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Showing results for tags 'marlen aleph'.
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I still can't control them properly but every day I'm getting more comfortable writing with them: flexible nibs - or whatever you want to call them. Not so many years ago, when one came in my possession, I just played a bit with it and then sold it on as soon as possible, trying to avoid the disappointments of my hamfistedness. All of them were on vintage pens; my first modern pen with a flexy nib was a Pilot Falcon - a lovely pen but using it I realized what other, more knowledgeable people meant when they remarked that modern nibs are just elastic. More recently, my first Nakaya was a Long Cigar with an elastic medium nib. I loved the pen and on a good day writing with it was like caressing paper with a brush but on a bad day I had difficulty controlling the nib. Still, I persisted and I think that it was thanks to this pen that I became more interested in vintage flexible nibs, to the extent that I not only have quite a few of them but also that quite often they're the ones I want to write with. A month or so ago, on an impulse I also got a Marlen Aleph, with a similar nib to the Nakaya but in steel. Naturally, I compared them to each other and to a couple of vintage pens that happend to be inked at the time. The conclusions: firstly, I'm faviourably impressed by the Aleph. Initially I found the nib rather too hard (probably because I was used to the quite soft Nakaya) but after some time it grew on me. Secondly, the Nakaya is a great pen but not one I should keep (in fact, as I'm writing this, it's on its way to another FPN member). I simply can't get enough line variation with it. Thirdly, when it comes to flex, vintage seems impossible to beat - and it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. I've just put a Waterman nib in a Jinhao pen, using the Jinhao's feed, and despite the improvised manner I did it, it works amazingly well and is moreover an excellent starter.
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This evening I inked a Marlen Aleph with JHerbin Éclat De Saphir and doodled on Tomoe River Paper. How fun! It performed quite nicely. Very little railroading and some lovely modern flex. Is anyone else enjoying this pen?