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View Full Version : Jonathon Brooks: Opal Starlight



tandaina
July 2nd, 2014, 04:10 PM
So those who may remember. A while back one of the pen turners here posted this... Opal Starlight (http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/7261-Opal-Starlight?highlight=opal)

What you probably don't know is I am enchanted by opals. I love anything with fire and hidden depths. I like my stones complicated. ;) Diamonds show everything, far too simple. Opals? Opals are mysterious. So I looked at the photos, and looked... At the time I was trying to sell a bunch of pens to buy a Nakaya but no one was buying. So I dropped Jonathon a note asking how much that pretty opal/starlight pen was. His response was super reasonable for a hand turned pen made of custom materials. I couldn't pass up the chance to own a one of a kind pen that reminded me of both opals, and outer space (science fiction nerd that I am). So I bought it.

I asked Jonathon to swap the nib out for a black coated nib (very stealthy and looks lovely with the pen), and to send it to Dan (here at FPGeeks) to be made into an oblique cursive italic. Why? Well that's my daily writing preference. I have one by John Mottishaw (on my Nakaya) and one by Pendleton Brown (ground while I sat there). Both are divine but I am sort of collecting nib meisters at this point so I wanted a grind by Dan.

So Jonathon ordered the new nib (arg, waiting!) and was kind enough to make a new section so this pen takes standard #6 nib units, yes I can collect *more* nibs. The he sent it to Dan... More waiting! ;)

She arrived today. And I cannot for the life of me figure out how to photograph this pen. The material so stumps my camera phone that it can't even focus on it. (And it picks up finger prints like no one's business. Would a good coating of canuba wax help with that?)

The pen is a cigar, and the cap is really larger and longer than the body when all disassembled which is very different from my normal pens. But I like it.

http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-6n49MmT/0/XL/i-6n49MmT-L.jpg

It is larger than just about any other pen I own. (I own little pens). Here it is with my Nakaya Piccolo for comparison:

http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-3659WdT/0/XL/i-3659WdT-L.jpg

Not huge in length, though longer unposted than many of my pens. The section girth is the same as the Piccolo. When I first got the Nakaya I found it way too fat. That's no longer the case and that width has become my sweet spot. But it is hard to find a pen of similar girth that isn't also very long and very *heavy.* So I was delighted that the sections appear to be identical width. The advantage of the Opal though? It flares slightly toward the nib creating a very comfortable section.

http://tandaina.smugmug.com/photos/i-4M78rpZ/0/XL/i-4M78rpZ-XL.jpg

You can sort of see the material here, how the flecks of iridescence peak through the black. Despite the bright light the nib really is steel coated with black/grey. It fits the pen well.

The material warms in the hand and on a sunny day like today sitting in the sun... It got nice and toasty warm. The only metal here is the nib so the pen is very light, weighty pens make me sore so this is another advantage. The pen could be used as an eyedropper, but I'm currently using the standard international converter it came with.

The only thing that might be a turnoff for some? Capping and uncapping the pen takes something like 5 or 6 turns. I don't think I have any pens that can match the depth of threads on this one! This is not a pen to take with you to a meeting where you are going to jot notes and recap frequently. This is really a pen for extended writing sessions (which is what I was looking for) and I imagine with those deep threads it'll stay nice and sealed for a long time?

In super bright sunlight very fine scratches, or polishing marks are visible. I'm betting a little wax will buff these right out. And to be fair they are only visible in *very* bright sunlight like the kind that is currently blinding me. (But I live in the PNW now, so I'm not complaining.)

That's the pen. Lovely, inventive material that as far as I know is unique. A balanced, elegant cigar style pen and good attention to detail. And Jonathon was very pleasant to work with.

Now the nib: yes I've collected another nib meister. It is becoming like collecting signatures of famous people. Though I give the same specifications to each (15 degree left foot oblique, cursive italic with rounded edges) every interpretation of that is different. And that's the fun. Dan's nib is super smooth (which I asked for), and he hit the oblique sweet spot well. The line variation is so dang close to the one John ground for me I actually had to do side by side comparisons!

This is probably my first #6 size nib, I normally do much smaller pens and the nibs are all much smaller (the Nakaya is closest but even it is still smaller). This #6 is juicy. Very, very juicy. I like wet pens, tend to go for really wet inks... The first ink I tried was such a gusher in this pen (an Iroshizuku ink) that I was getting very little line variation. Wrote like a big fat BB. Switched to Omas grey which is generally a fairly dry ink for me and that works much better. So I'll be going for drier inks for this puppy.

Very happy with the nib. I think I will greatly enjoy writing with it!

And this sort of treat is why I really love the fountain pen community. Now I'm going to go get some work done with my new pen!

ArchiMark
July 2nd, 2014, 10:27 PM
Gorgeous oversize pen, tandaina...thanks for sharing it.

Think I get a pretty good idea of the iridescent quality of the pen material....and the dark color nib makes a very handsome combo...

Agree that wide barrel pens are great....

And if you like #6 nibs, wait until you try a #8..... ;)

Enjoy writing with this beautiful pen.....

Mark

Jeph
July 3rd, 2014, 12:32 AM
That is a really nice pen. I understand your problems with photographing it. I think this is one of those pens that just resists attempts to photograph it. Since you don't have any professional photography equipment I suggest that you try it in poor lighting. I am guessing that there is so much natural contrast within you pen that it confuses camera software as to what it should do. I know that it sounds strange, but in low, diffuse light (no flash!) the details might actually show themselves. The other option is to overload it with light but even if it works the picture as a whole will be kind of "meh" and you have to keep trying that until you get lucky.

john
July 4th, 2014, 07:51 AM
After watching the photos, make me wanna to own one:)

da vinci
July 4th, 2014, 12:53 PM
A lovely pen, great craftsmanship.

As you say Jonathon is very pleasant to work with. Hoping to receive a little something of my own tomorrow ;)

jacksterp
July 10th, 2014, 06:24 PM
Absolutely, positively stunning.

I think the pictures more than adequately show the beauty of the pen.