While I haven’t been terribly active on my blog, I haven’t really been slacking either, in terms of my pen adventures. I am currently into flex pens, the kind where the tines of the nib section can split apart, creating wonderful line variation. With my amateur hand, let me show you what can be done… Are they nice? Nice? 😀 Alright, I do admit that I did some modifications to the pictures to enhance their attractiveness. I really really think the LOMO effect that I used on the pictures (using a smartphone app) really brings out the best of my amateur pieces. Let’s see one without the additional effects: Isn’t it strange? People complain that the Ahab is less pleasant to use than a dip nib. For me, I felt that a dip nib was incredibly difficult to control. The tines split too easily, but the nib holds too little ink. Not to mention that the scratchiness makes writing quite difficult especially for a left handed writer like me. I then decided to venture into vintage flex pens. Got a vintage Waterman off a seller on my fountain pen group. I love it! It’s… I hope you […]
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I didn’t notice that my poll had already ended. Probably a long time ago. This poll reminded me of my experience with graphology during a career fair a couple of weeks ago. You’re right, a CAREER fair. It wasn’t a job booth, but it’s an area where there are fortune tellers, tarot card readers, etc. I thought I might talk about it a little here… The good thing was, I found out a little bit more about myself which I normally wouldn’t think too much about. The graphologist was pretty accurate. She helped me to point out certain ways of writing to improve my personality. The bad thing was, I was so engrossed with thinking about what the graphologist deciphered, that I totally forgot to get a name card. I didn’t even really note what company the graphologist is from. So the “test” consisted mainly of me writing out a passage, any passage, of my thoughts at the moment. It had to be at least half a page long. I never thought so much about graphology, but this session made me really curious about it now. The lady analysed the margins I left around my words, the hooks of my […]
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The last poll has ended with 45 people in total who voted. The question was “How often do you write by hand a decent amount of stuff (at least half a page)?” I was slightly surprised that more than half of the respondents answered “I write tons of stuff everyday”! Why “slightly”: on one hand, most of the readers of my blog are probably avid fountain pen users who write religiously everyday. This makes me somewhat envious. On the other hand, I thought that in today’s age of technology, most people would use their devices to make notes, to write to one another, or even to draw. I have a MacBook pro, an Android smartphone, and now even an Asus Transformer tablet. At work I use a desktop computer, and the only times I ever write anything at work is when I have claims to sign, or in my lab book, a few words a day on average. Imagine my disappointment when they announced that they might switch everything to “electronic means” and do away with lab notebooks in the near future! In that situation, I can imagine that even my signature will be an electronic scanned bitmap file, which likely […]
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The last poll has ended a few days ago! Thank you 46 people who voted in the poll (excluding me) and we have some pretty interesting results right here! Fortunately no one voted “I hate stationery”, because I would really wonder why you were reading my blog! Seems like more than half (55%) of us buy new stationery on a weekly to monthly basis. Personally I buy new stationery weekly or fortnightly too. Wondering what you all do with your stationery? Do you use them up so fast or do you just buy to use slowly? Or are they generally for collection? I don’t get the chance to use stationery so much, so it’s really more of hoarding for me, since I always buy new pens to review on my blog but never use them afterwards. One person buys new stationery on a daily to weekly basis. I wonder who you are. I really envy you, you must be a great stationery fanatic! I’m starting to imagine how your collection looks like! A quarter of us buy stationery on a monthly to quarterly basis. I would actually think that this is a very normal frequency to buy new stationery, if […]
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In January this year, I hopped onto a mass order wagon together with my pals from SFPL, and bought a Noodler’s Ahab Flex Nib Piston Fill Fountain Pen from Goulet Pens. Phew, what a mouthful. Let’s keep things short and sweet and call it the “Ahab”. This post, however, is not going to be short and sweet. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Speaking of mouthfuls and sweetness, This pen looks very much like candy to me. I mean, it’s green with white swirls. Or white with green swirls, whatever you will. Doesn’t it remind you of candy such as the one in the picture? Not only does it look like candy, it smells too. Not really of candy, as it isn’t a very delicious smell, but it’s somewhat sweet-smelling. In the beginning, the smell was absolutely disgusting (sorry it wasn’t intended to be this way), but when it grows on you, it’s actually alright. Just remember to give this pen a good wash, inside-out, when you have just received it. I used dishwash liquid to soak the pen at Day One and tried rubbing the surfaces with my fingers to remove the top layer of volatile substances causing the […]
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On 2 April I received an Osmiroid Calligraphy Set from a colleague. It happened like this: she took the tattered and dusty box of the 6-nib set from her bag and placed it on the table in front of me. I looked at her questioningly. She said, “Well since you like fountain pens and calligraphy, and since I managed to get a chance to go back to my old hometown in Ipoh and flip through my old belongings, I found this.” She then proceeded to hand the box to me. I hesitated. She did not specify yet whether it just to let me admire it, or whether she planned to give it to me. I thought it was meant to be a late April Fool’s joke or something because I would never expect someone to give a gem like this to me. After all, April Fool’s this year fell on a Sunday, a day that colleagues don’t usually meet (at least not in my company), so it was a ruined chance to play a potential joke on someone, which should be recuperated the following day. It didn’t help that the box handed to me was torn, tattered, with all 6 nibs […]
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I borrowed two books from the library on calligraphy. I was actually surprised that our local libraries actually have books on calligraphy. And by saying “on calligraphy” I mean they really teach us how to write calligraphy! The first book borrowed is called “An Introduction to Calligraphy” and I borrowed it from the National Library. I haven’t read every single word of this book but merely browsed through, and I found great details about calligraphy, from various writing materials to the writing board to the style of writing. At this beginning stage I wasn’t into details yet, and I was a little overwhelmed at the chapter which talks about spacing between letters, words and lines. This, I would say, is a very useful book, but I haven’t learnt yet how to write or even hold a calligraphy pen, so I didn’t read this chapter thoroughly. The chapters on writing method are useful, they break down each stroke of the letters and show you how to make the strokes, angle and all. Pretty useful indeed! The second book which I borrowed from Clementi Library is called ” The encyclopedia of Calligraphy and Illumination”. I thought illumination is the Art of Shining […]
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I’d like to think that Maybelline (being the good friend that she is) is my enabler in all things related to writing material. But really my obsession with pens may have started when I was younger. See, I used to write for my school paper and my notebooks in school had more doodles and stories than actual notes. So between the stress of the deadlines for the paper I contribute to, my school work and my other extra-curricular activities, a girl has to have her means for coping. Some people use chocolates (which was my fall back too), others smoked their stress away. In my case, it was indulging in retail therapy for office supplies. Yes, as strange as it may be, office supplies were my crack. Just the thought of having a new notebook to jot my whims of fancy down or a new ballpoint pen or eraser was enough. If I didn’t have to buy another notebook in my lifetime, I’d probably be all set since I’ve bought enough to supply my future, unnamed, currently faceless kids. So it is but a natural progression that I got into pens. What’s paper without a nice set of writing tools? […]
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Shamefully I did not curb my addiction to acquire more writing instruments, and exactly one week after my last purchases, I bought a new one, this time a SET. My excuse: I took the Parker Urban pen that Mum had bought for me back to Bugis Junction BHG to get my name engraved in gold, and while waiting I browsed. There are three brands sold there. It’s at the children’s level, near the notebooks and photo frames area. The little region for pens carries Parker, Waterman and Sheaffer ones. While waiting for the engraving to be done, I subconsciously (okay, I mean VERY consciously) walked to the Sheaffer section and browsed. The lady happened to be on her tea break and the other lady who did the engraving for me only represents Parker, and she told me that the Sheaffer girl would be back in about 15 minutes. I thought I couldn’t wait, so after getting my pen done I started going off. But before I could, the Sheaffer lady came back. I went to ask about inks and while choosing the colour I wanted from a display case, I caught sight of this: I’m really sorry I took […]
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