Flourish Friday - Fountain Pen Follow Up

 This is my new and improved Namiki Falcon fountain pen.

I had purchased the pen nearly two years ago, because I was intrigued with the idea of a fountain pen with a flexible nib.  However, in the course of two years, I hadn't used the pen much at all.  I had hoped it would yield a nice contrast between thick and thin strokes, but that wasn't the case for me. The above photo was taken before I had the nib modified. The image originally appeared in THIS POST.  

After my initial blogpost about the pen, nibmeister Greg Minuskin contacted me about adding some flex and a needlepoint regrind to my pen.  This past summer I decided to finally do it and prepared my Namiki Falcon for the flight to Greg.

I am very happy with Greg's work! His turnaround time was speedy quick.  I am really pleased with the contrast between the thick and thin strokes.

I have been playing with the pen using Pilot Iroshizuku fountain pen ink.  This yummy color is Sweet Persimmon Red.  I purchased the ink at: JetPens

 To visit Greg's site and learn more about his services, CLICK HERE.

Greg is married to talented calligrapher, Janet Takahashi. To visit Janet's site, CLICK HERE.

Thank you for visiting!

I appreciated all the kind comments and emails this past week. :)

Go forth and flourish, friends. :)

Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Kuretake ZIG Pens

I recently received a new batch of ZIG pens from Kuretake. 

(Definitely, a good mail day!)

I was most interested to try the Cocoiro Letter Pen. 

This is the information for the Cocoiro Letter Pen as provided to me by Kuretake.

For a fiber tip pen, I was amazed at the thinness of line the Cocoiro could produce. Although it is a flexible, brush tip, it is a FIRM tip.   Anyone that struggles to control a brush pen, may enjoy using the Cocoiro.  I am able to write much smaller with the Cocoiro than with other flexible, fiber pens.

The ergonomic pen body gives a comfortable grip.

All the envelopes pictured are A2 (4 3/8" x 5 3/4").

The Cocoiro also writes quite nicely at a larger size. The page above is standard letter size, 8 1/2" x 11". 

I also had a chance to play with the ZIG Metallic Colours calligraphy pens, which I love. Kuretake has added a couple of new colors.  

In addition to the calligraphy tip, the metallics also come in a bullet tip. (ZIG Writer).

I've learned that Kuretake has introduced 4 new comic nibs, one of which is a G nib.   I look forward to trying them.

Update for USA Residents:
The ZIG Cocoiro Lettering Pen body and refills are available from Paper & Ink Arts here:

 Thank you Jennifer Allen of Paper & Ink for this information! 

For the Kuretake website, click here.