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The Meisterstück 149 Calligraphy Appreciation Thread


fpupulin

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@fpupulinThank you! Though at the moment I don't have the funds to get an MB Calligraphy (good I can't find one anyway), you do inspire me to get my vintage pens out for some writing! They are quite suitable too, as the nibs are fine and flexible. I recently grew to like the Leonardo Sepia ink, a bit similar to the inks you've shown above.

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Congratulations fpupulin on your calligraphy, it's beautiful!
I also have the 149 calligraphy, and now I'm going to learn how to use it.

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13 months now since I've been using the 149 Calligraphy flex pen every single day as my daily office workhorse writer and weekend flexy flourish writer, and it is as good as the first day I got it, in fact it gets better with age like a fine wine.  

 

I inked up my Waterman 52V vintage flex pen today, and I realized the 149 Calligraphy flex nib has the heart and soul of the vintage flex legends of the early 20th century.  Can you tell the difference?  Memorex or the real McCoy?

 

551332000_Montblanc149CalligraphyandWaterman52V.thumb.JPG.ad361474e88c8c2ec13f07f3fe622374.JPG

Waterman 52V with Parker Quink Washable Blue top.  

MB 149 Calligraphy with MB Royal Blue bottom. 

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On 3/18/2021 at 1:55 AM, como said:

@fpupulinThank you! Though at the moment I don't have the funds to get an MB Calligraphy (good I can't find one anyway), you do inspire me to get my vintage pens out for some writing! They are quite suitable too, as the nibs are fine and flexible. I recently grew to like the Leonardo Sepia ink, a bit similar to the inks you've shown above.

 

Really, my friend, if you have some good vintage flex nibs, you do not need a 149 Calligraphy. They do the same things.

 

But, said between us, I am really happy to have fallen into a dealer shop a year ago and have bought the only 149 Calligraphy that has ever arrived in Costa Rica ... It was a real stroke of luck!

 

Have fun with your vintage flexies!

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On 3/19/2021 at 9:36 AM, furiozzo said:

Congratulations fpupulin on your calligraphy, it's beautiful!
I also have the 149 calligraphy, and now I'm going to learn how to use it.

 

There is a bit of a learning curve with this splendid nib, furiozzo. I can see the curve just checking at the images that I posted on this thread. I would say that day after day, month after month, my 149 Calligraphy and I have become more and more friends!

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20 hours ago, max dog said:

13 months now since I've been using the 149 Calligraphy flex pen every single day as my daily office workhorse writer and weekend flexy flourish writer, and it is as good as the first day I got it, in fact it gets better with age like a fine wine.  

 

I inked up my Waterman 52V vintage flex pen today, and I realized the 149 Calligraphy flex nib has the heart and soul of the vintage flex legends of the early 20th century.  Can you tell the difference?  Memorex or the real McCoy?

 

551332000_Montblanc149CalligraphyandWaterman52V.thumb.JPG.ad361474e88c8c2ec13f07f3fe622374.JPG

Waterman 52V with Parker Quink Washable Blue top.  

MB 149 Calligraphy with MB Royal Blue bottom. 

 

I can only echo your comments, pen pal!

 

It is impossible to let a single day go by without using this unique pen! And you are right: the pen improves with time, or perhaps one simply gets used to the pen every day, and the pen to his hand ... But the result is still fantastic!


As I have read somewhere on this forum that Montblanc will continue to produce the Calligraphy nib, to perhaps mount it on some other pen, and hoping that the pens in question are not too "over the top", I am already saving for another...

 

Thank you for your posts.

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My refill of Diamine Golden Brown is finished, and my 149 Calligraphy will resume soon writing with a permanent ink. But in the meantime, I wanted to show you the results with the Golden Brown on different types of paper.

 

I found the this ink really fascinating with its beautiful shades, and easy to use with Calligraphy. Its only flaw is that it bleeds through virtually any type of paper.

 

Here the Golden Brown on a paper that I use frequently because I like its resistance to the line, its relative hardness and dryness, and the fact that it can be written on both sides without piercing with almost all types of inks: the Ingrés of Fabriano of 80 grams.

 

image.jpeg.d932ff085672055666e79c2aed0722de.jpeg

 

 

The Calligraphy nib manages not only to release an actually very fine line, but also to perform its variation in line thickness by releasing the ink in a controlled manner, almost without feathering.

 

Here I am attaching a couple of images of writings made with the Calligraphy on papers that I almost never use - they are too smooth and "buttery" for my taste - but which, obviously, are very well suited for calligraphic work and enhance the characteristic shades of the ink. The first is a bright white Bristol board by Canson, and the second the cream colored paper of a pad that I have owned for many years and that only bears the wording “Fountain Pen” on the cover, without any indication from the manufacturer.

 

image.jpeg.9381d50a8a427a30cce1cda24b223951.jpeg

 

image.jpeg.393854cdee9db4070fdfdd74d2e8aa5e.jpeg

 

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8 hours ago, fpupulin said:

 

I can only echo your comments, pen pal!

 

It is impossible to let a single day go by without using this unique pen! And you are right: the pen improves with time, or perhaps one simply gets used to the pen every day, and the pen to his hand ... But the result is still fantastic!


As I have read somewhere on this forum that Montblanc will continue to produce the Calligraphy nib, to perhaps mount it on some other pen, and hoping that the pens in question are not too "over the top", I am already saving for another...

 

Thank you for your posts.

 

FPUPULIN, that is good to hear Montblanc intends to continue to produce the Calligraphy nib.  I would definitely be interested in acquiring another one if it appeared in another pen.  How about a Calligraphy flex Bordeaux 146?  Wouldn't that be delightful.  :happycloud9:

 

Your thread has got to be my favorite to visit when I am here, love the magic you create with the 149 Calligraphy!  

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This thread is quite an inspiration, and a reminder that all art perhaps begins with a line; and the fundamental importance of mastering the line as the way to art.

Thank you all; and a special thank you to fpupulin for his sharing examples of his work,- examples that manage to lift the spirit in these times that we now live in.

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I sent mine back to Montblanc after reading that it's supposed to write like an EF without pressure (mine wrote like an architect M) here.

Edited by invisuu
I need to spend more time with the pen before assessing it. I might have been too quick to judge.
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14 hours ago, invisuu said:

I sent mine back to Montblanc after reading that it's supposed to write like an EF without pressure (mine wrote like an architect M) here.

Inspired by this thread, I got a 149 Calligraphy.

That said, being utterly ignorant about the technique and with previous MB experience limited to F and M nibs, the only fancy writing I attempted was the little exercise shown on the accompanying leaflet (A, B, C, a, b, c) extending it to rest of the alphabet. The result was satisfactory.

Next, I have been following the advice of some of the contributors on this thread to write with this pen, to begin with, much like you would do normally– for a while. And I have to say that the experience feels much like the usual EF/F nib. Perhaps in a couple of weeks or so, I might attempt more fancy stuff.

But I have no regrets on this acquisition.

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Well it really depends on ones' expectations and experience. I'd consider myself more experienced and having multiple flex nibs at home, I simply have more nuanced expectations than you, for example. At least that's what I get from your post, I might be completely wrong, I don't know you :) 

 

It's a tricky nib and requires one to really learn how to use it. Coming back to it I felt like there's something wrong with the nib, but after 2 days of using it I think I adjusted to the stiffness (or lack of, even compared to my other flex nibs!) of this nib and now I can write very well with it. So I have to retract my previous negative comment and say Montblanc did a very good job with my nib and that I am happy with it now.

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2 hours ago, invisuu said:

Well it really depends on ones' expectations and experience. I'd consider myself more experienced and having multiple flex nibs at home, I simply have more nuanced expectations than you, for example. At least that's what I get from your post, I might be completely wrong, I don't know you :) 

 

It's a tricky nib and requires one to really learn how to use it. Coming back

Well, I must confess that this is my 2nd flex nib, and my "ambition" is a rather modest one: just improve my writing a wee bit!

 

The first one was a Stipula, and I have not used it much beyond marking documents in red ink in the margin, no flexing exercises. I have a Conid with a titanium nib, and understand from some of the posts on this forum that it could be a flex, but I am not going to try and find out.

 

So, to sum up: you sure have a point!

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Newstudent, you have apparently forgot to attach the accompanying leaflets you spoken about. I am very curious to see your exercises...


I would guess that your “familiarity” with the Calligraphy nib would only improve its performance with time. Given that anything is right with your nib (I found very uncommon invissuu’s comment about his nib writing like an architect medium...), it will be capable of things on the paper that only the vintage truly nibs were able to do.

 

Montblanc is quite right in their information about the “metric” flexibility of the Calligraphg nib, stating that the strokes it releases go from .3 to 1.7 mm in thickness.

After 1 year of constant use, mine is in the range of about .2 to 1.8 mm when it flexes. I can actually go to 2.0 mm and the nib reacts wonderfully to such added pressure, but then the feeder touches the paper.

 

I use my Calligraphy for anything, from very minute writing for scientific labels, to everyday duties, as well as for calligraphic purposes. It is great at Spencerian and Copperplate, the latter with a base character at least 5 mm high. But it is also great for modern flex calligraphy and other, more “exotic” styles.

 

When at home, later today, I will post the pic of a text written with the Calligraphy in Romana Littera Quadrata Capitalis (or Romana Lapidaria), just to give you an idea of the great ductility of this nib.

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I agree the first grind was odd, but it seems I was not alone in receiving such a grind - there's another user that reported the same problem.

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8 hours ago, fpupulin said:

When at home, later today, I will post the pic of a text written with the Calligraphy in Romana Littera Quadrata Capitalis (or Romana Lapidaria), just to give you an idea of the great ductility of this nib.

 

This is something to look forward to.

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10 hours ago, fpupulin said:

Newstudent, you have apparently forgot to attach the accompanying leaflets you spoken about. I am very curious to see your exercises...

 

Well; I did not attach that bit, chiefly because it is only a good illustration of the well known saying that a 1000 miles (plus- in this case) journey beginning with one rather small step. But here it is, or the first bit of such doodles, along with the MB leaflet that guided me and the pen I used (but neither the pen nor the leaflet can be held responsible for the outcome)!

20210327_091933.jpg

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You will need some practice, of course, but I can see that your nib is in fact able to do very thin strokes and to spread under pressure. This is a good start!

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Calligraphy and Roman capital letters...

 

69C7D393-38DC-4AB4-8BB8-641104EE073C.thumb.jpeg.73d850c909459346499cc6993d90bc75.jpeg

 

I wrote the text dipping the pen in Diamine Oxblood ink.

 

The word SCRIBERE was then covered with thin layers of gold made with a felt pen, allowing a glimpse of the red ink here and there to obtain an antique effect.

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39 minutes ago, fpupulin said:

Calligraphy and Roman capital letters...

 

69C7D393-38DC-4AB4-8BB8-641104EE073C.thumb.jpeg.73d850c909459346499cc6993d90bc75.jpeg

 

I wrote the text dipping the pen in Diamine Oxblood ink.

 

The word SCRIBERE was then covered with thin layers of gold made with a felt pen, allowing a glimpse of the red ink here and there to obtain an antique effect.

 

A display of great skill: Inspiring as usual!

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