French matting/ruling pen help needed

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Twin2

Twin2

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Feb 22, 2006
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Bedford, Nova Scotia
With all the latest threads on French matting, it got me inspired to dig out the ruling pen (an Alvin #996) that I bought last fall and try it out. I practiced for a few hours yesterday and started again this morning, mostly just drawing lines for now. I'm running into a couple of problems and was wondering if anyone could give me some advice...
  • I'm using a round brush to load the ruling pen, but sometimes I seem to get more paint on the outside of the pen than between the blades, and then I have to wipe it off before drawing the line. Any hints on loading the pen easily and cleanly?
  • I have lots of bottles of various colours of acrylic craft paints, which I thought I'd use for practicing. I'm thinning the paint down with water, but I'm not sure of the right consistency. Too much water seems to make the paint just drip out of the end of the pen and blob, and with too little water, the paint does run out of the end at all. Weird thing though, I practiced with watercolour paints as well (which were quite thin and runny) and they loaded in the ruling pen really well and flowed quite well too. I was making some nice, even lines with the watercolour paint. Are my problems due to me using acrylic craft paint, rather than acrylic gouache or acrylic ink? I think I rather use an acrylic based paint/ink rather than the watercolour for making the lines as I find it easier to fill in the wash panel after drawing the lines rather than before.
Any helpful advice would be appreciated. I re-read the threads on French matting/ruling pens here on the Grumble and read instructions in a couple books I have as well, but didn't seem to find answers to my problems.
 
The acrylic craft paint is a cheaper quality of paint than the artist's quality and does not have as finely ground pure pigments. With acrylics the pigments are suspended in an acrylic emulsion. A little thinning with water is OK, but the consistency needed to flow easily with a ruling pen requires a much thinner consistency than the creamy consistency acrylic craft paints generally come in.

When thinning acrylics it is best to thin with a 50% acrylic emulsion and 50% water. Acrylic emulsion can be purchased at any art or craft store and is generally labeled acrylic matte or gloss medium. If you thin with just water the pigment will tend to not stay in suspension and will separate.

As far as loading the ruling pen, you might have more luck with a dropper stopper. That's the glass tube with a rubber bladder you find in many ink bottles. You can often buy these at an art store or possibly a pharmacy.

Hope this helps.
 
I have not used the acrylic paint yet, only inks. You can buy them in a variety of colors - including metals. They work great right out of the jar.

I have been just dipping my pen in, letting the excess drop back into the jar, and then wiping the underside on a bit of paper towel. This seems to work great - simple and fast. Remember that whenever you reload, do a bit as test on a scrap board before you go back into your project board.
 
If using watercolor you can improve the flow rate by adding a small amount of ox gall liquid. It makes water "wetter" and is available at better art supply stores. Be aware that it is one of the foulest smelling substances you'll encounter but works like a charm.

:D
 
Thanks for the great information, guys. I'll ditch using the acrylic craft paint and purchase some good stuff. Just thought I could practise with what I already had (i.e. 'cheap' acrylic paint), but I don't need the aggrevation and frustration :D. I should have known better as it was stressed when I took my watercolour class, that using good artist quality watercolours would produce a much better result.

Good suggestion regarding the dropper stopper, Dave - in fact using an eye dropper did cross my mind yesterday. I think once I use the better quality acrylic paint (or ink), I'll have better results with loading. Like I said, when I used the watercolour, it loaded fine and made a nice even line.

Are acrylic inks available at any art store?

Verdaccio, I am testing the pen out on a scrap piece of mat after each re-load before drawing the lines. Thanks for the reminder, though. I think my problems were just due to using the wrong type of acrylic paint.

In the meantime, I'll just practice with my watercolours and see how I make out with them.

Thanks!
 
Bogframe said:
I use watercolur from the tube mixed 1:5 with water and it seems to work just fine for me. I load my pen with a flat 3/8" badger hair brush. I Hope that helped.
Click to expand...

Seth, how do you measure a 1:5 ratio exactly? Do you use a measuring utensil (like a measuring spoon), or just eyeball the amounts?
 
Some random musings

Karen,

I have loaded up my ruling pen with all kinds of paints- even some earl gray tea once.

I do indeed use cheap acrylic paints as well. Sometimes if the paint just wants to fall out of the pen, I load it up on the light side. In general I refill it every time I lift the pen off the mat. There seems to be an optimum amount that the pen can hold and there's no sense in overloading it. If you do get a bloop of ink on the mat, let it dry before you scrap it. Sometimes with a sharp blade you can scrape it right off with little or no trace.

I refill it with a decent round or flat watercolor brush from several that I keep hidden for use only on these mats. God help the employee who uses these brushes to paint spacers! But it's no special brush otherwise. I get paint on the outside of the pen when loading it and give it a swipe on a paper towel and usually a scrap mat before I rule on the mat.

I have never found the consistency of the paint to be an issue, rather the amount loaded into the pen. I would play around with that, Karen.

I do like the soft transparency of watercolors the best, though, on pale mats. Keep in mind you can add a drop of acrylic matte medium to the watercolor to make it permanent.

Play with the angle of the pen as you rule as well. Some swear by straight up and down, others an angle. I think I do both.

I use ox gall on my washed panels-- oooh makes it smooth as silk. I pour a little in the cap and just dip the tip of the brush in before brushing the wash on.

edie the morelater goddess
 
Thanks, Edie for all your information as well!

I think sometimes I'm a bit too impatient and expect to get good results immediately when I try something new :D. I guess I just can't be perfect all the time :shrug: (hee hee). I'll continue practicing and I'm sure I'll eventually get the hang of it.
 
Probably the easiest way to measure small amounts of liquids is with the dropper stopper. One drop to 5 drops.

It's also the best way to add one drop of vermouth to a dry martini ...:p

Winsor & Newton make some great acrylic inks with dropper stoppers in each bottle! They also make one of the best gold and silver inks on the market. When using metallics be sure to stir them often as the pigments fall out of solution very easily.

Another side note ...if using pure red Kolinsky sable brushes for your watercolor panels be aware that acrylics and india ink are very hard on the brushes. Save your best brushes for pure watercolor pigments and pick up some quality synthetic sable brushes for ink and acrylic use. Also, when storing your pure sable brushes it's a good idea to add some moth crystals to the drawer or wherever you store them. Moths love good sable hair. W/N packs moth crystals with their pure sable brushes when they ship them to retail stores.

Never let any brush sit in a cup of water after cleaning. The wood handles will swell up and the ferrule will be shot. Always make sure the brush is dry before putting into storage. Stand on handle end in a cup to let them dry after cupping the hairs.
 
Don't know if it's my imagination or not, but I do find that ruling pens tend to hold the medium better if you don't clean the inside of the blades after you use them. I use artists gouache (not acrylic) with is can be mixed to make transparent or opaque lines.
 
Back in "the day", I experimented with "natural" inks and dyes, the idea started with coloring Easter eggs. Subtle but effective: Beet juice; a beautiful golden yellow wash using turmeric; tea, brewed especially strong; raspberry juice and blueberry juice and rhubarb; Red wine! (I'm framing a painting done with red wine from the winery, for a wine-collecting customer, and thinking of doing a french line/wash panel in red wine as well....keeping it consistant!)

I've also gotten a nice effect with the "wash" between the ruled lines, by pouncing with bronzing powders. Mask, then lay down a very diluted wash of acrylic gel medium, and, still wet, pounce the bronzing powder on. Let dry and blow off the excess.

I'm thinking of playing with those again. It was fun!
 
Dave said:
...ox gall liquid. It makes water "wetter"...it is one of the foulest smelling substances you'll encounter
Click to expand...
Sometimes at Starbucks I'm amused to hear people order their multi-syllabic drink "extra hot". I'm not quite sure how this is accomplished. Anyway, wouldn't it be funny if someone orderd one "extra wet". Then they could add ox gall liquid. :eek:

Framing Goddess said:
If you do get a bloop of ink on the mat, let it dry before you scrap it. Sometimes with a sharp blade you can scrape it right off with little or no trace.
Click to expand...
In other words, "scrape before you scrap."

:popc: Rick
 
The nibs on the ruling pens wear over time and need to be sharpened. Dull pens produce poor results regardless of the quality of the ink.
Besides wetting agents, like Ox Gall, there are also additives that help with the flow of acrylics. I use Golden acrylic flow release when I want an opaque line with acrylic paints.
I usually mix my inks or paints in a vial that has a snap on plastic lid and use a pipette to transfer to the ruling pen.
 
Wow! What great information - thanks everyone for all your advice. I'm sure it will help me get over my French mat blues! I'm going to give it another go tomorrow.

Wally, the pen that I'm using is brand new, so the nibs on it shouldn't be worn. BTW, how would I sharpen them when the time comes that they need sharpening?
 
Back when I did French Matting, for my lines I used Dr. Martins watercolors and inks. Before that I mixed my own using top grade tubed watercolors. Dr. Martins was just faster and easier to work with. For the panels I used very diluted tubed watercolors with a 1/4 tsp sugar added to slow drying time.


John
 
If you want the color range that is available in acrylic paints, I would reccomend using Ceramcoat acrylics, and thin them down with Flow Medium. (Flow medium is also a Ceramcoat product.) Ceramcoat has a good amount of pigment, and even when thinned down it flows smoothly.

I have also had great experience using Acrylic inks, and Watercolors.

Good luck, and have fun.

Oh, as for loading the pen, don't overload it. That will cause more problems than almost anything else.
 
Well, I found some time to practice more today and managed to get a couple half-decent looking mats.

The mat in the first attachment has the bevel painted green (hard to tell in the photo) as well as matching green lines. I used two tones of yellow pastel to colour in the panel.

On the second mat, I've drawn charcoal grey lines and filled in some panels with a brown watercolour wash. I was planning on only having the wider panel painted, but some of the watercolour seeped into the narrow adjacent panels (oops), so I just painted them too. It is hard to tell from the photo, but there are two thin charcoal lines on either side of the darker, narrow brown panels. This sample is only half a mat as I messed up a couple of the lines on the other side, but figured I could still practice the wash panels.

Susan, I had some Ceramcoat acrylics which I used for the lines today and it seemed to work fairly well. I didn't have any of the flow medium, but managed to thin it down okay with a bit of water, although I'm sure the flow medium would work a lot better.

I'll be practicing some more in between paying jobs and I hope to eventually feel comfortable & skilled enough to offer it to my customers. I have a couple of floral watercolours that I painted last year which I'm thinking of framing with French mats and put on display.
 

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They look very nice, Karen!

Appears you're having some fun!!!
 
prospero said:
Don't know if it's my imagination or not, but I do find that ruling pens tend to hold the medium better if you don't clean the inside of the blades after you use them. I use artists gouache (not acrylic) with is can be mixed to make transparent or opaque lines.
Click to expand...


It's not your imagination. The rough surface of dried medium holds wet medium better than the smooth metal surface of a clean pen. But I suggest thorough cleaning anyway. If you allow dried medium to accumulate in your pen, it may eventually become a thick crust that could foul the flow of medium. And if you use multiple colors or media in the same pen, they could interact, resulting in strange colors or chemistry.

Besides, the work of a ruling pen depends on smooth flow of the medium, which happens best with a clean pen. Do not be tempted to overload the pen, but use only an amountof medium that will flow smoothly without running out on its own.

Traditional gouache is permanently water soluble, so it would not be very difficult to give your pen a good cleaning. If you had been using acrylic gouache, the residue of dried paint would not be water soluble, and much more difficult to remove.
 
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