After over-analyzing things on the pen front, I went ahead and picked up a Safari, to use up the stockpile of cartridges I have around. The Pilot carts are impossible to find around here, so they will resurrect my existing steel Pilot pen when I need a businesslike pen at hand.
The Waterman ink is evidently the renaming of their old "Florida Blue" color. Safe for vintage pens like the new green fellow sitting in the pen box, waiting for me to schedule a new sac-and-shellac surgery.
The real treat, though, is in the box. Is anyone else reminded of a comb feed? Those slits are pretty stylish in a contemporary-design way. Plus, it lets you peek inside...
"Sedate" is not a word I'd use to describe the Safari. Having grown up with Lego and still having *cough* a few bins of the stuff in our shed for the kids *cough cough* I actually like the primary colors and the ABS plastic shell. There's no mistaking that this is an inexpensive writing instrument, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. Little touches like the molded grip section and that chunky clip mean this is a pen meant to be used by little hands and big, and taken out in the world, not left on a shelf.
The cutout window is a nice solution to the problem of seeing how much ink is left, and the cartridges are generously sized, to say the least. I opted for the fine-sized nib here, since this will probably be a knocking-around, toss-in-the-pocket pen, and need to be miserly with the ink. A little testing shows it to be a "wet" writer, not scratchy. I'm looking forward to putting it in rotation, and since it's plastic, it can happily live in the flower frog/pen holder on my desk where it's close at hand.
Speaking of yellow, and re-purposed pen storage, this brainstorm hit me at the thrift store:
It's supposed to be a tray for making ice cubes for your water bottles -- narrow, to fit in the neck, you see. The perfect size for pens, though. It's currently modeling my assortment of cheapo Sheaffer calligraphy pens, the steel Pilot, and that red no-name one that decided to take regular ink-poos on my fingers. It's being punished.
Next time: flirting with tetanus!
5 comments:
Legos are a perfect comparison with Safaris! Like, as perfect as you can get. I would absolutely make a pen case out of Legos if I still had mine handy. (They're back home with my parents 2000 miles away unfortunately)
I got my Safari today and I'm pretty excited. I'll leave the rest for my next blog post though! Yellow was actually the first color I considered, but I figured for my first pen it was a little bit too bright and stunning.
Hmmm... that's a good/evil idea Nick. I like it. To the storage shed!
Personally, I prefer the Sheaffer NoNonsense, and their cartridge-filled school pens. I have never had one leak
I've got a Sheaffer school pen from the late 80's that was my one-and-only FP for the longest time. I bought the extra-fine nib, though, so it's a bit scratchy on bad paper (like the kind a student could afford.)
Never had it leak on me, and it's still a good little pen. It's the thinner style, not like the No Nonsense or calligraphy pens. I'll have to snap a photo of it. Just liberated another Ikea tray from our cupboard at home so now I have a place to keep it. :-)
Nice looking pen. I have to get one.
I like fine and extra fine nibs for daily use because of the lack of quality in every day papers. F & EF nibs seem to feather and bleed ink less. Obviously, there is not as much ink laid on the page.
I heard good and bad about the new Waterman Blue on FPN, but I have not found it to be any different than the Florida Blue I used. I think some are upset that a big US corporation now owns Waterman.
I too have a problem with getting Pilot cartridges. I mail order them because I like to use my Pilot pens -- even the el cheap one Target sells.
Good idea on the pen tray.
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