Sunday
Aug162009
Rapidograph & India Ink
Sun, August 16, 2009 at 09:20PM 
2.5 x 3.5" artist trading card, white india ink on watercolor, watercolor paper
I stumbled on my long forgotten Rapidograph set, circa 1980's. Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph technical pens are produced in the Czech Republic. Each pen has an ink barrel which you can fill with india ink or fountain pen ink. The set has a variety of nib sizes. I tried out the .5 nib with a new bottle of Doc Martin's Bombay White india ink. The mandala was drawn on an artist trading card made from cutting up an abstract watercolor painting (see How to Make ATCs from Abstract Art). Couldn't wait to see what would happen... drew this at the kitchen counter while dinner was cooking!
More fun...
- Check out Flickr artist biffybeans' unique mandalas and pop over to her blog, The Spiritual Evolotion of the Bean, for thoughtful reviews of art & journal paper, pens, ink & more.
- Doodling Helps You Pay Attention from Time magazine.
- Check out Part 2: Doodling with Bombay White india ink and Part 3: Using India Ink as a Resist.
Reader Comments (11)
I found two sets of Rapidograph pens at the second hand store recently! Love your card. Now I can't wait to try them out!
i just love visiting your site...always inspires me!
That is great. I haven't used rapidiograph pens since High School. And I really need to get some of that white ink.
Still remember buying it just out of college, it was expensive! Sooooo glad I found it!
so you used the ink on top of the watercolor? I wonder if the ink could be used as a resist....
Beth, What a brilliant find! Lucky girl! Looking forward to seeing how well they work out of the box.
Biffybeans, I think the ink could be used as a resist with watercolor, I might try that next. If you try, let me know what happens!
~ Tammy
OMG! I just found my rapidograph pens too! I studied interior design in college and now of course it's all computerized. I was going to sell them but now I think I will use them. Never thought to use anything but black ink...this is great! They will have new life now. Thanks for sharing!!!
-Tamra
Tammy! You knew that this would be enough to send me to the local Dick Blick store for the ink and to peek at the Rapidograph pens. Well, the $27 cost of the pens drove me home to search through the rubble to find the ones that I bought on sale about 4 years ago. Bingo...ink and pens are now in the house. Thanks for the info!
Tamra,
I just bought two more india inks... magenta and indigo blue. So vibrant! I'll share when I do some art with them!
Karyl, So cool that you found the old set; it's thrilling to hear that everyone is intrigued with their rapidograph sets.
It's really a different experience using a technical pen, though I still love pitt pens & microns. Just got an extra superfine black pitt pen, an amazingly thin line. Wow.
~ Tammy
Thanks for stopping by and commenting at my blog too! My first day went great today, thankfully, so I'm looking forward to the rest of the week :)
I am expecting india inks anyday in the mail and hv two glass pens at home.. gonna give it a try sooN!