New Fountain pen

 

Property of Stormberry

After such a long time, I finally have a Kaweco Sport Brass fountain pen. This is one of those pens I have had in my hand before, in a store, but didn't buy it because at that moment I couldn't justify the price to myself. I actually received it last week, and though I haven't used it quite a lot, I'm slowly adding it to my pen line up.

Many years ago there use to be a Kaweco store here, and that's where I bought my two Kaweco Sports in plastic (a black one with golden nib and finial, and after that one went missing, a taupe one with silver nib and finial), and my Kaweco Student (yellow). I didn't like much my first Kaweco because of the golden elements, as I don't really like gold. However, after it got lost (eventually appeared in my dad's car, as it had escaped my bag and fell under the seat) I started missing it dearly, regretting not liking it just because it had gold, and so I bought the taupe one. That was, I believe, three weeks after the black one got lost, and it was an impulse buy. The day after I bought the taupe one, the black one reappeared. The Prodigal Kaweco.

In that store I had also seen the much coveted Brass and Steel pens, as well as the aluminium one and the Liliput. The aluminium one I didn't like because of how light it is, and the Liliput one I wanted to like, but it's so thin it feels wrong in my hand. And it's not like it's much thinner than a pencil or mechanical pencils I have used and used comfortably in the past, but there is something about the Liliput that no matter how I tried, I just couldn't hold it comfortably in my hands. I thought I would like the Steel pen better than the Brass because of the silvery color, but the texture given to the Steel pens again felt wrong in my hands. But not the Brass. The Brass felt perfect. It was just the price that was way too steep for me.

I pondered and pondered on that pen until the store was gone and the the pandemic hit and all was closed down. That's when I started to really, really want the pen. I watched videos of people unboxing it, using it and so on, and my desire for the pen grew. I put it in and out of my carts in JetPens.com and Amazon.com, waiting for the moment and the way to buy it.

And then, a friend of mine made a trip to Canada, and that was my opening. I asked her if it would be too much of me to purchase the pen and send it to her address in Canada and she said not at all. And actually, since she was staying with family, she offered me to use their account there, to get Prime rates, and I could repay her. And so I did that. I searched for the perfect option in Amazon Canada, sent her the link and was ready to pay her as soon as she gave me the go. The purchase was made, arrived, unboxed in a video message, paid and then she returned, we met, and I had to be so composed not to scream like crazy when I've got the pen.

I bought it with converters because I'm a converter kind of fountain pen user, not a cartridge kind, but the pen came - as usual - with one cartridge, so I popped it in at once to try it out. Or I tried to. The cartridge was a Kaweco blue cartridge, and it didn't want to pop in. It actually bent and deformed a little, so it was difficult to set. I managed to plop it in somewhat and get the pen writing, but by the the next day the cartridge was loose, so I used a needle to suck the ink out, pour it in a converter and use it that way. So far, it has been working well.

Property of Stormberry

I like having the pen in my hand, and it writes smoothly. I'm not using it currently to journal, as I decided that I want to journal only in green ink in this book - except for accent colors or notes that are better noted in a different color (for instance, when I'm "backlogging") - and the pen is still inked with blue. However, today I decided to use it in my planner as a tryout, and to my delight the F nib is as thin as a 0.3 mm pen, or at least a 0.3 Staedler pen. The blue color is light and agreeable, so I think I'll be able to use it for planning, giving it all the use I want, exposing it to my hand so that it ages well, with me, getting fair use.

I can say, I am happy with this pen, and it came to my life not a moment too soon.

A Question of Inks and Politics

 The other day I was surprised to find a post or a tweet or something like that from Goulet Pens, an online fountainpen & ink store, that stated that due that it has been brought to their attention that the name and imagery of the Bernanke Red ink was racist, they where going to stop selling Noodler's products until they've got a satisfying answer from the owner, Nathan Tardif. I found that strange, and went to check my bottle (I have a bottle of Bernanke Red in my collection, along with Rome Burning, Atlantic Salmon, Firefly, Aurora Borealis, Apache Sunset, and 54th Massachusetts), and checked the lable. 

Source: Reddit

Bernanke Red is, evidently a red color ink, and depicts Ben Bernanke with horns and the hammer and sickle of the Soviet flag.

Now, for context, I'd like to point out that there is a Bernanke Black ink and in it Ben Bernanke has no horns nor Soviet symbology. I don't know the whole of Noodler's inks and the different names, but I do remember an interview with Brian Goulet from Goulet Pens, where Nathan Tardif said he tended to give controversial names to his inks or some of them. I do remember, for instance, that I've got Atlantic Salmon, a pink ink when there was no more Hellfire, the original pink ink I wanted. 54th Massachussets was a name selected after a Regiment of the Union, from the American Civil War, which had African Americans join and which failed to pay them, even though they had a hard time in the war, according to Nathan Tardif. So yes, the controversial names and topics it has chosen are part of the brand.

Source: Amazon

I admit that I am not all that well educated about the Hebrew religion nor have a deeper knowledge of Judaism and the issues Jewish people have gone through other than what we learn in school, so maybe the deeper layers of hurt created by this picture are invisible to me. I read comments that say that Jews have been molested and told to "show their horns", something communist and witches and Pagans have also been told. Personally, I never understood the image to be a matter of "jews are bad" but more of a reference to how people can see the actions of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) as good (black ink) or bad (red ink). Hurt, however, needs to be addressed, which I believe Mr Tardif did. This apology is not mine to accept, and I have not heard of anyone from the Jewish community accepting it or not.

I came to know Noodler's inks some years ago, through a sample set I bought from Goulet Pens, and fell in love with 54th Massachusetts, even though I am not a person who likes blue or blue inks. 54th Massachusetts was the ink that made me make peace with blue ink after... well, after highschool, though I believe I stopped using blue ink when I was 15, and retook it when I was... 40? I ordered my first bottle of 54th Massachusetts from Goulet Pens, and I think I'm still using that one. As soon as things get back to... "sort of normal", I plan to restock and order some more inks, just to make sure I have all I need, and that means more 54th Massachusetts. I may even order a bottle of Bernanke Black, who knows?

I like the inks and I like their colors, their quality, and the amount I get for the money I pay. I like that the bottle is very simple and the lables have interesting art (on some of them). I don't know enough of the company or the owner in order to join a boicot campaing, and I have seen from him a swifter action in the face of controversy than I have seen from bigger brands or influencers. So, in the measure of my means, I will probably continue supporting this brand, while I'll also purchase inks from other brands as well. It's not a matter of exclusivity, and I am buying the ink, not the ideology. For me, clearly the names and the art are a way of marketing, not to promote his libertarian views, but to create buzz, amek people talk and get morbid interest reaching for his products. Maybe one day Noodler's will be able to break free from the controversy to sell his inks, and until that day, if this has been working for him, he will keep doing it. Why not?

My First Kaweco

Source: property of Stormberry

On Sunday, while my folks were washing my dad's car, they found a fountain pen I thought I've lost - or worse yet, someone had snitched. This was my first ever Kaweco fountain pen.

To be perfectly honest, when I bought it in... was it july? Earlier? I bought it on a whim because my best friend Prue told me about this Kaweco Shop in our country and I HAD TO have one. You know the feeling, right? Right? ... No? Oh... me neither.

Anyway, when I entered the store I knew what I wanted - in broad lines: I wanted the classic Kaweco style pen. Originally I had my eyes set on something like the demonstrator (though I don't really like it, because the material is cloudy, not crystal clear) or a brass one. Up close the demonstrator definitively wasn't what I wanted, and the brass one was too expensive for what I would pay for a pen... like that. Now, don't get me wrong, the pen isn't all that expensive, when you consider the normal range of prices for fountain pens available for the middle range collector, BUT I measure the price of pens based on what can I pay, and how much am I willing to pay depending on the aesthetics and feel of the pen.

Checking the whole selection available, I decided in the end to get a black Kaweco Sport. The one thing I didn't like was the golden nib and the golden inscription, since I like silver much better than gold. When I tried this pen, I also found issues with the glide of the nid, which for me was too toothy.

Given the experience I had with it, I was displeased but I took it like a pen-test. I tried it and I didn't like it. Then it got lost within the week I bought it. :-(

I was sad but also not so sad, because I didn't really liked the pen... but I kinda missed it. This is how the next weekend I went back and bought my second Kaweco Sport in a skin-like color, with silver nib and silver inscription. And with this one I was very pleased! From time to time I missed my scratchy black, but then I bought also by beloved ... I have no idea what it's called... Student, I believe. Anyway, I have a new, yellow Kaweco fountain pen that doesn't have the shape of the Sport. It came in a tin box, which I love, and has many chrome details, which I don't like, BUT the pen is fabulous to write with, so I forgive the chrome.

My life was all nice and happy, and then my mom comes into the house and asks me:

"Is this yours?" holding up a scratched black stick.

My eyes just bulged out, because Sweet Gods! It was my first Kaweco Sport! I was so, so, so happy! I quickly took the pen, checked it, and noted that I love it all the more now that it's all scratched and scarred. I washed it out and filled it up with ink from a bottle my adorable friend Arjen sent my way - Sailor 731. I tried it in my journal... and it's still scratchy like a scared, wet cat. But it's back to me!

Isn't life something so interesting?