I’m a convert!
So I finally got around to removing the boring blue cartridge of ink that came with my Phileas and putting in the ink converter. It took a little longer than I expected: I washed, waited, and loaded up some fresh J. Herbin bleu nuit… and then suddenly couldn’t get the two halves of the pen to close.
As a fountain pen novice, of course I figured I must be doing something wrong. I took the converter out, examined it, compared its length and shape to the other cartridge. The converter was a tiny bit longer, but other than that there weren’t any substantial differences. I scoured the Internet to see if anyone else had had the same experience. No-one had. Finally, I set the whole mess aside and resolved to make a trip up to Art Brown to figure out what was going on.
As it turns out, I’d been sent the wrong kind of converter, one that wasn’t even made by Waterman in the first place. I guess that’s the danger of buying pens from an anonymous retailer on Amazon (Pendemonium was all sold out!). Art Brown was more than happy to sell me the proper converter, however, and now I’m inked up and ready to go.
My first tests—photographed on a breezy day, hence the presence of the snail shell / makeshift paperweight—above and after the jump…
April 17th, 2009 at 11:05 am
LOL! I thought there was something wrong with my eyes when I saw the second photo, before I read that it was lilac-colored paper!
Welcome to the (addictive) world of fountain pens!
April 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Fountain pens, always an adventure!
I’m glad you noted the lilac-colored paper because at first I thought your white balance was way off.
(btw, I followed the link from twitter)
April 17th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Yeah, Karen gave me a bunch of multicolored notepads made from recycled factory scraps of Clairefontaine pollen paper, and I figured it’d be fun to see how different colored inks show up on them.
Now I just have to learn how to take sharper pictures… It’s hard to photograph paper!
p.s. @dannzeman thanks for following our tweets!
April 17th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Welcome to our world! All those lovely Herbin ink colors to play with…you’ll find unexpected inspiration in the interaction of ink and paper.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
You have now been assimilated. There is no turning back. The world of unrestricted ink choices has you by the converter and will never let you go. Mwahahahaha.
April 18th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Cool!
April 18th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Of course you love the converter!! A whole world just opened up to you!
I’m surprised you lasted that long on the cartridges. Now, march straight to the nearest place that has Noodler’s Ink and pick yourself up some!! [I suggest Legal Lapis from Pendemonium- my everyday ink. Nathan also make other wonderful colors!]
April 21st, 2009 at 12:25 am
I like it on the lilac paper.