Goulet Pen's August 2011 Ink Drop - Part 4

Next up for testing from the August Ink Drop is Waterman Havana Brown. This is a very fine brown a little to the red side. I put it in one of my new Lamy Safaris which has an Extra Fine nib on it. This combination worked very well. The ink flows smoothly and is a bit wet, but it dries quick enough that even clumsy as I am, I had no smearing or smudging. This ink reminds be of the “Mud Slinging” Ink Drop from way back in December which was all browns. Just where on the brown scale this ink fits, I can't say. It became clear that it is reddish  when I saw the Montegrappa Bordeaux alongside it.

The ink that I paired with the Waterman was Montegrappa Bordeaux. I talked about this ink in the previous Ink Drop post. Before starting to draw with this ink I imagined that there would be a definite difference between these two inks. As you can see in the picture there is not much difference at all. I was surprised. It is true that the Bordeaux brings out the red in the Havana Brown and the Brown brings out the brown in the Bordeaux. You must peer very closely to see where one ink ends and the other begins. No doubt if I was using broader nibs the difference would be more prononced.

In the picture the Waterman Havana Brown forms the entry nodes labeled 3A, 3B and 3C and the paths immediately surrounding them. The Montegrappa Bordeaux was used for the outer layers. The two pens that I used are there as well.

This page is not a maze by itself. It is but one page of a four page maze. You need all four pages for it to make sense. I will be posting the entire maze in about a week.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 80

It is a day late, but here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version. There are only ten more pages to go!

Page 80

Here is the same page in the wild. Actually it is on the table I used when solving this month's Ink Drop maze. A copy of the first page of the Ink Drop maze is there and you can make out the highlighted pathways.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

Goulet Pen's August 2011 Ink Drop - Part 3

For the second page of my test maze that I'm drawing for the August Ink Drop I paired Noodler's Blue Nose Bear with Montegrappa Bordeaux. The Blue Nose Bear was already in one of my Pilot Vanishing Point pens, but the Montegrappa I decided to use in my Ducati Limited. An Italian ink in an Italian pen.

I already talked about the Blue Nose Bear in a previous post, but I will restate that used in a Fine nib on good fountain pen paper I had zero problems with bleeding or feathering. According to what I have read in reviews this can be an issue with larger nibs and different paper. This was actually one of Noodler's better behaved inks for my pens and paper because it dried quickly. Paired with the Bordeaux the Blue Nose Bear looks very much greener than it did with the Aurora Black.

The Montegrappa Bordeaux is a deep rose color. At first it seemed slightly wet and watery to me, but that feeling went away as I used it. There was definite shading even with a Fine nib and I would imagine that it would look great with a Broad nib. This ink took a little longer to dry than the Blue Nose Bear and as a result I had a couple smudges on the drawing. It is not a problem really, you just have to be careful where you rest you hand.

Montegrappa makes some amazing limited edition pens that cost an arm and leg to buy. Here is their site so that you can take a peek. I'm sure they are worth it, as long as they don't take my right arm. Even the production models are on the pricey side. Maybe someday I will win the Lottery and buy one of each. Until then I will have to be satisfied with the ink which is in my price range. With the Ink Drop discount I get for being a member of the club it is quite reasonable.

Anyway, here is what this page of the maze looks like with the pens I used beside it.

I will post a scanned and edited version of it after I finish constructing the entire maze.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 79

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 79

Here is that same page in the wild down at Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. This is either a miniature statue of a giant carrying a sailboat as Gulliver may have done in Lilliput, or a near life sized statue of a boy with a toy boat. The plaque doesn't say which it is, so I guess it is open to interpretation.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

Goulet Pen's August 2011 Ink Drop - Part 2

The August Ink Drop from Goulet Pen Company is entitled “New Kids on the Block” and features inks that are either new to the market or new to the Goulet Pen inventory. They are all new to me, so I've been having a great deal of fun trying them out.

For my first test maze I paired Noodler's Blue Nose Bear with Aurora Black, both in Pilot Vanishing Point pens. These inks are very different in the quality of line they put down. From the sound of that you might think that one ink produced a “better” line than the other, but that is not what I mean.

The Aurora Black is a true black ink. It is the blackest ink that I have ever used. On the Clairefontaine paper it was a true matter of Black and White. It very crisp. It would be a great ink to use for pen and ink sketching. Or inking in a comic strip. It dried very quick and I only had one small smudge on the three pages of maze that I have used it on. It is defintely a serious ink. If you are writing a letter to the editor or to your congress person and are not the type to use a canyon, you couldn't do better than this ink.

The Noodler's Blue Nose Bear is the latest ink in the “Black Swan” series that Nathan at Noodler's is creating. The series inks are concocted to have pronounced shading. Since I almost always use pens with Fine or Extra Fine nibs I don't take advantages of this shading feature. The Blue Nose Bear does produce a very soft line. This is what I mean by saying it is a different quality line. While the Aurora Black produces a snappy crisp line, the Blue Nose Bear has a soft nostalgic look. This softness may be caused by a design feature of the ink that produces a “Halo Effect”. On the Clairefontaine paper I didn't see the feathering I have read about online. Of course that is using fountain pen paper and a Fine nib pen.

Actually I was much happier with Blue Nose Bear than with Black Swan in English Roses. This is because the English Roses took forever to dry. It was a mess to use in drawing my mazes. The Blue Nose Bear behaves beautifully. It has not smudged or smeared at all in the five pages of maze I have used it on. The color is a bit odd and maybe not the best for a romantic epistle. For a letter full of nostalgic reminisces the soft focus line would work great.

Here is the first page of a planned four page maze.

Here it is again alongside one of the pages of my current big maze that uses the same inks.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

A Maze - Page 78

Here is the next page of my first maze. First the scanned and edited version.

Page 78

Here is the same page in the wild. This is a statue of Saint Clare of Assisi. She seems a bit taller than I would have thought. How do I know this is of Saint Clare? Well it is in Santa Clara.

And then there is this plaque on the fountain pool.

I didn't know this until just now, but today, August 11, is Saint Clare's memorial day. Here is a site that explains it.

Meanwhile tomorrow night there is a Street Dance in Santa Clara. Come one, come all!

I'll probably skip the dance. After all Saint Clare is the patron saint of television.

Here the statue is after sunset.

That's it for today.

Jonathan

Goulet Pen's August 2011 Ink Drop - Part 1

The theme for the August Ink Drop is “New Kids on the Block”. As the name implies the inks featured are ones that are new in one way or another. Some are new to the market and some are new to the Goulet Pen Company. For me personally, these inks are all new. Three of the brands are ones I have never tried. So I am looking forward to learning a lot about them.

The inks in the August Ink Drop are:

Aurora Black

Montegrappa Bordeaux

Noolder's Blue Nose Bear

Sailor Jentle Epinard

Waterman Havana Brown

Here are the samples lined up and ready for action. As usual Brian and Rachel Goulet have put together an interesting package.

For my tests I thought I'd do another multiple page maze. It will probably end up being four pages long, but I might get carried away by the color combinations this Ink Drop makes possible.

Anyway, that's it for now.

Jonathan