He Used A Pelikan Pen

The New York Times just published an article about a Virginia psychiatrist who altered the date of a pardon Abraham Lincoln granted to a Union soldier for desertion. The change make it seem that this was one of the last acts of the President's life.

What caught my eye was the attention to detail in the alleged confession:

“He indicated that he snuck a pen in — a Pelikan pen — and he marked the document and changed the date for the simple reason of getting some notoriety,” said Mitchell Yockelson, an investigator for the National Archives.

So if you're going to alter historical records, keep in mind that the official pen seems to be a Pelikan. Had to be a fountain pen, but which one? I'm thinking something weighty, like the Souveran M800 in Blue o' Blue.

I'm sure the company is honored.

A Pair of Pelikans

I was looking at several inks at the NYC Pen Show and saw the Pelikan 4001, which I later purchased in Blue-Black to try out with my Monteverde Invincia Color Fusion.

The two did not get along, but I wanted to see how the 4001 ink ($9.75) worked in another pen and decided to try it in a Pelikan, the M205 Clear Yellow highlighter that I bought with an extra fine nib.

Then I decided to see if next to the Pelikan Edelstein in Topaz ($20), and decided to use my Pelikan M205 Clear Blue with a fine nib, just for the symmetry.

Both inks have their attractions, the 4001 is a dark blue with black shading in it. I like the color, it's a good, everyday ink. The Edelstein Topaz is bright blue, and also shades very nicely. I'm thinking J. Herbin Bleu Pervanche might be very similar to this ink, at least on the monitor.

Both inks are a nice edition to my line up. I'll be very interested to see if any other pens aren't fond of the 4001, or if it's a Monteverde quirk.

Pelikan Stainless Steel Signum

Saw this over at the Fountain Pen Network, and as it was being offered at a great price and I was in the mood to try another Pelikan pen I decided to chance it. This ultra-slim Signum has a 14ct gold nib and a fine point, but what really amazed me was the flex. At first I thought there was something wrong with the nib as it kept bending and felt like it was loose. Then I realized how much it flexes and I just fell in love with it.

Quite a few of my pens are advertised as semi-flexible nibs, while my Namiki Falcon II is a soft, flexible nib. They are nothing compared to this Signum nib, I've never before realized how much fun a fountain pen could be to write with--nor how hard. I'm using a J. Herbin cartridge with Bleu Myosotis, and seeing a lot of shading in the ink. I'm going to empty to look around for a converter for this pen (which was made around 1980 I think) and check out some other inks for shading, especially the Diamine and Edelstein inks.

I'm using Doane Paper which produced a very nice, smooth link. But I can't wait to try the Signum on some Rhodia and Clairefontaine, especially a Webbie.

Pelikan M205 Duo Yellow Highlighter Ink

My Pelikan M205 yellow duo arrived a few days ago, and I wanted to play with the highlighter ink but didn't want to use the M205 pen. As I happened to have a Preppy highlighter available I made an eyedropper out of it and started highlighting.

This ink has an amazing green neon tinge to it, which you can see a bit of in the bottle in the above picture. There wasn't any feathering or bleed through (the journal is an Ecosystem with bright white paper), although the felt tip of the highlighter picked up some of the ballpen ink (which always happens).

This is just a fantastic neon yellow color, and you can purchase it at Goulet Pens (and other places I'm sure) separate from the pen itself. I don't use highlighters much these days, but I'm planning on using this one as it's just so bright and clear. If you make your own highlighters this might be an option to check out. I filled my Preppy about 2/3rds full but the 30ml bottle hardly seemed to have been used. So I'm thinking this will last a very long time with many, many highlighters filled.

Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin Ink

This is Mandarin, a clear true orange with just the slightest tinge of yellow, but that may be only when compared to another orange such as the Diamine Pumpkin. I'm not familiar with that many orange inks, but I think this might make an interesting highlighter if you wanted to dump the yellow and try this in a Preppy eyedropper (maybe with a drop or two of White of the Whale).



As you can see from the picture, this ink is not waterproof. There is no noticeable shading to Mandarin, and the ink didn't make my Muji steel fountain pen into a wet noodle. The pen's fine nib remained dry, no nib creep, and worked continuously--no dry starts or skipping, no shaking the pen to try and force ink into the capillary/feed. It's a well behaved ink, and there was no feathering on the paper and no bleed through on the Franklin Covey notepad, so this seems like a good choice for double-sided writing.

I wouldn't call this fast drying, while I didn't do a test of the Mandarin I have tested the Topaz and Jade and it's neither slow nor fast. It's definitely a fun color, not as serious as black, as soft as blue, nor as bold as red. If you're into orange inks or just want a change, give this one a try.

On the top right, courtesy of The New York Times, is a recent pic from the Milan fashion shows that actually does a good job of explaining Mandarin and Pumpkin. The Edelstein Mandarin ink is the color of the skirt, the Diamine Pumpkin is the top; jacket and model not included.

Pelikan M205 Duo Is Here

Just picked up the package so I haven't had a chance to try it, but am looking forward to inking this up and highlighting everything in sight. I also purchased an extra fine nib, for when I want to use this yellow beauty straight. This will make a nice addition to my collection, as I already have the M205 Clear Blue pen with a fine point.

Pelikan Edelstein Ink -- Jade

The one color among the much-anticipated Pelikan Edelstein inks that I very much wanted was Jade, which looked to me from the various pictures to be a soft yellow-tinged green that was different yet acceptable in polite company. I was thrilled to find that the color lived up to my expectations, it's a beautitful soft green with distinctly yellow overtones.



Jade is a very well-behaved ink, so polite and gentle you almost forget it's there. No ink creep on the nib, no skipping, flows very well, and while it almost made my Lamy Al-Star EF into a very wet writer the ink flow never quite reached that point. Just a bit wet, but not too much that it became annoying and messy. Drying time was average, neither incredibly short or long.



But the color is the main attraction for me. Jade is as close to a darker, more visible version of J. Herbin's Diabolo Menthe as I've seen; the latter is a touch more blue, but for me it's way too pale to use as an everyday writing ink. The above picture shows the two colors side by side, as well as the bottles. Jade is quite to my liking, and will definitely get a lot of play in my fountain pen rotation.


Finally, the bottle is a tie with Pilot Namiki's Iroshizuku as being one of the most elegant designs in glass. The picture above compares Edelstein's Jade on the right with J. Herbin's Diabolo Menthe on the left, showing off the Edelstein bottle's rectangular shape and larger bottle mouth. All four sides of the rectangle are slightly concave and give a nice, tapering look and feel to the thick glass, while the printing raised--also giving the bottle a distinctive feel and look.

The Edelstein Jade ink is a very pleasant surprise, with nothing usual or boring about either the color or the marketing design. I'm looking forward to trying the other colors I purchased, Topaz (a deep blue) and Mandarin (clear orange).

Pelikan Technixx Fountain Pen

Recently added to my fountain pen collection is this Pelikan Technixx medium nib fountain pen. This has to be one of the best representations of German precision and detail-oriented thinking I've ever seen, starting with the metal case.

First, the color--it's a really deep blue brushed metal finish (aluminum, I think). The brush finish gives the barrel a softness that kind of tickles the fingers.

What really caught my eye is the spring motion solid clip on the cap. When I was going over the pen visually I must have spent 20 or 30 seconds just looking at the clip, which is just an amazing piece of solid metal held in place by two small screws.

Ever post a cap on a fountain pen and then worried it might fall off? That definitely won't happen with the Technixx, as there is a small, round metal disc on the end of the barrel that catches in the cap and mades a very audible click when posted. It reminds me of a lipstick being closed, and is another fine detail that sets this pen apart.

Finally, the nib is impressive. It's just a regular steel nib, but for some reason the pen's body makes it look slimmer and longer when writing. It isn't but it's a great trick on the eyes.

In addition, I was very impressed with the way the pen handled the Noodler's Blue Manhattan ink: I tried the pen out, put it away for two weeks, then uncapped it and started writing immediately. No shaking the pen to get ink into the capillary, no dry ink marks on the paper as I tried to get ink through the nib, it just worked even after sitting on a table all alone for two weeks. The nib is very wet, but that could be the Noodler's or it could be the nib so I'll give it a try with some Iroshizuku. It writes well and smoothly if a bit on the wet side, but I'm still not a medium-nib fan so I'm considering an adjustment of some sort.

The pen can use cartridges or a converter, I chose the latter which is seen in the above pic. Swisher Pens has the Technixx (blue medium nib only) in its clearance section if you're interested.

Pelikan Pelikano

I had seen the Pelikan Pelicano fountain pen around, particularly a display at the Fountain Pen Hospital, and so decided to buy one to try out. The only one left was the clear-orange, medium steel nib but that was fine as I don't have many medium nibs and wanted to see how wide the line was. Mostly, I like this pen. The line is wider than I'm used to, but the fountain pens I've been using have finer nibs so this would seem really wide; I just have to adjust my handwriting.

What I really have a problem with is not the nib but the feed. This pen takes so long to ink up that I usually give up and find another pen to write with. I've carefully washed everything out several times since I got it about a month ago, and yet when I put nib to paper, nothing happens. Even squeezing the ink cartridge, while pushing ink through the capillary and down to the nib, doesn't last long. The ink doesn't continue to feed through, and I have to let the pen stand for a few hours to both dry out and let gravity try to get it to work. It's frustrating, as I rather like the pen and the price. But because of this dryness problem, I think I'll pass on trying one with a fine nib.