The World of Special Nibs, Told by a Glass Pen Enthusiast with a Collection of 280.

I have collected 280 glass pens, nearly ruining my finances in the process.

If I were to confess this to someone, they might say, “You must have some unusual glass pens, too, right?” perhaps.

While I certainly do own some precious one-of-a-kind pieces, if someone were to ask me that, I would immediately point to my various “special nibs.”

Overview and Rise of Special Nibs

The special nibs I refer to are “nibs that can write lines impossible to achieve with standard glass pens.”

Special nibs are packed with the author's ideas and techniques, which are distinct from the beauty of the barrel itself. For me, as someone who continues to collect them to understand the performance of glass pens, this is an element I cannot ignore, and it is also a rabbit hole from which you cannot escape once you fall in.

The Pioneer of Special Nibs: “with me!”

Tessa Kobo's “with me!” is a pendant-style glass pen that appeared at the end of 2019. The first lot was released at the “Space Swimming Christmas Party” event held at Okamotoya in Toranomon.

“with me!” was developed as a “glass pen you can carry around,” and to prevent damage while being worn, the very tip of the nib is rounded off to the absolute limit of what is still capable of writing. Because of this, this glass pen does not have a protruding tip, and it was possible to change the line width by altering the writing angle.

In the case of a standard glass pen, excess ink sits on the tip, causing the starting line to be thick, and as that excess ink decreases, the line thins—a change in line width unintended by the writer. In contrast, “with me!” was revolutionary because it allowed the writer to intentionally control the line width to be either thick or thin.

This nib evolved from its original mountain shape to the onion-shaped “Pocho Nib,” and in the spring of 2020, it was incorporated into standard glass pens due to customer requests for “a standard glass pen with the ‘with me!’ nib.”

Since the popularity of glass pens began to explode right around this time, “with me!,” which existed before that, can truly be called the pioneer of special nibs.

The Turning Point for Special Nibs: “Ribbon Nib”

A studio that cannot be left out when talking about special nibs is Glass Studio TooS. The “Ribbon Nib” sold at the Ginza Tsutaya Bookstore in August 2020 had a shape that overturned the common sense of glass pens up to that point.

　Starting with the popular calligrapher bechori in the ink enthusiast community acquiring one shortly after its release and sharing a video of him writing beautiful Blackletter Gothic script with it, the "Ribbon Nib" spread among glass pen-loving calligraphers in the blink of an eye.

　Since then, Glass Studio TooS has continued to release new special nibs one after another, such as the "Twin Ribbon," which can draw two wide lines at once, and the "Bullet Nib," which produces rounded, extra-bold characters. It is no exaggeration to say that this studio is leading the world of special nibs.

Lineage of Special Nibs

Two Major Elements of Special Nibs

　To understand the characteristics of special nibs, two particularly important elements are "line width thickness" and "presence or absence of line width variation."

　If we classify special nibs using a matrix diagram based on these two axes, it looks like the following.

　I named the lineage for each of ① through ④ primarily by referencing calligraphy scripts. Below are characters written with the special nibs belonging to each category.

　Now, let's take a look at the characteristics of the nibs in each lineage.

① Monoline Lineage

　Simply put, the monoline lineage consists of "nibs with an extra-bold line width that goes beyond bold."

　Generally, the more you grind the very tip of a glass pen, the wider the line width becomes. However, if you grind it too much and the tip becomes flat, the edges will touch the paper when writing, resulting in an unpleasant, scratchy feel. There is also the risk that the ink retention capacity and holding power will simply decrease.

　In other words, an extra-bold nib is a product that tests the maker's technical skill, as it requires increasing the line width without creating edges at the very tip while still maintaining a reasonable amount of ink retention.

　To solve these problems, the tips of extra-bold glass pens are often rounded. As a result, the rounded lines have become close to the lines drawn with ornament nibs for monoline lettering.

Monoline glass pens are suitable for writing large characters with a uniform line width.

2. Blackletter style

Blackletter style is a wide nib suitable for writing characters like Blackletter Gothic script script style.

The tip of the nib is plate-shaped, with grooves arranged in parallel on top of it. Because all of these grooves make contact with the paper at the same time, you can draw a wide line.

Since the width of the nib tip becomes the line width itself, you need to choose based on 'what size characters you want to write' when purchasing. Also, the scripts that this type of nib excels at are difficult in themselves, so honestly, it is hard to master.

However, it is also a nib that can be applied to various things besides calligraphy by taking advantage of its 'wide line' feature. For example, I made stationery for pen pal letters.

3. Brush-style

Brush-style is a nib that allows you to change the line width by altering the writing angle or rotation angle of the nib while writing.

At a writing angle close to vertical, the area where the nib contacts the paper is small, resulting in a thin line width, but if you lower the writing angle, the area increases, resulting in a thicker line width.

Also, there are types that change the line width by the rotation angle of the pen rather than the writing angle, and how the line variation is achieved differs for each artist. It is the most diverse nib among the special nib classifications.

Even a clumsy person like me can write characters with a certain amount of character, but if you are a master, you can write such magnificent 'brush characters' that people would believe you wrote them with a small brush.

Also, most of this type can be used as a standard broad-nibbed glass pen under specific conditions, which is a great feature. You could say they are versatile glass pens that allow for both daily use and creative work depending on your mood.

4. Copperplate Style

The Copperplate style is, like the brush-lettering style, a type of special nib that creates line variation by changing the angle of the pen tip.

While the line width of the brush-lettering style is medium or broad to extra-broad, the Copperplate style is characterized by an extreme difference in line width, ranging from fine to extra-broad. As far as I am aware, the only glass pen belonging to this category is the "HASE Nib" from HASE Glass Studio.

Considering the claw-like nib shape designed to achieve both fine and extra-broad lines, I believe it is highly unlikely that new special nibs will be added to this category in the future (there are similar examples in metal nibs).

Matrix chart of special nibs

I have placed the special nibs I own onto the matrix chart mentioned earlier. Since glass pens have individual differences, please consider the positions within the ellipses as a reference only.

The ultimate special nib chosen by a glass pen enthusiast

Some of you who have read this far might be thinking, "So, which is the most amazing glass pen?".

I can answer that question immediately, provided I add the caveat: "within the range of what I own."

—The answer is here, the "Triple Wiper"!

The "Triple Wiper" Glass Pen: For "Painting," Not "Writing"

　Even if shown only the photo above, hardly anyone would be able to guess that this is a glass pen.

　This "Triple Wiper" is a glass pen that connects three "wiper nibs"—a type of special nib—side by side.Naturally,you cannot dip the nib into an ink bottle,so its usage is completely different from a standard glass pen.

　The "wiper nib" does not belong to any of the four categories of special nibs I explained earlier.It shares the characteristic of "being able to draw wide, uniform lines" with blackletter-style nibs, butthe point where it "spreads the ink that falls from the grooves by painting it with the flattened bottom of the nib"is a structure unique to this nib. Furthermore, the nib is attached perpendicular to the pen shaft, andaccording to the creator, Kinokodama, it is "shaped like a vacuum cleaner."

　While it is somewhat possible to write characters with a single "wiper nib,"writing with the "Triple Wiper" is no longer practical.So, is the "Triple Wiper" nothing more than a decorative object? No, no, that is not the case at all.

　There is a technique called“menbiki” (surface drawing)in the ink watercolor method popularized by fountain pen artistHiroshi Sato.This involves placing plenty of ink on the paper surface and spreading it out with a silicone spatula or similar tool to cover a wide area. Spreading ink is quite difficult, butyou can perform menbiki relatively easily by using the "Triple Wiper."

　Thanks to this, the "Triple Wiper" gets the most use among the special nibs I own.It is a truly interesting glass pen that combines visual impact with practicality.

Conclusion: Why are glass pens with special nibs popular?

　Most glass pens with special nibs cannot write "normal characters." Also, because they are highly artistic, the channels for obtaining them are limited, such as at stationery events or through mail orders conducted by the artists themselves.

　Even so, why do so many glass pen users aspire to own glass pens with special nibs?

　I believe it is becausemany creators (calligraphers) were already active during the fountain pen ink boom (the "ink swamp")even before the glass pen boom that expanded from the spring of 2020.

　At the time of the ink swamp, creators who used fountain pen ink to present beautiful pictures and characters were already objects of admiration.Bechori, whom I mentioned in the section on "ribbon nibs," is one of them, and the "Pochomaro Font" written by Madame Tessa, the wife of Takuji Nakane of Tesa Kobo, is also popular.

　Many glass pen users see beautiful works and feel,“I want to write characters like that too,”and workshops held by popular creators at stationery events and the like are always very successful.

　I have beenconducting interviews with glass pen artists since 2026 to research the recent glass pen boom.It has only just begun, but I strongly feel thatby listening to stories not only from the "boom as seen by artists" but also from the "boom as seen by creators," I will be able to understand the boom more deeply.

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