Messages

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Montblanc scandal??

« on: September 16, 2021, 05:48:37 AM »

Well, for me it would be ok if they are honest and specify that the limited edition is just the packaging and not the ink. I am always in the fear that if I purchase a limited edition ink and I like it, there is no more of it never! But... I would be really happy to purchase a beautiful bottle with a fancy sticker of "whatever cool thing 2021 limited edition" and then refill it with the very same "boring normal color ink" knowing the ink is the same.

But at the same time I would feel scammed if the next year I purchase the "whatever even cooler thing 2022 limited edition" with the promise of a new exciting ink, and it results in being exactly the same. That's not good! And for me it would end with no more purchases of that brand because I would be always thinking they want to scam me.

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2021 Exchanges / Re: Beacon of Light Exchange Sign Ups are Now Closed.

« on: May 04, 2021, 12:53:06 PM »

Whaaaaaat, wow, that is so cool! And you know what, I just smelled it and there was the faintest scent of eucalyptus.

And of course, my husband walked in the moment I had your letter up to my nose, haha! Thanks, Alba! That's a treat!

Still smells! Cool!! Hope you told your husband that smelling letters is a normal thing for crazy calligraphers hahaha!

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2021 Exchanges / Re: Beacon of Light Exchange Sign Ups are Now Closed.

« on: May 03, 2021, 01:15:45 PM »

@Inked botanicals Alba, yay! I got your beautiful letter. Love that quote. I'm adding it to my book of quotes to letter. And how cute is that leaf postage stamp. I wish our postal service was a bit more experimental with its stamps!

Great!!

By the way, that leaf stamp is supposed to smell like eucalyptus (they are getting very creative here!). They smelled when I used them, does it still smell? Or is the smell lost in the way? I am curious...

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2021 Exchanges / Re: Beacon of Light Exchange Sign Ups are Now Closed.

« on: April 25, 2021, 08:32:43 AM »

Oh Alba! Yes, I'm missing yours, Gloria's and Jennifer's, but I figured with international post. It was going to happen.

Let me know if you didn't receive mine. Happy to share a photo... sadly, I spent so much time on it, I wouldn't be able to recreate it easily. 

Ohhh I got yours already!! It's a real beauty!! (And we almost chose the same quote! But I changed it at the last moment! Haha!).

Mine should be on their way. If you don't get it, please tell me.

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2021 Exchanges / Re: Beacon of Light Exchange Sign Ups are Now Closed.

« on: April 23, 2021, 12:23:13 PM »

Hi! I am missing 2 also from list 1. But as I am in Spain and everything is always international for me I kinda was expecting some delay.

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Did vintage nib boxes came with samples?

« on: March 22, 2021, 08:46:15 AM »

Yes, the Perry 120 always seems to come with a sample nib on that little card.  I can’t remember any of their other boxes including samples, but I could be wrong.  However, I think the 120 box is probably the only box with the room to put a sample in, so that may be why.

Truth is the box is quite big! Thank you for your answer, Melanie!

I have never seen that before!  Nifty.  What's the Perry 120 like?  I have never used one.

It is very very fine. Not the softest, it is kind of hard. But has enough flexibility for an elegant copperplate. By elegant I mean: very fine upstrokes, not too thick downstrokes, nice contrast between thin and thick strokes, but an overall look of tall and thin letters.

Very cool! It's like an extra prize from the gumball machine!

Yes! I kinda got more excited about it than about the nibs I actually had bought! 

That's very cute! I've only seen sample boxes so far – or a box with just about 10 nibs inside. It was tiny (and very cute). I actually gave it away though .

Oh! That's tiny! Didn't know those existed! I have some little plastic boxes with 10-12 nibs from Blanzy (I think), but plastic is so less cute!

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Did vintage nib boxes came with samples?

« on: March 18, 2021, 02:05:29 PM »

Hi everyone!!

I have recently purchased a Perry & co 120EF vintage box and it came in the mail with a nice surprise. Inside the box (that was already opened) were the hundred nibs the seller promised and a different one attached to a small carton which seems like a sample. I have never seen anything like it in other boxes. I have found small papers with information on different nibs inside closed boxes before, but never an actual nib. Do you know if Perry included this samples in their boxes? Or maybe it just was stored there by a previous owner?

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gold ink/gouache/paint

« on: March 03, 2021, 01:21:27 PM »

and they don't look super special....until you burnish them!  and they will shine like real gold leaf.

That sounds really interesting!!

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gillott Principality clone nibs

« on: March 01, 2021, 04:21:08 PM »

So, being clones means that they all perform equally?

I have so many different nibs with similar shapes but with totally different performance that I have learnt not to trust shape.

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Design & Layout / Re: Centering

« on: February 26, 2021, 01:17:23 PM »

Once I had to do some diplomas that had a quite long text (a different one each of them) and needed to be perfectly centered and in a very limited space. And, if that was not enough, I had little time for them, so making them twice (one for measurements and the final one) was not possible. I ended up making a font with my own calligraphy in one of those websites that give you a worksheet for you to write on and then scan it, and the font is magically done and ready to download. I then use it to write the long texts in a word document, center and print. And then I just traced them with a Lightbox. The font making part was a bit time consuming, but in the end it was less time that it would have been writing them all by hand.

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Tools & Supplies / Re: Gold ink/gouache/paint

« on: February 26, 2021, 12:53:38 PM »

I love Finetec and they have quite a number of different golds! For those of you that don't like the mixing-and-painting-the-nib thing, you can dissolve the entire pan by letting it soak in a glass container or something with a bit of water and adjust consistency just once. Then it works lie any other gold ink.

When it is dry and new you can put it out of the plastic in where it comes easily. It is glued at the bottom, so you need to remove that glue. If the pan breaks it does not matter. When dry it does not stain, so you can touch with your hands and use whatever tools you need to remove it. Once removed from the plastic and the glue dot, you can let it soak with some water (don't add too much in first) in whatever container you use to store inks. In some time (maybe a day or two) it would be soft paint. You can then add water to adjust consistency and you will have a full container of liquid gold ink. Then you just will have to shake it a bit and ready to use!

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: Valentines, Returned Mail, & Clear Envelopes Sale

« on: February 23, 2021, 01:00:09 PM »

I had delivered one of those chewed up envelopes once for an exchange. I can't remember now exactly which one was it and from who, but I'll search for it and post a photo as soon as I can.

The envelope made its way from the USA to me in Spain. It came inside an USPS envelope that said something like sometimes accidents happen and they were very sorry. The original envelope was teared apart, but fortunately the damage was only on the sender address, so they could deliver. Pieces of the original envelope were inside also, and nothing seemed to be missing.

It's kind of sad receiving something broken. But truth is accidents sometimes happen. And it is good to see that there is someone trying to deliver it anyway they can, and handling it with enough care as to put everything into a new envelope to ensure nothing was lost. So in the end it's kind of a mixed feeling.

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: We have a New Superhero - Jean Wilson!

« on: February 20, 2021, 11:20:38 AM »

Congrats Jean! I think you have always been one, maybe not in numbers, but surely in helping everyone with your wisdom and experience. It's great to read you!! Keep going!

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Coffee & Nib-bles / Re: Calligraphy Crush Magazine

« on: November 05, 2020, 06:31:44 AM »

Was I the only one having a super fast look to see if I could recognize any envelope from pasts exchanges?? I have to confess that I was even a little excited to see if my name was in them! 

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Open Flourish | General Discussion / Re: We have a new SUPERHERO!

« on: October 25, 2020, 05:41:45 PM »

Yayyyy!! Congrats @AAAndrew !!! You share a lot of interesting info!! You deserve to be a superhero!