It's Time Again!

[fpupulin]

Just spent my birthday, it is once again time to put my pens at work for Christmas cards. To have some hope that they could reach their destination on time, I'll have to put them in the mail before the weekend, so ... hand at work!

 

The Christmas tree, which will go on the front of the card, is taken up from a process that experienced a great vogue at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in northern Europe. It was a type of decoration that became known as decoupage, from the French word decouper, cut, since it is performed, in fact, cutting out the figures with scissors to obtain a kind of lace. The technique was widely used and it was also employed as an economical way to produce small portraits, in silhouette form, especially in the first half of the eighteenth century. The silhouettes theater, derived from the Chinese "theater of shadows", was successful in France in the last quarter of the Enlightenment, until landing at the Palais Royale in 1784.

 

I drew the decoupage profile with the lovely, really extra-fine nib, of my Omas New Paragon, using the ink that I have chosen as the most suitable for this pen, the Diamine "Anniversary Collection" Terracotta color. Then I filled in the blanks with a number 0 brush and with extra-fine nib (but a bit largest) of my Hemingway, dipped in Montblanc Hitchcock: it is the more "Christmas-red" ink that I know!

 

 

 

 

For the back page I designed, with the Hemingway and Montblanc Toffee Brown ink, a Christmas wreath. The word "Christmas 2016" is made with a Lamy Al-Star fitted with a 1.1 mm nib, using the Lamy Copper Orange ink in cartridges.

 

Finally, for the page that will be the inner right, I wrote the card with the Lamy 1.9 mm nib that my dear daughter Carlotta gave me last September, loading the pen converter with Hitchcock ink.

 

I printed, with our home inkjet, some proofs of the card, on thin laid paper. In the coming days, however, I will have some twenty cards professionally printed on a better and heavier paper.

 

 

 

 

The 7 x 5" envelopes, which I find locally, are produced in El Salvador by a company called Mivisa. They are of a beautiful ivory color paper, smooth but not too much, really perfect for the fountain pen. I wrote the names of the recipients with the Lamy 1.1 and 1.9 nibs, and the addresses with the medium italic nib of my Montblanc Dumas, loaded with Montblanc Royal Blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KaB]

Wow! Now this one could call 'the works'

[zaddick]

Beautiful work.

[T4TEXAS]

Very nice.

[Pen Nut]

Wow !! Just how do you get on your Christmas car list

[viju]

Beautiful..I wish I could write like that..

[Chrissy]

Wow !! Just how do you get on your Christmas car list

 

I was wondering that myself, and thought how can I possibly ask that question?

 

I was almost becoming brave enough to say please can I send you a Christmas card and receive one of yours in exchange, when I saw your post.

[Mulrich]

If we were organized enough to do Christmas cards this would put ours to shame.

[Pen Nut]

 

I was wondering that myself, and thought how can I possibly ask that question?

 

I was almost becoming brave enough to say please can I send you a Christmas card and receive one of yours in exchange, when I saw your post.

 

Think I would pay to receive one and forget the spirit of Christmas

[Barry Gabay]

Wonderful! I am always moved by your talents and your work. Thank you for once again sharing such beauty. It is especially interesting that you use a Lamy Safari along with a Hemingway and Arco. That is the sign of a true fountain pen devote. It's all in the feel and work of the nib, not the price. Your work has made my day. Thank you again.

[Nathanb]

Wow !!

 

Very impressive

[PAKMAN]

Beautiful!

[Tas]

Again . . .

[fpupulin]

Thanks to all for the kind words.

 

Dear Pen Nut and Chrissy, you will be most welcome in my meager mailing list... Just send me your mail address!

 

Barry, I absolutely agree with your appreciation of our passion as, basically, a feeling for nibs. More expensive pens, or new pens, are often just a great excuse to put a blank leaf on the desk and write something. Actually, I think that a pen that you like the most (for any reason, and often it does not depend on its cost) make you more fluent in anything a fountain pen can be used for. For almost thirty years, since I was twenty, I only had two Montblanc 149, my original EF (which I bought saving on meals for a semester...), and a BB from the early '90s. Then, progressively, I added some pens here and there, and now I have a discrete collection (from my point of view), with 15 fountain pens. I use all of them, and I would not justify buying another for myself if not for using it. I have EF, F, M, B, BB, italics, and stub nibs, which serve me for a lot of different uses: taking notes, more serious writing, calligraphy, and drawing. For some reason, I can not write well with oblique nibs. Often "high end" pens have better nibs, but not always. Also high end pens often have not so much nib variety to offer...

[pelman]

Wow just wow. I always look forward to your art - especially this time of year. Thank you for bringing some wonderful cheer. Maybe a card to Tennessee 😊.

[EdeIstein88]

Dear Santa,

im a good boy this year,

i always clean my pen,

never drop single pen this year..

i just want a christmas card from fpupulin...

please santa

[fpupulin]

pelman, Edelstein88, I'll be waiting for your mail addresses...

[SL_BRABUS]

Nice.... .!!!

 

Thanks for sharing......

[Diderot]

Be worth sending a self stamped envelope , it's that impressive.

 

 

[Dcharles]

Truly beautiful works of art, you are a very talented craftsman! I am sure that your friends and family look forward to this every year!