Lamy Turquoise Bottle Ink

 

I have had Lamy Turquoise Bottle Ink since last September and it has always been inked in one of my rotating pens. The ink is pretty much perfect: The color is rich, intense but not too in-your-face. It flows well and look different (and good) with all nib sizes and  it always writes smoothly on paper. Lastly, the unit price is relatively low for such a good-looking and well-behaving ink.

The spinning-top-shaped bottle is and securely plugged in a ring shaped base, which contains a roll of what blotting paper. It's probably not the most space-conscious design but I found it very sturdy, steam-lined (no paper sticker!) and user friendly (it doesn't spill when I try to open it).

Nice texture nib-wiping tissue that I never use (because I syringe-fill my cartridge and converter) - It would be handy if you want to use it for the nib-creep (doesn't happen with this ink) though. 

Lamy Safari Broad with the Lamy Turquoise Ink - The ink shades from sky (on a perfectly cool and sunny day) blue to lighter aqua, so I find it fitting for fall and cooling for summertime. There is a tad bit of water-resistance so it's OK splash but not soak-able.

Not pictured: On a very fine nib like Pilot Extra Fine (on the Penmanship fountain pen), the color is deeper and much more subdued, almost like a royal blue. I will show that later since the pen is currently filled with something else. Overall: Highly recommended (unless you have a lot of other turquoise).

Matching Object: For the Worshipers by Noh Sang-Kyoon (Taken at Houston Museum of Fine Arts)

J. Herbin Refillable Roller Ball Pen

(So here is a review without writing sample) J. Herbin Refillable Roller Ball Pen is a light-weight and short (just a bit longer than Pilot Petit) pen that takes standard international cartridges. I caught the nifty little thing at ISellpens.com when it was on sale for 6 bucks but it went back to $9.6 (so the seller that offers the best deal right now is Jetpens).

The pen is is a made of a slightly frosted plastic, it would take some degree of abuse (without showing too much of the wear and tear), the clip is pretty stiff and cap gives a crisp and secure click closure. There is three small holes at the end of the barrel so you need to get those taken-care of before converting the pen into an eye-dropper. 

The grip section is made of a clearer plastic that shows the feed. Inside the feed,  there seems to be a white cotton cord for the ink to diffuse through (it later got clogged by Noodler's No.41 brown, a ink with pigment that settles into small flakes).

There is a protruded ring (probably there so the tip will fit the inner sleeve inside the cap) that cuts my hand a little, but it wasn't too big of a deal (at least I prefer this over the trigonal grip). Bumped or not, prolonged writing session is not as comfortable since the pen is a bit too light, as I prefer heavier one that rests by itself.

When I first got the pen, I intend to use it with a waterproof brown ink, as a cheaper alternative to buying the brown Sakura Pigma Micron. Syringe-filled with Noodler's No.41 Brown (the culprit), it worked pretty well during the first few days, laying down a consistent and thin (around 0.5mm) line with a bit of shading...Then it just got clogged. I tried to revive it with flushes and days of (just water) soaking but it has never been the same...

Verdit: It's a good pen (while it lasted), just play safe and use watery inks for it.

Rhodia Meeting Book 90

 Rhodia recently released a new Meeting Book 90, a note jotter "invented (more like designed?) by a CEO for his personal use". I was lucky enough to win one from Rhodia's blog giveaway so here is my review for it.

Just like the existing Rhodia A4/A6 meeting book, it comes with 80 pages of pre-printed paper but this uses 90g  (instead of 80g) paper. As a given, the paper is smooth a dream canvas for fountain pen users: No feathering or bleed through and it brings out the shading in most inks.

 

Even with a wet-broad - The show through is minimal.

 Beside the pre-printed Date/Note/Action, each page is micro-perforated "for easy and clean removal". Since the paper itself is relatively thick, the removal is clean but I find it much easier and quicker to just rip the page from the spiral.

 

One should never judge a (meeting) book by its cover so I save it for the last (And no, it wasn't chewed by a dog). From the short online research I have done, it seems that the another new feature of the Rhodia Meeting Book 90 is the ribbed pattern on the black polypropene cover, a subtle make-over from the bland version. The ribbage looked rather handsome when I first got it (If it were a human, it would be named Don Draper) but after a few days, I started noticing white flakes on it.

  Initially, I thought it was drool (God knows how it got there...) and went ahead and tried to scratch it off. Then I realized that the textured ribs, which seem to be made of a waxy coating, are flaking off with small amount of friction. It might not be that big of a problem, if you only use it during meetings and have it kept inside a tidy drawer. I generally don't babysit my stationery so I prefer something that's lower-maintenance . 

Overall: I love the paper and binding but the new ribbed design is nuisance that I can't quite ignore. I am hoping that after a few more toss-in-the-bag, the coating will flake off completely (so it look like the older meeting book, just with better paper).

Tchaikovsky - De Atramentis Ink Review

De Atramentis Tchaikovsky is a charcoal with a cool undertone, it's neither blue nor purple so I supposed their description of "silvery grey" is fairly accurate) . The color not only reminds me of the silvery mane of the young-and-dashing Dmitri Hvorostovsky,  it also captures the grave-majesty and moodiness of his music pretty well, at least better than the magenta thing by Noodler's... 

It looks like it's having crazy shading ability but the thing is that, every ink shades and flows smoothly with the juicy broad nib (on Pilot Custom Heritage 91) on Clairefontaine paper. On normal paper and fine nib, it's more of a (dare I say, uninteresting?) water-downed black. Anyway, the ink is well-behaved and has 50% water resistance during a smear test, the top of the color dissolves but the line was still visible. 

Overall: If you like a black ink with some shading, this would get the job done as long as you have the right type of pen and paper. I am still not sure what I think about it. Too boring? A little off-season for the current weather? Anyway, it looks like the color would go really well with the new matte black Lamy Al-Star...

P.S. The writing sample is Tatiana's Letter in Pushkin's Eugene Onegin (English translation /opera adaptation by Tchaikovsky). My favorite interpretation is actually by the young Galina Vishnevskaya (who sounds more like a passionate young girl than an "opera diva" there) but there isn't a video footage of that.