EVERFLO Blue Black Ink

Among the Christmas presents from my brother was this bottle of EVERFLO Blue Black Ink from Binder-Baer's Gate City Pen & Ink Co. Blue Black is one of my favorite colors, so I was a bit surprised when I swabbed this and took a closer look--it's really a very dark blue with the barest hint of black. An unusual and very deep, rich color that's somehow different from other blues I've got on hand (I'll have to swab them all for a future review).

Per the website, EVERFLO ink is "especially formulated to be benign, washable, and well behaved in all pens." It's definitely washable as the above pic shows, there's almost a water-color quality to this ink when it meets water.

Drying time is so-so, but that may be because the pen I was using (a vintage Waterman that's scheduled for review soon) has a semi-flex wet noodle of a nib. The ink creep on this nib is amazing, almost looks like a blue alloy over the gold that's how much ink gets on it. So I'll have to give this a try in another pen, but if you like dark blues give this one a try.

Kuretake Zig CocoIro Letter Pen

Kuretake makes a wide selection of pens, but the brush pens are of real interest to me. JetPens carries quite a few Kuretake pens, including this unusual-looking CocoIro letter pen with a flexible, brush-like tip. It's very different, in a lot of ways: the soft plastic body and rounded end give it a very plush feel, while the muted pastel colors make this seem more like a child's plaything than a pen.



Overall, it's fun. Not a pen I'd grab automatically, but something I'd use when I wanted to joke around or play. The refill colors are awesome--blood red, anyone? I chose my favorite, blue black, but I like all six.


If you're feeling silly then these CocoIro pens (and the refill, which is separate) are for you. Not a pen for heavy duty note-taking, but something to add some fun and softness to your writing experience.

Snow!

Had a few flakes here in NYC, about 12 to 15 inches is my guess. This is looking north on the avenue around 8 am, people have to walk in the street as the sidewalks are just being shoveled.

Waterman Rollerball

While visiting the parents, I wandered into my brother's office looking for something only to stop dead when I saw this on his desk--a beautiful Waterman rollerball from the early 1990s. It looks very much like one of my Waterman Laureat fountain pens, but it has a slightly slimmer silhouette. The shiny grey-black lacquer over metal, a color that reminds me of hematite, is elegant but not too snobbish.

My brother was amused when I grabbed the rollerball and started writing with it, checking out it's grip and flow. It's beautiful, but then it's been sitting in a drawer for over 15 years unused and unremembered until recently so it's in absolute mint condition and ready to go. Seeing this led me to get out some of the fountain pens I brought home and show him the vintage ones I got at the NYC Pen Show, and talking pens. I got another shock when I opened his gift to me, but that's for another post. I will only say that Richard Binder must have been pleased. I sure was.

Best of 2010 Post

Pocket Change invited me to contribute a "Best of 2010" post to their site, and looking through my posts I decided to go with Ecosystem's medium hard journal (which is one of my favorites, and readily available online and at Barnes and Noble). I'm very excited to be a part of their series of posts, and was extremely lucky as well in their gift card drawing.

Posting will be light, as I'm in Pennsylvania visiting my parents (and about a mile away or so from His Nibs and the next town over from BiffyBeans).

One of my favorite YouTube videos, enjoy and have a very Happy Christmas.

Fine Lines

Given my penchant for Japanese fine nibs, I've been wondering how "fine" a line they actually make and what, if any, difference there might be between them. So I took out a handful of fountain pens, and stated playing with them.

The finest line is without a doubt the Lamy Al-Star extra fine nib. If that's cheating, then the next one looks like the Sailor Regulus fine. One of the wider lines is from the Namiki Falcon II soft fine. I put more flex into the top line as I wanted to see what that would look like, then put in the second line with a much lighter touch.

Pelikan's German nibs actually stack up quite well next to the various Japanese nibs, which surprised me. I thought the Pelikan nibs (and the Edison Huron Bulb Filler with an iridium steel nib) would be much wider, but they all came down fairly even in width.

The biggest surprise is the Monteverde Invincia (Stealth) Color Fusion fountain pen, which has a medium cursive italic nib. The pen looks like it could fly to the moon and back in stealth fashion without being detected, and the rather fine-looking line from this nib kind of proves it. I'm not sure if having it made into a cursive italic took the width off it somehow, but I was expecting a broader line and didn't get one. I'm now curious to see what the Invincia fine would look like next to this group.

Staples Letter Size Pad

One of the "staples" of our office, and no doubt millions of others, is this Staples letter size note pad. Simple white paper with a double red line separating the margin makes for a common yet thoroughly enjoyable writing experience.

The paper is slightly rough (like bagasse, but made with the dioxin) and seems thin, but it's actually quite substantial. My Zebra Sarasa gel ink pen didn't bleed through, though there was a heavy shadow on the other side, so you might want to skip the back when writing.

The paper itself is a bright white, and it's actually a rather classy-looking notepad. The logo looks right on the khaki-olive color just underneath the blue top liner, giving everything a balance look that's not too weird or bright or garish.

If you use these, take a moment to really look at this nice little notepad. That it fades into the background actually makes it more interesting--it's not meant to stand out, what you write down is.