Waiting Patiently For My Huron Bulb Filler

No, this isn't the pen I'm waiting for from Edison Pen Co. but oh, would that it were. What an amazing-looking pen, the hieroglyphics are beautifully engraved.

As for my pen, according to the email from Brian my ivy-green-and-white Huron Bulb Filler went on the lathe yesterday, will be engraved on the 19th, and shipped on the 22nd. With all the pens I now have you'd think waiting on this one would be easy? Not.

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.

The 2010 Chocolate Show

The 2010 Chocolate Show in New York City was November 11 to 14 at the Metropolitan Pavilion on W. 18th Street. Not one of the bigger shows to come to NYC, the Salon du Chocolat is certainly one of the most...luscious.



And expensive as well, with a $30 per day price tag just to walk in the door. But worth it if you know what you want beforehand. This particular booth sold the most fabulous salted caramel chocolate bars ever made (at least in my opinion), and at $9 a bar for 3.5 ounces it was actually a bargain.

One of the more exclusive chocolatiers is Mary of Japan, which makes incredibly beautiful chocolates and sells only at their 100 or so stores in Japan. We were all looking for their ganache, which comes in interesting flavors (green tea my favorite, wasabi was interesting). A crowd of us had formed asking for the ganache, only to be told by the polite Japanese woman at the counter that they had not brought any this year. Mouths dropped, and many people actually walked away from the booth. I decided to assuage my disappointment with several small gift boxes for friends (and one for me).

As you walked into the main hall, to the left were mannequins wearing mod clothing and chocolate accessories.



To the right was a very large train set made in different shades of chocolate. The sign wouldn't do anything against a determined, hungry horde of chocoholics, but fortunately the train was at the front entrance so security would immediately available to save the engine and maybe a wheel or two.



One of the events they put on every year is a fashion show using cloth and chocolate. The bustier is made out of chocolate, I think the skirt is spun sugar.



This model's long coat is made of chocolate discs of white, dark, and milk chocolate.



And this model has a waist-cinching belt made of chocolate pieces.


One of the galleries to the left of the entrance, filled with booths catering to chocoholics.

More to follow later in the week, including a review of Peanut Butter & Co.'s 6-pack assortment (Chili Peanut Butter sounds interesting), and a description of the milk chocolate gift box of Toffee Taboo from Sendall Chocolates.

...and Let Me Just Add This

This is the occasional rant I mention up above in my title.

Walking to Costco this morning I noticed a Channel 4 NBC news truck parked at the entrance with a cameraman and reporter talking in front. The reporter asked if I would answer a few questions on camera about our senior senator Chuck Schumer's latest pressing issue, and I agreed.

My mouth dropped when he told me what Chuck Schumer is up in arms about now (I'm sure that will be edited out if this ever makes it on TV): the tyvek-style bag on my shoulder that millions of us buy each year and use in order to "be green" contains lead, and Senator Schumer wants to pass legislation banning these bags.

I babbled a few things (including the one about "I don't mean to sound like a bigot, but these are made in China, the land of no regulation, and imported into the US, the land that demands cheap prices).

I also mentioned that with unemployment high, houses falling into foreclosure, and financial institutions running amok this is not an important issue. Senator Schumer might want to concentrate on regulating his good friends on Wall Street (and our Chuck has many good friends on Wall Street).

Let me add a few other thoughts:

1) No, I'm not worried about lead in my reusable bag. I'm an adult, and we have a tendency not to panic over minor issues.

2) Chuck, if I may call you that, I do understand why this is a big issue for you right now--if you're not going to govern, then you need smoke and mirrors and fear, lots of fear. Since we don't have orange and red terrorism alerts anymore, this will have to do.

3) These bags have been coming into the country for decades now, tens of millions at a time. Why is this moment (post election November 2010) the time to start regulating their import? Are you thinking that we import too much from China already, so any reduction will help? And if I cry into the ocean, will it raise the water level?

4) Is this ploy a part of the Senate Full Employment Act, keeping idiots at work on something insignificant before they actually do damage to the country? Nice try but too little, too late.

(As a staunch and lifelong member of the Democratic Party I am proud to vote for you, Chuck--'cause as long as you're in the Senate I know you won't be doing anything really important that could cause serious harm.)

Folks, every year my building management sends me a letter letting me know that they tested the public areas of the building and there is lead paint all over the place. Likely my apartment is full of it as well. There is no reason to become afraid or panicky over this, as there are options. Maybe you don't like them, but that's not the point.

I live in a place where over 8 million people crowd into what is a very tiny area, with some 2 million of us on an island that doesn't have a lot of exits if there is ever a reason to get out of town fast. I don't panic over getting TB or the 'flu from someone on the subway, or how I'll ever get out of Manhattan in case of a tsunami.

Our city is broke and borrowing like mad, our state is broke and cutting services like mad, and our country is broke and too afraid to admit what is happening so everyone is mad. I'm angry and scared and annoyed, and you want me to be frightened about lead in my grocery bag?

Guys, I gained 20 pounds when I quit smoking two years ago, but even with the extra weight I'm still not that big an a##hole.

Monteverde Invincia Color Fusion Fountain Pen

When OfficeSupplyGeek reviewed the Monteverde Invincia Black Stealth fountain pen I couldn't keep from wanting one, especially as it looked so awesome with its black titanium nib. But I really didn't want to order one unless I could try it out first, and as I didn't see any in the NYC shops I let it go.

Then Monteverde introduced the Invincia Color Fusion, and among the new colorful Invincia pens are Avenger Yellow and Spitfire Red. These I really wanted to see, but couldn't find any locally. Bu I got my wish at the NYC Pen Show, passing by the table where the courtly gentleman from Total Fine Writing was unpacking a few pens and doing a very swift U-turn to take a look at the large shiny yellow pen he'd just put on the table.


As the picture above show, the Total Fine Writing table had a lot of amazing pens on view, especially the Viscontis in the upper left.


The Monteverde Invincia Color Fusion in Avenger Yellow is my kind of "double-take" pen. It's big, and while the nib isn't really larger than some others that I own it seems to be whale-sized, possibly because it's black rather than silver or gold. That makes it seem like an extension of the section, rather than a separate part, so it gives the writing tip a longer, larger feel.

My pictures don't really bring out the yellow color of this pen, they are a touch too orange. The Avenger Yellow does have a slight orange shade to it, and the barrel has a graceful curve that adds some interesting design style. The black accents (clip, section, band, ends) are a nice touch, making this a nicely done, color-coordinated fountain pen.



As for writing, the nib has a touch of flex to it that I hadn't expected at all. But the dealer only had a medium nib, which I'm not fond of in non-Japanese pens, so I thought to have Pendleton Brown work his magic and make this into a cursive italic. And the result is a very lovely writing style, something I like and would recommend it you're thinking of adding a little magic to your pen.

A few minuses: the plastic piece inside the cap that keeps the nib in place came loose, and often comes out attached to the pen. I've tried gluing it back, which doesn't work. It's a minor annoyance, and now the pieces seem to be behaving. But at some point I'll have to deal with this in a firmer manner (I gave up after I got glue on a few places on the barrel and didn't notice until it had dried and wouldn't come off--now the pen really does reflect my personality, lol).

Another detail I hadn't noticed is that this pen really does let me know if it doesn't like a particular ink. Pelikan 4001 is out, while Waterman seems to be high on its drink list. I'm looking forward to trying Noodlers and Iroshizuku, and possibly the new Everflo inks.

The next pen I'm thinking of trying in the Monteverde Invincia line is the rollerball that fills like a fountain pen. I've seen a few of these around, not the Monteverde but a different brand that touts the filler system, and am really curious to see how well they work. Spitfire Red would be my first choice of color, that would look amazing on its own or in my pen case next to the Avenger Yellow!

Ecosystem Medium Blank Journal

After seeing the Ecosystem booth at the National Stationery Show back in May I was really interested in their journals, and kept reminding myself to get over to Barnes and Noble to check them out again. But as I tend to buy online at B&N for the MyPoints credit, Ecosystem took a back seat to other things. A few weeks ago I did get to the bricks and mortar store, and checked out all the Ecosystem journals available. What I wanted was a large Grape line journal, or a medium Clementine hard cover blank journal, neither of which seem to exist. So I decided to go with boring-but-dependable, and chose an Onyx medium hard cover blank journal.


What's interesting about the Ecosystem medium journal is that in terms of size it is right between the Moleskine blank journal and Rhodia's Webbie (as shown literally in the above pic: l-r, Moleskine, Ecosystem, Rhodia). The Ecosystem cover is not as glossy as the Moleskine or as leather-like as the Webbie, and it will pick up dings and dirt from being carried around in various bags.


In terms of paper, Ecosystem's 100% post-consumer recycled paper is amazingly bright. Granted I don't really have many blank journals with white paper, but the above gives a good idea of just how the Moleskine and Rhodia stack up against white: Rhodia is definitely a darker ivory, while the Moleskine has a lighter ivory shade. So if you're looking for bright white paper, it's Ecosystem FTW (for the win).

Like the others, the Ecosystem Journal has an elastic band to keep it closed and a back pocket for papers and other stuff. There's also a registration number, if you want to fill out the form in order to log in you journal should it go missing and some kind soul wants to get it back to you (or blackmail the dickens out of you, should you be so inclined as to write down everything).

But unless your journal is really a status symbol (here's looking at you, Hermes), it's main purpose is to be written in and not shown around. Ecosystem's paper makes for a really interactive writing experience, one that I hadn't thought about until I used this journal. I definitely liked using the Ecosystem blank journal, and it does a fairly good job of laying flat on a surface which I appreciated. There are some quirks that make it, for me, a more engaging experience--a word I hadn't thought to use for a paper journal, but which seems quite apt now that I think about it.

The bright white paper is fairly thick, but not in the Rhodia/Clairefontaine league. One very nice touch is that the paper is perforated, so if you want to remove a sheet you don't have a jagged, ripped edge to deal with later, which I do like. This recycled paper is quite thirsty, and it has a tendency to absorb a lot of ink and then bleed through on the other side. However, with some fountain pens and certain inks the paper was extremely well-behaved while some rollerball gel inks bled straight through and onto the following sheet.

For the most part, my Onyx likes an extra fine or fine point fountain pen and a drier ink such as the Pelikan 4001. Medium and up nibs are use at your own risk, depending upon the manufacturer. In these two pictures, the first pen was a Pelikan M205 Yellow Demonstrator with an extra fine nib using Pelikan 4001 ink, and there was no excessive ink absorption or bleed through on the other side. The Pilot Namiki 823 medium nib with Sheaffer ink also worked very well, but my Waterman Laureat with Diamine Syrah had a lot of ink absorption and bled through the paper. The Pilot Namiki Custom 74 with a fine point nib using Noodler's V-Mail GI Green had a lot of bleed through, the writing was extremely difficult as the paper was absorbing too much ink, and there were small blotches of ink on the following page.

Gel ink pens were not without problems either. My Parker Vacumatic Retrofit using a Monteverde gel ink refill definitely had a lot of bleedthrough, but the Pilot Hi-Tecs I used didn't even dent the white paper much less drink up lots of the ink. So some gel inks are very usable on this paper, some are not.

What I've learned is that the Ecosystem Journal is somewhat temperamental, and really does respond to the type of pen and ink that's used on the paper. That to me is more intriguing than frustrating, as it demands that I think about what I'm writing with when I pick up this journal. And I've started keeping a written diary of the different pen and ink experiences, which is also something I hadn't thought to do before.

Now, about the choices. Guys, can't you make a medium hard cover journal in Clementine? And a large hard cover in any color would be excellent (any type of paper would be fine, but blank and lined are my first choices).

As for buying it, for some reason Barnes and Noble at Union Square North near 14th Street in Manhattan decided to either get rid of Ecosystem or just hide their journals as they were nowhere to be found a few weeks ago when I went back for another look. So I may have to go online if I want to get another one, which isn't as fun as picking it up and using it right away.

It's Carnival Time

The Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper is here, hosted by The Pen Addict. Take a look at the great posts on the new inks, pencils, and more.