Kuretake Zig Cocoiro Letter Pen - Follow-Up Post

I wrote about my first impressions of the pretty Cocoiro pens on the 23rd June... not that long ago, in fact.  But since just over a week has passed, I thought a follow-up post might be fun.

Mostly because I loved them so much, I went and bought more (and completed my atyouSpica collection at the same time)!

My preciousssss...

Having managed to lure the always-lovely Danni into trying out the pens too, reading her comments about how the Hoarfrost White case looked made me curious... so I think we can chalk up another victory to her, because it's right there in the photo, along with Kiwi and Sunflower.

I actually would have ordered these sooner, but I had to wait for first the Kiwi, then the Sunflower, to come back into stock at Cult Pens--waited very impatiently, I might add; you don't want to know how many times I refreshed that page even when I knew it was futile (i.e. about six times on Sunday... just in case!).

One thing Danni mentioned was how pretty the Hoarfrost shell looked with the Rose Pink ink inside, so I decided to have a peek and I have to agree.

The white has a subtle sparkle that I completely failed to capture.

I'd initially only planned to get two extra cases to cover the refills I'd bought, but after I used the blue-black to handwrite part of a story and give my writer's block a kick in the groin (moderate success), I became curious about how a black brush nib would perform as an inking pen.

Bad photo; using my scanner would mean a blood sacrifice.

Turns out the answer is "far better than I could've hoped".  They do indeed relax the more you use them and because they're comfortable to hold it's easier to focus on the lines.  It holds up well against a putty eraser (always good) and you can get some good line thicknesses from it--but it really excels at very fine lines without needing to swap to another pen.  I'm really happy with the results.

Now I'm just hoping that Kuretake release the six colours that don't currently seem available in the UK... because how could I possibly resist a choice that includes orange and green??

Kuretake Zig Cocoiro Letter Pen - First Impressions

I normally tweet about new stationery I've been 'encouraged' to buy (I know some truly evil enablers on Twitter!), but when the jiffy bag with my new Cocoiro letter pens arrived, I knew I'd be taking more than one or two photos.  Whittling it down to these was... fun.

The problem with following Cult Pens on Twitter is that it's an incredibly easy route to spending money--particularly where my friends are concerned.  And when Cult Pens tweeted about the Cocoiro pens I was curious enough to and have a look.  I didn't bank on promptly falling in love with either the choice of shell colours or the fact they have mint green and rose pink inks.  After some humming and hawing I finally splurged on two shells in my favourite colours, three brush pen refills and an ever-practical black rollerball refill.

They arrived today in an A5 padded envelope and the first thing that struck me was that they were a little smaller than I was expecting, although to be honest I'm not wholly sure what I was expecting.  From base to cap the shell is around 11.2cm.  I chose shells in Duckegg Blue and Green Apple (neither of which have any justice done to them in my photos as the weather is a bit iffy here and my camera is moody), both of which are lovely.  The blue in particular is a very pretty and delicate shade and I'm already considering buying a couple more to go with my additional refills.

The refills come with their own protective caps which don't fit with the pen once they're combined so can probably be thrown away unless you've got more refills than pens, and a brush protector for the brush pens.  Being the kind of person who doesn't read instructions--which are provided on both the letter pen and refill packets--I did have a short struggle with figuring out how to add refill to shell (I'm bright like that) until I realised the refills have a thread and you screw them into the base.

Once fit together they look both comical and sweet, a little like they've outgrown their refills, but it is a useful way to see what colour is in which pen at a glance, although I don't imagine it helps you tell the difference between the black ballpoint and black brush pen.

With the body shaped as it is you might expect it to feel a little cumbersome to hold, but in reality it's surprisingly comfortable.  The curve of the shell fits neatly in the curve of your thumb, although the edge of the casing at the bottom might rub against your thumb joint if you're not careful.

The first thing that struck me about the brush pens is that they're more solid than I was anticipating.  They'll probably loosen up with use, but it took a moment to get an unbroken line out of the rose pink.  They write with a beautiful and vivid ink with the colours exactly as advertised.

Apologies for my handwriting. Yes that does say 'rose' and not 'nose'!

I'm looking forwards to experimenting with them and I think if I'm not careful they could end up as a guilty pleasure--or an addiction.  All I need to do now is start hand-writing things more often...

Pinup Boy Sunday - Kirill

It was originally going to be "Sexy Boy Sunday" but... really there's no word less appropriate to describe half my characters, so this is what we're stuck with.

Today and nothing to do with procrastination whatsoever it's the turn of the protagonist of the steampunk story I'm working on, Kirill.

Kirill is a quiet and serious young man whose most distinguishing features are the white streak in the front of his hair and the gold scarring covering a large part of his upper face.  At 24 he has the general demeanour of a man twice his age and, until the riots, was living quietly with Nikolai Lunen, his legal owner and best friend.

He likes nice food, the feel of soft fabrics and the sight of Niko's smile; he dislikes people invading his personal space and the cold.  His favourite place to be is curled up in a chair in Niko's conservatory.

This Hasn't Exactly Gone According To Plan

On the 1st July I started Camp NaNoWriMo.  Well, technically I started it.  Just like the title says, it's... not exactly gone according to plan.  Being a naturally seat-of-the-pants writer who carries plotlines in their head rather than in any kind of physical form (incredibly awkward when you forget things), I decided to to take a different approach, and use one of my many notebooks in the process.

I think I'm missing a few here, and yes some are still in their wrapping.

Which was a great idea in theory.  In practice--or at least, in my hands--it was somewhat less so...  It started out well enough, just a short paragraph per section for what was intended to be a novella.

There was a system, honest. Writing in purple seemed like a good idea at the time too.

But the one thing I'm not is brief.  Or tidy.  I've posted about my handwriting a few times on Twitter--mostly that I can't even read it myself on occasions--and it's prone to getting taller and spikier the more tired (or drunk) I am, although the sad irony is that it's when I'm sober that I typo all over the place.  Either way, it somehow got away from me and now I'm left with 17 sides of crabby handwriting that I've got to decipher.

Too many pages... and this is only the last few, where I was mostly making an effort to be legible.

And I'm now also left with the weirdest set of conflicted feelings.

On one hand, this is the first time I've ever finished anything, even if it's badly handwritten and in rambling note form.  That includes ten years' worth of NaNoWriMo projects (I know how some of them end, sure.  I've just never gotten there) and a few side projects.  It's probably the reason why I've been happiest writing a continuing universe in short story form.  So I feel strangely proud, if that makes any sense?

On the other... I've just already written this, and now I have to write it again.  But longer.  With actual dialogue.  And not in purple.

It's the strangest sense of anticlimax.  I wonder if authors who plot everything out in minute detail feel the same way?  The lovely Danni at KenRenStationary/Four Words, Four Worlds did sensibly point out that at least now, even if I don't work on it immediately, I have a complete plot ready to go for when I do, but I'd like to get at least a little done for Camp NaNo even if I don't entirely feel like it...

I've got just over half a month to go, that's got to be good for at least half of it, right?

Right?