Relevation: Regarding Noodler's rollerball preppys

The very first bottle of ink I got was Noodler's Heart of Darkness. I was desperately trying NOT to be sucked into the world of fountain pens and had ordered a few cheap pens from Hero off of ebay and then got HoD off of Amazon. Long before I got the Hero pens, I received HoD in the mail. Now if I had gotten the Hero pens first, and that was my initiation into the world of fountain pens, then I probably would have not been likely to be sucked in, at least not as badly. Those pens were pretty bad, honestly. But along with the 4.5oz bottle of HoD came a Platinum Preppy converted into an eyedropper fill pen. I was hooked.

At that point I had only the one Preppy and some lackluster Hero's. But after my collection started to grow a bit I wanted to experiment with the rollerball tip that was included with the free Preppy. It was a joy to work with, but I still liked the fountain nib to the Preppy better, so I put the rollerball tip away and enjoyed the fountain pen.

Fast-forward. In a new bottle of some regular Noodler's Black ink comes another Preppy with rollerball tip.  Wanting to save the new tip for later, I try using the old tip. Doesn't work. New tip? It barely works. What's going on? It took me awhile but eventually I dug out the original Preppy filled with HoD, and switched the rollerball onto that, and the fountain tip onto the one filled with Black. Yes! It works!

Why is it that the rollerball works so much better with HoD then regular Black? I truly don't know. Maybe it's because HoD is somewhat of a wet ink. Compared to regular Black, it practically gushes out of the Preppy on the fountain nib. I suppose that now I'm truly experiencing the fine nib on the Preppy with the drier Black ink. I'm not sure yet if I like it though.

Question is- why include the rollerball tip with the Preppys in regular Black if they aren't going to work? I recently gifted a bottle of Noodler's Black to one of my friends, and she experienced the same issues with her rollerball tip. I have a new bottle of Concord Grape that I haven't opened yet, but it came with a Preppy without the rollerball tip. What's going on?

This post has been long, and rambling- the point was that the rollerball tip works with Heart of Darkness and not with Black. If you've made it this far though the post- kudos. I've got HW to get back to.

My new pens came in!

The Noodler's Flex Pens I ordered last week from the Goulet Pen Company arrived yesterday, and I went to go get them at the post office this morning. I got Cardinal Darkness and Vulcan's coral. I thought I would like the Vulcan's coral better, but I'm actually quite fond of the Cardinal Darkness. It's lovely. I'll admit that the Vulcan's Coral is easier on the eyes though. The Cardinal Darkness is a cardinal (bird) red with black swirls throughout the resin. The Vulcan's Coral is not coral like I know it. Rather it's something between magenta and burgundy colors with white swirls. The tines spread out to about 1.5 to 2mm. I'm looking forward to giving these a test run. Now to decide which one to ink up first. =D

What also arrived with the flex pens was my new Lamy Safari. *Squeal* Haha. I wanted to experience the awesomeness of Safari, but I wasn't really drawn to any of the colors I saw on Amazon. Aquamarine is the limited edition color for 2011. The cheapest Safari on Amazon goes for about $25 for the color Charcoal. Lately I've had a weakness for nice bright colors. It also helps me find things in my black bag. What drew me to ordering one from this company is specially that they aren't raising the price of the pen just because the color is limited edition. I got this for $30, which is the same that they charge for all the Safari pens from their site. Lamy USA sells Safari pens for $35, which is the pen's retail price for all colors, but it only comes in fine, medium, and broad. The Goulets kindly let us pick which nib to buy with the pen, as certain nibs only come with certain pens, or sold separately (about $10 and up). Instead of getting the regular Fine nib that would have come if I ordered from Lamy or Amazon, I got to choose a italic 1.1mm stub, at no extra cost. This exciting purchase is going to allow me to experience both italic stubs and flex pens at the same time! I already have some Pilot Parallel Pens, in all the sizes, but I've found that while they're a little too big for everyday writing/note taking.

After getting the pens from the post office, I found that my regular hair cut place is closed on Tuesdays, so I couldn't get a haircut. So I bought a order of porridge from a little store on Clement st. and then made my way to the ocean.

 This is by sutro baths. I sat and watched the fog roll in gradually while eating lunch and reading homework.

At this point all I've had today was porridge, and later a Icee from Burger King. But since I've walked maybe 15 miles today. It's probably time for a nap. Or maybe more homework.

(I am not affiliated with the Goulet Pen Company, but I do think that they're awesome! =D)