SusieG Studio

Update 08/15: I’ve updated this blog post to include a few findings from further tests and usage.

A few of you will remember in my previous blog post that I got sidetracked on my way to the pen show. I stopped at my local art supply store to purchase some art supplies. Thank goodness I was able to use a gift card towards the purchase. That meant I could still look at pens & inks at the pen show, but I had to be smart about my pen show purchases. It’s a balancing act for me when two hobbies collide for my attention and for my resources.

First off, I have to mention I forgot to take pictures. I don’t know if it’s a sign of my age where I’m becoming forgetful or I’m so engrossed at what I’m looking at. A few times I made a mental note to go back to the table, but never did.

My first stop was at the Truphae table. They had a special Pilot Kakuno pen that included a Nagasawa design called Sea Creatures. I had to get this as it’s related to beach/ocean theme. One particular item that was high on my wish list was a special engraved nib for the pen show. I made a stop at Pen Realm’s table. Kirk had engraved an eagle wearing sunglasses. Under the eagle he engraved the pen show and the year. Underneath was the number “250” to commemorate 250 year anniversary of American independence. Kirk had gold plated and stainless steel nibs on display.

I didn’t notice the details on this nib until I came home. On the left side of the glasses are the stars and on the right side are the stripes. Pretty cool, right? I swapped out a nib on my Franklin-Christoph 20p pocket pen to include this special nib.

Here is my haul from Sunday. It’s very sparse compared to the damage I did last year over three days. Let me be clear, I had no plans on purchasing a fountain pen this year. It wasn’t on my wish-list for the pen show. I showed a lot of constraint on Thursday, except for my Kakuno purchase. I had very little restraint on Sunday.

I stopped and looked at several pen maker’s tables and I could easily pick one that called out to me. I placed a few pens in my hand to see how they felt. After a while, they all started to feel very similar. Yes, I’m getting very picky at my age.

I ended up at the Zodiac Pen Company table. I immediately had two Cancer model pens in my hand. I have to admit, Bart’s Cancer model pen is just beautiful and feels really good in my hand. This model also has a clip. I put a bright and colorful pen back into his pen tray and kept this turquoise/gold/black pen in my hand. The turquoise was absolutely stunning. The pen blank is called Carson Thirty from Turnt Pen Company. This blank also goes by the name Atlantis Streetlamp. My pen has a satin finish which really enhances the deep swirls of colors and makes the pen look rich looking.

I’m beginning to see that certain pen blanks look really good with a satin or matte finish. I believe it’s certain colors or mixes that shows more depth with this finish. I like this look a lot.

Since I purchased a pen, it made sense for me to purchase a bottle of ink. I had stopped by to see Lauren at Lucky Star Pens. Lauren had collaborated with Colorverse (again) and created this beautiful glistening ink called Cosmic Violet. This ink was actually on my wish list to get. I purchased the ink and told Lauren I would be back in a bit with a sketch.

I actually needed a break from all the tables I visited and do a quick energy recharge. I went to the Vanness lounge at the lower level and found a quiet table to swatch and test the new ink. I also needed to fill my new pen with this new ink.

I quickly sketched out some circles and did my pen & ink wash thing in my pen show journal.

This ink has quite a bit of personality. It’s a blue ink. It’s a purple ink. It has blue shimmers. It has purple shimmers. I’m enjoying this ink a lot. From my pen & ink wash, you can see some lovely colors playing together. I think the best way to describe this ink color is…Blurple.

I have a good feeling this ink has some unique qualities and I don’t have a similar color in my inky stash. I plan on doing a separate blog post on this ink. It has really peaked my interest.

I was walking along the main aisle outside of the main venue when a display on a table caught my eye. Was that a pencil? Made of wood? I know that sounded funny. It’s a clutch pencil that holds 3.0mm lead. I have clutch pencils with 5.6mm and 2.0mm leads, but not in 3.0mm. I picked up this beauty in Purple Heart wood and it felt wonderful in my hand.

In the plastic container the refills are not pointed or sharpened. No worries. The clutch pencil has a sharpener built-in to the top cap. The metal cap unscrews and the lead is inserted into the opening in the cap.

A few twists in the cap and I have a decent point on the lead.

The only downside is the lead shavings are sitting inside the cap. I have to discard it before screwing the cap back onto the pencil.

I really like this 3mm lead. It’s not too thin and not too thick. I think I would have better control of my graphite sketches using this 3mm lead versus my enormous 5.6mm lead.

Since I’m on the topic of pencils, I did came across this interesting pencil at the Stilform table. It’s an aluminum body with a removable graphite nib. Wait, what?

I can grab the graphite nib or tip and pull it out from the body. There’s a magnet at the base of the graphite nib that snaps back into the body. Well, that is certainly clever.

I have to admit that I’m on the fence with this pencil. It’s a clever idea and looks really cool in my hand. I heard the graphite nibs can last 6 months or more. Depending on one’s use of course. An HB graphite nib comes standard with the pencil. They have refills that come in HB and 2B.

Here’s a sample of how this Stilform pencil performed on my Stalogy journal paper.

Compared to a true graphite pencil, I have to press down a bit harder on the Stilform pencil to get some shading on the paper. Using my new pencil clutch, I do not have to press down on the lead to create the dark shading. There’s a comparison under the Schon DSGN stamp. On the left is my new clutch pencil and on the right is the Stilform pencil.

I also noticed that once I sketch a few lines on paper, it’s hard to remove the lines using my tried and true kneaded eraser. I’ve tried using my MONOzero Elastomer eraser and it was able to erase the lines. I’m still wondering about That is making me wonder more and more the makeup of this nib/tip. I will report back my findings on this Stilform pencil.

Overall I had fun visiting the tables and spending time learning each of the exhibitor’s products. A big shout out to Dottie who opened my eyes to several tables I would have walked right on by.