Happy New Year!

Happy belated New Year to everyone! 

I'm a little behind due to a last minute attempt by the Mayans on my family.  I guess they were upset by the documentation of the battle to save Earth from the Destructor fleet and decided to throw us a nice dose of food poisoning.  Never fear- we all made it to 2013 more or less intact.  I was happy to come home from work yesterday and find my spousal unit up and moving around after three days of "an extremely low energy state".  That is a nice way to put it.

We'll never know what got us.  Was it the salsa or guacamole from our favorite Mexican restaurant?  The spring rolls from our favorite Asian place?  Our favorite sandwich shop?  Something lurking in our fridge?  We ate out frequently over a three day period before the buggies hit since we had a friend visiting from the east coast.  We, at least, were at home when it hit.  She was on a plane, but made it (barely) to the terminal before the full assault.

As this this was a less than inspirational message, I will leave you with a couple of cheerful images:

Number 1:  Svetlana Optima has dispatched one of her helpers to take care of the last of the Mayans hiding out in the jungle like that Japanese soldier on the island after WW-II.

You have to admit this image is pretty awesome!  Find it you must with a collection of other Soviet Cold War era postcards at http://www.mazaika.com/postcard/aerospace0.htm


Number 2:  Matching JINHAO Dragon's Descendent fountain pens that arrived the day before we came down ill.  Sure, they are a little garish, but this is still the Year of the Dragon.  The youngest nerd in the house, Claire, is a Dragon and so am I.  Can you guess which pen she chose?

We'll post a more thorough review later.  The first impression has been positive.  These lay down a very smooth and inky line.  However, mine needed help getting started again after sitting for a few days.  This is not a problem I've had with the more expensive TWSBI Diamond 540 that starts right up after sitting for a month.  I think a tiny o-ring may be in order to seal the cap better.

Notwithstanding dry start performance, these are full of Dragony goodness... and they have beady red eyes!  What more could we want in a cheap fountain pen?

I sincerely wish a great and healthy 2013 to all and look forward to blogging merrily on the Typosphere throughout. 

P.S.  The girls and I watched the first two extended Lord of the Rings movies before we were again fully functional humans.  They also received NOOKS conveniently loaded with the most current edition for Christmas.  I've been remiss in not recognizing the birthday of the true Lord of Middle Earth,  J.R.R. Tolkien.  Thanks for creating magic with the written word.

We Obviously Need More Fountain Pens

After viewing a Master Class at the Kauffman Center, MEK, the nerdlings and I dropped by the Pen Place at Crown Center in downtown Kansas City.  Yeah, that was probably a mistake.  But we came for ink and we left with ink.  Except for the Retro 51 glow-in-the-dark robot roller pen I picked up.  I'm a sucker for robots.

Anyway, here are some examples of the temptations of Pen Place.

How about an entire wall of ink?

I have also been known to get into total guy mode.  These Porsche pens are overstated, but I'm still in like with them.

As with watches, selling nice pens is all about the presentation.

Enter if you dare.  Pen Place is waiting for you.

Here is the new Retro 1951 pen.  It isn't a fountain pen, but it is heavy and rolls well.  It glows in the dark and is probably radioactive.  Did I already mention that I am a sucker for robots?  The notes are from a talk at TEDxKC 2012 and are the subject of recently released book on the subject of the half life of facts.  I recommend the talk and the book is getting solid reviews.

Im*PEN*ding Sense of Doom

This figure is done in an expressive and heroic Deco style, yet wears flares.  Nice.

This paper was a thrift shop find.  It's meant for inkjet printing.

Imagine hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pens and mechanical pencils in one place.  Pen Place also stocks lots of ink and doesn't hesitate to spread small samples for the customers.

Why, oh why did they have to tempt me with carbon fiber?

This is an over the top combination.  More carbon fiber and stainless steel... and I even like the orange sherbet parts.  It may or may not write well.  I could say the same thing about Margo, the gold QDL.  There are times where performance just doesn't matter that much.

Temptation, you are a cruel and horrible mistress.  As it turns out, these tarts run in the $300-600 range.  I guess I am not the only person with extreme tastes.

 And here we have MEK's TWSBI Diamond 540 and my TWSBI Montesa.  The latter is referred to as the "Buy One Get One Free Road to Ruin".  TWSBI recently ran a nice Facebook offer as a means to get rid of old inventory.  I do like this pen.  The refill mechanism on the 540 is sublime.

The temporary display stand is an especially tasty subject for a future post.

A Master at Work - Pens and Journals

My kids volunteer at a local living history museum, the Mahaffie stagecoach stop along the original Santa Fe trail.  Their last big event, The Wild West Show, drew participants from all over the Midwest.  This display belongs to a gentleman who participated in the two year reenactment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  Along the way, he kept journals with reproduction paper, binding, pens and inks.

Travel writing desk.  The books and paper are made from scratch.  The pressed marbled cover is a period reproduction.

Water reduced carbon black pigment inside.

Travel journal from the Lewis and Clark expedition reenactment.  Notice the compressed paper cover.

Hawk and goose feather quills.  The ends take six precise cuts.

He keeps a separate journal for events.

Reproduction ink and labeling.

So many pens!

New Writing Supplies...and a Confession

We'll start with the confession: my handwriting is really, really horrible. Below you will find recently acquired writing materials from an antique mall and estate sale. However, you should not expect this to result in a pencast on this blog. Yep, that bad. I can't draw, either – that's why I do photography.

The good news is that gingercat (Svetlana's codename for my youngest daughter) has artistic skills obviously not inherited from her parents. I helped her set up her own blog and she looks forward to productive pencasting after she overcomes first post writer's block.  My elder daughter was inspired by the quill and pen journals of a Lewis and Clark Expedition reenactor and may give it a try as well.

Estate sale materials from someone who did oil leasing and basic stratigraphy

I love these graphics!  Perhaps gingercat will make better use of these than I could.

The Royal QDL likes the new paper.  Sadly, it is still in need of cleaning and a more competent typist.  My wife loved the button.  She is a long time Beatles fanatic.

Tasty, and still ready to go after many years.

I work for a coatings company and am amazed this ink is in such good shape.

Gingercat and I looked for fountain pens at an antique mall, yesterday.  Junkies...

 Pen fans:  How old is this ink?  I also have a half bottle of Parker Super Chrome in blue.  The bottle isn't quite as photogenic and the tin isn't so great, but I'll post photos on request.

Once we have a pen to work with, we'll post the results.