Lamy Vibrant Pink

The Lamy Vibrant Pink release was a few weeks ago now, and what a thrill. It's always exciting to see what the new Lamy Al-Star and Safaris are going to be, and even more to see how the ink is going to turn out. As retailers, we're doubly excited (dare I say anxious?) as we have to order without having seen the pen or ink. We received our shipment of pens and ink bottles, but the ink bottles went fast as we only got a small portion of our order. We have more bottles in stock now, though! It's a sign of how behind the ball I am that it's only now I'm getting around to this blog post - by the time our second shipment of ink bottles came in. I like to blame things on the baby, as she's mostly just smiley and not interested in defending herself, but of course I know these super mamas out there who are running businesses and bouncing babies and getting it all done even without a husband involved. In any case, it's a beauty of an ink! It's also a gorgeous pen - not an in your face bright pink, but a matte, metallic, rich sort of pink. The ink itself is definitely brighter. There is some sheen to it, but it's not quite as much as in Lamy's previous special edition Dark Lilac, and certainly not as much as in some of Sailor's inks, and you'll definitely need a wet pen for it. I'm sometimes a matchy-matchy person, matching the colour of the pen to the colour of the ink, although typically not. It's never a complete free for all when it comes to picking an ink for a pen, though - it needs to match on a more cosmic sense. For example, I would put black, brown, blue, or turquoise in my TWSBI 580 AL-Turquoise, but probably never a red or green (like a hunter green or olive green).  In a neon lime/yellow colour pen, I would put black, purple/fuschia/magenta, or possibly a green if it's the right shade. In a brown pen, I would definitely put brown, or also black, or green, but not purple or anything too bright.* That's all to say that I resisted the natural urge to put Vibrant Pink into my Vibrant Pink Al-Star, and put it instead into my Parker Sonnet. I have some sense of coordination (give me that much credit) and I put Lamy Petrol ink into the Vibrant Pink Al-Star. Of course I'm keeping both a bottle and a pen, despite pink not being my usual colour. I'm not really a completionist - I don't get a real sense of satisfaction from having the whole set - but I sort of like having some of these special editions around. I've mentioned a few times I'm trying to use these special edition things, especially the consumables, which has eased up on the whole stress of having to have things (if you have it and then you use it all up, do you still "have" it?? And why are we even stressing about our stationery??). It's fun! It's just a new bright or bold or dark colour for the year. But what I really have to come to like about these things are the vaguely fuzzy timelines I associate with them. I'll always remember my Neon Yellow Safari with our first early days at 906 Dundas West, or launching Noodler's Plains of Abraham just after we'd moved into our units here in Leslieville. While Naomi was born late last year, this Vibrant Pink will always be her first Lamy special edition.  

***

    Currently eating: lime Tostitos and salsa Current analogue project: knitting a scarf in preparation for next year's winter Currently reading: The Break by Katherena Vermette Current stage of studio shop renovations: Waiting for the engineer to return from his (second week-long) vacation (in four weeks) so he can sign off on a wall Current record for number of loads of laundry done in one day: 5 Latest heard from the mouths of babes (Caleb, while sleeping/dreaming): "The monkeys! THE MONKEYS!"       *Don't hold me to any of this. It can all change with the wind.