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By Leigh Reyes, June 28, 2009 1:56 pm

Damn, that’s huge.

The little Moleskine is no match for...

During a recent foray into Fully Booked, Iñigo spotted what could be the pinnacle of Moleskine evolution. The Moleskine Folio series, created for artists, comes in A4 and A3 sizes, in Plain Book, Watercolor and Portfolio. (There might be a Sketchbook as well, but I didn’t see a sample.)

Moleskine Folio display

I bought an A3 Plain Book, but I think I should have gotten the A3 Watercolor instead.

Moleskine Folio Plain Book, paper

The Plain Book will be a good purchase for artists who work in dry media, but not for those who use pen and ink.

Comments (1)

By Leigh Reyes,

I am not a handygirl, but I can resac a simple lever-filling pen, assuming there is nothing wrong with the lever. This gives me a wonderful feeling of empowerment akin to being taught how to fish, no matter that I don’t think I’ll ever like fishing or wading into water in wellies.

The pen I chose to resac was the Swan self-filling pen that I put up for sale several months ago. It never did sell, and stayed in my cabinet all that time; so this morning, it was a good candidate. I twisted the section out of the barrel and was faced with the removal of sticky, icky melted rubber sac remnants. It was not a job for the fainthearted or those of nanosecond attention spans.

Still, I accomplished the resaccing with the aid of a Tweezerman pair of tweezers (the best in the business for eyebrows, who knew they would be good for sac removal?) and a bent crochet hook. And the Swan writes again.

Swan Self-Filling Pen

Comments (9)

By Leigh Reyes, June 27, 2009 8:28 am

One of my duties as an evil robot is to patrol the periphery of the planet. In the eventuality that, you know, non-evil robots appear.

Occasionally I see a friendly pebble, and we hang out. Evil robots don’t have too many friends.

Pebbles are never chatty. Usually they just nod, or attempt to nod, when you say something of import, such as, “Is the planet going to self-destruct anytime soon?”

The pebble and I decide it would be fun to defy gravity. We are about to take off, when…

…a visitor rolls into view. It is shiny, black with gold-tone appointments, and has the number 22 on its cap.

I tell the pebble, “Excuse me,” and approach the visitor with caution. I unscrew the cap and inspect the nib. Aha, it is made of titanium. The element number of titanium is, of course, 22. This must make this pen the original Stipula Ventidue.

I observe it has a 1.1 mm stub nib.

The pebble observes, “That 1.1 mm nib is flexible!” I nod and agree. “Yes, titanium can spring back very quickly from a high-pressure downstroke.”

The pebble, the Stipula Ventidue, and I decide it is time for adventure. We will leave the planet and bring nothing but our collective bravery. Who knows what stories we will have to tell? But first, we must find an ink station. There must be one somewhere in the downward spiral arm of the nebula across the way.

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By Leigh Reyes, June 22, 2009 12:58 am

I referred to old glass beads in my first post about the birthday pen and decided to shoot them together.

Old pen, old beads

The beads and the pen rest on a Te Neues leather-covered notebook. Fresh green sets off the periwinkle well.

Drool-worthy

Chevrons (the blue and white striped beads) are layers of colored glass, cut sharply at both ends to reveal the pattern that gives the beads their name. They are highly collectible in the bead world, although I have yet to see one mint and stickered.

Casein on parade

I took out the other casein fountain pens I have (and a casein fragrance pen), lining them up with the birthday pen. Magpies do this. So do dragons and Scrooges-in-training. Notice the big difference in size between a Dinkie and a Dandy. Dandy-sized pens are more useful, I think, for everyday writing. Dinkies are for marking dance cards and drawing tiny hearts.

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By Leigh Reyes, June 20, 2009 3:04 am

I think I must have done something very good in a past life to have deserved this pen for my birthday.

Conway Stewart Dandy-sized prototype

My boyfriend connived most endearingly with Andy Russell to make sure the periwinkle precious made it across the pond (technically several ponds) before my birthday. He then connived with McVie to smuggle it, together with other surprises, into my new, now ex, office.

Birthday boxes

It then waited in its box for a few more days together with its crisply-folded instruction sheet – which I am sure scarcely taxed its patience as it has survived mint and stickered since the 1920s.

Suspicions confirmed

I am used to casein in Dinkies (most of my Dinkies are from Andy), but this is the first Dandy-sized casein pen for me, and it is so lovely. It is also the first time I’ve seen casein in stripes; in this color combination, it looks surprisingly edible, like pastillas de leche con ube.

Mint and stickered!

The pen has a fresh sac, so I can write with it.

The CS lever

The striations remind me of old glass beads, especially at the ends, where I imagine the casein being pulled like hot glass or taffy.

To ink or not to ink?

The color makes my digital camera squint; the closest to correct would be its second image in this entry.

I start my new job on Monday. There are many forrmalities, including the filling of forms.  Will I ink this pen, with all the meaning and history it holds, to sign my way into a fresh chapter?

Comments (1)

By Leigh Reyes, June 8, 2009 10:42 am

The autoplayer irritated a couple of people, and it would not respond to param name equals play value equals false, so I’ve taken it out until I can figure out how to do that.

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By Leigh Reyes, June 1, 2009 4:32 am

I am twiddling with the Wordpress theme. It should take about a week or so. Your eyes might hurt a bit.

Smeary-eyed

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By Leigh Reyes, May 26, 2009 1:34 pm

I don’t know what possessed me to want to swap the nibs on my two Sailor 1911s. The black had the Cross Music Emperor nib, and the demo had the music nib. For some reason I wanted the demo to have the Cross Music Emperor.

It’s at times of unreasonable whimsy like these that I am grateful for (insert angelic choir here) my boyfriend, who painstakingly dismantled and cleaned the Sailor demonstrator, and reassembled it with the nib and overfeed from the black Sailor. The overfeed needed to be inserted at the same time as the nib, and aligned properly.

Sailor nib swap

The music nib went into the black Sailor without a hitch. Both wrote well immediately after inking.

Post-nib swap writing samples

You can hire his services, but you have to ask me first.

Comments (2)

By Leigh Reyes, May 18, 2009 3:26 pm

One line parallels another, and before I know it I’ve filled a page.

Strange Noodle 1: Paperblanks unlined notebook, Pelikan Binder XXF/full flex with Noodler's Antietam, Omas Mottishaw XXF/full flex with Noodler's Kiowa Pecan, Danitrio Binder cursive italic with Noodler's Golden Brown

I start in the middle of the page, usually. Then the lines accrete upon themselves, like barnacles in a mosh pit. Sometimes I figure out in the middle of drawing that oh, it’s an eye. Or this might be a kite. In the noodle below, the bird’s perch was what I started with, not knowing it would be a perch, or that there would be a bird. The bird was the last to emerge.

Strange Noodle 2: Paperblanks unlined notebook, (rehomed) Danitrio Iwahada-nuri with flexible stub, Noodler's Golden Brown

With wider nibs, thicker lines and darker inks, the process remains relaxing, but the mood of the drawing changes, and becomes almost sinister.

Strange Noodle 3: Paperblanks unlined notebook, Danitrio flexible stub, Platinum music nib; Noodler's Army Green, Noodler's Burgundy and mutant gray that I could have sworn was green

If I’d drawn this with my left hand, it would have been perfectly sinister.

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By Leigh Reyes, May 15, 2009 4:41 pm

A houndstooth-check paper bag landed on my desk this morning. Inside was doodle paper and a nothing-short-of-fabulous pen kimono, sewn by May.

Pen Kimono

The outside is green felt, accented with a dark green ribbon.

Pen Kimono, inner flap

The flap is meant as additional protection for pens.

Pen Kimono - surprise!

May mentioned that she knew I liked hidden details – and this certainly is a zinger of a hidden detail. An oriental floral silk lining contrasts attractively with the felt, and is also gentle on pens.

Pen Kimono, with pens

The pen kimono has six pockets, wide enough for six of my Penzillas.

Pen Kimono-maki

Enough allowance between the pens means there’s no unsightly bunching or straining at the seams. That’s good for the pen kimono, and for the pens.

Pen Kimono-maki

All rolled up and tidy, I like thinking of this as the Pen Kimono-maki. Even the ribbon reminds me of nori.

Thanks, May.