It’s a whole new month and the changing of the seasons is upon us, although you wouldn’t know it from the predicted temperatures for my area in the coming week – above 25℃ every day where it’s been closer to a comfortable 20℃ for the past couple of weeks. Even so, the mornings and evenings have that tinge of autumn to help us through.
My pens and inks for September happily span the seasons. I’ve got a russet pen with brown ink to summon autumnal feelings, but then again I’ve got an oceanic blue and a floral purple to remind me that summer hasn’t packed its bags yet.
This month I’ve decided on strictly Waterman products (thus the “ferryman” in my title) because I love my Waterman pens. I’ve actually been using these for the last few days of August so I already have some thoughts to share. Some of the eagle-eyed will notice these pens appeared in my previous post about my Filofax diary pages.
First up, I’ve paired my oldest, blue Hemisphere with Tender Purple ink. This is proving to be a troublesome combination which writes perfectly well for about 3/4 of a page, and then stops dead, like a very naughty horse refusing a jump. I’m going to empty it, rinse it out, and fill it again to see if there’s something up with the nib or converter. When it is behaving, this pen writes nicely with a fine line even though the nib is technically extra-fine. The Tender Purple is a nice, punchy shade which is instantly recognisable as purple. Some purple inks can head off dangerously close to the realm of burgundy whilst others verge on blue, but this is pretty much your standard purple, much as you would expect from a traditional ink line-up. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all need our standard colours, it isn’t always the time for fancy, nuanced shades with enigmatic names.
Another Hemisphere made it into the lineup: the Rose Cuivre which I’ve paired with Absolute Brown ink. Now, this one does put down an extra-fine line as befits its nib designation. Thus far, it is the combination I’m using most as it behaves well enough on all qualities of paper, even the choosy ones. I will say it feels slightly drier as I write than some of the inks I’ve had in my pens recently, not to the point where there is any drag as the pen moves across the paper, but I think it might not suit everyone. I’m sure there are more lubricated brown inks out there. As to the shade of brown, again it is middle of the road – it’s the shade you’d use for a tree trunk in a colouring book. Personally, I prefer the Graf von Faber-Castell Hazelnut Brown and Herbin’s Cacao du Bresil, but Absolute Brown is fine and dandy. It is the ink equivalent of the Fisherwoman’s husband in Dorothy Parker’s poem:
“The man she had was kind and clean
And good enough for every day
But oh, dear friends, you should have seen
The one that got away”
And now we must turn to my nemesis: the Exception. A thing of beauty, but such a wet nib that I don’t know if I can ever love it as I feel I should. Part of me wants to find a way to include it in my inky life, but I just can’t get past the amount of ink this nib wants to throw out, the thickness of every line, the inability of average papers to cope with such an ocean flooding over them. The amount of time it takes your writing to dry… This is entirely the wrong ink for the pen because, of the three Waterman inks I own, Inspired Blue is the one which suffers least from dryness. It is still a gorgeous ink, and I won’t pretend that I dislike how it looks from such a wet nib (once it has dried, that is), I just prefer it in finer nibs.
It’s so early in September it seems daft to be calling the pen and ink combinations a fail, yet I already want to change things up. Perhaps I will try out the Tender Purple in the Exception and the Inspired Blue in the blue Hemisphere and see if I am any happier.
Pam Alison Knits 
6 responses to “Who pays the ferryman?”
Thanks for this entertaining tour of your September line-up.
I wonder whether your blue Hemisphere might just have a blockage stopping ink from replenishing the nib and feed, or stopping air from going in the opposite direction. As well as flushing the section, you may find that soaking it in water overnight and a few shakes to clear any bubbles, might do the trick.
That’s a very good point, thanks. It does seem that the Tender Purple ink is “sticking” in the coverter so what you describe could very well be the problem. I aim to give it a good clean and see if that does the trick. I’m also considering inking up my Cross Beverley with the Tender Purple ink to see how it behaves in that.
It was interesting to read that you will be using Waterman pens and ink this month. I had 3 Waterman pens in my pen cup last month, a Graduate, Lauréat and Hemisphere. In transport my Hemisphere section broke in 2 . Fortunately it was a clean break, a bit of contact glue solved the problem, so far no leakages. My pens have medium nibs and behave well, they are good pens for daily use.
Oh, dear – a broken section has only once happened to me and that was on my Diplomat Traveller. It dropped from desk height onto a carpeted floor, but the section broke at the point where it joins the barrel. The main part with the nib was stuck in the pen lid and the screw section was stuck in the barrel. Not a happy experience. I’m glad you were able to mend your Hemisphere. If all else fails, nib replacements for the Waterman pens come as a complete new section and they’re not a horrific price, so that’s a possible last resort.
Love your After Eight tin. So useful!
Yes, I’m keeping my eye out in case they do one again this Christmas. It is fantastic for ink bottle storage – standards like Waterman and Sheaffer fit in there a treat. I copied someone else I saw on the internet using them the same way, so I can’t claim any credit. Plus, you get two boxes of After Eight mints in them which is, in itself, a victory!