Stipula "Calamo" ink

[RichardS]

This is an ink that came with my Stipula Giardino di Boboli fountain pen - a limited edition run made by Stipula for Giardino Italia. It's lavishly packaged as you will see. And for once, the contents really do live up to the packaging.

 

Here's what I'm talking about. The box is vast (the pen is about the size of a Pelikan M800), with the bottle protected by a polystyrene base and top.

 

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/3301/dsc2666bzi1.jpg

 

The bottle itself is fairly substantial, with the cap beautifully engraved and sealed. Inside the cap, there's a plastic plug that seals the ink against evaporation. There's no doubt that Stipula is targeting the luxury market!

 

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7457/dsc2686eni1.jpg

 

Here's pen and ink shown on a Clairefontaine "Age Bag" journal. These have wonderful paper, and I like the wordplay in the name (Bag(g)-Age!).

 

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1338/dsc2680fhw2.jpg

 

And (finally!) here's a close-up of the ink itself. Of the green inks I have, it's most similar to Diamine Umber but a little more saturated. In fact it strikes a nice balance, I think, between saturation and shading. It's part of a small range that Stipula produces and one that I'd like to experiment with if I can ever find it. I've no idea of the pricing, but the packaging indicates that collecting them all will not be an inexpensive undertaking!

 

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5334/dsc2684dhy1.jpg

 

 

 

 

[NeoTiger]

Wow that's very nice looking green ink. Great handwriting too by the way.

 

I've seen an eBay seller selling Stipula Calamo ink. Comes in 4 different colours, Deep Blue, Sepia, Red Finish and Green Musk. The seller charges $39 for 3 bottles, plus shipping.

 

It's all your fault, now I want to buy some...

[maryannemoll]

I've been thinking of buying a Calamo ink myself. They go for just 14 dollars a bottle at PenGallery.

[Margana]

Pendemonium carries Stipula ink for $14 per bottle. Given the $16 shipping from eBay seller, Mel Pens plus $39 for three bottles, Pendemonium is the better deal in the U.S. The only green offered by Pendemonium is Moss Green but based on the sample doesn't appear to be the same color as the one pictured in Richard's images. Could just be my monitor though.

 

Your writing always looks so elegant, Richard. Is that your everyday style or something special for your review?

[FrankB]

This is a nice review, Richard. And nice handwriting. Thanks.

 

I also snatched one of the Giardino di Boboli LE's, and I am very happy with it. I got a 1.1mm stub which lays a nice wet line. The "Calamo" color ink to me is a nice rich color that is enhanced by the wet line my stub nib lays down. I really like the ink and I think I will get more - or at least try to do so. I am very curious to try the "Sepia" and the "Green Musk." Pendemonium is one of my favorite ink vendors, so I am going to bother them to see how much of this ink they can provide.

[AndreaDuni]

Thank you Richard,

I've ordered yesterday a Stipula Nocento Saturno-Cromo from Giardino.it with 1.1 italic nib and after I have seen your close-up pic I think I did the right thing because the line is not so wide and slim as in the Bexley stub that I like very much. This month Giardino Italiano gifts a bottle of Stipula Calamo Rosso Fiorentino (Red) with every Stipula order, and I got also the Giardino aluminium ink well because of the amount of the order. I think the package will arrive around 20-25th june. When it arrives, I will post something on fpn.

[RichardS]

The only green offered by Pendemonium is Moss Green but based on the sample doesn't appear to be the same color as the one pictured in Richard's images. Could just be my monitor though.

 

Your writing always looks so elegant, Richard. Is that your everyday style or something special for your review?

 

Margana, according to the leaflet that came with the ink, Stipula's range is Blu della Robbia (Deep Blue), Terra di Sienna (Sepia), Rosso Fiorentino (Red Finish) and Verde Muschiato (Green Musk). So maybe Pendemonium have mis-translated the name? On my monitor, the picture is looking fairly accurate, and in life, the green isn't particularly mossy. Yet the little colour blob on the front of the bottle is quite mossy. Hmmmm.

 

As for my handwriting ... yes, I do concentrate a bit more when I know it's going to be seen by the cognoscenti on FPN!

 

I also snatched one of the Giardino di Boboli LE's, and I am very happy with it. I got a 1.1mm stub which lays a nice wet line.

 

Frank, IMO the Stipula 1.1 stub is a fantastic nib. I already have one on my Etruria and it's exactly as you describe. I went for the 0.9 as the pen is no. 3, so i have no 3, .9 nib of 39!

 

I've ordered yesterday a Stipula Nocento Saturno-Cromo from Giardino.it with 1.1 italic nib and after I have seen your close-up pic I think I did the right thing because the line is not so wide and slim as in the Bexley stub that I like very much. This month Giardino Italiano gifts a bottle of Stipula Calamo Rosso Fiorentino (Red) with every Stipula order, and I got also the Giardino aluminium ink well because of the amount of the order. I think the package will arrive around 20-25th june. When it arrives, I will post something on fpn.

 

Netnemo, I look forward to hearing all about it. Any chance of some pics?

 

 

 

 

[AndreaDuni]

As for my handwriting ... yes, I do concentrate a bit more when I know it's going to be seen by the cognoscenti on FPN!

Netnemo, I look forward to hearing all about it. Any chance of some pics?

 

Hi Richard,

the right word is "conoscenti" without g.

By now I can show only the pics from Giardino Italiano:

http://www.giardino.it/pens/stipula/IMMAGINI/SaturnoCromoAp.jpg

http://www.giardino.it/pens/stipula/IMMAGINI/SaturnoCromoCh.jpg

http://www.giardino.it/pens/stipula/IMMAGINI/SaturnoCromoPart.jpg

 

Here you can find other pics

 

 

[lefty928]

Wow that's very nice looking green ink. Great handwriting too by the way.

 

I've seen an eBay seller selling Stipula Calamo ink. Comes in 4 different colours, Deep Blue, Sepia, Red Finish and Green Musk. The seller charges $39 for 3 bottles, plus shipping.

 

It's all your fault, now I want to buy some...

Pendemonium sells the Stipula ink also.

edit: Oops. Sorry to repeat info; didn't read further down before I posted. Pendemonium also has a darker red -- although the bottle I got wasn't dark enough for me. The musk green is very nice.

 

(Beautiful pen, beautiful ink, beautiful handwriting, btw. I think I'd seen an earlier review of the pen and its special ink, and, as now, both sruck me as having lovely colors. Thank you for the review!)

Edited June 9, 2007 by lefty928

[blueiris]

Pendemonium carries Stipula ink for $14 per bottle. Given the $16 shipping from eBay seller, Mel Pens plus $39 for three bottles, Pendemonium is the better deal in the U.S. The only green offered by Pendemonium is Moss Green but based on the sample doesn't appear to be the same color as the one pictured in Richard's images. Could just be my monitor though.

 

Your writing always looks so elegant, Richard. Is that your everyday style or something special for your review?

 

 

I have the Verde Muschiato "Moss Green," purchased from Pendemonium. I posted a review of it a while back. Nowhere is the color name marked on the bottle or on the box, but a small swatch of the color appears on both. I'm fairly certain it is a different ink than the one in Richard's review here, which I think was an LE named for the Giardino di Boboli (to go with the pen). The ink I have is a dark olive shade.

 

Great review, Richard! What a pretty color green this is, and I love your handwriting.

[RichardS]

Hi Richard,

the right word is "conoscenti" without g.

I think you can spell it either way. Here's the Oxford English Dictionary entry:

 

cognoscenti plural noun: people who are well informed about a particular subject.

— ORIGIN Italian, ‘people who know’, from Latin cognoscere ‘get to know’.

 

Looks like a great pen you have on order!

 

[Titivillus]

Hi Richard,

the right word is "conoscenti" without g.

I think you can spell it either way. Here's the Oxford English Dictionary entry:

 

cognoscenti plural noun: people who are well informed about a particular subject.

— ORIGIN Italian, ‘people who know’, from Latin cognoscere ‘get to know’.

 

Looks like a great pen you have on order!

 

Yep it's one of those either way words

 

 

As for the Stipula ink= great bottle butthe sepia ink that was inside was a little light for me :embarrassed_smile: but a little Zhivago made it just darker which was closer to what I hoped the ink color would be.

 

K

Edited June 9, 2007 by Tytyvyllus

[AndreaDuni]

Hi guys,

no one in Italy uses the word cognoscenti to call people who knows. Is it english? If it is, sorry, I understood you wrote the italian word conoscenti, that means known people. We say there are parents, familiars, friends, and "conoscenti"...

You maybe mean cognoscenti from the verb cognoscere that means the knowledge.

Believe me if I said that if you talk to any italian man with the word cognoscenti, they understand conoscenti and you are talking about someone you know but that is not a friend. To identify a sage we use the words: saggio, colto, "guru" (in informatic), that my dictionary translates as cultured, educated.

 

ok ok

that was not the case, I was only explaining what I understood. Sorry for my accuracy!!

 

Edited: mmm I think that in Giardino Italiano there is an error. Infact all informations I got about the pen I ordered talk about a Stipula Novecento Cromo, without the word Saturno that describes only the serie with the crescent filling system.

 

Margana, according to the leaflet that came with the ink, Stipula's range is Blu della Robbia (Deep Blue), Terra di Siena (Sepia), Rosso Fiorentino (Red Finish) and Verde Muschiato (Green Musk).

 

Richard, you forgot two colours: Borgogna (intense, deep red), Zafferano (sapphron golden yellow). The Stipula site tells that Rosso Fiorentino is bright and vivid red.

 

Always my accuracy...

 

Edited June 9, 2007 by Netnemo

[RichardS]

You maybe mean cognoscenti from the verb cognoscere that means the knowledge.

Yes that's right. I think it's one of those words that's been imported into English and slightly changed its meaning in the process.

 

The American Heritage dictionary gives:

 

n. pl. co·gno·scen·ti (-tē)

A person with superior, usually specialized knowledge or highly refined taste; a connoisseur.

 

Funnily enough I almost wrote'connoisseurs', but then someone from France would have probably told me I spelled it wrong! (They say 'connaisseur', as in Sheaffer)

 

On the mis-spelling of Siena - mea maxima culpa!

 

Richard, you forgot two colours: Borgogna (intense, deep red), Zafferano (sapphron golden yellow). The Stipula site tells that Rosso Fiorentino is bright and vivid red.

I didn't, because they weren't listed in Stipula's leaflet. They both sound interesting, particularly the Borgogna. More inks to investigate!

 

 

[handlebar]

Delightful ink!! I may have to order some of that.The Stipula line have impressed me with their pens.Now to give the ink a try.

Thanks for the review.

 

 

JD

[shahrincamille]

I too possess the Stipula Giardino di Boboli with a F nib.

 

It came with a bottle of Stipula's Calamo Garden Green ink (at least that's what its called at Giardino's website) BUT the color is similar to the greenish-yellowish barrel of the Pelikan M400 Honey/White pen, not a darker green as in RichardS' review. Here's what it looks like (see my post) :blink:

 

 

I too had ordered the Novecento Cromo yesterday from Giardino Italiano. Great-looking pen . and looking at the nib I think it will be interchangeable with my di Boboli, Duetto and Pinocchio

 

 

 

Shahrin

[lecorbusier]

I have been consistently using up my bottle of Borgogna ('deep red') which I long suspected maybe a bottle of Florentine Rosso Red...(yes, the label shows only a rounded sample of the ink and nothing else...). Anyhow, the ink flows well and has a slight hint of shade. It is also not too wet like many of the PRs, nor too dry like most of the Caran d'Ache Colors of the Earth series (I just got Sunset!).

 

I find the quality to be quite good for the price (which is on the higher end). The only problem with this ink is it is hard to find in B&M store where you can at least see it through their test bottles or dried samples, unless one lives near the B&M stores that have online presence to see them in person.

 

 

[jeffbg]

I have two of the inks -- Blu della Robbia and Terra di Siena. The rest of the line looks a bit bright, except for the green which I thought might look a bit too mossy for me.

 

They are GREAT inks. Every bit as good as Diamine for example. The blue is a deep bluish-purple color which I expected not to like much, but it really grew on me. The Siena is more of a sepia tone, but again, a bit different from some of the other sepia brown inks I have and quite well behaved.

 

- Jeff

 

[hblanchard]

Cognoscenti is a hybrid word confounding Latin and Italian elements, and it's probably just an English neologism. The Latin verb cognoscere means to know (Italian conoscere). There's an Italian word conoscenti which probably constitutes the second half of the word, but does not mean the same as the English word. My English dictionary lists conoscenti as an alterate spelling of cognoscenti. I don't know if this is a portmanteau (fusion of two words) or just the result of confusing Latin and Italian. It's just one of those wonders of language change.

Edited June 16, 2007 by HBlanchard

[Viseguy]

Hi guys,

no one in Italy uses the word cognoscenti to call people who knows. Is it english?

Yes, Netnemo, it's English. The Italian equivalent is conoscitori (sing. conoscitore). The Italian conoscente is "acquaintance", as in miei amici e conoscenti, "my friends and acquaintances".