Tag: Pelikan

Pen of the Day: Pelikan 400nn with Diamine Gerbera

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Pelikan 400nn with Diamine Gerbera ink

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.

Pelikan 400nn compared to Pelikan 400

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.

Diamine Gerbera writing sample

Fountain Pen Favorites for May 2016

Laura4 Comments

calendar image

May is always beautiful here and has always been my favorite month. This past week has been especially lovely in the garden, which is suffused with the lemony scent of older roses in bloom. And, yes, there have been pens and inks. Here were my favorites for May.

1. Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue. So you know how sometimes when you really look forward to something, it turns out to be a little disappointing once you actually have it? Well, that didn’t happen with the M205 Blue. I like it even more in person. Oh sure, the nib will never be for me, and the pen’s a little skimpy. But it’s such a pretty blue, and if it were perfect I’d only have to get rid of all my other pens anyway. Win-win, I’d say.

2.Boxing Out. May brought the best box for my Aurora Optimas ever. Not only does that gorgeous thing cradle the little fellows in plush comfort. Not only does it have ten (10!) empty slots that eventually I get to fill. But it also means my Aurora Optimas aren’t in the regular pen case any more, creating the erroneous but deeply satisfying impression that “I haven’t got that many pens after all.”

3. New Pen Evaluation Process. I have finally come up with a workable three-step system to analyze and evaluate matters when I want a new pen. It goes like this: (1) Don’t. (2) Don’t. (3) Don’t.

So far so good.

 

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Photo by Dafne Cholet, Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.

Pen of the Day: Pelikan Piccadilly Circus

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Pelikan M620 Piccadilly Circus fountain pen

Pelikan M620 Piccadilly Circus with fine nib. We went to Captain America: Civil War this weekend. I am so Team Captain America, and this was the closest pen I could find. Which okay, strictly speaking, is a total fail. But, imagine if Captain America ever went out and had some fun in the West End. Let’s go with that.

The Piccadilly Circus is my most used Pelikan Cities Pen, and in some ways my favorite. It’s the most fun.

Pelikan M620 Piccadilly Circus fountain pen detail

I inked it up with Caran d’Ache Divine Pink.  Yes, Caran d’Ache Week was last week. But I can almost hear a Donna Summer song playing somewhere, and I’m going to pretend the party is still going on.

Caran d'Ache Divine Pink ink writing sample

Pen of the Day: Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue (Again)

Laura2 Comments

Pelikan M205 blue demonstrator Caran d'Ache Idyllic Blue ink

Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue with fine nib. This was pen of the day fairly recently, but I’m repeating it because it’s got a brand new bag — I mean, ink.  This time I filled it with Caran d’Ache Idyllic Blue, another pure blue. I really like the combination.

Pelikan M205 blue demonstrator Caran d'Ache Idyllic Blue ink writing sample

I get the feeling that Caran d’Ache inks may not sell very well. They are so expensive in the US that I only buy them on sale, or from Europe. But it can’t just be price: other inks that are even more expensive get a lot of internet buzz. And Caran d’Ache inks fly under the radar.

Sample a few if you want to try something new. They are excellent inks. With great bottles.

Caran d'Ache Idyllic Blue ink bottle

Fountain Pen Style: The Official Preppy Handbook

Laura2 Comments

J. Herbin Vert Pré Callifolio Andrinople Pelikan M600 Pink Pelikan M400nn

If you are a certain (excellent) age, and also a woman, you’ll remember The Official Preppy Handbook, a well-thumbed tartan paperback owned by you and your friends. You’ll remember wearing Shetland sweaters, chinos and boat shoes. You’ll remember pink and green everything.

Why not rock that look with fountain pen ink?  Let’s go retro. Let’s go fun. Let’s go little-whales-on-shorts here.

For me, it’s J. Herbin Vert Pré and Callifolio Andrinople.

J. Herbin Vert Pré Callifolio Andrinople Pelikan M600 Pink Pelikan M400nn

Pen of the Day: Pelikan 400nn

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Pelikan 400nn fountain pen J. Herbin Vert Pre

Pelikan 400nn with medium nib. I still have a few vintage Pelikans hanging around, and this is one I’ve always liked the look of. The original green stripe Pelikan celluloid binde is a beautiful thing. And the 400nn shape is sleek.

Pelikan 400nn fountain pen

I desperately needed to add a little color to my roster of inked pens, so I filled the 400nn with J. Herbin Vert Pré. It’s a little wild and a lot of fun. And it is yet another example of one of my favorite ink categories: the barely legible.

Vintage Pelikans like this often have lovely semi-flex nibs. I couldn’t resist.

Pelikan 400nn fountain pen with J. Herbin Vert Pre ink writing sample

 

So I May Have a Problem (cough)

Laura4 Comments

blue fountain pens with chrome trim

Sometimes a new pen purchase triggers … well, not a look in the mirror, exactly, but a furtive peek into the pen case.

Is it possible that I like blue and chrome pens a little too much?

You know, I’m going to go with “no.”  That is unpossible.

Don’t think twice, it’s alright.

Blue fountain pens with chrome trim

Things That Are Blue: Two Bright Blue Pelikans

Laura4 Comments

Pelikan M605 Marine Blue and Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue fountain pens

Here is a quick look at my new blue Pelikan, the M205 Transparent Blue, with my slightly older blue Pelikan, the M605 Marine Blue.

The M205 is a demonstrator. The Marine Blue is not: the glossy, translucent plastic of the Marine Blue looks much less transparent in person than in photographs. But the Marine Blue has a definite “ooh shiny” quality.

The M205 is smaller, thinner and lighter, and has the steel nib instead of gold. But it’s also less expensive. And, yet, shiny. I passed this up when it was widely available a few years ago, but as soon as Pelikan reissued it, I snapped one up.

I use modern Pelikans all the time, and with blue my favorite ink color, I’m glad to have both of these.

Pelikan M605 Marine Blue and Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue fountain pens

Pen of the Day: Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue

Laura2 Comments

Pelikan Classic M205 Transparent Blue Demonstrator with writing sample

Pelikan M205 Transparent Blue with fine nib. It’s full name seems to be the “Classic M205 Demonstrator Transparent Blue Special Edition” which certainly is a mouthful. But that does say it all. The pen is blue, it’s a demonstrator and it has chrome-plated trim.

Despite some internal struggle, I just had to have it. And it really looks great.

Pelikan Classic M205 Transparent Blue Demonstrator

As you can see from that photo above, the piston is black, but the spindle and other fittings are a lighter color — beige or gray. That makes the assembly less obtrusive, but still visible. I like Pelikan’s attention to detail there.

The only things I don’t love about this pen, and I knew both going in, are the Pelikan steel nib and the pen’s light weight. There’s nothing to do about the weight, since I don’t like writing with the pen posted. But as for the nib, because it’s a Pelikan I can swap in other nibs. And maybe I’ll have the steel nib stubbed or something. As we say in Chicago, “I know a guy.”

But, the look of the pen, I just love.

Pelikan Classic M205 Transparent Blue Demonstrator