A Few Words on Paper

My husband Joe is a bit of a paper snob. (Is it good for a marriage if one calls one’s spouse something not-so-nice, particularly in a public forum such as a blog? I guess I’ll find out.)

My evidence is this: when he was working, he would buy his own notepads in order to guarantee FP-friendly paper at work. He has gone through almost every major manufacturer of bound journal on Earth, looking for just the right one. He likes Rhodia papers, but only the grid ones (really? I never thought it made that much difference!). He has been known to dislike papers others find perfectly useable.

Lately I’ve taken a rather different approach to paper. I see it as part of an equation, and adjust the other parts of the equation to get the result I want. 

I am better at math than he is. (This isn’t a not-so-nice statement; it’s true. Quicken was invented for people like him.)

Many of us get to use whatever is available at work to use; I don’t have much say on what my employer buys for copier and printer paper and notepads, for example. As at so many other businesses (and our homes as well), we are looking to minimize expenses, so the quality of paper available at work is – um, questionable. 

This being the case, my answer is to select my pens (and in some cases, inks) to accommodate the fact that at work I am basically writing on paper toweling. This means fine nibs are good for work. I get a medium line, but that’s fine. (Yes, the pun was intended!) If I use a broad nib, it looks like I’ve been writing with a Magic Marker. 

I do appreciate paper that allows for use of a variety of nibs, though, and one of my favorites is the Rhodia Dot Pad. My journal is currently a Rhodia Webnotebook, and while I like the hard finish and texture (or lack thereof) of the paper I do wish it came in white. I’ve had a few things to say before about cream-colored paper, and the color is definitely a compromise for me; I expect I’ll be moving on to something else when I’m done with the Webbie. 

My point here is this: one of the fun things about fountain pens for me is the chance to match the tools and materials to obtain the result I want – or to experiment to see what happens. This is not unlike an artist working within whatever media are chosen to obtain certain results. 

With this in mind, I don’t think I can reasonably say there is such a thing as good or bad paper, then; the stuff at work is certainly absorbent and not prone to delivering a pleasing look with, say, a stub nib or a broad one, but it’s inexpensive, recycled, and readily available, all traits that could be construed as “good.” 

Because of the varying papers I have available for use, my nib preference has grown to include a variety of widths and styles as well. I find I enjoy the variety, and the fun of trying different things to see what works.

All of which makes putting a few words on paper all the more gratifying.

What makes it fun for you?

Found in the Wild

Went out for ice cream, and came home with a pen

There's a great little ice creamery about 15 minutes away from our home. It being a sunny Sunday afternoon, we decided to run out to Snoqualmie Ice Cream and grab a dish of ice cream as a treat.

Snoqualmie Ice Cream is in a fairly rural area, at a crossroads known as Maltby. Just down the street, tucked behind some other buildings, is an old antique shop we've never managed to get to before - it's not open all that often.

Well, it was open today, so in we went. And just inside the door, in one of the cases, was almost an entire shelf full of fountain pens.

Nothing terribly fancy, but a pretty wide assortment - three or four Esterbrooks, a couple of Sheaffers, two or three Eversharps -  you get the idea. I got pretty excited when I saw a Parker True Blue junior for $15, but it was in pretty bad shape and had a Sheaffer student nib in it, so I passed.

I did come home with this - a Carter. Obviously used, with the de rigeur dried blue ink in it, it has a 14k nib and is in good shape with only minimal brassing. The barrel suffers a bit from the discoloring so common in certain colors of that time (about 1930). It was marked at $20, but it came home for $18 plus tax. (I paid cash, and had chatted up the owner about how it was going to a good home, I'd have it resacked and use it; I think it influenced his pricing.)

I don't think it's a sumgai find by any means, but it's a great memento of a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Oh - ice cream? I had toasted coconut, and salted caramel. Yum!

Works in miniature

It's amazing the amount of detailed craftsmanship that can go into something as relatively small as a fountain pen nib - detail that can get lost due to scale. I thought I'd share some close-up photos of nibs that I think are beautiful, so you can see them in more detail. Enjoy!

And now, a word about Edison

A month or two ago, I wrote a review about the Bexley Jitterbug! in which I also briefly mentioned Edison Pen. The gist of the comment was, I’d been leery of both Bexley and Edison for some time, not sure how well they, as boutique makers, would compare with the more “major” penmakers.



Edison Mina (above), Edison Pearl

(as always, all photos are clickable)

Well, I’ve gotten over that little fear.

My very favorite pen

We have a lot of pens. Not as many as some people, of course, but probably somewhere north of 60, if I had to guess. (Inventory? Yes, I should...but I never seem to get it done.)

Some of them are rather flashy, and a couple of them were pretty expensive.

But my favorite pen, overall, is a rather modest little thing.

It's a black Parker Vacumatic, probably about a 1946 vintage. It is neither a rare nor even a particularly good specimen. It's obviously well-used, and someone who owned it in the past was a pen-chewer. (I hear a certain segment of you going "ewwwwwww!" as I type.) A quick search on eBay revealed three substantially similar pens within the first dozen hits, all going for well under $100. It seems a ton of these were made, and a ton were bought, and used for years. Just like this one, which definitely shows its almost 70 years of age.

My Favorite Inks: DeAtramentis Jane Austen

I am a big Jane Austen fan. I have read everything she wrote multiple times, including the juvenilia, some of which is - well, juvenile. I've also read a lot of fan fiction, some very good (thank you, Abigail Reynolds) and some awful.

So, when I saw DeAtramentis had a Jane Austen ink, I bought it without having a real clue (or is that "clew?") as to its colour, other than it was dark green.

It arrived in the mail the other day - and already it's hit the favourite list for me. A forest green ink that's beautiful, serene, well-behaved - rather more like Jane than Elizabeth.

Without further ado, may I have the honour of introducing DeAtramentis Jane Austen to you?



Here's the rinse test mentioned in the review

 (As always, images have been color-corrected and look a perfect match to me, on my monitor. Your Monitor May Vary. If you have your heart set on a particular colour, may I suggest you first try a sample before buying a full bottle? That may alleviate disappointment.)


And, lastly, should you have a desire to see Miss Austen's manuscripts in her own handwriting (alas, not in green), have a look here. Enjoy!

Pen Review: The Bexley Jitterbug!

There are a few modern American penmakers of the boutique variety - smaller operations whose focus is on catering to the specialized desires of the fountain pen community. Two that come to mind are Bexley and Edison.

Frankly, I've been a little leery of purchasing from these penmakers. This is despite numerous positive comments from others on the products. I don't mean to be disrespectful of either Bexley or Edison, but somehow I had  in my head some sort of kit pen finished nicely - which can be found at almost any crafts fair these days, at least where I live, and often for a fair amount less money.

Then I saw a tweet from Richard Binder that they were taking orders for the Bexley Jitterbug! (Though, as you'll see, I am enthusiastic about the pen, let me point out here that the exclamation point is part of the product name.) I was intrigued with the idea of a modern pen with a vintage NOS clip - and a very retro looking clip, at that. I thought for less than a minute before buying one, in Boogie Woogie Black Mosaic. I kid you not. (Look out - it's that "ooooh, shiiiiny!" thing happening again.)

(As always, all photos are clickable)
And what an interesting and fun little pen it is.