Currently inked

Something new (and short!) - Currently inked.

These days I'm leaning way towards blues, or inks with some component of blues in it. The other colours inked are for contrast purposes

Pelikan Hub Singapore 2016

The event that's been on the pen enthusiast's mind this past week are the Pelikan Hubs.

Pelikan Hubs is a yearly event, where pen enthusiasts meet up at a venue on a date specified by Pelikan. The meet up is organised by someone chosen by Pelikan, the Hubmaster, who will find a venue and inform participants about it. Pelikan send along some door gifts for participants who come and shares a presentation. Then everyone has fun talking and playing with pens, inks and paper!

This year's Hub was held this past Friday, 16 September at 1830 local time. It was done at Pelikan Singapore's office!

Now what's an event without photos? So here goes!

Waiting for the event to start!

Food setup!

Food setup!

Door gifts

Ink Pyramid

The M10000! <3 It's actually a lamp

The night started with a short speech from the Hubmaster, after which a slideshow that was prepared by Pelikan was shown.

Slideshow time

Slideshow time

After that, we had a break for dinner!

Nice flower layout

Food, glorious food!

Food, glorious food!

Socialising over food

Then came the star attraction of the night - the interactions!

Ink swatches done by Hubmaster

And lastly, the group photo!

Souvenirs from the night - paper pad, pen pouch, Aquamarine ink and post card

I enjoyed myself tremendously on Friday - I hope you had some fun too!

See you in 2017!

Noodler's Pacific Dawn at the Golden Gate Review

They say the early bird catches the worm.

Well, I guess I was one today.

How early? How about first in Singapore early?

I am the first in the country to get my hands on this Pacific Dawn at the Golden Gate! ;)

This was launched at the 2016 San Francisco Pen Show that ran from 26-28 August. The Singapore launch was today (2 September)

The background story to this ink is this:

"Pacific Dawn refers to the same Sun starting its journey across the Pacific from San Francisco to Singapore. This ink is a distinct blue like the dark blue one sees in the ocean at Dawn. When dried, a few drops of water like the morning mist will show red at the borders as if dawn has arrived

Noodler's Pacific Dawn at The Golden Gate is the Straits Pen Exclusive for the San Francisco Pen Show. A Bulletproof Blue ink with the Halo of Dawn, this includes a double sided label of Fort Mason on one side and the Golden Gate Bridge on the reverse. (Note that the Blue is bulletproof but the red element is not)"

(Extracted from http://aws.straitspen.com/shop/inks/noodler-s-ink/noodler-s-pacific-dawn-at-the-golden-gate.html)

So my first thoughts, hmmm an interesting blue black (some call it a blue grey)... bulletproof somemore!

The first ink that popped into my mind for comparison was 54th Massachusetts. But that has green in it. Pity I don't have Bad Belted Kingfisher or Bad Blue Heron to compare it to.

It's definitely wetter than 54th though, which is a welcome. I found 54th too dry, which is why I don't use it despite the nice colour!

This picture shows the red halo (I got ink stains while I refilled my pen and lo and behold, the red stain)

Red halo? You betcha!

It's not a cut! That's the halo!

Lest you think it's only on the hand, I did get it on TR paper... Here are the pics!

Halo around the word 'fountain'.

Yes I know, it's the wrong spelling. It's late kay! ><

Here it's really obvious where the halo is....

The ink is used on three types of paper - 100gsm printer paper, Rhodia Grid and Tomoe River White

The first two is what I do my ink review on. The last showcases the halo (refer to previous two pictures).

So to the review proper...

Review sheet, 100gsm paper

Review sheet: Rhodia Grid

Strange, when it's wet it looks like a blue black to me, but once it dries, it's more of a blue grey...

Noodler's Pacific Dawn at the Golden Gate is exclusively available at Straits Pen and is priced at USD12.50/SGD18.

PS. It does cause quite a bit of nib creep though - just be diligent in wiping it!

Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine Mini Review (Ink of the Year 2016)

As promised, the new post on my favourite brand!

This one is about IotY 2016 Aquamarine.

I would call this the ink version of Lamy 2000.

What do I mean? I mean Aquamarine wasn't love at first sight, but upon the continuous use of it... it just grew on me.

Love at second sight <3 <3 <3

I've put it in the Danitrio (refer to previous post for more info on the Dani). I find Aquamarine a good match for the body!

My personal choice for Aquamarine would be something a tad brighter than what Pelikan has produced. However, having said that, I still like this ink. It pushes me to explore a different shade from my usual repertoire of rich bright blues.

Here are the pics!

Top 10 Christmas Inks!

It's almost a month since I last posted :O

December has always been a month of reflection and silence, so please indulge me. This will be the only post for the month and the last for 2015.

Will I continue posting in 2016? That is still an unknown, and to be left until a further time.

Let's just dive straight into today's topic.

December being the month of Christmas, I decided to do something different... like introducing my top 10 Christmas inks.

They only include red or green inks (yes I'm a bore, I chose only traditional colours).

The ten inks are (in no particular order): J Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor, Noodler's Bloody Mary, Visconti Red, Diamine Red Dragon, Pelikan Edelstein Jade, Noodler's Antietam, Noodler's Tiananmen and Diamine Oxblood, Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine and Pelikan Edelstein Ruby.

Bonus entrant: Pelikan Edelstein Garnet.

For the top, we have J Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor, Noodler's Bloody Mary, Visconti Red, Diamine Red Dragon.

Second layer shows Pelikan Edelstein Jade, Noodler's Antietam, Noodler's Tiananmen and Diamine Oxblood.

The base of the tree shows Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine, Pelikan Edelstein Garnet and Pelikan Edelstein Ruby.

The trunk is coloured with Diamine Ancient Copper!

Pelikan Edelstein Ruby and Sapphire Mini Review

It has been quite a journey, documenting the Edelstein series! Today I present the last pair: Ruby and Sapphire

Ruby is a typical red with little shading and a little water resistance. Could be used in marking since there is little threat or danger being conveyed (杀伤力). Good in a broad wet nib.

Contrary to what the picture shows, Sapphire is actually a blurple (purplish blue). Not my personal cup of tea, however there seems to be a market for it.

I hope you've enjoyed this series of reviews! Please leave a comment if you have any feedback. Until next time!

Notes on Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue

Today's post is on Noodler's Upper Ganges Blue (UGB).

No it isn't a review, already did one previously.

I thought I'll just chat about this ink.

If you know me, you'll know I'm a big fan of blue. A really big fan. Perhaps it's the little rebellious streak in me, to fight against the "rule" that teachers prefer black. Perhaps it's the range of blues that one can get, from sky blue, baby blue to even midnight blue. But whatever it is, it is THE ink colour for me.

So, upon my journey into the FP world, I went searching for a good blue that I wanted to use permanently. It started with a sample of Noodler's Liberty Elysium (LE) from Sunny (of straitspen.com). I fell in love with that rich blue tone. My all time favourite ink. Did I mention it was water resistant too? Thus, I plunged in, and now have 1.5 bottles of the stuff.

Fast forward to October 2015. I received four ink samples from a lovely FPNer kpatters5274. In it, there was Noodler's Tiananmen, Noodler's Antietam, UGB and R&K Alt-Bordeaux. The reddish toned Tiananmen, Antietam and Alt-Bordeaux didn't do much to me (maybe because I've already found my perfect red in Pelikan Edelstein Garnet. If I want something more muted, Diamine Oxblood).

But that blue. That UGB. It had my attention.

Strange really. Come to think of it, I've only really been interested in bright blues. Yet here was a muted, chalky blue that had me spellbound.

How spellbound? It's my new favourite ink and it's constantly competing with LE for use. Oops.

The good news is, I'm getting a bottle of it at the next pen meet.
The bad news is, I cleaned out one barrel in 3 days. That's even faster than my school days.

Let the battle of the blues begin.

Pelikan Edelstein Jade and Aventurine Mini Review

Part 3 of the Edelstein series is up!


Today we talk about the two greens in the series - Jade and Aventurine.

Pelikan Edelstein Jade

Jade is a bright green, leaning towards a teal! I like that though, it brings some variety to the range of greens and spices up the life. One does not have to go for a boring and monotonous flora green, one can pick Jade!

Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine

Aventurine is a true to earth, deep rich green. A saturated colour, it does conjure up images of grass, especially that of freshly-cut grass, its smells and its richness. A traditional green that will suit a Christmas card.

Noodler's Henry Hudson Blue Review

Noodler's Henry Hudson Blue is a Fountain Pen Hospital exclusive introduced back in 2009. I've finally gotten around to doing a review of it!

Sir Henry Hudson (died 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th Century. He made two attempts to find a Northwest Passage to Cathay (modern day China) via a route above the Arctic Circle. Hudson explored the modern New York metropolitan area while in the employment of the Dutch East Indies Company, laying the foundation for Dutch colonisation in the region.

Without further ado, the pictures!

Footnotes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Hudson

A short commentary on Mont Tortoise Russet Cocktail (RC)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Everyone has one. Most people have different ones. You share one with a few others. What is it?

I'm talking about birthdays.

Yours truly recently celebrated a birthday - and my ink magician friend worked his magic again.

Enter Russet Cocktail. Russet for its colour, and Cocktail because of how it was shaken after mixing.

The second in the Exotic series (My arbitrary name for it), RC amazes yet again.

My request was for a orangey/amberish kind of colour. RC hits all the right notes!

It's slightly darker than another of my favourite tones - Pelikan Edelstein Amber, but it has way better water resistance.

And of course, a picture. How could we not have one.

Indeed a nice colour. And definitely limited edition - only one bottle exists.

Pelikan Edelstein Onyx and Mandarin Mini Review

Part 2 of the Edelstein series review is up!

Pelikan Edelstein Onyx

Onyx is a black - not the darkest black out there, but certainly not a grey either. There is a hint of grey in it, yet it still stays true to being a black. It's on the hydrophobic side though, just put water far far far away from it.

Pelikan Edelstein Mandarin

Mandarin is a cheery orange - not bright like Diamine Pumpkin, or Sailor Apricot, but it has its position in the stable for when one wants a cheerful (but not eye-searing!) orange. A broader nib will suit it though.


Look out for Part 3 and 4 - coming soon!

Pictures from a visit at FH

Singapore, although small, does has a few FP shops lying around.

My favourite (not one of) lies in the middle of the city, in Bras Basah Complex.

Those familiar with the FP scene should know this shop: FH

FH stands for Fook Hing Trading Co! A wonderful place of pens and inks - I love spending time there.

This afternoon I went down to grab some stuff - and snapped a few shots while I was there ;)

The new M800 Burnt Orange! Though I have to say, it's wayyyyy too light to be called burnt. Maybe bright orange would have been a better name.

And this should prove popular: An Iroshizuku comparison.


(All pictures were taken under adequate lighting and so are accurate)

Revisiting a Classic - Mont Tortoise Marine Blue

Marine Bleu - Oldie but goldie

Marine Blue conjures up images of the dark, dark sea. It draws us deep into its mystery, and has an mysterious allure that cannot be explained.

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. ~Isak Dinesen

Whenever I feel down, I cycle out towards the pier, taking in the sea breeze. Indeed, I find that few things match the beauty of the ocean. Yet this ink is so attractive that I find it worthy of being coupled with the ocean.

This is however, not an ink you'll find in stores. I had a friend who gave me this concoction. If people who are adept with nib work are called nib wizards, this friend of mine must be called the ink magician. He has such a good sense towards ink mixing and colours that were he to start making ink like Konrad of KWZI ink fame, I would be his first customer.

Why the name Marine Blue? He was trying to replicate the beauty of the Souverän M605 Marine Blue. I think he nailed it.

Without further ado, the short review.

Yes, it does have a long dry time. But hey, it makes up with its water resistance. This resembles Diamine Midnight Blue, or even Omas Blue... albeit with water resistance. In fact, I like it so much I might just put off using Edelstein Tanzanite on my next refill...

(Maybe I should get him to mix me a colour of my own hmmm...)

Short Review of Four Inks

I recently had the good fortune of a fellow FPNer sending me some ink samples! A shoutout to kpatters5274, thank you so much!

After trying them all out... I think Upper Ganges Blue is going on my "To Buy" list!

Without further ado, some pictures!

The inks gifted were Noodler's Antietam, Tiananmen, Upper Ganges Blue and Rohrer and Klinger Alt-Bordeaux.

First up, Noodler's Antietam

Then, we have Noodler's Tiananmen...

Then we have Upper Ganges Blue...

Last, but not least.... R&K Alt-Bordeaux

I hope this was useful! Thanks again to my fellow FPNer for the chance to try out these inks! Leave me a comment if you would like more information!