The Pull of Mountain Grape

Sometimes it’s the sight of a particular ink on paper that spurs a person to buy a fountain pen, maybe even two fountain pens. My friend Kathleen had no notion to buy and begin using a fountain pen before seeing a page of writing in the Iroshizuku ink, Yama-budo (Mountain Grape). Had the ink been blue, red, green or black she would probably have been unmoved and today still writing her cards and letters with a giveaway ballpoint from the local paint store.

Not long after admiring the mountain grape purple from Japan, Kathleen ordered two fountain pens. Sampling several from my pen rack she decided that the Lamy AL-Star and Pelikano Junior would bring her pen and ink dreams to life. Perfect choice of starter pens, both of them 99.9 percent certain to bring satisfaction. I always sort of hope that a good starter pen will encourage eventual upgrades and add another enthusiast to the fold.

The suggestion was for Kathleen to hold off on buying any ink until she had a chance to sample and play among the inks I have. Both pens arrived with cartridges and the Lamy with a converter as well. The green cartridges that came with the AL-Star turned out to be a keeper, a mostly ordinary green but in the Lamy smooth and flowing; a good standard green. The blue ink in the Pelikano cartridge got emptied down the sink, the cartridge well-washed and refilled with Yama-budo. Had she closed her eyes the smoothness of the Pelikano might have convinced Kathleen that she had an expensive Montblanc in her hand. I have long believed the Pelikano is an exceptional pen and there are few who doubt the qualities of Iroshizuku Yama-budo.

The three purple characters in the photo above are yama budô—mountain grape. I’ve always thought that Pilot does an excellent job not only with the quality of their Iroshizuku line but also in choosing names for those inks. Rather than a perfect description of the colors, the names are faintly poetic, or at least they are in Japanese. The Yama budo is an arresting color, even what some might describe as drop-dead gorgeous, but it does not look much like grapes grown in the mountainous regions of Yamanashi Japan. Not quite so much red in those grapes.

Here are some interesting tidbits about purple—ink or otherwise:

• The Byzantine Emperor signed edicts in purple ink.

• Purple is the color of the highest denomination poker chip worth $5,000.

• Purple coloring first came from a dye made of sea shells—the Mediterranean Murex. It took 10,000 Murex mollusks to dye one toga.

• Purple is associated with Thursday.

• A combination of the warmest color (red) and the coolest (blue), purple is thought to be an ideal color.

• Purple represents the planet Jupiter.

• The English word ‘grape’ comes from an old French word, ‘graper’ which was a tool used to harvest grapes.

The AL-Star Lineup

No question, I love my Lamy fountain pens. I’ve been using a Safari since December of last year, and a 2000 since March of this year. Both pens have brought nothing but complete satisfaction and continued admiration for Lamy design and engineering. True, I am not the biggest fan of steel nibs, but I’ve adjusted to my Lamy nibs over the course of using them. I have great respect for designers Wolfgang Fabian (Safari) and Gert Müller (2000), and am also a big fan of the Bauhaus principles of functionalism and simplicity.

The spotlight here is on what some call the upscale Safari, the pen introduced by Lamy in 1997, the AL-Star. Anyone looking at the AL-Star will see immediately that it bears close resemblance to the hugely successful Lamy Safari. The AL-Star was in fact designed by the same Wolfgang Fabian of Lamy fame. But he has made two noticeable shifts in the AL-Star design, perhaps both in the hope of giving the pen a high-tech look and feel. Side by side, the AL-Star is bigger than the Safari, but not in length, and not in weight. It’s the diameter that is bigger, and a close look at the caps end-on makes clear the difference in size. The other shift comes in the material. Unlike the Safari, which is crafted in plastic, the AL-Star is lightweight durable aluminum. I have the polished matte aluminum model, but it also comes in five other colors: coffee, blue, graphite, green and ocean blue. As for the shift to durable lightweight aluminum, Lamy indicated that they hoped to link the AL-Star with the prestige of high-tech industry. I would say they succeeded in that. Certainly, the designer has achieved the look and feel of high-tech. Despite the almost 100 year history of Bauhaus design as envisioned by Walter Gropius, the Lamy design looks as fresh as tomorrow’s bread.

Consider the ergonomic design of the AL-Star’s grip. Unlike the upper body, the grip is made of smoky-transparent plastic and ends in sculpted finger pads. The pen is amazingly comfortable in the hand, and at the same time provides grip-guidance for young, inexperienced users. Here again they succeeded, if we are to believe the Lamy label, which calls it “The most successful young person’s pen on the market.”

Like the Safari, the AL-Star measures 5.5 inches capped, and at 6.7 inches posted, is slightly longer than the Safari. The nib on the AL-Star is black chromium-plated stainless steel. It comes in extra fine, fine, medium and broad. The cap does not screw on, but clicks into place, and posted maintains a strong airtight seal. The top of the cap has cross-shaped slots cut into a black plastic disc, almost like a Phillips-head screw. I inserted a dime and turned it, but nothing happened. The clip is a repeat of the Safari design, black painted spring brass wire in the distinctive broad upturned design. The pen takes either cartridge or converter and the barrel has an ink window, which I find somewhat hard to read in terms of ink level.

Overall, the AL-Star is a tough and rugged design, with young users in mind, and only slightly expensive for a start up pen. It lists for about $40, but a better price is available from several dealers. I call the pen slightly expensive because the best priced start up pen in my opinion, is the Pelikano Junior for about $10-12.

Performance wise, the AL-Star is okay, but I am more comfortable with a medium nib, and feel the scratchiness of a fine steel nib a little bothersome. My other Lamy pens are medium and the feeling is smoother, more comfortable, providing a better flow of ink. Writing with a full cartridge I still get the feeling that the ink is low. Little wetness to the fine nib on an AL-Star. Unless you have a real bond with fine nibs, I recommend a medium. Hard for me to imagine what the AL-Star extra fine nib must be like.

Considered all around, I have to echo other opinions and say that the Lamy AL-Star represents good design, good engineering and strong manufacture. Great pen for a high school student.

Look here for earlier reviews of the Lamy Safari 1, Safari 2 and Lamy 2000.

Another Lamy Look

Thought it might be a good time to update my impressions of the Lamy Safari I bought and began using in early December of last year. I wrote a post about it at the time, sandwiching descriptions of the Safari in between some paragraphs about the pen store Kingdom Note, two J. Herbin inks, and some notebooks. To do the pen justice I should add some pluses to my earlier comments. The Lamy Safari is wildly popular and been written about in more than a few places. Now I better understand its popularity.

I learned from Ed Svoboda on The Fountain Pen Forum that it was in 1966 that Lamy shifted its design to a more modern, or modernistic look. The first of their pens to have the new look was the Lamy 2000 released that year. Lamy came out with the Safari in 1980 aimed at ten to fifteen year-olds, with the catch phrase, ‘individuality goes to school.’ Industrial designer Wolfgang Fabian got most things right with his design of the Safari, embodying bright color, strength, robustness, reliability and adventure. Comfort and function are key qualities as well. Like the Pelikano Junior (another design for students) the Safari has a durable feel, without a tidbit of fragility. The steel nib is obviously the same, and the ABS plastic body is good protection for those times when it accidentally falls to the floor.

With my stubborn attraction to more traditional fountain pen designs, I was late coming to the Lamy Safari. I wrongly imagined that its avant garde look was a flashy cover up for a poor or mediocre nib and writing quality. In that I was badly mistaken. When I first brought the pen home and sat down to run it through some lines and squiggles, I was bothered a little by the hard steel nib (M), and griped a little over the absence of flex, but looking back on my experience with other pens, I hoped that this pen, too would soften and develop at least a smidgen of flex over time. I have used the Safari for two months now—not exclusively or daily, but with regularity, and my hope has been realized; the nib has softened, and I can now sense a degree of flex.

I use a Waterman converter in my Safari, and that with the M nib gives me an excellent flow of ink. The line is very smooth. My feeling is, the wetness of the steel nib is just what I like and I’ve yet to see anything like smears or blobs on a variety of paper types. Initially, I had less success with the better grades of paper, and felt most comfortable writing on cheap white copy paper. That too has improved over time, and the pen is now writing beautifully in my favorite Life Noble Note. I tried it on another high quality Japanese paper made from sugarcane pulp, and the result is outstanding. My only regret is that the paper is lined, unlike my Life notebooks.

There is one part of the Safari I am not crazy about, and that’s the oversized pocket clip. It looks a little like a giant paper clip, and is extremely stiff (durable is probably the word Fabian would use). I do like a pocket clip, but most often rely on a pen case instead of my pocket. Despite this complaint about the paper clip-pocket clip, it’s hardly enough to stop me from giving the Lamy Safari a high rating.

Don’t Let ‘Junior’ Fool You

Despite a fondness for Pelikan fountain pens, I was late coming to the Pelikano Junior and didn’t discover it until late last year. There’s been no shortage of reviews, and I’m not really sure how I managed to have my head in the sand so long. But in that regard, the old maxim ‘better late than never’ has proven to be true. Don’t let that ‘Junior’ in the name fool you. The Pelikano Junior is an OUTSTANDING fountain pen in a number of ways.

Pelikan had children in mind when they went to the drawing boards with this one. They threw in all the obvious design ingredients that both appeal to and apply to children and the classrooms where they do most of their writing. It’s bright and eye-catching; it’s inexpensive and it’s simple design is both rugged and utilitarian. Underneath all that, Pelikan has maintained the quality they are famous for. In short, the Pelikano Junior lays a beautiful line of ink down on paper. It looks like a toy and it writes like a well-engineered fountain pen.

This is THE ‘starter’ pen for anyone with a mind to lay aside their ballpoint and take up a fountain pen. The lack of a pocket clip might bother some, but bear in mind that the Pelikano can bounce around in a bag or backpack all day long and come away unfazed. If at first you are put off by the fat size, chances are you will discover how comfortable it is once it’s cuddled nicely in your writing hand. The design is ergonomic and made with a grip that tells you (and children) exactly where to place the fingers for both comfort and effective writing. One my favorite features is the two rounded bumps or protrusions on either side of the barrel which prevent the pen from rolling off the desk or table. (The pocket clip serves this purpose on other pens.) Another clever novelty, one perfect for students, is the space for a name sticker visible inside the barrel of the pen. With only four colors available (green, blue, yellow and red) mix-ups are likely in a classroom or among siblings and the interior name sticker solves this problem.

The pen and cap are plastic with a rubber grip and a steel nib. Length is a hair over 5 inches (13 cm) with the cap on (unposted); 6 1/8 inches (15.5 cm) posted. The nib is a standard M, and is of two types: L for left-handed writers, A for right-handed writers. If you prefer a finer line try turning the nib over or upside down. The pen uses a Pelikan 4001 ink cartridge, which can be easily changed to a converter. The 4001 is available in eight colors: blue black, brilliant black, brilliant green, brilliant red, pink, royal blue, turquoise and violet.

I am crazy about the Pelikano Junior and would rate it five stars, but don’t take my word alone. There are other reviews you might want to have a look at. Try Unposted , The Fountain Pen Network, Writer’s Bloc, and Another Word for Nerd.