Bung Box First Love Sapphire. This is a gorgeous medium blue ink that falls in the “vivacious blue” category that is so popular.
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Month: March 2016
Things I Learned This Week
1. Pie for breakfast. “It’s a thing,” my older daughter told me. And it turns out that it is! How could I have missed this? Allrecipes calls pie for breakfast “the most important pie of the day.” Outstanding!
2. March Madness. Our alma maters crashed and burned in the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament. I’m way past “my bracket is busted” and basically at, “just rip it up.” It’s okay; I can still watch. The commercials are much better than on normal t.v. And when my mind wanders, there’s always pie. For example, how many pie pieces could one eat in a day?
3. March weather. It is a truth universally acknowledged that whenever I had the opportunity to take photographs for the blog this week, the clouds would immediately come out and the light would become dull. Once I gave up, the sun would shine. So I am out of ideas here. Other than those involving pie.
No. I totally have some ink reviews coming up. There’s one that’s sort of cherry pie in color, and one that’s like asparagus, which you could put in quiche. And another that would be the color of blue jello pie, if there is such a thing. And omg there is such a thing!
4. Easy spring pie. Jello pie, any color you choose. It’s really a thing. Is this a great country, or what?!
Bad News, Good News
Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to take ink photos for the blog yesterday afternoon. Ominous rain clouds came in from the west and covered most of the sky. But then I looked to the east. And I found a (sort of) ink photo after all. J. Herbin Bleu Azur.
Pen of the Day: Pelikan M600 Ruby Red
Pelikan M600 Ruby Red with fine nib. This is a gorgeous pen that I really enjoy and love using. But I have to admit that today I’m talking about it mostly because of the ink.
KWZ Red #1 is the ink. And it’s another home run for me, just like KWZ Maroon and Maroon #2.
Red #1 is another deep and rich red — so deep and rich that it almost evokes garnet or ruby. But it’s red more than maroon, cranberry more than wine. I’m really enjoying using it, and I’m looking forward to reviewing it.
Ink Review: J. Herbin Bleu Azur
J. Herbin Bleu Azur. This aptly named ink is a very light blue, and such a clear, pure color that it reminds me of the spring sky.
I am a huge blue ink fan. But honestly I had never used Bleu Azur because I remember reading so many negative comments about it. Which once again teaches me to ignore that kind of thing. Bleu Azur does not work in every pen, but if you pick the right pen, it’s lovely, and legible.
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day
And this is roughly reason number 1,979 why I love Chicago: green bagels for St. Patrick’s Day. I love the melting pot.
Though, yeah, the green color looks slightly strange in a bagel. Only kids would actually eat those, probably. Or Shrek. Or the guy in charge of Lamy Safari color choices.
Bung Box First Love Sapphire: Another Glimpse
I know I mentioned a few weeks ago that a friend gave me a sample of my very first Bung Box ink, First Love Sapphire.
And I posted a writing sample from an Aurora Optima with a fine nib.
But here’s a quick look at Bung Box First Love Sapphire from both the Optima and a much different pen, a Kaweco Sport with 1.1 mm calligraphy nib.
I find it really interesting. The ink color is consistent, but the impression it makes, on me at least, is very different.
Pen of the Day: Pelikan M600 Green o’ Green with KWZ Iron Gall Green Gold
Pelikan M600 Green o’ Green with broad nib. Well, it’s the Ides of March, of course, but in addition it’s almost St. Patrick’s Day, so I’m going with the latter theme. St. Patrick’s Day is more fun. It’s the unofficial Chicago holiday, with our Chicago River dyed green, and our “everyone’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day” spirit. The latter is a nice way of saying that everyone drinks a lot on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s like the law of the city.
And here is the pen cap, the most St. Patrick’s Day part of the Pelikan Green o’ Green.
And here is the ink, which is from a sample sent by a friend: KWZ Iron Gall Green Gold. This is another really nice-looking ink from KWZ.
A Peek at the Pen Cups
My pen cup runneth over. Both of them. And they show what’s going on here for the next week or two.
I’ve got four Kaweco Sports inked right now. Three of them contain inks I’m going to be reviewing, or might be reviewing or really thought I’d already have finished reviewing. Those pens are blue, clear and purple, respectively.
The other is my new AL-Sport. Which is new. I am not sure I expressed that clearly enough. I meant, new! Well, actually, newest. Newest!
Does that photo up above look sufficiently dark and mysterious? Good. There are two pens there that I think are going to be pens of the week this very week, so I don’t want to give away too much now. I hope it’s just like Pretty Little Liars here, in terms of suspense. So you can tune in tomorrow, when I reveal “A.”
Words You Probably Don’t Want to Hear
Your mother called again.
It’s the police; they said they just want to ask you a few questions.
Daylight Saving Time starts this morning.
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Image by Sun Ladder via Wikimedia Commons
Fountain Pen Follies 