Mahatma Gandhi ink

3 Comments / De Atramentis, Inks, Montblanc / / ,

If you are interested in fountain pens you probably came across Montblanc’s Mahatma Gandhi fountain pen. Keeping  in mind that Gandhi led a simple lifestyle, gave up unnecessary expenditure and promoted Indian-made goods there is a huge discrepancy between what he represented and what Montblanc’s Mahatma Gandhi pen stands for. No wonder this pen made headlines in several newspapers, including USA Today and The Guardian.

More affordable was Montblanc’s saffron coloured Mahatma Gandhi ink, which was released around the same time but sold out very soon. De Atramentis started selling an ink with the same colour and the same name. Even though there is a chance that Montblanc’s Gandhi ink was manufactured by De Atramentis I wouldn’t bet on it. Old Montblanc ink and De Atramentis inks are made in Germany, but as far as I know Montblanc’s old inks were made by Gutenberg [1]previously mentioned in this article – not by De Atramentis. Montblanc’s new inks are made in Austria.

De Atramentis’ Mahatma Gandhi ink is probably a copy of Montblanc’s ink, but it might be worth a try if you were keen on getting Montblanc’s Gandhi ink and missed your chance when it was first released. Unfortunately, De Atramentis’ shipping costs outside Germany are quite steep.

References

References
↑1 previously mentioned in this article

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Graf von Faber-Castell Pen of the Year 2011

3 Comments / Faber-Castell, Fountain pens, Graf von Faber-Castell / / ,

Sean from the Blackwing Pages just sent me this link with information about Graf von Faber-Castell’s Pen of the Year 2011. Just in time for Faber-Castell’s 250th anniversary the new Pen of the Year has a Faber-Castell theme: it is made from Russian jade and is green like the Castell 9000 …okay, I admit – maybe not exactly the same shade of green. Some other anniversary products this year are green, too – e.g. like Faber-Castell’s anniversary book mentioned at Pencil Talk, while others other not, e.g. Faber-Castell’s 250th Limited Color Pencil Box.

Graf von Faber-Castell’s Pen of the Year so far:

2001: Olive wood (at the time not yet called “Pen of the Year”)
2003: Snakewood
2004: Amber
2005: Galuchet (Stingray leather)
2006: Mammoth Ivory and Ebony
2007: Petrified Wood
2008: Indian Satinwood
2009: The Equus (horsehair fabric)
2010: Hunting Rifle (walnut and case-hardened steel)

I would like to thank Sean for letting me know about this pen.

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Staedtler historic pencil construction kit

9 Comments / Links, Pencils, Staedtler / / ,

Something very special:

This year Staedtler will offer a historic pencil construction kit. I have seen it in photos taken at their workshop and am really excited that it will be available to buy for those of us who can not attend the workshops.

For more information check this page on Staedtler’s web site.

Update: Staedtler’s German and Austrian web sites have a short video from a trade fair in Linz, Austria. This video  shows how to “assemble” Staedtler’s historic pencil. Unfortunately there are no English subtitles.

I really like that Staedtler refers to this pencil as being historic, instead of historical – because Friedrich Staedtler’s pencils of similar design are such an important part of Staedtler’s history.

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