Pen Frogs

Have you ever seen one of those pewter desk-top pen holders for $80 or more, with a sculpture of Atlas, a dragon, or an animal to hold one single pen? And did you exclaim, "That's ridiculous! There's no way I'd spend that much for a pen holder. I could buy an awesome pen for that amount!" You didn't? Oh, well I did.

Anyway, if you'd prefer a much cheaper solution to keeping your pens handy on your desk, a glass frog is the answer. I snuck this picture off of EBay because these are more interesting and colorful than the one that I have - mine is clear glass like the one in the upper right-hand corner.

These frogs are designed to sit at the bottom of a vase for flower arranging but are even better for arranging pens on your desk. And, they hold a whole handful of pens all at once. They are easily found in antique stores and range from $5 - $20. The ones with color are more expensive.

Namiki Falcon & Cross ATX

This summer I celebrated my fiftieth birthday. And my affection for fountain pens was no mystery to my family and friends. Even knowing that, I was surprised by the quality and quantity of pens that I received. So much so that it will take a few posts to describe and review them all. These are the four fountain pens that I received: Cross ATX Basalt Black XF point, Namiki Falcon soft/fine point, Taccia Portugese black & silver medium point and a Laban Mento Tiger Pearl medium point. Two of them are outstanding writers (Namiki & Taccia), one is a very pleasant writer (Laban) and the last is an adequate writer (Cross).

Namiki Falcon.

The Namiki Falcon has a "soft-fine" nib, which is nothing like any other pen that I have used. When you read reviews on blogs and the FPN where people describe the one pen that "they can't live with out", this is one of those most frequently mentioned - and I can see why. The nib is 14kt gold and has a hump or bend in the middle that increases its flexibility. Since a Japanese fine point is more like an American extra-fine point, this flexibility greatly improves the feel of writing with this pen: you receive a very fine line without the feedback or scratchiness of an XF steel nib. In addition, the pen responds well to variations in pressure, so that there is a slight brush effect when you write. Thank you to my dear friend for this marvelous gift!

Cross ATX.

By contrast, the Cross ATX with its steel XF nib is extremely rigid and not all that pleasant to write with. I specifically "requested" this pen because I love the look and design of the ATX series (and it was on sale), especially the way the clip extends from the top of the cap down. It has a simple elegance that hints of Art Deco and is made of brass and chrome with a tactile matte black finish. One of the first fountain pens I ever purchased was the same series with a medium point nib (pictured below), along with a roller ball, ball point, and pencil - all in basalt black.

I bought the XF to complete the set. All of my other Cross ATX pens were made in the USA, but this last one was manufactured in China. This was quite a disappointment - not that I have any disdain for the Chinese but one of the reasons why I liked Cross so much was that it was American made, because so many of the quality pen manufacturers are either European or Japanese. Apparently Cross was aware of this because they used to print "USA" on the pen caps. I still think the ATX series is a great design - comparable to the look of the Lamy Studio, but the writing quality does not measure up. When I want to write in fine and extra fine I will pick up the Namiki Falcon or Lamy Studio instead.

Bird on the Wire

The Bird on the Wire [right] and The Telephone Pole [below] are large pen and ink drawings using Rapidograph drafting pens. The Bird on the Wire was drawn from a photograph that I took and the Telephone Pole was drawn from life. The drawings were then made into full size limited edition numbered prints of 100 each in 1984. I rediscovered these prints recently during a move. Of those not sold before they were stored, a few were damaged. So, the total number of salable prints is less than a hundred. I've offered these for sale on Ebay. They were designed to be a set but they can be purchased separately. Each is signed and numbered by the artist. The unframed black and white prints are presented on 17.5" X 22.5" heavy textured paper and are faithful to the original drawings. The Bird on the Wire is $35.00 and the Telephone Pole is $20.00. The set can be purchased for $50.00. Shipping is extra.

The Pen Pusher Test

I just took the pen addict test at Lion and Pen and failed miserably. That is, I had to answer "yes" to too many questions - I won't say how many, but a sufficient number to know what my "problem" is. Of course, "problem" is a relative term, isn't it? I don't think I have a problem - I have a "hobby."

At any rate, I think the Pen Addict Test needs a companion test: The Pen Pusher Test. I offer the following ten questions based on what I imagine a pen pusher might do - having no personal experience myself with such behavior:

1. Do you entice others to write with your pens?
2. Do you lovingly describe to others the joy and glory of writing with fountain pens.
3. Do you quickly become defensive against remarks like, "They're scratchy." and "They leak."
4. Do you introduce others to the best discount online pen stores?
5. Do you give/lend pen catalogs to people?
6. Do you loan fountain pens to people who are getting that fountain pen wonder in their eye?
7. Do you actually give someone a fountain pen, when you see they are weakening?
8. Are you always ready to give advice to those who are succumbing to your temptations about what they might like when they buy their first, second and third pens?
9. Do you experience smug satisfaction when co-workers run into your office to show you what the UPS guy just delivered?
10. Are you constantly looking for new victims?

I won't suggest how many of these you would have to answer "yes" to, in order to figure out whether or not you are a pen pusher. But chances are, if your heart palpitated at the thought of answering these questions . . . well, we know what you are, don't we?

Good ink for Moleskin Paper

I tend to leave too many pens inked up at one time. But I am always hoping to be able to use each and every one of them at a moment's notice. Currently, I fear I have nearly 30 pens with ink in them. It is nearly impossible to keep that many flowing well when you are working as many hours as I am now. So, periodically I find myself up until midnight cleaning, purging and refilling several pens in an effort to keep them all flowing smoothly. The more different colors of ink that I get, the more that I want to have each pen able to offer a different color of ink. Trust me - I don't have thirty bottles of ink.

Recently, I have gotten some new bottles of ink which are fantastic: One is Noodler's Black Anti-Feather. It always provides a perfect line, doesn't skip and will stay flowing even after being left for several days. And it writes extremely well on the seemingly ink resistant Moleskin paper. It won't even feather on cheap copy paper - amazing!

The second is Noodler's Burma Road Brown, which is a wonderfully rich dark brown ink. It also wites well on Moleskin paper. It doesn't feather much either.

Third is J Herbin - Gris Nuage (Grey). This is an interstingly strange ink. When it first hits the paper, it is a very dissatisfying watery black. It looks like black ink does after you have just rinsed your pen and there is still some water on the nib. But once it dries, it becomes a distinctly flat battleship grey. It is remarkable. This ink is a lot of fun to doodle with, particulalry if you combine it with black and use the grey as a sort of highlight, or as medium shadows in a sketch. I haven't used it much yet, but so far I had no feathering, skipping or drying problems. This ink also works well on Moleskin paper.

While it may appear here as though all inks work well on Moleskin, the three inks listed here are the only ones that I have that work very well on Moleskin paper. Waterman Blue/Black works fairly well on Moleskin. Other inks that are adequate on Moleskin are Levenger Cobalt Blue and Levenger Blue Bahama.

Elf with Flute

Since Mr Zzyzx encourages us to post doodles, here is one of my favorites.

The beauty of doodles is that they are not drawn with the idea that anyone else will see them, so they have an unexpected freshness that even surprises the artist.

Such is the case here. This particular doodle was first drawn with a ball point pen, so all of the sketch lines show through the watercolor. Turning it into a watercolor illustration was an afterthought.

In the early-mid eighties when I drew the Elf, I had purchased my first set of Dr Martin's concentrated watercolors and looked for every opportunity to use them and found existing sketches to paint for practice. One convenient aspect of painting over ball point sketches is that ball point ink is greasy and repels water making it possible to see the lines through the paint. Of course, that is also the problem with using ball point: nothing is hidden. Painting with watercolor over pencil covers the lines better but the graphite softens the color of the watercolors because the graphite is somewhat soluble. That too can have positive effects depending on whether the composition favors a milder or bolder result. In my experience, the ball point does not interact with the watercolor and so maintains the intensity of the color.

Pilot Petite Fountain Pens

These amazing little fountain pens are one notch above a disposable pen and are refillable. They come with a small capsule containing three cartridges of ink that match the color of the pen. You can buy the pens in groups or individually. Individually, they cost about four dollars each with $1.25 in shipping from Japan on Ebay.

As the name indicates, these are very short pens measuring 4 1/16" inches (10.3mm) with the cap on and 5 inches with the cap posted. The girth is a comfortable 9/16 inches (1.4mm). The size and shape of these pens and the fact that they post to a normal length make them ideal pens to throw in your pocket or knapsack while you are out of the house/office. You don't have to worry about scratching them or losing them as you do with other fountain pens. This is really nice for the summer, when you don't have a breast pocket to safely store a better pen.

The irony is that the Pilot Petites write so amazingly well, that you are inclined to use them even at your desk where the more expensive pens are looking down disapprovingly. In fact, these four dollar fountain pens write much better than a couple of $100 pens that I have.