GILLOTT 404 NIB::GOOD FOR BEGINNERS?

The nib is spelled Gillott with two 't's' but Gillot was a French painter so maybe I wanted to write Claude Gillot's surname with a Gilott nib for this sample, we will never know...I bought this nib (the Gillott 404) because it was recommended as a good nib for beginners. This is where I suck in my breath and tsk, tsk.  It's a nice nib and you could technically make much thinner hairlines, but this nib is a bit tricky.  I found this could get messy really fast, on the upside if you wanted to make a splotchy lettered piece then this could be a good choice.  I had a hard time with skipping and running out of ink fairly quickly, so I would have to dip a lot (thus more margin for splotchy errors).  As you can see above, I had a very heavy hand and created something a lot chunkier than I would have liked. One of the tips I learned that you don't find in a lot of books is to take a match to your new nib tip, this burns off the lacquer that is put on at the factory to prevent the nib from rusting.  If you don't burn or clean the nib (some suggest using a toothbrush), than the ink doesn't stay in the well (this little well thing is pretty close to magic btw). Another tip that I have been using is cleaning my nibs with unscented baby wipes. It's SO easy, this is how I clean my rubberstamps as well, no mess and I don't have to run downstairs to wash them and then  lose them in our sink drain!  If you want to see a couple of my current favorite nibs visit this post.