Pens 
The reed used both as a musical instrument (the ney) and as a
pen is possibly the only tool evocative of the mystic atmosphere
of the Islamic and oriental world. Reeds gathered from the
marshy banks of lakes and rivers are far from being usable as
pens in their raw state. These yellowish white reeds are placed
in manure which maintains a constant organic temperature to dry.
As they harden they change colour according to the type of reed,
becoming reddish brown, light or dark brown, or even black. The
end is cut into a nib, which requires recutting every so often.
In the case of long texts such as korans, this causes a problem,
because even the slightest difference in the width of the nib
after recutting noticeably alters the appearance of the writing,
which constitutes a serious aesthetic flaw, particularly in the
case of nesih and similar fine hands. Therefore, when writing
long texts in fine script, pens made from the hard, straight and
slender stipule, black in colour, which grows from the base of
the leaves of a tropical tree in Java is used. The tips of these
pens, which are known as Cava kalemi, are extremely hardwearing.
To write with thicker lines, correspondingly thicker reeds the
diameter of a ney are used to make pens known as kargi kalem, or
hard bamboo stems may be employed. However, even these are not
large enough to write some of the celî scripts, for which pens
of the desired size carved of wood and known as agaç kalem or
tahta kalem are used.
Extremely large celî inscriptions cannot be written directly
by hand at all, since a pen large enough to produce the letters
would be too heavy to hold and supplying an ink flow would be
impossible. Such inscriptions are first written on a smaller
scale and then enlarged by means of squaring. To nib a reed pen,
it is laid in the palm of the left hand, and cut away on the
slant until the central cavity and wall take on an almond shape.
Since this flat part projects like a tongue, it is known as the
kalem dili. The tip of this flat section is then cut across to
obtain the desired width. The splitting of the nib to a depth of
several centimetres is known as kalem þakki. When
performing this operation it is essential that the split be
exactly parallel to the pen shaft. The crack thus formed serves
to contain a store of ink, which flows down to the nib as the
pen writes. When splitting the nib with a penknife or kalemtiraþ,
the pen is laid over the groove of a makta. Both these items are
described in detail on the following page.
Cutting and shaping the nib, also carried out on the makta,
is a process known as kalemi makta'a vurmak or katt-i kalem. A
newly sharpened pen produces an extremely clear-cut hand, but as
the nib wears down the letters become flawed, and it must be
sharpened on the makta again. Cutting the nib on the slant was
the invention of Yâkűtü'l-Musta'simî (?-698/1298) and
results in the writing slanting towards the writer, who
continues to hold the pen in a natural position. The ta'lîk pen
is less sharply slanted than the sülüs, but more so than the
nesih, while the rik'a nib is only very slightly slanted.
Holding the pen so that the slanted edge of the nib rests fully
on the paper and moving it downwards produces a fine line, and
moving it from right to left results in a thick line. Sometimes
the calligrapher turns the pen in his hand to produce different
aesthetic effects. Since the size of the characters is measured
in points, and the size of a point depends on the width of the
nib, the pen is the most vital element of aesthetic quality in
calligraphy.
Pens are sometimes kept in cases containing an inkwell at one
end known as divit, and sometimes in cylindrical or rectangular
boxes known as kalemdan, which may be plain or decorative. The
cylindrical type of kalemdan is known as a kubur. Small
protective covers were used to prevent the pen nibs from
becoming damaged or worn when not in use. The pen is mentioned
in the first verses of the Koran to be revealed, and sűrah
LXVIII is entitled The Pen. Both this fact and the benefit to
humanity of this instrument meant that it was treated with
reverence, and even when a pen had been sharpened so often that
it was too small to use, it was not thrown away at random, but
either tossed onto a rooftop or buried in a spot where people
were not likely to tread. The chips produced while sharpening
the nib were treated with similar respect, and when a certain
amount had accumulated were buried in an out-of-the-way place. |
Calligraphy
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