The Pens On My Desk

Now that a few pens have moved out, what’s left on my desk? It’s a pretty varied lot with the exception of Platinum pens. Out of ten pens, three are Plats. All of the others are singles. Hint, hint. I am a fan of that brand, especially the #3776 model, but turns out I can only use one pen at a time.

Currently, five are inked and five are waiting for fills. The photo is of the pens that are inked including a Lamy Studio F, TWSBI 580 1.1 stub, Delike bent nib, Platinum #3776 Century Nice M, and Levenger True Writer Masuyama CI.

The five pens that have yet to be filled are a Platinum #3776 Century Nice Pur B, Platinum #3776 Music Nib, Pelikan M400 F, Conklin Duragraph 1.1 Stub, and Pilot Metropolitan M.

The Delike has a review in the works that should be completed in a few days. It quickly charmed its way into my rotation and has been a pleasure to use. All of the others have been mentioned in the past or received full reviews.

Are any of them your favorite pens, too?

On My Desk: A Ton Of Ice

Cracked ice that is. Fashioned out of celluloid or resin, these pens bring color to my workspace without shouting, “Look at me!” Subtle and varied but undemanding, all have wide nibs that add flair to my writing. The nib is usually the attraction for me, but sometimes a little color adds to the joy of writing and the beauty of cracked ice does that very well.

The True Writer is a custom cursive italic ground by Mike Masuyama. The Durograph is a stock stub. The Delike New Moon came from the manufacturer with an extra-fine nib bent into a fude and will get a review soon. 

Do you like the cracked ice models or do you prefer another variant on the colored fountain pen theme?

 

 

Diamine Dark Brown Ink Earns Top Marks

Diamine Dark Brown is a seldom mentioned ink that deserves top marks for performance as well as its soft brown color. Even for ink users who aren’t fond of brown, this one might be a useful option.

A different name would be more descriptive, so I think of it as Diamine Dark Brown – That Isn’t. Unlike the rather orange colored Sepia that barely qualifies as a brown, Dark Brown is properly a medium brown. Very well-behaved and easy on the eyes, it produces lovely shading and a hint of outlining here and there. Good flow and average lubrication make it suitable for a wide variety of nibs. It dries slightly faster than Diamine Sepia and significantly faster than some of the heavily saturated inks in my collection.

Dark Brown is a chameleon depending on the light source. In daylight, it has a red slant. In artificial light, it looses the red and looks balanced or neutral. It isn’t a red-brown like Waterman Havana but there is a subtle bias. My ancient scanner was flummoxed by it and no amount of color adjustment could produce an accurate rendition despite three of us attempting to pin it down to a single image. This one will have to do.

The color is soft and attractive enough for drawing purposes. It also works well for correspondence and in many business applications. My Kyoto Levenger True Writer custom stub suits it perfectly.

Diamine’s selection of brown inks has expanded greatly in recent years and it is a color at which the company excels. It’s hard to go wrong no matter which one you choose but my current favorites are Dark Brown and Chocolate Brown, just in case you were wondering.