USA Projects

THE GIANT PEN IS FUNDED!
Yes, to my unutterable astonishment and gratification the mechanism is now in place to build what will surely be the world's first six-foot-long replica of a steel dip pen. A lot of people I never met ponied up for this. And a lot of people I do know did likewise, some at considerable sacrifice.
Well, I'm stunned. The pen will go into production as soon as possible. I thank all of you who contributed from the very depths of my being and look forward to the day when the Giant Pen will live among us. God bless America!

Things will be up and running soon, and you will be kept apprised of all the development.

Here is a diagram from my sketchbook with a few theoretical details.

Will the Giant Pen work? YES! And here's how. The nib itself will be a replica of a dip pen; there will be a brass reservoir that will clip onto the underside. The reservoir will be a receptacle, filled with an eyedropper through the hole in the top of the nib, and contain a nested stack of curved plates to hold and slow the flow of the ink, which will be carried in a narrowing, flattening 'v' channel to the underside of the tines. The ink will be concentrated acrylic ink, partially dehydrated for an extra syrupy viscosity.

The pen will have to be kept level until the stroke is ready to be applied. Before the stroke starts the dome-shaped feet at the ends of the tines will be primed with a brush. The pen will be tilted until the ink flows onto the paper, and then the flow will be controlled by tilting the pen to let more or less ink flow into the line, as determined by the nature of the line desired.

There have been some outright naysayers claiming that the Giant Pen will not function because the fluid dynamics which make a normal-sized pen functional cannot be harnessed for something this big. Well, you just wait and see. Without resorting to the computer, or the many helpful suggestions from engineers and physicists, without resorting in fact to anything but my understanding of the mystic union of ink and metal and paper the problem is worked out. The pen will be tricky and temperamental, and perhaps prone to gush, but it will work, and wonders will flow from its tines.