Leonardo Photo Thread

[Susanna]

And the last Special: unique ebonite pieces, one of a kind.

 

[JonSzanto]

This new beauty arrived and I am taken with it. Leonardo x Stilo & Stile "Cometa". I never, ever wanted a glitter pen, but this one was sand-blasted to a matte finish, lending a very 'night sky' look to it, with little muted sparkles that evoke stars. The gentle tactility in the hand is a bonus, as is the handsome, in-house “La Fenice” nib. #155/180 in this limited edition run.

[dms525]

5 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

This new beauty arrived and I am taken with it. Leonardo x Stilo & Stile "Cometa". I never, ever wanted a glitter pen, but this one was sand-blasted to a matte finish, lending a very 'night sky' look to it, with little muted sparkles that evoke stars. The gentle tactility in the hand is a bonus, as is the handsome, in-house “La Fenice” nib. #155/180 in this limited edition run.

 

That's a handsome pen, Jon.

 

My experience with the gold La Fenice nib is restricted to stubs. They are wetter than I prefer but otherwise are good looking and have a pleasant feel to write with. What nib did you get, and how do you find it?

 

David

[JonSzanto]

1 hour ago, dms525 said:

That's a handsome pen, Jon.

 

My experience with the gold La Fenice nib is restricted to stubs. They are wetter than I prefer but otherwise are good looking and have a pleasant feel to write with. What nib did you get, and how do you find it?

 

Thank you, David. With the stable of beauties of your own, your approval means a lot. This has a steel F nib. It had just a hint of roughness on side-to-side strokes but I have enough chops to fix that, and did in very short order. The nib lays down a finer and slightly dryer line than the big 14k F on my ebonite Masterpiece. Then again, not only different size and material of the nib, but also the MZG has an ebonite feed. All I can say is that it is as good as most any steel nib I've had (that pleased me) and I like its looks better.

[dms525]

11 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

 

Thank you, David. With the stable of beauties of your own, your approval means a lot. This has a steel F nib. It had just a hint of roughness on side-to-side strokes but I have enough chops to fix that, and did in very short order. The nib lays down a finer and slightly dryer line than the big 14k F on my ebonite Masterpiece. Then again, not only different size and material of the nib, but also the MZG has an ebonite feed. All I can say is that it is as good as most any steel nib I've had (that pleased me) and I like its looks better.

 

Aha! You got a steel nib. Well, my experience with the steel JoWo nibs Leonardo is currently using has been uniformly positive with both plastic and ebonite feeds.

 

David

[Intensity]

Firstly, I've thoroughly enjoyed looking through this thread--it has so much eye candy.  Leonardo pens are so beautiful.  As a recent owner of a few Leos myself, I've found it useful when deciding on trims and general direction of my future Leonardo pen considerations.

 

Since a few people here own many Leonardo pens now, I thought I would ask about the little roller at the end of the clip, plus an illustrative glamor shot of my new MZG Mother of Pearl material (so beautiful!):

 

 

Do you see the gap where the roller disc inserts onto the cross-bar at the end of the clip? It seems really wide in this case.  The disc easily tilts left and right at an angle if you press on it even slightly due to the wide spacing.  In comparison, my two other current Leos have a tighter gap for the disc, so it doesn't tilt out of alignment easily.  Is that pretty normal to have that variation?

 

P.S.: this particular MZG has a 1.1mm 14K stub, which I like quite a lot.  It's practically a cursive italic in writing.  I would call it a cursive italic rather than a stub.  It writes an overall slightly wider line vs the new La Fenice 14K B nib, which is a true stub.

 

 

1.1mm 14K stub on top, La Fenice 14K B nib on the bottom, 3.7mm grid on Tomoe River 52g paper.

[mauckcg]

None of mine have a gap that large.  Looks like they didn't pinch down far enough when making the clip.

 

 

Edit:  Looks like the time stamp isn't working, start at 5 minutes into the video.

[Intensity]

1 hour ago, mauckcg said:

None of mine have a gap that large.  Looks like they didn't pinch down far enough when making the clip.

 

Edit:  Looks like the time stamp isn't working, start at 5 minutes into the video.

 

Thank you so much for that video--it was very illustrative and resulted in a quick fix for my pen's clip.  I inserted two layers of paper towel under the clip to protect the cap surface just in case my hand slips.  Then I inserted a wide rubber band between two tips of my small pliers, pulled the clip end away from the cap, and pressed the two sides of the clip around the disc together with the pliers (and a padding of rubber in between).  The gap is now closed, and no more wobble!  I'm glad I asked.

[JonSzanto]

2 hours ago, Intensity said:

I thought I would ask about the little roller at the end of the clip, plus an illustrative glamor shot of my new MZG Mother of Pearl material (so beautiful!):

 

I agree, that material is gorgeous. I only hesitated because I really would want to pick out the actual pen, since there is so much variation. I'm really happy, in the short time since you posted, that you've already gotten the clip sorted (it looked to me like it would be a minimal fix).

I posted my new Cometa the other day, but I meant to shoot the nib, too. The new design looks lovely even on a smaller nib (the MZ size) and I really like that they have gone with this slightly more ornate look.

[dms525]

I have ordered two of the recently  issued "Supernova" Leonardo pens. The first has arrived - the one in a resin called "Star Light Pink." It's a great color that matches well with Leonardo's "Red Passion" ink, I think.

 

 

 

 

I am liking how Salvatore tunes the steel JoWo stub nibs. This 1.5mm stub writes beautifully.

 

David

 

P.S. For my sparkle averse friend: This material has sparkles, but they are by far the most subtle ones I have ever seen. Rather nice, IMO.

[Intensity]

19 hours ago, JonSzanto said:

 

I agree, that material is gorgeous. I only hesitated because I really would want to pick out the actual pen, since there is so much variation. I'm really happy, in the short time since you posted, that you've already gotten the clip sorted (it looked to me like it would be a minimal fix).

I was lucky that the vendor I ordered from was kind enough to photograph their remaining stock for me, so I chose the material variation that I preferred.  I too don’t much care for getting a surprise in material variation that deviates significantly from what expected.  I almost went with ruthenium plating, as I preferred that look, but was worried about staining and flaking in the long run.  It might not be a problem here at all, but I’ve seen many threads discussing the woes of ruthenium plating on other pens.

 

 

I am also a fan of the new La Fenice nib design.  The “in-house” 14K variety seems to have more precise grinds, based on my B having a nice square stub grind.  I presume BB is also a proper stub, but not sure about the Medium; curious to see some examples.  I believe the new steel La Fenice nibs don’t have the stub grinds and are all round-tipped, with the exception of the actual stub, marked as such.

[dms525]

On 12/9/2022 at 9:30 AM, Intensity said:

Firstly, I've thoroughly enjoyed looking through this thread--it has so much eye candy.  Leonardo pens are so beautiful.  As a recent owner of a few Leos myself, I've found it useful when deciding on trims and general direction of my future Leonardo pen considerations.

 

Since a few people here own many Leonardo pens now, I thought I would ask about the little roller at the end of the clip, plus an illustrative glamor shot of my new MZG Mother of Pearl material (so beautiful!):

 

 

Do you see the gap where the roller disc inserts onto the cross-bar at the end of the clip? It seems really wide in this case.  The disc easily tilts left and right at an angle if you press on it even slightly due to the wide spacing.  In comparison, my two other current Leos have a tighter gap for the disc, so it doesn't tilt out of alignment easily.  Is that pretty normal to have that variation?

 

P.S.: this particular MZG has a 1.1mm 14K stub, which I like quite a lot.  It's practically a cursive italic in writing.  I would call it a cursive italic rather than a stub.  It writes an overall slightly wider line vs the new La Fenice 14K B nib, which is a true stub.

 

 

1.1mm 14K stub on top, La Fenice 14K B nib on the bottom, 3.7mm grid on Tomoe River 52g paper.

 

Beautiful pen! I have one with silver trim. Another Leonardo/Brooks masterpiece.

 

I agree that the clip roller gap is a manufacturing flaw. I wonder if a squeeze with  pliers would fix it. If this were my pen, I would email Salvatore and ask his advice.

 

Regarding the B vs stub nibs. I have no experience to share. All my Leonardos have stub nibs except for a couple with Fine nibs. I don't have any Ferris Wheel inks or that particular GvF-C ink. (An oversight. I like it a lot, and it's a great match for the MOP material!) I have found that how crisp a Leonardo gold nib writes is highly ink-dependent. How wet is the Ferris Wheel ink? 

 

Congratulations on the pen. It's gorgeous.

 

David

[hairlame]

On 12/10/2022 at 10:46 AM, Intensity said:

 

 

 

I am also a fan of the new La Fenice nib design.  The “in-house” 14K variety seems to have more precise grinds, based on my B having a nice square stub grind.  I presume BB is also a proper stub, but not sure about the Medium; curious to see some examples.  I believe the new steel La Fenice nibs don’t have the stub grinds and are all round-tipped, with the exception of the actual stub, marked as such.

 

I recently took delivery of an MZG 2.0 in the baobab finish with a 14k in house EF nib.  I can confirm that the tipping shape is distinct from a stock Jowo gold or steel nib.  The EF also has the same squared shape you mentioned, it reminds me a bit of the Lamy 2000 nib. Unlike the 2000, the Leonardo 14k nib is a true EF. It also produces a very subtle architect line, with very good ink flow. The 14k inhouse nib seems to be ~2 mm longer than the stock Jowo nib. Has some bounce, but a pretty firm nib. Piston operation is smooth. Overall, I'm really impressed with both the baobab material and the in house 14k nib!

 

[Intensity]

Here's the shape of the 14K La Fenice B nib -- quite obviously a factory stub, very smooth in writing with noticeable line variation (written sample here in an earlier post):

 

 

 

 

 

[dms525]

1 hour ago, Intensity said:

Here's the shape of the 14K La Fenice B nib -- quite obviously a factory stub, very smooth in writing with noticeable line variation (written sample here in an earlier post):

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to agree. The nib tip shape is that of a stub. I will post photos of my Stub nib momentarily. My impression is that the Stub is the same shape as the B nib, except a bit wider. I am going to ask Salvatore about this and will report his response.

 

David

[Intensity]

7 minutes ago, dms525 said:

 

I have to agree. The nib tip shape is that of a stub. I will post photos of my Stub nib momentarily. My impression is that the Stub is the same shape as the B nib, except a bit wider. I am going to ask Salvatore about this and will report his response.

 

David

I can take some direct comparison photographs shortly.

[dms525]

Leonardo La Fenice 14Kt 1.4mm stub nib:

 

 

 

 

David

[dms525]

3 minutes ago, Intensity said:

I can take some direct comparison photographs shortly.

 

Your 1.1mm stub is a JoWo nib. It has  geometry like my Cursive Italic nibs. The more interesting comparison is between the B and Stub La Fenice 14Kt nibs Leonardo manufactures in-house.

David

[Intensity]

Here's the new 14K "La Fenice" B stub (left) next to the 1.1mm 14K JoWo stub (right)--I suspect the La Fenice BB might be closer in line width to the old 1.1mm nib, while the La Fenice 1.4mm nib should write wider than the old 1.1mm stub:

 

 

 

 

 

The 1.1mm stub writes broader than the B, as shown on my direct writing comparison scan in an earlier post here.

 

[dms525]

I emailed Salvatore Matrone and asked about his concept of the B and BB nibs versus the 1.4mm Stub on the in-house 14Kt La Fenice nibs. Here's his reply:

 

the la Fenice stub1.4 nib and the la Fenice B or BB nib are totally different, the concept of stub is not present in the B, I was inspired by the grindig of vintage German nibs and above all by the vintage MontBlanc. 

 

Then a large ball of iridium worked on the 2 sides and rounded in the center right on the tip where the iridium touches the paper.

 

Best I can tell, the biggest difference is seen in how rounded the bottom of the iridium tip is - the B being rounded and the stub flatter.

 

David