The scent of dog roses seeps into the study in the evening.  Above is one of the bushes that is guilty of this lovely fragrance. In fact – there is a scent of flowers almost everywhere and it is hard to be really annoyed now – if one keeps one’s eyes open and the nose alert for all lovely scents out there.

I was very happy when I realized that my new, pink Lamy Safari and Pilot Pluminix were the perfect partners to the explosion of dog roses. When I further realized that both were inked with the perfect inks for a pink post I got even more happy; Iroshizuku Momiji and Diamine Claret. So, this time the flowers picked the pens and inks instead of the opposite.

The Momiji was sent to me by a very kind friend that thought I’d like it and it has a real special colour – hard to compare with any other ink I’ve tried. Pinkish, but not pink, warm, but not brickish. Not truly red, not real pink – somewhere in between and warm, warm, warm. I hadn’t even considered this ink before I got it – I thought it was the kind of pink-red that I usually dislike, but instead it proved me wrong. It is liberating to get one’s prejudices bashed from time to time. The only problem with my love of this original colour is the price increase on the Iroshizuku inks. (see discussions at Fountain Pen network here and Dizzy Pen here for example).

I’ve currently two pens loaded with this ink – the Lamy Safari with a 1.1 mm italic and a luscious flexy nib. It is redder in a wet nib, but still have its hard-to-define hue.Another feature is the colour shift that it goes through. When put to paper it is similar to the Diamine Claret featured above, but as it dries it transforms into this special warm, elusive colour. I’ve not used it long enough to do a full review of it, but so far it is very well behaved – both in the Lamy Safari and my Sheaffer with a flexy nib. It lubricate very well and makes both nib even smoother. I put it beside the Diamine Claret since showing the two colours side by side makes it easier to see how they look. Click on the pics for bigger versions. I think the colurs are rather well represented in these photos – at least on my screen.

While the Momiji is warm and elusive, the Claret is an indisputable cold pink/cerise ink – firmly rooted in the cold and the pink. The Claret is a fun and happy ink too, but they are very different. That both inks were loaded in one relatively unexpensive pen (the Lamy Safari) and a cheap pen made me happy, since it allowed me to feature two quite affordable pens. Both sporting italic nibs. In short I think that both gives very good value for the money. The Safari is an excellent pen for the price – well built, sturdy and the 1.1 mm italic is a real nice italic. The flow is good and the nib is smooth and allows rather fast writing without skipping. The Plumix – a little more than a third of the price of the Safari – also gives good value for the money, but it is indisputably inferior to the Safari when it comes to build and nib. Even so: the nib is very good considered the price and  it is a nice little pen which provides an affordable opportunity to try a decent italic without shelling out loads of money. It sports international cartridges – unlike Pilot’s more expensive pens and can house a short converter. Both pens are thus affordable pens made for use, which I consider very pleasant. I also want to add that the Rhodia dot pad used for jotting down the colour samples is a very nice new acquaintance – also sent by a kind friend in the US since they can’t be found here – yet.