The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread

[como]

4 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

Thanks, my friend. Between ourselves, Arco looks fine everywhere, but the profile of the 149, even without the flamboyance of Omas celluloid, is certainly one of my favorite pen shapes! 

@fpupulin I meant that your new script was graceful and playful! Of course the 149 too! Come to think of it, the 149 was the first ever black with gold trim pen I ever bought. I never considered because I was and still am a celluloid fan.

[fpupulin]

Today I wrote my Christmas card, which this year will not be mailed, but sent to my loved ones and friends via email. I still have to take a good photograph, setting the card in a warm and Christmas atmosphere, to prepare the image to be sent with the greetings, and it's a nice pastime which I'll take care of tomorrow.

 

After that I played with my 149 Calligraphy, putting it to the test in a kind of modern gothic, thin and elongated, and I'm happy with it. Obviously, it would be possible to create this type of script with a cut nib pen, an italics or a stub, but once again I found the great adaptability of the flexible nib of the 149, which is capable of a bit of everything, really remarkable.

 

It is certainly the reason I use this pen more than any other.

 

 

 

For this text, I used two inks that are very special to me, because they are a gift from a dear friend. The blue of the main text is Homer Greek Blue, while the purple of the signature is the special edition Enzo Ferrari, both by Montblanc. The latter was used in a 1970 18C extra fine 149.

[Tasmith]

On 11/30/2022 at 8:57 AM, fpupulin said:

Just found among my things a pack of old, fine "air-mail" paper. Many of us would perhaps remember when, long before the massive advent of electronic mail, we were used to write on this light and thin paper when our letters had to "fly" on an airplane, together with the companion envelopes - also thin and light - with blue and red margins.

 

By the way, it is fantastic paper, crisp and dry, that only allows - of course - writing on one side of the sheet. 

 

It's easy to forget how heavy paper really is.  Weight was a huge factor with older airplanes, every ounce counted.

[como]

On 12/18/2022 at 2:42 AM, fpupulin said:

Today I wrote my Christmas card, which this year will not be mailed, but sent to my loved ones and friends via email. I still have to take a good photograph, setting the card in a warm and Christmas atmosphere, to prepare the image to be sent with the greetings, and it's a nice pastime which I'll take care of tomorrow.

 

After that I played with my 149 Calligraphy, putting it to the test in a kind of modern gothic, thin and elongated, and I'm happy with it. Obviously, it would be possible to create this type of script with a cut nib pen, an italics or a stub, but once again I found the great adaptability of the flexible nib of the 149, which is capable of a bit of everything, really remarkable.

 

It is certainly the reason I use this pen more than any other.

 

 

 

For this text, I used two inks that are very special to me, because they are a gift from a dear friend. The blue of the main text is Homer Greek Blue, while the purple of the signature is the special edition Enzo Ferrari, both by Montblanc. The latter was used in a 1970 18C extra fine 149.

@fpupulin In this photography not only have you created the warm and Christmas atmosphere, but also you have shedded some magic lights to it! Lights from above. Lights from below. The whole photo looks very intriguing. It’s a fine example of “photography is a play of light”. I like these inks too 🙂

 

Christmas holidays makes one of the best uses of our fountain pens. Your family and friends are so lucky to receive holidays cards from you, by mail or electronically!!

[fpupulin]

For the sake of completeness in our thread, I send my greetings here too, to our small "crazy for the flex" community:

 

 

 

 

The pens: Montblanc 149 Calligraphy and Omas Gentleman, EF. The inks: MB Homer Greek Blue and Parker Quink Red. The paper: Guarro watercolor , 240 grams.

[Detman101]

On 10/13/2022 at 12:28 AM, mywatchgr said:

 

@como you are so modest, that is a virtue which is not so easily recognisable by others in this hard world we live in!

But let me say the following: you do deserve to be mentioned, you just don't believe it yet.

 

On the matter of our object of appreciation, it has been 2 weeks of full use and a couple of permanent blue ink fills, I must say that this ink is just a tad dry, and the cause of this dryness is that my strokes are still a bit faster and a bit harder than they should be. So, out of laziness, i changed to ASA-GAO (Pilot) and it has been way better both for everyday usage and calligraphy workout.

The MB permanent blue has an amazing vintage tone and shade, and very good properties. As for the ink flow, it just needs patience and exercise to be mastered (which I do not posses, yet) so back at it...feel free for any advice on my below...much appreciated.

Oh yes...Asa-Gao is next on my acquisition list!

[fpupulin]

When used on Amalfi paper (this in particular is a piece from a A3 sheet produced by the Amatruda mill, a beautiful vergata of the type they sell for printers), the 149 Calligraphy is capable of strokes so fines that is almost as drawing with a pencil to obtain a sfumato effect.   

 

Nonetheless, on the same paper the nib is still able to produce those lines of about 1.5 mm that you may want to use for calligraphic purposes. 

 

"Pluck the rose, avoid the thorn".

 

The motto is by Italian poet, novelist, aesthete, apologist, ardito soldier, ideologist, famous lover and agitator of the masses, Gabriele d'Annunzio, who was a prominent character both in the literature and in the political life of his time. Due to his proximity to fascism, more than eighty years after his death his figure still arouses conflicting emotions and opinions in Italy.

 

Here I have used one of his mottos in Latin just to add a text to the drawing of the rose when it was still blossoming, a few days before.

 

The ink is the proven Black Permanent by MB.

[a student]

@fpupulin A very fine piece of work, the rose drawing; and of course, as always, wonderful examples of calligraphy with the 149 flex.

Thank you

Edited January 30, 2023 by a student
Correcting typos

[Norfolk]

@fpupulin Thanks for sharing!

[Zdenek]

Franco, thank you for such a beauty.

It reminds me the song Only a Rose from The Vagabond King. 

[fpupulin]

The call came from the sheet, which surfaced from a bundle of other sheets, still intact, with its magnificent crunchy roughness. I resisted for a couple of days, occasionally brushing it with my fingertips to feel its subtle ripple, its almost lively elasticity. Then I didn't resist anymore, despite knowing that the sheet is the last of its kind I own, coming from a French paper mill where they make the papers by hand like centuries ago.

 

Gorgeous paper to look at, but the dressing is imperfect and the ink subtly penetrates it, going down a little into the fibres. But by now I've put my pen to it, and basically it doesn't matter: the paper is beautiful for what it is and the slight feathering of the ink makes the writing human, something made by hand like the sheet that frames it.

 

The collaboration continues between two of my calligraphic pens, the black 149 Calligraphy and the Omas as if made of fossil wood crossed by flashes of ancient rust, and between their inks, MB Black Permanent and Akkerman's SBRE Brown.

 

 

[Sinistral1]

@fpupulin Thank you for sharing your last sheet of a wonderful paper. Your calligraphy, as always, is beautiful.

[como]

@fpupulin By now I can recognize the handwriting, the still photographing that is so YOU! The very thoughtfully composed images. Calmly written scripts but with passion. Thank you for giving us joy and teaching us the beauty of calligraphy, photography all these years here. FPN wouldn’t be same without you, no doubt! For that, I shall also say that FPN wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of Wim, and moderators and friendly members here. Thank you!!

[fpupulin]

Thank you very much, dear friend como, for your kind words about me and the moderators.

 

I would like to add a quick note for photography enthusiasts. The photo was taken with pieces of a photographic system that are more than fifty years apart in terms of date of production. The image, recorded on a contemporary 50 megapixels medium format CMOS sensor, was created by a lens (my Zeiss Planar 100mm f/3.5) manufactured in 1969-1970.

 

At the time, Zeiss opticians considered this lens a sort of "lynx eye" due to its resolution capacity and absolute planarity, so much so that the 100mm for Hasselblad was recommended for aerial photography and reproduction. Fifty-four years later, it seems to me that the optical design of this lens still allows it to produce extraordinary results, even on the digital sensor which does not tolerate imprecisions in terms of field planarity.

 

 

[Toolattack]

@fpupulin you are such a scholar, I do not know where to start with my praise for your beautiful work. I realise that this is a topic about the 149 calligraphy, but have you tried the 146 calligraphy flex nib? The 149 is too big for my hand and the 146 is more comfortable - particularly for writing over long periods of time. Thank you for your help.

[max dog]

I find the 146 Calligraphy flex slightly firmer than my 149C, and performs the same in every other regards.  Both are great practical every day writers, and flex champs.  

 

 

 

[ak47]

39 minutes ago, max dog said:

I find the 146 Calligraphy flex slightly firmer than my 149C, and performs the same in every other regards.  Both are great practical every day writers, and flex champs.  

 

 

 

What a fantastic pen! Body Colours are hypnotics 

Thanks for sharing 

[max dog]

Thanks AK47.  It's a special birthday gift and the finish is quite mesmerizing indeed.  

[fpupulin]

Every now and then, let's say every 4 or 5 "fills" of the tank, I like to change the permanent inks that I use the most in my 149 Calligraphy for one that is lighter and brighter, more watery and nuanced. My favorites for this fuel swap are Diamine Terracotta or Akkerman SBRE Brown - which are almost equivalent - Diamine Ancient Copper, Golden Brown and Tobacco Sunburst, Graf von Faber Castell Olive Green and Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrün ( also the latter two are very similar to each other).

 

This time it was the turn of an ink that I hadn't used for a long time, and that I had never tried in 149 Calligraphy, the Iroshizuku chiku-rin.

 

I used it on Fabriano's Studio Watercolor paper, a slightly smooth support for my writing tastes but truly calligraphic in terms of its perfect interaction with the ink.

 

As you could see from the result, it was the ink that dictated the words, to stay within its color theme...

 

 

Marsh water, sap, / sprout, new leaf, / spring meadow, / bamboo forest in the sun, / chiku-rin ink. /
[With the Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy]

[fireant]

Beautiful!