Waterman Preface

Inky Pursuits: August 2026.

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It has been a while since the last of my posts in this series of round-ups. The latest was Inky Pursuits: May 2026 and so another now seems timely.

Since then I have made a few pen purchases of note, but nothing expensive. I have already written about my lucky find of a New Old Stock Waterman Preface, whilst on holiday in Italy. That pen continues to be a delight. I use it daily for my Page-a-day diary. I included the purchase story in Travelling with ink , June 2026: Part II, Italy.

A NOS Waterman Preface, liberated from a tobacconist shop in Ravelo, Italy.

In July, I bought my first Tom’s Studio pen: the Wren, a fibre tipped pocket pen, refillable with bottled fountain pen ink with a capillary fill system which is quick and effective. The pen itself is a beautifully tactile aluminium in matt black. The cap posts, making a comfortable length. The tip and the refillable ink reservoir should last a good while but spares can be purchased. The pen comes with a tiny 3ml bottle of Tom’s Studio “Midnight” ink. As I understand it, the pen can be filled with any fountain pen ink, although Tom’s Studio Midnight is especially formulated for fibre tipped pens. Fortunately I am keen on this rich dark grey and happy to stay with it. I have not yet attempted to flush the ink reservoir in order to change inks and do not know how easy this might be. However, Tom’s Studio also sells small plastic jars in which to keep ink reservoirs, suggesting that you put in a new one when you change ink, and save the old one in a jar, to avoid shortening the life of the reservoir by washing.

The Wren from Tom’s Studio.

The tips, which are said to be made in Japan, are also replaceable. Quite how often you need to do so will vary depending how the pen is used. Although some line width variation is possible with pressure, I have avoided pressing down on the tip, in order to keep its shape for longer.

The pen gets good reviews. Personally, I enjoy the design. The cap is faceted with eight sides at one end, tapering away to none at the other. It has a fun filling system, and I like the almost invisible join where the short barrel unscrews, and the neat, smooth way in which the cap is removed or posted, gripped with O rings. It writes very smoothly and is convenient to carry around and to use for quick notes. I have read that one fill should give around 50 pages of writing! It gets a thumbs up from me. There are several colours available but I am pleased with the matt black.

Soon after this, temptation struck again in July when I was browsing in an art supplies shop, Barnet Galleries in High Barnet and came across a brightly lit display of Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pens in neon colours. I already knew that I like the pen as I have one in red but I had not tried the hi-viz range before. They come in yellow, pink, orange or green. I chose the pink with a Medium nib and love this striking colour. It is also a great writer, tough, smooth and reliable. It uses standard international cartridges. Unfortunately no converter is included, which, for a £59.00 pen, is a bit disappointing. However, I suspect that a majority of purchasers would use only cartridges in any case.

Caran dAche 849 fountain pen, in neon pink.

My next pen purchases, were two Jinhao 59 fountain pens. I heard of these from friends at our London pen club. Finding them on Amazon at £17.99 for two, looked good value (although I heard that even lower prices are available elsewhere). Mine arrived from China within eight days. I bought one in black with gold trim and another in black with a brushed steel cap with chrome-coloured nib. Both are great and have been in use since they arrived.

A little sketch of a Jinhao 59 pocket fountain pen.

They are pocket pens, evidently based upon Pilot’s Elite (or E) 95S fountain pen but with steel nibs instead of gold. The cap posts to make a very comfortable length of 14.7cm. I have been extremely impressed with mine. In the black with gold trim edition, the cap appears from inside to be metal but coated on the outside with a high gloss (piano-black) finish. The cap is not threaded but slides on and off smoothly (there is no “snap”) held in place firmly by a clutch device inside the cap rim, like an old Parker 51. I particularly like the vintage look of the partially hooded nib, which reminds me of certain Montblanc and other pens of the 1960’s. Mine wrote perfectly without any adjustment.

The brushed steel cap version was also very pleasing and has a lovely classic look when posted. Both pens came with a converter (cough…Caran d’Ache, why can’t you do this?) although the design of the pen is such that the converter seats so deeply that you cannot see the ink level at all, even when full. My brushed steel capped pen wrote slightly drier than the all black version but this was soon remedied with an adjustment of the nib to open the tine gap slightly.

Another very recent purchase which I am thrilled about, has been a bottle of Platinum Carbon ink. I appreciate that this has been around for years and so it is hardly news, but please excuse my excitement as this is my first bottle. As mentioned in recent posts I have been bitten by the sketching bug! This ink works well for use with watercolour paints, as the ink does not run or smudge when water or wet paint is added.

A friend at our pen club suggested that I join the Urban Sketchers, London group. I found them online and was just in time to attend the last of their summer evening meet ups, which was in Soho Square Gardens at 6pm.

New Ink Day: Platinum Carbon black.

The meet up was informal and laid back and very well attended. I think there were over 70 of us. After an initial welcome talk by two of the administrators, we were invited to disperse and sketch the square however we wished and then to regroup in two hours. Most folks, including me, chose to sketch the mock-Tudor hut which is a central focal point of the square’s public garden. I found a seat at one of the perimeter benches and settled down to sketch the scene in pen and ink and then watercolour, after which I mingled around to see how the others were doing. I was very impressed (and humbled) at how professional many of the pictures looked. There was a wide range of styles, approaches, sizes and media in use. At 8pm we assembled for the “throwdown” placing our sketch books or pads on the ground in a row, so we could all see each other’s work. It was fascinating – to see so many styles, capturing scenes from the park or surrounding buildings in the individual’s own way. I realised that there are many ways to paint a scene and there is no rule that we must have only one style.

I am hooked on sketching now! I had been using Uni-ball pin fine liners in order to obtain a black line, for an “ink and wash” style of painting, but it is nicer to use a fountain pen and thus enjoy two hobbies at once. For a while I used a Platinum Preppy with Noodlers bulletproof black, which worked quite well. The important thing is for the ink not to run when you go over it with water or paint. I found that, even when dry, whilst the Noodlers ink is largely waterproof, there would still be a little black ink lifting off into the water which was unwanted. I find the Platinum Carbon black ink preferable for use with watercolours.

A view in Fleet Street, London EC4. Platinum Carbon ink is ideal for drawing, before adding watercolours.

Whilst trying not to go overboard with my Gear Acquisition Syndrome, I have upgraded my Daler-Rowney Aquafine 12 colour set, to a 24 colour set which is in an equally slim white plastic box, little bigger than a large mobile phone, and gives a wider range of ready colours for convenience when out and about, as well as great possibilities for mixing colours.

I am using the Platinum Carbon ink in a Platinum Preppy, 0.2 (Extra Fine) which seems a dream combo and ideal for my current needs. I enjoy sketching almost every day. Recently after a swim at my gym’s pool, I stayed to sketch a row of Silver Birch trees in a field beside the car park. For half an hour, I stood with the sun at my back, having found a way to hold my sketch pad and box of paints in one hand, and my pen or waterbrush in the other. I felt a bit like Monet. I sketched out the scene first with the Preppy and then added the colours. I found each stage in the process so absorbing and enjoyable. No wonder people get addicted.

Silver Birch trees. Platinum Preppy with Carbon black; Daler-Aquafine 24 half pan set; Daler-Rowney mixed media paper, A5, 250gsm. Capturing this scene with an outdoor sketch in the sunshine was a joy.

Travelling with ink, June 2026: Part II, Italy.

~ rupertarzeian ~ 14 Comments

Following on immediately from our time in Albania, we flew to Naples to take a two hour ferry ride to Amalfi.

From Amalfi’s harbour, the owner of our accommodation had kindly arranged for us to be picked up with our luggage and taken to the apartment, which was actually in Pogerola, a pretty town up in the hills above Amalfi and about a 20 minutes drive. I was to discover from the bus drivers that it is pronounced “Po-jero-la” (and not as I had been saying it, like Motorola).

The views from our apartment were breath-taking. A terrace looked down over the tower of the local church, with views of the sea beyond and also across the valley with terraces of lemon groves, to the neighbouring town of Pontone, of white buildings nestling on the steep hillside and a ridge of mountain tops beyond. It was a scene that I sketched a few times.

View over Pogerola, from our accommodation.
A sketch from our terrace.

Amalfi turned out to be a convenient base from which to visit other towns along the Amalfi Coast, in each direction, since there are excellent links by ferry and bus. We had seven nights there and began each day with a very scenic local bus ride down to Amalfi. As well as exploring Amalfi itself, we made trips to Capri, and Positano to the west, and Pontone, Atrani, Ravello, Minori and Maiori to the east.

It was wonderful to see all these places although in June, Capri and Positano were already very crowded with tourists like ourselves. It was much more peaceful at Minori, just a short bus ride from Amalfi and we went there a few times to escape the crowds.

This sketch of the Basilica di S.Trofimena, in Minori was a bit too ambitious for me.

As regards fountain pen shops, I found very few on my travels, even though several of the place names – Furore, Positano and Maiori. were familiar from the models, brands or colours of Italian fountain pens long before I visited the towns. There were countless shops for tourists, but (unlike in Rome), fountain pen shops were elusive.

With Ling at Positano.

Amalfi has a very long history of being famous for its high quality hand-made paper. At the top end of the shopping street, we found the Amalfi Paper Museum (Museo della Carta) which is well worth a visit. Once there I would recommend joining the short guided tour to see the ancient machinery in operation and learn the processes used in paper making. This was carried out there and at similar mills, from the 13th century, right up until the 1960’s. Particularly impressive are the rows of huge wooden hammers like wooden crosses laid on their sides, which were operated by a cam shaft, driven by a water wheel. These were used to beat the cotton rags into pulp. Seeing just one hammer in operation, the noise was loud but a row of such hammers all beating for hours, must have been deafening.

The wooden hammers, at the paper museum, Amalfi.

Samples of paper types were available to buy in the gift shop, whether for writing or for water colours. There were dip pen and ink sets and just a few nondescript fountain pens but paper was the story here, not pens.

As well as using my fountain pens every day for holiday journaling, I also pursued my newfound hobby of travel sketching. Sitting with a sketch book certainly added to the enjoyment of this trip, introducing breaks from constant walking, some extended observation and creativity and a pleasing sense of achievement (mostly)!

A freshly completed watercolour sketch of St Mary Magdalene Penitente church at Atrani.

I was to have one bit of extraordinary good luck in my seemingly fruitless fountain pen quests. At the hill-top town of Ravello, (where we visited the gardens of the Villa Cimbrone and Villa Rufolo) I was wandering the attractive lanes of shops and found a Tabacchi. I always check the shelves for stationery in the hope that there might be some uncommon fountain pens for school supplies. But on this occasion I saw in a glass cabinet, a pair of open Waterman boxes. In one was a marbled green fountain pen, with gold coloured fittings. A sticker in the lid read “pennino oro massiccio 18kt.” The sales lady got out the pen for me. The pen was priced at 30 euros. I was not familiar with the model but given the price I assumed that the 18kt must refer to gold plating. It was fitted with a converter, included a pen pouch and one cartridge of ink, which was about four fifths evaporated. She did not sell Waterman cartridges but when I came to pay for the pen, she had reduced the price to 25 euros as the cartridge was nearly empty.

Found one! A NOS Waterman Preface at a tobacconist in Ravello.

Some internet searches soon revealed that the pen is a Waterman Preface, a model from around 1995 – 1998 and that the nib is indeed solid gold! This was a New Old Stock (NOS) pen. I felt incredibly fortunate. I inserted the included cartridge and managed to get nine and a half pages from it in my Leuchtturm notebook before it ran out. The other Waterman pen in her cabinet was a NOS Phileas, in black but was a rollerball or ball pen, also at just 30 euros but which I let pass, not wishing to test my wife’s tolerance further. It might still be there now.

Ling enjoying a much photographed viewpoint at Villa Rufolo, Ravella.

This, together with our Albania holiday in the first leg of this trip (described in my previous post here) was a wonderful time of seeing new places, travelling around by ferry and buses, enjoying meals out and in our self-catering accommodation and usually a swim in the sea to cool off each day. I enjoyed my sketching, and on a couple of occasions, attracted attention from passers by who even stopped to talk and asked to photograph my picture! Going home with a NOS Waterman was the icing on the cake.

Blending in with the locals.