Diamine Bach. Last month was Mozart’s birthday, so I did a one minute ink review of Diamine Mozart ink, here. Bach is another ink from Diamine’s music set, and another lovely dark reddish brown. Bach, the ink, is darker than Mozart.
An everyday ink? Yes, it could be, for me. I love a dark brown.
Here is a comparison with Bach on the left and Mozart on the right. When you put them in the same pen, they look very close in color. Sometimes I can hardly tell them apart.
I don’t know about you, but I consider the Super Bowl an unofficial American holiday. We even have traditions: parties, betting squares, nachos and the commercials.
At the party we always go to, people pay more attention to the commercials (and the food) than the game. Except at the end of each quarter, when we figure out who won money. Last year, the Fountain Pen Follies family won huge. So we’ll lose it all this year, I’m sure. But that’s okay, there are friends to catch up with. And the food!
I’m not sure people overseas watch American football much, but the NFL wants to conquer the world, so if you don’t now, you may in the future. And if that happens, you only need to know two words: Chicago Bears!
(Yeah, the Bears are bad now. But thirty years ago, they won a Super Bowl. And hope springs eternal.)
My new Lamy Al-Star in Charged Green arrived in the mail this morning, along with a box of the ink cartridges. The pen is nice enough, and I really like the ink, but getting it all to work was strangely like an Icelandic saga, albeit nobody froze to death.
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Aurora Optima Burgundy with medium nib. This beautiful Optima is a great match for the KWZ Maroon #2 I’m testing.
I just reviewed KWZ Maroon, which I loved, so I wanted to give Maroon #2 a fair shake by putting it in a special pen.
Aurora took its red pen down a different path by making it a sophisticated burgundy. It has a rich, dark color, featuring deep wine reds and black, with chrome trim.
In bright light or sunlight, the acrylic shines and sparkles, but the photo above was taken on an overcast day, and brings out the name and logo: “Aurora Italia, Fabbrica Italiana Di Pennea Serbatoio.” Which Google roughly translates as Aurora of Italy, Italian Factory of Fountain Pens. But as usual, the Italian sounds much better. Grazie mille, Aurora Italia.
Well, I did a bad thing, but my friend Plume has me covered, because now all my lapses are “for the blog.” A few weeks ago, I saw a great price on a new Lamy 2000 extra-fine. Reader, I leapt at it. So I am a Lamy 2000 extra-fine owner now. Which lets me compare the extra-fine to the Lamy 2000 with fine nib that I’ve been using for years.
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January is the worst month in Chicago. February is almost as bad, but at least it’s shorter. But in terms of fountain pens and ink, this January was pretty darn good. Here are some highlights.
1. KWZ Inks. I’ve really been enjoying these. Such beautiful inks, with such nice behavior.
2. Mysterious New Pen. I bought a new pen. But as Plume says, it’s for the blog. I’m selfless like that.
3. Learning Slowly but Surely. By the end of the month, I had started writing “2016” as the date, nearly automatically. Oh yeah. Those gears are still turning.
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Photo by Dafne Cholet, Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
And it’s about time!
Ugh, I’m home sick, with prescription drugs and everything, so the blog will be terribly neglected for a few days. I’m not even strong enough to walk the dog, much less concentrate on anything substantive. But I can always share a poem.
Before I got sick I was reading an excellent biography of Jonathan Swift by Leo Damrosch. I’ll have to wait to get back to that, but yesterday I was flipping through some lighter reading and I was surprised and delighted to see a poem from William Butler Yeats called Swift’s Epitaph.
Yeats wrote this poem based on Swift’s actual epitaph, which Swift wrote in Latin, and which is mounted on a plaque in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. The Yeats version is just beautiful.
Swift’s Epitaph
Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his Breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-Besotted Traveler; he
Served human liberty.
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The above painting of Jonathan Swift is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or less.
Fountain Pen Follies 