Category Archives: LOVE

INK REVIEW: Caran D’Ache – Amazon

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Nice!  I love this Amazon from Caran D’Ache. Remember, Caran D’Ache is not a person!
Anyway – the ink is a true green. It wrote beautifully – though a little wet/smudgy – I’m willing to believe (hope) that had something to do with the pen I was using and allow myself to fall in love with the ink. Not too yellow – not too blue – just green. 
Tiny bit of feathering, but again, that could be linked to the pen. I’m willing to take that bet.
A little shading, too. Not loads, but a nice little bonus.
But the biggest bonus is the big in-your-face color – and we all know how I like that.

All of this goodness has to come at a price, hm?  Amazon’s water test is a total fail. The droplet of water test (in the word “from” below) completely took over the ink – and, sadly,  the smudge test didn’t fair much better.

That bloop of ink on the bottom of the water test isn’t Amazon – it’s Invincible Black – but that’s a story for another day!

If there’s another green out there with this sort of color, but more permanency, I wish you’d post a comment and tell me all about it. For now, though, me and Caran – we’re BFFs.

xo

PEN REVIEW: Lamy Safari Charcoal with Black Nib

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As we all know from my first post, I’ve been in love with fountain pens since the 1980s.  Somehow, though, the entire Lamy line had eluded me.  Crazy, right?

Earlier this year, my deep love for fountain pens, ink, and paper was reignited. I blame Goulet Pens and their zillion ink samples. (Thank you, Brian and Rachel!)

I also started peeking in at Fountain Pen Network from time to time. Lamy this, Safari that. So prevalent were the posts about the Lamy Safari and its astounding incredible wonderfulness – how was I to resist?

Now, Jeff swears I bought this for him. I remember no such conversation. He even says it was delivered to him wrapped – with a bow! He so crazy. (Later, he admitted that he knows that all pens in the house belong to me – he’s just allowed to borrow them from time to time.)

This pen is the charcoal color. I chose a black medium nib.  I have it on good authority that the black steel nibs write the same as the traditional steel nibs.

The pen is hard plastic. The grippy section is triangular. Some people have issue with the shape – I think it depends on how you hold the instrument and your writing style. For me, it’s fine. Not ultra-comfy, but it’s definitely not uncomfortable. (Did you know I’m left-handed?)

I love the ink-a-boo (I just made that up) window. Let’s you see how much ink you have left – and, if you’re forgetful, what color is in your pen.

The Lamy Safari can take (proprietary) cartridges or use the (proprietary) converter for unlimited inking options. (Be brave, go converter.)

I found it to be one of the easiest pens to clean. Bonus points for that.

But we all know the big question. How did it write?
Like. OMG. That’s how it wrote.
I love this pen. The Lamy Safari is one smooth operator. (Maybe too smooth if you like a little traction.) And I think it makes my handwriting look nice without even trying.  (Click images to make them bigger.)
Obviously, some of this is the ink and paper combination (Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro and Clairefontaine Triomphe), but look at that shading!  Can you even stand it? In-freakin-sane.

I made these lemon pots de creme using the lemons from the tree in our backyard. 
So. Yeah. I’m loving the Lamy Safari.  Costs around $30. Mine came with a cartridge I won’t use. The converter was around five bucks.
In fact, I loved it so much that I now have several of them – stay tuned! (Yikes!)

INK REVIEW: Diamine Pumpkin

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Last year we picked up, packed up, and moved from New York to the San Francisco area. We loooove it here in the Bay area, but I sure miss autumn in New York.  The smells, the weather, the COLOR!
This screamin’ orange ink from Diamine really does it for me. So bright, so right. It’s a perfect shade of orange. Not too brown, too yellow, or too red. I’m in love.
Check it out. 
click the image to see more detail

See what I said? “I may never use another color again. As long as I live. Really!”

Ha! How crazy is that? I might mean it, though.

Look at the Compare Square. I think Orange Crush from Private Reserve looks more like a shade of pumpkin than Pumpkin from Diamine. I really think I should be in charge of naming colors.

There’s some smearing, but it’s not awful. I made that squiggle, waited just a few seconds and then ran my finger along the ink.

I didn’t have any ghosting – and I wish I could come up with a better way of illustrating my ghost tests. I’ll work on that. You work on getting this ink. Today.

Check this out…

Some shading, but it’s mostly super-saturated

There’s some slight feathering on Hammermill paper, but not much.  If we were going to see terrible feathering, it would be on the swab – those are done on 3×5 index cards and the paper is so thin. (Does anyone make high quality index cards?)

Whew. That’s some ORANGE.  I’m in love. Orange Jello! That’s what it reminds me of.

I almost wish I didn’t have to show you this . . .

Water Test – Fail

Poo.

Here’s how I test for water resistance:

1. Write with the ink (always a good first step!)
2. Let it dry for 10+ minutes
3. Place a droplet of water on one word (“from” in this case) and let that dry naturally
4. Smear a moistened Q-Tip across the words “Water Test”

I’m bummed that the water test is a fail. I’m not surprised, though. My limited understanding is that it’s difficult to get water resistance from most mixed shades like purple, orange, green. Wah Wah.

All of this said, I (probably) will not be using this color for everrrrrrything, but I’m totally into it for some fun this fall. I’ve found it all over the place for $12-15.

Are you seasonal about your ink colors? Which are your current favorites?

INK REVIEW: Noodler’s – Black

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Noodler’s Black is a good, solid black.  The color is rich and deeply saturated. It was definitely wet in my Caran D’Ache with a fine nib; I imagine it would be almost too wet for me in a pen with a broad nib.

Look at the water test, yo.  That’s some impressive behavior!  (The “b” in “by” is where I place a single drop of water – can’t see it at all!)

I rarely read reviews before testing the inks on my own.  It doesn’t matter too much what other people think about a particular ink – I want to know how it performs for me – in my pens. Having fallen in almost-love with this ink, I decided to see what others were saying . . .

Amazon Reviews

Goulet Reviews

According to Noodler’s, the ink is Waterproof, UV resistant, bleach resistant, fade-resistant, and good for archival purposes. It’s also forgery-resistant. SOLD! I’ve added this ink to my wish list.

VISITING with an Old Friend – Waterman Expert Fountain Pen

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Waterman Expert Fountain Pen
Waterman Expert Fountain Pen (c.1988)

There she is – my very first fountain pen.

The dentist I worked for at the time took our only other employee and me shopping for Christmas prezzies. He pushed thick envelopes filled with crisp bills into our hands and said the only condition was that we had to get something 100% for ourselves, “something you wouldn’t normally buy.” Lisa and I each knew exactly what we wanted and set off in opposite directions. She ran off to the Coach handbags and I, on the other hand, wandered over to men’s accessories in search of a fountain pen.

Months before, the doctor had received a check for some personal transaction. I immediately honed in on the handwriting. “How did he do that? Look at that – can you see it??” I had no idea what to call it, but I knew I needed to figure it out.  “It’s probably a fountain pen.”

A who? A what? I was clueless. A fountain pen! That’s what I wanted needed.

Choosing my first fountain pen was a breeeeze. I knew nothing.

“Would you like a medium nib?” Sure!
“Does that feel balanced in your hand?”  Uh huh.
“Do you like the grip? Is it to heavy?” I love it! I’ll take it!
“Do you need some cartridges to go with it?” Yes!

I got the pen home, tossed the box, the paperwork, and whatever that weird twisty thing was over my shoulder and into the trash. I have a fountain pen! How do I make it go?

A whole bunch of years, and inks, and pens later, and I find myself returning to my old friend: the Waterman Expert.

I snapped a few quick pictures, hastily scribbled some notes, and finally it was time to ink her up for the first time in at least eight years. I chose one of my current favorite inks – Noodler’s Lexington Gray and (seriously) when I put pen to paper, it gave me goosies (as J Lo would say).

Balanced. Comfortable grip. Not too heavy, not too light. An oh-so-satisfying click when the cap was posted. This was going to be great. I was practically giddy.

Then I started to worry that I’d remembered this old pen with a little too much fondness. That perhaps now that I’ve experienced other wonderful writing instruments that this one wouldn’t quite measure up. I had nothing to worry about.

Waterman Expert Fountain Pen
A bit of shading.
A generous medium nib, so smooth over the Rhodia paper. Wonderful shading (that thing I’d seen, but didn’t have the words to describe all of those years ago). No skipping or false starts (maybe one).  Just. Beautiful.

Enough of my gushing – let me show you what I’m talking about. (If I’ve done all of this right, you should be able to click on the pictures to see them larger and see more detail. If that doesn’t work, you will have learned that I’m not perfect, yo.)

Waterman Expert on Rhodia Pad
Rich burgundy color.
Waterman Expert Two-Toned Nib - some pitting
Some pitting on the two-toned gold nib. See the separation between the tines? That is some goodness right there, folks.

You notice that I didn’t call it an Expert in my writing? That’s because I had to do some sleuthing to figure it out.
This has been fun – remembering and writing about how I first fell in love with fountain pens. Do you remember your first love? I’d love to hear all about it.