Levenger's True Writers

When I first saw the True Writer fountain pens in Levenger's catalogue many months ago, I scoffed - yes, I scoffed. I did not imagine that these "Johnny-come-lately" fountain pens could be any good. How could they possibly compare to those who only make fountain pens and have been doing so for decades? However, since purchasing my first fireball red demonstrator a couple of months ago, I have become a True Writer sycophant - O.K. that's extreme but once you write with these, it is diffcult to let go of them. Now I have four True Writers featuring all of the different nib sizes that Levenger offers. Everyone of them writes as well as pens that cost two or three times the price. True Writers are very wet writers and their nib size produces a line that is broader than you expect - much like a Cross - the fine writes like a medium and the medium like a broad and the broad nib is like writing with a stub, and all of them are deliciously smooth. Levenger's ink colors are intense and offer you the option to have a pen body that is the same color as the ink it contains - a very nice option once you have more pens that you can easily keep track of. The cobalt blue is particularly brilliant and I was thrilled to discover it before it was discontinued. The luminescent blue is even better in person. Another reason why I like the True Writers is the size: they have fairly wide barrels so the pen is comfortable and balanced to write with even when the cap is not posted. As much as I like my two Pelikans, they are rather small for a man's hand. Surprisingly, the pen that I thought I was really going to enjoy writing with was the Sailor pocket pen with a 14kt white gold nib. However, that pen writes dry. It is just the opposite of the True Writer - I feel like I need to squeeze the ink out of it to get it to write. So, if you like a wet writer, get a True Writer.

Pilgrimage to Auburn

There are many reasons for making a pilgrimage. But whatever the reason, the pilgrimage is made because of a deep connection with either the past or the hope for the future. A pilgrimage is not usually done out of impulse. However, my recent pilgrimage was one of opportunity. Finding myself in Sacramento with a whole day ahead of me, I realized that I was within minutes of my birthplace and many childhood memories. I am a 49er. Not a fan of the football team but a true born child of one of California’s goldrush towns: Auburn. This year in fact I can make claim to being a 49er by both birthright and age. I turned 49 this past summer. So, it was an appropriate serendipity that I should make this pilgrimage this year just before I move to Florida.

When I was young, my father’s health began to deteriorate so he was no longer able to continue as a contractor but had to enter into the humiliating bureaucracy of the U.S. Post Office. For the sake of his family, he traded the manly independence of carpentry for the sterile dependence upon a government job. As difficult as Addison’s disease was to deal with, I think that the suffocating atmosphere of sorting mail day after day was even more detrimental. Do not take from this that I think that working for the US government is dishonorable – I do not. However, for my dad it was a demoralizing transition. He was “called”, if you will, to work in a creative environment where his quick and active mind could be busy - that was not the P.O.

What does that have to do with the 49er community of Auburn? Everything. When I was born in 1959, my father was still a carpenter and he had just two years before designed and built a beautiful house in Auburn. That is the house you see posted above. My father died about 7 years ago and so seeing this house and driving through Auburn was kind of like seeing him again.

Unfortunately, people can be rather dense and it took me several years to understand my dad’s sacrifice. When I was younger, I was kind of frustrated with him for working at the Post Office when I knew he had so much more potential. I knew he was not healthy. I knew he only had a seventh grade education but he was more well-read than so many people I knew who had college degrees. I wanted him to go back to college and do something with his life but he wanted me to do what he felt he could not do. Therefore, he sacrificed his life for the hum-drum mediocrity of sorting mail, so that I could be a college graduate. It took me more than forty years to figure that out but now I know what it meant for him to give up a vocation he loved for someone he loved. Thank you dad.

Sailor Stainless Pocket Pen

While on vacation this past week, I was thrilled to open my e-mail and discover that I had won this 1970s NOS 18k white gold broad nib fountain pen on Ebay. I was even happier to discover it waiting for me at my office when I returned, considering I paid for it on Tuesday and it arrived from Japan on Friday. It arrived more quickly than a Cross pen that I purchased from the Midwest. This is my first "pocket pen" and it is in perfect new condition, even though it is about 30 years old. Unfortunately, I failed to order ink cartridges with it so have not written with it yet. The description, price and service from Sakura Zeppelin were outstanding - I highly recommend her and look forward to future purchases. For more detailed informaton on Japanese pocket pens, see the recent posts on Inkophile.

Complete Guide to Drawing

I have been drawing for forty years now and from time to time have instructed others who were wanting to improve their own skills. In all of that time I have never seen what I thought was a really good comprehensive book on drawing that would be good for both the novice and the one who is already beginning to master some skills in drawing - until now. Recently, while browsing through one of the major chain book stores, I ran across this guidebook by Giovanni Civardi in the discount section. It is published by Search Press. And, as the title states, it really is complete! At 376 pages, it incorporates what were published separately as six different shorter books. The six chapters cover: techniques, portraits, clothed figures, hands & feet, scenery, and light & shade (chiasrocuro). The techniques range from basic to advanced and a wide variety of drawing media is demonstrated. Some fo the drawings look a little dated but the book is a recent publication. And Giovanni's skills and instruction are excellent. If you are looking for a book that covers the full range of drawing skills and subjects, this is the one! By the way - for you mothers of teen aged boys - most drawing guides that include figures have several nudes in them. This book has one or two (sketches, not photos), which is probably the least you will be able to find in a book that includes figure drawing.

Demonstrators

Previously, I wrote of my disappointment with Levenger's Decathlon Fountain Pen, which I returned because it did not live up to the "firm handshake" metaphor in the catalogue description. However, I read so many favorable reviews of the Levenger True Writer series, that I wanted to give them another try - and besides I have been very pleased with most other Levenger items. Correspondingly, I was becoming very intrigued by the idea of demonstrators and nearly bought a Pelikan or Sailor demonstrator but both were too pricey. Levenger put their colorful demonstrators with matching bottles of ink on sale, as if they read my mind and wanted to clinch my decision. It worked. I recently received a Lamy Vista demonstrator with a 1.1 Italic nib, which is filled with Waterman brown ink and so apart from the modern look and feel of the fountain pen, the result is something wonderfully antique in appearance. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed using so much ink and having that much color present while you write. I am usually just a black and white thinker and writer. The experience with the Lamy demonstrator compelled me to buy the red bold nib demonstrator from Levenger and I could not be more pleased. At a fourth of the price, the Fireball is much more satisfying than the Decathlon and the intensity of the red ink is as bold as the nib. Since the Levenger nibs are interchangeable, I am ordering a green and blue demonstrator from Levenger with a fine and medium nib to complete the set and add more colors and nib combinations. By the way the broad nib True Writer writes amazingly smoothly. That was such a success that I sent in one of my Pelikan 215 fine point nibs to ChartPak to be exchanged for a broad nib. Pelikans also simply unscrew and are interchangeable with one another. Plus ChartPak will exchange them for free!

Knight, Death and the Devil

Recently I met with a priest for a long over due confession and he described to me this print, observing that it was a great example of Christian perseverance. Notice how the knight is unwavering in moving forward. Death and Satan do not distract him from his goal. In fact, the knight's undistracted resolve seem to communicate the same to his horse and dog as well. For, they too march forward looking straight ahead. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil . . ."

While this is a masterpiece of draftsmanship, it is also inspiring as you consider the story that it tells.

According to the Met: "The artist may have based his depiction of the 'Christian Knight' on an address from Erasmus's Instructions for the Christian Soldier (Enchiridion militis Christiani), published in 1504: 'In order that you may not be deterred from the path of virtue because it seems rough and dreary … and because you must constantly fight three unfair enemies—the flesh, the devil, and the world—this third rule shall be proposed to you: all of those spooks and phantoms which come upon you as if you were in the very gorges of Hades must be deemed for naught after the example of Virgil's Aeneas … Look not behind thee.'"

Sheaffer Balance Fountain Pen Writes Very Well

The Sheaffer Balance that I won on Ebay came in last week, and it is a beauty! I filled it with Noodler's Marine Green ink - although I don't know how. What I mean is, I don't know how the filling system works. The end unscrews and a long plunger pulls out and when you push it back in there is a funny popping sound and there's ink in the pen. I read some history on Sheaffer who was quite the inventor and revolutionized the pen industry at the turn of the century - he invented the lever and bladder system for fountain pens, so that people would no longer have to fill them with eye-droppers. He also guaranteed the nibs for life, which you can see if you zoom in on the nib (with lingering green ink) pictured here. I think this pen dates back to the mid 1930s but I am not sure. This pen with a 14ct gold (extra?) fine point nib, is the smoothest and easiest writing pen I have ever used. It is a much smaller than what I expected, which is ironic because I returned a Levenger Decathlon because it felt too light weight and I wanted a a larger heavier pen. Well, not everything that is "vintage" is larger and heavier. The Sheaffer Balance is narrow and light weight but at least it is long enough at 5.5". The long and short of it is that you simply do not care because it writes so well.

It probably appears as though I have nothing to write about but pens. Actually, I hope to have time in the near future to post some photos of my grandfather's and dad's old handtools, but I have to pull them out of storage before I can do that. One of the benefits of fountain pens is not only their unique beauty and utility; they take up very little space!