The Lamy Al Star and Papier Plume's Black Ink
For my recent birthday, my wonderful wife bought me a new pen. A silver-blue Lamy Al-Star fountain pen. This is the first fountain pen that I have owned, and I had been wanting one for quite a while.
The Al-Star feels wonderful. It's not too heavy but has a good weight when posted. It feels light rather than cheap. The barrel is also a great size. I don't like the large barreled pens that make me feel like I'm writing with a Crayola marker. Nor am I a fan of writing with something as skinny as a pencil. The Al-Star really hits a happy medium for a man's hand. The cap snaps onto the pen with a satisfying click. This is great, because I don't like to unscrew my pens. The Lamy is also beautiful. It has a see-through gripping section with tapered cuts so that the pen doesn't rotate while you are writing. This is a great feature for those who are relatively new to the fountain pen scene.
The Lamy brand is stamped into the Aluminum. What a nice subtle touch! The pen also features a large springy metal clip, which is by far the sturdiest clip I have had on a pen. I don't worry about clipping it to almost anything. A other notable design points are the ink window on the side that lets you see in a flash if you're running low and the two flat sides. These flat sides keep the pen from rolling off of your workspace, which is a welcome feature for those who don't like to post their pens.
One tiny gripe I do have with the pen. The Al Star is made of aluminum (hence the name), and aluminum is a rather soft metal. I've already gotten a few tiny dings on the cap from the pen being in my satchel. Now, the cheaper counterparts to the Al-Star are the Vista and Safari, which are the same pen but in plastic. The plastic versions surely would scratch and break more easily than the Al Star, but I do feel myself wanting a stainless steel version. Maybe Lamy will make one in the $70 range in the future. I do have to say, however, that the lifetime warranty more than makes up for the softness of the aluminum.
My wife bought the pen from Papier Plume. It's a great little pen and journal shop in the French Quarter at the corner of Royal and Dumaine. They have a wonderful selection for anyone looking for a pen that cannot be found at Office Depot. They even sell wax seals! The employees there are nice and knowledgable. I went back in about a month after my wife bought the pen to get a converter and a bottle of ink. I got my converter and ink along with a great (and educational) conversation about fountain pens. Back in May, they actually had a Homo Sapien Fountain Pen by Visconti. It's made of lava rock and costs $600! Someone actually came through and bought the pen. Anyway, the lady who was working basically told me that if I am satisfied with the weight and barrel size of my pen, then there is no need to buy a new one. There essentially is no "upgrade". I could change the nib if I like, but that's about all that might need to be done. I was impressed that she didn't try to upsell met to another pen. She did let me try out a few of them, though, in order to see what I liked best.
I wound up getting Papier Plume's black ink. They had blue and green among other colors, but black ink has always been my favorite. They bottle it themselves in the store. The bottle is quite an eyecatcher with the fleur de lis on the cap. The ink is quite nice and smooth. For only $7 I got enough ink to last me a long time.
My Current Lock Screen Background
I'm actually not experiencing any signal problems with my iPhone 4. I just thought that this was hilarious. If you want to use the picture for your own iPhone, just click the image below to see it full sized.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)