Speedball (art products)

Speedball Art Products Co., LLC

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Type	Private
Industry	Stationery
Predecessor	C. Howard Hunt
Founded	1997 (1997)
Founder	Walt Glazer
Headquarters	Statesville, North Carolina, US
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Walt Glazer (CEO)
Products	Art materials
Revenue	$20 to $50 million
Website	www.speedballart.com

Speedball is an American company that manufactures art materials and other stationery items. The company, first successful with its dip pens, expanded its product line to other art areas such as painting, sculpture and printing press.

History

In 1899, C. Howard Hunt formed his own company and established it in Camden, New Jersey. The "Speedball" pen was developed and patented by sign letterer Ross F. George of Seattle. This pen had a square-tipped pen could make broad and thin lines.

The original pen's "A-style nib" developed by Ross had a square-tipped head that made broad lines, which worked well for some of Ross' numerous lettering styles. The "B-style Nib" had a round section at the head of the nib that would round off the beginning and the ending of each pen stroke. The "C-style Nib" is the chisel-point nib that creates thick and thin lines depending on the angle the pen is held. The C-style nibs are a favorite of many calligraphers. The "D-style", an oval shaped head nib, created an italic/gothic style to the letters that it produced. All of these nibs had Ross' signature brass reservoir. The E-style was the steel brush. George took the patent to the C. Howard Hunt Pen Company in 1915. They manufactured each of the above nibs in different sizes and published the Speedball Text Book, a periodical manual written by George which contained updated samples of numerous lettering artists' work, including Ross' past instructor William Hugh Gordon.

Following Ross's death, there were only a few updates of the Speedball Text Book published. Speedball Division also fitted some of the B-style nibs with a reservoir that could be opened for cleaning. They called these nibs the FB-style, or Flicker.

The "steel brushes" were made in four sizes, also chisel pointed, but in larger sizes than the C-Style nibs. The steel brushes also fit in the same size nib holders that are used for the smaller nibs.

On 14 November 1997, CEO Walt Glazer led a buyout of the Speedball division during Hunt Corporation's restructuring. Subsequently, Hunt pens are currently commercialized under the Speedball brand.

Products

Brands

Speedball and other brands commercialized by the firm:

Brands	Products
Speedball	Screen Printing, Block Printing, Acrylics, Mediums, Calligraphy Nibs, Inks, pen holders, ceramic glazes, pottery tools and accessories, Palettes, Glass Markers, Empty Containers
Artista	Pottery wheels
Athena	Brushes
Bienfang	Papers, Young Artist Paper line
Boss	Pottery wheels
Elegant Writers	Markers
Mona Lisa	metal leaf, Adhesives, Sealants, Paint thinner, Brush Cleaners, art boards
Printmaster	woodblock printing Inks, Printing Presses
Pink Soap	Brush Cleaner and Conditioner

Broad edge nibs

File:Speedball B-0.jpg

A Speedball B-0 dip pen.

Speedball makes nibs for dip pens in a variety of sizes. The sizes for their C-series flat-tipped pens (such as for Italic writing) are given below:

Nib size	Width of nib
C-0	5mm
C-1	4mm
C-2	3mm
C-3	2mm
C-4	1.5mm
C-5	1mm
C-6	0.5mm

A-Style Sizes	Nib Width	B-Style Sizes	Width	D-Style Sizes	Width	E-Style Sizes	Nib Width
A-0	5mm	B-0	6mm	D-00	7mm	E-3/4	​3⁄4 in.
A-1	3.5mm	B-1/2	4.5mm	D-0	6mm	E-1/2	​1⁄2 in.
A-2	2.5	B-1	3mm	D-1	?	E-3/8	​3⁄8 in.
A-3	2mm	B-2	?	D-2	3mm	E-1/4	​1⁄4 in.
A-4	1.5mm	B-3	2mm	D-3	2.5mm
A-5	0.5mm	B-4	1.5mm	D-4	2mm
		B-5	1mm	D-5	1.5mm
		B-5-1/2	?	D-6	?
		B-6	?

Flexible point nibs

The lines previously manufactured by defunct company C. Howard Hunt and currently produced under the "Speedball" brand:

Number	Comm. name	Point
22 B	Extra Fine	Medium
56	School	Stiff
99	Drawing	Extra fine
100	Artist	Medium
101	Imperial	Extra fine
102	Crowquill	Very fine
103	Mapping	Very fine
104	Finest	Super fine
107	Hawk Quill	Super fine
108	Flexible Quill	Fine
512	Bowl Pointed	Fine
513 EF	Globe	Extra fine

Penholders

Model	Type	Used for nibs
452	Straight	#102, 107, 108
9454	Straight	#100, 103, 104
9466	Straight	Styles A, B, C, D, E
9451	Straight	Styles A, B, C, D, E
9455	Oblique	Copperplating

Artists

Speedball and Hunt pens have been widely used by a legion of comic strip and comic book artists to ink their pages. Hunt pens were the choice of Walt Simonson, Dale Keown, Bob McLeod, Kevin Nowlan, Bill Sienkiewicz, Joe Sinnott, Mark Morales and Andy Lanning (#102 model), George Pérez (#100), Mike DeCarlo (#103), Drew Geraci (#22) and Joe Rubinstein (#100, 103). Carl Barks' wife lettered his comics with a Speedball A-5 or B-6, although Barks himself was an Esterbrook enthusiastic.

External links

• Official site