Inky Pursuits is my sporadic series of monthly round-ups, featuring snippets of my stationery news. These might not necessarily be blogworthy on their own but are presented in the hope that together they may be greater than the sum of their parts.
Pen Purchases.
This month, there has been only one purchase and even that was not for myself. I have been enjoying regular use of my Tom Hessin “Revolution” fountain pen, and bought a second one to send for a friend’s birthday. This gave me the opportunity to test it first and enjoy its Ebony barrel (mine is Walnut). The pen is now in transit to Australia.
New Pencil Day.
The favourite of my mechanical pencils in recent years is probably my Pentel GraphGear 1000, 0.7. However, I have long been curious to try a Rotring drafting pencil. The opportunity arose when I spotted the Rotring 600 at a good price online. Fortuitously, the colour body that I liked the most (a dark burgundy) was the lowest price option.
I am delighted with it. Compared to the GraphGear 1000, (weighing 20g) the Rotring is shorter and has a body that is mostly hexagonal save for the knurled grip section and is slightly heavier at 23g, despite being smaller. The most common criticism that I saw in the reviews related to its non-retractable lead sleeve, which is 4mm long and (a) makes the pencil less convenient to transport and (b) can be easily damaged if dropped. However this seems a rather unfair objection to raise when a fixed sleeve is almost a defining feature of a drafting pencil. Furthermore, it took me only a few minutes to discover that if travelling with the Rotring 600, a plastic cap borrowed from a Bic Crystal fits perfectly.
I have enjoyed using my new pencil. It feels reassuringly solid and high quality. I am not a draftsman or somebody who uses one for hours on end but from my experience so far, the weight and balance are just right.
Musician sketching.
Over the last few months, I have attended a large number of orchestral concerts in London. From this, a new hobby has gripped me, namely the sketching of musicians at work, in pencil, fineliner and watercolours. I take a few photos during the final applause (not during the performance) from which to select individual members or sections of the orchestra to draw. I find this very absorbing and enjoyable. It is also strangely addictive: the more I practice, the more I am encouraged to continue. There is so much scope for improvement! I am happy if proportions look about right: achieving a likeness is a challenge well beyond my ability at present.
Pen temptations.
Although I have largely resisted the urge to buy more fountain pens, I was tempted and intrigued recently by a pocket pen from Tom’s Studio, that I saw in Peter Jones, Sloane Square. It was the Wren, a diminutive fibre tip pen that is refillable. Interestingly, it has a capillary filler system and is filled by removing the barrel and dipping the capillary filler in fountain pen ink, to allow the ink to rise up to the tip.
This is similar to some early models of the Parker 61. The pen itself felt nice to the touch and the cap posts to make it a comfortable length for writing or drawing. I have not bought or tried one but have read some favourable reviews and may yet succumb. I imagine that cleaning the pen before changing ink colour may be difficult.
Another benefit of blogging.
And finally, a lovely thing happened this month, which may not have happened but for this blog and Instagram. I was contacted out of the blue by a lady from Florida, inviting me to join her and her family for breakfast at an east London cafe. We had been in touch several years ago when she asked my advice in selecting a fountain pen as a special gift for her older daughter. It is always flattering to be asked for one’s advice. But without knowing much about the daughter in question, her taste and preferences in pens and a budget, it was difficult to advise. I recall writing a long letter with a list of general possibilities, with pros and cons of several well known pens and covering a broad spectrum of prices. I had concluded with a “tl;dr” suggestion that a Pelikan M600 might be suitable as a special gift. But having said that, I told her that the pen that I was currently using daily at work, was a humble Cross Bailey Light. I learned later that she bought both!
Fast forwarding to the present, she messaged me to say that she was in London with her family for a vacation in Europe and to visit her younger daughter studying at University in London for a year on an exchange programme. I had not met any of the family before and it was wonderful to finally do so whilst they experienced a full English breakfast.
Following on from this, the younger daughter told me that she was thinking of purchasing a fountain pen from her favourite stationery shop, Choosing Keeping. Did I have any suggestions? Once again, I found myself trying to summarise a lifetime’s fountain pen buying experience into some useful advice for a young lady about whom I knew little other than that she liked writing. I looked online to remind myself of what pens they sell, although I had browsed in the shop myself only a few weeks earlier.
How do you advise? It is one thing to come up with a list of pens that I would consider buying (if I did not already have most of them) but hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, from a different continent, generation and gender. I emailed a few factors that it might be helpful to consider such as the size, material, nib width, whether looking for a gold or steel nib, what filling system, any brand or country of origin preferences and most importantly, budget. I then suggested a few of the available pens from Choosing Keeping, to try out.
But having set out these pointers for her, it occurred to me later that perhaps I had overlooked the most important and useful piece of advice that arguably, takes care of many of the other considerations. This is to write with the pen and ask yourself, “Am I able to produce my best handwriting with this pen?” If the answer is yes, it implies that the pen is comfortable, it is a suitable size, shape and weight, it is writing smoothly, that ink is flowing and that you are feeling relaxed and enjoying the writing experience and want to keep writing. Conversely, if your writing is scrappy and hurried and not looking its best, it suggests that you are not enjoying it and cannot wait to put the pen down. At least, this little test seems to work for me.
My wife and I met up with my young friend once more, for lunch in Chinatown a few days before her return to Florida. She was considering a Pelikan M400 White Tortoise but had a few questions about piston fillers versus cartridge converter systems. This felt like when sitting an exam and your favourite question comes up! However I imagine that nowadays AI is pretty good on these sorts of questions. Opportunities to advise the younger generation, particularly if asking about fountain pens, are to be cherished. I hope that I may have been of some help.
Fountain pen blog 
I know the feeling when it comes to buying pens! I receive regular emails from one or two retailers and can not help myself. As soon as I go on their website I end up making a purchase. It certainly draws you in!
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Rest assured that you are not alone in this respect! There comes a time when the regular emails become a bit too much and it is liberating to unsubscribe from some to lighten your inbox and lessen the temptations.
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Hi. I got an e-mail from Cult Pens last week about their latest mystery box – this time a luxury version priced at £1,995. I am glad to say I was not even vaguely tempted! But I’m avidly watching out in the hope that someone does an unboxing and shows us what was included.
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Interesting post! I really like your musician sketches too. Like you, I use Rotring mechanical pencils. Sleek packaging too. My 600/ 0.5 is a light rose one. That’s a great tip you shared about using a Bic Crystal pen cap to avoid the pencil from getting damaged when travelling. Nice!
By the way, I bought a Rotring 600 2.0mm Silver 1911-703 clutch pencil about three/four years ago. I’ve recently discovered that quite a few of the Rotring clutch pencil models have been discontinued. I was surprised by how much they fetch just for a second-hand one!
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Thank you Jason. I had no idea that there was a second hand market for Rotring clutch pencils. I am new to their pencils (although I have used other Rotring products for decades) but they have their fans as can be seen from reading reviews online, and I can imagine that discontinuing some models has resulted in pre-owned models appreciating in value. “My pencil portfoliio has been profitable this year,” said no-one, ever!
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Thank you for your reply, Rupert.
If you ever happen to be in my part of the world (Tokyo), I recommend you pop into SEKAIDO art store in East Shinjuku. On the first floor is a little fountain pen area. I purchased a sleek Sailor Fude De Mannen some years ago. The smell of the ink brought back memories of boarding school in the 1970s. Now, I often sketch with a Mackintosh nibbed dip pen using Sumi drawing ink. On the fourth floor are the pens and pencils. The rOtring gift sets (i.e. pencil, with eraser, lead and exquisite black/red Toblerone-shaped box) are very popular. I’m sure it would be your cup of tea here, Rupert!
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Great read as ever. Mechanical pencils for myself have heavier leads. I’m a bit heavy handed with thin leads. I tend to use Blackwing pencils with a Kum Masterpiece sharpener to get a really sharp, long point. Blackwing make point end metal hexagonal covers that slip over to protect the lead in transport. It probably would not fit the rounded section grip on your Rotring though.
The Kaweco Brass Sketch Up with its huge 5.2 lead is great for sketching. Great for both line and shadowing. Your new found hobby looks great by the way. I wonder if you have a small watercolour pocket travel kit yet. Also, I found out recently that the Kaweco Sketch Up mechanical claw system can also hold a dip nib. Not all designs, but luckily a few of my favourites sit very securely. So, I carry a few of said favourites in a little tin in my Man Bag. I have a vintage metal Stephen’s ink travel container with a glass Stephen’s ink bottle in my bag too. So can use this for sketching too.
I love that last consideration of yours. The pen that I still find gives me the best handwriting performance is still my old 1960s Osmiroid 65 fine italic nib school pen. The nib has been changed just the once in all the decades. A few years ago I replaced the original with a Burnham one. And it hasn’t changed the pen’s capabilities at all. The ease of writing experience is definitely born from decades of familiarity.
Thank you for this post and all the best.
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Thanks for your comments and the information Gray. I was not familiar with the Kum Masterpiece, and had to look it up. I have a Kum Automatic long point sharpener.
That is very interesting, about some Rotring Sketch Up lead holders, accepting a dip nib. I am keen to try this. It is great when our stationery has more than one use!
It’s good to hear that you still use (and get your best handwriting from) the Osmiroid 65. I think I have mine somewhere and reading your comments has made we want to ink it up again.
I have not bought into the watercolour travel sets trend, but the watercolour boxes that I use are already quite pocketable. I have been using the Derwent Inktense sets, (12 half pans), although I have other sets from Winsor & Newton, Daler and Koh-i-Noor too.
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Thanks for your reply Rupert. The clutch mechanical pencil is the Kaweco Brass Sketch Up that holds dip nibs. I was watching a cartoon artist using various pencil types on a YouTube video. As luck would have it, I read about the dip nib possibility due to my replying in the comments. Another commenter mentioned it. I tried about five nibs and three of them sit very securely. There are probably lots more makes too.
I have great faith in the Masterpiece. Watching reviews on YouTube, due to visually seeing results, many consider the Masterpiece the best one on comparisons with other makes. What is nice is that replacement blades are very easy to get.
The italic fine nib has been used all through my nurse training and professional work too. So it has been a constant in life. I have an Osmiroid 75 with a wonderful Osmiroid script nib that has fantastic flex. Two Montblanc’s with oblique nibs are the closest to feeling, as you say, ‘at one’ with an italic type feel as pens. The Kaweco bronze and brass Sports with fine nibs are close too. And a small Onoto Junior with a lovely de la rue nib makes up to the magical number of seven. The rest of my pens are mainly vintage and really good. But these are the seven I would definitely take as my desert island choices.
That last observation you wrote about the consideration in feeling at ease with the pens really struck home. Especially when you mentioned the writing style results and ease in getting specific script contentment. This makes writing a joyful experience.
Cheers and all the best Rupert.
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I’m very impressed by your orchestra sketches. I’ve had a couple of months where I haven’t felt settled with my pen and ink choices and this has been exacerbated by moving into a journal notebook which has less than optimum paper. Just as you say, I felt I wasn’t doing my best handwriting. I did a complete clean of all the pens I had inked and chose some fresh ones and that’s made such a difference. My Parker Sonnet, which I don’t ink up often, is proving to be the best pen to use for my journal inked up with Diamine Kensington Blue so I think I’ll just stick with that for the duration of the notebook. Every pen has its day!
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Thank you very much Pamela. I have always enjoyed drawing and painting with watercolours but it has only been in the last six months or so, that I have practised it regularly and I now like to do so every day, even if only for half an hour or so. I was interested to read in your blog that you have been enjoying visits to stately homes and checking out the antique desk accessories, in your retirement. That adds a lovely dimension and mission, to a good day out.
Yes, we can get in a rut with pen and ink combinations. But finding a really pleasing combination is one of the serendipitous joys of this hobby. I tend to remember, (out of nowhere) a pen that I have not used in a while and suddenly have an inspiration of what ink I would like to try in it next. A pen might discover its “forever ink” in this process. With journaling, I have sometimes kept to the same pen and ink combo for an entire years’ worth of entries once finding a combo that works.
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