In August 2018, the Taccia Pen Company released their ink line and currently consists of 13 colors. These inks are manufactured in Japan by the Nakabayashi Co., Ltd. At the 2018 San Francisco Pen Show, Taccia brought the full line and had some bottles for sale. A lot of the show attendees definitely checked them out, HOTP crew included.
For full disclosure purposes, we purchased the Sora and Murasaki bottles with our own funds and the bottle of Ebi was graciously provided to us free of charge by Ms. Shu-Jen Lin of Taccia. Thank you Shu-Jen!
With that, the opinions in this review are always of our own and we were not compensated monetarily for our review.
Inky Swatches
Ebi on Rhodia Graph, 80 gsmMurasaki on Rhodia Graph, 80 gsmSora on Rhodia Graph, 80 gsm
Inky Dispositions
Katherine: I found these inks very well behaved and pretty. I particularly love Ebi, though I thought ebi means shrimp… and this seems like an awfully maroon/purple leaning shrimp. Either way, shrimp are delicious and the ink is a beautiful purple-maroon-pink. The inks aren’t waterproof, but do have some water resistance, you have to do some repeated wiping (or maybe soaking?) to get them off paper. I haven’t tested this extensively, but I’d be comfortable using this on envelopes when it’s raining (unlike some inks that just waaaaash cleanly off).
Pam: I am a big fan of the Taccia inks. All three colors are well behaved and easy to clean. No real staining of the hands! I really appreciate the range of colors. My favorite was the Murasaki, the cool purple color. It’s closer to a purple with blue undertones. It is similar to the Colorverse Hayabusa which I greatly enjoyed previously. It does have more shading than the more saturated Hayabusa and doesn’t have the gold sheen. It’s such a well behaved ink and preformed well in all of my pens, although I would recommend at least a Japanese F nib to show off this ink’s color. Broader nibs will show off the shading better.
Franz: My favorite of the three inks in review is the Murasaki. The color is in between violet and lilac which provides a feeling of royalty. Or perhaps it’s just me.
To concur with the ladies above, these Taccia inks are great inks to use and very easy to clean out of pens. Their wetness is at a medium level and has great flow. Both the Ebi and Murasaki demonstrated high level of saturation even with a fine nib. As for the Sora, it maintained its low-to-medium saturation even with a triple broad nib. With the dip nib/flex writing, both the Ebi and Murasaki caused feathering on Rhodia 80 gsm and Tomoe River 52 gsm papers. The Sora did not feather at all.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised to see this new ink brand perform so well. I do recommend these inks for every day use and with the 13 colors, I’m inclined to say that there’s at least one for you.
Writing Samples
Taccia Ebi Ink: Rhodia Graph No. 16, 80 gsm paperTaccia Ebi Ink: Tomoe River, Cream, 52 gsm paperTaccia Murasaki Ink: Rhodia Graph No. 16, 80 gsm paperTaccia Murasaki Ink: Tomoe River, Cream, 52 gsm paperTaccia Sora Ink: Rhodia Graph No. 16, 80 gsm paperTaccia Sora Ink: Tomoe River, Cream, 52 gsm paper
We are very thankful to have received a bottle of this Pacific Ocean Teal ink from the San Francisco Pen Show group for review. They have commissioned Robert Oster Signature Inks in Australia to create an exclusive ink for the 2018 San Francisco International Pen Show to commemorate their Fifth Anniversary. They wanted a nice teal that shades and Robert Oster delivered!
The Pacific Ocean Teal ink bottles will be on sale at the pen show happening this weekend, Friday August 24 until Sunday August 26. We are told that supplies are limited so act fast! They will be sold near the show’s registration desk in the foyer area of the Pullman SF Bay Hotel in Redwood City, California.
For more information and details of the San Francisco Pen Show, check their website at: www.sfpenshow.com.
Paper: Tomoe River, 52 gsm
Paper: Tomoe River Dot Grid, 68 gsm (Hippo Noto Notebook)
Inky Dispositions
Katherine: It’s pretty! 😀 I prefer it in drier nibs (as pictured below) where it’s lighter and shows more shading. In wet nibs it just looks black. Overall it seems well behaved, and maybe a touch on the wet side. And oddly hard to photograph!
Franz: Teal, this color is in the realm of my favorite color which is blue. I say that like nobody knows it. hehe.. Anyway, inks made by Robert Oster are always well-behaved and are a treat to write with. This Pacific Ocean Teal is no exception. I’ve used the ink in different pens and they all wrote well consistently. My writing samples shown below were made via a Pelikan M800 because of the full range of nibs but I actually used a medium nibbed Vanishing Point at work with this ink and it was great as well.
The color of this ink is very close to what you find when you do an internet search for teal and that’s pretty cool. This ink may be at the medium to high in wetness for me but the dry-time isn’t too long. Some folks look for sheen and it’s there but not too much. It does show up in broad nibs or in flex writing if people really want that. But what I really like with this ink? It’s the shading for sure. You can use an extra fine nib up to even a triple broad nib and the shading is there!
Overall, I really love this ink! I don’t have many teal inks because my taste in ink color seems to lean more towards the blue side but this color is a fantastic one. I hope to get a bottle (or two) for myself at the show.
Paper: Tomoe River, 52 gsm (Musubi Diary)
Paper: Leuchtturm 1917 Dotted B5, 80 gsm
Paper: Rhodia Graph No. 16, 80 gsm
Pam: I had my reservations when I heard that the SF anniversary ink would be “teal.” Not another blue ink! However, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s. definitely within the blue family. It has the warmth and clarity of color that I loved about Iroshizuku Tsuya-kusa. The color reminds of Pelikan Turquoise. Albeit, it’s lighter than Turquoise and capable of some shading. I didn’t detect sheen when I have been using it.
The ink is well behaved in my book, producing lines that are as expected. It may lean wet, but only by a smidge. It runs really well through EF and F nibs, which is greatly appreciated. I don’t see a loss in color or saturation unless I am using in a really dry nib like my architect.
Overall, I would recommend this ink. It’s a beautiful color, reminiscent of the ocean blue waters surround our Golden Gate. I can see it being very dynamic for a calligrapher or any that experiment with a dip nib. The shading would be pretty great with this ink. Yet, it’s still readable, pleasing to the eye and can be used on a regular basis for your flair of “blue” in the office.
Before anything else, a big shout out of appreciation to Pen Chalet, for sending us inks to review! Pen Chalet was generous and sent us the inks at no charge, but we promise the review below is unbiased and our own uninfluenced* opinions.
* Except maybe by the food coma that followed our dinner gathering
For those unfamiliar with the Colorverse brand, each set contains two bottles, a big one (65ml)and a small (15ml) one. For this review we’re taking a look at two sets: Able + Miss Baker, and Hayabusa + Hayabusa Glistening. Able + Miss Baker is part of Colorverse’s Season 4 offering, Trailblazer in Space. Hayabusa is a Tokyo 2018 Special Edition.
Packaging
Inky Dispositions
Franz: Here goes our first ink review! =) For a period of time now, I’ve been intrigued with the ink bottles of Colorverse. Their bottle shape is very unique as well as their decision to ship two different size bottles and different ink colors. I also really love their outer space themes.
In this review, I only got to test the Able and the Hayabusa (non Glistening). Oh by the way, I kept referring to it as Habuyasa. Good thing I spelled it right in my sample below. Anyway, back to the ink review please.
Able: Color- mossy green; Saturation- low; Shading- high; Wetness- dry; Dry time- fast; Overall thoughts- The green color is very nice to look at however it is too light. The italic writing is from a wet, medium size Pelikan M800 nib but it doesn’t look like it below.
Hayabusa: Color- violet (more of in between violet and purple); Saturation- high; Shading- low; Wetness- medium to high; Dry time- medium; Overall thoughts- I’m loving this color! I don’t have too many purple inks but this definitely hits it for me. The difference in Hayabusa’s lubrication is noticeably different against the Able.
Ms. Baker: As I stated earlier, I was not able to test this ink but I was able to compare ink swatches and the two ladies’ writing samples. I would describe the color a light hot pink. I only own 3 pink inks (Monteverde Kindness Pink, Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji, and Kosumosu) but they don’t match Ms. Baker at all.
I’m happy to have been able to try out inks from the Colorverse brand. I will look into getting more samples of their growing ink line up.
Colorverse Able on 52gsm Tomoe River paper in a Musubi diary notebook
Colorverse Hayabusa on 52gsm Tomoe River paper in a Musubi diary notebook
Katherine: First off, I think the Colorverse bottles and packaging are adorable. There are even little stickers! But, that Able label is misleading. It looks solidly grey, but as you can see in our swatches, is solidly green. Perhaps a muddy green, but definitely green.
Packaging aside, the inks are well behaved — flow well and wash out easily (I did splatter Able and Miss Baker on some clothing and my face before dinner over the weekend. It washed off easily and no one looked at me funny as I ate my fancy multicourse meal). My one gripe is that Able is really, really light in most nibs — even wetter ones like Pelikan nibs. The highlight of trying the three for me is that Hayabusa Glistening both sheens and shimmers — a purple ink with green sheen and gold shimmer, so much fun!
Overall, I really like Hayabusa (I’m a sucker for purple ink) and Miss Baker. I like the overall color of Able, but found it too light except when in a narrow wet nib (the FCI in my writing samples).
Paper: 52gsm Tomoe River in a Seven Seas Crossfield journal notebook
Pam: My favorite color of the three is Colorverse Hayabusa. It’s a fantastic purple color. It reminds me of the Montblanc Psychedelic Purple. There are subtle differences between the two; Hayabusa is a cooler purple (more blue undertones) where as Psychedelic Purple is a warmer purple (with more red undertones.) Both have a subtle gold sheen, although, the sheen on Hayabusa can appear more green in certain lights. I find Hayabusa to be a great purple ink that has great readability that behaves very well in pens. Hayabusa was easily the most saturated of the inks and performed extremely well in F and EF nibs. My architect nib is particularly dry so this saturated ink has more shading without losing it’s vibrancy.
Miss Baker was a pleasant surprise for me. As someone who passed on Sailor Peche and sakura-inspired pink hues for ink, Miss Baker was surprisingly pleasant to behold. I particularly liked it with the Sailor 21k F nib, which is the wettest of my three nibs. My bias towards saturation is obvious, but I can’t deny that Miss Baker is capable of some great shading. Unfortunately, I don’t see myself using Miss Baker often due to the softness of the color. I am not sure if I would find a page of Miss Baker to be highly readable, or if it’s a color that would capture my attention in the margins in a sea of black print.
I will admit that I was expecting Able to be a gray ink, so my disappointment on this particular color may overshadow any positive qualities that this ink may have. Able is NOT gray. It’s a dull green-gray (more green). It lacks vibrancy of a green like Montblanc Irish Green or even Bungubox Norwegian Wood or the interest of a green-variant like Ku-jaku or Bungbox Dandyism. Able is just a blah-green. If there is any gray in the ink, it just took away the vibrancy and readability of the ink. It’s the least saturated ink of the three and is a pale ghost of it’s already zombied-green self in my EF and dry architect nibs. If anything, I feel mislead by the packaging and disappointed by the color.
Overall, I found all the Colorverse inks to be wet in flow and really easy to clean out. I will definitely be adding some Colorverse inks to my collection in the near future. Thank you again Pen Chalet! My order will be in your queue soon!
Paper: Filofax notebook.
Paper: (insert here, wait for Pam)
Paper: (insert here). A comparison of different purples side by side. Lavender Purple is much redder.
Ink Circles and Comparisons
Paper: Rhodia 80g Dot Pad. Able is definitely not grey, but is a pretty unique light muddy green. Able is a bright pink, but not similar to anything we had on hand. Katherine suspects it might be close to J Herbin’s Bouquet D’ Antan.
Paper: Rhodia 80g Dot Pad. Hayabusa’s closest match is Waterman Tender Purple, they even have the same greenish sheen.
And for the shimmer fiends, here’s a close up of Hayabusa Glistening. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the sheen and shimmer to show in any writing samples.
We received these inks free of charge for the purposes of this review. We were not compensated monetarily for our review. Everything you’ve read here is our own opinions.
Katherine: I didn’t have a pen and ink pairing for June — I had 30! I kept up with the #30inks30days challenge on Instagram and had quite a lot of fun.I repurposed the (empty) June page from my 2017 Hobonichi to track my progress. I own more ink samples than I’d care to admit, and I had a lot of fun trying new ones and revisiting old favorites. I also own more pens than I can use regularly, and this gave me a chance to get some of them inked up and writing!
Pam: As luck would have it, ’tis the season to reveal an ink in my stash that I have been hoarding. It has patiently waited for a pen-mate. Thankfully, my minty dreams have come true with the Vanness edition of the Franklin Christoph Model 45 which is the perfect color match to Papier de Plume’s Lake Michigan Summer. The minty color sings of happy summer days as well as the soothing waters of a lake shore in both ink and pen.
I have typically avoided minty inks due to the a possible brightness that detracts from the readability of an ink. I don’t have any problem with this ink. It’s dark and well saturated to make reading a breeze. The comfort of the model 45 rivals that of my Pilot Prera which is practically a daily carry at work. Not only is the ink and pen pairing a dream come true for me; I can’t imagine a better color than the minty Vanness edition Model 45.
Franz: Hellooo BLUE-tiful! I have had this M800 Blue o’ blue for a while now and figured to ink it up just for practicing and improving my novice italic calligraphy skills. The Blue o’ blue (Blue over blue) was a Special Edition pen by Pelikan in 2010 and I was fortunate to have gotten this pen early in my collecting days. The translucency of this material never ceases to amaze me. #ilovebluepens
I also inked up the M800 Blue o’ blue to match with the Maruzen Athena Eternal Blue ink that I have been growing to like. The Eternal Blue ink has shading that mimics the Blue o’ blue’s material. The double broad italic nib is a fitting nib for this ink because it helps bring out the shading even more.
Katherine: I’m another year older and (supposedly) another year wiser this year… so I’ve chosen to celebrate with a Platinum 3776 Yamanaka, paired with Edelstein Olivine. I’ve loved the texture on the Yamanaka for a while, and was finally lucky enough to pick one up last month. It sat uninked for a couple weeks while I wanted to find it a wonderful partner (pretty uncommon for me, I usually ink things up immediately!). Franz brought over a bottle of Olivine and it seemed like a perfect match. The deep green reminds me of plants, and the textured transparent body of a terrarium — a perfect pairing for the middle of spring.
Here’s to another year of friendship, adventure and pens. (And maybe a few more plants)
Pam: I had struggled to find the perfect ink color for Pelikan’s Ocean Swirl. The teals were either too blue or too green. I originally attempted Organic Studio’s Walden but found the flow of the Ink to be too wet for an already broad EF.
My last attempt with Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku was a serendipitous hit. The Pelikan nib is wet enough that the ink color shines though and the line width is within the expected range of an EF. Also, like all well behaved inks, it is much faster drying with little concern for smearing in my Midori’s travelers notebook.
I am glad to return to my first inky loves in the last couple of months. Can’t wait to try more of the “oldies but goodies.” Are there any new ink brands that are comparable to the staples like Pilot and Sailor?
Franz: This month, I finally inked up my Franklin-Christoph Model 45 XLV Vanness Exclusive pen. The mint color of this pen really just appeals to me even if I know that it’s a small pen for my hand. But for the past couple of weeks, I’ve used the pen in conjunction with my Starbucks Philippines Weekly Planner and so far it’s a nice complement to it. I’m “trying” to be a bit more organized in scheduling tasks and events and by using this combo, it’s been enjoyable for me.
Since this is a Vanness Exclusive pen, I figured to ink with one of Lisa Vanness’ favorite colors, turquoise. The Sheaffer Skrip Peacock Blue is a nice vintage ink to complement this pen. I know for a fact that there are inks out there that would match the color of the pen however, this is a more personal ink to me for various personal reasons. Let’s just say that this ink is a homage to a couple people. One of those people used to say, “An italic gives you traction…”. And come on, who doesn’t like turquoise ink? Hmm? Hmm? ;-P
Katherine: It’s late in the month and I’m looking back thinking “What have I written with the most this month?” and the winner, hands down, is this funky combination of a Pelikan with a custom urushi finish by Bokumondoh and a Straits Pen custom ink. Honestly, the Pelikan (originally a M200) holds so much ink that I’m getting a little sick of this purple-ish blue. It’s a lovely color… but after staring at it week after week, I’m ready for something new (good thing May is just around the corner!).
Before we hop into my birthday month, here are some quick thoughts on April’s pen and ink —
First, the pen. I sent this M200 to Bokumondoh despite her warnings that this particular finish ends up pretty thick. I love the beige and black polka dots, and the sparkle of the raden. It came back about a month later, and the finish is, as promised, quite thick — but the serendipitous thing is that now I can use my M200 as a slip cap. Game changer! I can still thread the cap if I need to, but the barrel is now thick enough that I use it as a slip cap 90% of the time.
Second, the ink. This is a custom ink that the folks over at Straits Pen cooked up — it’s a wonderful shade of purple-blue that flows well and dries reasonably quickly. I hope to see it in production soon. Perhaps at the SF Pen Show?
Katherine’s Writing Sample
Pam: Thank you Anderson Pens for your ink match up giveaway. I was a lucky winner of the Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuya-Kusa, a new blue (for me.) I will admit that I have been lax in my admiration of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks as of late, however I plan on rectifying that. Starting with pairing this beautiful cornflower blue ink with the Brute Force Design Writer in Sea Glass. The beautiful and deep blue of Tsuya-kusa is deeper and more nuanced than a turquoise or sky blue. (That’s right, I said it. I like it better than Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.) It’s also a warmer blue with more red tones based on my amateur comparison.
Creator in Chief behind Brute Force Design, Troy, is a wonderful artist in pairing metals and woods in his signature pen designs. I chose a lighter version of the Writer model due to the beautiful transparency and seafoam green tint of the material. The nib of choice for Brute Force is a Bock nib. The one I have here is really wet and very well displays the color and depth of Tsuya-kusu to the fullest extent.
Bring on the spring/summer, world! My inked pens, allergy meds and I are ready for you.
Pam’s Writing Sample
Franz: For the month of April, I thought of inking up my Ryan Krusac Legend L-16 with the limited edition Montlbanc Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ink. I haven’t used the L-16 ever since our review of the pen and I also inked it for two main reasons. First reason is to mark the pen’s first year anniversary with me since I got it at the Atlanta Pen Show in April 2017. Second, the broad cursive italic is very nice to practice my italic calligraphy writing. I’ve been using this pen to write some quotes and post them on instagram. If you’re interested, you may check out #FTDquotes tag on Instagram. =)
As for the MB Saint-Exupéry ink, this was my first time inking a pen with it and the burgundy color is quite rich and has purplish tones. I don’t have many burgundy inks and I find this ink to possess some beautiful shading, and the broad nib brings out the saturation very well. There is no sheen that I can see in the writing which is fine and the flow is very wet. Even if the ink does not match the cocobolo finish of the pen, the ink color complements it well.
What pens and inks have you written with lately this month?
Katherine: It’s been a busy month, and I haven’t spent as much time playing with pens as I would have hoped. I’ve found that for the last couple weeks, my constant companion has been a Parker 51 Special filled with Diamine Blue Orient. The Parker 51 (review to come!) sports black ishime stripes, courtesy of Bokumondoh. I love the feel of the ishime and the visual variance that it gives an otherwise kind of boring looking pen (sorry!). Diamine Blue Orient is a limited edition ink created for FPN Philippine’s 10 year anniversary — I assume it’s honoring the beautiful oceans surrounding the islands.
Pam: I have been on a bit of a vintage bender recently. Nik Pang introduced me to this understated brown Waterman that is a lever filler last month. I have also been finding out in my ink-splorations what brands of ink I prefer as I keep getting through all the samples. I inked up the Waterman with my favorite green, Montblanc Irish Green. The nib is akin to a Japanese F and writes beautifully. I chose a drier ink to highlight how fine the nib is.
On a side note, has any noticed inconsistent flows in heavily saturated inks? Or is that just me?
Franz: My pen for the month of March may be a vintage pen but it was a new acquisition from the LA pen show in February. My friend Jon S. knew about my apprehension about Sheaffer pens because most of the ones I come across are short and thin pens. So he showed me the Sheaffer 8C flat top pen which was from the 1920’s. And man, I loved it! He restored the pen himself and it’s in great condition as well. I’ve been using this pen at work almost everyday ever since I got it. The 8C fills my hand very well even when unposted so the bear paw is happy. =)
And of course I had to pair it with my favorite ink, the Pelikan 4001 Turquoise. Even if the nib is a fine width, it shows the ink color very very well. In some parts of the writing, some sheen comes through as well. There’s just something about turquoise inks that floats my boat.
Seems like the three of us have been writing with vintage pens lately. What pens have you been writing with?
Katherine: My pairing for this month is a Danitrio Hakkaku in some sort of red urushi (I’m guessing it’s aka-tamenuri, but I don’t know what Danitrio actually calls it) and Kyo-no-oto (06) Adzuki-iro. Clearly red because Valentines day and Chinese New Years! Not because I got a new ink and put it in a pen that matches…
I’ve had this Hakkaku for a little bit now, but I never found it a perfect ink pairing, but now I have and I’m really enjoying it. The Adzuki-iro is a wonderful dark red without too much orange or purple and it pairs wonderfully with the deep red Hakkaku’s urushi. I’m not Pam, so I don’t think I can declare this a “one true pairing,” but we’ll see if I keep these two together over time. (Maybe I’ll report back next year when red is the thematically appropriate color of the season again…)
Pam: I am not a fan of Valentines Day, but February does have alot to do with love and a great reminder to appreciate those that you love. Therefore, it would seem fitting that I show an appreciation for one of my favorite literary figures, Sherlock Holmes. I obtained the lined vintage celluloid pen from John Albert of Romulus pens and named it Sherlock in the process of designing the pen with him. The black and gray lines reminded me of the now infamous Belstaff coat that is donned by the most recent reincarnation of Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC series. I searched for a while before I found my perfect pairing of ink. Montblanc Lavender Purple is very reminiscent of the purple scarf Cumberbatch-Sherlock is fond of wearing. As I told my fellow pen bloggers, I heart Cumberbatch-Sherlock as much as Katherine loves faceted pens. What better time of year to express my love in pen form than this month? Thanks John for such an amazing pen!
Franz: It’s a blue pen… shocking! =) It has been said before that February is the month of love and well, #iLoveBluePens! So for this month, I chose to ink up and feature this Parker Vacumatic Maxima in Azure Blue Pearl. According to the date code, this Vacumatic was made in the last quarter of 1941. I’ve seriously been getting deeper into the vintage pen realm and loving it. Honestly, any fountain pen lover must own at least one Parker Vacumatic. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the feel of it as well as the coolness of the vacuum pump filler. For about 15 years, Parker produced the Vacumatic in a handful of different sizes for almost every hand size. Having the bear-paw among the 3 of us, the Maxima (the largest) size fits my hand well even with the cap unposted.
Paired with this beautiful blue pen is the limited edition Montblanc Meisterstück Blue Hour/Twilight Blue ink. I love how the pen matches the blue color of the ink when you lay it down on paper and then as it dries, it changes to a blue-green color. I learned about this ink about 3 years ago from reading Azizah’s review on her site: Gourmet Pens-Montblanc Blue Hour.
So a cool blue pen, paired up with a cool blue ink. What else can I ask for? Oh, wait… more blue pens! ;-P
Katherine: The grey frosty cap reminds me of dirty snow, and the dusty purple ink of cold winter nights… just kidding. I just really like this pairing, and the pen is new to me, so I’m really excited and using it a lot. I first saw this pen over a year and a half ago (on May 12th, 2016 — I don’t remember many dates, but I remember important ones!), in the pen case of a friend (who shall remain nameless), and I fell in love. I tried other pens in the meantime, a black FC 45 IPO (which we reviewed) and a Wonderpens Model 20 in the same “bronze” material… but it wasn’t quite the same. To me the combination of this smokey material and compact form factor (with a sprinkle of nostalgia) is magical. Don’t judge. Anyway, friend decided to buy some fancy urushi pen or something, and offered me this pen… and now it’s MINE.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Wow, I’m dramatic tonight. Time to go to bed… Waiting wasn’t really that bitter. Just lots of scoping FC tables at shows and on IG.)
Pam: This has been one of the worst winters at work within recent memory for me. Between medication shortages and the flu vaccine being practically ineffective (twice I have gotten the flu… twice!), it has been an incredibly busy season at the hospital. Thus, my homage to this season is the Pilot Prera (in white) paired with Pelikan Turquoise. The Pilot Prera is a workhorse pen for me given that the F nib works wonderfully on office paper. Pelikan Turquoise a wonderfully vibrant ink that pops off the page of my rather dull reports at work. As people say, it’s the little things in life. Stay warm, healthy and safe this season everyone. (Please be patient with your local pharmacies and pharmacists as we troubleshoot the ridiculously long list of medication shortages.)
Franz: The first month of the new year is represented by a vintage Pelikan! Actually, this is my oldest Pelikan pen and it’s a Pelikan 400 in black-striped finish. This was actually one of the last pens I received in 2017 so it’s more of a recent acquisition. Upon my review, this 400 was manufactured around the year 1953 due to the lack of engraving on the cap band and the nib imprint without the Pelikan logo. The black stripes are between green translucent strips that let you see your ink level very subtly and I find it very captivating. It took me almost a year to find this pen at a reasonable price and be in decent condition. And having an oblique medium nib allows me to use it at work and for my journaling as well.
When I received the pen in December 2017, it took me three days to decide what to ink it up with… three days! I’m sure you fountain pen folk will understand. Anyway, I decided to ink it up with Pilot Blue Black which is very familiar to me and usable at work. Since Pilot Blue Black is water resistant, if not waterproof, it’s what I use at my workplace for documents to alternate with Noodler’s Liberty’s Elysium.
It’s almost the end of January and I find myself placing this Pelikan 400 in my pocket on a daily basis and have just reinked it a couple days ago. Even if it’s smaller than what I prefer in pens, I just post the cap and write away. I do alternate it during the day with my Pelikan M805 with a medium cursive italic nib though, but that’s for another pairing post. =)
Franz’ writing sample on Rhodia Meeting Book
What favorite pen and ink combo have you been writing with for the month of January?
Katherine: December has been a crazy month of trying to not drown. The year is wrapping up at work and I feel so behind on everything, and slightly sick. In light of that, I decided on an EDC that is both practical but also brings me so much happiness every time I pull it out to use it. Diamine Majestic Blue for work-friendly writing, paired with a Nakaya Piccolo in Heki-Tamenuri Negoro and a Mottishaw Spencerian nib for lots of joy. To tell the truth, I barely flex the nib, but I do enjoy the bounce it has and how fine it is — I can cram lots of to-dos in my Hobonichi weeks. 😐
Pam: December is a month that I look forward to the most due to the holiday season. One of my favorite pens that was an ode to this magical time of year is Bungbox’s Silent Night, a limited edition made available last year, 2016. I don’t have an affinity to blue black inks such as Silent Night or Bungbox 4B. Blue grays, however, like Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo, is one of my favorite inks of all time. Therefore, it would only seem fair to try Robert Oster Blue Night in the Silent Night. Blue Night reminds me of Tsuki-yo, but has more shading, at least in this pen with an Japanese F nib. I do wonder if the shading properties would differ in a wetter nib. Given that I have only inked it for less than 24 hours, I will report an update on Blue Night to determine if it’s a keeper.
Franz: For the month of December, I chose a vintage pen. But it ain’t just any vintage pen, it’s my Parker Vacumatic Senior Maxima in a Golden Brown finish. I recently got the pen this year and it’s in such great condition for a pen made in 1939. I always adore that stacked coin design of the Vacumatic celluloids. Something special about this pen is that it has a Star clip. This was a transitional clip in models made in 1938 thru 1939 before Parker came up with the Blue Diamond in 1939 as well. The size of the Maxima fits my hand very well.
I chose Akkerman #05 Shocking Blue as my ink because the blue ink complements the beautiful brown celluloid finish of the pen. Plus it’s an ink that I’m comfortable using in my vintage pens.
Happy holidays to you all! And keep enjoying your pens and ink!
