Category: Fountain Pens

Off to the Nibmeister

Laura2 Comments

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I have a few fountain pens that have some issues I haven’t been able to, or haven’t had time to, fix myself. A pen with a great nib is a joy. But pen with a nib that pops out of alignment or writes poorly is a source of frustration and disappointment.

I’ve been so busy dealing with fire drills on the home front, or work, or things that had to be done for family members, that my misfit pens have sat on a shelf waiting for help for months. It’s especially silly because I have a friend, Dan Smith, who does excellent work on pens and nibs as the Nibsmith. I’ve been promising, or threatening, to send these to Dan since May.

This morning I decided to put all that other stuff aside for a bit and send off my pens. It’s Monday — a good day to make a fresh start. Sure, I still need to do three thousand other things today. But sometimes you need to put aside the demands of everyday life, and do something long-term, and for yourself.

And so, my pens are off to the nibmeister.

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Monday Morning Quarterback — Pens and Inks Version

Laura2 Comments

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American football kicked off its season this week, just in time to inspire this post. Since the NFL has traditionally played its games on Sunday, we call post-game insights and criticisms “Monday morning quarterbacking.” After all, hindsight is always 20/20. But that can be helpful, too. So maybe it will be useful to look back at my pens and inks last week with a little hindsight.

1. Luckiest guess. Putting Diamine’s Shimmertastic Brandy Dazzle into a Pelikan Ibis with broad nib. The vintage Pelikan has a lot of ink flow, and the nib has a bit of flex, and both those characteristics really showed what Brandy Dazzle could do.

2. Luckiest break. I am very lucky to have a great friend who sent me six Shimmertastic ink samples to play with. They were all such fun.

3. Undeserved criticism award. Diamine took a lot of internet heat for putting the name “Shimmertastic” on its forthcoming ink line. And, yes, “Shimmer” would have been fine. But the truth is, after you use the word “Shimmertastic” a few times, you kind of forget that it sounds silly and just go with it. Heck, the inks do shimmer. And they are sort of fantastic. The power of suggestion worked for me here.

4. Deserved criticism award. Pelikan took a lot of internet heat for its M600 Pink Pelikan box design. And maybe Pelikan should have listened. Though it turns out I liked untying the bow, I think just a bow would have been quite enough to set the box apart. The corset lace design felt a little “ick” to me. And even if you like it, it does seem out-of-step with what is actually a fairly classy and professional pen.

5. Unluckiest break. In 2005, the Chicago Bears had the fourth pick in the NFL draft, which they wasted on a running back whose ignominious Bears career would be over by 2008. Among the players the Bears passed over was Aaron Rodgers, the quarterback of my beloved University of California Golden Bears. Worse, Rodgers was drafted by none other than the Green Bay Packers, arch-rivals of the Bears. Rodgers has gone on to become probably the best quarterback in football, a fact that he demonstrates to Chicago fans twice a year by stomping on our Bears. As he did once again yesterday. Sigh.

Tickled Pink: The Pelikan M600 Pink

Laura3 Comments

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I usually wait to see a pen in person, or at least in photos taken in person, before ordering one. Publicity photos aren’t always accurate about a pen’s color. But the Pelikan M600 Pink was an exception. I pre-ordered it without knowing the specific shade of pink it would be. Because I realized that whatever pink it would be, I’d still buy it. It’s pink Pelikan!

But for everyone else, here are those photos.

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First Look: Pelikan M600 Pink

Laura4 Comments

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I couldn’t wait to share a quick look at my Pink Pelikan, the new M600. In person, the color is more raspberry than hot pink. I know some people are having fits over a pink Pelikan. But this is not very wild, for a pink. It’s dignified, actually.

The binde is blend of light and dark pink stripes. It is not translucent. It shimmers. You cannot easily see the ink level.

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I want to thank the nice people at Iguana Sell, from whom I bought this. They outdid themselves with great service and great communication, not to mention very fast delivery, all at a great price.

Pen of the Day: Sailor Desk Pen

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Sailor Desk Pen. This is another sub-$15 plastic desk pen featuring an ultra-fine Japanese nib.  I’ve got it filled with Sailor’s pigment-based ink, the nano ink Kiwa-guro.  The combination is very similar to the Platinum Carbon Desk Pen featured Tuesday.

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Sailor’s stainless steel nib is marked extra-fine.  I find it very similar in width to both the Platinum desk pen with Carbon Black and the Pilot Prera fine nib with Pilot Black (a regular dye-based ink).  The two desk pens may write slightly thinner lines than the Prera with fine nib, but all three are pretty close in my real world use.

Sailor Kiwa-guro ink is made from pigments rather than dye, so it’s similar to Platinum Carbon ink.  In the desk pens, Kiwa-guro is darker and blacker than Platinum Carbon ink.  However, Kiwa-guro is only water-resistant, while Platinum Carbon ink is totally waterproof.

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Pen of the Day: Platinum Carbon Desk Pen

Laura1 Comment

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Platinum Carbon Desk Pen. This is an inexpensive plastic desk pen made by Platinum for its Carbon Black ink. I bought this, and a similar desk pen made by Sailor, years ago for drawing. I decided to take them out again this week for writing.

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The Platinum desk pen has a nice, smooth nib, and I like the pen’s light weight, long length and good balance.  It can take a Platinum converter if you want to use bottled ink. It’s a good pen to write with, for me.  Platinum describes the nib as “super fine.” It may be slightly thinner than my Pilot Prera fine nib with Pilot black ink, but I really think the two are comparable.

Platinum Carbon ink is marked safe for fountain pens, but I have had some difficulties with pigment inks over the years, so I honestly prefer to use them in dedicated cheaper pens, like this one.  Carbon Black is a waterproof and lightproof pigment-based ink.  It’s reputed to be a very dark black ink, but in this pen I don’t get that.  It writes smoothly and dries quickly. This combination easily could be an everyday user.

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The Joy of Fountain Pens

Laura6 Comments

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I was talking with a fountain pen friend the other day when we discovered that we both, at different times, have gotten into Marie Kondo’s organizational book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.  We both responded to Kondo’s concept that you should seek to be surrounded only by the objects that bring you joy.

Coincidentally, I had just that morning been staring at a pen cup full of fountain pens, thinking, do I have too many Safaris?  Ha, well, yes, of course.  I had seven Safaris and Al-Stars inked in the pen cup at that moment.  And that is but a fraction of the number I actually own.

But I looked at them with only satisfaction:  pink and reds and apple green and black and charcoal, and a Vista, right there, filled with ink.  And I thought, they make me happy.  So it’s perfect.

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