Ink Nouveau

J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink Rouge Hematite has been wildly popular as an ink....not so much for the crumbling brittle wax used to decorate the cap. It has been redesigned with supple wax, so the cap can be removed and replaced without affecting the wax at all. It looks new every time you open it. Well done.

This video was made back when we only had 160 ink colors, and even then the Swab Shop was a useful tool for comparing fountain pen ink colors. Now with over 400 and growing, it's become an indispensable part of the fountain pen community online.

If you've ever used Clairefontaine Triomphe, G. Lalo Vergé de France, or any other tablet of fine paper with a glued binding, you may have experienced some challenges getting a clean tear. This can be frustrating, especially if you have already written your letter and you tear the top of the sheet. I don't have any life-altering solutions for you, but maybe I have a tip or two in the video that'll help you out!

The Clairefontaine Twinbook is a new product to 2010, something unique but familiar. There is nothing in the Twinbook that's 'revolutionary', just very, very practical.

Rhodia came out with a new line of notepads called 'dotPads' for 2010. These dotpads are essentially the same as your normal Rhodia pads, but they have a new 'dot grid' ruling that's been quite a hit.

New for 2010, Clairefontaine has come out with a new collection of notebooks called Life.Unplugged. They are a series of notebooks covered in a rugged material, available in 4 different colors: black, red, green, and tan. For anyone familiar with the Clairefontaine Basic Clothbounds (which were around before the 'Life.Unplugged' brand), the notebooks have this same rugged cover material.

We started our business in our dining room, then moved it to our guest bedroom. It was a pivotal moment when I had to decide to take over half of my workshop to expand our retail offerings. Of course I laugh now because it was obviously soooo the right decision, but it was a hard transition at the time!

I've been hunting around for the best kind of lighter for doing wax seals, as I've been doing a LOT of them lately. I've tried matches, candles, butane camping lighters, cigarette lighters, and in a moment of desperation, even a propane torch. Though they all kiiiiiinda work, the butate lighter was the best. However, after burning through several of my wife's butane candle lighters, I wanted to find something more ideal specifically for the intention of doing wax seals.

The new Rhodia blank Webbies are finally out there! Though they aren't available yet in the US (they will be VERY soon), I was able to get my hands on one thanks to a loyal customer of mine, Isabel Vélez in Spain. She had access to them before me (crazy right?) and thought it would be neat for me to get one and do a review of it before anyone else, so here it is! Okay, so this isn't a formal review, more of just a preview. 

Something kind of neat that a lot of fountain pen users tend to do with written correspondence is to write the name of the pen (with nib type), the type of ink, and paper used at the bottom of the letter. There's no particular order, you're really just sharing the information with your recipient so they have 'samples' of the products you prefer to use. Since most of us pen fanatics tend to be spread far and wide, this kind of 'in your hands' example is a great way to share with your friends the products that inspire you while you write. Try it next time you write a letter!

On J. Herbin's literature, they state 7 seals per stick of supple wax, but I noticed I was getting more than that. I'm using a J. Herbin brass letter "G" (for Goulet!), which is probably average-small for all of the seals out there. I had a bunch of letters I was writing and I thought I'd grab the camera and time lapse the sealing I was doing to prove how many I could do.

I've gotten several requests to do a video for the fountain pen novice. So, finally, here it is - Fountain Pen 101. I cover the basics...what is a fountain pen and its components, how does it work, and how do you fill/use it.

Making a wax seal for your envelopes is pretty easy and a ton of fun if you have a couple of simple tools. All you need is sealing wax, a stamp (usually brass) with a handle, and a heat source (butane lighter works well). My source is J. Herbin, the French company owned by Clairefontaine. They've been making wax continually since the 1600's, and they have a neat product called supple wax that's flexible when hardened and can withstand going through today's mail system. 

If you own a cartridge/converter pen, then I don't have to tell you that one of the most tedious tasks is cleaning it out. You're sitting there, twisting and untwisting that stupid little converter over, and over, and over, and over....it's enough to drive you nuts. Well, there is an easier way!! Get yourself a $5 ear bulb syringe from your local drug store, and flush that bad boy out, just like I do in the video. It'll cut your cleaning time waaaay down, and bring your enjoyment level waaaaay up!!

Ever wonder how to use that last little stub from a stick of sealing wax? It's pretty simple really....melt the end of it and adhere it to the next wax stick! Watch the vid, it's short ;)