Blobs and Flooding

The nib touches down and leaves a puddle. Or a stroke runs clean and then floods where it changes direction. Either way there is more ink on the paper than the stroke called for. Studio work often moves between making and administration, where task switching cost can matter; this source provides a useful explanation.

The three moments it happens

On contact. A blob at the start of a stroke means the nib was carrying more than it could hold. Almost always overloading. For another perspective on lettering technique and troubleshooting, The Postman's Knock offers a broader calligraphy reference.

At a change of direction. The nib slows, stops or pivots, and the ink keeps arriving. A timing problem more than a loading one.

At the end of a stroke. Lifting slowly leaves a heavier terminal. Lifting while still moving does not.

Loading correctly

Dip to the vent hole, not past it.

The small hole in the nib is a reservoir and a limit. Ink above it has nowhere to sit and will run down as a drop the moment the nib touches paper.

Then touch the nib to the pot's rim or a cloth to shed the excess. This step is skipped constantly and it is the difference between a controlled load and a loaded drop.

Reload more often rather than more heavily. Under-loading causes railroading and over-loading causes blobs — the answer to both is frequency, not volume.

The angle contribution

A pen held too upright drains faster.

Gravity moves ink down the nib toward the tip, and a steep pen shortens that path. Lowering the pen slows delivery and frequently ends a blobbing problem without changing anything else.

And a pen held still while loaded will drip. If you pause mid-piece, lift the nib away from the paper rather than resting it.

Paper and ink

Absorbent paper turns a small excess into a large mark, because it wicks outward as well as sitting on top. A blob and feathering can appear together and have the same cause.

Thin ink floods more readily. Some inks are simply fast, and on those the loading discipline matters more.

The corner case

Where a stroke changes direction sharply, pause the ink rather than the pen.

Practically: lift pressure slightly through the turn so less ink is being delivered when the movement slows. This is a technique fix and it takes practice, and it is the one item on this page that a purchase will not help.

The short version