#7 of 53: Change, Lamy Pens and Mothers

Tags

2017 special edition, from the pen cup, lamy, lamy al-star, pacific, the pen habit, wonder pens

Did you miss me?

You can thank my sister for this post. I have been feeling dramatically uninspired of late, hence the radio silence. And then my sister sent me a lovely email, which included a link to one of my blog posts from 4 years ago, about her trip to Iceland. And somehow it’s inspired me.

There’s alot of change afoot in the stationery/fountain pen world. Wonderpens have closed one shop and opened another; I so love their blog I felt I was saying goodbye too, even though I’ve never set foot in any of their stores to date. Matt Armstrong of The Pen Habit on YouTube has ended his run as fountain pen/ink reviewer extraordinaire. Believe me, I can relate. I seriously considered shutting this whole thing down. Even Mary at From the Pen Cup took a long breather between posts. I’ve set myself the challenge of 53 posts this year, which may or may not happen. And I’ve decided to be at peace with that.

So inspired by my sister I’m going to review the Lamy Al-Star Pacific 2017 Limited Edition fountain pen she gave me for my birthday last year.

It’s my third Lamy; I’ve written about the Safari and my other Al-Star previously. The Safari was one of my first purchases after starting the blog, back in 2012. And the Al-Star was a Christmas present in 2014. This Lamy Al-Star is a gorgeous turquoise blue, called the Pacific, for the colour resembles tropical seas.

I also received a bottle of Lamy Turquoise. It was released with the special edition pen but as far as I can tell it’s the same colour as the old Lamy Turquoise. Either way it’s a glorious colour.

The nib is fine and very smooth. Since last September I’ve had it inked up with the Lamy Turquoise, and it always starts writing the instant the cap comes off, with no skipping or hard starts. The cap posts securely although I would advise caution with posting, as my purple Al-Star is showing signs of wear on the barrel.

The distinctive triangular section, unique to Lamy, creates a strong grip for long writing sessions.

The Al-Star usually retails for just under $40 US. The 2017 special edition is no longer available on Goulet Pens; indeed it has been replaced by the 2018 special edition in Vibrant Pink. I’m told the Al-Star Blue Green is very close in tone to the Pacific. But I did manage to find two on offer on Amazon as used. I highly recommend the Lamy Al-Star, for beginners and pros alike. These special editions are a fun way to expand your Lamy collection – such colours!

And finally today (in North America) is the day we honour our mothers. Today marks my 18th Mother’s Day without mine. I wish I could say it gets easier. But some years are better than others. I have a wonderful mother-in-law who receives our well wishes via video call. And now that I’m back in Nova Scotia I can visit my grandmother’s grave, and honour her memory along with her daughter’s.

Happy Mother’s Day.

 

 

My New Ink Journal in an Old but Loved ARC Notebook

Tags

coleto, fountain pen, goulet pens, ink, ink journal, journal, lamy, slicci

Recently I decided my Ink Journal just wasn’t working for me any more. It was disorganized and messy. And I was missing my brown woven ARC notebook. So I combined the two.

Here she is again. I’ve missed her!

Missed this too. It’s an appropriate beginning to an ink journal, which will also contain all the details of my pens, both fountain and otherwise.

I had a bunch of colorful tabs that I wanted to use so each make of pen has its own page, as well as each ink company.

Here is a typical entry for one of my pens.

And here are the ink tabs. I like this system because I can keep everything in alphabetical order, unlike a bound book which was my former ink journal.

Here is my entry for J. Herbin’s Lierre Sauvage, which I only have in cartridges, at the moment. Where I have a bottle I will indicate that at the top. Not all of the inks have this much detail.

Today I cleaned out my Lamy Safari (which took FOREVER by the way; that nib holds a ton of ink) and inked it up with the new De Atramentis William Shakespeare. Love it!

De Atramentis ink is hand-made; that’s why each bottle can be on backorder for so long, according to Goulet Pens. The labels too I expect. I was very amused to see the typo on this label!

At the back of the book I keep track of my gel pen inventory, along with printed guides to some of the ink companies. Finally found a place to stick those Goulet Pens stickers.

I cut the tops off the Slicci refills and paste them into the book. I do the same with the Coleto refills.

So that’s about it for my new Ink Journal. I find it really handy when I want to write a letter or in my journal with a certain pen or a in a certain color; I can flip through this and find the combo I need.

National Stationery Week in the UK

Tags

3m, cult pens, faber-castell, lamy, national stationery week, sheaffer, the pen company, zebra

Oh to live in England in the spring. Today marks the beginning of National Stationery Week in the UK. I don’t think we have the equivalent in Canada and we should!

Cult Pens are giving something away every day this week. Their prizes include Sheaffer VFM Ballpoint pens, Faber-Castell Grip 2011 Ballpoint pens, and a nifty Zebra Goody Bag with a squishy zebra! You can enter each day here. And it’s open internationally.

The Pen Company is celebrating National Stationery Week in three different ways. They have the same Sheaffer and Faber-Castell pens as Cult Pens and they are giving them away each day, difference being you can enter all seven draws all at once here. They are also offering 10% off all purchases for the week. And on April 7 they are giving away a Red Lamy Safari, a Lamy Swift rollerball and a Steel Lamy Econ ballpoint. You can enter that contest here. These giveaways are also open internationally.

And I leave you with a cute video made by 3M last year, showing their super-sticky post it notes on the move around London:

Celebrate stationery!!

My Ink Cabinet

Tags

akkerman, ink, j. herbin, lamy, parker blue quink, parker blue-black quink

As some of you know I have a small supply of ink, some of which have appeared in blog posts. I have a mixture of bottled ink and cartridges. I can’t say which I prefer – both have their advantages. I was keeping the ink all over the place until I reorganized my office. Now I have all my ink in one place: my ink cabinet.

The top shelf houses my Lamy ink in the middle, and my two bottles of Quink. The middle shelf holds my J. Herbin ink cartridge tins, and the bottom shelf has the rest of my cartridges on the left, my Akkerman bottle in the middle and a spice jar full of empty cartridges on the right. I want to buy an ink syringe so I can re-use the empty cartridges.

Here’s a bit of a close up. I realize now the dark ink against the dark wood does not make for a great picture but you get the idea. The lighter cartridge packages and tins make for an interesting contrast I hope.

The cabinet was a Christmas gift from my sister many, many years ago. I think it originally contained bath products or something like that. I kept the cabinet because I thought it was beautiful. It’s been keeping some figurines safe for me but I recently bought a curio shelf at an antique store and it is perfect them. That left this cabinet open for possibility, and I thought my ink would look nice in it, while still being kept out of direct sunlight.

I will post further updates as the collection grows, as I’m sure it will. I have 11 J. Herbin colours out of a possible 30, so there is definitely room for growth. And then there are the bottled J. Herbin inks!! I will need a bigger cabinet!  🙂

 

MonteVerde Prima and More Ink!

Tags

fountain pen, graf von faber-castell, j. herbin, lamy, monteverde, pens, private reserve, reid's stationers

I received a gift certificate for my favorite local stationers, Reid’s Stationers. I had a wonderful two hours looking at everything, weighing my options. The staff is outstanding; Maureen inked up quite a few pens for me to try before deciding on a final one. And we had a great discussion about inks. I would love a part time job there but I fear bankruptcy would be the inevitable result.

I’ve read and seen so much about the beautiful Visconti line of fountain pens; and Maureen let me try a Visconti Rembrandt in blue with a medium nib. Beautiful pen and exquisite writing experience. Very smooth, no stops, great flow. But it was a little more than I wanted to spend, even though this particular line is the entrance point for the brand. The Visconti I fell in love with, the limited edition pen created for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, was definitely more than I would ever be able to spend on a pen. But what a beautiful pen it is. Even better when you are holding it in your hand. I didn’t have it inked up for me as I didn’t want my heart broken entirely.

I wanted to introduce some colour to my fountain pen collection, but not use up my entire gift certificate as I wanted to buy some ink as well. So Maureen introduced me to the MonteVerde Prima. And I fell in love with the Turquoise Swirl. Nice chrome touches, lightweight, super smooth writer with great flow.

I felt very swank walking out of the store with this bag!

The box.

It’s hard to tell from the pictures but the pen is translucent so when you hold it up to the light it glows. I’m totally in love with this pen; I think it’s beautiful, writes like a dream and retails in Canada for around $60. I do realize that is still quite a bit to spend on a pen but as it was a gift I indulged myself. The Visconti Rembrandt cost almost 3 times as much. The MonteVerde pens come with cartridges and a converter; the Viscontis do not come with any cartridges and you can purchase a converter for about $10. Both pens take standard international cartridges.

The base of the box can be removed to reveal a compartment for storing cartridges and the converter (when I took the picture the converter was still in the pen). I did not use the cartridges that came with the pen; I put in a Bleu Pervenche cartridge from J. Herbin as the turquoise colour is an exact match to the barrel.

All of my goodies: Rose Cyclamen and Orange Indien J. Herbin cartridges sitting on the MonteVerde box; Hazelnut Brown and Stone Grey cartridges from Graf von Faber-Castell in the cream boxes; Violet and Turquoise cartridges from Lamy; and Plum cartridges from Private Reserve.

Wonderful day and I didn’t feel one bit guilty because I was spending someone else’s money. And I still have a balance on the gift certificate!! I will be sure to keep you posted as to where that goes, in the new year.

Happy writing.