A glimpse at Paper Republic

I've been quite busy lately, writing, work and last not least kitties have been keeping me occupied. Still I have at least a small snapshot of pen & paper content to show.

Nakaya Negoro fountain pen on Paper Republic Noto Notebook

This is my Nakaya shiro-tame nuri Negoro - more about that one here - resting on a notebook from Paper Republic. The Viennese manufacturers exclusively use hand printed Japanese papers for their notebook covers. I'm a big fan of those papers, the colors are gorgeous, the range of designs should offer something for everybody and they have a beautiful cloth-like feel to them, much like the covers of those Jenni Bick journals I mentioned earlier. Else they are pretty plain (too plain for my taste were it not for those adorable covers), filled with 96 pages of white Swedish Munken paper which means they are quite slim. They come in pocket and A5 size and if you choose to order one: shipping is free worldwide.

Munken paper has its fans among fountain pen users and I got to say there's no bleedthrough but the paper makes your lines appear wider than usual so a medium to fine nib is in order. On the upside drying time is very short and the paper has a nice substantial feel to it with a hint of feedback. I'll post some more conclusive pictures and more detailed info on those notebooks later.

I'll be off on a short vacation now and soon after that I'll be getting a new camera which will hopefully mean: more nice pictures for the blog. There's no lack of pens and papers standing in line to be reviewed. Have a great summer, everyone!

Cat content

Tiny, silky soft and not pen related

The last weeks haven't given me much time to play with my pens or take pictures, mostly because of these two guys who moved in with us last Saturday!

Linus (cream) having an eye on Chaplin (red)

They are called Chaplin and Linus, they're brothers and thirteen weeks old. They love to play, grapple with each other and cuddle with one another and humans alike. They are extremely attentive to everything going on in the house, especially if it's making a crinkly or rattling sound. Being separated from their mother and their other siblings must've been hard on them but they've taken it really well and seem to feel quite at home as long as they've got each other. The first days they always stuck together closely but meanwhile they seem to feel safe enough to sleep in different rooms or do different things for a while.

The first time we saw them in the middle of April, by then they were hardly three weeks old and the long wait began - not quite as long as for a new Nakaya but still long enough!

Linus

As you can see, their eye color doesn't seem to have fully evolved yet. At the very edge of the iris they're still kitten blue, but the amber around the pupil will probably be the permanent color.

Warning: nasty phone snapshots following!

As our balcony is three stories above ground level and the railing wouldn't keep a cat in we decided to attach a net. Unfortunately the weather isn't warm enough at the moment but it seems they will like it a lot to be outdoors when it's warmer.

As soon as we get a bit more sun (I'm reluctant to use the flashes at the moment with the kitties around) I'll post some more pen & paper content as well - there's some pretty nice Monsieur Notebooks I'd like to show you, Rivoli stationery and a parcel from Paper Republic on the way!

Design.Y leather journal

Design.Y "EP Record" leather journal

Today I'd like to show you some details of my rather new leather journal made by Design.Y - near mint in Japan. It's their newest model in A5 size, called the "EP record" (though sadly there's no record included! I would have been interested in the sound).

In my opinion the details are what makes this notebooks truly special, but I'm planning to show some larger scale pictures, size comparisons etc. as well.

Design.Y "EP Record" leather journal

The cover which is thin but stiff is made of finely grained veg-tanned goatskin with a beautiful smell. It's available in black and brown, I chose a matching cream colored ribbon.

The paper doesn't have a smooth edge like in their smaller journals but has a hand stitched feel to it.

Design.Y "EP Record" leather journal

At the back side of the journal their logo is embossed into the leather. To me it looks like a person doing this: \o/

Design.Y "EP Record" leather journal

I don't like thin journals so this one is just right for me. Filled with 480 (!) pages of creamy white and super thin but still immensely fountain pen friendly Tomoe River paper this provides enough room for noting a lot of thoughts, writing about many months of your life, making a very long journey or writing a novel - maybe even two.

Hot tea in June

Okay, I've really been trying to keep the weather out of this blog, but as the recent streak of chill and rain doesn't seem to end anytime soon, it seems I just have to tell you how extremely annoying this is.

On the upside it's just the right weather for reading, writing and doodling while sipping a large mug of delicious lemon-ginger-mint tea. What you need is:

• 2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
• a little piece of ginger
• half a lemon, preferably organic
• honey.

Peel and grate the ginger until you have about half a teaspoon of ginger mush. Also grate a bit of the lemon peel. Use your hands to queeze the lemon joice into your cup, then cut the lemon into pieces. Add those also. The mint sprigs can be added as a whole. Add everything to your cup along with a teaspoon of honey. Infuse with boiling water (best use a large mug that holds 0.3-0.4 l). As soon as the tea is cool enough to be drunk it is ready.

I find this to be one of the most delicious drinks ever. Besides the ginger and lemon juice will hopefully prevent colds.

Nibs, nibs!

Every now and again I am fascinated purely by nibs. When compared to a felt tip pen, a nib is a pretty high tech device to write with. Some of them may be faulty out of the box due to this but - and I guess there's no need to tell my readers about this - a well writing nib is just like nothing else.

Plus, as the nibs grew larger and larger over the past century, they have become canvas for artwork and designs.

Below's the gargantuan nib of a Danitrio Genkai. It's the same size as the Pelikan M1000's nibs but feels smaller sitting on the pen. The nibs are beautifully soft and wet. The pen itself is plain Urushi which makes the intricate platings and carvings on the nib shine even more. For pictures of a Genkai (though serei-nuri and not tame-nuri as the one below) as a whole look here: A large canvas: Danitrio Genkai

Danitrio Genkai: large pen, large nib

Another example how the nib design is part of the pen's overall look on the Montblanc Agatha Christie. Montblanc have brought this to perfection in their writer's editions, each having their own specially designed nib. This one is like writing with a snake - sounds weird, but the whole pen is really amazing work. I've blogged about another writer's edition with an equally unique nib here: Montblanc Jonathan Swift

Montblanc Agatha Christie

Do you have any favourite nib designs or shapes or is there any on this blog you'd like to see more of?

Daily survival kit

When I go, these will go with me...

Women in general are infamous for the amount of things they "need" to carry around with them on a daily basis. In fact though, most people of either sex have a basic "survival kit" of items which they like to have close most of the time. So do I on most occasions when I leave the house for a longer period of time. Here's some of my daily stuff, in random order:

- notebook with handmade leather cover: for some work basics, intermittent strokes of genius as well as random things important enough to be put in writing. I made a separate post about this kind of notebooks here: Hand made leather journals - the work journal


 - appearance rescue kit: comb, powder, lip balm. Probably the one "female" point in this list. The comb is a really cute little toy made from horn which was a gift from a dear friend - an essential since I have long hair. Can't do without the lip balm either. At the moment it's plain shea butter, but I also like scented ones. Also like Blistex and Carmex for that cool-mint feeling.

- phone (SGS III): I'm not a huge fan of talking on the phone. Mobile phones became attractive to me when they started offering mobile internet access (and the phone companies started offering reasonable prices for using it). I rarely call people or receive phone calls on it but still find lots of uses.

- e-reader (Kindle PW): There has hardly been any time in my life where I haven't gone through a few pages of a book every day. Like most bibliophiles I love the look and feel of a printed book. I also want to keep my paper books in the best possible condition. Carrying them around doesn't add to that whereas the kindle sits safely in his rugged leather sleeve, bearing no notice of harsh environments. I've had a Sony e-ink reader for two years until I received the PW as an early birthday present. (Thanks!) Awesome: some of the default screensavers show fountain pens and dip pens.
Currently reading: Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series.

- Visconti 6 pen case: This is definitely one of the more awesome cases around. When it comes to pen cases, I'm a cheapass or, maybe more accurate: My standards of what is a reasonable price for an item may be distorted, but only when it comes to fountain pens. I'm not ready to shell out ridiculous amounts of money for pen cases though I do want to have my pens protected. The Visconti pen case comes in several sizes from 1 to 12 pens, it's a leather covered hard shell case and very reasonably priced. It carries the six pens I can't live without for the moment. The one that's peeping out is a Nakaya Negoro, you can find out more about that pen here: Oh noes it's broken!

Are you a watch-wallet-keys minimalist or do you lug half your household around for the day? What are your daily carry items?

P. S.: Of course I also carry keys, a wallet, something to eat and a bottle of ink! I just don't deem those interesting enough.

P. P. S.: I'm glad I took those pictures last week because today I'd freeze on the balcony. Brr! Spring, get a grip already!

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. :)

Montblanc Agatha Christie - Agatha the Brave

DiY pen stuff

... well, in fact it was me who needed the bravery more than Agatha. All she had to do was come with slightly misaligned tines. Not a big deal, it wasn't even very noticeable when writing but once I had seen the flaw I could no longer forget about it. 

When you do some reading, things like that even seem to be fixable by yourself. Small irregularities can be put right by gently bending the tines with your fingernails, you don't even need tools or anything. 

As simple as that sounds it took me many attempts of gently bending stuff with no effect whatsoever, which I guess is what happens if you are too gentle with anything. In the past I've always given up at some point and sent the pen to a repairman but I wasn't feeling like that this time. Also I got lots of encouragement from the enablers at the German pen forum Penexchange.

So, with my heart in my mouth, I spent several hours with Agatha and indeed, I'm starting to get there!

Montblanc Agatha Christie in nearly no light (would've loved some more depth of fiel here...) and with nearly well aligned tines.

Since I made thie picture I've fiddled with the nib some more because it wasn't perfect yet and I could still improve it by a fair bit. And since my fingers were inky all over already I figured I could fiddle with some more nibs that had given me trouble, all of which ended up being better than where I'd started out.

Discovering new abilities (however dilettante): awesome!

More Paper Love: Le Typographe Writing Pad & Journal

Beautiful paper and prints from Belgium

Here's a more detailed review of the Le Typographe paper, a brand I'd never heard of before I came across a writing pad and envelopes in a nearby Papeterie store.

Le Typographe "Insects" writing pad and envelopes

The design is simple but beautiful - and cool too. Each sheet and envelope is adorned with one of 9 insect prints, including, among others, a ladybird, dragonfly, ant and various bugs. The envelopes are lined and come in a beautiful little box of ink blue cardboard, matching the cover of the pad. The pad comes in A5 size with C6 envelopes.

 Le Typographe "Insects" writing pad 

I was glad I could touch the paper in the store - since not every paper is fountain pen friendly, buying an unknown brand can be a bit of a risk. This one, though, is amazing. The sheets are high white 100 gsm carrying a custom watermark. As I understood, Le Typographe (who are located in Brussels) don't make their own paper but they're definitely buying from a high quality source.

Le Typographe watermark

Ink shades nicely.

The paper is slightly textured and tolerates ink very well. The front side feels more coated than the back side, which takes up a little more ink but still is far from feathering or bleed through with the inks I've tried. The above is Noodler's Apache Sunset in a Visconti Homo Sapiens with broad cursive italic nib.

Back side: minimal showtrough.

Here's the back side, same pen and ink.
Both sides of the paper make shading very prominent as it allows the ink to pool on the paper for a while; accordingly drying time is close to forever.
Showthrough is negligible, I haven't managed to produce any bleedthrough yet.

Sheen monster: Private Reserve's Electric DC Blue in Pelikan M1000 crisped-up O3B.

Sheen properties of the ink are very prominent on this paper, much more so than on Clairefontaine or Rhodia. However, when using highly saturated inks like Private Reserve's Electric DC Blue in the picture the drying time is even more extreme and there is a probability of smearing even when dry. Less saturated inks don't have this problem.

 So far I've tested the pad with said Visconti Homo Sapiens, a Pelikan M1000, a Nakaya Long Cigar, a Montegrappa Miya (with which I've written a long letter) and a Danitrio Mae West. The Mae West was the only one having problems with it. I could imagine that pens that have skipping issues on very smooth paper also will have problems with the Le Typographe.

Le Typographe Quadrille notebook - outside

As I said, a really interesting brand! As their web site is very minimalistic and possibly not up to date I haven't succeeded yet in finding out about their range of products. Their is a range of writing pads with various prints and there should be some notebooks as well. As I really, really like the paper I've ordered their "Quadrille" notebook.

 Le Typographe Quadrille notebook - inside 

Following their minimalistic design it's a simple notebook with glue binding and a thin cloth spine which makes the notebook lie completely flat when opened. When sketching you could also use both pages without a problem. Downside of this: It probably won't last as long as a stitch-bound journal.
The interior pages themselves are a bit extravagant as one side of each page is printed with a faint 1 mm grid, the other one is blank.

 Le Typographe Quadrille notebook - for reasons unknown, an unobtrusive grid pattern is printed on one side of each page and on the front cover.

The paper is a bit thinner and less stiff than the one used in their writing pads but has the same fountain pen friendly qualities.

Le Typographe Quadrille notebook

I like the looks but it's the paper that has won me over. It's really nice to find out there's still some new cool stuff out there for fountain pen users! I will keep an eye on the brand and update if I come across any of their other products.

Paper Love

May sun & Jenni Bick journals.

No need to just think of spring anymore as it's finally here! I've put my winter coat away (not the thick bed sheets though as the nights are still chilly) and planted flowers in the pots on my balcony and the window sills. Still the weather can't quite make up its mind, so you have to be quick to catch the glorious rays of sunshine that make everything prettier.

Jenni Bick Journal with cotton paper

Not that those wonderful journals need sunlight to be pretty! They're made by book binding workshop Jenni Bick Bookbinding in Massachusetts, large and thick books in a format somewhere between A4 and A5 with a ribbed leather spine and a sweet tissue-paper-like cover in shades of blue, green and gold.

Jenni Bick Journal with cotton paper

One of them is filled with beautifully tattered-looking cotton paper, the other one with crisp chamois colored sheets with a hammered texture. In fact, they're so pretty they are intimidating. Can anyone's handwriting be beautiful enough not to besmirch one of these books? (Probably so! But, more importantly: can mine..?)

I'll take the plunge some day.

Jenni Bick journal.

The leather has an open surface and a slightly distressed look and feel to it which suits the "antique" style perfectly.

Jenni Bick Journal with cotton paper

Besides the stunning looks the journals are really well made. The bindings are strong and firm and everything feels like there's been a lot of thought and care put into it. It's a bit of a hassle to order stuff overseas but well... Europe has quite a few nice suppliers of stationery and notebooks but nothing like this - at least to my knowledge (if I'm wrong please let me know!).

"One of a kind" journals like these are made in small numbers only so they're not on their web site all the time, but you can usually snatch them up a few times a year (no, I'm not getting paid for this post! Though I wouldn't decline. Accepting journals too! *cough* :D)

Bindewerk in detail

I took some more time recently to have a more detailed look at the Bindewerk journal I purchased last week.

Bindewerk Journal, size A5

I have to say it again, the outside is flawless. The cover is made of yellow printed cloth and thick coated paper. There also is an elastic closure in a matching orange tone. It's well bound and will ly flat when opened. Bindewerk products are handmade in Southern Germany but they have a highly professional look about them, everything looks and feels perfectly in place.

At the inside there's 288 pages of 90 gsm cream colored paper. They're offering plain and ruled sheets. The paper has a slight vergé texture but it's really very subtle - I'm not a fan of papers where this effect is so strong you feel the ups and downs with your pen.

Writing samples in the Bindewerk journal - front side

Ink tolerance, sadly, is so-so. This is a quick test run with three different pens, I've done some more samples afterwards and the outcome seems to depend strongly on the ink. The first and the third sample showed some feathering and the lines appeared much broader than they really are - which might become even more apparent when I say that the first and the third pen have B nibs which don't look narrower than the O3B in the middle.

The unexpected "winner" here is Private Reserve's "Electric DC Blue" as it behaves really well on this paper, the nib writes a relatively true line and it's also less prone to bleedthrough than the other inks.

Writing samples in the Bindewerk journal - back side

Especially Waterman's Florida Blue bleeds a lot on this paper, Iroshizuku ku-jaku not so much but there are still traces of it which probably will become more prominent when the ink is used in a wetter pen. Electric DC Blue alone comes clean. As the paper soaks up the ink pretty quickly many shading effects will be lost, so will be sheen effects - on the upside the ink dries really quickly. Well...

Conclusion: You can use a fountain pen in this journal, but not any pen nor any ink. Pity! Spring is finally here though and the weather's too good to be annoyed by a journal. Better to go out. Write, read, draw. Watch the cherry blossoms tumble to the ground in the warm air. Eat ice cream. Go shopping. Whatever!

Let's go to the papeterie

... because there's hardly any paper left!

Or is there?

In my last post I rambled about how great the internet is - and I'm definitely going to stick with my opinion here, however, no online shop can be as great as your small, crammed papeterie store where you can uncover all sorts of paper goodness. A few days ago I found one of these stores nearby. It was an enchanting experience (especially since I find most large stores rather disappointing in this respect). There were, of course, notebooks, greeting cards, photo albums of all kinds, there were notepads, gift wraps, pens - even a few fountain pens (by Lindauer). There were also paper lamps and all kinds of cute little gadgets. They even had a small selection of writing paper.

Here's what I brought home:

Bindewerk A5 journal

Beautiful yellow journal by Bindewerk from Bavaria, size A5 with lined pages. Flawless look and feel, haven't gotten around to testing the paper yet but it also feels good.

Letter writing set "Insects" by Le Typographe (A5)

Note pad (A5) and envelopes by Le Typographe, Belgium. White, exquisite feeling, watermarked paper with a little insect print on top of every page and each envelope. I'll definitely be on the lookout for other products by this brand, looks very interesting to me.

Also I found more writing paper sets, one with Vergé paper and a print of princes and princesses, the other plain ruled paper and envelopes with a map print on the inside.

It's awesome to browse offline stores for these kinds of things, touch book covers, dig for treasures on the lower shelves. Thank you, real life. ;-)

Are there any such stores in your area? Do you like to shop there?

Bye bye, black turtle!

Letting one of my Nakayas go...

The internet! It has made my pen collection larger and more diverse than it would ever have been without. In fact, without the internet I may never have encountered the kinds of pens I'm really into and not started accumulating any at all. You see things, you want to have them (happens to me all the time anyway), it's a curse as well as a blessing. A few days ago, however, someone posted a pen for sale which I've wanted for quite a long time - and wanted to trade for something I, incidentally, had and would not miss too much!

I like my Nakayas, but they will be here for a long time (or so I hope). I'll always be able to get a new one and there are others to play with. But getting one of those grail pens by trade, that opportunity wouldn't occur all the time.

Enough text - here's the pen which is getting a new home soon. The pictures are not of the usual quality because I only had access to a phone camera, but it should give an impression.

Nakaya Portable Writer tame-sukashi "Black Turtle"

It's a Portable Writer with a tame-sukashi design which is called the "Black Turtle". I love tame-sukashi, the subtlety of it and how you still can perceive a shimmer when moving the pen in the hand. This was my first tame-sukashi pen (I have now two left) and has become my least favorite one, mainly because of the clip. It pains me to admit it but I haven't written with that one for at least a year.

Nakaya Portable Writer tame-sukashi "Black Turtle"

The Montblanc Agatha Christie I'll be getting in return (plus something extra which I'll put to good use as well) is my first and probably only pen of that kind. It was issued years before I had an intense interest in fountain pens so of course I missed it and prices have skyrocketed since then. So I've watched it from afar... until lately.

Thank you, Internet! Offline, finding an opportunity like that would've been much more unlikely.

Agatha is currently inked with Iroshizuku yu-yake, her broad nib being a smooth and luscious writer. No pictures just yet because I'm redecorating my photo space this weekend - and not willing to ruin the experience with phone pictures again - but soon. (I also haven't forgotten about the pictures of the Pelikan Sunlight!)

Have you ever traded pens or something else? What was it? Are you still happy with it?

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?

A large canvas: Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri Urushi

This is one of my two Genkai pens and one of the three largest ones I own, the other one being a Sailor Susutake. These are large pens, probably made with the thought of a generous canvas for maki-e artwork in mind (which is as amazing as it is out of reach).

Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri

Seirei-Nuri is a technique which is, as far as I know, supposed to mimick the pattern of a dragonfly's wings. I sometimes can't help thinking "giraffe" when looking at this pen, it definitely looks like something that could occur in nature.  Every pen is made by hand, the pattern being unique to each.

Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri

Under the golden web, the distinct color gradient of tame-nuri Urushi is just visible. The golden web is made first by a sort of dipping technique, then sprinkled with gold dust. The red lacquer is applied over it but polished so the gold will show again in the end.
Like many Urushi surfaces this one will look very different depending on the lighting, from dark crimson to nearly orange in bright sunlight.

Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri

When I handed the pen to my Mum she suspected it to be a pen case. She was in for a surprise!

Montblanc Meisterstück 149, Danitrio Genkai, Pelikan M1000.

I said it was big, right? But that doesn't mean much when you don't have anything to compare it to, so here's the Genkai next to a Montblanc Meisterstück 149 and a Pelikan M1000.

Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri

I love how the pattern flows around the edges.

Danitrio Genkai in Seirei-Nuri

A pen as large as this needs an extra large nib - and so it got one. This one's a beautiful factory broad stub, not exactly flexible but soft and yielding, a reliable and very wet writer. It fills with an eyedropper and has an additional shutoff valve to prevent it from leaking when not in use, which works remarkably well.