PDA

View Full Version : Successive swabs in reviews



fncll
August 26th, 2013, 09:05 PM
I see many reviews with swabs that are partially overlapped a few times. Should the second and third swabs be applied after each previous swab has dried? Or should they be done all at once?

AndyT
August 27th, 2013, 04:28 AM
I've often wondered about this. Stephen does three passes with a big Pilot Parallel in his Inkcyclopedia entries, letting them dry in between - presumably the idea is to show the colour variation between a dry pen and a wet one, but it doesn't replicate any real life situation. If there's shading to be had, the broad nib writing sample shows it off nicely anyway. What's very interesting is his "Tardif Test" where he dips a knife in the ink and spreads it out on the paper: that generally displays a really wide range of tones. As the name suggests, that's part of the ink testing process at Noodler, apparently.

fncll
August 27th, 2013, 09:20 AM
I can see why---three successive passes while still wet generally looks like a mess without a lot of useful information; waiting until dry provides info for a situation I never encounter. I do like the knife test. The splatter/drop also seems to reveal a lot of information. I may have to expand my routine format for that...or go with a larger page.