Phileas. What a surprise

Monday, 4:41 pm

Jun

23

2008

Meet my new object of unexpected pleasure—a Waterman Phileas fountain pen.

I did not expect to ever own one, even though I’ve eyed them in my various pen magazines over the years. They are relatively inexpensive pens, on the lower end of Waterman’s offerings. In my experience, usually you get what you pay for in a fountain pen and I’ve owned my share of cheap ones. And it all started innocently enough.

I’ve been without a fountain pen for a few weeks now. My workhorse of a pen, a Jade Green Sailor Magellan, started leaking like a sieve a couple of months ago. It was a simple matter of replacing the worn out ink converter. Nothing wrong with the pen itself. It took me a while to get a replacement converter. And then, it was time for some new ink. I’d used the last of my supply.

Finding a bottle of decent ink around here is no easy task. There are no stores that I’ve discovered yet that sell quality ink. Obviously, there must not be much demand for it in the general public. But, I valiantly sallied forth with hope in my heart. Stopped at Staples and they had one single solitary bottle of Parker Quink Black ink. Not a good match for my Sailor pen.

And then it happened. I raised my eyes a bit and there, sitting on the shelf, was a gift box with a shiny new Waterman Phileas fountain pen along with a bottle of Waterman Florida Blue ink and a converter and a couple of ink cartridges in pretty colors. Well, at least other than blue and black ink. There was a sign below the display telling me the gift boxes were on sale. Sharply discounted, even—as in almost giving them away. And I thought....well, it’s a beautiful looking pen and if it turns out to be a piece of junk, I won’t be out very much and I get a bottle of good ink out of the deal along with a converter that I can use in my other Waterman pen, which has been sitting dormant because I wore that converter out, too....

I brought the blue beauty home and filled her up. The moment of truth....the nib floated across the page as smoothly as any pen I’ve ever used. The terms ‘smooth as butter’ and ‘smooth as silk’ popped into mind. And that was surprise enough, but this is also a medium point nib and I am almost always a fine or extra fine nib kinda girl.

After a week of use, I’m completely sold. The Phileas is a great pen. I am still surprised. Cheap pens aren’t supposed to work that well. This one does. Writing with it is pure pleasure. The pen is perfectly balanced and comfortable in my hand. It delivers a dependable flow of ink...not too fast, but not stingy. Just right. And smooth. Soooo smooth. And really pretty. It just doesn’t look like a cheap pen by any measure.

If I’d known years ago what I know now....

Of course, when one has a delightful pen in hand, the next step is outfitting it with pretty ink.

I’ve been poking around online for ink. I think I’ve settled on a couple of colors. A Diamine ink called Umber—it’s a dark green, like the darkest green part of an avocado’s skin. And a pretty gray Sailor ink for my Sailor pen (called Jentle Gray). And Private Reserve’s Copper Burst and American Blue. They’ll hold me for a while. Maybe....

Oh dear

Monday, 4:07 pm

Jun

23

2008

The lad and his Dad are off to a not-so-auspicious start to their vacation. Their flight out of Boston was delayed a half an hour this afternoon and then cancelled. I haven’t heard any details about why, but I gather there’s not much hope of them making their connecting flight in New York in...oh...another hour, either. It’s a good thing they don’t have to be in Barcelona until Wednesday morning. This might take them a while....