This week on Art Supply Posse, artist and pen enthusiast, Joey Feldman shares his origin story, how he met his mentor and what’s on his utility belt. Batteries to power, turbines to speed… ready to move out! We also talk about the Dallas Pen Show and, of course, favorite art supplies!
Pens:
Inks:
Pencils:
Paper & Notebooks:
Art Supplies:
Other Interesting Things:
The Regal Alice fountain pen is a slender copper body pen with a shimmer metallic finish and silver tone hardware. The pen is pretty, inexpensive and feels nice in the hand. Everyone who sees it compliments its looks and asks about it because the color is unusual and the slim understated design is something not often seen in modern pen designs. Originally, the pen only shipped with a medium nib but is now designed to accept an EF fountain pen nib ($10) or can be retrofit to accept a rollerball refill if you change out the grip section..
The pen ships with standard black ink cartridges and there is an option to use a cartridge converter. A cartridge converter is available directly from Regal for $3 or the Monteverde Piston Converter which is more widely available.
I swapped out the medium nib for the EF nib which is quite fine and perfect for everyday office writing since its fine enough to stand up to inexpensive copy paper and the like. I also went ahead and got the cartridge converter because I wanted to be able to use lots of ink colors easily.
The pen is fairly long and slender but because of the brass base material it has a nice weight. The cap does not post because of a plastic lining material inside the cap that helps seal the cap and keep the pen closed tightly. It reminds me of the cap on the Pelikan Stola III in that way. I didn’t mind that it didn’t post but I know this might be an issue for some folks.
I normally write pretty small for notes and daily writing so the EF nib on a small, slender body fits my writing style nicely. The Alice is a bit drier writing pen overall so it felt more like a needlepoint rollerball or gel pen and may feel more familiar to people just starting in fountain pens than a wet writer. It also makes it a good candidate for mucking about on everyday office papers where you don’t get a lot of say on the types of paper it is on but would still like to use a fountain pen.
I tested the Alice on a bit of Moleskine Cahier paper, Tomoe River Hobonichi and some cheap 20# office paper just to prove my point. There was no feathering and very little show through with the light turquoise ink color I was using. YMMV.
The Alice is available for $20 from Regal in black, white, pink, turquoise, and champagne pink (fuchsia). It’s also available as a rollerball or ballpoint. At a price like this, if the colors appeal to you, its a fun pen to add to the collection and one that may intrigue non-fountain pen users into the hobby. It definitely catches attention.
The Alice got to visit my very own Wonderland… in my backyard this weekend. I think it looks right at home.
I finally got a chance to test out the inks in the second volume of the Ink Crate subscription service. Each month, the service sends five 2ml samples each month for $10 per month plus $3.99 shipping worldwide (at present) in their signature mint blue “crates”. Should shipping costs change, Ink Crate will notify subscribers and subscriptions auto-renew via credit card. I say that only because I know how expensive it is to ship overseas from the US, and $3.99 is a STEAL.
This month’s colors were, once again, a nice variety of colors. Two Diamine shades, Aurora Black and two colors from an ink company I had not heard of before: Seitz-Kreuznach. Overall, the color selections seemed “ripe” for heading into fall with tomato red, green apples, denim blue and a maybe not- entirely unwelcome cooler arctic blue. Aurora Black is a classic that is often overlooked but is a staple that should probably be included in any ink collection so its nice to have a chance to take it for a test drive.
According to a thread on FPN, Seitz-Kreuznach is actually a (EDIT!) German ink brand sold mostly on Ebay and their color series is called “The Colors of Nature”. Thus far, I quite liked both of them and am pleased that Ink Crate was able to surprise me with something new. That’s not easy to do!
Tested on Rhodia Uni Blank No. 18 with Kaweco Dip Pen and Zebra G Titanium nib, and watercolor paintbrush. I purchased the Ink Crate with my own money.
On Tuesday, just days before the Dallas Pen Show, the unspeakable happened to Dromgoole’s Fine Writing in Houston — a man walked into their shop and jammed $7000 worth of Montblanc pens into his pockets and walked out while Dromgoole and his wife were busy with other customers. And it all happened in less than 60 seconds.
But Dromgoole’s came to the Dallas Pen Show and made a good showing with lots of great products and everyone — customers and other retailers alike — were supportive of them and the terrible loss they suffered prior to the show.
We normally think of the pen community as a place full of amazing people and it is. This one guy isn’t part of our community. He’s an interloper and an ass and he will be caught. If you happen to see anyone trying to sell any Montblancs without packaging or you suspect it might have come from this theft, send the info you have to Dromgoole’s so they can forward it on to the local investigators. Don’t engage the suspects yourself.
And if you local pen shop has lax security, doesn’t lock up their cases or might need to upgrade their security system, let them know you care about their success and protection. Get them to move those cabinet keys and take the expensive pens out of the windows at night, etc. I’d hate to see a shop go out of business because a crime like this left them stretched beyond their means.
Thanks to everyone who entered and shared their color inspirations for Caroube de Chypre. I loved reading what the color evoked for everyone.
The winner of the giveaway was Sandra. I’ve contacted her via email. I hope the color lives up to her expecatations!
J. Herbin has introduced another ink to the 1670 line, Caroube de Chypre which is a lovely deep chocolately brown with gold flecks. I love the look of the 1670 bottles despite being difficult to use with large nibbed fountain pens or for getting ink out beyond the first few fills. I like the gold cord, the waax seal and the wax around the cap. They are beautiful, fancy treats and the only bottles that often sit out on my table for months.
The gold flecks do settle so be sure to roll or shake the bottle before filling your pens in order to distribute the flecks evenly.
I tested the ink with both a dip pen and in my Lamy Safari Joy with a 1.1mm nib. The color appears much darker with the dip nib where in the stub 1.1mm, the color is a warmer, lighter shade of brown. Almost like dark chocolate and milk chocolate depending on which tool I chose.
The ink dried pretty quickly in the Lamy but took quite awhile to dry when I used a dip pen, especially on the Rhodia paper.
I took my ink samples out into the sunlight to best capture the gold. I took two different shots. Depending on how much I turned the swatch in the light, you can get a better impression of the ink catching the light, both in the swab and even in the writing. I hope it is easier to see the greenish halo as well. There’s such a variety of depth to the color. I’m not normally a fan of brown inks because I find them rather flat and dull. They don’t have the variety and sheens and shading that blues and purples and reds often get but Caroube de Chypre is the exception to that. Thank you, sparkle, shimmer and shine!
Back inside, under more sedate lighting conditions, you can see the brown in comparison with some of the few brown inks in my collection. Caroube de Chypre is a bit more of a neutral brown than Kaweco Caramel Brown which has a bit more red in it. I put in the swatches of KWZ Honey and Callifolio Heure d’Oree knowing those are both quite popular colors at the moment and every other brown or sepia color I had was much darker, or cooler in tone. These were the closest in hue, all feeling the most candy-like.
I know that, of the 1670 colors, Emerald of Chivor has been one of the most popular colors but I actually quite like Caroube de Chypre and I think moving into fall and winter, this is the perfect hot cocoa color. I do find that the gold particles seem to settle even faster in Caroube de Chypre but I also think that means that they are smaller and lighter and less likely to clog overall. It does mean that you’ll want to roll your pen regularly to redistribute the gold as you use it though. My best recommendation is to put this ink in a demonstrator pen like a TWSBI 580 or a Lamy Safari with a wide nib so you can see when the gold flecks start to settle. Then gentle roll the pen on the table a couple times to redistribute the gold in the ink.
I purchased my bottle of Caroube de Chypre at the DC Pen Show from Federalist Pens.
The Giveaway:
The fine folks at Exaclair kindly sent me a bottle of J. Herbin Caroube de Chypre so that I could spread the love of chocolate gold dust around. So, one lucky reader can win a bottle of Caroube de Chypre of their very own.
All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what Caroube de Chypre reminds you of.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, September 25, 2016. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please use your REAL email address (not some crappy Hotmail account you never check) in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If the winner does not respond within 14 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US residents & APO only. Sorry international folks… but hey, your croissants are better!
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Exaclair for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
