WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Diamine Scarlet Ink Review

In love with Diamine Scarlet

Amazing pink-red color, great saturation.

Side Note: I'm beginning to think that if I put my words in italics, it's like whispering. And whispering is kind of like wordless, right?

INK REVIEW: Diamine Poppy Red

It feels like it's been awhile since I've been able to say this - I LOVE this ink.

Diamine Poppy Red fountain pen ink is a pure, bright red ink with a teeny tiny bit of potential for shading.  The ink dries faster than average on the page and doesn't feel dry (nor too lubricated) in the pen. There is not much water resistance, but I didn't expect there to be. There were no hard starts, no ghosting, no bleeding, no problems.  Just plain ole happy red RED saturated ink.

Check it out . . .

The swabs above are 1, 2, and 3 passes with a super-soaked cotton swab.

And here's a close-up of some handwriting with it . . .

Seriously, I have nothing but good things to say about Poppy Red from Diamine.  This review is from a sample I bought from Goulet Pens. I will have a full bottle of it in the very near future.  Love, love, love.

Here's the full review . . .

If you want to see the full-sized version of the handwritten review, here's a link for you.  (It's huge.)

What do you think? Love it? Maybe you have another go-to favorite red ink?

How was your Thanksgiving? Mr. Pentulant and I were at the beach for the long weekend. We had a great time. So relaxing.

xoxox

PEN REVIEW: Pilot Parallel 6mm

I'm just going to blurt it out: I love this pen.

Let's dive in . . .

I have two Pilot Parallel Pens - around ten bucks each, yo. I opened and played with both, but only inked the blue 6mm version.

Above: The pen comes with two Pilot proprietary ink cartridges (one red, one black) and a converter. These inks are mixable. I don't get into it here, but Rachel Goulet has a terrific video that you should watch.

Converter? For cleaning the pen unit? Huh? What the heck? While I don't know yet if it will help with cleaning, I am sure that the converter cannot be used for ink. The seal is not nearly sufficient to keep ink in the converter. Strongly suggest not trying it, but please take pictures if you decide to go for it - I love a beautiful mess.

My understanding is that the Pilot CON-50 converter will work with this pen. I plan to find out. Because, really, imagine big fat shaded or sheen line? Oooh...or maybe Diamine Flamingo Pink?

The Pilot Parallel also comes with a handy Nib Cleaner (it's a piece of film that slips between the plates of the nib) and a somewhat informative instruction sheet.

I love this picture - the reflection of my yard, my fingerprint - what's not to love. 

The Parallel is available in four different sizes. The different sizes have different colored caps. They are:

• Blue                        6 mm
• Green                   3.8 mm
• Yellow                  2.4 mm
• Red/Orange          1.5 mm

The size of the nib is clearly marked in a couple of places . . . .

The nib is made up of two plates that are parallel to one another. 

Get it? Parallel.

But how's it write?

Wheeeeeee!  

I love it! 

I was worried that the writing would be too wet - it's not. The flow is terrific and on good paper, there was no bleeding.  After playing with it a bunch initially, I find that I'm using it for a few things:

• separating topics/sections on a page 
• crossing items off of my to do list
• writing short (very short) love notes to Mr. Pentulant

It's a fun pen. For regular use, I might change the ink to a bright yellow and use it a highlighter. Fun, yes?

Downsides . . . 

• the pen cannot be posted - come on, pen manufacturers, help a girl out
• doesn't come with a converter that can be used for ink - arrrgh.

Highly recommended!  

One of my Pilot Parallel pens came from Goulet Pens. The other came from Jet Pens. Goulet's price is less. Bought and paid for with my own pennies out of own piggy bank. 


Have you tried one of these? Do you love it?

PAPER REVIEW: Mnemosyne B5 Notebook by Maruman

Shopping for paper online is wonnnnderful. Shopping for paper in a store is like, whoa.

Feeling the creaminess of the paper. Studying the color of the lines. Pondering the lay-out and line width. Comparing sizes, and bindings, and covers, oh my.

I found this Mnemosyne B5 Notebook by Maruman at Maido in Japantown, San Francisco. I love that store. I could move in there. (Especially because there are noodle and mochi shops nearby. Yum.)

This notebook is a B5 size. It measures 176 x 250 mm. That's 6.9 x 9.8 inches for those of us who don't speak millimeters. Such a pleasing size. Neither too long nor too wide. It can be laid open on the corner of a desk without being too much in the way.  Fold it over on itself and it's not too big to be held in one hand. I'm digging B5.

This yellow sheet is the first page in the notebook. It looks like instructions, but it's in Japanese. And it's a little confusing at first glance because these pages do not have vertical lines, but this example page does. What the heck?

It turns out that there are teeny-tiny very light vertical marks on the paper near the header and then again at the bottom of page to help us create tidy vertical lines on the paper. If you want to, that is.

You can see one of these little marks in the picture below.  Such a nice touch - love the easy flexibility.




Each of the 160 pages (80 sheets) has gray dotted lines that are spaced 7mm apart. Every ten lines, there is a heavier solid line. These heavier lines lines divide the writing part of the page into three equal sections. These lines are not so intrusive that you have to use them, but they're there if you want to. Again, easy flexibility.

The paper is white, but not screaming bright white. 

The binding is wire-o. Pages are perforated.

But...how does it perform?  Check it out . . .

No feather, no bleeding, tiny amount of ghosting (show-through).

The paper on top of the writing sample is Clairefontaine 90gsm. The Mnemosyne is definitely a softer white.  The paper is buttery smooth with an expensive look and feel.  I paid  $8.95 for the notebook and while that's a lot when compared to a Mead notebook, it's about what I'd expect to pay for a premium product.

Bottom Line:  I love this notebook and can definitely see using it for work notes or at home for planning or maybe even scribbling down quotes I love.

If you're not near a store that carries Maruman products, JetPens has it - for around $15. (Making me feel like I got a pretty good deal!)

Tell me which notebooks you love? And do you love B5? I asked on Instagram and A5 seems to be more popular.

INK REVIEW and COMPARISON: Yama-budo -vs- Black Swan in Australian Roses

 

-vs-

Back in January, I did a quickie review of Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses (BSIAR) - I didn't love it. I didn't hate it.  A week or so ago, I received a larger sample of it along with a sample of Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo.

I'd heard so many wonderful things about about Yama-budo that I didn't wait too long to ink my Pelikan M320 and take it for a spin.

And because I was inking pens, I inked a Lamy Al-Star with BSIAR and decided to compare and contrast it with Yama-budo.

In each of my pairs of writing, Yama-budo will be on top.

The color of each reminds me of grapes. I'd originally said that BSIAR was bordeaux in color and my first thought about Yama-budo was that it reminded me of melty grape sorbet. In looking at the colors right next to each other, I'm confident with each of those descriptions. Yama-budo looks fresh and BSIAR has a more aged look to it. Yama-budo is a bit brighter while BSIAR has a little muddiness to its darker color.

Shading? They both shade, but there seems to be more variation with Yama-budo. Yama-budo goes from an almost bright pink to a deeper purple color while BSIAR seems to remain various shades of the same color.

Saturation is about equal (and very good) with both inks.

I experienced no trouble writing with either ink. Flow was good, neither was excessively wet nor dry. Each is a good quality ink.

There's no feathering, or bleed through with either. Yama-budo did have some ghosting on Clairefontaine paper, but just when dotting the letter i in a couple of places - so minor that I almost didn't mention it.

Yama-budo was more likely to smear right out of the gate, but by the time 30 seconds had passed, things were just about even.

Again, Yama-budo on top and BSIAR under . . .

I regularly write in all caps...

Here's the entire review sheet . . .

Click Here to see it full size (it's huge).

So, what's my bottom line?  I've ordered a full-sized bottle of Yama-budo. While the color difference isn't huge, the brightness and amount of shading made all of the difference for me.

There are so many ink choices out there that it is the subtle things that make all of the difference between "just ok," and "love it!"

Having said that, if you like the color of each of these inks and the brightness doesn't matter that much to you (or maybe you even prefer the darker color?), save yourself the bucks and go with Black Swan in Australian Roses. Goulet Pens (no association except I spend so much of my paycheck there) sells BSIAR for less than half of what Yama-budo goes for.  ($12.50 -vs- $28, respectively)

What do you think?  Black Swan in Australian Roses or Yama-budo?  Neither? Both?

FOUNTAIN PEN REVIEW: Montblanc Heritage 1912

I'm in love.

Like any normal fountain pen lover, there are a great number of pens that I have my eyes on at any given time. When the Montblanc Heritage 1912 pen was released, I knew I was attracted to it and I knew right away that it would find its way to my wish list, but I didn't know I'd end up with it!

I mean, seriously, look at this thing . . .

Yummy goodness, right?  (Side note - all of the pictures except the one directly above are my own. The one above is from the Montblanc website. You can tell because their picture is perfect and mine are not.)


I received this pen as a late Christmas gift from a friend. When I opened the wrapping and saw the box, I'm pretty sure I gasped. Or maybe squealed. Probably both.

About the Heritage 1912 . . . 

The design is inspired by the Montblanc Simplo Safety Filler - one of the first fountain pens. (Crazy, right?) The Simplo was small in size, had a retractable nib, was made of hard rubber, and had a rounded white-tipped cap. I actually held one of these at a pen show a long time ago.

The original Heritage 1912 was a limited edition of just 333 pieces and was made of titanium. It's gorgeous, but has a scary (for most people) price tag.


This precious black resin version of the pen has similar qualities . . .

It's a beauty. And then I wrote with it . . .

And I was in love. Big love.  (The ink is one of my favorites - Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun.)

A Pragmatic Look . . . 

I'll let someone else do all of the weights and measures. I'm more about how it looks, feels, and writes.

Design - love it. Very stylish, classic. I've always been attracted to retractable nibs. This pen has a sleekness to it that isn't often found. There's a thingy in the cap to prevent the user from ruining the nib if the cap is replaced without first retracting the nib.

Length - appears shorter than average, but is average when the nib is engaged

Weight - very comfortable

Width / Grip - nice - the smooth design makes this a very comfortable pen to hold. I can imagine that someone with sweaty (ok, moist) hands would have an issue because there is no real grip, but this works wonderfully for me

Fill System - unique piston fill

Nib - medium with a bit of bounce. It's not flex, but it's not like any other nib I've ever written with either. It's a wonderful writing experience

Performance - oh my goodness, it writes wonderfully

Well, there is one issue with performance - the pen is not meant to be posted. Ironic given the picture above that I pulled from the Montblanc website, yes? Normally, this would be a deal breaker for me (I always post), but I love the pen and the writing experience so much that this is a complete non-issue.  When attempting to post, the cap is loose and the pen is unbalanced - I do not think anyone could post the cap and be happy with it even if it were possible to do so (which it's not).

Practicality - the Heritage 1912 will be an everyday writer for me. I am not overly careful with my pens and I don't flip out if a scratch appears. If I worked in an office, I probably would not take it with me because it would be too expensive to replace and I'd cry if it became lost/stolen. For me, the pen is very practical.

However, there are some reports that the pen scratches easily and that the cap rubs and causes "rings" to appear on the body of the pen. My guess is that the resin itself isn't anymore likely to scratch than other MB pens, but that there is long expanse of resin and that scratches are more noticeable. If this kind of thing is going to bother you, you may disagree with my assessment on practicality.


Some Bonus Pics . . .

Yummy yum yum!

I also want to toot my own horn a little. I love Instagram and am happy to have so many friends over there - more than 400 now, which isn't a lot to some people, but feels like bunches to me.  A few days before I started posting pictures of the Heritage 1912 fountain pen, this came up on my news feed . . .

Wooo!  Maybe they follow everyone - I don't know, I don't want to know - haha. But Montblanc is following me on Instagram and I feel pretty giddy about it.  I'm pretty sure this means that you should also be following me there.  I'm Pentulant on Instagram.

And, finally, it's clear that I love this pen, but you should read as much about it before you run out and get one of your own. It's not quite the same as buying a Pilot Metropolitan (which I also love!).

I've put together the following resource list.

Have a great week, everyone!

xo

Montblanc Heritage 1912 Resource List

See the Heritage 1912 Limited Edition of 333 pieces

Pictures of the Montblanc Simplo and a comparison

A good write-up from Luxurious Magazine

FPN members discuss scratching

A MB produced video