Looking For A New Pen And Ink Playground?

With Fountain Pen Network down for the past week, some people are itching to chat with like-minded folk. In the past few years, several pen boards have emerged, any one of which might be a worthy second home for you.

All have pen threads but not all have threads about ink. FPGeeks Forum has had quite a few posts over the past few days, so if you need an ink fix, that might be a good place to start. Check the Pen Community section in my sidebar for a few more boards.

Another place for pen conversation is the fountain pens group on Google Plus. On Twitter I have a list of pen people that you can follow. So explore your options. There certainly are plenty of them.

Miquelrius Notebooks Are Perfect For Fountain Pens

Some brands of paper accept fountain pen ink without hesitation. Miquelrius is one of them.

Never heard of this company? According to the website, “Miquelrius is a family company whose origins go back to 1839 in Barcelona, Spain.” Its products are available at a variety of retailers but the plain black cover might not stand out on crowded shelves or turn up in an online search. At the price point, it’s worth seeking out and the scan shows why.

This white paper is more lightweight than Black ‘n Red or Staples Arc but show-through and bleed-through were non-existent even from my Namiki Falcon SB gusher. A variety of inks and nibs produced clean margins and no feathering. The 6.5 x 8″, spiral bound, 140 sheet version can easily be written on both sides yielding 280 pages. The edges are colored-coded blue, red, green, and gray for four-subjects should you be so organized. Retail prices vary but I purchased mine on sale at Target for around $4 a few months ago. Now I wish I’d bought a stack of them.

The paper is very smooth. Resistance is absent and makes the paper ideal for long sessions. The number of pages per notebook is significantly greater than comparable products. That’s value for money I appreciate. Line-spacing is 7mm or just over a quarter inch which is fine for most people and suitable for those who write large like me.

The thin-ish paper has a quirk that I like but won’t suit everyone. Pages that have been written on can be seen through an unwritten page. I find that rather charming in a vintage way. In use, it wasn’t off-putting at all but instead made me rather pleased that I’d filled up so many pages. For a writer, that’s a good thing.

In addition to a simple black polyproplyene cover with the MR logo, Miguelrius notebooks come in a variety of patterns though only a few were available at Target. All of those were too cutesy for my taste but they do change offerings from time to time. The next batch might have one that would be just the thing. These notebooks come in several sizes and with different numbers of pages. Some are bound while others are spiral with micro-perforated pages that are hole punched. There are grid versions as well as lined. If you order online, check the specs to ensure you get exactly what you want.

Links to explore: Miquelrius, Target, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.

Links From Pens To Fish To Cursive

Don’t even try to connect the dots but do enjoy this fresh batch of links…

• Word. Notebooks (According to a company rep, the printer says the paper is FP-friendly.)
• Writer’s Bloc Top 10 Fountain Pens
• New Rhodia Products in 2014
• Siamese Fighting Betta Fish
• Wonder Pens in Toronto
• Kate Gladstone on mandating cursive in North Carolina schools
• Edison Pen Company: Learn How To Tune Your Nibs

Parker Penman Ruby Fountain Pen Ink

Parker Penman Inks were introduced twenty years ago and for some aficionados nothing has replaced them. Sapphire is the most often mentioned color but Ruby is no less worthy of note.

Ruby has a bit more yellow and green in its base than other burgundy inks and that gives it a unique, slightly earthy color. It has good shading for its degree of saturation as well as good flow. The color combined with the other properties have kept this ink on my list of favorites for a very long time.

Several years ago, I sent a sample to Diamine hoping they would develop something comparable. After all, Ruby had been off the market since 2000 and there were few burgundy inks available at that time, much less one that offered similar properties. Since then, Diamine has released Syrah and Merlot. From Diamine’s online swatches, Syrah looks like a possible substitute for Ruby while Merlot looks more red or wine-colored.

Inks that are true color duplicates are uncommon so at best Syrah will be similar. If it shades well, it might be a worthy substitute. Not that I’m likely to run out of Ruby anytime soon. My stash of three bottles is more properly a hoard, one that could make even a dragon jealous.

A Burgundy By Any Other Name

Not that anyone has to have a burgundy ink in their color wardrobe, but a true inkophile does love variety. My collection is lacking a Diamine in this color range, something I intend to remedy soon with either Oxblood or Syrah.

For now, the long-discontinued Parker Penman Ruby and Noodler’s Red-Black will do while Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses is perfect for something a bit more pink. All three show a degree of shading with the right pens and good to excellent flow in any pen. None are fast drying but I like the colors so well that this quirk doesn’t deter me .

Noodler’s Tiananmen and Cayenne are my choices for red though Diamine Monaco Red is a good option for a slightly less saturated look.

Noodler’s Black Swan in English Roses would be another good addition to this group but it’s a lot more difficult to find as the good ones so often are.

The dots are more representative of the color produced with a pen except Noodler’s Tiananmen which is less red and more rose colored than reflected in the scan.

A Spring Bouquet From Levenger

Levenger has a new True Writer with a color scheme based on Redouté’s flowers. It is called Bouquet and certainly suits the season. It also works well as a gift for Mother’s Day. If I owned one, it would be a sure bet for green ink but there might be a pink lurking in my collection that would be a cheerful alternative. Fun either way.

Now if only the Tiffany styled Arrondissement Ballpoint came as a fountain pen, I might splurge on a new pen for myself.

Arrondissement is a municipal district of certain cities, esp Paris. I don’t know what that has to do with the pen but the colors are very attractive.

Links From Cake To College To Heavy Metal

Given the events of this past week, it was a challenge to ferret out some lighter fare but there were a few bits worth sharing.

• Man quits job by making a spectacular resignation cake
• Meet the family who sent six kids to college by age 12
• Wet Cell Phone Rescue Tool That’s Better Than Rice
• A blast of heavy metal ‘boosts blooms’
• Fountain Pen Give-Away Drawing is Close!
• Ricochet: The Gem of an Overwhelmingly Bad Week