The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[Frank C]

Lovely calligraphy, and I like the quotation. I have never cared for Tomoe River Paper, it is too thin and too slick for my tastes. I know this runs against the grain here on FPN. I ordered some of the Montblanc Homage to Homer Greek Blue ink based on @como's example. I had seen the ink before and thought it was a pale blue, but with his medium nib—or some pressure with the Calligraphy 149—it came alive.

[como]

@fpupulin My keyboard on the phone made a few erroneous “auto-correct” too with Wilde. Oscar Wilde said so many witty things. I enjoy his quotes very much! 

@Frank C I hope that you like the Homer Greek Blue. I feel responsible for your purchase, and am to blame if it doesn’t live up to your expectations 😜! This ink can look a bit pale blue or much darker depending on pen/paper.

 

To put things in perspective regarding Tomoe River 52gsm and my opinion many posts earlier on this thread that MB 149 Calligraphy for me is a calligraphy, not a daily writer:

 

My “comfort pen” is usually a medium/large (not jumbo) size modern pen with a well tuned smooth juicy broad or stub nib. I use such pen/nib to journal the most. With that, I prefer Tomoe River 52gsm because it shows ink shading very nicely. For this reason I said that 149C is a calligraphy pen FOR ME. If F or EF is someone’s daily writer/comfort pen, 149C can very well be his/her daily writer, no doubt. 
And a nice one too, soft bouncy with line variation.

 

I agree with @fpupulin Franco that Tomoe River 52gsm is not the most suitable for calligraphy (especially long continuous strokes) as it’s hard to keep it flat while writing. But if you like the paper, you can use it for sure. Just a little more patience.

[fpupulin]

(bleep)  T•I•T•I•V•I•L•L•U•S  (bleep)...

 

Ah, (bleep) T i t i v i l l u s, you also nestled in my computer keyboard...

 

All that remains is the pen!

[fpupulin]

[Uncial]

I fear hell has a library on me collected by this one.

[fpupulin]

It is likely that I have developed a somewhat special relationship with my Calligraphy, as evidenced by the many pages in this thread. From what I have read among the many interventions collected here, I have however the impression that I am not the only one who appreciates this pen in such a visceral way. Today, I consider this pen my 149, a place from which she had to undermine the most historic of my pens, a 149 with an extra-fine nib that I had bought new back in 1979 ...

 

The Calligraphy exerts on me an irresistible appeal to write. There is practically no day in which I do not write a few lines with my pen, even (or perhaps above all) when it is not at all necessary. I write in Copperplate, in my ordinary handwriting, in Spencerian, in contemporary cursive and also, occasionally, in some invented handwriting derived from the chancery.

I write because, literally, my Calligraphy asks me to do it. Of all my pens, it is perhaps not the best, but certainly the one I consider most inspirational.

 

 

[como]

12 hours ago, fpupulin said:

It is likely that I have developed a somewhat special relationship with my Calligraphy, as evidenced by the many pages in this thread. From what I have read among the many interventions collected here, I have however the impression that I am not the only one who appreciates this pen in such a visceral way. Today, I consider this pen my 149, a place from which she had to undermine the most historic of my pens, a 149 with an extra-fine nib that I had bought new back in 1979 ...

 

The Calligraphy exerts on me an irresistible appeal to write. There is practically no day in which I do not write a few lines with my pen, even (or perhaps above all) when it is not at all necessary. I write in Copperplate, in my ordinary handwriting, in Spencerian, in contemporary cursive and also, occasionally, in some invented handwriting derived from the chancery.

I write because, literally, my Calligraphy asks me to do it. Of all my pens, it is perhaps not the best, but certainly the one I consider most inspirational.

 

 

 

@fpupulin I understand you perfectly, Franco!

 

[Frank C]

11 hours ago, como said:

 

@fpupulin I understand you perfectly, Franco!

 

Your calligraphy is beautiful. I see that you are using one of @fpupulin's favorite papers. Don't worry too much about my purchase of the Homer Greek Blue Ink. @Tom Kellie also spoke very highly of it. The last I'd heard, he'd used three bottles of it. I am going to have to start looking for another Calligraphy 149 to put it in, though. 

[fpupulin]

12 hours ago, como said:

 

@fpupulin I understand you perfectly, Franco!

 

 

A beautiful exercise, dear friend! Carefully executed on a paper that enhances the delicacy characteristics of this truly unique nib, as well as the fantastic lightness of your hand! Excellent!

 

In reality, not only does my Calligraphy represent for me a continuous spur to writing and calligraphic exercise - activities in which it occupies perhaps 90 percent of the time I dedicate to my pens -, but it also stimulates me to discover or rediscover with curiosity the properties of some of my other pens.

 

In the exercise that I present below I used it together with a Parker Duofold Senior made in Canada. Its Canadian origin makes it a "humble" pen from the collector's point of view, but its nice size and splendid nib, extra-fine and flexible, make it an excellent writing tool.

 

 

 

Here I mixed the signs of the two pens, the Calligraphy loaded with its classic Permanent Black ink and the Dufold with Graf von Faber Castell's Cobalrt Blue. The difference in hue of these two dark inks is not too obvious, so I make it more obvious in the following diagram:

 

It is nice to be able to use two pens from two so distant eras with such ease, each with its own character and both so perfectly functional!

[como]

@Frank C Thank you! I tried Homer Greek Blue again, and really like the fact that it can produce a finer line (at least to my eye). I am eager to know from your experience. Reverse writing with this ink with the Calligraphy is not possible, not that I need it.  But... three Calligraphies would be really too much! 😀😀😀 

 

@fpupulin Your calligraphy with two pens seems so seamless. It seems effortless on your part, but I think this is definitely not easy to achieve. Congratulations on your Canadian made Duofold Senior. I've always considered the Parker Duofolds the Granddaddy of all fountain pens. I am very fond of the models of this era, the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s flat-top, streamlined, single raised band, double-band. It's the pen that started it all. Interestingly you got a flexible nib on this classic model, a big bonus! Both my Senior Duofolds have rather rigid nibs (haha being Duofold). It's really wonderful that you found a Senior Duofold that is also a suitable tool for your beautiful calligraphy! These two pens are in every way a great pair and equal match in their historical background and iconic design. Thank you for showing us!

 

 

[fpupulin]

A little right emulation …

 

After seeing the beautiful calligraphic letters written by como with his Calligraphy on Fabriano's Unica paper, I felt like doing the same exercise, with the same tools.

 

However, in order not to write the alphabet again, I resorted to pangrams.

 

Of course, you will know that pangrams are those sentences with a complete sense that, to be written, use all the letters of the alphabet (at least in the language in which they are formulated). Who doesn't know the famous "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"? But not everyone knows that there are pangrams in almost every language, and even in Latin.

 

The most "dazzling" pangrams are those that use the fewest letters possible, using them all.

 

The advantage of a pangram is that it allows you to write the letters of the alphabet in a different order, which makes it less repetitive.

 

Here I wrote some pangrams in Latin, Italian and English, using my Calligraphy with Black Permanent ink, on Unica paper.

 

 

 

 

For the pangrams I used Mediavilla's English cursive (with small variations) and a fancy chancery for the title.

[a student]

15 minutes ago, fpupulin said:

A little right emulation …

 

After seeing the beautiful calligraphic letters written by como with his Calligraphy on Fabriano's Unica paper, I felt like doing the same exercise, with the same tools.

 

However, in order not to write the alphabet again, I resorted to pangrams.

 

Of course, you will know that pangrams are those sentences with a complete sense that, to be written, use all the letters of the alphabet (at least in the language in which they are formulated). Who doesn't know the famous "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog"? But not everyone knows that there are pangrams in almost every language, and even in Latin.

 

The most "dazzling" pangrams are those that use the fewest letters possible, using them all.

 

The advantage of a pangram is that it allows you to write the letters of the alphabet in a different order, which makes it less repetitive.

 

Here I wrote some pangrams in Latin, Italian and English, using my Calligraphy with Black Permanent ink, on Unica paper.

 

 

 

 

For the pangrams I used Mediavilla's English cursive (with small variations) and a fancy chancery for the title.

Thank you for these fine pieces! I have to say that it is the calligraphy, not the pangram, that catches the eye here; first and last!

[fpupulin]

I would like to show you what I call "the Amatruda effect" on the 149 Calligraphy.

 

Black Permanent ink and a few lines of text, some Copperplate and some Spencerian letters, just to appreciate the qualities of this hand made paper. I bought a small pack of A3 sheets at the Scuderia del Duca, and I cut a couple of them in two halves "to save" a bit of space... The catenelle are now along the longer side of the leaf, and the vergelle horizontal, as it should be!

 

Thin, thinner, thinnest strokes... 

 

 

The shot has some Montblanc paraphernalia together with the pen, just for the mood.

[N1003U]

1 hour ago, fpupulin said:

I would like to show you what I call "the Amatruda effect" on the 149 Calligraphy.

 

Black Permanent ink and a few lines of text, some Copperplate and some Spencerian letters, just to appreciate the qualities of this hand made paper. I bought a small pack of A3 sheets at the Scuderia del Duca, and I cut a couple of them in two halves "to save" a bit of space... The catenelle are now along the longer side of the leaf, and the vergelle horizontal, as it should be!

 

Thin, thinner, thinnest strokes... 

 

 

The shot has some Montblanc paraphernalia together with the pen, just for the mood.

The penmanship is beautiful; I wish I could see it live and feel that Amatruda paper in my hand at the same time. It brings a new dimension (or at least a new haptic sense) to the experience.

[a student]

On 9/1/2021 at 6:37 AM, fpupulin said:

I would like to show you what I call "the Amatruda effect" on the 149 Calligraphy.

 

Black Permanent ink and a few lines of text, some Copperplate and some Spencerian letters, just to appreciate the qualities of this hand made paper. I bought a small pack of A3 sheets at the Scuderia del Duca, and I cut a couple of them in two halves "to save" a bit of space... The catenelle are now along the longer side of the leaf, and the vergelle horizontal, as it should be!

 

Thin, thinner, thinnest strokes... 

 

 

The shot has some Montblanc paraphernalia together with the pen, just for the mood.

 

A fine and enjoyable display of the alphabet!

[fpupulin]

On 8/31/2021 at 9:23 PM, N1003U said:

The penmanship is beautiful; I wish I could see it live and feel that Amatruda paper in my hand at the same time. It brings a new dimension (or at least a new haptic sense) to the experience.

 

Actually, I am quite fond on Amalfi paper, which I consider among the absolute best papers to write on. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information on this paper, apart from the usual anecdotic stories.

 

As it is quite common with Italian craftsmanship, it is of the highest quality, but the distribution channels of such products are very poor, inconsistent, and old... Would you search today for Amalfi paper, to understand some basic characteristics of the product, its price, and where to buy it, you will have a very frustrating experience. 

 

To solve at least in part the first of the problems, related to product information, I have just published a sort of comparative table of four types of handmade Amalfi paper, in the hope that it will stimulate other enthusiasts to approach it and try it.

You can find the discussion here:

 

 

 

 

 

[como]

@fpupulin Beautiful calligraphy and exquisite Amalfi Amatruda paper! I am soon going to try my 149 Calligraphy on it, thanks to a wonderful pen friend 🙂. I looked up their website and found that I could buy directly from them. The shipping cost is quite high (I put €25 worth of paper in the shopping basket and shipping shows €25). So that's the max I can order at once without incurring the hefty import tax for going over the threshold. It would be still worth buying it. The texture is just exquisite! Of all the paper presented here, just by the touch Amatruda feels the most luxurious.

[como]

[fpupulin]

Tris is a splendid exercise, como, and the last lines in particular are written in a very beautiful and rhythmic Spencerian.
Congratulations, my friend!

 

Your writing demonstrates the full potential of a careful choice of the combination of paper, ink and nib.

 

It is clear that, at almost $ 2 per sheet, Amatruda paper certainly cannot be considered "everyday", but for a special writing from time to time, it is unsurpassed.

[como]

Thank you so much, Franco! In the last couple of days I have been enjoying and struggling with Spencerian writing, with not just MB 149 Calligraphy, but a new pen I bought when curiosity got the better of me: the Pilot Custom 912 with Spencerian grind. Actually initially I wanted to do a comparison between the two nibs on Amatruda paper. Between handling a new pen with different inks and paper, and trying with this particular grind, I discovered that, as nibs.com said on their site, that Pilot 912 Spencerian needs paper with smooth surface. Initially I also had lots of ink starvation with Pilot 912 Spencerian. It’s better and better as I learn and experiment.
 

By nature I am not a patient person, but I learned from you to be more patient with pens (I am more patient with pens when I restore and service pens 😀)

 

So here is a writing sample with MB 149C and Pilot 912 Spencerian grind.
 

Paper: Tomoe River 52gsm

Ink: Montblanc Homer Greek Blue

 

The curious thing is that the same MB Homer Greek Blue looks quite different from the two pens! I am quite excited using the two. With Pilot Spencerian I need smooth paper. It also feels more scratchy but it does produce very fine lines, just a tiny tad finer. 
 

I happily gave up a dozen pens upon discovering the 149C, truly very fun and versatile pen. The Pilot 912 with Spencerian grind is really for Spencerian, not for daily writing (for me at least). I will need to come back to write a few more comments, after spending a bit more time on the latter. 
 

By the way, the Amatruda and Fabriano Unica, I will save for the 149C. Tomoe River 52gsm goes to Pilot 912 Spencerian grind.
 

 

EDIT/ADD: Sorry, I am really puzzled by the difference in ink appearance between the two pen. I started wondering if I put MB Royal Blue in the 149 Calligraphy instead. I think not, because I could not erase the blue ink with the typical school ink eraser sold here (it usually erases simple blue ink very well). A real mystery. I need to come back to this a bit later. The Homer can appear darker with some paper but this looks very contrasting... Will flush and re-do the test.