Deep Thought

Fountain pen on cheap, feathering paper or ball point on lush, expensive paper?

Please, discuss.

Old Newspaper Font Download

My apologies for being so selfish. Old Newspaper, the font that won my recent poll for the new Everyday Correspondence header, is available for free download. If you care to use it yourself, you may download Old Newspaper via Fontspace.com.

Enjoy!

J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe Review on Clairefontaine Paper

image via

J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe is named after the popular French beverage that bears the same name, made from green mint syrup and either lemonade or 7-Up (I found differing recipes). In either case, the model for the ink is a very diluted green color, with bubbles.


The J. Herbin take on the diabolo menthe has many similar characteristics as the drink. The ink is very faintly green and I described it as "frosty" even before I found out that the drink it is modeled after is carbonated. Where the model and the product differ, however, is that I would describe the ink as a teal, with more blue than green. But, then again, I did find both to be refreshing.


The above image is my full page review of the ink, taken with a flash. Click for full view.


This above image is the same review, taken without a flash. Click for full view.


While writing on the wonderfully smooth 90 g Clairefontaine paper in my new Quo Vadis Habana journal, I experienced no feathering, no bleedthrough and no nib creep.

Overall, I found Diabolo Menthe to be a nice, cool, teal with a very wintery feel to it. While I don't think I will be using Diabolo Menthe as an everyday ink, and I don't have any current plans for it... I will think of something. After all, winter is right around the corner, and this is just the color ink to get me into the spirit of the season.

NOTE: Winter is my favorite season of them all, and I can't can't can't wait for it to get here.

Penmanship and Politics

via Letter Writers Alliance

Those of you dear readers that live in the United Kingdom are likely already privy to this story, but it was sure news to me here, stateside.

It seems that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has found himself in an extremely embarrassing situation. Attempting to do a good deed by writing a hand written letter to the family of a soldier killed in the the Middle East, Mr. Brown instead insulted the soldier's mother with his poor handwriting and a series of material spelling errors.

The situation has gone beyond one family's beef with Mr. Brown and turned into political fodder, readily used by Mr. Brown's opponents in Parliament. From the Daily Mail article:

Tory MP Adam Holloway praised Mr Brown's 'extremely good intentions' in sending letters to bereaved families of soldiers but added: 'It's sort of an allegory for the whole thing - very good intentions but the problem has been in the execution.'

'We can't write a letter correctly, we can't get the right equipment and as far as I'm concerned, we don't have the right strategy.'

The lesson: If you're going to write a letter, write it well.

Quo Vadis Habana Notebook Review

The crown jewel of last week's package from Karen at Exaclair was this new Quo Vadis Habana notebook. It's got a nice semi-flexible cover made with supple faux leather, as opposed to the smooth, stiff fake leather cover of a Moleskine.


To demonstrate the flexibility of the cover, and the size of the Habana's inside pocket, I placed my trusty little Moleskine inside.


Voila! It still closes... albeit with a little bulge.


Made from 80 sheets (160 pages when both sides are counted) of 90 g Clairefontaine paper, the Habana is also almost as thick as a 192 page Moleskine notebook.


And, the Habana also has a Moleskine style woven tassel, which I much prefer to the Piccadilly style ribbon tassel.

Well... that was quick. I figure that you can tell more about the Habana from looking at up close pictures that you can by me trying my hardest to describe it. But wait, you're probably asking, tell us more about the paper, that's what we really want to know about! Well, friends, for that you'll have to check back tomorrow, when I will post my J. Herbin Diabolo Menthe Review, as written on Quo Vadis Habana notebook paper.

See you then!

EDIT: Link to ink review now active.