Travelling with ink: Audley, near Stoke-on-Trent.

August 9, 2023 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 7 Comments

We recently enjoyed a relaxing long weekend break, on a farm. Our accommodation was annexed to the impressive Georgian farmhouse, facing a delightful courtyard. This is a working dairy farm, with 240 acres of land and 400 cows.

Our cottage was annexed to this farmhouse.

During July, I had an outbreak of Parker Pen Purchasing on eBay. The first of these was a Parker 17, in black with a medium nib, which I wrote about earlier. This was followed by a Parker 51 also black, but with an oblique nib which I was very keen to buy. Next, there were two more Parker 17 fountain pens, each for sale by auction. There were no competing bids and I got both 17’s at their opening prices of £16.99 each, plus p&p.

The final purchase was rather more dramatic. I had seen a Parker 17, burgundy red fountain pen, with the open, “beak” nib, made only from 1962 to 1964 and harder to come by. I read that these command a higher price than the later, hooded nib models but had heard good reports of the nibs.

The auction was still several days away. For most of this time, mine was the highest bid but I made a maximum bid, of £59.90. In the tense final few seconds, I watched my screen helplessly as a flurry of increased bids were placed. I was successful! Afterwards, I found that another bidder had offered £58.00 with just four seconds remaining: eBay then bid one pound higher for me automatically, so it was a close shave.

Three more Parker 17 fountain pens. I am hooked on these.

These last three Parker 17s arrived just as we were setting off for our break, so I was able to bring them with me to clean and try out, with a bottle of Parker Quink Royal Blue.

It was wonderful to get away and have a change of scene. We were in a rural area with views of fields and trees. Our comfortable cottage had vintage furniture, a large kitchen with an electric AGA and a lounge/dining room which included a grand piano, which I enjoyed playing.

Having a full sized, concert grand was a bonus!

There was time to inspect my three new Parker 17’s. The blue one was a basic, standard model with a medium nib and wrote very nicely, with a pleasing bit of feedback. The green one was the Parker 17 Super Duofold, which featured a wider gold coloured cap-band and a ring on the end of the barrel. However this one had a few issues. The cap-band appeared to have been glued but with glue residue around the edge, on the cap. Also the cap was unusually tight. The grip section was misshapen, as if it had been forced into a cap that was too small. The pen filled normally and the nib was glassy smooth and felt like a broad.

The four colour options of the Parker 17.

The nibs turned out to be Fine, Medium and Broad.

However, the pen would write only for a paragraph or so before drying up and suffering “ink starvation.” A check inside showed that the ink had not got stuck at the back of the sac and so it was not obvious why ink flow had stopped. I suspect that it may be an issue with the air replacement to the sac, rather like trying to pour from a carton of milk with only one opening.

Talking of milk, we were invited to watch the cows being milked in the afternoon. This was a highly informative and memorable experience. The owner had farmed here for 53 years, taking over from his father who came in 1930. These days, the milking process is highly computerised with the milk piped to a large holding tank. The milkman comes to collect, every day including Christmas Day. The milk from this farm, goes to make cheese. Whilst being milked, the cows eat from a hopper of grain, which is automatically piped into the milking sheds from a big silo outside. Each cow is identified on the computer system, which monitors how much milk they yield and how much grain to give them. We were shown the harvester, which cuts grass for silage, the cows’ winter feed. It was quite an education for us city dwellers.

We explored the nearby city of Stoke-on-Trent. We browsed the shops and bought some clothes and shoes and enjoyed a meal. There was little in the way of fountain pen action, aside from a WHSmiths with Lamy and Parker pens for the “back to school” season. Looking at these, I felt that my vintage Parker 17s with their 14k gold nibs were a better buy.

Returning home, I found that my Quink bottle had leaked. It was only around the cap and had not done any harm except that I got it all over my fingers. Fortunately it was Washable blue, but I might not chose Quink bottles for travel next time.

The Parker 17 with beak nib (1962-1964 only).

New pen day: another Parker 17 arrives.

July 18, 2023July 18, 2023 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 2 Comments

Occasionally, everything goes right with a pen purchase. One evening last week, whilst browsing Parker pens on ebay, I came across a Parker 17 in black with gold trim, for sale at the very reasonable price of £12.00 plus post and packing. The description read “Parker 17 Aerometric/Reservoir Fountain Pen. Black & Gold. VGC/Desk.”

Parker 17. White markings still present.

Readers may recall that I have a burgundy Parker 17 with an oblique nib, bought at the London Pen Show in March 2023. I could not resist buying another, this time in black and with a medium nib.

The seller despatched the pen the very next morning by Royal Mail and it was delivered at 8.20am today. Any worries that I might have had about it being damaged in transit were soon dispelled. It was expertly packed in a cutaway between two blocks of foam polystyrene and secured with brown tape, snuggly inside a cardboard outer box. It could not have been better protected.

I read on Parkerpens.net, an informative site run by Swedish pen collector Tony Fischier, that the Parker 17 was introduced in 1962 and the hooded nib versions in 1964. The line was discontinued in 1972. Accordingly any Parker 17 that you see now, must be at least 50 years old.

Hooded nibs on the Parker 17 began from 1964.

Examining the pen, initial impressions were very favourable and kept getting better. The glossy black cap and barrel with gold trim, looked classically handsome. Aside from a few minor scratches, there were no cracks or chips. The white chalk or crayon markings on the barrel reading PARKER “17” M, (which easily wear off) were still intact, suggesting that the pen had been handled very little. Also, the engravings on the barrel, PARKER “17” MADE IN ENGLAND, with the Parker symbol, looked as fresh as if they had been made yesterday.

Often these engravings are so worn as to be barely legible. This one is like new.

Removing the pull-off cap, the hooded nib looked in great shape and showed no signs of wear. There were slight traces of ink and paper fibres between the tines and I gave the nib a rinse in water and flossed the tines lightly with a fine brass shim. The nib needed no adjustment. There was the desired gap between the tines, narrowing down to the tipping material which was rounded and symmetrical and the tines were in perfect alignment. All good so far.

The aerometric filler (which all Parker 17s have) was clean, with no ink stains and I wondered whether the pen had ever been inked (although it had at least been dipped). The metal housing of the sac looked like new, with no corrosion. Flushing the pen in water, the sac drew up a progressively good fill with about ten squeezes of the bar.

Aerometric filler, looking as good as new.

Cleaned and dried, I was ready to ink it up with Parker Quink blue black. I am glad to say that the pen wrote beautifully, with a good medium line, smooth and with no scratchiness. Indeed it was like new. There is just a little skipping sometimes if the nib is not quite held at the sweet spot. I expect this to resolve as the nib gradually wears in. Applying a little pressure opened the tines at the tip and produced a broader and wetter line. Quink blue black is a good shading ink. I found that I could use both underwriter and overwriter styles although the pen performed best in the underwriter, upright style. (The opposite is true with my burgundy version with its oblique nib). It measures 123mm uncapped and 143mm with the cap posted which I prefer.

Trying out the medium nib on the Parker 17 with Quink blue black ink. Notebook from Flying Tiger, 8mm row height. Bliss.

All in all, I could not be more pleased with this purchase.

Further thoughts on the Jinhao X159 fountain pen.

February 4, 2023 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 28 Comments

I am still besotted with these. Following the success of my recent purchase of two Jinhao X159 fountain pens, I found myself tempted to add more, in other colours.

They are available in a variety of editions. Most colours have the option of gold-coloured or silver-coloured trim and a choice of a Fine or Extra Fine nib. Depending upon your preferences the prices ranged from £7.49 up to around £20.00 and the estimated delivery times also vary.

Lingering repeatedly over the online photos, I contemplated adding a couple more to my existing pair. Readers may recall, I had started by ordering a black one, with silver trim and a Fine nib. This was swiftly followed by a blue one with gold trim and Extra Fine nib.

For my next order, I went for a dark orange with silver trim, Extra Fine nib and also a dark red one, gold trim and Extra Fine nib. Two pens in one order. See how this escalates!

A dark orange edition, with silver colour trim.

They arrived within 24 hours of ordering. Again, each pen was packed in its own simple padded envelope. Each comes with a converter fitted. No cartridge is included although they take standard international cartridges.

New pen induction ritual.

Again, I had the happy prospect of inspecting and preparing my new pens. Starting with the orange pen, and in what has become a familiar routine with my Jinhao flock, I started by examining the nib under a loupe. It looked to be set up well. I unscrewed the nib housing, separated the nib and feed and gave them a good rinse in warm water. In each of my Jinhaos from the seller Erofa, I have noticed a little blue ink residue in the water at this stage, a sign that the nib has been tested before sale. This is very admirable for its modest price.

I reassembled the nib, taking care to centre the nib over the feed and to hold it to the feed tightly as I pushed it back into the housing. I like the dark orange colour. It is not bright and showy, but more of a terra cotta.

Using cartridges.

I had given some thought to what ink to use, pondering a brown perhaps. But when the time came to ink the pen, I decided on trying a black cartridge. I have a stash of these, having bought WHSmith bags of 30, when they were about £3.00. I found that this ink actually performed very nicely and flows well. Somehow, this humble and inexpensive ink seems right to pair with the budget priced Jinhao – to keep the theme of getting the job done at the lowest possible price.

One big advantage of using these cartridges is that a pen will often have room in the barrel to carry a spare, great if you run dry while away from your supplies. I popped a spare one in the cavernous barrel of the X159. There was ample room for the barrel to be screwed back on, so much so that the spare cartridge could be heard ratting inside.

I thought of cutting a small piece off an eraser and putting it at the back of the barrel. I tried this, but on screwing it back together with the spare cartridge inside, the piece of rubber got stuck in the pen. I had also cut it too large, as the barrel would not screw on all the way. Having something stuck in the pen, or the risk of it happening, annoyed me and after eventually dislodging it, I decided on a different option, that of using a scrunched up piece of kitchen roll paper, (about 1 inch square, rolled into a ball) and placing it between the two cartridges, rather than behind the spare. This worked nicely: no rattle, and it could be removed easily. The cartridge did not get stuck either (a common issue with the Cross Bailey Light, incidentally).

Nib tweakery.

I had saved the red Jinhao for the next evening. When I inspected the nib, it was quite a way off the centre line of the feed, but this is very quickly and easily corrected. Again, I took out the nib housing and separated the nib and feed. I flexed each tine up and down a few times to loosen up the tine gap a bit, before rinsing and drying the parts and reassembling. I took my usual care over centering the nib and put it all back together.

A dark red edition, with gold colour trim and bicolour nib.

I then noticed that the tine gap was a bit wider than it had been. Important lessen to self: make sure the nib is correctly centred symmetrically over the feed BEFORE widening the tine gap. It may be that once centred, the tine gap will be wider.

Now centred on the feed. Tine gap a bit on the wet side, but good for lefty overwriters.

To ink the dark red pen, I got out six bottles of red ink and sampled them all with a glass nib dip pen. I settled on Pure Pens Cadwaladr, a lovely dark red. The colour reminds me of my favourite wax crayon as a child, in primary school “wet play” times!

I now have four Jinhao X159s each inked with a different colour. Here is the collection (so far!):-

Pen colour	Trim	Nib	Ink
Black	Silver	Fine	Montblanc Royal Blue
Blue	Gold	Extra Fine	Diamine Tavy blue black
Orange	Silver	Extra Fine	WHSmith black cartridge
Dark red	Gold	Extra Fine	Pure Pens Cadwaladr red

When you buy more than one of a pen, the downside is that you may find yourself liking one over the others. Currently, I tend to bring the orange one if going out, since its spare cartridge means I will not run out, away from home. With the prices being so attractive, it is tempting to gather up one of every colour, perhaps to use with corresponding inks. I would fancy a dark green and a brown next, if I were to buy any more. Then there are the white or ivory editions.

Mixing and matching parts.

There is also the useful option of being able to mix and match the pen parts and make your own colour combinations. For example I could put a black cap on my orange pen, and give it a Delta Dolce Vita vibe. Also the black pen, given an orange section, looks rather special. Mixing has a practical purpose as well as an aesthetic one, in that you can chose what ink colour you want to carry and then put the nib section with its converter or cartridge, into whichever barrel you wish. Don’t want an orange pen in a courtroom? Clothe it in a black cap and barrel!

If you have more than one X159, you can pull off crazy stunts like this.

So, four new pens for me before January was out. The black version is probably the most versatile to take any ink colour but if you want to treat them like a set of colouring pens, with every colour carrying a matching ink, then the Jinhaos are probably the most economical way of doing so.

New pen: New Moon.

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 16 Comments

My number of currently inked fountain pens stands at 17, which is about average for me. But what is a bit unusual at the moment is that three are the same. They are my Delike New Moons.

Delike New Moon fountain pen with fude nib.

I have already written an Early thoughts and a More thoughts post on this model, in March and April this year so there is little more to say. At that time I had bought one, loved it, given it away and bought a replacement. That was my marbled green acrylic version. Since then, I added the marbled blue and then, just recently, the marbled red.

What is so good about these inexpensive pens? Well, the fact that they are inexpensive is one benefit. They are well made, they have screw caps, they have attractive colours (which includes the grip section), three shiny plated metal bling rings on the uncapped pen, plus two more on the cap, they are uncomplicated, comfortable and come with a converter which has a spring coil ink agitator. But what makes them so enjoyable, and versatile, is the fine “bent nib”.

On all four of the Delike New Moons that I have purchased, the nibs have been faultless, out of the box. They all write smoothly, with a good flow and all have that capability of writing four distinct line widths, depending upon how you hold the pen.

I have never been proud of my handwriting. I am no calligrapher and have not studied or been trained in those skills. On my fountain pen “journey” I have owned countless standard nibs, of fine, medium or broad tips (mostly mediums) which are easy to use, practical and forgiving, but which do little to produce a line which can be distinguished, one pen from the next.

And then this year I discovered the fude nib: a tip which bends upwards giving a flat area to write with. If the pen is held in a conventional way (an under-writer style) this will produce a narrow down stroke and a wide cross stroke and various widths in between. This is the opposite effect of a stub nib. It is how I imagine an “architect grind” nib might be.

Waterman Harmonious Green. Semikolon Grand Voyage journal, 100gsm laid paper.

Flicking back through the pages of my notebooks, for once I like how my writing looks with these pens. I can use them in my lefty, over-writing style which feels the most natural to me, either with the pen laying back in my hand to give a medium line, or held more vertical like a ball point, which then produces a finer line. But I tend to prefer to use the pen in my under-writer style. This slows me down and I form each letter and word more carefully and deliberately. I delight in the line variation such as in the two sides of the capital A.

The capital A is an opportunity for line width variation

As you might have guessed, I now have these three pens inked with a matching ink. The green has Waterman Harmonious Green, from a bottle that I have had since 2015. The newer, blue pen is filled with Diamine Pelham Blue, a very pleasing shade from the generous flow of this nib. My latest New Moon addition, the marbled red one, is now filled with Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red, which is possibly my GOAT red ink.

I expect a lot from my pens. Not only must they look good and feel good. They must write and behave well. They must (most of them) be good value. They must be enjoyable to use – by which I mean that the act of putting pen to paper is a pleasure, but also that the resulting script is expressive, neat, attractive, legible and satisfying. And as if that were not enough, I depend upon my pens for their role in maintaining my mental health, as a source of relaxation and unwinding to counter the stresses and strains of daily life. Writing with pen and paper lifts my spirits.

I realise that this is a lot to ask of a pen, particularly one that you find on Amazon and which costs under £25.00 including shipping. But when you find one (whatever yours might be), buying three of them does not sound so silly after all.

A London walk in a time of national mourning.

September 17, 2022September 18, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 10 Comments

Today there was a special atmosphere in London. With blue skies and warm sunshine, thousands came to central London to see Buckingham Palace and The Mall, Green Park or St James’s Park, some to lay flowers in memory of HM The Queen. Others have come to queue to see her coffin lying in state at Westminster Hall, ahead of the state funeral at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19 September 2022. It is a moving sight, even on television, with guards in splendid uniforms standing in silent vigil, 24 hours a day, whilst members of the public pay their respects.

For those wishing to see the lying in state, there is a huge queue stretching back to Southwark Park. The authorities are prepared for this to reach 10 miles long. There are constant updates online but at one time today there was an estimated queuing time of 24 hours, and as I write this the current estimate is 13 hours. A colleague of mine at work joined the queue on Thursday evening and reached Westminster Hall at around 7am on Friday. Total estimates were of 400,000 people filing past the coffin, over four days, some travelling from great distances to do so.

I did not wish to visit Westminster Hall but wanted to come to London to mark this rare occasion and experience the atmosphere. I began at Trafalgar Square and joined the many people walking along The Mall. There were a lot of families with young children, and many bringing flowers. Much of the area was closed to traffic. In the quiet without the usual traffic noise, I found myself noticing the architecture of so many grand buildings and it was poignant to see so many flags flying at half-mast.

The police were doing a good job of controlling the crowds. You could not simply wander about where you liked and could only cross some roads at special crossing points, and there were some one-way systems in place for pedestrians. People accepted this and cooperated, chatting to the police. There was a sense that we were all there for the same reason, united by our common loss.

We paused to watch a group of mounted guardsmen ride past, with a police escort. Often helicopters could be heard high overhead. There were tv cameras and reporters everywhere and it seemed as if the attention of the world was focussed on London at this time.

The Mall: preparations for the state funeral.

Because of the volume of people, we could not walk directly up the Mall to Buckingham Palace but had to cross St James’s Park and join long queues down one side of the road and back up the other for those wishing to go to the Palace. With even this queue likely to take a few hours I was feeling a little bit hemmed in by the sheer number of visitors, although there was no pushing and shoving. I decided to change direction and take a path of less resistance away from the main attractions.

From Birdcage Walk, I continued on to Buckingham Gate passing the Rubens hotel (where I had enjoyed a weekend break a few months ago) opposite The Royal Mews. Souvenir shops had portraits of the Queen in the window with her dates. There were mugs with the Queen’s picture and dates 1926 to 2022 and messages such as “Forever in our hearts.”

I cut through to Victoria Street, where there was more space to walk normally and headed towards Parliament Square. I was sorry to note that the landmark department store, House of Fraser on Victoria Street had closed down. I ventured down Artillery Row and came to Horseferry Road and found a cafe for some lunch. A man at the next table had just been to Westminster Hall after queuing for 14 hours. A group of police came in for coffee and takeaway lunches, taking these back to their minibus.

At Lambeth Bridge I saw sections of the epic queue heading for Westminster, like a pilgrimage. Not being a part of this, I could walk freely along Millbank and see the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben as I neared Parliament Square.

It was extraordinary to see and hear Parliament Square without any traffic. I passed Westminster Abbey where all eyes will be on the proceedings in two days’ time. There are already stands erected for tv camera crews.

Once inside Parliament Square, there was a pedestrian one-way system again and so it was necessary to go with the flow. First though, I enjoyed sitting in the sun to write down some impressions of the day, with my new Tibaldi fountain pen and the “traveller” style notebooks from Flying Tiger. I like the Tibaldi more and more and appreciate everything about it, particularly the retro zest green colours, its generous size, firm nib and the ebonite feed.

My journaling companion today, the Tibaldi N.60.

A young woman busker named Harmonie London set up a keyboard and began to sing the national anthem and soon drew a big audience. Without the traffic noise, her beautiful voice and playing could be heard from quite a distance and her set captured the collective mood perfectly. Many videoed her with their phones.

I made my way up Great George Street, passing the impressive Treasury building, and along Horse Guards Road, before cutting across Horse Guards Parade to emerge in Whitehall and back to where I had started.

Whitehall at entrance to Horse Guards Parade.

Before returning home, I headed up to Leicester Square to visit Choosing Keeping at Tower Street, surely one of London’s most delightful stationery shops. I browsed the Japanese pencils, Tomoe River paper notebooks, and a display case of fountain pens including Sailor, Pilot, Lamy, Kaweco and Pelikan. Resisting these I still found myself buying a bottle of Rohrer & Klingner ink in a dark blue or blue black called Isatis tinctoria, their limited edition of 2021. In my relaxed state I had forgotten all the golden rules of ink buying, which are to ask yourself “Do I actually need any ink at the moment?”; “Do I need this colour?”; “Is this sufficiently different from all the other inks that I already have?” and “Would my spouse approve?” and “What is WRONG with me?!” However, it is lovely ink, and it is important to support such wonderful shops.

All in all it had been a remarkable and memorable day. And my phone tells me I walked 7.87 miles so that’s good.

My big red ink swab fest.

August 13, 2022August 13, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 6 Comments

In recent posts, I have been looking at my fountain pen ink accumulation. Today it is the turn of my red inks to be in the spotlight.

I like red ink but do not use it very much. As somebody who uses mostly blue or blue black inks, it came as a surprise to see quite how many different bottles of red ink I have. This is due to the temptation to try new shades of red, combined with the fact that finishing a bottle, at my rate of use, takes forever.

Some of the red ink team, assembled from a recent survey of my ink drawer stash.

Every fountain pen enthusiast needs at least one bottle of red ink. A Waterman Audacious Red, for example, would probably do. You cannot go wrong with Waterman ink. Rummaging through my ink drawers, I had forgotten that I owned a bottle of Lamy red and cannot now remember buying it. Others triggered happy memories – such as buying the Beefeater Red from KWZ Inks at the London Pen Show one year, or the Pure Pens Cadwaladr Red, also at the Pen Show.

The little bottle of Campo Marzio Bordeaux was purchased at the delightful Campo Marzio shop in Piccadilly which I recently heard sadly may not be there any more.

The Montblanc Corn Poppy Red was an ink that I had heard about a lot on the internet and had to buy for myself – probably from Harrods, whilst Graf von Faber-Castell’s lovely Garnet Red came either from Harrods or Selfridges in London. I was thrilled with Garnet Red when I first discovered it. It was just what I had been looking for as it had a very pleasing orangey brown hue to it. But when using it more recently, it seemed to have lost this feature that I particularly liked and seemed to have changed from how I remembered it, to a Burgundy. I fear that I may have accidentally contaminated my bottle by filling a pen which still had traces of another ink inside. Time to buy another bottle perhaps.

However, I later purchased a bottle of Montblanc’s William Shakespeare Velvet Red, a premium ink in a 35ml bottle, which I was fortunate to bag at a London Pen Show for a mere £10.00. This also has the special orangey hints that I had liked so much in the Garnet Red.

Today, to illustrate the differences (and also the similarities, to be fair) in my red inks I have swabbed them all. This was an exercise that turned my writing desk briefly into something resembling a science lab. I swabbed the inks with cotton buds, onto a spread in a Tomoe River paper note book which I keep for ink sampling. Also for good measure I swabbed them on a SemiKolon Grand Voyage journal, which uses a cream coloured laid paper and is, I was told, related to Leuchtturm.

I used a Moonman glass nib dip pen for the writing samples, although this is not a good representation of how an ink may appear from the more controlled flow of a fountain pen nib

While gathering my red inks together for this exercise, I thought that I would include a few ink samples that I was given, such as a scented ink by Campo Marzio, given to me by a dear friend in the fountain pen community and a sample of Diamine Sunset, a well regarded ink, given to me by Jon of Pensharing. The Onoto Passion Red was one of three inks, generously given to me by James Boddy of Onoto.

Red ink swabs on a SemiKolon Grand Voyage journal as well as a Tomoe River journal.

Ironically, the only pen in which I have red ink at present, (out of around 18 fountain pens inked) is an Online Campus Fluffy Cats edition, in which I am using the excellent Kaweco Ruby Red in cartridges, not bottled ink. I was therefore unable to do a swab but have included it in the spread nonetheless.

I am conscious of there being a great many excellent red inks that I do not have and am yet to try, such as Sheaffer Skrip red, or Diamine Red Dragon, to name but two, but you can’t have them all. It is the wanting that has led to my present predicament and I am already at saturation point and ready for any eventuality calling for a massive amount of red ink writing.

My current top 5 inks.

August 5, 2022August 6, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 26 Comments

It is not very often that I take stock of what bottled inks I have. Until now, the most recent count up was in 2020, which I posted about in The Great Bottled Ink Count on 21 November 2020. At that time I had 65 bottles. It has since grown to around 82 bottles.

Whilst it is nice to have such a variety to choose from when inking a pen, there is also a nagging feeling that I have got more than I need and will never use it all. If we chop and change inks every time we fill a pen, and have multiple pens inked at once, we very rarely manage to finish a bottle. It takes sustained use and many repeat fills, to drain a typical 50ml bottle.

When I got all my inks out recently, it was hard to make them all fit back in their drawers again. Having them stacked on top of each other in drawers means that you forget what is underneath. It leads me to fantasise about having just one ink, or say one of each main colour. How much simpler that would be. The same goes for fountain pens and notebooks. Imagine having only one pen, one ink and one notebook. No difficult decisions about which to take! You can temporarily create a such a position by going on a retreat or even just going to a coffee shop, bringing only one pen, one ink and one notebook with you.

This was me last weekend, sorting the ink stash by colour.

I am unlikely to reduce my ink stash unless I have to. I am set up for life! But meanwhile it can be a fun exercise to reflect on which inks I would select, if I could keep only five of them. Currently, if it came to this, I would nominate the following.

Waterman Serenity Blue

An attractive royal blue ink, that is readily available, inexpensive, and behaves well. An excellent general purpose ink. It flows well in a pen, dries quickly, doesn’t stain and is easy to wash out of a pen. It can also help to clean a pen that has had something less well-behaved in it before. If I could keep only one ink, this would probably be it. But I would miss not having Graf von Faber-Castell Cobalt blue.

Conway Stewart Tavy, by Diamine

This is blue black ink and named after the River Tavy in the county of Devon where Conway Stewart at one time was based. I first discovered the ink at a London Pen Show and it became an instant favourite. I recall later buying a spare bottle.

But the memory plays tricks on us. When laying out all my inks on view recently, I discovered that I actually had three bottles of Tavy. I had written their dates of purchase inside the lids: October 2017, March 2019 and October 2021. All were at pen shows. But when I opened the bottles recently to check how much was left, I could not understand why they were all full, or nearly full. And then I spotted an empty Tavy ink bottle on the book shelf behind my desk, and remembered that I had been through a whole bottle. It turns out that after that first bottle of Tavy, I had bought three spare bottles, not one.

It turns out that every two years I buy another bottle of Tavy.

Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red

This is a gorgeous orangey red, like a Venetian red and is a premium ink from Montblanc in a 35ml bottle. I was fortunate to find a bottle for £10.00 at a pen show. For a long time I used it exclusively in my Montblanc 145 Classique, although now I am a little more relaxed about letting other pens share it.

Graf von Faber-Castell, Moss Green

As green inks go, this is a dark, rich green which shades well, rather than the viridian shades of some others.

Pelikan Edelstein, Smoky Quartz

This ink was a free gift at the London Pelikan Hub gathering one year. It is a distinctive earthy light brown, very different from say the Montblanc Toffee Brown. It is described on the box as a softer ink and has a tendency to bleed through certain papers and so needs to be used with care but is a gorgeous colour and shades beautifully too.

As well as being very pleasing inks used on their own, these five also have the advantage of looking good on a page together, as if they all came from the same set.

But trying to decide which Inks I would keep and which I would part with, is surprisingly painful. I am clearly not yet ready to let go.

A look at my brown ink stash.

July 30, 2022July 30, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 5 Comments

In my previous post, I rounded up my green inks to remind myself of what I had. It was also done in part to assess the task of how much ink I still have to get through in my life time. I think we all know that that is not going to happen! There were seven green bottles alone. And since writing that post, I found that I had missed one, a bottle of Pelikan Edelstein Olivine.

I thought that today, I would continue the exercise, and see what brown inks I have. And to avoid the risk of missing any, I got out all of my bottled ink and put them into groups, so no-one got forgotten.

Two drawers of inks from my storage chest of drawers.

As soon as you start this, you run into problems of classification. I had to make a few policy decisions, such as separating my blue ink into (a) royal blue (b) blue black and (c) light blues, including turquoise. As for the brown inks I had to decide whether to include Cult Pens Deep Dark Red, and Diamine Oxblood, or whether to put them in the reds or the Burgundies. Without getting too bogged down in deliberating, I put the Oxblood in with the browns, and Deed Dark Red with the Burgundy. I am sure many would disagree.

And then, where do you group Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo? I put it with my Waterman Tender Purple, which was lonely in its Purple category of one.

Another category that consisted of only one ink, was orange. I put Diamine Pumpkin there. I had two pinks (although they were duplicate bottles of Pelikan Edelstein Star Ruby), three Burgundies, a surprisingly high number of nine black inks given that I do not regularly use black ink, and an even more surprising number of nine red inks. It is nice to have so many different shades and from different brands, but do I really need nine bottles of red?

For someone who does not use brown ink regularly, I have a respectable seven bottles. Pelikan Edelstein Smoky Quartz, a freebee from the Pelikan Hub one year, remains a firm favourite. It is great in my Montegrappa Fortuna with a fine steel nib. Another favourite is Diamine Cherry Sunburst, with its musical connotations as part of the Gibson Les Paul guitar series. I use that sometimes in the gold Lamy Lx.

The brown team from my ink stash. I forgot to include the Smoky Quartz in the picture.

Since getting into the fountain pen hobby, I have kept a record of pen acquisitions but have been in a fog of denial about the ink situation, having only a vague idea of what I have accumulated. Sometimes it is quite nice not knowing the numbers.

Given that for the most part, I prefer blue and blue black inks, it is rather surprising that I have gathered so many other colours, which tend to be for “recreation” and occasional correspondence with other pen and ink users rather than regular work use.

I think it was some time around 2014 that I fell into the rabbit hole, when the internet kindled my long-standing enjoyment of fountain pens. I lapped up Stephen Brown’s pen review videos and discovered a few blogs, and went to the London Pen show for the first time. And over that time, my bottled ink ownership has quietly grown from only a handful, to its current tally of 82 (including a few duplicates). I seem to have massively overestimated my life expectancy. And this is not even taking into account the stash of ink cartridges.

It is not all bad of course. I do get a lot of enjoyment and relaxation from my pen hobby. Even when not actually using my pens, I can unwind just by thinking about them and pondering some future combinations of pens and inks to try. As hobbies go, it is cheaper and takes up less space than many others I can think of.

Finishing my greens: a look at my green ink stash.

July 23, 2022 ~ rupertarzeian ~ 14 Comments

Like many others in this hobby with a passion for fountain pens, I have suffered from Gear Acquisition Syndrome and now find myself with an embarrassing number of pens, unused notebooks and bottles of ink. From time to time I need to remind myself of what I have “in stock.”

When my late Godfather (“Uncle Brian”) died, his wife Mary offered me his almost full bottle of ink. It was Cross Blue. I gladly took it to finish and have been getting through it in the pen that I use at work, a Cross Bailey Light. It is now on its tenth fill, since last December.

Unlike Uncle Brian, I have two drawers full of bottled inks in various colours and will never get through it unless I decide to paint the walls with it. Of course it is nice to have a good selection of different inks to play with and most inks keep well for years. (One exception is registrar’s blue black iron gall ink, which once opened, is best used within 18 months or so, before it starts to lose its darkening ability).

I may at last be reaching the age where my desire not to fill my house with extra possessions, can sometimes outweigh the attraction of the thing itself. As I try to to use and enjoy what I have, it can help to break this down into smaller goals. Green inks are a category of inks that I have relatively few of. I can count my bottles on the fingers of, well, two hands.

The only one of these that I have finished, and which was for many years my only green ink, was a bottle of Parker Quink. I still have the classic bottle and its cardboard box. Sadly these bottled inks are sold in plastic blister packs now. My bottle has a faded price label and I can still see that it came from WHSmiths.

I did eventually finish this but had had it for so long that I could not part with the bottle.

A modern equivalent, for a good day-to-day green ink might be Waterman’s Harmonious Green. Nowadays, I like to write the date of purchase inside the box lid. Mine bears the date 26 September 2015 and I bought it in the Burlington Arcade, off Piccadilly in London. It is still a good two thirds full. However I am now using it regularly in my Delike New Moon, fude nib pen. It is a good combination for the marbled green acrylic pen. It is an inexpensive ink for an inexpensive pen.

My Delike New Moon, fude nib pen with its current pairing of Waterman Harmonious Green.

I have some more up-market green inks: Montblanc Irish Green and, probably my favourite, Graf von Faber-Castell Moss Green in its attractive heavy bottle.

I have a 30ml plastic bottle of Diamine’s Deep Dark Green, which I bought at the same time as their Deep Dark Blue and Deep Dark Red. I used the Deed Dark Blue by far the most and finished the bottle, often using it in a TWSBI Vac 700 or Diamond 580.

Some less common greens are my Noodler’s Sequoia: a brim-full glass bottle containing 3oz of this green-black ink. Unfortunately, although I was very taken with the colour, I found it all but unusable for a lefty-overwriter as it is so slow-drying and smudges long after I would expect it to be dry.

Seven bottles. That is still a lot of writing.

At the London Pen Show one year, I picked up a cute little bottle of Conway Stewart green ink, made by Diamine. I do not know the name of the colour but think it was of the same series as Conway Stewart Tavy, which is a nice blue black. However I bought it more for the bottle, nice for travelling, than the ink.

Finally, I have a bottle of Krishna Inks Ghat Green, which is an attractive khaki green-gold. I did not use it much at first as I suspected it of causing unsightly and disturbing nib crud on my Montegrappa Fortuna’s steel nib. But I later gave it another chance, in my Sailor Pro-Gear with a 21k gold nib and have had no problems with it at all.

If you want to get through ink faster, using a pen with broad, stub or music nib will help. Or you could use it for drawing. For some years I could not settle to using a green ink as I would soon have the urge to flush it out and refill with a blue. But I now appreciate a green ink from time to time and it is well worth having at least one green-inked pen! I heard it said that there is, or was, a convention in the Royal Navy, of different colour inks being used by different ranks of officer. I have not been able to verify that. I do remember that green was the colour of correspondence from Rolex, if you got a typed letter from them in the 1960’s. It also makes a good colour for amending and editing typed drafts, rather than red.

A green ink can look attractive, particularly on cream coloured paper and paired with the right pen and can make a refreshing change from the usual blues. I don’t know when I will next finish a bottle or whether I will ever own just one bottle but I am at least trying not to buy more.

The thrifty ink-miser’s flush.

December 19, 2021 ~ rupertarzeian ~ Leave a comment

Sunday evenings are a good time for cleaning some fountain pens. Here, my pen cup occupancy had gradually risen to 18 currently inked. Cleaning a few is a quick and easy way of bringing the numbers down but usually at the cost of jettisoning some good ink.

Some of the current occupants of my pen cup: Aurora 88, Montblanc Meisterstuck 146 and a Cleo Skribent Classic gold.

“Deciding who goes and who stays” sounds like a line from Strictly Come Dancing when the judges are introduced. However in this case the decision is down to me. I selected four pens: a Lamy 2000 and an Italix Captain’s Commission, both inked with Onoto’s Mediterranean Blue which were ready for a change. Then there were the Diplomat Excellence and a Cleo Skribent, both of which I had two of on the go, and both with Waterman Serenity Blue.

I noticed that my Moonman S5 eyedropper pen was low on ink, last inked with Serenity Blue with a little Robert Oster Fire & Ice, which had produced a nice silky-smooth rich blue. This gave a pleasing effect on the page, from the smooth, oblique broad nib. Sometimes with luck an experimental mixing of inks produces an attractive blend, which is greater than the sum of the parts.

The Lamy 2000 gets an early bath. Careful not to lose the metal horse-shoe clip or the rubber O ring on the back of the feed.

It occurred to me that rather than dump the remaining ink from my four candidates for cleaning, I would instead empty it into the Moonman. This has the happy consequence of (a) topping up the Moonman for a good few months of use, (b) producing a new and unique colour blend, (c) allowing four pens to be cleaned and (d) making space in the pen cups and (e) not wasting ink.

For this exercise, I usually stand the Moonman in an old Aurora ink bottle. The pen has a flat end to the barrel and so will stand up on a flat surface on its own, but could easily be knocked over.

The Moonman S5. An ink bucket with a wonderful OB nib.

Of course there is always a risk that the mixed inks will not play together nicely and instead form a goo. I have not had this occur so far but if the worst comes to the worst, you just clean the pen and start again.

I love Waterman’s Serenity Blue: a well behaved, easy to clean, royal blue. If I had to be limited to only one ink, that would probably be my choice. I do sometimes have the urge to ink up a pen with a turquoise ink but for some reason, I soon tire of it and find myself not using the pen very much, until eventually I cave in and flush. Perhaps we all have this tendency with certain colours.

I had nothing against the Serenity Blue in my Diplomat Excellence, but fancied a change to a blue black. Same with the Cleo Skribent.

My other Cleo Skribent. This one remains inked and is my journaling pen for December.

Having told myself recently that I would not buy any more pens for a while, I recently found myself ordering an Online Bachelor calligraphy pen, when I saw that the supplied nib is the excellent 0.8mm stub. The pen is a clear demonstrator, cartridge-converter pen, rather like the Online College pens and comes with a converter. It is due to arrive in a few days and so I needed to make some space in the pen cup for the new arrival. Fingers crossed it will be a successful addition.

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