What pen(s) are you using today?

[Misfit]

On 5/13/2022 at 8:11 AM, InkyColors said:

In my garden journal I like to use a bright color for plant names.  It makes it easier to find them later.  This is a Retro 1951 Tornado with a fine nib and its color is Orchid.  The ink is a custom mix of DeAtramentis Document inks.  It's nearly the same as Fuchsia - just a little bit warmer as I mixed 1 part yellow to 8 parts fuchsia.  The book is a Paperblanks journal.

You have beautiful handwriting. I like your use of 2 colors to highlight the plants. 

[mallymal1]

On 5/18/2022 at 2:00 PM, OldTravelingShoe said:

Wonderful pen, @mallymal1! I have not seen another like it until now. I also like the writing sample; looks like the nib is pleasantly flowy and flexy. A dancing nib! 💃

 

Dancing to the rhythm of our thoughts.  😁

[mallymal1]

On 5/18/2022 at 3:09 AM, AmandaW said:

Today's journal pen was a NotLamy Brown Bear pen with a nib marked EF. It's also not very EF. The ink is Van Dieman's Leatherwood Honey Amber since I heard bears quite like honey. It is cute. 🐻 <-- Is that a bear?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oooo...I got one of these, maybe back in 2017, from South Korea. Payed a pretty penny for it. So cute though. Great choice of ink to go with.

[amberleadavis]

[mallymal1]

A classic pen. Onoto Self Filler, inked with Diamine Blue Black.

Wonderful.

 

 

Plunger fill. Semi flex 3/ST dancing nib. 🙂

[mallymal1]

39 minutes ago, amberleadavis said:

 

A beautiful match. 

[amberleadavis]

1 minute ago, mallymal1 said:

 

A beautiful match. 

 

 

Thank you. I really love Noodler's GI green, but don't own a bottle. I think I need to fix that oversight.

[inkstainedruth]

9 hours ago, OldTravelingShoe said:

All three seem amazing, @inkstainedruth, thanks for sharing!

 

Would you perhaps share also photos for the first, and maybe even the second in the list. I saw very diverse overlays used for vintage pens, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a Morrison pen with overlay, especially in (sterling) silver. Thank you. 

I haven't figured out how to do that with the new site software yet been dealing with other, higher priorities at the moment, like whether our mechanic can source a used part for the ABS system on one of our vehicles -- a new one possibly costing more than a 11 year old car is worth... .  Mine looks like this one but is sterling, rather than gold-filled: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265296170646 (I also have a couple of Morrison ringtops that have the gold-filled overlay -- I thought I had lost the first one, and then lucked into one at the Ohio Pen Show a few years ago that was being sold as a "parts pen", but which does not have as nice a nib on it as the first one does (a lovely semi-flex stub); the sterling filigree one has to be treated as having an oblique nib, due to some tipping issues which I was not able to get addressed when I had the pen repaired at the Baltimore/Washington Pen Show in March).

I have seen a number of other brands with similar designs of overlay: Waterman, Eclipse and Townsend come to mind, but I'm kind of a sucker for Morrisons after the first one -- I paid more for it than I did for my Plum Demi Parker 51 (!); got it at my first pen show (DCSS at the old site in Tyson's Corners) because it was soooo pretty --and because the seller said it was in working condition.  

As for the Laidtone, there's a nice article about them on Tony Fischier's site: http://parkercollector.com/duovac.html

Mine is one of the later ones (scroll down to the last set of images) and has the non-arrow clip, and the two thin cap bands with no blind cap tassie like the green set, but is more of the color of the bottom pen (although not as bright a red).  The barrel is a replacement and has a date code for 1st quarter 1942; the original barrel, according to my notes, was for the 3rd quarter of 1941.  It's got a Speedline filler mechanism (metal pump when you remove the blind cap) although some of my other Laidtones are button fillers.  

I only really like the blue and Dusty Rose Laidtones, color-wise (the green and brown ones don't wow me); but I do have a black one because it was the first one I ever saw that WASNT a button filler model (got it at an estate sale about four years back); that one has a date code of 2nd quarter 1941 and my notes say that I think it is also a Junior like the one currently inked up.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[essayfaire]

11 hours ago, mallymal1 said:

Plunger fill. Semi flex 3/ST dancing nib. 🙂

Is a plunger fill different than a vac?  I haven't seen a pen described as "self-filling" before, but I'm always fascinated by different filling mechanisms in terms of how they effect the writer's experience when filling.

[Chi]

[InkyColors]

21 hours ago, Misfit said:

You have beautiful handwriting. I like your use of 2 colors to highlight the plants. 

Thank you!  Using two colors really helps when I need to look back for information. 

[FlyingClay]

Mostly today I've been using a Pilot Metropolitan and a LAMY Safari demonstrator that I have some hybrid ink in which I mixed (kind of a nice color actually). 

 

Just been making entries in my personal journal documenting my surgery recovery.  Kind of boring stuff really.  I did have a bit of a 'happy accident' with some ink.  I needed a place to dump some Noodler's Cayenne for a few minutes in order to monkey with my Lamy Safari's converter for a few minutes.  I dumped the Cayenne into a small sample vial with a tiny bit of Noodler's Tiananmen in it (probably about a 80/20 mixture by my crude estimate).  Wasn't really too worried about it to begin with.  I shook up the mixture and re-inked the Safari and was quite pleased with the result.  I love both inks anyway, but the Tiananment took the edge off the orange in The Cayenne, and the Cayenne took the blood tone off the Tiananment and brightened it up.  Pretty pleased with just a simple pit stop to mess with a converter.  I might actually try this again and mix some for keeps.

 

So much for my adventures today.

[mallymal1]

11 hours ago, essayfaire said:

Is a plunger fill different than a vac?  I haven't seen a pen described as "self-filling" before, but I'm always fascinated by different filling mechanisms in terms of how they effect the writer's experience when filling.

 

Hi @essayfaire. The "Plunger Filler" term refers to the method used to achieve the vacuum. 

 

 

The piston is pulled out to create the vacuum, and then plunged back into the body to release it. 

 

Back in the early 1900's the term "self filler" was applied by some manufacturers to advertise pens which moved away from the eyedropper method of filling. Mabie Todd had Swan Self Filler pens which were lever fill, and Waterman had Ideal Self Fillers.

[mallymal1]

Luxor piston filler, inked with Diamine Blue Black.

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

On 5/20/2022 at 10:03 AM, mallymal1 said:

A classic pen. Onoto Self Filler, inked with Diamine Blue Black.

Wonderful.

 

 

Plunger fill. Semi flex 3/ST dancing nib. 🙂

 Wonderful pen, I'm very impressed when I see a 100-year-old pen dancing! If I remember well the feel in hand on this pen, it's a long, slender, lightweight body 💃

 

 

[OldTravelingShoe]

5 hours ago, Chi said:

Great pen and writing sample, @Chi! I opened Richard Binder's Profile: The Eversharp Skyline Family and the chapter in his book, and Jim Mamoulides' (Pentrace) The Eversharp Skyline Nib: The Flex, The Stiff, And The Manifold -- I like the pen's history very much as well. Thanks for sharing.

[OldTravelingShoe]

19 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

I haven't figured out how to do that with the new site software yet been dealing with other, higher priorities at the moment, like whether our mechanic can source a used part for the ABS system on one of our vehicles -- a new one possibly costing more than a 11 year old car is worth... .  Mine looks like this one but is sterling, rather than gold-filled: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265296170646 (I also have a couple of Morrison ringtops that have the gold-filled overlay -- I thought I had lost the first one, and then lucked into one at the Ohio Pen Show a few years ago that was being sold as a "parts pen", but which does not have as nice a nib on it as the first one does (a lovely semi-flex stub); the sterling filigree one has to be treated as having an oblique nib, due to some tipping issues which I was not able to get addressed when I had the pen repaired at the Baltimore/Washington Pen Show in March).

I have seen a number of other brands with similar designs of overlay: Waterman, Eclipse and Townsend come to mind, but I'm kind of a sucker for Morrisons after the first one -- I paid more for it than I did for my Plum Demi Parker 51 (!); got it at my first pen show (DCSS at the old site in Tyson's Corners) because it was soooo pretty --and because the seller said it was in working condition.  

As for the Laidtone, there's a nice article about them on Tony Fischier's site: http://parkercollector.com/duovac.html

Mine is one of the later ones (scroll down to the last set of images) and has the non-arrow clip, and the two thin cap bands with no blind cap tassie like the green set, but is more of the color of the bottom pen (although not as bright a red).  The barrel is a replacement and has a date code for 1st quarter 1942; the original barrel, according to my notes, was for the 3rd quarter of 1941.  It's got a Speedline filler mechanism (metal pump when you remove the blind cap) although some of my other Laidtones are button fillers.  

I only really like the blue and Dusty Rose Laidtones, color-wise (the green and brown ones don't wow me); but I do have a black one because it was the first one I ever saw that WASNT a button filler model (got it at an estate sale about four years back); that one has a date code of 2nd quarter 1941 and my notes say that I think it is also a Junior like the one currently inked up.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Many thanks for the explanation, links, and details, @inkstainedruth, especially given the real-world pressure you mention. All I know about cars is color, so I can only wish you good luck with that ABS thing.

 

I looked at Morrisons and now I understand better how they look. Which is very nice. If I understand correctly that all overlays with botanical styling were manually engraved, I'm wondering how long it would take the artisan to make one. (I'm also wondering how long it would take me to learn how to make one, but that will have to wait for much longer to figure out.) 

[essayfaire]

8 hours ago, mallymal1 said:

 

Hi @essayfaire. The "Plunger Filler" term refers to the method used to achieve the vacuum. 

 

 

The piston is pulled out to create the vacuum, and then plunged back into the body to release it. 

 

Back in the early 1900's the term "self filler" was applied by some manufacturers to advertise pens which moved away from the eyedropper method of filling. Mabie Todd had Swan Self Filler pens which were lever fill, and Waterman had Ideal Self Fillers.

Thank you for the helpful clarification!

 

I would not have described my Estie lever as a self-filler, but I guess that meets these criteria, though it is most certainly not a vac-filler!   Now I am wondering what non-plunge methods create vacuum seals...

[mtcn77]

On 5/13/2022 at 4:11 PM, InkyColors said:

In my garden journal I like to use a bright color for plant names.  It makes it easier to find them later.  This is a Retro 1951 Tornado with a fine nib and its color is Orchid.  The ink is a custom mix of DeAtramentis Document inks.  It's nearly the same as Fuchsia - just a little bit warmer as I mixed 1 part yellow to 8 parts fuchsia.  The book is a Paperblanks journal.

i'm having issues tracking down which colors come with jowo nibs and suitable converter. Yours look terrific.

[InkyColors]

1 hour ago, mtcn77 said:

i'm having issues tracking down which colors come with jowo nibs and suitable converter. Yours look terrific.

Thanks. I enjoy using it. I didn’t realize they don’t  all have JoWo nibs until I saw your comment. I bought mine at Vanness but I don’t think they have them anymore. Good luck with your search.   
 

Edited to add:

 I’ve never ordered from Goldspot, but they have some in stock and some of them have JoWo nibs.