Field notes notebooks

A little while ago whilst browsing The Fountain Pen Network website, I saw mention of ‘Field Notes’ branded notebooks. A small softback ‘memorandum book’, which I quite liked the look of. As with many things though, it is a case of only being able to admire such things at a distance. Being able to import products from America or Japan can often be so expensive in postage that it is just not worth it.

Apparently they are inspired by agricultural memo books in the US. A little promotional item given out by fertiliser companies and the like. They’re 48 pages of squared paper in a handy pocket size – 3 /12” x 5 ½” – and saddle stitched (stapled). Available in packs of three. Well, it now seems there is a UK stockist, the Design Museum, and better still available (I think) in their brick and mortar shop in London on Shad Thames (SE1 2YD). You can find them on the Design Museum shop website.

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At some point I will have to pop across and buy some, and then hopefully when I find some time review them here. Addendum: It appears The Paperie has them in stock too.

Time flies

Its been a little while since my last post, work has been busy and I've been on holiday. We made our annual pilgrimage out to Turkey, and it always provides a good opportunity to spend some time writing in my journal. There is always the dilema of which pen to take too. What is the best travel solution and what do you need to consider for transporting ink and pens when having to endure airport security. I stuck to my old formula this time around, a Lamy Safari and some Lamy black cartidges. The pen being empty when I fly out to avoid any leaks due to cabin pressure changes. I keep the pen and catridge in a zip lock bag just to be on the safe side though. Check-in was a pain. The usual long wait associated with budget airlines. But, security was a breeze compared to previous trips, or so I thought. Security usually adds quite a bit of time to that required to get airside. It didn't help that we were travelling with our little boy for the first time. A real recipe for stress. Much to our relief, there were no queues though and we went straight through to the x-ray machine. My bags went through and immediately a security guard latched on to me. 'Would you come this way please sir'. 'Do you have any sharp objects in your bag?' My first thought was I am going to have to explain what a fountain pen is, what the ink cartridges are and my wife will be annoyed about the extra delays. But no, its my little boy's bottle and food they want me to test personally. Ah well. Coming back, I left a half empty ink cartridge in the pen and it did leak a little. But only into the cap. Nothong to worry about. A little bit of kitchen roll mopped up the offending ink. What was amusing though was I paid lots of attention and thought on the air pressure change affect on my pen, but not on my little boy's bottle in my hand luggage. One wet bag and one wet journal.

Midlands Pen Weekend 2008

Don't forget, its the Midlands Pen Weekend this week. 20/21/22 June 2008 The George Hotel, Bird Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire

Great source for vintage fountain pen advertising

Yesterday I was doing some background research for a project at work - looking at the development of a few consumer brands during the last century. In doing so, I stumbled across an amazing resource, The Times Online Archive. If you are not already aware it seems that the Times has scanned in and digitised every single issue from 1785 to 1985 - 200 years worth of newspapers. They've obviously had some very clever opticial character recognition software which means the whole content is searchable too.

I did a search on "Parker 51", as you do, and was presented with an overwhelming number of results for the 1940s and 1950s. Clicking on one of the links takes you to a scan of the relevant page of the Times, allowing you to pan in zoom around. Instantly, I had access to look at some wonderful original adverts, like the Margaret Lockwood advert below from 1956.

Have a look and do a few searches. You need to register, but its very worthwhile. I think I may be busy for a while!

Lamy Studio Black review

A few years back, on my way to Bloomsbury Auctions to check out a few pens, I dropped into the Pen Shop on Regent Street. I was looking for a stub or italic pen. I tried a Parker Sonnet with a factory stub - I quite fancied the Laque black, but I could barely see any variation in line width. Next up was the Lamy italic nibs, and I was sold. I wanted something a bit more up-market for work rather than a Safari or Al-Star so plumped for the Studio.

I was intending to use an expressive nib after all and I felt the Studio a little more in keeping with that. At just £38 it wasn't too hard a decision.

Design The Lamy Studio is reminiscent of the Lamy 2000 fountain pen, a true design classic that has stood the test of time (another pen that I've wanted for a while!). The Studio mimics the 2000 with a relatively simple, functional form but this is combined with a few elements that feel designed for the sake of being unusual rather than functional. For example, the twist in the clip.

Overall though, I like it, it has a pleasing, quite understated feel, and looks a lot more expensive than it is. Design – 7\10

Feel

At first touch the pen is heavy. It has a good solid feel to it. Maybe a little too heavy - it depends what you like. The balance is reasonable, but not fantastic. It is a metal body, that has had a rubberised coating applied. I was quite concerned that this might peel away and 'chip' but four or so years on and it is holding up quite well. There is just a couple of pinpricks through to the metal where it becamce entangled in my house keys. I'm quite careful with my pens though. They are pretty much always in a pen case. But, if you throw your pens around a bit - bottom of a briefcase or bag, always in your pocket etc - then I wouldn't be too sure about the black version. The section is chrome. This is okay, but not great. It makes the pen quite slippery to hold. And its heavy weight doesn't make this any easier. So it is not a pen for writing and writing and writing. It can become uncomfortable. But, for the couple of hours I use it a day, combined with this particular nib, I'm happy. This might be a reason to choose the silver version. The cap is a push fit and pretty secure. It clicks into place when posting, and will stay there and rotate until you pull it off. The clip is good and solid and springy.

Dimensions: 139mm (5 1/2")capped, 156mm (6 1/5") posted

Feel – 7/10

Nib The Studio uses the same nibs as the Safari and Al-Star. This means you have a good nib range to choose from, and they're interchangeable. Don't like the width you've bought? £3 will get you a new one, and you can just pull them off and swap them round to your hearts content. The nibs are nothing special, but very usable. Stiff, steel and medium smooth.

The 1.1mm italic fitted in this Studio is a nice nib. It does have a tendency to clog with paper fibres from time to time, but very pleasing results can be had with the right ink and paper combination. This one is filled with Caran d'Ache Storm at the moment. An ink that I don't normally like the properties of (unlike Blue Sky which I love). It can be quite a dry unresponsive ink. But with this nib it is perfect, flowing well and helping the smoothness. Its a pleasure to write with. (17 Jan 09 - I have revised the nib score down by a point, I think I was being a little generous at the time) Nib – 7\10

Filling

The Studio is a catridge / convertor, and comes complete with a luxury convertor (slighty better than the normal Safari one, but only just). Using a screw mechanism, it holds a reasonable amount of ink. Lamy use a propriety ink cartridge so unfortunately you're limited in this form. Filling – 8\10

Cost

I paid £38 for this pen. That's a lot of pen for very little money. The nib is fairly standard, but its a well-built pen for the price.

Cost – 9\10

Overall verdict – 38\50

A fun, good quality pen at a good price - though not advised for copious amounts of consistent writing.

Great shop for pens in Clerkenwell

There's an arts and craft shop not far from where I work that's a little gem and well worth a visit: Stuart R Stevenson 68 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1M 5QA Telephone: 020 7253 1693

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As you'd expect they have a vast range of artist's supplies, craft materials and other such eye-candy but they also have a great range of fountain pens, inks and notebooks. When I last popped in their range included:

• Caran d'Ache pens, 'Colours of the Earth' ink range and their standard inks
• Faber Castell pens
• Moleskine notebooks
• Parker pens and inks
• Pelikan Future and Pelikano fountain pens
• Pelikan inks (including some of the more obscure bottles)
• Pilot pens - including the Vanishing Point, Pluminix, Birdie
• Porsche Design pens
• Rotring pens
• Sheaffer Javelin fountain pens - I'd not see these before
• Sheaffer Skrip ink
• Waterman pens and inks

They don't stock the whole range from each manufacturer, but they do have an interesting and varied line up. A few things that you don't always see elsewhere - such as the Pelikan Future and the Pilot Pluminix.

I just hope I don't turn into the nutter who wanders in every lunch hour and simply stares at the displays.