My name is Nick Stewart and I am a creative director based in Rochester, UK. Since June this year, I have been on a mission to swab test fountain pen inks using water and bleach. Why? Because I believe that fountain pen inks have qualities that can be exploited for purposes other than just handwriting. My test process is very simple: I saturate an area of heavy rough textured water colour paper and then add a drop of ink into that wet area. The ink blends with the water and reduces in concentration as is spreads away from the point of entry. As the ink comes out of solution the dyes that make up the ink can be observed in different areas as the paper dries. And once dry I can write or paint on top with bleach which reacts at a different intensity depending upon the density of the ink underneath. The reactions can vary from a dull gold over dense ink areas to a vibrant neon effect over less dense areas. But what is of key importance is that it is only with fountain pen inks that this bizarre reaction happens. This process is very much serendipity-led and […]
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‘Tis the season of giving, pen lovers all over the world giving, happily I might add, our hard-earned money to pen shops everywhere! The end of the year also marks the receiving of the annual wage supplement (AWS) also known as the 13th month payment from our employers for many of us. Maybe you are also one of the lucky ones who have variable bonuses this year. This is the time of the year, when most of us are flushed with cash that didn’t got ear marked for something else within the first week. I am not quite sure if this is how companies work in other countries but this definitely applies to Singaporeans. Anyway, I am not here to give you a gift guide for the pen lover in your life. This is a 2016 wishlist of the pens I hope to add to my collection. Maybe this list can serve as a guide for your own wish list for 2016. Number 5: Pilot Custom 742 with the Falcon nib This has been a go-to fountain pen for people looking for the modern day flex nib. I have tried the falcon nib many times during the monthly local pen […]
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The days pass quickly and soon enough, the end of the giveaway series has come! Here is Part 6 of the ink series. It covers 3 inks – Solferino, Verdigris, Verdura, which also are the last 3 inks in the R&K series (and alphabetically too). When going through a series of colours like that, it is common to ask about favourites. I would say that I love all the inks, but maybe that sounds diplomatic. My colour preferences usually falls among magenta-pink-purple, and orange. I am disappointed that the R&K series doesn’t have a wonderful orange such as the Sailor Jentle Apricot, or J. Herbin Orange Indien, two orange inks that I like very much. Helianthus is the closest of the lot, but not a very practical ink for heavy use. R&K does present a series of very attractive ink colours, so to force me to choose my top 3 favourites, I’ll go with (in no particular order): Alt-Goldgrün, for being so unique and special enough to make me like a green ink); Salix, for having that wonderful shade of dark blue and having other properties such as being semi-permanent; and Morinda, for being such a unique, earthy red colour which certainly […]
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Welcome to Part 5 of my Rohrer & Klingner giveaway! I hope you’ve enjoyed the series so far, and I’ve received many comments about the inks. It’s interesting to see everyone’s perspectives on their own favourite colours. I had initially thought that Alt-Goldgrün is the classic favourite, but it seems like other ink colours such as Helianthus (surprisingly), Salix, and Magenta were also mentioned! Let’s see if you like the colours being featured today… Scabiosa • Scabiosa • Scabiosa • Scabiosa Scabiosa is another iron gall ink, just like the Salix, which means that it is supposed to be rather permanent on paper. Scabiosa refers to a type of honeysuckle, with pretty, round flowers, and embellishments among the petals, making it look like a pincushion. It’s no wonder that they also call it the “pincushion flower”. When searching for Scabiosa, I came across mostly purple flowers, but there are some that are deep, brownish-red, just like the ink. Scabiosa has a colour that I might associate with “liver”, but it inclines towards purple rather than brown. Just like Salix, the swab comes out a little lighter in shade, but when writing with it, you can see that it’s a deep, almost royal red-brown-purple […]
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Wow, Parts 1 to 3 of my Rohrer & Klingner inks seem to be going pretty well especially with the giveaway! Here is to continue the series, and of course, another 3 inks will be given away at the end of it. This has been made possible thanks to Fook Hing Trading Co., so do drop by their website and Facebook page to say hi if you have a minute. All opinions of the inks are my own and have not been influenced by the sponsor. Yesterday we talked a bit about the bottle design, and I’ll go into a little more detail today. Around the bottle is a simple white label which describes the ink. In four languages – German, English, French and Italian, the label describes the name and use of the ink. It claims to be “for fountain pens, steel nibbed pens, dip pens and individual writing utensils for calligraphy”. With the pretty colours I would be tempted to use it for brush lettering for sure, but calligraphy with a dip nib might not fare so well because a number of the Rohrer & Klingner inks (as with many other fountain pen inks) do not cling well to […]
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This is part 3, the next 3 inks in the Rohrer & Klingner series. In this part, I introduce Helianthus, Königsblau, and Leipziger Schwarz. Before that, let me just talk a little bit about the ink bottle design. I do rather like the Rohrer & Klinger ink bottle design as it is very simple, easy to grip in the hand, does not topple over easily, is weighted enough but not so much that it gets heavy. At the base of the bottle there are serrated marks to give it a little more grip when you set it on a surface. On the top, the aluminium cap screws firmly around the bottle enough to seal it, preventing leakages, but does not make it so tight to be difficult to open. Helianthus • Sunflower • Tournesol • Girasole The Helianthus is the sunflower, but it isn’t the German name of it. The German name for sunflower is “Sonnenblume”. I suppose this shade of yellow is as sunflowery as it can get, reflecting pretty well the actual colour of the petals of a Helianthus. I seldom explore bright colours, but I actually like this one very much. The yellow is bold and strong, and while it is […]
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I hope you liked the first part of the Rohrer & Klingner Ink series. Today we have the next 3 inks in alphabetical order, being Blu Mare, Cassia, and Fernambuk. Rohrer & Klingner ink bottles are made of amber-coloured glass with an aluminium screw cap. The reason why some ink suppliers like to fill their inks in amber glass is that some inks may be photosensitive, which means that they might degrade or change in colour over time, when exposed to light. It usually isn’t as bad as it sounds, but if you are very particular about it, just don’t store your inks under bright sunlight and you would do just fine. Blu Mare • Sea Bluish • Bleu Marin • Blu Mare I get a little confused over the naming of the Rohrer & Klingner inks at times. Here we have Blu Mare, which sounds like Italian for “blue sea”. But maybe a name is just a name. Blu Mare is a delightful cyan, a very bright and attention-grabbing colour. I would associate the colour to some of the gel pens we used during high school days to write girly notes to one another. In a more picturesque manner, […]
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Rohrer & Klingner Leipzig Co. was a cooperation between Johann Adolf Rohrer and Felix Arthur Klingner in 1907, in the German city Leipzig. The company specializes in making inks using natural materials and methods, and today, already the fifth generation of employees are keeping the company running. Rohrer & Klingner produces 2 kinds of inks which are safe to use with fountain pens: writing ink and document ink. Many of their other ink types are pigmented inks, and not likely suitable for fountain pens. In this new series of ink introduction, I’ll be talking about the writing inks that come in 18 different colours, and I will run through them in alphabetical order. As this is just an overview, I am not going into the depth of the ink, but just providing a description of each ink and my own thoughts of each. I’d like to extend my thanks to Fook Hing Trading Co. for generously sponsoring me this entire set of inks to showcase on OFP. As usual, all opinions here are my own. Alt-Bordeaux • Old Bordeaux • Bordeaux Vieux • Bordeaux Antico This ink is reminiscent of wine, and judging by the name given to it, it is not […]
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Here is a fountain pen story for December 2015. Stories have been edited slightly for language and coherence. As it is the Christmas month, watch out for more fountain pen posts later on. Enjoy! The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword – Anton, Singapore My first contact with fountain pens was neither scholarly nor artistic. Sometime in year 2000, I was into survival gear, collected knives, and was interested in swords and stuff. I was an avid reader in self defence and blade forums. Then came the Sept 11th incident and thereafter, one couldn’t carry knives on board the plane anymore. Not that you could in Singapore anyway, but it also meant no Leatherman tools, nor Swiss Army knives. The self defence people on those message boards came up with the idea of fountain pens because of the sharp tip yet innocent and classy look, and one could easily apply the martial art techniques of Kubotan, which was commonly taught to police and special forces. Not that anyone is going to run into a situation everyday that needed such skills, but that’s what got me interested in fountain pens. I went to Montblanc at Takashimaya for the 149, when I realized that the price tag was immense! I had been […]
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Be blinded by the striking colours of the new Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop fountain pens! Pilot Singapore has generously sent me these pens to drool over and caress, and I got to keep one of them. I spent a long time deciding which pen to keep, and finally decided on the purple one as I don’t think I have a purple pen yet (I might be wrong… lost track of all my fountain pens). But keeping any or all of the colours was definitely possible, since they all look so gorgeous! As always, the condition I make to my sponsors for pen reviews is that I would like to provide my personal honest opinion of the pen, and this is the same case for this review. Pilot has in no way influenced my opinion of the pens. The Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop is the third series of Metropolitan fountain pens that were launched in October by Pilot. In Singapore, the Metropolitan pens are very popular especially among beginners, and even some of the more seasoned fountain pen users seem to like them very much. No wonder 3 full series were launched. These stylish pens are a refreshing change from previous Metropolitan (MR) series, […]
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