WILLIAM MITCHELL ROUNDHAND/ITALIC NIB RESERVOIRS

First off see the above picture of a W/M nib with reservoir fitted.

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The position in the picture, is in the normal position for a regular ink. However, to promote ink flow one could move it a shade closer to the tip, or to retard the flow, on could move it further away, say up to 2mm back from the edge. This yields only slight adjustment in the case of thicker inks like gouache, (move reservoir closer), or a watery ink like fountain pen Quink, then moving the reservoir away may help to slow the ink flow a little.

Loading of the reservoir with ink is a thing that can be done in a number of ways, depending on the tools you have available.

1. Simply dipping into the bottle causes the extra drip on the end of the nib, and resulting heavy lines, like those you spoke of in your email. So, before starting to write you can wipe off the excess ink drip on the end of the nib, on the bottles edge and using a scrap sheet of paper on the side, do a stroke or 2x to get the nib into approxomate working flow. Then start the work on your work page.

2. Another method is to buy use the mediteranean sea sponge technique. This involves sinking the sponge into a jar of ink, with the level of ink 5 to 10mm below the top of the sponge. When pushing the nib/reservoir into the sponge, go further down into the ink to submerge the reservoir area. Then on removing the nib from the bottle allow the sponge to take away by soaking, the excess ink drip on the end of the nib. This prepares it ready for use.

3. Another method is similar, by taking a low pallette, like a butter dish, pour some ink in, then cutting a sponge like a dish washing sponge, into a square a couple of inches in size, sink this into the dish and allow the level of ink to be just below the top of the sponge. The same method of use is done as with the sea sponge above, by dipping into the sponge & pushing further into the ink to fill the reservoir, etc.

4. This method is different again. Use a round pointed nylon watercolour painting brush, say about size 2 or as big as size 4, dip this into the ink to load it well with ink. On the picture you will have seen the 2x arrows pointing at the gulley area each side of the reservoir. Holding the nib in its handle, in a similar angle to the picture (thats upside down) this allows access to both side gulleys. Then use the brush to scrape ink either side, into the reservoir sink. Successful swiping/scraping will transfer quite a lot of ink into the reservoir, without creating a drip on the end of the nib. This means you can start work right away, with good strokes and no particular extra flow problem.

# These are the accumulated methods over many years, as used by teachers locally. You can try each, and find which one suits you best.