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I made a political diagram using dip pens and inks on a single delicate sheet of Tomoe River Paper. Check out how small my drawings are! This page shows them off here (and explains the diagram!). For more pics, and to read the article, go to https://medium.com/@even.aesphasian/3d-political-spectrum-4870f06f2f49 A list of inks used: J.Herbin's Stormy grey, plaituinum flame red, Monteverde red Diamine's Wild Strawberry Schaeffer's red Pelikan's Turquoise J.Herbin's Emerald of Chivor Iroshizuku's Kon Peki and Yama Budo Diamine's Terracotta Ancient Copper Apple Glory Sepia Noodler's Golden Brown, Apache Sunset, Diamine's Golden Sands Blue Lightning, Autumn oak Rohr & Klingner's Alt-Goldgrun Leipziger Schwarz Platinum Carbon Black Graf von Faber-Castell's Stone Grey J. Herbin's Perle Noire Noodler's Burgundy Noodler’s Yellow Noodler's Firefly

Since Omas and Visconti now have their own threads devoted to the topic, I thought there should be an Aurora thread for which pens you are using today. Let's get some eye candy going! --And since I now have an Aurora Optima again, here is mine! I wasn't able to upload a pic from my computer, so here is a link to the image: http://imgur.com/a/tcDL5

Hello, I recently found this forum and posted for the first time asking about a pen I had that was very special to me, which, unfortunately, I lost mere weeks later, after having it in my pocket every day for over 20 years (still reeling). Anyway, this community has been very kind and insightful to me, and since I am the furthest thing from a pen expert here, I want to offer whatever expertise I can to support the community. I am a professional studio photographer, specializing in high-end watch photography, as well as jewelry, pens, and other pricey objects (I have also worked around the world on commercial and editorial sets with notable personalities, and just about every style of photography you can imagine). So, I intimately know the difficulties most people encounter when photographing their favorite items, whether for sale or personal gratification. I recently rebuilt the studio for my watch retailer client, and am shooing 20-30 watches per day, which all feature difficulties like domed crystals, mother of pearl, facets, angles, curves, different finishes, moving parts etc. - meaning nothing even the most complex pen can throw at me can trip me up. So, anyone here who has questions about photography, or other photography dilemmas, should please feel free to contact me directly or post your queries in this thread, and I'll gladly offer my expertise. I can virtually guarantee that my advice and techniques would improve your photography more than any expensive equipment purchase would (equipment is the trap many amateur photographers fall into). I can help perfect your technique, identify your problems, interpret your light, whatever you need. Next time you are photographing your pens and are struggling to capture the images you want, please just ask, If you'd like see a very small sampling of my work, you can visit my website at: http://www.jamesburger.com. I hope to be of help. Best, James

Hello everyone! I'm Mike. I live in Denver, Colorado! About a year and a half ago I moved back to Denver (and the U.S. for that matter) from Australia. I am an engineer and was working in the field. Now that I have an office role I've dropped the field pencil and picked up the fountain pen...and I'm LOVING it! As engineers do, I've been researching to no end, learning as much as I can. I'm really glad I found FPN as it has been an incredible resource (unlike many forums out there...)! I also happen do be big into photography as a hobby! The Visconti Michelangelo rollerball was my first nice pen and it is what got me into writing more. I then found FPN and started lusting after many fountain pens and have since picked up a Lamy 2000 and a Visconti Homo Sapiens MIDI. Now I just need to practice my penmanship so I stop looking like I'm 4 years old. Here are a few photos and some non-pen related of Colorado too! _DSC1109 by Michael Patterson, on Flickr _DSC1110 by Michael Patterson, on Flickr _DSC1112 by Michael Patterson, on Flickr

Hello! At least I got a little time write. A couple of weeks ago I was looking after my first P51 and thanks to farmdogfan now I am a happy owner of this magnificent pen! The pen is a MKI aerometric with beautiful black body and lustraloy cap, there are no date marks but it has the basket clutch spring, and the black plastic ended converter so it is one of the early aerometrics (please correct me if this is not true). I have to admit that I really hated this design before (bad lasting memories from childhood using P51 fakes at school) and I was a bit afraid. And I never really liked the idea of a hooded nib……BUT when I saw mine that beautifully proportioned shiny black barrel, the heavy cap that feels machined, that somebody really worked on it. And that solid clutch ring that divides the pen compositionally it is perfect, it just gives the necessary amount of detail to the pen body without being just a "decorative" element. If you divide the length of the visible barrel when capped with the golden ratio number 1,618 it gives the length of the cap (I observed this on more Parker pens) and these were just the looks. Now to get to the tactile review. It just feels perfect for my hands, it is like a highly polished gem, jewel it does not feel at all like "plastic". The thickness is also extremely comfortable for writing in comparison the P75 seems a bit too thin for me. At 20grams the pen may seem light but not that light to feel cheap. Its a wonderful piece of architecture! Behind that streamlined body hides the technology, you know from the beginning that its an old pen but feels modern. It resembles pure elegance, professionalism in this minimalist design. I started to like this idea very much, that the nib is hidden, that only I know (from my colleagues) that there is a nice gold nib, most of them don't even recognise it being a fountain pen. It is like the pen reveals her secrets only for the user. As for the writing performance its smooth, wet, holds a lot of ink. I use it as a daily user because I'm afraid that my P75 is too flashy in many situations. Also as a comparison many compare it to the P51 Mustang but for me it is much more like the Mallard Steam Locomotive, as far as I know the most elegant and fastest steam engine. Some pictures of my P51: Have a nice day!

Good afternoon everyone. Thought I would post some pics I took of my 149 (first few are underexposed for silhouetting purposes). She's almost a year old now =) http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8702_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8703_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8734_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8741_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8747_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8771_1024.jpg http://maia.site90.net/temp/photos/montblanc/_DSC8778_1024.jpg Regards, maia

Well its my first official post! I am coming here for some help on a newly acquired pen. I purchased this one at Scottsdale Pen and Knife. Its a blue and yellow Monteverde Regatta. The shop owner explained to me that this pen was in a Doctors pen collection and was taken care of. I saw it in the bottom of the showcase and told him i would buy it without even trying it. its that beautiful (to me of course). Anyway... he didn't have any other information on the pen. I got it home and inked it up with Waterman Turquoise in a Monteverde converter that I got with the Intima I also bought. This pen is really smooth. like unbelievably smooth. I was wondering if there are any other Regatta owners out there that can help me out with more information on this pen. I have no idea when they were made, how much they were new, what nib size it has, or even if they are all this smooth. I would love to buy another one (or 12 lol) after the experience I have with this one. Thanks! JM

Hi All, After much internal debate, I've decided to buy myself a rather expensive pen. But you see, I can't decide which one. I know that I want an Italian pen. I wanted to know which one you guys think is better, the Visconti Homo Sapiens or the OMAS Arte Italina Noir. I also wondered if you guys could provide pictures of these pens for size comparison. This is a large purchase for me, so I want to do it right the first time. I have the option of getting the Maxi or the Midi in the Visconti, and I am a bit worried about the nib size in the Midi as it is a number 4. The Arte Italina Noir is the Milord size, but I can't seem to find pictures of it anywhere at all. I know that they only made 331 of the Milord, but someone has to have one. Thanks!

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/dorothy_notgale/FPStuff/WPCtr01.jpg Hello FPN, This post is just to show you a little tool I use to make my life easier. You see, I love little 5.5’’x8.5’’ notebooks (the one in the photos is an Apica CD-11). The problem is, I take very few notes and thus almost never fill those I use in school. While I like to save my old notes, I don’t like them in my repurposed notebooks o’ personal stuff, but tearing pages out of staple- or stitchbound notebooks can be risky. Nobody wants to lose pages from the back when tearing from the front. Enter my solution. I was in a craft store one day, when I happened to look into the clearance bin and noticed a Scotch brand wrapping paper cutter. http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/dorothy_notgale/FPStuff/WPCtr02.jpg They run a couple of bucks each. It slices the paper in a nice, clean line--cleaner than multiple scissors-snips--and is safe to keep in my purse. I just slip the tongue under the offending page, and the cutter glides up parallel to the binding. http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/dorothy_notgale/FPStuff/WPCtr04.jpg The cut edge makes a good marker for a margin, too. http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/dorothy_notgale/FPStuff/WPCtr07.jpg I hope this tip is helpful!~DorothyNotGale