About a Lamy

Do you love to write?

And I don't mean poetry.
I've always loved beautiful handwriting. My dad has one of the most sophisticated, easy to read and smooth handwriting that I know. I enjoy to read his scribbling and notes, especially his grocery lists.
As a child I grew up in a house filled with writing instruments, technical pencils, drafting tools. The reason? Both of my parents are engineers. The want to explore all these meticulously crafted, fine instruments stayed with me trough my teenage years and I still love to experiment with new pens and pencils.
So 20 days ago, on my Dad's birthday, I ordered online new calligraphy fountain pen with a couple of Diamine Inks. I wanted something cheaper than 30 $, sturdy, lightweight, that can take some abuse and will write smoothly. The big plus of a fountain pen is that it is faster and cleaner to write with than a dip pen. The negative side is the lack of permanent inks for this type of pens on the market here in Bulgaria. And while ordering those online is a possibility, the price is excruciating for my budget.

Do you wonder what I got?

After some confusion and wondering, price comparison, reading several forums, watching several reviews in Portuguese. Yes. Portuguese. I decided to get a Lamy.

the color of the ink is just right :")

Lamy Joy with 1.1 Italian nib
Features:

• sturdy black plastic body and cap with some red accents, a little bit too long for my liking
• converter for ink, but works with cartridges as well
• interchangeable steel nibs, almost no flex in them in my opinion
• cardboard box in dark red

What I like is the overall quality of this pen. I easily imagine myself using this to write notes with some nice ink and fill text in my drawings. But... if I could reorder the same purchase now, I would go for the Safari pen. Better quality, but shorter, nicer design for everyday use for a little bit extra on the price tag.
The good thing is that I can always order a Safari as well and the nibs are practically the same and can be switched between many Lamy's designs. Really useful and user-friendly.

So if you want a good starter fountain pen, go for it. You won't be sorry. :")

Purple is brand new

Yeap!

I finally got to redesign this blog. I am not a fan of constant changes in the templates of any site, because I normally don't find a new design to my liking. And honestly I suck at coding/html/internet stuff. But the old design was already too boring and... I don't know. Probably missing something.

Some hours later and purple is brand new. Or at least in semi-transitional state until I get the free time to finish it. My bad.

I hope that I will be able to post more often especially when I start to sketch/draw/write again. Until then: here is a white chrysanthemum or mum, as I call it.

Red, red, red

It was nice spring Saturday afternoon, I was in my "all red" mood and we were just walking on the streets of Sofia taking photos of moving objects. In these count a decent number of stray cats, a tramp, some vehicles of all sorts, us all the time and a kissing couple on a bench.

I had my old, but quite unused Smena 8 with me. I am still waiting for the film to develop... but I promise to share the results here soon.

Enjoy!

P.S - Because I constantly get many questions, even from male friends, the red, striped t-shirt is from New Yorker, a general all-brand store.

photos taken by beautiful and very talented Nastia Gretchanli, model- me

Wednesday:Birdie in Indigo Ink ~ Птичка в индигово синьо

This is a short post inspired by the birds that are in my background scheme and the birds singing outside here.

About my birdie: It is a hand drawn art in Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Ink on Canson Aquarelle paper. Measures 16 by 21 cm, so it is rather small drawing, also it is not too complex. What type of species is I really don't know, but I am really happy how the tail came out and the wing, which is rather blurry on the picture.

Photo: me :")

Wednesday:Interesting Stamps ~ Интересни пощенски марки

All of you know about my deep love for letters and paper. But what is a letter without a stamp? Only a piece of paper put in an envelope. 

The first stamp was invented in Great Britain many years ago. It was named the Black Penny, because of the black ink and the price. The postal services had existed before that but were unreliable and not efficient enough. The stamp put all this mess in order and made it work. Here I present you some interesting stamps from all over the world which I found on one site on internet some time ago. Sadly I cannot find it again. 

Enjoy!

Всички вие знаете за моята любов към писмата и хартията. Но какво е едно писмо без пощенската марка? Само парче хартия сложено в плик.

Първата марка е измислена във Кралство Великобритания преди много години. Наричала се е Черното Пени, заради цвета на мастилото и цената си. Пощенски услуги е имало и преди това, но не са били нито достатъчно ефективни, нито е можело да разчиташ на тях. Пощенската марка е сложила ред в бръкотията и е накарала всичко да заработи гладко. Тук ви представям няколко интересни пощенски марки от целият свят, които открих в един сайт преди доста време. За жалост сега не мога да го намеря отново. 

Наслаждавайте се!

Monday Inspiration: Colourful Lamps ~ Цветни лампи

So it is Monday again. The last Monday of March. Time passes so fast. I can swear that New Year's Eve was just yesterday. This year passes even faster than the last one. I expect you had a wonderful lazy weekend and for one good beginning of the new week I present you some of the most beautiful and colourful ceiling lamps that bring cheerful and joyful feeling to every space.

Enjoy!

Отново е понеделник. Последният понеделник от Март месец. Времето минава толкова бързо. Мога да се закълна, че Нова Година беше точно вчера. Тази година ще мине още по-бързо от предната. Очаквам, че сте прекарали прекрасни мързеливи почивни дни и за едно добро начало на новата седмица Ви представям едни от най-красивите, цветни лампи, които ще донесат радостно и весело настроение на всяко място.

Photos: here

Saturday: Lovely paper and Origamic Architecture ~ Красива хартия и архитектурно оригами.

I confess freely that I go crazy when I enter a paper store. This is hereditary from my father (I love you, Dad!) and combined with my love for nice design (Thank you, Mum!!!) I tend to spend little fortune in those stores. Today I will write about paper. Something that we find so common that we actually miss how nice it can be when it is made with style. In the world of electronic devices it seems useless to give to the paper so much importance.

The first time that I saw Cromatico paper Stationery I fell in love with it. The paper colours were so vivid and bright, but nicely selected. The feeling they give was luxurious. It was no surprise to me that so was their price: a small envelope was more than 1 Euro, a big one nearly 2. The high end stationery range is from 13 translucent, mass-dyed colours. Here are some examples of lovely paper. This is their site: http://www.thibierge-comar.com.

Said that I shall point that because of my search in internet where to find this paper cheaper, I found by incident these cards. Named Origamic Architecture or Kirigami, made with Cromatico paper. They are so well done and so architectural. So I couldn't resist not to share them here. You can visit his Flicker gallery here. He is genius of multidimensional thinking. And when I think how the modelling classes in my university were so boring and awful, when there is so much to learn about dimensions and space trough simple piece of cardboard. 

St. Paul Cathedral in London

Tadj Mahal 

San Marco in Venice 

Have a nice weekend!!! :")

Monday Inspiration: Alvar Aalto's Chairs

Alvar Aalto is one of the greatest architects and designers of all time. He is well known and quite popular these  days. Mainly for his wood work with Finnish birch and his bending techniques. His designs are unique and  in the same time easy to understand, comfortable, modern but cosy. 

He was born Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (February 3, 1898 - May 11, 1976) in Kuortane, Finland. Primarily  noted for his humanistic approach to modernism. An art style which is far from humane. He studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology from 1916 to 1921. Married another architect. But today I will not talk about his architecture, but for his stools and chairs. 

Enjoy his work as I find it quite inspiring! 

The last one is the vase he presented to the EXPO in Paris in 1937 which is still one of the most loved glass objects. I had the opportunity to see one, a replica in light blue. It was magnificent indeed.

Photos: http://www.aalto.com

Monday Inspiration: Brain

The human brain is what makes us unique they say. The logic and the long-term memory, plus the ability to learn and evolve are what makes it the most powerful tool in the world. And even better: We all carry one of those in our heads.

Today I bring you an inspirational illustrations about our brains. 

A Mercedes-Benz Advertisement

"Parc du Luxenburg" Exposition of Modern Art by shadow-kat-ana

 A brain typo illustration by cheesyGFX

... and funny brain vector drawing , autor here

I finish this post with a quote that I like really much:

The brain is wider than the sky.
Emily Dickinson

Have a nice and brainy week!!!

Sunday: Random Web Findings that made my day!

It was a lazy, lazy Sunday which I spent in front of the pc. I have a ton of new tasks to do and no desire to. So I took this weekend off for the sole purpose of relaxation. The creativity needs time to recuperate. My way is a hot shower, all day in bed, day-dreaming and surfing the web for cute, artistic and innovative findings. 

So here are some of them. I share them with you.

• A mathematical tool for creating a silk drawing: http://weavesilk.com/

• The site: http://weheartit.com/- where you can express your love for random stuff and share it with other people. Totally free. With a cute banner and logo.

• An origami master who took my breath away. Check all of his work here:  http://www.langorigami.com/index.php4

• And wonderful Melisa Haslam Art which is so fairytale and gentle:  http://melissahaslam.orionvisuals.com/index.shtml. 

Have a nice week!!!

The photos are not mine and belong to the correspondent links.