Posts Tagged ‘fountain pens’

Fountain pens and post-its

Posted July 12, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People, Planning Tips | 6 comments »

It’s not hard to appreciate the virtues of thick, strong, smooth paper. Now that I write with fountain pens, I value them even more — what better way to showcase my lovely J. Herbin inks? For the past year, I’ve been using my fountain pens for everyday deskbound tasks like writing and note-taking and lists. (The next step, as I mentioned earlier, is taking them out of the house.) And I’ve been able to integrate them into nearly everything I do at my desk, with one strange but stubborn exception: Post-it notes.

I don’t use post-its that often now that I’ve begun to incorporate a Rhodia mousepad into my quote-unquote time management system. But I’m always looking for ways to prevent myself from overlooking the little things I need to do or keep track of each day, and bright yellow Post-its are a still an integral part of that arsenal.

Post-it brand post-its are actually pretty sturdy. But they’ve got this strange sort of sheen overlay that’s just death for fountain pens. Even Herbin ink performs badly; it’s splotchy and there’s lots of feathering. Here it is in a fine-nibbed Pelikano:

And here it is in the same pen on 90g Clairefontaine:

In the grand scheme of things, of course, this is hardly a big deal. (For whatever reason, my Phileas, whose medium nib is comparatively thin, performs somewhat better on post-its.) I’m still curious, though: what does the sheen accomplish? Does it make the post-it stronger or less susceptible to water damage? At this rate, you’d be better off writing on cheap printer paper. Maybe I’ll have to try the 4X4 Post-its that get such good reviews on FPN…

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Why a good pen is like a nice umbrella

Posted May 5, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Editorial | 8 comments »

Image via (((o.kvlt)))

I am one of those people who is constantly misplacing pens… I put them in my bag, in my pocket; I take them out, put them somewhere else, and pretty soon they’re gone. It’s one of the reasons I’m hesitant to let my fountain pens leave the controlled chaos of my desk, because it’s one thing to misplace an inexpensive Pilot V-Ball, and quite another to lose my pretty Waterman Phileas, or one of my Pelikanos.

For environmental reasons, however, I’m trying to cut back on the number of disposable things in my life, and there’s no reason pens shouldn’t be a part of that effort.

Generally, I believe that when it comes to organization, it’s best to work around your habits rather than trying to overhaul them all at once. But then I think about umbrellas. I used to lose them all the time, too, until I spent a year in England and decided that enough was enough. So I went to a department store and bought a pretty black-and-red umbrella for the princely sum of £18. I was a graduate student at the time, and it wasn’t an easy decision. But it’s been 8 years since then, and I still haven’t lost that umbrella.

Anyway, I’m going to start small, and keep one of my less expensive fountain pens in the pocket of my bag. If that goes well, maybe it’ll be easier to use them in other non-deskbound settings. Here’s hoping!

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Guest post: Waterproof inks

Posted March 22, 2010 by Guest Author
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | 1 comment »

Guest blogger Kate Marshall is back this morning with a good subject for the accident prone: waterproof ink.

So one time, I was transcribing notes and accidentally knocked over my glass of water. Yes, all over my notebook. Luckily, my notes were okay because I’d written them with a waterproof fountain-pen ink: Noodler’s Black.

Yes, such a thing exists. Recently, I did a quick and dirty test of three waterproof Noodler’s inks, a J. Herbin fountain pen ink, and two waterproof J. Herbin inks to see how well they hold up against liquid abuse.

The inks I tested were:

I. Noodler’s (recently purchased during the 2010 Philadelphia Pen Show)

1. Black
2. Bad Blue Heron (a new turquoise color)
3. Old Manhattan Black (exclusive to Fountain Pen Hospital)

II. J. Herbin (provided by Exaclair)

1. Perle Noire (not specifically labeled waterproof but more on that later)
2. Encre Authentique (“Lawyer’s ink”)
3. Encre Chine (“China ink.” Also can be known as “India ink”)

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More fields

Posted March 3, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Beautiful Creations, Pens, Paper & People | Add your comment »

We just got a couple new images from Christian Skagen’s “Horizontal Fields” series, which we blogged about last week (with my apologies for having flubbed the title; sorry — it’s “Horizontal Fields,” not “Horizontal Lines” as I first wrote).

Anyway, click through to see some pieces Christian made with J. Herbin Rose Tendresse and Bleu Azur and a Pelikan M250 EF:

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More torture! Habana v. Webbie v. Moleskine

Posted February 22, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People, Videos | 4 comments »

Let me preface this by saying that nearly everyone keeps a variety of different notebooks, made by different brands, in regular rotation. We know that. We endorse that. And we all have different needs/preferences in terms of writing instruments; fountain pen users love our heaviest, 90g paper, while others need nothing more than a few pages of lightweight 64g to receive their gel pens and rollerballs and pencils.

But Karen and I were nonetheless intrigued to see pen maker Brian Goulet’s recent vlogs over at Ink Nouveau. As you may remember, Brian likes to subject the notebooks and stationery that his company sells to various acts of ink-related torture. A couple weeks ago, he put a Habana, a Webbie, and a Moleskine to a head-to-head bleedthrough test with a couple drops of J. Herbin. That video’s embedded above, so you can see the results for yourself.

Brian’s since done more detailed comparisons of Moleskine vs. Habana and the Moleskine vs. Webbie to discuss size, thickness, price, and all the other factors that help determine which notebooks best fit your needs. In a world where you can’t always try before you buy, they’re great tools to aid your decisions.

To learn more about Brian and his pens, check out this profile at Rhodia Drive!

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Guest post: Pruning my pen collection

Posted January 21, 2010 by Guest Author
in Editorial, Pens, Paper & People | 5 comments »

This morning’s post, from guest blogger Kate Marshall, reminds me of a quote that’s usually attributed to May West: “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” Still, sometimes you’ve gotta pare things down…

I first started using fountain pens when I was a child but I didn’t start collecting or using them on a regular basis until about four years ago. Next thing I knew, I had about 20 fountain pens: Lamys, Bexleys, Sailors, Pelikans, etc. Eek. I had too many pens and I didn’t use them often enough to justify keeping them. It’s time to sell some pens. As I do this, I’ve been rethinking the focus of my pen collection. When all is said and done, I expect to have:

• four Pelikan M400s
• three Pelikan M620s
• one Pelikan M205
• two Aurora Optimas
• one Bexley Submariner SE
• one Namiki-Pilot Vanishing Point (also known as the Pilot Capless)
• one Sailor Professional Gear
• two Sailor Sapporos (Professional Gear Slim)
• one Levenger TrueWriter

In four years of pen collecting, I’ve learned that:

I really like Pelikans, especially when they or their nibs come from Richard Binder.

I favor piston-fillers and other filling methods over cartridge-converter filling systems.

Why didn’t I buy a Vanishing Point sooner? Despite the converter’s painfully tiny ink capacity, this is the best pen ever! And it comes in pink!

I’m really hoping that once my pen collection is slimmed down, I won’t snap up every new pen I see. By focusing on pens I really love, I hope to better appreciate their value and quality. I know there are others whose pen collections (or watch collections or misprinted calendar collections or what-have-you) number in the hundreds or even thousands. And that’s cool—Kate’s not here to judge. But I’ve decided that I just have too much darn stuff in my life and it’s time to pare it down.

Granted, the day that Pelikan announces a pink M400, all bets are off.

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User review: John Cullen on the Habana

Posted January 20, 2010 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People, Product Reviews | 3 comments »

Guest blogger John Cullen teaches literature at Ferris State University and has a lot of dogs and horses. He’s been a fountain pen fiend for about thirty years; here are his thoughts on the Habana…

(Image via Writer’s Bloc.)

Well, generally I have gotten pretty cynical about journals over the years. I hate to think how much I have spent only to end up throwing journals away because they will not open flat on the table or the paper inside the journal is so bad it makes the writing experience feel like punishment. Add to that the fact I use a fountain pen and you can see why finding a good journal has been a trial.

Recently I got on a chat board where people discussed these issues in depth and many people recommended I get a Quo Vadis Habana notebook. In fact, people spoke in glowing terms about these journals. Yeah, right, I thought, but then I figured I would give one a try. What a pleasant surprise this journal has been!

The Habana is roughly 5 x 9 inches and comes with 80 pages of Clairefontaine lined paper. The cover looks and feels like leather, and the spacing on the white paper is generous. So from a cosmetic perspective, this is a great journal. There is even a stretchy band to keep the journal closed.

But how would it work when actually put to use?

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User review: Tom Hall on Rouge Caroubier

Posted October 5, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Pens, Paper & People, Product Reviews | 3 comments »

IT lawyer and fountain pen devotee Tom Hall recently sent us this review of J. Herbin’s Rouge Caroubier… be sure to read past the jump to see a page from his epic vampire novel-in-progress!

rouge caroubier

Bring on the red ink!

I am quite fond of Bastille Day. After all, I am part French and believe that the overthrow of monarchy should also be celebrated. It is also the birthday of my good friend, Blake, who was born to American parents in Marseilles shortly after the war. For choosing to arrive on Bastille Day, he was awarded the French Legion of Merit. Evidently the French war veterans were very puzzled to encounter a small boy proudly wearing one of their nation’s highest honors. Viva le France!

This year I had an additional reason to celebrate — the arrival of a bottle of J. Herbin ink and a Clairefontaine notebook. I had asked Karen for “the gaudiest red” available, so she sent Rouge Caroubier. I promptly cleaned out my best pen (the Parker Centennial Duofold I’ve written of in the past), filled it up and set to work.

I like red ink; I find it easier to see. My secretary appreciates if for much the same reason. It is also appropriate for my non-legal writing project — The Great American (Vampire) Novel. J. Herbin did not disappoint.

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A disposable fountain pen?

Posted June 22, 2009 by Leah Hoffmann
in Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | 8 comments »

varsity

The Pilot Varsity is a strange animal indeed: a so-called disposable fountain pen with a stainless steel nib that sells for a couple of bucks, which is just about what you’d pay for a decent rollerball. I came across it by chance when a pen aficionado I know (who restores vintage nibs in his spare time) gave one to me to play with; they were, he explained, a sort of guilty pleasure.

For that amount of money, you might not expect very much, but I was pleasantly surprised—to a point.

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Guest post: Why use a fountain pen?

Posted May 4, 2009 by Guest Author
in Pens, Paper & People, Product Reviews | 7 comments »

schaeffer

IT lawyer Tom Hall has been a devoted fountain pen user for nearly 30 years. Here, he talks about how he got interested in them, and describes his favorite pens…

“Why use a fountain pen?”

It seems a reasonable question. Ballpoint pens are readily available, fairly reliable and inexpensive. Losing or breaking one is no cause for concern. But for the most part they are also dull to look at and many are difficult to use. A good fountain pen floats across the page. Many ballpoints need to be forced to their task. The necessary death grip does nothing for my carpal tunnel.

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