine3678ab Posts: 8,016

    ... could be like one of those spy pens that shoot out a laser ray or something ;-)

  • ChumlyChumly Posts: 793

    Catherine... for the win!

  • lukon100lukon100 Posts: 761

    Got a chance to use it here: https://www.deviantart.com/luqu/art/I-Don-t-Have-The-Discipline-To-Make-Great-Art-912326179

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    That looks incredible. I love seeing how my bits are used, thank you so much for taking the time to show your image. It's what makes it all worthwhile. Regards, Richard
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited July 2022

    I have nerved myself up to tackle a fountain pen world icon. The Parker 51 and it's clones.

    In 1941 Parker in the US released a pen that had some unique characteristics. Parker had invented an incredibly fast drying ink, called 'Superchrome Ink'. This dried so fast that it dried in the nib of conventional pens, clogging them. To solve the problem, Parker invented a pen with a tiny, tiny nib that was protected from the air by a hood. This gave the pen a distinctive shape. The fact that the amount of gold needed for the tiny nib was much smaller than a normal nib meant that wartime austerity measures were met too.

    The pen was an instant success, selling millions, at least 26 million, which wasn't bad for a top-of-the-range pen. Production continued through lots of variants to 1973, when competition from ball point pens finally killed it.

    During its life, almost every other pen manufacturer simply had to make their own clone to keep up with Parker, with clones appearing everywhere. 

    Interest in the pen has been maintained by the pen being close to indestructible and writing like a dream. For collectors there are many colours and cap variations, for everyone else, it's a great pen  that simply works every time and holds a lot of ink.

    Copies and clones are still appearing. The best recent ones are the luxury Hero 100 and utilitarian Wing Sung 601. Parker has felt the pressure over the years to restart production, to the extent they have released two poor clones of their own since the year 2000 badged "Parker 51" in an effort to meet the demand, unfortunately Parker can no longer produce a satisfactory hooded nib pen.

    Anyway, can I show my homage to the Hooded nib pen (I carry and use 2 or 3 of my collection of 20+ every day)? It consists of a pen and cap props, with 14 colour variations of the body and 3 of the cap. There are 4 wearable presets to hold the pen in left and right hands. The colours are mostly similar to the Parker ones, though the 'Shimmering Blue' is similar to the Wing Sung 601 Sparkling Blue of 2020. The stainless steel cap versions are called the 'Classic', the caps with gold sheet rolled onto brass are called the 'Custom' and the solid gold version is called the 'Presidential' in keeping with Parker's nomenclature.

    The zip file is 9Mb, so I am afraid you'll have to download it from Renderosity once approved.

    Hope you like it.

    Regards,

    Richard.

    Hooded Pen Ad.png
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    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    It is now available at Renderosity following the link available in my signature line. Regards, Richard.
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited May 2023

    I commented that the 'Essential Stationery Set' was missing a vital component, a cheap fountain pen.

    So, I dug out my Baoer 801 Fountain Pen (almost certainly re-engineered and improved version of the Parker Vector FP). The model is of one of these pens. I have avoided the rather more garish 'Aurora' & 'Leopard' print versions and include 7 fairly restrained finishes to the model. As before I have included obj files and left/right handed wearable presets for G8F.

    Now, I have called this a cheap fountain pen. The enquiring among you will ask 'How cheap?'. Well, mine cost me $1.51 at the time. They're now a bit more than double that price including delivery.

    Hope you like it.

    Regards,

    Richard

    Cheap Fountain Pen Promo.png
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    zip
    zip
    Cheap Fountain Pen.zip
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  • Faeryl WomynFaeryl Womyn Posts: 3,296

    Well I have all your pose scripts and all your pens. Don't yet have all your poses, but I'm working on that lol, same with props.

    You do good work Richard and it's much appreciated.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    Thank you, Faeryl Women, for the vote of confidence. Regards, Richard.
  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited September 2023

    I got frustrated at work this morning, meetings, meetings, meetings. So when I got home, I needed to do something creative. I have an idea for an image that involves a desk. And none of the freebies looked particularly minimalist like the desk I wanted. So, I knocked up a model, and did the usual stuff to it, and uploaded it to Renderosity. It was approved in 30 minutes (wow!), and you can have a look at it if you wish.

    It's here: https://www.renderosity.com/freestuff/items/96151/office-desk

    Unfortunately due to the size of the textures, I can't upload it here. There are two material settings, light wood and the illustrated dark wood. Desk Top Height 72cm. Desk depth 80cm. Desk width 168cm.

    Regards,

    Richard.

    Office-Desk-Promo.jpg
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    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • Faeryl WomynFaeryl Womyn Posts: 3,296

    I need a desk like that in real life lol

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071

    I will confess modelling it was relatively easy, it's based on my tiny computer desk enlarged a bit. 

    Regards,

    Richard.

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited October 2023

    The desk now has a matching drawer pod. Zip file too big to be an attachment here.

    Hope it's of some use.

    The character is Glamorous Vickie, a Victoria 3 Character.

    Regards,

    Richard

    Office Drawer Pod Promo.png
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    Post edited by richardandtracy on
  • JackyBrownJackyBrown Posts: 579

    The desk seems a bit too low for her knees, very little room to move. But its a beautiful desk with the matching drawer pod! Thank you for creating and sharing!

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,071
    edited October 2023

    To be honest, it's exactly the height of my desk at home (yes, I'm sad like that, I did measure it for real to make it realistic) & 5mm lower than my one at work (yes, I'm sad like that, I wanted to check it wasn't a fluke). I suspect that in reality you shouldn't wear 5" heels at work & then adjust the chair to allow your shins to be vertical.

    Regards,

    Richard

    Post edited by richardandtracy on
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