Sky High - Sailor Jentle Ink Review

Stationery wise, my year of 2014 is off to a lousy start (I bought a Midori traveler's notebook, so I can act all hipster and stuff, then lost it near school before having written/drawn anything on it = =...Oy, FML, FML...). To ease my pain and sorrow, I ordered some Clairefontaine notebooks to use as my art/doodle journals as well as some ink samples. Sailor Jentle in Sky High is one of the five vials I purchased, since nothing lights up my day like a bright blue sky (a whole bucket of ice cream all to myself also helps, so does some cheesy boy band songs from Johnny's).

Sky High is exactly what the name suggested : a gorgeous cerulean with some see-through quality that reminds me of the perfect sky on a perfect day. It's noticeably more subdued and dimmer than my go-to blue (Lamy Turquoise) and makes an interesting yet formal everyday writer.

 On a Lamy Safari Extra Fine nib (I use the one with 2011 Aquamarine body) the flow is excellent (you know how finicky Lamy EF can get) and the shading is apparent. There must bit a tad bit of lubrication, more so than what Diamine ink provides, because the writing didn't seem all that toothy to me. Water resistance is partial as it stay put with a few second of wet rubbing...

There is already a little red-fuchsia sheen to it, imagine it with a dip nib...Anyway, You can get it at Isellpens, Jetpens and some third party Amazon sellers (price around the same once you factor in shipping cost). I might get a bottle as my everyday blue (and use Lamy Turquoise as a summer refreshment) once my sample vial run out.

Sailor Fude de Mannen Fountain Pen - Bamboo Green

I have been eying on this Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen (at Jetpens) for quite a while (well, one of my first search terms there was "Green Fountain Pen" and this was among the top results, along with the Green Lamy Safari which I snatched right away). Anyway, it was put aside for several times until this June, when I finally gathered enough products to reach the 25-dollar free shipping limit. 

My first impression of the Sailor Fude de Mannen is how ridiculously huge it is (Looking at product pictures, I always assumed it was the slimness that makes it look long, when it turned out to be the other way around). There are two Sailor black in cartridges that came with the pen, both of them fit loosely in the barrel. The pen feels awkward (and off-balanced) when posted and even more so when put inside pants pocket, where it pokes out like an asparagus.

The Bamboo 55-degree one (there another blue-black with 40-degree nib) has gold trim (I am not a fan of gold but I guess it goes well with the color) and pointy black caps on the top and bottom of the pens, which are actually clasped on. Another reason that I can't post the pen is that when I pull of cap back out, the black cap would just come off with it. No clip is attached to the pen but there is a small plastic protrusion that prevents it from rolling around.

The plastic is smooth and somewhat shiny (now I know why I held it off for so long, I am vain when it comes to pen and I didn't like the brand name/model printed right on the barrel) plastic that's seems a little tougher and more scratch-resistance than that of Pilot 78g  but it also feel crisper (like less resilient and more susceptible to pressure). Anyway, I find it reasonably visually pleasing, except for the inconvenient length (will get back on that part later in this post).

The pen has a very short feed, which is inadequate if you are looking for some gushing action but otherwise good enough for daily writing (and cheaper type/more absorbent paper). The plus side for such a small feed would be how fast it is to rinse clean and swing-dry but the down side would be the accompanied smaller grip section. Anyway, since the body is so long, and the thread for screw cap is non-obtrusive, it wouldn't be difficult to hold a little further down the barrel.

 

Now comes the heart of the pen - Sailor named it Fude de Mannen (brush pen of fountain pen) because the hard steel nib, which bends 55 degrees away from the vertical. And the triangle formed by the bending would allowing some (actually the number is infinite if you look view it the infinitesimal way) line variation if you change the writing angle like a car knob.

 The naming confused me a bit (and I actually thought the nib was somewhat springy) because the working mechanism and the effect of the pen are quite different from that of an actual Asian brush pen, which produce width variation based on the pressure exerted (which is more intuitive). The width difference Sailor Fude de Mannen produce, is more of a line variation. You don't get that great of a difference of widths unless you are constantly changing angle (or rotating the grip) as you write.  Anyway, I can see this is a great pens for artists and doodlers, as it gives straight and even lines and save you all the trouble of switching pens mid-drawing.

 

 (Apparently this is the only post-grade-6 level Chinese poem I know by heart, need to memorize another for writing sample). To me, even the wet-enough nib glides on page and give me a sense of liberty as I write, it looks and feels positively like a hard-tipped pen (not even close to a brush).  

Now back to the asparagus part, apparently the length was designed so that you can hold it in the middle section, just like a brush. For my understanding, Asian art/calligraphy brushes are held in the mid-barrel because that's how to control flow on the tip that's soaked with ink. The nib-feed of Sailor Fude de Mannen is sufficiently wet and smooth when it's held against the paper, but when it's not that efficient enough to lay an intense line of ink, when the pivot is so far away. When I use a really absorbent paper (newspaper, because I am too cheap to buy) to practice my chicken scratch, it does gives a thicker, wetter stroke that's a little more brush-like. It's nothing that a posted, normal length couldn't do.

At the end, I just decided to redraw my small (ahem) grudge against the naming/length and just shrug at the cultural difference. Because in Chinese, this type of bend-nib pens are just called artwork pen. With no mention of brush (and they usually don't make it this long). Overall: This is a pretty good pen for the price and if you draw and write in Chinese/Japanese, you will like and get a lot of use out of it. (Yes, despite all the bitching, I actually really like it).

Taobao Pen & Paper Haul

Last weekend, one of my cousins (I have 12 of them) came to US for grad school. He agreed to bring me some junks I buy from Taobao (Like the Chinese version of FleaBay and Amazon, minus the Super Slow Shipping). Luckily, I resisted the urge to hoard all the Penbbs forum ink, as his only bottle of shampoo was confiscated by the airport security.

 

 Sailor Profit Fude de Mannen from iPen. I have the (just) Fude de Mannen and its ridiculous length was getting on my nerve (What are they trying to make? An asparagus?). This one is the exact same thing, just with shorter, dark blue and cigar shaped body. The store charges 93RMB/15USD (shipping included), the same as Japanese Amazon. The seller also included a Sailor converter (!) and a freebie dust bag, the sole purpose of which is to attract dusts... 

Since the store (which is run by a very well-known member from Penbbs.com) also carries some Lamy products. I picked up a 1.5mm Italic nib (the other two widths were out) for 30RMB, which is similar to the nibs retail price in Europe (4 Euros). The seller includes a rubber sheet, which is a God-sent for speedy nib-swapping.

While I was browsing, I noticed another store whose has all the italic sizes as well as the A nib (from Lamy ABC, the width of which is listed as between M and B) for pretty reasonable prices. The A nib was 30 RMB while the italic nibs were (still are) only 18 RMB (3USD!). The rest of the nibs are the same as American retail, with EF being the most expensive.

 
I swapped them on right away and they all write very smoothly and wet. At first I was a little apprehensive about buying from this store (given how many counterfeits products are there in China) but the recent Hero story has told us that, either Chinese are not capable of cloning Safari (and its accessories) or they just don't want to put their whole arse (would it be a little classier if I spell it the British way?)  into doing it.


 Next up, I got an sketch book (with a supposedly very fountain-pen friendly paper called Daolin and a book, both with artwork by illustrator PPsama, whom I have been following on Weibo.  The artwork on the sketch book is about childhood memories and the book is about Solar Term (and the history and customs behind it). 

The illustration are all tinted like old fashioned calender (from the 1920-50s) and she incorporated her 1920s self into the drawings. For some reasons, the book (even though much bigger and has a giant sheet of stickers on the back) is the same price as the sketch book at 25RMB. The sketch book charges 10RMB shipping while the shipping on the book was included.

 Lastly, the black pleather case has a no-name fountain pen (a spare from my mom, just like the bag from the first picture) and an ear pick, which you probably don't want to see = = ...

Peche - Sailor Jentle Ink Review

I think these are peach blossoms

 Sailor Jentle Ink in Peche is a powdery pink with a lilac undertone. It's reminds me more of magnolia petals than those of peach blossom though. The ink seems to have a watery consistency that's not well-flowing at all (since the slime it formed clogged my fine nibbed Pilot 78G, not sure if it's the ink or the weather here) after switching to a Lamy Safari Broad, it's still not that wet.

Even though the color is romantic and unique, it kind of shocked me how faint the color is, to a degree that it's unreadable unless you use a very wet pen　(I only use broad for drawing). You would think this would be perfect for love letters...But no, your crush will have difficulty reading it. Anyway, the ink doesn't feather and the water resistance is actually pretty good, as only 20% of the pink got washed away after a drip-and-wipe test. 

 Overall: Pretty and pretty useless (for me).

P.S. If you wonder why there is nothing peachy about the color, it's because soft pink is called momo-iro (peach color) in Japanese.

Sailor Professional Gear Slim Fountain Pen - Purple Body

After having purchased several budget-range fountain pens from Pilot, Lamy and Ohto, I reckoned I have played around enough and it was time to venture into the standard price zone (100 dollars is "standard"...according to FP geek. What have I gotten myself into...) More specifically, pens with gold nibs. 

 At first I was thinking about the ones by Hero but I wasn't too crazy about the appearance, not to mention I have been a little wary of Chinese pens, from my past experience (Long story short: Got five Chinese pens for the past 8 months, none of them writes properly, three of them just would not write period). In the end, I decided to settle for a Sailor, as I always have a thing for their nibs...

I ended up getting a Sailor Professional Gear Slim Fountain Pen (aka Sapporo) with purple body and 14K hard-medium nib (as a Christmas present to self). As soon as I opened the cushioned navy colored box, I was transfixed by the its beauty: Glossy purple body, delicate rhodium trim (I just don't like gold) and look at the etching on the nib! The first impression was wonderful as this was/is everything I imagined an "expensive" pen to look like.

On the top of the cap, there is their signature anchor, which seems to be made of metal and filled with black lacquer. It's the perfect finishing touch for the whole design and I can't find a better way to place the brand logo. The clip is rather firm and has a small slit-like seam at the bottom, which can catch on some loose thread and break them as you pull the pen out. Thanks, I now have hole on my shirt and fiber stuck on the grip.