Vangoal Dip Pens – Not Bad, As Long As You Only Need A Pen Holder

I recently needed to get a new dip pen holder for teaching a calligraphy session for the Latinx KidLit Auction and didn’t like the usual holders of metal dip pen nibs that brands like Speedball would create. I’ve seen them for so long that I just wanted something different (and because my original nib holder is currently non-existent).

I always wanted a modified quill. A nice, feather dip pen. Very quaint, much classic, very wow.

Regular ink stationary stores don’t have these kind so I had to slink off to Evil Corp, also known as Amazon.

When it comes to getting quill metal dip pens, it’s mainly what looks that matter to me. As long as it has a feather sticking out it and has the little holder piece at the bottom to hold a standard dip metal nib, all is fine by me. It should not be omega expensive, it’s just a feather with some metal bits, after all. And it’s not a smartphone, it’s an old style pen.

Since the pens holders are basically one and the same, just with different brand names slapped on it all across Amazon, I mainly looked for price and looks. The one I picked was Vangoal’s blue feather pen, with gold splatters on it and a bronze nib holder.

Mind you, Vangoal is not a real brand, not in the same way that TWSBI or Ferris Wheel Press are actual brands. Vangoal depicts themselves as one but they’re a reseller. They literally used AI pictures (complete with wonky fingers) in a section where they said the quill pen holders are handcrafted by artisan makers. They’re not. The quality is decent-ish (it does the job but you won’t be confusing them for Narwhal any time soon). Pretty standard Amazon seller, complete with wonky English. If you pay more than $15 for this, you’re being had.

All I need is the pen holder itself, not the nibs or the ink it comes with and I tried hard to find one with just the holder itself in the same color & design and couldn’t.

The nibs, I could already tell at a glance sucked. They’re stamped from a metal that looks perhaps a couple grades above aluminum foil that are total copies of actual standard nibs. They didn’t look of good quality, which is like Black lives – it matters and big time. The nib is the most important part since that’s what does the writing. The holder is just that, something to hold the nib in the hand. I could literally 3d print a random holder, can’t 3D print a nib.

Cheap doesn’t always mean “bad quality” but this time, it definitely does. When someone is learning calligraphy or how to use dip pens, they don’t know when it’s them or the pen when problems occur or what proper writing with a dip pen is supposed to feel like. When I got the nibs, I was double right. Flimsy, doesn’t hold ink very well and sometimes picks at the page on certain strokes, thus not a very smooth writing experience. And they’re very visibly a knock off.

See the difference? And I have another one, with the pointer finger nib.

Note the authentic one looks like a pointer finger. The other looks like two fingers, if not a near middle finger. It’s poorly stamped, in other words.

The authentic nibs are just easier to use and simply better quality. And they’re not pricy, the average nib price is $1.80, if not lower

The ink the set came with doesn’t have a name, it’s just “Calligraphy Ink”. The bottle seems pretty decent, it has a stopper built into the cap. The ink isn’t the worst I’ve ever met but it isn’t the greatest, either. Finicky with paper, feathers on some, not on others. If the paper has any decent absorbency on it, the ink feathers a lot, especially if the line is more than super thin (calligraphy regularly features wide lines, from Copperplate to Blackletter). It’s a techy ink, in other words. Not at all waterproof, your words will run if water touches it. But the ink dries half fast though, which is ok. But the ink isn’t really good for beginners because of how it’s hit-or-miss with paper. It also likes to bleed through paper on wide lines.

The average new dip pen writer is using regular printer paper or notebook paper so I recommend Speedball’s India Calligraphy ink because of how well it handles on various papers. It was my first ink when I was learning calligraphy, I don’t remember it being a pain on notebook paper and it gave a nice steady line. I could buy it as a teenager so it wasn’t a pricy ink, about $6, and, remember, these inks last for years. Unless you’re transcribing the entire Lord of the Rings series, including the extra books, this bottle is not going to run down any time soon. One bottle is going to last you years.

Here are (terribly taken) pictures of Vangoal’s ink. I have a light shining on it because, well, it’s black ink and I took the pic in the morning. I use Southworth’s resume paper in my handmade ink journal and I also have Ferris Wheel Press’s ink swatch journal which is a heavy grade, stiff paper.

The smear test on the second time shows it will take a moment to dry and the laid line on the third line (used via a tweezer) shows how bad the feathering situation can be with any line that is wider than thin and if someone writes with pen that allows a lot of ink to run through (also known as a “wet” pen. “Dry” pens are really restrictive about ink coming out and thus put out thinner lines). None of my inks have ever done that and I have over ten bottles that spans various brands.

The ink behaves better on Ferris Wheel Press’ cardstock heavy paper but it still can be finicky on cardstock heavy papers. Hit or miss, like I said.

All I needed the set for was the pen holder, which works pretty perfectly for me – someone who already knows how to do calligraphy. I just need it to look nice and hold a nib at the same time. For a newbie, the handle might be a little on the heavy side and it’s designed for looks, not ergonomics so if you can handle it, go for it (but don’t pay more than $15 for it).

Oh! and the set comes with a pen stand that makes the pen stand upright. It sucks. The pen holder is at a tilt when there is no nib in it because of the arrow designs on the lower barrel where the nib goes. When the nib holder has a nib in it, the pen still tilts and all the weight is on the point of the nib, which will eventually ruin it. The pen should be laid flat or if there is an upright pen holder, it needs to hold it up by the holder, not the nib.

Overall, the set is fine-ish for the price paid for it but you still would have to buy better nibs – only buy from ink stationary stores like JetPens and Anderson pens so you know it is legit and not the fake-stamped ones, by the way – and you would eventually have to get a bottle of ink that works on different papers. The pen holder does the plain job of holding a nib and looking nice in the process so it’s an ok holder but that’s basically it. Speedball nib holders are about 3 times cheaper (about $3 a pop) but I wanted something visually fancier.