I've been enamored with Rubato Pens for a while now and finally took the plunge on commissioning a pen a few weeks ago. And now it is here!

Rubato is operated by one woman, Emi, who makes fountain pens, nib holders, and other trinkets. Her pens are made of resin with decorative inclusions that give them a distinctive look (plants, glitter, charms). They're beautiful little art pieces in of themselves, but I was primarily drawn to their functionality. They take dip nibs!

The concept of fountain pens with dip nibs is niche but not unheard of. Most of these models or hacks use Zebra G nibs, but Rubato pens will take most nibs if you're willing to do some tinkering. They also feature 3D-printed plastic ink reservoirs that sit on top of the nib. Excess ink pools in the reservoir, which helps regulate the ink flow to the nib and prevent common problems like railroading (not enough ink) or blobbing (too much ink). It's a super cool feature that removes a lot of the frustration that can come from using dip nibs.

Rubato offers "semi-custom" pen commissions, meaning she assembles the pen from parts she already has made. I asked for a clear demonstrator with plant inclusions and what she calls a "crown top" cap. The crown top makes the cap look like a little fairy bottle with a lid when you tie a cord around it, which is nonnegotiable. I also told her I wanted green resin for the grip section. I threw together this reference image to send her:

She gave me three finished pen options, but this one narrowly won out after I mulled it over for a few days and asked Curi for help picking. It was the right move! It's hard to capture the depth of these pens in photos. The resin has very fine gold glitter mixed into it, and there are copper flakes suspended in the cap. It adds visual interest without cluttering the resin. Also, the pen really does look like a glass vial with the cap on.

Predictably, I had a lot of questions about the technical aspects of the pen. What nibs does it take? How do I swap them out? Is it easy to swap them out? How does the reservoir work? How does it attach to the nib? HOW??? She answered all of my questions in great detail and promised to throw in some extra parts before I'd even paid for anything. She recently made a new webpage including some of the information that she gave me in our email exchanges.

The reference to "extra parts" ended up being an understatement. Everything came packed in a very nice zipper case, along with some straws (to hold the entire feeder assembly together), O-rings, a bunch of extra reservoir pieces, an extra feed, standard international ink cartridges, a syringe, two different cords for the cap, and blue tack (to help fit smaller nibs into the section).

When I was peppering Emi with questions, I had mentioned that my favorite dip nibs are the Hunt 101 and Brause Blue Pumpkin. She said she would give me an extra section for the 101 because it's sized differently than a G nib. She also told me how to mod the section to take a Blue Pumpkin, so I was prepared to do some expermenting on that end... but she surprised me with a pre-fitted Blue Pumpkin section too!

I was advised to dip the pen to prime the feed before filling it, so I dipped all the nibs to see how they'd work with the feed and reservoir. The ink goes significantly farther with the feeds; the most drastic example is the Hunt 101, which is a firehose of a nib that usually has to be dipped every letter.

Side note: I've managed to go this long without trying a G nib! It was pretty stiff initially, but it writes really nicely once you break it in. It's not going to turn into my go-to nib because the super fine lines don't work well for fast and loose sketches, but I understand why so many artists love them.

I probably should have warmed the feed up for longer, but I was anxious to see how the pen would perform with ink in it. These pens can be eyedropper filled or fitted with a standard international short cartridge. I used the cartridge of Pilot Iroshikuzu Yama-budo that came in the package. Dip nibs go through a lot of ink (I used almost half of the cartridge just doing these drawings), so it would be a good idea to eyedropper fill it for longer trips out.

Dip nibs aren't comparable to fountain pen nibs, even the flexible ones. Flex fountain pen nibs can be used for normal writing and aren't as particular about writing angle. They don't produce nearly as much line variation, and that's fine; the main benefits for me are the springy feeling and subtle character that the nib adds to writing or drawing. Dip pen nibs offer significantly more contrast for calligraphy and detailed inking, but they're harder to use. The more flexible a dip nib is, the worse it feels when you try to write with it normally.

Dip nibs also aren't designed to be saturated with ink for a long time, so you can't use any random ink with it unless you plan on cleaning it out between uses. Acidic ink might corrode the metal. Emi told me that Pilot Iroshikuzu inks seem to be safe for dip nibs even after a few months of inking, so I've ordered a bottle for when this cartridge runs out.

If you like the design of Rubato pens but want a low-maintenance option for everyday writing, she sells pens with Schmidt or JoWo nib units instead. You can also order a G nib unit to go with the same pen if you want to have both options for the same body.

I'll freely admit that I haven't used dip pens a whole lot in the past few years. Dip pens are fun, but they're a lot of work to use! Also, I've been doing most of my drawing away from my desk lately, so I've transferred my focus to fountain pens and other portable media. This pen gives me a way to dust off some of my dip pen nibs and have fun with them again.