Month: February 2016

My First Bung Box Ink!

Laura4 Comments

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Well, I am excited. Because, thanks to a lovely pen friend, I now have my own sample of a Bung Box ink. Bung Box sells the very chic and stunning inks that are sold in limited quantities at the Bung Box store in Japan and imported by a few US stores. People in the know always seem to snap them up. I feel like I’m crashing a sophisticated party.

Also, it’s a blue ink! Bung Box First Love Sapphire.

I’m not sure about the name. I do love blue.  But my first love was named Greg. This was in fifth grade. I would write his last name after my first name when no one was looking.  Plus, we would arm wrestle, because when you liked a boy/girl, you had to pretend you hated him/her. So I do not really relate to the name of this ink.

But, also, along with Bung Box [Greg] Sapphire, I was served cake, which was delicious.  So what a good morning I had yesterday.

By the way, have you ever noticed that when you compliment someone’s cooking, a good cook always says, sincerely,”Oh it was easy.” Whereas someone like me would say, “Really, it turned out okay? Phew. I was so worried.” And then stop talking quickly because you’re not really supposed to divulge that you ran out of flour so you had to scrape the last bits off the counter, where there were also black dots (hopefully, toast crumbs, but I mean, it’s too late to check now). Etc.

I mean, so I’ve heard.

But, sorry, back to ink.  Just to give you an idea, here is the fabulous and exciting Bung Box Sapphire next to a more conventional medium blue.

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This will be so fun.

One Minute Ink Review: Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst

Laura1 Comment

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Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst. February’s birthstone is the amethyst, which brings to mind this beautiful ink. Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst is a red-leaning purple, so maybe not the perfect match for the gemstone. But it’s a great color: friendly while still being clear and easy to read. It’s got lovely shading. And to top it off, it’s easy to clean, a rare quality in a purple ink.

An everyday ink? If I used purple everyday, oh yes.

Pen of the Day: Lamy Al-Star Aluminum

Laura1 Comment

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Lamy Al-Star Aluminum with broad nib. Normally I like an extra-fine nib, but sometimes a broad nib really works with a particular ink.  And I love how this ink, KWZ Iron Gall Green #1, looks with this wider nib.

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The Aluminum Al-Star has always been one of my favorites. It’s almost elegant.  That aluminum really makes the black clip, trim and nib pop.

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A Pen Case Just for Kaweco Sports

Laura1 Comment

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What is that interesting bit of red and black up there? It’s the coolest leather pen case/pen cup. Michael at MY63 Leather made it just to fit four Kaweco Sports.

Kaweco Sports are mini-pens, smaller than normal when capped, and then normal size when you post them to write with.  But because they are shorter capped, when you put them in a regular pen case or pen cup, they tend to get a little lost in there.

So Michael decided to make a cup or case that fits Kaweco Sports exactly.

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Laura1 Comment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sgQYHQSqjQ

Happy Valentine’s Day. The other day, I had one of those radio moments, when I was driving with the radio on, and all of a sudden they played Marshall Crenshaw’s “Someday, Someway.” That was on his first record, Marshall Crenshaw, which came out in 1982.

That song took me back to my freshman year in college, and to the greatest friends anyone could ever had. There were — and still are — six of us in our core group, two girls and four guys.

We all loved Marshall Crenshaw, whose early career coincided with those magical years where we were forging our identities away from home, and taking the first steps into adulthood.  Marshall — we called him that — played a concert at our college in support of Field Day, his wonderful second album. Of course we were in the front row.

It wasn’t just Marshall, though. Music was part of the fabric of our friendship. There were also R.E.M, Elvis Costello, the Replacements, Bruce Springsteen, New Order and too many others to mention.  We played music constantly, we talked about it and we went to concerts in New York and then later California. I can’t remember what I cooked for dinner two days ago, but I can tell you what a young Michael Stipe wore on a tiny stage in Binghamton, New York in the early 1980s.

What better day to appreciate family and friends than Valentine’s Day?  So I’d like to wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to all, old friends and new, near and far, online and offline.  And especially to those five wonderful friends from freshman year to today — one of whom has a birthday today. Thank you for the days and years.

Pen of the Day: Kaweco Skyline Sport Metallic Violet

Laura6 Comments

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Kaweco Skyline Sport in Metallic Violet with medium nib. You know I love my Kaweco Sports, and here’s a great one.  The color is called Metallic Violet, but the pen body is plastic not metal.  Instead of being an ordinary plastic, however, it’s a special swirly acrylic that looks shiny.

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That’s how you make a purple pen!

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It’s inked with a cartridge of Kaweco Summer Purple.  Another ink on my to-be-reviewed list, Kaweco Summer Purple is my kind of purple: cheerful, unsaturated but easy to read, with lovely shading.

A Peek at the Pen Cup: Deluxe Edition

Laura3 Comments

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Look at this gorgeous thing. This is my new pen cup, courtesy of the wonderful and talented Michael of MY63 Leather case fame.

Michael’s handmade leather work is amazing, and he’s branched out from his marvelous pen cases to other beautiful items like leather notebook covers.  I had casually mentioned a pen cup to him, and look what he made.  It is just stunning.

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