Pilot Grance and Iroshizuku yu-yake

Wow another letter and another post, I must be on vacation! But why do I only have the energy and motivation to get creative on the last days of my vacation?

Anyway here is today's arsenal.

Oh let me explain the bloody Mary. My friend John from Pilot Pens always reply to my posts on Facebook (after I get back from my 30 mile bicycle rides) that I should enjoy my mornings with a bloody Mary and a fine cigar. Well I don't smoke and I'm not about to start, I have enough health issues I've been handed via my DNA. I also don't drink except for a very rare glass of Riesling at a nice dinner out or a very small cup of fine sake. But the bloody Mary intrigued me, so John gave me recommendations for the recipe.  I've been enjoying virgin bloody Maries (Marys?) for a few days now. It does go nicely with letter writing, right along with coffee and some nice Hawaiian ki ho`alu music. Listen to my friend Ozzie, you'll know what I mean. But that's another story.

Anyway I thought I'd use a Pilot Grance that John gave me. I've had an all Sterling Namiki version for many years, but it's been sitting in my pen case in lieu of using fatter pens. But this this red Grance sorta looked like the color of a bloody Mary so...

I filled it with Namiki Iroshizuku Yu-yake. I thought of buying a bottle of a red Iroshizuku, but I'd probably never use it again. And the Yu-yake does look a little like tomato juice...sorta.

I wrote on a page of parchment paper from a pad. Don't always have to use fancy stationery though that certainly makes for a nice letter. I always start my letter with "Dear"... kind of the hopeless romantic in me!

The Yu-yake is a pretty nice match for the orange-ish parchment paper.

No auto correct. I need to get nice hard cover dictionaries and a thesaurus that will also enhance the top of my writing desk.

The problem with this pad was being able to tear the page away cleanly.

And it was hard to turn a "N" into an "A". There was a time when I would trash the whole letter and start over if I make a mistake. No more! Those mistakes in my opinion, add to the charm of a handwritten letter.

Since there is no matching envelope for the pad of paper, I used an envelope from a Korean Stationery store here in Honolulu.

I knew they would come in handy some day.

Always try to finish with a wax seal.

This one turned out less than perfect.

I'm hoping I can write a few more letters during the remainder of my vacation. Also I need to get some rest and get into a routine so I'm not too tired or busy to be "creative" when I'm not on vacation, that's the hard part for me!

I hope you all enjoy this letter and post. And John...

This one's for you!

Pilot Custom 823 with Iroshizuku yama-guri

                                                                                          

It's been such a long time since my last post here. Please forgive me!

I posted a tweet on Twitter jokingly that most of my posts on Instragram are food pictures. Then my Twitter friend @Inkophile replied back saying that she may have to remove me from her penlist. Noooo!!! But she is correct. So I told her I would write her a letter and post it here on my blog, so here we go!

There are several reasons I have not been writing. I'm still struggling with a lifestyle issue that's keeping me in the doldrums, still working on that. But another reason is I used to feel that everyone expected my letters to be written in a nice perfect script that I've developed a reputation for. This put a silly unneeded pressure on me before I even sat down to write. Then I'd procrastinate and well, not write at all.

This will stop now!

So I began my letter to Margana (@Inkophile)

I used a Pilot Custom 823 that was given to me by my friend John who is the sales manager for Pilot/Namiki Pens in the US.

I filled it with Irohsizuku yama-guri that I purchased from Honolulu Pen Shop.

Then I took out a set of nice hand crafted paper that was given to me a long time ago by my friend Corinne of Honolulu Pen Shop.

So I wrote and finished my letter, no need for me to divulge the details ;)

No fancy perfect script. No flexible nib fountain pen. No dip nib in an oblique holder. Misspelled words. Mistakes and all!

Quickly written, easier to put my heart on paper without tools or technique to get in the way!

Always nice to finish with a wax seal on the envelope.

I hope this does not disappoint!

I'm hoping to start writing more letters like this, it is one of my passions that I've been really bad at. I need encouragement though. You can find me on Twitter.

Thank you for reading and until next time I will always remain...

Faithfully yours!

Rodney
aka Greasemonkeyhands