The only May flowers are the ones I planted. I started May with a Shaeffer Taranis, sporting a medium nib. The Taranis was inked up with De Atramentis, Fog Grey. Personally, I would rename the ink “Blue Fog.” The pen performed great, and the ink impressed me.
Still inked up and in service are the Pilot Prera, Esterbrook J, and the Scrikss 419 (with red ink).
For the new month, I pulled out a 1950’s Parker Parkette. As with similar Parker pens of the era, the new Parkette sported a hooded nib. The Parkette is inked up with De Atramentis, Dark Green, because it is Springtime and if I had grass….
Yes, this is a Parker lever-filled pen.
In case you missed any of these last month…
- Storing Your Pen Up/Down or Somewhere Between. A topic near and dear to my heart. Mostly I think it is because I use vintage pens and some are in need of heat setting their feeds. My problems started last summer when my vintage Esterbrook and Duofold pens both decided to leak excessively into their caps…
- Happy Nurse’s Day – Pen Sets. “Nurse’s Pens” are a genre of fountain pens that were marketed to nurses throughout the 1940s and 50s, mainly by Waterman and Esterbrook. So why did nurses need specialized fountain pens?
- The Airplanes go up, and down, and all around with me and my pen aboard. When traveling try to carry or store fountain pens with their nibs facing up if at all possible. When flying, temperature and air pressure change quickly causing the ink to change, especially in volume. So how best to transport a fountain pen in a plane?
- Esterbrook M2 Aerometric Pen. Esterbrook introduced their first aerometric filler called “M2.” The pen sported a metallic cap and a funky plastic barrel, but otherwise a nice vintage everyday pen with a 1950’s nostalgic look.
- The Pens of Madman. Madmen, a show renowned for its attention to period detail which included a variety of era-specific pens. But where did they find the pens?
- Mabie Todd Swan Leverless. The Swan Leverless model featured a special filling system that makes the pen appear to have a blind cap of a piston for vacuum filler. Looks can be deceiving.
Two questions, are you enjoying the new background paper? I’ve used many of the new sheets in the May posts and as always, what’s in your pen cup?
Chronicles of a Fountain Pen 
Love the Taranis. Such an aesthetically lovely pen. The long twisting turn to allow the filling of ink is a little meditation moment for me. As you know, after dropping mine on the nib and damaging, I will never experience it’s true property again. But it works enough after a quick tine realignment to use effectively still. Got lucky in my naivety. Your other pens here? I’ll have to look those up. Interesting. This month? I have a dozen on the go. I’m using each to keep ink flow going. But I bought two new Legami notebook journals. So will really think about which ones to choose. Definitely the Osmiroid or Platignum italic ‘nib swap set up’ choices for one of them. And a pen that loves smoother paper like one of the two Mabie Todd’s for the other. Ink? Have some Visconti blue and red cartridges. So may use those in the Osmiroid’s. Diamine works well in the Swan Mabie Todd’s. So Oxblood and Sherwood Green. Or? May go hunt Waterman’s which I haven’t tried yet. Read here on someone’s blog that vintage pens love it. Great read again. All the best.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Taranis is a joy to write with. I was initially drawn to its aesthetics. I enjoy how it feels in hand as well as it writes. The other three. The blue pen is a vintage Esterbrook with a Osmiroid B3 nib. That nib is a specially made to fit Esterbrook. The Pilot (demonstrator) is a fave. It comes with a calligraphy nib and has been inked for +6 months. The red pen is Turkish. Very light and cheap feeling but writes well and I keep red ink in it. Best Regards
LikeLiked by 1 person
Italic rules in my writing downs at the moment. Prefer the finer nibs though. But the wider ones add to the overall build of imagery attached to words. Thanks for all your observations. I’m very interested now in Esterbrooks pens after your info on them. Priceless stuff. 👍 Best regards too.
LikeLike
I dislike having many pens filled at once, because I find it makes me feel anxious. So for this month, I have my trusty Uniball Signo DX 0.38 for journalling (dotted grid requires a fine nib), and my Lamy 2000 F inked with Pilot Blue for my morning pages (need a smoother nib and cheap ink for what’s essentially throwaway writing). Thanks for sharing your inked pens!
LikeLiked by 1 person
4 pens are my max. I use Pilot G2 EF and Ultra fine with gel ink for fine drawing. Fine nib fountain pens seem to hate me. Thanks for the comment.
LikeLike