Nakaya Piccolo III - Review

I have just posted the review for my third Nakaya :

• Piccolo Chinkin Palmet - Shu with Colored Powders

Nakaya Piccolo III - Photo!

So this morning I woke up to a fantastic post by SJM1123 in a recent thread on the FPN about Japanese lacquerware decoration. The post links to a wonderful database of techniques, including Chinkin, which is what I chose for my third Piccolo.

I was so inspired by the videos that I got the camera out and started snapping away. Here is a teaser from the shoot:


I couldn't find my remote cable release and I was all in despair over the lighting quality... but I think they turned out OK.

On Collecting Pens...

While updating my pen database this morning, it occurred to me how pleased I am with my pen collection at present. I am also pleased to say that I am no longer actively seeking pens for my collection. It's more along the lines of: If I see something I like, I might buy it - or I might not. I'm getting extremely specific now... it's easy to dismiss pens which once caught my eye.

I have been using fountain pens exclusively since 2004, when my collection consisted of several nice pens purchased a few years earlier and a few cheapies from my school days. One day in 2005, I put "fountain pen collecting" into Google, did some reading, and subsequently joined "Rambling Snail" (a now-defunct website which was the precursor to the FPN). When the RS domain was finally abandoned, I registered at the FPN in April 2006, having been a lurker there for several months.

Since that time, my collection has grown. Approximately ~130 pens are listed in this blog as part of my collection, but my database has something closer to 170 records, which is more correct. I have several duplicates of some pens, and then some cheapies, oddities and junkers which are not listed. Let's just say I have enough pens to occasionally 'rediscover' pens in a box or case which I completely forgotten I had.

In Q4 2007, I began drawing classes, and since January 2008 I have also been attending bi-weekly painting lessons, so both my pen collecting and my artistic pursuits have become my primary hobby - but pen collecting is slipping. I have simply lost the enthusiasm for pen collecting. I no longer make a dozen posts on the FPN a day, and also I simply don't enjoy visiting the site as much as I used to.

This is not some farewell post – I am most certainly not packing up my pens and going home, but my interest *has* shifted slightly. As an example: I have spent $6000 on art supplies this year, which normally would have been spent on pens. So yeah... a slight shift has occurred...

However, as I type, I am expecting a Pelikan Polar Lights this week, a Danitrio Mt. Fuji next week, and on top of that, a custom Nakaya will arrive at the end of the year. Along the way there will be others... (the Delta 'Aromatherapy' looks neat, for example!)

I guess I just wanted to say that if I seem absent, or if this blog goes without a post for a few weeks, it's because I'm sitting on the other side of the room, fountain pen (loaded with Sailor Kiwagura Waterproof Black) or paintbrush in hand, drawing or painting quietly. ;)

A Pilot Gift

Last week I received a very generous gift - a 1979 Pilot Red Stripe (model name unknown, so that's what I'm calling it).

I received this lovely gift because I mentioned in passing that the pen and I shared the same date code - "1179" (November 1979).

The prized Red Stripe:
Thank you. :)

Dillon Ang Cursive Italic - Excellent!

What a nice week it was for my mailbox - lots of exciting pens, plus my first nib from Dillon Ang ('Dillo' on FPN).

The other week Dillon offered a 14K Pelikan M400 nib unit for sale, which I promptly pounced on. I took the opportunity to have the nib ground to a special point - a 0.3mm / XXXF Cursive Italic.

I can honestly say I am delighted with this nib. It is every bit as good as my nibs from other nibmeisters - and it is very smooth. Dare I say, too smooth? (I'm actually not even sure, because as a Needlepoint user smoothness can be a foreign concept for me!)

Dillon's service was prompt, well-priced and very professional. I am proud to add his 0.3mm Cursive Italic nib to my collection - and more from him will follow it! :)

Sailor Pro Gear SE

In my last post I mentioned my latest Sailor - a Professional Gear Special Edition produced for the Japanese market.
I wrote a little about this pen over at the Fountain Pen Network when I first received it, and I've been using it ever since. When I bought this pen, I was concerned about the F nib (having only ever used modern Sailor EF nibs in the past), but I was lucky enough to have gotten a very EF-like F nib.

The white trim is perfect, even though I am normally a fan of gold trim, and the nib is very attractive. PR Fiesta Red has turned out to be the perfect colour for this pen, and now I can't think of inking it with anything else. This is really a very striking pen, and I'm so pleased that I paid a little extra to acquire it. :)

Happy, happy, happy!

Special Japanese Pens

November has been a fruitful month for Japanese pens. In a very short period I have acquired several pens I have wanted for some time now! Most of these are stainless steel Sailor pens which are not too common.

The most magnificent pen of them all is the Sailor Egyptian Hieroglyphs model.
I was very lucky to be able to add the Hieroglyphs pen to my collection, and once again, such a thing was made possible by the wonderful Stan Klemanowicz, who has provided me with some of my best-loved Japanese pens.

Another interesting pen heading my way is a Limited Edition Sailor Professional Gear - in a Red Metallic lacquer finish!

More about the Sailor LE later... ;)

A Quiet Day...

Life in pendom has been quiet of late, but I have a couple of small pen and ink notes to report:

• I've ordered two bottles of the FPN Dumas Tulipe Noire ink, which is a dark red-violet shade possibly resembling a mixture of Noodler's Red Black and PR Burgundy Mist.
• I recently acquired a vintage Sailor 'Egyptian Hieroglyphs' pen, which is a model from the mid 1970's or so. Striking design! It is a rare short-long version of the full-size Hieroglyphs pen. (Picture to come.)

More news next time, I hope!

Nakaya Piccolo II

Earlier this week my spectacular Special Order Nakaya Piccolo arrived! It is gorgeous.

A full Review has been posted over at the Fountain Pen Network. :)

May Collection Updates

I've been somewhat slack about posting of late, so let us see what updates we have for May...

INK - I can't believe I didn't post about my new inks. I recently ordered Noodler's Nightshade, Private Reserve Gray Flannel, Rohrer & Klingner Sepia and Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrün from The Inked Nib, with wonderful service from Natalie as per usual.

• Noodler's Nightshade: This is a dark red-violet, almost like a mixture of Noodler's Red Black and J. Herbin Moondust. Moderate shading, very well behaved. (Thank you to Gary for getting me interested in this ink. :)


• Private Reserve Gray Flannel: This is a medium gray, quite neutral, with perhaps a hint of a green undertone. Moderate shading, very well behaved, perfect flow.


• R&K Sepia: I recently finished a half-bottle of this ink which I traded for last year, so when I ordered a fresh bottle, I wondered if the colour would differ at all. I was glad to find that it didn't, because this ink is the closest replacement for Parker Penman Mocha that I have found. It's very slightly lighter than Mocha, but the colour is so close... that completely neutral, true brown with no red, orange or yellow undertones. Lovely! Rather strong shading, no feathering, quite free-flowing.


• R&K Smaragdgrün (Viridian Green): Initially, this was an odd colour for me to buy, but my collection was lacking a pure blue-green (not to be confused with green-blue / turquoise). This ink colour has grown on me, and is very reminiscent of Sheaffer Emerald, though the colour is slightly deeper and more intense - a great ink. Moderate shading, very well behaved, perfect flow.

NIBS - I completed a more comprehensive review of my Richard Binder Needlepoint nibs! I uploaded several pages of writing samples on different papers, as well as some close-up shots of those beautiful nibs. Read on... XXXF and XXXXF Round and Italic Points.

PENS - I picked up two more Japanese fountain pens last week, both Platinum brand, and both 1970's Sterling Silver models. The first is a Riviere model with small inlaid red accents on the cap, while the second model is unknown, with red urushi accents on the cap. Both are high-quality pens, and from what I can gather, they were originally sold in the ~15,000 ¥en range.

The Platinums should arrive next week, and I will definitely be photographing them and preparing a write-up. Not much product information for older Platinum models exists out there on the WWW, so unfortunately I will be limited to discussing the design and showing off pretty pictures! :)

Very Exciting Pen News!

Well, exciting for me at least! Here is a summary of pens I am expecting...

1. A second Nakaya Piccolo Cigar! Special Urushi finish, 14K SEF nib.


2. A stainless steel Platinum, exactly like the one shown in this post.


3. A cute Waterman Lady Charlotte.


4. The Fountain Pen Network 'Limited Edition' Bexley.


5. TEN (10) pens from Richard Binder, which I sent to him for nib customizations - I may have them by the end of this week!

Last week I also received two beautiful Japanese pens from the lovely Mr. K. The first was a small Pilot lever-filler, in a gorgeous red celluloid with a firm XF 14K nib. The second was more special... an unusual stainless steel Sailor with a rather exquisite arabesque-like motif. The motif is machined(?) all over the cap, barrel and section. The detail is quite incredible and perfect, and the nib is a 18K White Gold F.

Pen Ramblings

More of an update today... no new news to share. :)

Firstly, my Nakaya Piccolo. It is incredibly perfect - I love this pen so, so much.

Next, my Aurora Mini Optima. Not long after I bought it, I felt the ink flow was a little too much. The wonderful Pamela B sorted it all out, and in a roundabout way also gave me the opportunity to have an Extra Fine stub nib ground for the pen. I’m really looking forward to getting it. :)

Two cute Pilot 78G's arrived from HisNibs today - a Teal and a Cinnabar with Fine nibs. Being Japanese this means they are more like extra-fine nibs, and so far the dip-test has indicated these pens are winners! Lovely service from Norman, as usual. :)

Perhaps it's just the combination of the EF nibs and dry-writing pens that I use, but my FPN Special-Edition ink isn't really so brown at all. In fact, it's a middle-of-the-road dirty red-orange. I can see with a wet writer that the colour would deepen, but really, there's a heck of a lot of red in there.

Nakaya Urushi Cigar

I took some good photos of my new Nakaya today, and have posted a comprehensive review over at the Fountain Pen Network: Nakaya Urushi - Cigar Piccolo

Enjoy!

Inky Fingers

Yesterday my FPN ink arrived. :)

I was a bit surprised by the packing method (newspaper in a cardboard box), and as I lifted the third bottle out of the box I saw a suspicious red smudge on the bottom of the box. The bottle had cracked, and was slowly leaching its contents all over the place. I couldn't find an empty ink bottle for the life of me, so I poured the whole thing into a zip lock bag. Probably not the best solution, but oh well.

Since two of the bottles were for friends, I don't actually have a bottle of FPN ink now - I do have a bag of ink (which looks freakishly like a bag of blood), and I have a bottle with ink stains all over its beautiful label. I don't know what to think of the ink, it very much reminds me of timber stain and has an odd opaqueness to it. I think it's all good though. I put it in my Pilot MYU. It writes very well and the colour is also really nice - very much a rusted red-brown.

I have enquired about the broken bottle, but don't really expect to hear anything. Sigh. Guess I had to run out of good fountain pen luck eventually.

Mini Optima!

It arrived yesterday and I love it! The colour is just gorgeous!

Happy, happy, happy!

See my FPN Review for more information.

An Esterbrook and a FOURTH Omas

In pen news, I received my lovely Esterbrook Copper SJ in the mail today, plus a wonderful little assortment of nibs as a gift! Some people in the fountain pen community are incredibly kind. :) I also ordered two bottles of the FPN special edition ink, "FPN Galileo Manuscript Brown". I don't have a true brown in my ink collection, so I'm really looking forward to getting a nice 'bulletproof' brown. :)

In other pen news, I bought *another* Omas 'Princess' from the Celluloid Collection. This time it was the Scarlet Red colour.

That makes four Omas Celluloids.

In two months.

I think I must join Pen Collectors Anonymous.

The Second Omas

Today my long-awaited Omas Princess in La Royale Blue, with custom EF nib arrived - and it is crap.

The pen wasn't packed properly, the box is missing and the custom nib is completely terrible.

I'm too upset to even write any more about it.

Early Kaweco Toledo

Well, the mystery lever-filler I bought last month turned out to be a bit of a prize! It is an early Kaweco ladies model, and the Toledo overlay work is stunning!



A big thank you goes to Thomas, whose help was invaluable in determining the maker. :)

You can read all about the pen on the FPN.

Aurora Arrived!

This week has been an extremely good week, pen-wise. I went to the Post Office yesterday morning, and got a very pleasant surprise when I discovered that my Aurora Sole Minima from Oscar Braun had arrived - two days before it was expected!

After I opened the package, I set up a camera, took some photos and wrote a fairly comprehensive Review, which I have posted at the Fountain Pen Network. Lots of nice photos are included.

I'm very impressed with the Sole Mini, and very, very pleased that I bought it!


Some Small Pens: Orange Marble Montegrappa Micra, Green/Black Pelikan M300, Aurora Sole Minima LE.

Review: Montegrappa Micra

I wrote a little review today for the Montegrappa Micra, a wonderful little fountain pen I picked up in February. I have also posted this review (complete with many pictures) over at The Fountain Pen Network: Montegrappa Micra