Newcastle Art, Drawing Classes and Lessons with Vivienne Nelson

Here is an excellent guide to making a Bamboo Pen for drawing.
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The article notes that humans have been making such pen’s for over 2000 BC. They used Carbon Black and ground it down then mixed it with water. Interestingly even the ink today differs not much from the original ink used over 4ooo years ago, the best part about this ink is that is unaffected by light and moisture.

All you need to make a Bamboo Pen is a small saw, some sand paper, a knife and some bamboo.

If you would rather purchase a Bamboo pen then have a look at the following site where you can purchase one from:
www.cheapjoes.com

If you want to get really fancy you can actually buy an electronic version, this of course will not get the natural effect of traditional Bamboo Pen and Ink but could be more useful in other ways.

Have a look at this link here from Amazon:
www.amazon.com

When doing pen and ink drawing I prefer to use bamboo pens because the quality of the line you get with them can be so variable, from thick and dark to trailing away to almost nothing. I noted the spontaneity that Rembrandt and van Gogh achieved when they used reed pens.

I make my own bamboo pens by taking a stick of green bamboo and cutting the end into the shape of a ‘nib’.

Interesting shaped bush – April 2008