We had our first snow yesterday, which, boo. But walking through the room, even with the lights out my eye was drawn to my pen cup. That Lamy Lx in Rose Gold certainly stands out.
It’s the cap medallion. Bling city.
A Review of the Lamy Lx in Rose Gold
Lamy Lx Rose Gold with medium nib. Clearly under the influence of too much Thanksgiving pie, as well as the word “sale.” I succumbed to Black Friday frenzy and ended up with a Lamy Lx in Rose Gold with a medium nib. And now it’s here.
I think the Lx is a very nice-looking pen in rose gold. The Lx nib writes noticeably more smoothly than the normal Safari nib. But I don’t like the Lx so-called case. And I think the Lx price is easier to justify if you’re buying it as a gift, or you are a new user, or you have a serious yen for one of the colors.
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Cool Pelikan Video
For fans of How It’s Made, here is a video showing the manufacture of Pelikan fountain pens.
Some things have changed since this was filmed: I think Pelikan no longer makes its own nibs, and I know Souveran cap medallions are metal now. But I am impressed by how careful and labor-intensive the process was, and probably still is.
I found the link on FPN. Many thanks to the poster.
Field Notes Black Ice Edition: A Brief Review
The newest Field Notes limited edition is called Black Ice, and it’s neat-looking, though it’s probably not going to be one of my favorite Field Notes ever. And, if you’ll excuse the pun, I think the paper may leave fountain-pen users a little cold. But if there are notebook “gear heads,” I think they’ll like the Black Ice, because it looks really cool.
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Fountain Pen Favorites for November 2016
November 2016 kicked off with the best World Series in 108 years, for a Cubs fan. And when it came to fountain pens and ink, the rest of the month was pretty darn good, too. Here are my fountain pen highlights.
1. Sheaffer Targa Green Moiré. The grand slam.
2. Some Great Inks. Montblanc Golden Yellow, a new KWZ, Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple, Bung Box Dandyism. Wow. And if the rain ever stops here, I’ll be able to take photos.
3. Columbus, Ohio. I had a great time at the Ohio Pen Show. I’ll list some favorite things. First, being able to consult Richard Binder, Ron Zorn and Dan Smith. Also, Tim Hofmann’s coffee. Hanging out with friends. The pho restaurant. Robert Mason Co. And above all, the nice people of Columbus and Ohio State. Thinking of you today, Columbus.
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Photo by Dafne Cholet, Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
The Perfect Ink To Accompany Turkey Dinner at Cole Porter’s House: Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple
Okay, mind blown.
Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple. I’ll do a review, I suppose. But part of me thinks that all ink reviews are now superfluous. Let’s pull the plug on all the blogs and forums, and just go home. This probably is the best, most interesting fountain pen ink I’ve ever used. Even though it’s purple. Even though it’s been hyped from here to Japan and back.
Know that I’m not a purple fan. Also, when something has a lot of internet hype, I become super wary. Add in a very high price, and the “it’s only available once every three months” manufacturer-created scarcity, and you are describing an ink pretty much guaranteed to make me roll my eyes so far back in my head I’ll fall over backwards.
Just not for me. In fact, spending more than $40 for a bottle of (purple) Bung Box ink ranks below “root canal” and “sending my ten-year-old daughter on a plane by herself” on the list of Things I’ve Willingly Done.
Except, when I finally reached the bottom of that list, I bought Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple on a whim. And then I actually put the stuff in a pen and wrote with it. And mea culpa. This is a fantastic ink.
It’s divinely odd, and oddly divine. It’s a reddish purple, but it kind of looks burgundy, too, except it’s too purple for that. And it has greenish gold sheen, too.
It’s name is officially Sweet Potato Purple (Omaezaki). I feel like “Omaezaki” should be translated as “dayum.” This ink is that cool, that different, that quirky and wonderful. In fact, if you ever want to convert someone to fountain pen use, put Bung Box Sweet Potato Purple in a pen.
Now, we won’t go nuts or anything. No matter how stunning this ink is, it’s still purple, and it’s still crazy expensive. I have no urge for a “backup bottle.” I am quite certain my one bottle will last me forever. There are, and will continue to be, many other inks that are also awesome, most of which have the advantage of being not-purple. And the further advantage of costing far less than $40 a bottle.
But, still, wow. What an ink.
Oh, I know. “Oy with the poodles already.” Stop with the Sweet Potato Purple.
And I shall. At words poetic I’m so pathetic. It’s just an ink. A silly thing. Like the Tower of Pisa, or the smile of the Mona Lisa, the time of the Derby winner, or a turkey dinner. It’s not like anyone wrote a song about those things that might apply here, too. Just saying.
The “Sorry, We’re Watching the Gilmore Girls Reunion” Music Break
It’s the day after Thanksgiving in the US, and Black Friday for shoppers. But my girls and I (and most of my female friends) will be watching the new Gilmore Girls reunion episodes. Thank you Netflix.
(By the way, have you taken the “Which Gilmore Girl are you” quiz? I got Lorelei, which is obvious, if only because I talk all the time and drink a lot of coffee. Also I’m slightly unhinged, but not in a dangerous way. (It’s the coffee that does it.) My younger daughter was delighted to be told she’s Rory, the goody-two-shoes. I personally think she’s also got some Emily mixed in. My older daughter, self-protectively, won’t take the quiz. So we tell her she’s probably Kirk. Heh heh.)
Sadly, it won’t take all day to watch the Gilmore reunion. So up there is something else to enjoy. This is the first single from the upcoming album by the wonderful Mary J. Blige. It’s a song that someone accurately described as the most Mary J. Blige song possible. And truly, it is. It’s so Mary J. Blige, it’s almost meta-Mary J. Blige. And I love it.
Also, I want her lipstick. I really do.
Happy Thanksgiving: Music Break
My fellow Americans ….
(I’ve just always wanted to say that. Because then I’d be the President.)
Well, I’m going to just be the President of Thanksgiving. Hope you have a relaxing, mellow day. Enjoy family, friends and pie. Pens, too, if you want.
The “I’m Cooking While I Croon” Day-Before-Thanksgiving Music Break
Pie crust, whipped sweet potatoes and stuffing are on the docket for today. I like to knock some things off early, but there’s only so much space in our fridge.
The only good thing about cooking, if you ask me, is that I’ve got speakers in the kitchen, so it’s jukebox city in there. And here’s an oldie but goodie. I’ve been a little worried about Kanye West, since he seems to be having a hard time right now. So I’m sending out good thoughts. Also, this is just a good song. (And more blog-friendly than most of his songs.) Be well, Kanye.
Thanksgiving Countdown
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person approaching either a vacation or a national holiday must be in want of extra work. Thus I am toiling away feverishly at boring work, even as I should be cooking for Thanksgiving and writing posts about pens.
But needs must, and like the Pilgrims surely would have, I will send out my thanks over the internet. Weirdly, I am going to be thankful for ink here. Because it’s a blog with a theme. Because I like ink. And because, okay, you guessed it: I got up late the day they were passing out Thanksgiving topics to bloggers, and I missed out on all the good ones. Oh, and I also have to bring two pies.
No, sincerely, I’m thankful for my three favorite ink companies. KWZ, my new favorite. Montblanc, which I can never resist. And J. Herbin, my old favorite. These inks are easy on my pens, and easy to clean out of my pens. The colors are beautiful, and the inks shade. That’s my entire wishlist.
I’m thankful for my most used ink: Pelikan Brilliant Black. The old reliable.
I’m thankful for all the inks that friends have sent me to try this year. Those made this year a lot more colorful, a lot nicer and a lot more fun.
And lastly, I’m thankful for the inks I tried this year that were hard for me to like initially. I didn’t always end up changing my first “yes or no” inclinations. But I always ended up changing my initial impressions. There were some “I don’t think so” inks that became “this is just fine in the right pen.” And there were also a few “I don’t think so” inks that became “I cannot write with this another day, not even another second.” (Most of those were in the babypoop brown category.)
Don’t let anyone kid you: ink is just colored water. Inks are not at all like people. Okay, except in this one little way: some you love immediately, some you take a bit longer to warm up to and some you may never warm up to, but you still benefit by giving them the benefit of the doubt, as much as you can.
I may not like babypoop brown, but gosh darn it, some people want three or four different babypoop brown inks. And I may feel an involuntary shiver run down my spine when someone says “I have a great avocado green ink here,” but the truth is, every other fountain pen user seems to love avocado green inks.
Ink is just colored water. But still I’m thankful for each time I encountered an ink that was more challenging, because it helped me remember, in the tiniest way, that we get back what we put into things.
So, ink fans, I say, today, two days before American Thanksgiving, let’s be thankful not just for the inks we love, but also for the hard-to-love, the puzzling, the “what do people see in this anyway” inks. The “brown” inks that are black, if we’re telling the truth to power. The hard-to-read neon greens. Even the everyday blues.
Because, just maybe, these things are worth another look. A better look.
Let’s keep trying. And let’s be thankful for the opportunity to do so. Because just being able to devote a few minutes of the day to think about ink, instead of more pressing things, proves it. We are so lucky.
We should remember that every day.
Fountain Pen Follies 