Mystery pen unveiled: Pelikan maki-e Fantasia

This week there's no "Weekly Pens" picture as there's been virtually no change since last week! Instead the mystery pen is being unveiled.

It came in a golden cardboard box with a paulownia wood box and some papers inside. The kanji are unreadable to me but my guess would be they are spelling the name of the pen or maybe the workshop which made it? Maybe one of my readers knows?

After opening the lid of the wooden box, the pen is safely nestled within folds of cream satin.

According to Pelikan the design is inspired by kimono patterns. On a backdrop of byakudan-nuri work - flakes of gold foil covered by lacquer - cherry blossoms and hexagons are painted in different colors of lacquer. Each hexagon is filled with a traditional Japanese motif. There is also amber (I think) and raden work.

There's one with the Asanoha pattern, gold on greeen with silver center points. I really like this pattern. Might get it tattooed one day. More eye candy following:

What really makes this pen special is the idea of a non black background. It's perfect, warm and vibrant without being overly colorful (YMMV).
Right now there's a medium nib in it. Filled with Noodler's Antietam which seems to reflect the color of the reddish brown lacquer backdrop.

Sizing up: Namiki Yukari Nightline Moonlight

Someone on FPN asked me for a size comparison of my Namiki Yukari Nightline and I thought I'd share it here as well. The reference pen is a Montblanc 149.

Namiki Yukari Nightline Moonlight and Montblanc 1980's Meisterstück 149.

As you can see they're about equal in length but the Yukari is a little slimmer. Due to its brass body the Yukari still offers a nice weight and beautiful balance. One of these just-perfect pens.

The Raden Pelikans

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight and Moonlight side by side

Got enough of the sparkly stuff already? Then bear with me just a little longer for I've got some more comparison shots to show.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight & Sunlight

As you can see, the Raden stripes on the Sunlight, although narrower, catch the light more readily and give a more vivid reflection. The Moonlight gives a more peaceful overall impression. (Just came across an eBay listing where the seller had a wild mix of Sunlight and Moonlight pictures in his auction. The auction was about the Sunlight only. Zzzz... It's not that hard to see the difference, is it?)

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight & Sunlight

I haven't managed to take a really good photo of the artist's signatures so this will have to do. As you can see the pens were done by different workshops/artists. It doesn't bother me but it's still a weird thing to do when you're planning to issue a duo of pens.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight & Sunlight

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight & Sunlight

So which one do you like better? I find it hard to decide.

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight

 ... yes, finally! :-D

It took me quite a while to work out the best lighting for Abalone shell and as I haven't had much success I went back to using plain daylight. So here's the long awaited pictures.

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight

Like the M1000 Moonlight it's Raden work done on a black M1000 corpus. The stripes on the Sunlight, however, are somewhat narrower and much more vivid in color, ranging from yellow to green, blue and purple. I could imagine this burst of color just needs to be counterbalanced by larger black spaces, else it would probably make you dizzy.
The color difference to the Moonlight, which is mostly done in shades of green, blue and purple, is due to different kinds of mother of pearl. First I thought it's just different parts of the shell, but it's actually different species. The sea snail with blue-green mother of pearl is found in the Australian sea whereas the other kind is found in the Japanese sea.

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight

Every raden strip is made of one piece, running over the full length of cap and barrel.

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight

Wouldn't it be a shame not to write with this pen? I certainly think so, so I've been writing with it on a daily basis for a few weeks now. Unlike many other collectibles this pen is neither weirdly shaped nor extremely heavy so it offers the writing feel you can expect from a Pelikan M1000. At the moment it's fitted with a sharpened-up O3B nib and filled with Iroshizuku Ajisai.

Pelikan M1000 Sunlight

Here's proof: a dirty nib.

I also took some pictures for direct comparison with the M1000 Moonlight which I will post a little later on. :)

Pelikan Sunlight on its way!

As I've been quite busy for the last week and didn't manage to take some more pictures for the blog, I just quickly want to share that my Pelikan M1000 Sunlight is on its way and I'll probably receive it within the week. Looking forward to that one a lot!

In the meantime there's another picture of the Pelikan Moonlight and the Namiki Yukari Nightline Moonlight to enjoy. Love sparkly, shimmery Raden.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight and Namiki Yukari Moonlight Raden fountain pens.

To think of spring

Christmas is over for a while now, and though the calendar tells us winter has only just begun I personally don't feel the need for any more snow and ice, both of which we've had rather a lot lately (comparably, of course. I don't mind if any Canadian or Scandinavian readers are laughing now. :D)

We're not really used to snow in this part of the country where winter usually means rain and, in short, a few more months of autumn, so when it snows it's usually something exciting (especially for children and car drivers) but when you've had it for a week you can't help but long for spring. It's like that for me anyway.
Leaving the house for work early in the morning, listening to the sound of snow under my feet while watching the slowly falling flakes in the orange light of the street lamps on my way to the train station: those are my favourite snow moments.

During the long wait for the spring I like to look at Namiki's Yukari "Yozakura" pen which depicts cherry blossoms as well as single flower petals in stunning purple, lilac, green and yellow hues of abalone shell. It's like watching the blossoms tumbling to the ground on a gust of wind.

Namiki Yukari Yozakura Raden.

This is just a glimpse as I'm still trying to create the right light for the Raden inlays to show their full beauty. Until I've succeeded this might give a small impression - and maybe makes you think of spring as well.

Do you also wish for the winter to end already or are is it your favourite time of the year? What sort of weather are you usually having in January?

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight - The one that shines in the dark

Mystery Pen Unveiled

There are surfaces which love light, drink it, bathe in it while back in the shade they look subdued and dark. This also goes for pen's surfaces. Dark tame-nuri or tame-midori is an example, it can look almost black except when hit by a ray of sunlight (or a studio flash).

But then there's also those which start to shine when the light gets dim, like this Danitrio Mae West kawari-nuri which doesn't unfold its full charm in the sunlight.

Raden is another example, too much light and it looks dull. Put a Raden pen in a dimly lit spot and it will sparkle in the darkness like the neon lights of a nightly city.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight and Namiki Yukari Nightline Moonlight

That the Mystery Pen was a Raden pen was easily discernible. Raden is a Japanese technique where pieces of abalone shell - beautiful colourful mother of pearl from Sea snails -, is attached to a surface with clear Urushi lacquer. It's often used in combination with maki-e and is a traditional Japanese art form. What makes the mystery pen all the more interesting is that it is a German pen, a Pelikan, to be accurate.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight

The artwork, for which Pelikan employed a Japenese artist, Mr. Norio Matsuda, is done on the body of a Souverän M1000 as a limited edition from 2011. Raden work requires a lot of experience and patience. It's flawless. Mainly abalone pieces with a blue or green shimmer were picked to give an impression of cool moonlight, though their spectrum will also include a fair portion of purple depending on the viewing angle.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight

I posted this picture already but I'll have to show it again because it shows the abalone's lovely surface so clearly. Look at those ripples, like waves in a grotto or under a strange moon. The abalone stripes, though, are perfectly straight. It's all optics.

Pelikan M1000 Moonlight

The great thing about this pen is that it can always be your daily writer no matter what nib you feel like using. As with all Souveräns, you can always switch the nib yourself quickly and easily. This one is a BB nib, ground to cursive italic by John Sorowka.

I felt that it was time to do a review of this pen, not only because I like it so much but also because there's not a whole lot of info around about this pen since so few pieces were made and the owners seem to prefer to keep quiet about it.

To see such large pieces of Raden on a pen seems to be relatively rare. More frequently what seems like a large pieces is many minute Raden fragments put together mosaic style. When I get to it I'll show some more examples of how it can be used. It's a fascinating topic. I don't know if I will ever feel old enough to wear pearls, but mother of pearl on pens... or the pearl on the Montblanc Greta Garbo ... that's another story altogether.