Atelier Winsonli

I have been looking for a red ink. Most brands make only Bordeaux inks which has either a purple or pink hue. I wanted to try some Japanese inks, so I went looking for Sailor and Iroshizuku. The former carries only a red brown which looks more like brown, and the latter was no where to be found in HK. I remembered that Montblanc carries a few red inks, the rose scented Love Letter Red and the vanilla scented Montblanc Season’s Greetings 2007.

The sales assistant was very helpful. She let me dip tested the inks. the Season’s Greetings 2007 is exactly the red I am looking for, so I got it. I also tried the new 2008 one which is a green, didn’t like it. I also tried the Montblanc 146 and 149. Very beautiful pens.

The ink is scented, but the only time you will notice the scent is when you refill your pen. This one is a bit expensive, and the bottle holds only 30ml of ink, compared to the 50ml standard Montblanc bottles. The bottle is very beautiful. This ink is a limited edition, but I believe there’s still a lot of stock. Still, I am looking for a substitute as I don’t want to use a limited edition ink as my everyday ink.

Haven’t blogged about these Lamy italic nibs which I ordered online a month ago. These Lamy Z50 1.1mm italic nibs arrived in a nice plastic case, totally unexpected. I practiced this Chancery Italic hand for a week only so please forgive the sloppiness.

A picture of the case opened below. It has five slots to hold nibs. In the picture are two Lamy fine nibs which I swapped for the italic.

Now my both my black and white Safari has a 1.1mm italic nib. The black one is loaded with Visconti blue, and the white one with Montblanc violet. My favorite colors.

Wanted a vibrant ink and I’ve heard good things about the Montblanc violet. So I got it. I was too excited to know how it write that I dip tested it at Starbucks

Good properties, vibrant purple. Makes Visconti blue look pale when compared.

By the way, haven’t updated this blog for a long time. I’ll have quite a few posts to make as I haven’t reviewed the Lamy 2000 yet, nor have I talked about the Safari italic nibs. I also got a white Lamy Safari mechanical pencil.

Gave the owl a Christmas hat, scarf and boot to celebrate.

I had to use this birthday coupon this month, so I paid MUJI a visit.

And I got a two drawer acrylic cabinet and a velour tray to hold my new pen. My stationery are much more organized now.

In the top drawer is my monthly planner and two Rhodia notepads. In the bottom one is a velour tray holding a Lamy 2000. In the pen case is my Lamy Safari collection.

I also took pictures of the Lamy 2000. When I was looking through the pictures I took, I noticed a lot of imperfections on the pen. I tried to calm myself, saying that the nib section is handmade so there must be some kind of flaws.

MUJI has a lot of new stuff for Christmas. A lot of wooden toys and stuff which makes a perfect gift. Took a few catalogs when leaving.

I have bought too much ink recently. This is the last one I’ll get in these three months I hope. Montblanc just called to let me know the 2008 seasonal greetings ink has arrived.

Anyway, I was looking for a blue which does not have traces of purple in it. After reading some posts on Fountain Pen Network, I decided to get this Visconti blue. I filled my Lamy 2000 with this ink and I was impressed when a pure blue line was laid onto paper.

From left to right: Lamy blue, Cartier blue, Visconti blue. Lamy blue is in cartridge. As you can see, the Visconti ink is much more vibrant.

I’ll post about my Lamy 2000 when I spend more time with it.

My entry won the Excellence Award for the competition. There is no champion and second runner ups, so that is the highest honor award. Three teams also got the award.

The award was presented today. I received a nice waterman ballpoint pen and some bookstore cash vouchers as prize. Gave an impromptu speech on my design. Acceptable I think, considering the lack of preparation.

Also learned that there is a Web 2.0 Technologies course held next semester. Would sign up if I can. Have to check the course details.

Cartier Blue ink for my about to come pen. I’ve ordered an extra fine nib Lamy 2000 and should get it tomorrow. That salesman said it is a good pen. Would talk more of it later plus update this post with scan of the ink in action.

Got a bit bored of the Lamy Turquoise so tried this Montblanc Bordeaux. I love the color, but sometimes it looks more like the color of grape juice than red wine. Anyway, there’s one problem with it. It looks a bit strange if I write a whole paragraph in this color. I’ll use it for writing notes on lecture materials.

Image from Lamy. After receiving my assignments which were marked with fountain pens, I wanted to get a better fountain pen. I have a several Lamy Safaris, but they have steel nibs and the line thickness won’t vary with writing pressure. This Lamy 2000 is their flagship product, having a platinum coated 14K gold nib. I think I’ll get one when I deserve a decent fountain pen.