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More coming (somewhat periodically)…
I’m expanding this Retrospectives to include recently inked pens, new acquisitions, music I am listening to and photos I’ve taken. This is in addition to a short reading list, links to minireviews, and what’s new with with my sponsors. Hopefully this means there is more value in these posts! :)
🗞 Articles I’ve read:
Tomoe River: The Full Story (Jacob/fudefan) ✑ There have been a lot of discussion around Tomoe River Paper lately but this is the article I find the most trustworthy (with direct contact with Tomoegawa). This also matches what I have heard (locally to me).
The joys of the returning pen meetup (JP/mnmlscholar) ✑ Good to see some pen meets happening again! We’ve been very privileged in the state where I am in Australia (WA). So far we’ve been covid free for the vast majority of the pandemic and so we only missed four of our monthly pen meets last year (and could have gone back earlier) and none this year. I need to write an article about pen meets, what to expect, what to bring etc,!
Ink Review #567: Rohrer & Klingner Leipziger Schwartz (Fountain Pen Pharmacist) ✑ I notices that this is an interesting black ink which I did my black ink comparison. It still feels black even though it has some colour and shading.
Ink Is Everywhere (From the Pen Cup) ✑ Short and sweet but I love this. Definitely do see ink everywhere!
🛍 Check out my Sponsors* and help out the blog:
La Couronne do Comte (10% off with MACCHIATOMAN10) ✒︎ They have sales on some old LE Montblanc inks and the 2019 Lamy AL-Star LE!
Pen Classics ✒︎ The newer Kawecos look great and the Papier Plume inks are always interesting.
Goldspot ✒︎ They have a sale on the Lamy Safari Mango and Turmaline gift sets, and the Pelikan M120 has a great price (and is a lovely pen!). Check our their exclusives as well!
Pen Chalet (10% off with MACCHIATOMAN) ✒︎ Always new sales going on. A great price on a Stipula!
Esterbrook Pens ✒︎ The recently released Aqua Estie looks great. Can’t wait to get my hands on it! The Gold Rush is also nice and sparkly!
Desk Bandit ✒︎ Troublemaker inks! These inks have always been difficult to get but Desk Bandit found a way! That alone is worth checking them out!
Bookbinders Design Australia (15% off code: BBDMACCHIATO) ✒︎ Sale on a lot of Pilot and Platinum pens with a great price on the Custom 823 and the Platinum Century #3776!
Pen Savings (12% off with MACCHIATOMAN) ✒︎ Excellent selection of Private Reserve, Monteverde and Noodler’s. My go-to for these brands!
ink’d Pens (10% off with LOVE MACCHIATO MAN) ✒︎ A newish pen shop to Australia! A new Diamine provider is great (surprisingly few in Australia) and the Ferris Wheel Press fountain pens which look interesting!
*Due to COVID-19 I have extended all sponsorships throughout the pandemic.
🖋 Recently Inked
Two of the new inks from below are inked up. Both are rather pale but Ferris Wheel Press ink is extremely pale (which I expected); I can’t imagine putting this in a fine or extra fine!
Ferris Wheel Press Sweet Honeydew in a Montblanc 22 (Broad)
(Sailor) Hachimonjiya Jellyfish Aquarium in a Retro51 Tornado (Extra-Fine)
🛒 Recently Acquired
I recently picked up three Sailor inks including Central Daimaru Ishikiriyama (dark blue-grey), Hachimonjiya Jellyfish Aquarium (light blue), and D's Stationery Gifu Iro Nagaragawa Kawasemi no Seiryuu (black/tall bottle). I also picked up Kyo-no-oto Moegiiro and Ferris Wheel Press Sweet Honeydew from Deskbandit (as well as 500 loose pages of original 52gsm Tomoe River). Finally I have three Esterbrook pens on the way (various degrees of on the way) and a Galen Leather 40 pen case! I’ll be posting photos of these or reviewing them shortly!
🎼What I’m listening to
Debussy’s La mer est plus belle que les cathédrales from Trois Mélodies sur des poèmes de Paul Verlaine.
I don’t talk about it much but I’m actually completing my Masters in Musicology/Composition. The topic is octatonicism and an early work with octatonic elements is this first song. Lovely ode to the sea with a really beautiful closing cadence.
Something a little more rich is Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings Op. 48 which has some memorable melodies and luscious string timbres.
I forgot about this piece for a while but just remembered it recently! A lovely work.
📷 Photography
I’ve been really enjoying photography for the past few years, especially (but not limited to) landscape/nature photography. These are some recent shots!
Shaded water with the hillside illuminated by the mid-afternoon sun produced a somewhat abstract painterly water with cool rocks.
Taken the same day as above. I’ve been to this location before but I really wanted a beautiful sunset and I definitely got luck this day! Was pretty difficult to handle the extreme dynamic range in this photo so it’s an HDR blend and a time blend (to better handle the sun).
Not too long ago I visited Rottnest Island off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia where I live. It’s a lovely relaxing, natural and refreshing place. So lucky to have such an untouched island right on our doorstep! Also home to quokkas (see below). You can see the silhouette of Perth city in the sunrise.
Curious and very friendly Western Grey Kangaroo with its somewhat older joey from the location of the first photo.
Sleepy quokkas from Rottnest Islands (the ‘rats’ or ‘Rott’ of ‘Rottnest’).Super friendly and all over the place. When they are sleepy they just stop and sleep wherever they are it seems (middle of the road, path or outside a shop).
⏳Coming soon!
I have a review of KWZ Aztec gold IGL up next. Then I have La Couronne du Comte’s Diamine collaboration inks lined up as well as two Esterbrook reviews coming as well. I will be mixing these up with some other stuff as well (such as a pen meet related article)!