In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Aurora Duo Cart (& Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue)

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Fountain Pen Review: Aurora Duo Cart (& Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue)

The Aurora Duo Cart fountain pen ($180 in burgundy and gold)  is a re-creation of the original Duo Cart of 60 years ago.  If the photo on the box is any indication, only minor alterations have been made to the original design. Originally, the name came from the pen’s ability to carry two cartridges, the one it was using and a spare. Hence the “duo cart.” The modern version comes with a converter which occupies the majority of the barrel and modern cartridges appear to be a bit longer making it difficult to fit two in the barrel, though the name lives on.

While I don’t make a big deal of packaging, a well-placed vintage photo on a recyclable cardboard box is always welcome. Inside the box was the converter, cartridges and a small bottle of ink. Everything needed to start off on a fountain pen adventure.

Inside, was the vintage clamshell box with satin lining that was legendarily found in the Aurora basement. It even smelled like vintage attic! From what I understand, the stash of vintage clamshell cases has already been depleted and sadly, I don’t even get to keep this one (its just a loaner) but at least I got to sniff it.

The pen is pristine Mary Tyler Moore bordeaux red with a gold tone cap engraved with fine vertical lines. The ends of the pen are flat and smooth. On the barrel end is an embedded, smooth, gold disc, Very modern and understated.

Between the barrel and the grip is a matching gold band with engraved rings. This is a case where you can definitely put a ring on it.

The nib is hooded, similarly to a Parker 51 though there is a bit of a step down to the nib. Visually, I noticed it but once I started using the pen, the step pretty much disappeared.

The nib is listed as medium but it is a very blunt, almost italic-style medium. If there was anything that I would want added to the Duo Cart line, other than a variety of pen barrel color options, it would be nib size options. Not everyone is going to want a nib that is quite this broad and flat. It certainly has a lot of character is much more of a stub in the range of a 0.8mm to a 1mm than it is a traditional round medium nib. So, from that perspective, I liked it a lot better than I thought I would. It took a page or so of writing for me to find the sweet spot and get the feed good and wet so that it was writing smoothly and consistently for me and that may have had more to do with my being left-handed than the pen.

That said, once the Duo Cart and I got going, it was pretty smooth sailing on the Rhodia paper. The nib actually ended up reminding my of the Esterbrook 2442 Falcon that I like so much so we ended up getting along swimmingly.

The Duo Cart is also available with a black barrel with silver trim ($156) if you are feeling a bit more Mad Men and a little less Laura Petrie à la the Dick Van Dyke Show.

A little more about the ink: I used the new Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue ($17 bottle but everybody is sold out!) for this review which is a vivid bright blue with a bit of a red sheen. In writing, a bit more of the turquoise shading shows through particularly with the wider nib. I suspect the color would be darker overall in a finer nib.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Kenro Inc. for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: I Love it When a Plan(ner) Comes Together

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment

  • Frankie Diary 2018 (Pre-Order) $26.95 AUD (via Frankie)
  • Planner 2018 $22 (via Baron Fig)
  • Flow Diary 2018 €16.95 (via Flow Magazine)
  • Hobonichi Techo Weeks 2018 in Sunset Red $17.69 USD (via 1101.com)
  • Sailor 1911 Standard Fountain Pen in Anchor Gray with Rhodium Trim $196 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Montblanc Oyster Grey Fountain Pen Ink (60ml bottle) $17.99 USD (via Appelboom)
  • RETRAKT R-Type Pen, Starts at $60 (Desk readers can receive 10% off their orders with the code “WELLAPPTDESK”) (via Karas Kustoms)
  • Lucy Printed Cotton Dress Paris Streets Print £70 (via Emily & Fin)
  • Kobe #25 Tarumi Apricot Fountain Pen Ink (50ml bottle) $30 (via Vanness Pen Shop)
  • “Sorry. It took me forever to find paper and pen” greeting card $5 (via Mr. Boddington)
  • Retro Pattern Washi Tape $2 per roll (via CuteTape)
  • Robert Oster Signature Fountain Pen Ink in Direct Sun (50ml bottle) $18 (via Federalist Pens)
  • PCM Takeo Peta Clear Sticky Notes – Rectangle/Circle Speech Bubble $5.75 (via JetPens)
  • Platinum 3776 Century Fountain Pen in Bourgougne Special Sale Price Click for Price (via Pen Chalet)
  • Pencil UNO in red $45 (via Ennso)
  • Mitsubishi No. 460 Ballpoint Pen $1.50 each (via Fresh Stock Japan)
  • Phone “Hello” 6-Card Set $10 (via Sapori)
  • Conid Monarch Kingsize Bulkfiller fountain pen €995n(€822,31 Outside EU) (via Fontoplumo)

I could not possibly fit all the diaries and planners that have been released fit into Fashionable Friday this week. Moleskine released their new planners. There are 18-month planners as well as an array of 12-month 2018 options. Their paper quality is still iffy but they offer an array of formats and designs. Leuchtturm1917 planners will soon be available on JetPens and they will also be stocking Hobonichi Techo planners soon so you don’t have to order from Japan if you can wait a couple weeks. Jenni Bick has Paperblanks 2018 planners in stock. Kate Spade has all 2018 agendas and refills for her planners available now too. Appelboom has all the Filofax 2018 refills.

And, of course, I included the NockCo Seed case which is coming soon. I’ll keep you posted as soon as I know more but I had to include the teaser image that was posted on their instagram account this week. The A6 case will fit a standard Hobonichi Techo! So many options!

Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for reading the blog and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.

In Fountain Pen Review, Paper Review

Fountain Pen Review: Parker IM (BONUS: ApPeel Notebook Review)

Author AnaPosted on 9 Comments
Fountain Pen Review: Parker IM (BONUS: ApPeel Notebook Review)

Review by Laura Cameron

In my ongoing quest to try every pen I can get my hands on, my most recent acquisition is the Parker IM Fountain Pen in Light Purple with Chrome Trim and a fine nib ($41).  This one appealed to me because of the look, the price point and the brand name.

The body features a brushed finish in purple and all the trim is chrome, making this a stylish, modern looking pen.  The postable cap features a contoured end cap and the standard Parker Arrow pen clip.  The nib is a Parker stainless steel fine nib.  The Parker IM comes with an ink cartridge and  a converter can be easily purchased separately.

When I received this pen, I was really pleased with it in terms of look and feel. I immediately filled it up with some Diamine Ancient Copper, found a notebook and took it for a spin.

I had a bit of an interesting experience with this one which, in hindsight, was related to the ink I was using. At first I had a bit of trouble getting the ink to flow smoothly through the nib, but after a bit it wrote fairly smoothly.  I found the fine nib a little bit scratchy, despite switching position while writing. 

Over the next few days I kept pulling out this pen, and that’s when I discovered that the ink sample I was using must have had some quality issues – each time I opened the pen there would be ink crusted all around the nib. I could run it under water, clean it off and start to write again fairly quickly, but as soon as it sat in my bag for a bit, I would open it to find the nib crusted over again. Within a day or two I went ahead and emptied and cleaned the pen and tossed the ink sample.  The second time I tried filling the pen with Faber-Castell Cobalt Blue, and that has been much better.  I still find the nib a little scratchy, but it’s far better with the new ink.

Empty, the pen weighs approximately 26gms.  It is lighter than I would have expected given the metal body, but I still feel like it has a decent weight in my hand.

Woot! New weight chart! The Parker IM weighs the same as a Pilot Metro.

Overall, I think this pen is a pretty good starter fountain pen. I’m not sure I enjoy it quite as much as my Retro 51 Tornado Fountain Pen, which is quite a bit heavier in my hand, but I like it far, far better than the Sheaffer VFM that I reviewed a few weeks ago. The two don’t really compare, but I was carrying both at the same time and I was far more likely to grab the Parker IM and pretty happy while using it.

I just wanted to add a quick note about the notebook that I used to test the Parker IM.  This was a generous gift to the desk by Julia Skott from Sweden. (Ed. Note: She blessed us with a heap ton of awesome Swedish and European notebooks at the Atlanta Pen Show this year that will be making an occasional appearance on the blog.) Appeel notebooks are made by an Italian company that wanted to create eco-friendly journals inspired by the Italian landscape.  The notebooks are called Appeel because the book covers and pages are made from apple peels and selected vegetable fibers.  I found a few examples of Appeel products being offered at promotional goods sites (i.e. for creating logo merchandise), but I didn’t find anywhere to purchase otherwise.

The notebook I used had a cardstock cover, though many of the journals I found online have leather covers.  The notebook measures 13 x 21cm with a sewn binding, and contains 80 pages of 80gsm lined paper, featuring the Appeel logo in the upper corner.   The paper is a neutral tan color.  In general I enjoyed testing the paper. Surprisingly, it tolerated fountain pen ink quite well, with some ghosting, but no bleeding through even in the areas where I filled in with extra ink.

Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.

In Link Love

Link Love: No Game of Thrones Spoilers

Author AnaPosted on 10 Comments
Kitten Update: Our newest resident is settling in but is still a little skittish. She is super cuddly once she feels safe and loves to play with the string toy. The other cats are slowly warming to her except “El Presidente,” our 6lb Siamese who is having none of this micro-invader. So, for the time being, we are keeping the kitten sequestered and introducing her slowly to the rest of the brood. The vets gave her a clean bill of health except for ear mites. Name is still up for debate. Suggestions?

Link of the Week:
This is the best, most-thorough and accurate review of the Platinum Classic inks I’ve seen yet. It’s also stunningly beautiful. I wholeheartedly agree that the Platinum Classic inks exhibit iron gall-like properties but are not true iron gall inks.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper, Notebooks, Etc:

Art & Art Supplies:

Other Interesting Things:

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Noodler’s Ink Neponset with Music Nib

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

I think it was Azizah of Gourmet Pens who said that one can never have too many music nibs. If my handwriting were as beautiful as hers, I could rationalize having as many music nibs as I damn well please. Alas, it’s not (in fact, I usually print in a utilitarian manner), so I’m not sure why I felt compelled to add a fifth music nib to my collection (and will undoubtedly add more in the future), but I’m happy I did. The Noodler’s Ink Neponset music nib is quite different from the others I own.

Before I get to that nib, though, let’s talk about the Neponset’s body, which is substantial. According to Pen Chalet, the Neponset (appropriately named after an airship blimp) is the largest of Noodler’s fleet. Despite my relatively small hand, I prefer pens with a good heft and girth, both of which the Neponset has. It’s also more than a half-inch longer than a Lamy Safari.

That extra length balances well with the pen’s large diameter without the cap. With the cap posted, however, it feels a little back-end heavy to me. The cap screws on and posts securely.

I chose the Calligraphy Stone color, which looked orange in the model photographed on Pen Chalet’s site, but mine is closer to a golden topaz hue with more dark marbling. Some parts of the body reflect light more than others, and the marbling varies widely, too. Made of acrylic, the body is fitted with a silver-colored clip, trim ring and band to match the nib.

The Neponset uses a plunger-style piston filler. For people who are used to eyedropper pens or those with built-in pistons, the detachable piston’s capacity may seem small. Compared to the miniscule Pilot and Sailor converters I’m used to, though, the Neponset’s filler seems enormous.

Before I move on to the nib, I must say something I’ve heard other Noodler’s users complain about but had never experienced myself until now: that smell! I noticed it immediately when I uncapped the new pen, but when I unscrewed the section from the barrel, that odor nearly knocked me out! (Yes, I have said the same thing about alcohol-based markers and Xylene pens.) I quickly inked it and put the barrel back on, hoping that would hold the smell at bay, and it did. As long as it’s completely capped, I don’t smell it. (I’ve heard that if I disassemble all the pieces and leave them out in the open for several days, the smell will dissipate, so I’ll do that before its next inking.)

Now let’s get to that nib, which is the most important part of any pen (at least for me). Called the Vishnu Victory, the Neponset’s music nib has the traditional three tines. (I have a Sailor music nib with only two tines, but the Platinum, Pilot and Franklin-Christoph all have three.)

Apparently music nibs are so named because their stub-like shape can make a thin line horizontally and thicker line vertically, both strokes being used to write music notations. I also understand that the purpose of the double slits (three tines) is to keep more ink flowing. The Vishnu Victory certainly manages well on both counts. Immediately after its first inking and ever since, it has been flowing beautifully with no skips or hard starts, and it keeps up with longer or faster strokes with ease.

Pen Chalet’s description calls it a “flex music nib,” which caught my attention; none of my other music nibs have any flex at all (hard as the proverbial nail). While I probably don’t take advantage of flexing when I write, I sometimes enjoy making deliberately slow pen-and-ink-type drawings using fountain pens instead of dip pens, and the Neponset’s nib gives me just enough spring that I can get interesting line variations. Mind you, it’s not a wet noodle by any means or even as flexy as some contemporary nibs (my Pilot Falcon and Pilot FA nibs are much flexier), but it has just enough bounce to make the nib fun.

Final Impressions

Flexier than all the other music nibs I’ve tried, Noodler’s Neponset is a versatile pen for both writing and drawing (and is therefore a welcome addition to my music nib collection whether I can rationalize another one or not). I hope that stink goes away.

By the way, if you’re curious about that quotation I used for my writing sample, it’s by Naoki Ishikawa, an explorer and photographer, quoted in last year’s Hobonichi Techo: “I want to spend the rest of my life continually astonished by things I’ve never seen. When I saw the world’s tallest mountain peaks, or Tibetan worshippers chanting prayers as they spent all day circling a temple, or the deep crimson sunsets of Africa, my body responded on its own. By the time I realized it, my finger was already pressing the shutter.”

I’d like to spend the rest of my life that way, too.

tina-koyamaTina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Book Review

Book Review: The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting

Author AnaPosted on 10 Comments

The title of the book, The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting by Anne Trubek did not instill a lot of confidence that I was going to see eye to eye with the opinions of the author. The urge to make marks to communicate seems hardwired into the human DNA, in my humble opinion. How we go about doing that has changed over time but the essence of mark-making continues. And even children who seem fascinated by technology still gravitate towards crayons and paint just as often so I’m inclined to think that Ms. Trubek’s “uncertain” stance is a little premature.

That said, I plowed through her text, and let me tell you, it was a bit of an ordeal. I am fairly familiar  in the history of calligraphy and the handwriting so I was sort of hoping that this book was going to take a slightly different perspective. Nope. Ms. Trubek dove right into the history and attempted to sum it up in a few short chapters (less than 60 pages) with her own biases about the church and the patriarch. It makes me wonder whether she was just lashing out at the world or actually researching handwriting. Yes, history is full of injustices but deciding whether children today or in the future should continue to learn handwriting because of social injustices of 300 years ago hardly seems like sound logic.

Adding a layer of irrevelance to her argument, she included chapters about handwriting analysis and the introduction of the typewriter as reasons why handwriting should be summarily dismissed. Actually, those were all reasons why I thought her editor should be dismissed. It made the book feel choppy and disjointed. The introduction of the typewriter and keyboard created less need for handwriting but the chapter did not fall appropriately within the book.

Many of the statements Ms. Trubek made felt she was aggrieved and put-upon. It was not until the last chapter or so that she admits she left-handed (pg. 151) and reveals being judged “less intelligent” because her penmanship was not as legible. As a fellow lefty, I understand there are issues facing us but she needs to remove her personal bias from her writing.

Handwriting, like riding a bicycle, is a skill that requires patience and practice. Anyone can do it — unless they have a physical condition that inhibits their ability and then, yes, there are many alternatives. We live in a world now that does not make it a requirement to write by hand anymore. But, if you read this blog, I suspect that you are someone who believes that handwriting and pens and analog tools are worth using and saving.

Skip this book. I sent my copy, annotated with paper sticky notes to my pal Penthusiast. No one else should have to pay cash for this.

In Book Review

Book Review: The Pencil Perfect

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment

I was tickled pink (cover pun entirely intended!) to be able to read The Pencil Perfect: The Untold Story of a Cultural Icon by Caroline Weaver. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when the book arrived but it turned out to be about the size and shape of a text book with a black bookcloth spine and a ribbon bookmark and a salmon pink cover with a pencil-drawn illustration of a Blackwing 602 on the cover. Inside is a thorough history of the pencil from the discovery of graphite to the post-war Japanese pencils and the resurgent love of pencils in the 21st century. The text is annotated with coordinating pink call-outs and is ridiculously thorough. It is conversational but super-educational.

Even if you didn’t think you would be interested in the pencil industry, there is so much about how Faber-Castell, Caran d’Ache, and Empire all got started. Then how so many of them merged, married and submerged. Since so many of these pencil companies are also makers of pens, its curious to see the histories.

I know its not Caroline’s thing but I know she must have so much information about how the mergers must have affected the pen portions too. Maybe someday she’ll write a pen book? One could hope.

Until then, immerse yourself in the pencil history. Its fascinating! The accompanying illustrations are amazing. CW Pencils is currently sold out of the books but you can be emailed when they are back in stock. In the meantime, I dare you to read this book and not want to buy some pencils!