The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[fpupulin]

Very close to perfection... hem, the nib, not the hand...

 

 

[Nick T]

Montblanc sent email invitations today to participate in an “Art of writing” series online class in Calligraphic Monograms. It looks like a great opportunity to use our Calligraphy pens in a setting that welcomes both beginners and studied hands. Looking forward to a chance to use my pen in a new way. I hope to see some of you there!

[fpupulin]

So, for my birthday, last week, I got myself an OMAS Ogiva Arco with a spectacular old nib, an Extra produced by OMAS probably in the thirties or early forties of the last century. Anyone interested in a little blah-blah and some photographs of the new pen, can find them in this post: 

 

I wrote a few pieces of Copperplate alphabet with the Ogiva, mixing a little the styles of Ranieri Percossi and Claude Mediavilla, two of my favorite calligraphers. The Extra nib is fantastic!

 

 

So, since I consider my 19's Calligraphy to be one and my champions, I put it to the test in a kind of "head to head" with the OMAS Extra. The Calligraphy is loaded with Montblac's Blue Permanent.

 

 

It seems to me that the 149 Calligraphy comes out of the confrontation with a "sacred monster" of writing with its head held high.

[maclink]

1 minute ago, fpupulin said:

It seems to me that the 149 Calligraphy comes out of the confrontation with a "sacred monster" of writing with its head held high.

 

Indeed it does.  Thanks for sharing!  Great penmanship as always.

[como]

Sometimes I just use the pen to write silly things for fun... because it's almost December, and one is allowed to do silly things!

 

Paper: Fabriano Unica

Ink: Montblanc Le Petit Prince - Rose Burgundy

Pen: MB 149 Calligraphy

[fpupulin]

On 11/30/2021 at 6:43 AM, como said:

Sometimes I just use the pen to write silly things for fun... because it's almost December, and one is allowed to do silly things!

 

Paper: Fabriano Unica

Ink: Montblanc Le Petit Prince - Rose Burgundy

Pen: MB 149 Calligraphy

 

This is truly a pretty calligraphy, como! Your control of the Calligraphy nib in producing this Spencerian is outstanding.

 

And I also like your puntual reflections...

[fpupulin]

I played with two of my best calligraphic pens and put them to work together.

 

 

I'm not sure if I like the alternation of the two colors, but I enjoyed changing the pen between one line and another, to feel the difference between the nibs and appreciate their distinct softness.

 

And in the meantime I took the opportunity to add another pebble to my "reflections" on pen writing.

 

Before of this, I also wrote an Italian version, with the colors reversed:

 

 

And just to show you how not all donuts come out with a hole,. here is a photo of the first test of the Italian sheet. I miscalculated the distribution of the words, and the last one went wrong: ricor-dato (remembered). Rovi-nato! Ruined! Ha ha ha!

 

[DvdRiet]

10 hours ago, fpupulin said:

I played with two of my best calligraphic pens and put them to work together.

 

 

I'm not sure if I like the alternation of the two colors, but I enjoyed changing the pen between one line and another, to feel the difference between the nibs and appreciate their distinct softness.

 

And in the meantime I took the opportunity to add another pebble to my "reflections" on pen writing.

 

Before of this, I also wrote an Italian version, with the colors reversed:

 

 

And just to show you how not all donuts come out with a hole,. here is a photo of the first test of the Italian sheet. I miscalculated the distribution of the words, and the last one went wrong: ricor-dato (remembered). Rovi-nato! Ruined! Ha ha ha!

 

 

Beautiful writing! And I like the two colors. They go together very well.

[como]

On 12/3/2021 at 11:14 PM, fpupulin said:

 

This is truly a pretty calligraphy, como! Your control of the Calligraphy nib in producing this Spencerian is outstanding.

 

And I also like your puntual reflections...

@fpupulin Thank you for your kind and generous compliments, Franco. December is especially a great month to play with this pen, as I just wrote a lot of envelopes of Christmas cards 😀. Each year usually the task was done with a vintage pen with some flex or my Parker International with an Oblique Broad, so this is the first year another modern pen took over. 

 

As I played more with this pen, alone or together with other modern and vintage pens, I realised that though a few pens in my collection could accomplish what MB 149 Calligraphy could do, overall I like the feel of how the nib writes, and appearance of this pen the most.

 

Congratulations on your newly acquired Omas Arco Ogiva with a vintage nib, stunning! Your beautiful calligraphy reminds me that I need to go back and work on some simple flourishing (I feel like a cow trying to dance Tango 😂).

[fpupulin]

On 12/6/2021 at 1:42 PM, como said:

As I played more with this pen, alone or together with other modern and vintage pens, I realised that though a few pens in my collection could accomplish what MB 149 Calligraphy could do, overall I like the feel of how the nib writes, and appearance of this pen the most.

 

This is exactly my feeling, como!

 

I am so grateful to Montblanc that they put this extraordinary nib on a pen which is surely extraordinary but without any fuss. They make a pen to be used every day, for the most varied purposes, and which on request can also excel in calligraphy.

[fpupulin]

Now that the Christmas atmosphere is raging all around us, it's time to unleash the Christmas greetings written with 149 Calligraphy. I wrote them, after various tests and attempts on more current paper, on the beautiful Fabriano Unica, with Blue Permament ink.

 

 

 

In the photo thread dedicated to the Montblanc Hemingway, I sent a similar greeting card, written with my Hemi on a laid paper, dipped in GvFC Cobalt Blue ink. Although the Hemingway's nib behaves with dignity in the calligraphy test, you will certainly notice that it has nothing to do with the actual calligraphic skills of the nib supplied with the 149 Calligraphy.

[DrDebG]

Simply beautiful!  Thank you so much for sharing it! 

[ak47]

Hi everybody  and a marry christmas!

My cally has arrived. Could someone give me some advices about the use?

Thanks and happy holidays

[fpupulin]

4 hours ago, ak47 said:

Hi everybody  and a marry christmas!

My cally has arrived. Could someone give me some advices about the use?

Thanks and happy holidays

Hi ak47:

       Let me first of all congratulate you on the arrival of an extraordinary pen, a fountain pen with one of the best nibs I've ever tried.

     As for use, I would like to give you some brief tips.

 

     First of all, don't rush to achieve the extraordinary results this pen is capable of. The many beautiful pages posted in this forum are there to indicate what Calligraphy is capable of doing, but of course you need to train your hand a little to make this possible.

 

      The second tip is to remember that a good calligraphic exercise is composed of three elements, none of which can be overlooked: the pen with its nib, the right ink and the right paper. You already have the pen, and you will hardly be able to find a better one. As for ink, I would recommend Montblanc's Permanent Blue ink, or one of Diamine’s inks. The latter are not very suitable if your intention is to use the sheet on both sides, because they have a tendency to pass through a little. If you want to use only one side of the sheet, though, they are, in my opinion, excellent inks for the Calligraphy. As for the paper, I recommend that you use a good quality one. There are too many here because I can suggest a few special ones, and you will pick up over time which ones are most suitable for you and your pen. A not-to-light and not-too-smooth paper should be best suited to maintain better control of the nib.

 

     A third piece of advice, if your intention is to get some good calligraphic results, is: don't disdain the basic rules of calligraphy. Patiently draw the guidelines with the pencil on your paper, both the horizontal ones and the diagonal ones that will help you to maintain a correct inclination of the writing. Write slowly, remembering to execute each of the letters as if it were the only one of your text.

 

     And one last tip, the most practical for writing. Try to learn to keep your hand very light on the paper. The beauty of calligraphic writing is given by the variation between the thin lines and those with greater pressure, but this is made possible by the fact that the ascending lines are really traced as thin as possible. You get it with practice, with exercises, even if that's actually fun. Keeping your hand light is the first and most important tricks to do with the Caligraphy.

 

Have fun!

[ak47]

31 minutes ago, fpupulin said:

Hi ak47:

       Let me first of all congratulate you on the arrival of an extraordinary pen, a fountain pen with one of the best nibs I've ever tried.

     As for use, I would like to give you some brief tips.

 

     First of all, don't rush to achieve the extraordinary results this pen is capable of. The many beautiful pages posted in this forum are there to indicate what Calligraphy is capable of doing, but of course you need to train your hand a little to make this possible.

 

      The second tip is to remember that a good calligraphic exercise is composed of three elements, none of which can be overlooked: the pen with its nib, the right ink and the right paper. You already have the pen, and you will hardly be able to find a better one. As for ink, I would recommend Montblanc's Permanent Blue ink, or one of Diamine’s inks. The latter are not very suitable if your intention is to use the sheet on both sides, because they have a tendency to pass through a little. If you want to use only one side of the sheet, though, they are, in my opinion, excellent inks for the Calligraphy. As for the paper, I recommend that you use a good quality one. There are too many here because I can suggest a few special ones, and you will pick up over time which ones are most suitable for you and your pen. A not-to-light and not-too-smooth paper should be best suited to maintain better control of the nib.

 

     A third piece of advice, if your intention is to get some good calligraphic results, is: don't disdain the basic rules of calligraphy. Patiently draw the guidelines with the pencil on your paper, both the horizontal ones and the diagonal ones that will help you to maintain a correct inclination of the writing. Write slowly, remembering to execute each of the letters as if it were the only one of your text.

 

     And one last tip, the most practical for writing. Try to learn to keep your hand very light on the paper. The beauty of calligraphic writing is given by the variation between the thin lines and those with greater pressure, but this is made possible by the fact that the ascending lines are really traced as thin as possible. You get it with practice, with exercises, even if that's actually fun. Keeping your hand light is the first and most important tricks to do with the Caligraphy.

 

Have fun!

Thank you very much. Your words are honey for me. Have you got the possibility to try edelstein ink?

[fpupulin]

3 hours ago, ak47 said:

Thank you very much. Your words are honey for me. Have you got the possibility to try edelstein ink?

 

I like the Edelstein inks very much, but I never tried them in the Calligraphy.

 

I am pretty sure that they can work, as long as you try to use a paper that is not too absorbent, as the Edelstein are a bit on the wet side.

 

Montblanc says that the narrower stroke of the Calligraphy nib is .3 mm, and it seems true to my experience, but you may obtain this stroke only on the correct type of paper. You may find a lot of suggestions by several users in the previous pages of this thread. 

[ak47]

3 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

I like the Edelstein inks very much, but I never tried them in the Calligraphy.

 

I am pretty sure that they can work, as long as you try to use a paper that is not too absorbent, as the Edelstein are a bit on the wet side.

 

Montblanc says that the narrower stroke of the Calligraphy nib is .3 mm, and it seems true to my experience, but you may obtain this stroke only on the correct type of paper. You may find a lot of suggestions by several users in the previous pages of this thread. 

Thanks a lot master fpupulin

[fpupulin]

A dear friend of mine, and exquisite botanical painter, gifted me for Christmas some handmade papers produced in a French paper mill I didn't know existed, the Moulin de Larroque.

I got two types, one laid paper with envelopes in A4 format, which I haven't tried yet, and this "Lys" paper, a 250 g papier d'art in the 25 x 16 cm format. Spectacular!

 

 

The sign of the pen
is a thread that unravels
from the boundaries of soul

[maclink]

5 minutes ago, fpupulin said:

A dear friend of mine, and exquisite botanical painter, gifted me for Christmas some handmade papers produced in a French paper mill I didn't know existed, the Moulin de Larroque.

I got two types, one laid paper with envelopes in A4 format, which I haven't tried yet, and this "Lys" paper, a 250 g papier d'art in the 25 x 16 cm format. Spectacular!

 

 

The sign of the pen
is a thread that unravels
from the boundaries of soul

Fabulous! What ink were you using there?

Additionally, while giving advice on inks, I see you mentioned Montblanc Permanent Blue and not Black.  You previously seemed a fan of Permanent Black.  What happened?

[fpupulin]

2 hours ago, maclink said:

Fabulous! What ink were you using there?

Additionally, while giving advice on inks, I see you mentioned Montblanc Permanent Blue and not Black.  You previously seemed a fan of Permanent Black.  What happened?

I am quite a fan of both MB permanent inks.

The Black is… well, very black, and black is probably the best ink to do some calligraphy.
The Blue, however, is an easier ink to my eyes. It maintains control of the narrow strokes more easily than its black counterpart, and it dries quickly.

The black dries out so slowly that you have to let your sheets resting for several days to be sure it will not smudge. It has, nevertheless, that pure black, quite matte finish, that I find irresistible.

Both inks behave great in the Calligraphy - notwithstanding Montblanc’s advice against their use with the calligraphy nib -, but I find the Blue easier to begin with.