KWZ Raspberry. This is a dye-based ink from KWZ in a raspberry pink that is an interesting color and very low maintenance, but for me it is best suited for wetter pens.
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Pen of the Day: Pelikan 400nn with Diamine Gerbera
Pelikan 400nn with medium nib. Again? I just had this pen on about a month ago. Sadly, I only have so many pens. At least until my Aurora gets here.
But the 400nn is worth another look: it’s a great pen. I really like its shape. Here it is with the classic and better-known 400, for comparison.
I know I showed a lot of Diamine Gerbera yesterday. But at least it’s not blue. And I wanted to highlight one interesting quality of this ink. The shading goes from a soft yellow-orange, in the dashed lines, to a deeper, redder orange, but despite that it’s still fairly toned down.
I always like it when an ink has more going on than you expect.
Ink Snippet: Diamine Gerbera
Something’s Coming, Something Good
There are a lot of fun stages of pen ownership, but the most conflicted must be “waiting for a new pen.” It’s the best of times (excitement) and the worst of times (impatience).
I decided at the pen show that my big purchase wouldn’t be a pen there, but would be the Aurora Optima Monviso due out in June. With the factory stub, for a change from my usual fines and mediums.
It’s June, and the Monviso is already out. I’ve seen other owners’ photos all over Instagram. But the stub nibs are taking longer, because Aurora had to make those. Despite my impatience, that seems worth waiting for.
Now I’ve gotten word that the pen is here, in the US, and the distributor Kenro is mailing it today to my pusherman (sorry, “pen dealer”). I hope to have it late next week.
By the way, I got that photo from Kenro. It’s so … masculine, isn’t it? Just to balance things out, I promise that my Monviso will see some especially pretty inks.
Pen of the Day: Kaweco Classic Sport with KWZ Iron Gall Orange Ink
Kaweco Classic Sport with broad nib. Not so much a Pen of the Day this time, because I’m more interested in the ink, the new-to-me KWZ Iron Gall Orange.
If you read this blog regularly, you will not be surprised that KWZ Iron Gall Orange is not so much orange as brown. After all, this is KWZ, the imaginative ink maker that offers a black ink called Dark Brown and a fairly purple ink called Brown-Pink.
I look forward to putting Iron Gall Orange through its paces. This pen is my old reliable, the Kaweco Classic Sport, here with a broad nib.
Make ‘Em Laugh
Yesterday I went with my father to a play for Father’s Day.
I know a lot of people will be thinking, “fun,” or, “lucky.” But let me admit that I approach these theater outings with a large dose of trepidation, even dread. That’s because my father’s tastes are very highbrow and serious, so the plays he selects are usually 100 minutes of grim, shattering realism.
And, unfortunately, I don’t drink. Nor do I keep any leftover painkillers to pop beforehand. Damn laws.
So as excellent as these productions are, I secretly call it Unhappiness Theatre.
In the past when we’ve gone to Unhappiness Theatre we’ve seen plays about a terrible marriages, sexual abuse by a priest, dementia, suicide and A Man Who Cannot Love. Oh, yeah, also the Holocaust.
So imagine my surprise when I got to Unhappiness Theatre yesterday and saw they were actually staging a comedy. It was a sendup of a number of famous American plays, with fantastic actors, so it was very funny. The narrator described two of the characters, a married couple, thus: “their hobbies are alcohol and resentment.”
Words that describe probably half of the characters in the plays usually put on by Unhappiness Theatre.
So, it was doubly fun in that setting. The audience left happy. Even my dad was delighted. Everyone likes to laugh.
My dad did not know, however, that the words they said at the end, and the song they played were from the movie The Breakfast Club. That’s the only allusion I got that he didn’t. And I did not tell him, either. That might have ruined it for him.
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Lithograph of the Paris Opera [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Father’s Day
It’s Father’s Day here, and I’m lucky enough that I can still celebrate with my father. I’ve been thinking it must be hard to be a father, because you have so much responsibility and you’re expected to be the strong, invulnerable one. At least, that’s how my father has always been. So this Father’s Day, I wanted to say some things about him.
1. We have very few mutual interests and our tastes are generally opposite. If he likes it, it usually pains me, and if I like it, it definitely irritates him. He enjoys classical music concerts and plays like Strindberg’s Dance of Death. I like “horrible music,” sports and movies with Matt Damon or George Clooney.
2. Except we both like the Chicago Bears. But I got that from him.
3. He’s practically a genius, and definitely a polymath. That’s another thing we don’t have in common. When I was struggling through Latin in middle school, he still remembered it from his own school days, 40 years earlier. He has designed and built home additions, and he can learnedly discuss the sources of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil or the victory chances of a particular political candidate. And he’s a talented artist.
4. He has always loved to drive, but he fancies himself “a race car driver.” (His actual words.) I remember practically praying for survival on “vacations” as our car whipped and slipped around winding mountain roads with no guardrails. One station wagon did end up on its side in a ditch in Wisconsin, but luckily the glaciers had been there first, so there were no mountains to crash down.
5. But apart from the hellacious driving, my father has always done the right thing, not the easy thing. He’s always up for new experiences. He’s always treated strangers as friends. He’s always thought everyone is equal. He’s always had a fierce social conscience. He’s always taken care of the extended family, from the oldest to the youngest. He’s never called attention to anything about himself, or wanted a fuss made. He’s just a really good person.
Liking Jane: More About De Atramentis Jane Austen
At the end of a dreadful week in the news, I want to take refuge by delving into something utterly insignificant, but at least diverting. That would be ink. I’d like to talk about Jane Austen ink by De Atramentis.
I’ve always maintained that the least interesting aspect of any ink I review is how the color strikes me personally. Instead, I try to be more neutral. Everyone’s taste is individual, but there are certain objective qualities to note about an ink. Is it dry or wet? Does it shade? What does it look like on different papers?
But I’m going to step away from that model here. Because I knew the minute I inked up De Atramentis Jane Austen that I liked it, but didn’t love it. Further, what I like most about De Atramentis Jane Austen is that it’s named after one of my favorite authors. That presents something of a mild conundrum for me.
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Pen of the Day: Aurora Optima Burgundy Auroloide with KWZ Raspberry Ink
Aurora Optima Burgundy with medium nib. It took a good two weeks to kill it, but Blue Week is finally dead. All hail KWZ Raspberry.
This looks like a nice pink. Not bright or flashy, and neither sweet nor girlish. It’s the perfect antidote to an overdose of blue.
I use this lovely pen a lot. It’s part of my Red/Pink Triumvirate, together with a Pelikan Pink and Pelikan Ruby Red. The Aurora is the most dignified. And I like Aurora’s narrow sort of medium nib.
Fountain Pen Follies 