You know what I like? I like the reflection of the window in the cap medallion of that Lamy Safari.
My pen cup is reasonably full again, but it’s mostly full with pens I’ve already talked about. Pens of the past. I really haven’t had the time or the oomph to think about new things. My brain is just overstuffed. We’ve had two big family birthdays in the past week, while work has been crushing. Then there’s been baseball to watch.
At first nervously, then merrily. The Cubs did the nearly unbelievable, winning the pennant for the first time in 71 years. Thus ending the failure and futility that has been Cubs fandom for longer than my lifetime. It’s like when you come out of a movie theater into the blinding sun: everything looks nice and bright, but you do have to reorient.
So about pens, I can’t really say I’ve spent too much time thinking about them.
Looking at the pen cup, there are a lot of Lamy Safaris and Pelikans, and a few Kawecos. All good. But I’m going to have to clean out some of these pens of the past and try some different pens and inks. Once baseball releases its hold on my brain.
Maybe that will happen during the Ohio Pen Show. Or when the new Pelikan M405 Stresemann comes in — that intrigues me.
If only they had a Pelikan M605 Stressedwoman — now that would be my pen. It would be hot pink, or maybe orange, and it would come with a giant coffee mug.
Life’s deepest questions, pondered right here.
I tend to end up with a fair number of rubber bands. As I think we all do. I got that nice black one from Field Notes as a gift with purchase. The red and white ones must have come with broccoli.
These thick ones seem excellent for serious banding needs. It’s just that I don’t have much call for rubber bands. (I already have a jar opener, and I don’t want to give away his job.)
Basically, there are only a few things I use rubber bands for:
1. Tying up unused extension cords. That adds up to two.
2. Flicking at people.
3. Threatening to flick at people. (More fun, actually.)
4. Pulling nervously during baseball playoff games. Useful, lately.
But … I’ve got nothing else.
What in the world do we do with these things?
We do what we can, here at Fountain Pen Follies, to cheer on our favorite baseball team. And this year has been magical. On Saturday night, the Chicago Cubs baseball team won the pennant for the first time in 71 years. Tonight they will play in the World Series, for the first time in 108 years. What in the fountain pen world can commemorate that? How about a Chicago Cubs Lamy Safari.
Cubs colors are blue and red with white, and a baseball is white with red stitching. My Chicago Cubs edition Safari is made from the cap of a white and red Safari, and the body of a blue Safari.
It’s inked with J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage (“Wild Ivy”), in tribute to the ivy-covered walls of Wrigley Field, the Cubs home park.
Go Cubs, go. And thanks for a great year.
Light Blue is the newest color in the Kaweco AL-Sport lineup. The AL-Sport is one of my favorite pens, blue is my favorite color and so I couldn’t resist.
It’s an ice blue that looks silvery in some lights. The look is extra sleek. The finish feels textured or powdered. But the Light Blue sparkles and dazzles in the light.
So, I have four AL-Sports now: the Stonewashed in black, the Grey, the Light Blue and the raw aluminum.
The AL-Sport has my favorite steel nib (by a mile), comfortable weight and size, and a look I love. But it’s also my Green Eggs and Ham pen: it took me forever to try an AL-Sport, because the aluminum models are pricier than the plastic Sports, and I had heard bad things about metal pens. Silly rumors, so wrong.
Now that I have four, I have an urge to rank mine.
1. Raw Aluminum. Pure form. Shiny. And it proudly shows the scuffs and marks of use.
2. Light Blue. Chic, ice blue, textured, gorgeous.
3. Black Stonewashed. The one that looks so cool, non-pen people ask about it.
4. Grey. Understated, smooth and restrained. And mine has a great medium nib.
Sailor Jentle Four Seasons Waka-Uguisu. This is a yellow-green ink that I thought I’d hate, but instead love. Waka-Uguisu has nice shading, nice behavior and a color that turns out to be beautiful, instead of bilious. And it looks great in an extra-fine nib.
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It does look like an Easter basket just threw up on me, doesn’t it?
But thankfully not. It’s just that I just got three more of the new Sailor Four Seasons inks. Up there are Sailor Waka-Uguisu, Sakura-Mori and Yuki-Akari.
Candidly, I am not a pastel person. But I have been happily surprised by these three inks. In fact the final ink of the trio, the one I only grudgingly added to the shopping cart, because I absolutely loathed the color of the online swabs, turns out to be my favorite of all. Go figure.
But first things first. Here is a comparison of Sakura-Mori, the new Sailor pink, with the old Sailor pink, Peche.
That’s perhaps sad news for Peche devotees. Sakura-Mori is a warmer color, and isn’t really very much like Peche.
But Sakura-Mori is lovely, nonetheless, if you like pale pink inks. It’s a delicate pink with a blush of orange, I believe. Now, a light pink ink is not be the most versatile, useful color, for sure, but I have a soft spot for the barely legible ink category, so I like this one.
Fountain Pen Follies 