Nothing Shy About This Lot

Warmer weather always brightens my ink rotation. Orange, pink, and a paler shade of green add some fun to the hold-overs from early spring.

In addition, Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa is getting a run in the Namiki Falcon SB fire hose. So far – so good with that test. It’s a muted gray-purple that suits clouds more than unrelenting sunshine, but if it tames the beast, it will be a good choice.

• Kyoto Levenger True Writer custom stub with Diamine Dark Brown
• Clementine Retro 51 Scriptmaster II fine with Iroshizuku fuyu-gaki
• Lamy AL-Star custom fine italic with Iroshizuku tsutsuji
• Montblanc 220 OB with Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses
• Namiki Falcon SB with Rohrer & Klinger Scabiosa
• Namiki Falcon SF with Diamine Violet
• Waterman Deluxe Carene Stub with Iroshizuku asa-gao
• Platinum Century B Chartres Blue with Diamine China Blue
• Platinum #3776 music nib with Diamine Mediterranean Blue
• Namiki Falcon SF with Diamine Kelly Green

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.

An Ink Rotation And Its Worksheet

You are not alone if you wonder/aren’t certain/debate which inks make a rotation. Truthfully, it’s anything that makes you happy but a worksheet can help narrow and refine choices without inking a gazillion or even a dozen pens.

The pens in the upper right section were already inked and some will continue into the summer with the same colors.

The bottom section is a test of possible inks culled from a review of my ink journal. The dots of color were made with the tip of a cotton swab. The paper is from my daily journal which will see the most use of my rotation. It is tinted pale gray which has a mildly dulling effect on ink color so I like to test directly on it for better accuracy.

The upper left section of my worksheet reflects the most likely prospects along with possible pens. Though good colors for the season, some of the inks were eliminated due to degradation or poor performance.

This rotation is in flux. Waiting in the wings are Sailor Uranari, olive green, Sailor Yaki-Akari, pale aqua, Diamine Steel Blue, turquoise, and Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses. If a red is needed, Noodler’s Tiananmen or J. Herbin  ’1670′ Rouge Hematite will do depending on whether subtle or flashy suits the occasion. China Blue will replace asa-gao and Noodler’s Cayenne will replace Vermillion for summer. BSAR might eliminate Claret and Solferino as well. Chocolate and Pilot BBk will return in autumn. That will leave a nine pen rotation which is plenty even for me.

What I don’t like about this group of inks is that the colors don’t come together thematically. What I do like is that it provides lots of options for duos and trios. In addition, the inks are well-matched to their pens so writing will be very enjoyable.

The Levenger True Writer (TW) dominates for now but that is in part because it uses an easy to fill converter and the fine nibs aren’t terribly narrow. My collection needs more broad nibs and stubs to show ink color better. Skinny nibs just don’t have enough punch for a color addict but do not tell me there is a 12-step program for that addiction. I absolutely will not listen. No, no, no, no, no.

Three Noodler’s Inks – Beaver, Purple Martin, Tiananmen

Nathan Tardiff, grand master of the Noodler’s realm, never ceases to invent new colors and types of inks. For that he deserves the highest marks. But the colors that have been around for years are no less worthy of note. Dick Egolf of Luxury Brands USA kindly sent three fan faves for review. What could an inkophile do but accept the opportunity and set to work.

The trio includes Beaver, Purple Martin, and Tiananmen. Brown, purple, and red are workhorse colors so they were easy to incorporate into my rotation. My Levenger True Writers leapt at the opportunity to test new inks and away we went.

Noodler’s Inks Meet Levenger True Writers

Fair warning that my scanner lamp is dimming so colors are not as they should be. For better color renditions, go to NoodlerInk.com.

Noodler’s Beaver, Purple Martin, Tiananmen

These are clean, saturated colors. No dramatic shading or other exotic properties but the flow is especially well-suited to a fine nib on smooth paper. The True Writers were perfect mates especially on Rhodia Bloc No 16 paper. My Apica 6A10 daily journal was a good match, too. There was a small amount of feathering on Staples (pineapple) bagasse paper and in a Mead composition book with Tiananmen. Moleskine performed as expected. The full-sized image of the Mead composition book shows feathering with a number of inks. Caveat emptor on that one.

Noodler’s Ink Test On Rhodia Paper

Noodler’s Ink Test On Staples Bagasse Paper

Noodler’s Ink Test On Moleskine

Mead Comp Book Ink Test

Should you be as silly as I was this past month and forget that Beaver was in a pen that got no use, well, it might not start up instantly. All it took was priming the flow to get it back on track. No damage noted.

My three-pen leather case stocked with these new friends and a pad of paper would carry me through any day. Brown for work, purple for personal notes, and deep red for edits that don’t scream. Now if I could just find that pen case…

Is A Limited Rotation Evidence Of Bias Or Balance?

My ten pen rotation has grown rather limited and might be showing signs of bias. Or maybe it’s balance in some way.

• Noodler’s Tahitian Konrad flex with Diamine Teal
• Black marble Levenger True Writer fine with Noodler’s Purple Martin
• Red marble Levenger True Writer fine with Noodler’s Tiananmen
• Kyoto Levenger True Writer Matsuyama stub with Noodler’s Beaver
• Mink Levenger True Writer Matsuyama cursive italic with Noodler’s Golden Brown
• Pelikan M215 (silver rings) Binder italic with Noodler’s Ottoman Azure
• Namiki Falcon soft broad with Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses
• Platinum Century Chartres Blue broad with Platinum Pigment Blue
• Platinum Century fine flex with Noodler’s Golden Brown
• Platinum #3776 music nib with Diamine Sepia

That’s four True Writers, three Platinums, and one each of Noodler’s, Pelikan, and Namiki (Pilot) pens. The inks are even more lopsided with seven Noodler’s, two Diamine, and one Platinum. My most expensive (Iroshizuku) as well as discontinued (Montblanc Racing Green) inks get less use so they last longer. That does sway things a bit.

The nibs are more varied and even more so when a Lamy Vista 1.1mm joins the lineup in the near future. The Sapporo fine is asking to play with one of the Iroshizuku jewels and that is always hard to refuse.

A dozen pens is excessive but it’s also a lot of fun. Yeah, maybe I’m biased toward some ink brands and pen makers but I’m an equal opportunity employer when it comes to nibs. How about you? Do you gravitate in one direction more than another? What gets you excited? Er, that applies to pens and inks only, okay?

Pen and Ink Rotation for January, 2013

On My Desk To Start The New Year

A neat desk is a good way to start the new year. I reckon I will have to wait until 2014 for that bit of holiday joy.

The top section of my list comprises only the pen related items.

• 14 pens including three Platinum #3776 pens at various stages of testing, three Levenger True Writers and a Namiki Falcon B nib filled with Noodler’s Inks for testing,  four Lamys and a Kaweco Sport filled with inks from previous tests, and two pens that are in regular rotation, a True Writer Cursive Italic and a Pelikan M215 Cursive Italic.
• The inks in those pens are Platinum Pigment Blue, Diamine Sepia, Noodler’s Golden Brown, Tiananmen, Beaver, Purple Martin, Australian Roses, 54th Mass., Q’E-ternity, Air-Corp BBk, Ottoman Azure, plus Montblanc Racing Green, and Kaweco BBk.
• An Apica 6A10 Note Book, a Daycraft Signature 2013 Diary, various Rhodia pads, several Staples sugarcane spiral notebooks, Stillman & Birn Journals, an Exacompta Sketchbook, Staples notebook paper, and a couple of legal pads.

Then there is all the stuff that is not fountain pen related.

• Two Autopoint mechanical pencils and assorted erasers
• Pentel Pocket Brush Pen
• Two Chinese seals and a bottle of Chinese ink for painting
• One magnifying loupe
• One 6″ jade statue
• A container of watercolor brushes and two Altoid-sized boxes filled with pans of watercolor paint
• A container of drawing pencils and Sharpies
• Six bottles of hand lotion (Well, a girl has to have options.)
• One roll-on bottle of Life TIME Stopain Topical Analgesic
• Minolta E-323 camera
• Small TV, cable box, laptop-sized keyboard, mouse, and a large computer monitor that dominates the whole affair
• Clock radio and a phone
• One LED and one standard bulb flashlight
• Three pairs of glasses

You should see what else it holds. Or maybe not. No need to traumatize you neat and tidy people.

2012 And Some Really Good Pen Stuff

2012 was a very lean year with few items to review and no ink or pen purchases. So there is little new to recommend. Still there are some favorites worth mentioning along with a few new products on my list of

Really Good Stuff

• Best new tool that came my way was the InkJournal.
• Best new paper product was any Stillman & Birn Sketchbook.
• Martha Stewart cahier – The batch I bought was fountain pen friendly and very attractive.
• Canson Art Book cahier – Surprisingly good performance for both pens and watercolors.
• Daycraft Gold Slab journal may not be perfect or easy to source but it sure is gorgeous.
• Rhodia pads got the most action. The orange covers make them a standout in my messy office.
• My regular ink rotation expanded with the inclusion of Noodler’s Ottoman Azure and Black Swan in Australian Roses. No new ink colors came my way but Karen at Exaclair sent three reformulated J. Herbin inks for comparison to what I had on hand that were produced prior to EU meddling. I still enjoy all three, Vert Empire, Lie de Thé, and Poussière de Lune, but they are a bit different.
• Current model pens with stock nibs that were consistently in my rotation included the Lamy Safari with an EF or 1.1mm italic and the Vista 1.1mm italic as well as the Levenger True Writer fine nib. Most of my other pens are no longer in production or have been modified. The greatest difference in my rotation this year was that fewer fine nibs like Pilots and Sailors got used while the Montblanc 220 OB never fell out of favor.
• Custom nibs can be heavenly or not. Nearly all of mine were crafted by different people and in some cases I don’t even know who did the work. However, one Masuyama stub and one Binder cursive italic rose to the top. The former was a dream from the first fill though Iroshizuku ku-jaku is its current best friend. If ever there was a fickle pen this one is it for it will mate with darned near any ink. The Binder sat unused for years until on a whim got paired with Ottoman Azure. Now that Pelikan M-215 Rings is a delight to use. Some nibs are finicky and the right ink can make a huge improvement in performance. Admittedly, a little inspiration helps or that Pel and Ottoman Azure would never have met. So don’t discount what you think might work. Just try it and see what happens.
• The pen that resided in my handbag was the Kaweco Classic Sport. If it accommodated a converter, the Kaweco would get more use and take up residence on my desk.
• Best new (to me) non-fountain pen writing instrument was a tie between the Sanford Uniball Gel Grip medium (utilitarian) and the Pentel Libretto (attractive). The Autopoint remained my favorite mechanical pencil in large part due to its 0.9mm HB lead. The Levenger True Writer Rollerball sporting a felt tip refill continued as my first choice when a fountain pen or mechanical pencil wouldn’t do.

That wraps up 2012. My wish list for 2013 is simple. Buy or trade for another stub or italic nib and acquire a few new inks, mostly Noodler’s or perhaps a Diamine or two. A bottle of Iroshizuku kon-peki might be nice but on that I can wait.

Did you get some “really good stuff” this year? What’s on your list for 2013?

2012 Favorite Pen, Ink, and Paper Products

Noodler’s Ottoman Azure and Black Swan in Australian Roses, J. Herbin Poussière de Lune, InkJournal, Stillman & Birn Sketchbook for Pen & Ink, Levenger True Writer, Autopoint Mechanical Pencil, Rhodia pad, Pelikan Tradition M-215 Black Rings fountain pen.