I'm so glad Martin Ferguson let me sneak in at the end of the day at the Baltimore Pen Show. In a few minutes, Martin was able to re-sac my current favorite fountain pen, my grey and red Waterman's 32A, armed with a delicious 14 carat gold flexible nib. I've sincerely missed writing with this pen. To welcome the 32A back into the fold, I filled the new sac with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil - my most favored ink - and wrote a letter to my pen pal in Australia on some smooth white Clairefontain Triomphe paper.
It doesn't pick up well in photographs, but Cacao du Bresil is one of those inks which evades classification. On first glance, it might look black. On second glance, possibly brown... or grey, maybe even sepia. It's very complex. Cacao du Bresil is the perfect color for the 32A, a pen from the 1930s which reflects the dignified austerity of its time. Seeing that I had a color scheme on my hands, I had to follow through. I bound the letter with a shiny Levenger clip, and packaged the letter into an envelope I made from a Waterman pen ad.
I posted the letter with a few great stamps. I hope this letter sticks out as much as my first letter to this pen pal, which arrived in much flashier packaging. It was a real joy writing this letter, I hope it's the beginning of a lengthy new era with my 32A.
6 comments:
Interesting! I haven't been able to get "into" Cacao de Bresil. It's probably my least favorite of all of my colors, and partly because of its evasiveness. It just looks too brown and blah to me, the way grey ink looks to most people. Ironically though I just love Grey Flannel (Private Reserve? I forget offhand), which is such a murky blech brownish grey! Or do you think that the pen is the culprit? I've only used Cacao de Bresil in thicker nibs, while the Waterman looks finer and smoother.
Oooh I love Watermans! This one looks quite delightful! I haven't tried Cacao du Bresil myself but so far, I have yet to find an ink I don't like!
I have to ask though, where on earth do you get such cool stamps from??
Love your blog :D
@Eliza, That's really funny, I was stuck between purchasing Cacao du Bresil and Grey Flannel. I still haven't actually tried Grey Flannel, but it's definitely on my list. I'm not sure the pen is to blame, I enjoy Cacao du Bresil in thick lines.
@Azizah, I always purchase my stamps from the USPS website. You can get all the current stamps, extra postage stamps, and recently discontinued stamps for around a dollar shipping. It's awesome.
Found your blog through the Geeks -- look forward to exploring more. HAVE to ask about the nib-clip, or whatever the adornment is, on the stationery shown in the photo above. Because in addition to pens, paper, and ink, so many of us love the cool office supplies! Thanks much.
Hi Carol! So glad you found your way over. The nib paper clip is a Levenger product. I picked it up in a Levenger store a year or two ago, came in tin of 30, I think.
Carol and James--they're called Page Nibs and you can get them here: http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=17-848|Level=2-3|pageid=6917
They come in handy for so many projects!
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