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InherentKingfisher515

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12karma
Joined 5 months ago
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2 months ago

Help: Why does my G. G. W‑23 nib skip on light pressure when using iron‑gall ink on rice paper?

I've been using a G. G. W‑23 pointed nib for a few weeks now – love the flexibility, but I hit a weird snag. When I write light‑handed strokes (like the initial strokes of a kanji or a delicate copperplate entry) on 100 g/m² rice paper soaked in a light wash of water, the nib sometimes just skips or "flutters" instead of laying a smooth line.

  • I'm using a 0.5 ml bottle of traditional iron‑gall ink (exactly the 16 % tannic acid blend from the 1870s formula).
  • My grip is the standard tripod, pressure under 10 g (I even timed it with a small force gauge).
  • The nib is freshly split, not broken, and I flushed it with distilled water each night.

I tried switching to a broader nib (G. G. F‑12) and the issue disappears, but I really want the crispness of the W‑23 for fine script. Same thing happens on smooth Bristol paper – just the light pressure is the trigger.

Anyone else experience this "light‑pressure skip"? Is it something about the ink’s viscosity on absorbent substrates, or maybe the nib's tines need a little more tempering? Any tips (like a quick dip in a diluted gum Arabic rinse or a slight rub‑out with a hard pencil) would be amazing. I'm kinda stuck and would love some community insight.

Thanks in advance!