KWZ Azure #3. This ink is just an extremely cheerful blue color which is easy to read, easy to clean out of a pen and easy to enjoy on the page.
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Author: Laura
One Minute Ink Review: Pelikan Edelstein Amethyst
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
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.
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.
A Pen Case Just for Kaweco Sports
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
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.
Ink Review: KWZ Iron Gall Blue #2
Pen of the Day: Kaweco Skyline Sport Metallic Violet
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.
That’s how you make a purple pen!
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
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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Has Lamy Gone Too Green?
I am afraid the Complaint Department is going to be open today. I had a dentist appointment just before writing this, so you’ll have to pardon me if I’m in the mood to grouse.
Here’s what is nagging at me: With the recent arrival of the Charged Green Lamy Al-Star, it seems that four out of my fifteen Al-Stars are some shade of green. Look at that.
There’s one blue. Three silvers — that lovely lilac in tenth position was called “Ice Blue,” but I consider it a silver. But even if you classify Ice Blue as a blue, there are only two blues. There are three in the red family, if like me you consider “Dark Purple” to be a burgundy; otherwise two in the red family. But four greens. And all unusual greens, too. Not even a British Racing Green.
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Pen of the Day: Pelikan 400
Pelikan 400 with oblique double broad nib. I prefer modern pens to vintage. I like fine and extra-fine nibs, and I like nail-like nibs that let me quickly scrawl across the page. I admit that I’ve never loved Pelikan’s traditional green stripes.
So here we have a vintage green-striped Pelikan, with a very wide, wet nib that flexes. And of course, it’s a favorite.
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Fountain Pen Follies 