Pens and ink: Lamy Dark Lilac vs Violet

It's something we've all been waiting for and it's finally here, the special edition Lamy Safari this year is purple! Thanks for hearing our requests Lamy!! It's called the Dark Lilac and it's a gorgeous shade of dark purple. What I love most about the pen is comes with the dark clip and nib. Tt's also textured like the Lamy safari Charcoal which I really like!! (Andyes the charcoal usually also has a black clip, but my husband took this for experimentation and switched the clips to the silver colored one.) 

You can see the texture up close here (and yes I matched my nail polish to it as well ;) See my instagram account PensandPolish for more pen and nail polish matching :)

The Dark Lilac came with a corresponding ink color. It's been a sad year already with great artists passing away and recently Prince passed away too :( The tribute above is dedicated to him and I cannot look at this pen without thinking about the song Purple Rain. I also compared the Dark Lilac color with the Lamy Violet above, but the medium nib on my Lamy made the ink look really dark. So I did a writing sample of both inks with a 1,5m nib (took mine from the Lamy Joy calligraphy set, but you can also get them separately).

Wrote a few pages in my loving kindness metta meditation journal and you can clearly see the difference here. The Dark Lilac is definitely a lot darker than the violet and has more shading and sheen to it. Sadly there are no ink bottles of the Dark Lilac available in Europe (yet) so I can't do an ink swab comparison. Hopefully they will release the bottle in Europe at some point! But see a great inkshot review of Dark Lilac by Gourmetpens. And other great comparison reviews of Lamy Violet and Lamy Dark Lilac by the Clumsy Penman, the master "ink-fusionist" :)

As you can see I have been writing with them quite a bit, the cartridges are 1/2 empty (writing with a wide nib width also helps ;) An interesting fact you can see here on the right, the violet color clings more to the cartridge than the dark lilac. When you clean out and recycle a cartridge, it does clean out completely, but in use, it never becomes clear like the Dark Lilac on the left does. 

And with this little fun tidbit, I'm concluding this week's pens and ink :) Do you have a Lamy Dark Lilac? If so what do you think of it? If not, I got mine at the Penstore which has a great deal on it! You can also get separate nib units there, if you want them (no affiliation, I just like shopping there!). 

Next week more on Omas! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

namasté

Mailart Monday - Film Noir

The theme for our monthly ATC swap at Inkadinkadutchies was black and white this month. As you know, I really love color so it was quite a challenge for me. But I had an idea and have the perfect stamps from Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda to execute this. I made a series of 2 ATC's and a note card called "Film Noir"

The first ATC I made on photo paper. I stamped Hitchcock with staz-on black, masked it, stamped the birds and film strip with versamark and embossed it with WOW white embossing powder. Then I used black pear luster to give some shadow and definition. Rounded off the corners with a corner punch and that's it.

For the second ATC I used black paper and staz-on opaque and Brilliance white to stamp the stamps on. I embossed a few accents on Hitchcock with the white embossing powder and used white pearl luster for accents on the back ground. Then also rounded off the corners with the punch.

I made a card to accompany the set. Using black background and stamped the film border with versamark and embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I stamped the birds stamp over it with versamark and embossed it with white powder.  The Hitchcock  I stamped on a separate piece of paper with memento black and cut out and adhered on top. Matted the piece on white glossy card stock and cut the edges with a figure scissor. The white specs in the background are from embossing powder that clung to the paper and got embossed too. I think it gives it a nice distressed effect :)

Quite pleased how these all turned out! With just a few stamps you can make such different things and you don't even need color! It was definitely a fun challenge for me. 

The stamps I used are Lost Coast Designs Filmstrip Border, Carmen's Veranda Flying Birds background and Carmen's Veranda Standing Alfred Hitchcock.

Our next ATC swap at Inkadinkadutchies is "put a word on it" and you can sign up by joining the swap on the events page. You can use any stamps from Lost Coast Designs and/or Carmen's Veranda in your project (a minimal of one). If you live in the EU you can order them through Inkadinkadutchies webshop, if there are stamps not on the site they can be special ordered for you. Just use their contact form. 

Hope you'll join us at the next swap :)

Thanks for stopping by!
namasté  

Art Journal - Today is a gift

Recently we went to see Kung Fu Panda 3 in the cinema. I totally loved it. The movie was full with inspirational quotes, zen and mindfulness related ones that I would love to use in my projects. This quote is from one of the movies 

"Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery,
today is a gift,
that's why they call it present"
- master Oogway.

With yesterday being  Liberation Day, it is definitely a fitting quote!
 I wrote it down with a Swan fountain pen and AM turquoise Calligraphy ink on a background I had previously made. The background is a color wash with Distress Stains and glimmer mist sprays. Stamped over with Viva Las Vegas nibs and dip pen stamp. Also used impression Obsession Fountain Calligraphy pen rubber stamps. I stamped Lost Coast Designs Loopy Calligraphy background stamp with versamark on the edges and embossed with WOW violet interference. It has a nice shimmer to it!

I took a page in my art journal and decorated the edges as my Tip-in piece is smaller than the journal pages. I used Distress Stains, diluted with water and adhered with a brush on the page. Dried with heat tool and stamped with Brilliance ink, staz on and distress ink with stamps from Designs by Rynn (textures) and Katzetkraft (rounds). When I was satisfied with the look of it I adhered the qoute page on it.

This is the finished page in my art journal with a detail shot of the embossed parts. In the end I added some shadow to the lettering with a black fine liner. I love how the colors pop in the middle with the dark frame around it. 

A good reminder to treat today as a gift and enjoy the present :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

namasté 

Pens and Ink: Omas Blue Paragons with Sea Blues

At the Tilburg penshow last year I found one of my grail pens, an Omas Vintage Paragon with BB nib stubbed by Mottishaw. Such a beautiful pen body with a great nib! A few months later I had the opportunity to buy some vintage LE Omas pens from a collector and one of them was the one on the right, the blue marbled paragon with a b nib. So happy to have these in my collection! They both write really wonderful and I have paired them with turquoise inks.

The Omas with the BB nib has Omas Turquoise ink (I finally got a bottle through Akkerman in the Hague, but now they are all sold out everywhere it seems :( ) and I inked the Omas Paragon with the b nib with Roher and Klinger Blu Mare. Both are gorgeous turquoise inks. But I have to say that my fave pairing is this one:

Such a beautiful and unique nib - esp. since it's hard to get a pen worked on by a nibmeister esp. in Europe. So I am really glad that I got this one through Sarj Minhas at the penshow last year!

I try to write my daily loving kindness metta meditation to get a good feel with the pen and ink combo. I came to the conclusion that I need to have this pen in rotation more (and write more letters to use the ink up). And of course keep practicing my written meditations in my loving kindness journal. With that a more personal note...

Last sunday I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about compassion and yesterday there was a book reading both by Thupten Jinpa, the author of a Fearless Heart. It was definitely insightful and very helpful with my own mindfulness and compassion practices and trainings. He said so many things that struck a chord, it would be a very long post if I recited it all. But if I could choose of the things that really struck with me and which I want to share with you, is that when you set the "tone" in the morning for the day and reminding yourself of that intention you set, it will keep you connected and grounded with yourself. We often loose touch with ourself during the busy course of the day, and while you can always return to your breath to stay grounded in the moment, reminding yourself of the intention you have set from within your heart, helps to reconnect with your inner core and cultivates compassion. Compassion is a core value we all have, but it's also a choice to act on it or not. We just need to cultivate it more so it extends beyond a reactive setting and becomes more active and natural in our daily lives. So when you are dealing with difficulties/obstacles through the day and catch yourself thinking unkind thoughts towards another, try to turn it around. This is where Jinpa said to add "just like me" to your thoughts/intentions toward others. So for example instead of thinking "that bastard cut me off" and whatever profanities may come next, while in traffic, think "This person wants to be someplace, just like me. May they arrive safely to their destination, just like me." etc... This way we can connect to humanity, in compassion and kindness. And we also "set the tone" of the world around us and especially within us. 

Luckily I don't drive, but daily irritations towards your fellow human being, can be found anywhere!

It takes courage to be actively kind and compassionate (hence the "fearless"heart) but it's a choice none the less. Every morning I will try to set the tone from my inner core and consciously make the choice to engage and act with kindness and compassion. 

Tonight we will remember the fallen in WWII and we'll have a collective national silence at 8pm to remember the deceased. And tomorrow we'll celebrate liberation and life in freedom. It's a good moment to be reflective and think about what life in freedom means to oneself. And to me, life in freedom means to always have a choice, at every moment. 

And I hope we will choose to act with kindness and compassion towards one another. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week (...just like me :) )

Namasté

Mailart Monday - Ideas create the story, ART makes it visible

As you might know I like to collect and keep a lot of paper things in my "junk paper boxes" because of the "you never know" feeling. You know, that feeling that every piece is valuable, because that little scrap of paper would be perfect for the over all image for the idea you have for your mailart? That feeling causes me to be a hoarder and is creating space issues! Anyhow, that is a story for another time. 

On my cramped desks pace I have managed to make large collage panel pieces with random images like the one you see above. For this piece, I used a lot of my test papers as the back ground and added more scraps and bits to the collage. 

When I was satisfied with the collage element, I cut this huge panel piece into 3 postcard mail-able size pieces and worked on them individually.  I then added more color with rub on metallic pearls, rubber stamped images and some stencils prints to the layers. 

Finished close up piece on the far right: the blue haired girl is a drawing by Tara McPherson [sometimes I just want a hug] which is also in her coloring book. I made a stamp of with my Teresa Collins Stamp maker (still working on a review for that!) I also made that alphabet rubber stamp set myself with the machine. Every other stamped image on this piece and the next ones are from various stamp companies: Paper Artsy Hotpicks moths, Lost Coast Designs ATC background sets, Art Specially "men just Chill" set... I like how all the elements came together and how the Blue Haired girl is unintentionally centered in this piece.

Close up of the piece on the bottom: The Michael Jackson Thrilla stamp is hand carved.The city stamp is from Art Specially and Moth Stamp from Paper Artsy. You can see faint imprints from the Succulents Stencil from StencilGirl which are all over the other pieces as well. Wrote "Thrilla night" on it with a sharpie and went over it with a copper colored gel pen. To finish it off I added black smoke metallic rub on to the sides.

Close up of the piece on the top: The woman with wings was a test piece for this "Davinci's Muse" work I made for the one layer challenge at Inkadinkadutchies. I used both Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda stamps. Same other rubber stamped elements are used in this one as well. A more prominent stencil mark of the succulents was used here. What I like most about this piece is the stamp I used from Art Specially "Ideas create the Story, ART makes it visible" which essentially marks my experience with creating. This test piece was a journey to create the idea I had for Davinci's Muse. And in the end all the test pieces are a part of an idea turned into art as well. A nice artsy loop ;)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful creative week!

namasté