#pocket 40

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Wordless Wednesday: Franklin Christoph Fountain Pen Family

More pens = bigger family

Above (L to R): Model 66 Stabilis, Pen Addict Model 02, Wonder Pens Model 20, Pocket 66, Wonder Pens Pocket 20, Model 45, Model 45, Model 45, Model 40

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Throwback Thursday: Quick Look at Franklin-Christoph Pocket 40 Blue-Violet and Ice + Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao

For this weeks’ Throwback Thursday, we take a look at another pen and ink combination from my July line-up.

Handwritten Review

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Pocket 40 Blue-Violet and Ice 1.1

Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao

Paper: Rhodia No. 16 Grid

The little pen is just great.

Asa-Gao performs well with the 1.1 stub. Excellent. Flow is pretty good. Writes smotthly but is not overly wet.

Some Shading. The sheen is not noticeable on Rhodia but is quite nice on Tomoe River paper.

This colour is growing on me. It's a good neutral blue. Just a touch darker.

Ahhh. I can see now that the ink has aged over the month it's been in the pen. No surprise that it could have evaporated some water. I kind of like this darker blue. It looks good. But less shading it seems. Kinda cool that it's drying to a rich royal blue. Cool.

So, as usual, well-behaved on Rhodia. No feathering, bleeding.

Closing Comments

In the handwritten post I mentioned the sheen from Asa-Gao. It's a reddish edging that shows up on certain papers such as Tomoe River. I've added a couple of pictures to hopefully show the sheen. Some people don't like their inks to sheen but I LOVE it.

I really find it fascinating that the ink in the pen darkened so much over a month. I've never noticed it so evidently before. I actually changed my approach to these quick ink reviews. In the past, I tended to write them all in one go as an initial impressions. But over the summer, I decided to write up the top portion above the flourishes at the beginning of the month right after inking. I wanted to wait out to the end of the month to write the reviews after I had some more time with the pen and ink combination.

Maybe this effect is always there, but I never noticed it. I think it lends some charm to using fountain pens and inks. Still, I may have to rethink this idea to split up these types of reviews.

Questions: Have you noticed any inks that darken a lot over a few weeks? Should I go back to writing the handwritten reviews in one sitting to continue on with the 2-step approach?

Let me know in the comments!

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Wordless Wednesday: Fountain Pens on a Sunset Walk

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Currently Inked: July 2016

Lots of smaller pens this month in anticipation of some travel plans.

#Holdovers# I managed to use up everything for June. For the first time ever, no holdovers!

#NEW (In order of appearance in line-up)#

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Pocket 40 Blue-Violet and Ice 1.1 Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao

This is pocket pen #1 for this month. I really enjoyed using Asa-Gao last month in the Franklin-Christoph Model 66 with the music nib. I think the 1.1 stub will help bring out the nice sheen of this ink. It also matches the body of this pen. Eyedropper.

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Model 45 IPO 14K Matsuyama M Cursive Italic Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake

Pocket pen #2 for this month. I'm loving the form factor of this pen and especially that sweet, expressive nib. I haven't used Yu-Yake in a long while. I thought it would be nice with this nib and bring some sunshine colour into the lineup. Eyedropper. (Yes, I did accidently write Model 40 rather than Model 45 in the lineup sheet.)

Pen: Tactile Turn Gist Titanium EF Ink: Noodler's Raven Black

This is not exactly a pocket pen but it's on the smaller side for this lineup. I selected the Dasmascus steel finial and grip section for the pen which I think looks pretty awesome. Even more awesome is the soft titanium nib. This one is pretty smooth and offers the semi-flex personality of gold. Such a stealthy pen is nicely paired with the Wonder Pens Canadian exclusive Noodler's Raven Black.

Pen: Pilot/Namiki Vanishing Point Raden Water Surface F Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki

My Pilot/Namiki Vanishing Point Raden Galaxy is currently with my DH (a story for another blog post) so, self-indulgently, I got myself the Raden Water Surface. The Raden finish is all bling-bling. It was only fitting that the first ink up would be with the oldest bottle of ink in my possession, which was also one of the first to be inked in its Raden Galaxy sibling.

Pen: Edison Nouveau Premiere - Lilac 1.1 Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Budo

I want to pair the lilac pen with a purple ink. I love the intensity of Yama-Budo.

Pen: Platinum 3776 Sai M Ink: Bungbox Kotohogi Kurenai (New Year’s Red)

I wanted to have a red ink in honour of Canada Day. I thought it would look awesome in the crystal clear Platinum 3776 Sai M.

Pen: TWSBI Diamond 580 - Orange EF Ink: Akkerman #22 Hopjesbruin

Orange accented pen. Orange ink. Not an exact match since Akkerman #22 is muted with a hint of brown. There's more difference between Akkerman #22 and TWSBI Diamond 580 - Orange than TWSBI Diamond 580 - Lava and TWSBI Diamond 580 - Orange. 🤔

Pen: TWSBI Vac Mini 1.1 Ink: KWZ IG Turquoise

New pen to the line up. I've had it for alike but only now had a chance to bust it out. This is also a smaller pen but not exactly pocket sized. So far I love the form factor. Since it's a clear demonstrator, I can fill it pretty much with anything. KWZ IG Turquoise looks pretty good in it.

Pen: Kaweco Brass Sport EF Ink: KWZ Brown Pink

Pocket pen #3 for this month. And a virtually indestructible one at that. I think KWZ Brown Pink is pretty funky and wanted to try it out in the Brass Sport.

Closing Comments

Astute readers may notice a glaring pen omission for this month. Can you guess what that is?

How many pens do you have inked up for July? What are your favourite pen and ink combos?

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Wordless Wednesday: Victoria Day Weekend Cottage Fountain Pen Loadout

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Wednesday: Victoria Day Weekend Fountain Pen Loadout

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Currently Inked: Trio of Franklin-Christoph Eye-Dropper Pens

Ever since I got my third Franklin-Christoph (FC) pen, the Model 20 in Wonder Pens exclusive Translucent Bronze, I had wanted to eye-dropper it along with its FC siblings, the Pocket 40 and the Model 66. Finally the stars aligned for my May ink-pairings for me to make it happen.

Eye Dropper #1

Pen: Franklin-Christoph 66 Stabilo Ice Music Ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao

Before I could eye dropper the Model 66, I had to first use up all the Sailor Yama Dori that had been in the Model 66 since January. I had eye-droppered this pen the very first time back then and had filled the entire body with Yama Dori. The Model 66 Stabilo, being a desk pen, has enormous capacity. That, along with the Matsyama needlepoint nib resulted in a combination that lasted for months. Too many months.

It was a bit of a pain to clean afterwards. I flushed and soaked with water for days. Then I used Goulet pen flush for deep cleaning, plus mild detergent and cotton swabs. There were remanants of blue ink at the tail end of the ink body cavity and in the threads. When I rubbed with cotton swabs, it only served to push the ink-stained silicon deeper in the threads. I wished for an ultrasonic cleaner to give it a good shake. But alas, I did not have one. AlI could do was keeping repeating all the steps of flushing, soaking and scrubbing with cotton swabs.

I searched online for tips on how to clean eye-droppered pens. Eventually I found a tip from Fountain Pen Network about using old mascara brush to clean out the threads. Unfortunately for me, I had just done a big purging of old mascara the week before so I did not have any lying about. I dug around and found a mini-size mascara sample. I cleaned out the mascara wand. The brush on the wand was great for getting the silicon out of the threads. However, the wand was not long enough to get rid of the ink stains on the tail end. I decided to fill the pen with another blue ink instead. Problem temporarily averted (in reality, ignored or postponed).

It was kind of by default that I put Pilot Iroshizuku Asa Gao into the FC Model 66. It was the only blue ink I had in a bottle and that I had not already used in the Model 66.

I also knew that I wanted to take the Music nib I got for the Model 20 and put it on the 66. The large ink capacity and big juicy nib would be a good match.

Asa Gao works beautifully with the Music nib. It flows well and never skips. The ink is rich and saturated and leaves a beautiful sheen.

Eyedropper #2

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Model 20 Translucent Bronze Matsyama Needlepoint Ink: Diamine Sepia

It was also by default that the Model 20 ended up with the Matsyama Needlepoint since its' Music nib went to the Model 66.

I wanted to fill the Model 20 with an ink colour that matched the Translucent Bronze body. I chose Diamine Sepia. In retrospect, Sepia needs a wider nib to show its’ shading and to have substance in the lines. So far I find the needlepoint and Sepia combo too fine and light. The needlepoint really lays down a fine line, it helps if I put a bit of pressure into it. I may have to find a different use for it other than straight writing.

Eyedropper #3

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Pocket 40 Blue-Violet and Ice 1.1 Ink: Callifolio Esperance

The Pocket 40 takes a smaller nib that is not interchangeable with those on its' bigger siblings and I don't have any spare nibs. So, the Pocket 40 keeps its 1.1 stub nib.

I got some new Callifolio inks from Vanness Pens right at the end of April, so I filled the body with Callifolio Esperance.

Even though the Pocket 40 does not have a translucent body it still makes a suitable candidate for eye-dropper because I can get a larger ink capacity from eye dropper than from using short international cartridges.

Closing Comments The eye dropper conversions we're easy and fun got do with FC's good instructions. The translucent pens are fun to look at. So far I've had no issues with ink leaking. I look forward to choosing new inks for eye dropper use next time!

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Chinese Cacography: 男孩 Boy

My little guy had hockey try-outs this weekend and made the team!  Proud mama here.  So, this one is a tribute to little boys.

Pen: Franklin-Christoph Pocket 40 Blue-Violet and Ice 1.1 Ink: Bungbox Hatsuyume Aofuji

Brush: Platinum Natural Weasel Hair Brush Pen Ink: Platinum Black

Chinese Cacography (i.e. chicken scratch) is my attempt to combine using fountain pens and Chinese characters writing practice. Unless otherwise noted, the paper used is always Baron Fig Apprentice Dot grid.