Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Waterford Kilbarry

The Waterman Kilbarry pens described here are the black guilloche versions of the fountain pen and rollerball. Both pens are beautiful. The guilloche finish is etched into the barrel and covered with a clear finish. They also come in blue and red, which are stunningly bright. The quality of workmanship follows the Waterford tradition well.

Both of these pens are very heavy with a comfortably wide girth. However, because they are so heavy they tend to fatigue my hand after extensive use - especially the fountain pen, due to the length. The cap posts securely on the black end but it is too heavy for my taste, so I write with it un-posted. The fountain pen is wide and long enough to write comfortably un-posted. The nib is large and writes wonderfully smooth. The ink supply can be provided by either a standard cartridge or converter.

Several years ago, before the fountain pen bug bit me, I purchased the rollerball version of this pen, which is one of my favorite pens to use if I am not using a fountain pen. The top chrome portion of the pen twists to push the cartridge up and down. It takes the Schmidt rollerball cartridges that are consistently smooth cartridges that never skip.

I don't mind the heavy weight of these pens because they are of such fine quality and workmanship and because they write so well. They are two of my favorites.

Tucson 1987


Re-post: I am visiting Tucson after 25 years, so thought I'd bring this post from April, 2008 back to the top.

I don't think these are the sort of images that Tucson, Arizona is most remembered for, but I was intrigued by the old abandoned buildings there and took several photos of them in the 1980s. The color image above is a small water color and gouache painting on pressboard. While the warehouse below is a B&W photo.


Note: Here I am in Tucson 25 years later and I was able to find the same building after some searching - the trees threw me off. But here is the same building at 6th and Ash in Tucson - March 2011. The Location of the Water Colour above is still a mystery