Waterman's 32A, Back in the Saddle

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.

Ink Review: Levenger Fireball

This has been the most difficult to photograph of all the reviews I have done. In the pictures (and I've taken many many pictures using different camera settings, lighting, etc.), Fireball comes off as a bright orange. And, while Fireball is orangy, it is much deeper and more saturated, so that at first and second glance it is a conservative red ink. As a friend put it, it looks like a weathered red, or a hot ember minus the glow.

Not wanting to scrap the review altogether, I have decided to post the pictures with the above comment. And, at the end, I have placed a color corrected photo, which although still not perfect, is a more accurate representation of the color in Levenger Fireball. Now, without further ado, the review:

Click for a larger, higher quality image.

I really put the steel toed boots to Fireball for this review. While I gave it the smoothest of roads to drive on, I gave it one of the poorest vehicles in my collection, a Parker 15 "Jotter." The Jotter has a tendency to thin my inks, leaving them shadows of their bottled selves. It also scratches from time to time. But, Fireball managed to rise to the occasion.


The name "fireball" for this ink is a bit of a misnomer. While the color is indeed a red-orange, I wouldn't say that it's the brightest of inks, hence why I called it a "conservative red." Aside from that, however, I found Fireball to be a very nice ink. It's well behaved in even my most troublesome fountain pen and has complex color.


Fireball flowed very consistently from my nib, writing well in a pen that has a tendency to thin my inks. As a result, however, there was a tiny bit of feathering on even the nicest of papers, in this review Clairefontaine 90 g. However, the feathering could be the result of the nib, which, as I mentioned before, can be scratchy at times.

I offer you my most sincere apologies for the inaccurate color representations in the above photographs. I have employed some very basic color correction on the below photo to offer a more accurate representation of Fireball. For what it's worth, however, you can take from my troubles that Fireball really is a complex color.


NOTE: I just found out that some time this year, Levenger discontinued Fireball ink. I got this bottle on the sale counter at the Levenger store in McLean, Virginia... there were none left. If you find a cache of it somewhere, please leave a comment to this post letting readers know where to pick it up.

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.

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.

GREAT Mail Day

Wednesdays are my days that never home, and I rarely get to open my mailbox till 10 o'clock at night. And yesterday, I really needed an evening pick me up. As luck would have it, it was a great mail day. Along with a package of new stamps, a letter from a pen pal, came a thick envelope from Karen Doherty of Exaclair, the U.S. distributor of all my favorite ink and paper products.


About a week ago, I responded to a post on the Quo Vadis Blog to receive a free Quo Vadis Habana notebook, for the purpose of reviewing it on Everyday Correspondence. Sure enough, that was in the package I received last night... along with a hefty Clairefontaine notebook, a pad of my favorite G. Lalo paper and two bottles of J. Herbin ink, Diabolo Menthe and Vert Reseda. When I opened the package, I ran my hands across all the goodies, as though my fingers were taste buds and the papers were prime rib covered in a delicious au jus.

Once I had taken it all in, I observed that all of the freshly arrived items were green, in one way or another. Then, I remembered reading on the Quo Vadis blog that Clairefontaine had recently changed the ink it uses to rule the paper to a more eco-friendly water-based formula that uses vegetable based pigments. This, to add to Clairefontaine's existing PEFC certification.


In simple terms, to receive PEFC certification, the forest from which the paper pulp was obtained must meet certain standards of sustainability. Oooooh, paper I can feel good about.


Although I look forward to reviewing the Habana notebook, my favorite of Karen's gifts are the pad of G. Lalo Verge de France paper and the J. Herbin inks. Frequent visitors may remember my adoration for the Verge de France line of papers, as I have it in both ivory and pink. But, I had no idea that it came in green! I'm so excited about it that I think I'm going to make a green themed letter in response to the pen pal letter I received yesterday.

Thank you, Karen, for helping to make a good mail day a great mail day.

Everyday Correspondence has no affiliation with Exaclair and the products it distributes. The free Quo Vadis planner featured in this post was given only in exchange for my agreement to review it on this site. All other freebies in this post were given freely and without strings.

Thanks, Karen!

In celebration of Bastille Day on July 14, the Quo Vadis Blog (published by Exaclair) gave away free J. Herbin ink samples in red, white and blue. When I saw a post about it by the Missive Maven, I could hardly believe it. I'm a J. Herbin ink loyalist, and I just about lost it at the opportunity to try another one of their delicious inks.

I ordered a bottle of Eclat de Saphir. And when it arrived, I was ecstatic to discover that the package included a healthy sampling of Exaclair products! Included were a pad of G. Lalo Verge de France paper, along with matching envelopes, a pad of lined Rhodia paper and a Clairefontaine notebook. So... I guess that means I'll be doing some product reviews!

I'd like to give my many thanks to Karen Doherty, Vice President of Marketing at Exaclair, for conducting this giveaway and being so generous with the samples of Exaclair products.

"Dear Avis, "

I caught a matinee of Julie & Julia on Friday, and it tickled both the side of me that loves food an the side that loves to write letters.

The delight of my inner foodie is obvious, the parallel stories of how Julia Child came to cook and another woman's journey to self discovery by cooking her way through Julia's cookbook. The part about writing letters, however, was a total surprise! It doesn't spoil the story to know, but the story of Julia Child's time in Paris was compiled (via Julia's autobiography) by sorting through Julia's letters to her pen pal, Avis, back in the United States. And, in the movie (as well as in reality, I'm guessing) Julia's letters play a critical role in her success publishing her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

On top of my general interest in letter writing, I found it fantastic that Julia Child wrote on Clairefontaine notebooks. In fact, the filmmakers approached the makers of Clairefontaine to obtain vintage notebooks so that Meryl Streep (who plays Julia) could use authentic paper in the movie.

Admittedly, it's not the kind of film one needs to see in a theater, but if you enjoy food and/or snail mailing, I recommend seeing Julie & Julia. Even if you're not interested in the content, you'll just love Meryl Streep's magnificent performance.


NOTE: Aside from my celebrity crush on Amy Adams, I have no affiliation with anyone connected to Julie & Julia. I also have no affiliation with Clairefontaine paper.