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Murex pens
Dec. 16th, 2004 12:25 amRuss Stutler does some pretty nice sketching. Some of it even in a Moleskine. He’s also a serious fountain pen geek.
I’m not. Really. Despite the amount of posts I make about pens and sketchbooks, most of the time I’m looking for cheap, easily-replaceable supplies that work well together. That’s one reason I was so happy to find out that the Pilot Precise V5 works so well on Moleskine sketch paper — it’s already my writing pen of choice, and I’ve got a box of ’em (US$16 for a dozen pens at Office Despot) sitting here on my shelf. Even the obscure Japanese brushpens I like cost in the US$5-10 range. I generally have to fight the impulse to roll my eyes when people go on about high-priced fountain pens and leather-bound journals. Until now.
Pilot made the Myu and Murex pens for the Japanese market only, in the 1970s and ’80s. They’re long out of production, and hard to find now. But aren’t they beautiful? Especially the original Myu, such clean lines. They seem to have cost ¥3500 back in the day, which would have been, what, US$20 or so? Now US$400 from a collector. Another thing to buy if I ever find myself a millionaire. I’d have to be rich enough to buy a bunch of them, or I’d feel too inhibited to use them.
Stutler’s got some neat tricks in his sketch section, filling his water brush with a thin ink wash. I may have to try that. (Water brushes are cheap, and I can get them at Hudson County Art Supply.) Or maybe using water-soluble pencils.
I’m not. Really. Despite the amount of posts I make about pens and sketchbooks, most of the time I’m looking for cheap, easily-replaceable supplies that work well together. That’s one reason I was so happy to find out that the Pilot Precise V5 works so well on Moleskine sketch paper — it’s already my writing pen of choice, and I’ve got a box of ’em (US$16 for a dozen pens at Office Despot) sitting here on my shelf. Even the obscure Japanese brushpens I like cost in the US$5-10 range. I generally have to fight the impulse to roll my eyes when people go on about high-priced fountain pens and leather-bound journals. Until now.
Pilot made the Myu and Murex pens for the Japanese market only, in the 1970s and ’80s. They’re long out of production, and hard to find now. But aren’t they beautiful? Especially the original Myu, such clean lines. They seem to have cost ¥3500 back in the day, which would have been, what, US$20 or so? Now US$400 from a collector. Another thing to buy if I ever find myself a millionaire. I’d have to be rich enough to buy a bunch of them, or I’d feel too inhibited to use them.
Stutler’s got some neat tricks in his sketch section, filling his water brush with a thin ink wash. I may have to try that. (Water brushes are cheap, and I can get them at Hudson County Art Supply.) Or maybe using water-soluble pencils.