NPR talks to Daly’s Pen Shop

Entry Level Fountain Pen Showdown

As we all know here, “The reports of my (pen) death have been greatly exaggerated.” However, NPR decided to report on the demise of the pen market. The story featured Milwaukee’s Daly’s Pen Shop, in business since 1924. The story isn’t as gloom-and-doom as I thought it would be though it did startle some folks in the comments with the prices for a decent fountain pen (prices mentioned in the story included a $295 Visconti and talk of a Montblanc for $1000). Also mentioned is a $40 Cross pen and a $150 Pilot Vanishing Point.

I was not familiar with Daly’s Pen Shop prior to the story. The customers seem to make the trek to Daly’s because it has such a cool vintage vibe. I definitely have to take a trip up to Milwaukee to visit Daly’s Pen Shop. Sounds like my kind of place.

Have a listen to the story and then read all the comments that listeners have left. Would you rather have a great fountain pen or a new iPhone? I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive but right now, I’d rather have a new pen.

My Own Little Ink Drop

Ink from Friends

Over the last few months, kind friends and readers of the blog have offered to send me ink samples which I have gleefully accepted. But I have been so busy I haven’t had time to test them or share them. So I thought I’d at least share these colors and hopefully be able to do a more thorough review in the future. I think of it as my own personal ink drop!

All the colors seems to be on the cool sides: blue-blacks and greens which suit me just fine. In the photo above, the top color appears a bit brown in the photo but I swear its blue-black. All the other colors appear pretty true to life. Clearly, a weird photo trick.

I received samples of Montblanc Ink Midnight Blue which is a smooth blue-black despite the squidgy writing (I had an errant hair caught in my pen tines).  Once I got my pen issues sorted out, it seems to be a silky and dark blue-black. Next up is the Stipula Verde Musciato (AKA Musk Green), which is an almost indescribable yellowish, green-brown. Like a cool brown, if that’s even a color. It has an old world vibe, that reminds me of burnt sienna paint.

Ink from Friends close-up

Noodler’s Sequoia is a deep green-black that has a definite deep evergreen color to it. In fine nibs, even this flex pen, it looks almost black. Diamine Green Black is similar to the Noodler’s Sequoia but with a bit less black in it and a bit more blue in the overall color feel.

The biggest surprises for me were the Pilot Iroshizuku colors. I know everyone loves PI inks and the colors are amazing but until you see them in person, the range in the colors cannot be fully appreciated. I received samples of Tsuki-Yo which translates to Moonlit Night and and Shin Ryoku (Deep Green). The Tsuki-Yo is a vibrant blue-black more comparable to Noodler’s Navy than to the Montblanc Midnight Blue I received at the same time. The Shin Ryoku is a beautiful color but I wouldn’t describe it as deep green as the name states. I see more as a a bluish kelly green. It really is a lovely color. It was the most surprising as the name made me expect a color closer to the Sequoia or the Green Black and the Shin Ryoku is much brighter and more vivid.

Until I can post more thorough reviews of these colors, check out of some of these reviews:

(Tip o’ the hat to Karen P. for most of the ink samples though I am sure one or two colors came from other folks and I thank you as well)

Video: Staplers and Glass Pen

My husband stumbled across this video of  staplers found in Japan by this colorful Brit from The Grand Illusions web site, a site that sells toys, illusions and other novelty items.

I dug through his videos in search of other tidbits that might be interesting to readers and also found his glass pen demo. He comments that washing the tip with a little soapy water helps to make the ink adhere much better. Good tip!

Pitch Black is the new black

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Field Notes heard us. They announced last week that they are now offering an open-stock (non-limited) black edition of their classic Field Notes pocket notebook. Its called Pitch Black and features French Paper Company 100lb “Blacktop” covers with grey text on the cover. On the inside is the same white 50lb Finch Opaque paper but with a light-grey dot grid. They added a little zing with black staples. A 3-pack is the same price as the Kraft and Red-Blooded editions, $9.95.

I’m pretty sure this was made-to-order for Brad over at Pen Addict. Wouldn’t you agree?

Review: Mon Carnet des Poche (Pocket Notebook)

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I was enticed into ordering the Mon Carnet des Poche notebook thanks to my pal Carolee of Good Mail Day‘s sly tweet. I found that Kate’s Paperie in NY carried the notebook and I placed my order the same day. Knowing nothing of the book other than a TwitPic, it was a treat when it arrived.

It’s a B5 (approx 7″x10″) notebook that has simple cardstock covers with book cloth along the spine. The covers are not thick so the book is a little floppy, especially since it boast over 250 pages. Inside, the paper is three different styles: 112 pages of lined, 64 pages in brown kraft grid and the112 pages of blank sheets with perforations along the spine and in the middle of the sheet to create B6 (approx 5″x7″) note sheets.

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The name of the book is stamped on the bookcloth spine in gold foil.

Mon Carnet Notebook

There is a little discrepancy in the trimming along the edges. You can also see the distribution of paper. There isn’t nearly as much of the kraft paper as the lined and the blank sheets.

Mon Carnet Notebook

The grid lines are printed in black and are very tiny.

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The lines are spaced like wide-ruled (approx 7mm) and printed in a light grey.

Mon Carnet Notebook

The back section of the book is micro-perfed. In order to tear out a sheet, fold on the perf to crease is a couple times and then it should easily tear out.

Mon Carnet Notebook Test

In writing tests, the lined and blank paper is identical. Its a light ivory color and has a pleasing weight and tooth to it. The paper performed admirably. I had a little show-through but all the fountain pens I tried did not bleed or feather, nor did the paper resist the inks. Pencil and fine gel pens also wrote lovely on the stock. Because of the slight paper color and the grey lines, some tools were a touch to light for good, clean readability but overall I’m quite pleased with the lined/blank papers.

Mon Carnet Notebook Test

The kraft paper posed a bit of a challenge. Its a dark kraft color with black grid marks… whatever could I do with this? I decided that it was best suited to more artistic pursuits like opaque gel pens, oil pastels, watercolor, colored pencil and watercolor crayons. These pages are a little heavier weight so they would also be excellent places to glue, tape or staple ephemera or other collage projects. The watercolor warped the paper a little bit but not too severely.

I like that, for travel, I could carry just this one notebook and be able to journal my trip (lined paper), collage ticket stubs and other ephemera (kraft paper) and have scratch paper to jot notes or write letters (perforated, blank stock).

The large B5 size is available from Kate’s Paperie for $17. A smaller edition (5.2″5×7.5″) is also available for $10.