I love finally having a glass dip pen that I’m not afraid of breaking!

The Wearingeul modular glass pen is perfect to throw in your pencil-case for café journalling sessions and ink swaps.

It has a hollow wooden body with metal threads that allow you to screw in a glass nib. A brass cap keeps the nib safe, but you can also purchase an additional set of 3 spare nibs in case you chip or break one. The pen also comes with a small square of fine-grit sandpaper in case you want to smoothe the tip of the glass nib.

I’ve seen glass pens with resin bodies and caps, but this wood and brass combination really hits the spot for me in terms of looks and tactile warmth. It reminds me a bit of the Taylor Swift fountain pen I reviewed a while back, though this dip pen is a lot larger.

Some observations:

1. I’d love it if Wearingeul also offered:
   1. a muddler attachment for swatching,
   2. a nib holder attachment to use with calligraphy nibs,
   3. and a brush attachment for painting.
      In my opinion these additions would make this pen the ultimate swatching tool!
2. The brass threads on the pen body are quite sharp, so they may be uncomfortable if you hold the pen lower down.
3. The nibs aren’t ground to particular line widths, but they all wrote very well.

Using Glass Dip Pens

I often find it difficult to get a uniform page of writing with glass pens. They need to be dipped frequently, which is particularly tricky if you’re working with shimmer inks that settle.

Then the nib tends to deposit a lot of ink on the first few words, resulting in feathering and bleed-through.

Also, the line width trails off as you write…

Nevertheless, different inks behave differently, and it’s fun to experiment.

Glass pens are perfect for:

• short writing,
• swatching inks,
• changing ink colours frequently,
• practicing different fonts,
• trying out inks before you ink up a fountain pen.

N.B. I thought a glass pen would be a good option for inks that aren’t suitable for fountain pens, but I couldn’t get it to write with Ferris Wheel Press calligraphy inks, and the flutes were very difficult to clean afterwards. Watercolour and gouache are just fine, but acrylic-based inks are probably best avoided, unless you know something I don’t!