My Nakaya Arrived!

I picked it up this afternoon and it is exquisite! I think I will be buying a second one next year. :)

The Kuro-Tamenuri (Blackish-Red) Urushi finish is stunning...

More on this beauty later. :)

December Pens

I've decided to do a post at the beginning of each month which summarises my current pen and ink combinations. Here's what December looks like:

- Bordeaux Pelikan M250, 0.5mm Cursive Italic nib / R&K Solferino.
Not having owned Pelikan Violet, I didn't realize how identical Solferino was to this ink until I tried it. Solferino is a beautiful ink and shades much better than the Pelikan. I don't think this ink colour suits the pen very well but the combination isn't unpleasant.

- Copper Esterbrook SJ, 2550 nib / R&K Scabiosa.
I'm always obsessive about ensuring my inks match or compliment the pens I put them in, so I wasn't sure if I liked seeing dusty grey-purple ink coming out of my Copper SJ, but now it's really grown on me. The 2550 is very fine and nice to write with, though slightly toothy.

- Pearl Grey Omas Dama, EF nib / Levenger Smokey.
Quite a dry writer with a very fine point, the mid-grey hues of Smokey look perfect coming from this pen. As the nib has a moderate amount of flex, the occasional wetter dark-grey strokes make for an interesting look to the page.

- Pilot MYU 701, F nib / Levenger Fireball.
An impressive pen with another superb nib, I take this one to work a lot. The ink is no longer red-orange - it's kind of a dirty-but-nice red-brown now, since there was some black in this pen which I couldn't clean out.

- Burgundy Esterbrook J, 9550 nib / Noodler's Tiananmen.
I had planned to use this pen for my Christmas cards, but it didn't look quite right as this is not a pure red 'festive' ink. While scribbling with this pen earlier today, I remembered how much I liked it and have packed it in my pen wallet to take to work tomorrow.

- Red Sailor 1911M, EF nib / R&K Magenta.
Again, not the best combination of colours. This pen will soon have a bright R&K red ink in it and I'll be much happier. The 14K nib is excellent, so I always have this pen inked.

- Yellow-Orange Aurora Sole Mini LE, EF nib / Stipula Moss Green.
One of my best writers ever, my Aurora hasn't been out of commission since I bought it. The nib just glides on the page and the warm brown-green tones of the ink suit the pen admirably.

I'm at a loss as to what to fill my Urushi Nakaya with though... hopefully inspiration will come when I have the pen in my hands.

I've Sinned Terribly...

God help me, I was innocently cruising around the internet not two hours ago, when I saw it. "It" is a Nakaya Piccolo Blackish Red Tamenuri fountain pen with a 14K Extra Fine nib! I wrote about here, and I was going to get the Nakaya next year, but when opportunity knocks...!

Anyway, it will be here via FedEx in a couple of days - joy!

*Happy Dance*

So, I've sinned terribly by buying the Nakaya not three weeks after my Aurora, but what the hell - you're a long time dead. :)

Pilot MYU / Redipoint

My bargain Pilot MYU 701 arrived the other day and the engraving is so faint you can barely see it! Just as I'd hoped... :) It took all day to clean the old ink out - and I'm sure Black ink is still working it's way through - but it's a sweet, sweet writer. I had it at work today and it performed great.

Also, my vintage, rolled-gold Redipoint pen arrived today. It's a very handsome pen, and the condition is very, very good. However, the nib is not a superflex by any means (more a semi-flex), and there are one or two small dings. Overall though, it sure is a neat little pen.

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.

Esterbrooks!

I snapped a pretty picture of a couple of my Esterbrooks this afternoon:


The Red J is the newest member of the family, and was very kindly traded from JimG. The condition is fabulous.

I have no idea why I ignored Esterbrooks for so long... I guess the colours didn't appeal at the time. Now that I know how great the SJ size is, I can't believe I went without one for so long. :)

Mini Optima!

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

Happy, happy, happy!

See my FPN Review for more information.

Ooo... Shiny Gold

This morning, like the true fountain pen addict I am, as I was checking out posts on FPN a few minutes after having woken up, I FINALLY got a pretty rolled-gold flexible-nibbed pen from The Marketplace.


Usually I miss out on good pen deals because the board is most active while I'm sleeping, but today I saw a post made within minutes of my logging on. It is a Redipoint advertising pen - the price was good, the nib is superb (fully flexible extra-fine to extra-broad) and the condition is stellar. I was so excited I could barely type the PM and email to say I wanted the pen! (I'm pathetically obsessed, I know. ;)

Another Pilot MYU

Picked up a second gorgeous Pilot MYU 701 today. Condition isn't the best, but it will do for everyday use while my other pristine one stays safe in the collection. :)

Finally - Aurora Optima Mini

Yesterday I purchased the very pretty Bordeaux Auroloide Optima Mini fountain pen with EF nib! The price had been the lowest I had seen for some time, and I decided to put my Nakaya off until next year. (The fact that the Aurora was half the price of the Nakaya was important too. :)

Just before I began writing this post, I was checking out the WorldLux site when I noticed they had an Aurora Clearance Sale. My heart began to thump very slowly. As I clicked the link, I thought maybe I should just close the browser window as I would be better off not knowing how much cheaper the pen was compared to what I had just paid. When I saw the price, my relief was audible - it was $5 more than what I had paid.


When I see the pen - and I may see it by Friday - I will have to decide what ink to use for the first filling. The current contenders are Parker Penman Ruby or Private Reserve Burgundy Mist; however, I am concerned about the Optima’s ink-view window. I don't want one of these heavily-saturated red dye inks to stain the clear resin, although the chance of this actually happening is pretty slim.