Nakaya
Nakaya Portable Cigar Sumiko Camellia
Nakaya Portable Cigar Sumiko Camellia
Maki-e, literally ""sprinkled powder,"" is a general term for the process by which figurative or abstract designs are created by sprinkling pigment or metallic powder onto the surface of Urushi lacquer while it is still wet. There are many varieties of Maki-e, such as Tame-sukashi, Raden, and Chinkin.
The double slit Music nib is available at an added premium, as are plated nibs in Pink Gold, Rhodium, Ruthenium, or Two-Tone. With its bold, raised Camellia flower motif set against a subtly shimmering backdrop, the Nakaya Portable Cigar Sumiko Camellia Flower fountain pen is a striking writing instrument. The style of the flower is based on the Sumi ""India Ink"" technique.
The Camellia flower is built up using black Urushi lacquer with the Sumi-ko ""heaping up"" technique as is seen on the Sumi-ko Dragon or the Sumi Cherry Blossoms. This provides a textural element which contrasts with the smooth surface of the rest of the pen.
Inside the petals the pistil is made with the Nashiji (matte finishing) technique and sprinkled with gold powders.
What on first glance appears to be a flat uniform surface turns out to be made up of uniform sprinkles of gold powder in a matrix of pigmented urushi, polished to a low sheen.
A small bud on the barrel is heaped with silver powders, drawn with colored Urushi, and finally sprinkled with gold powders.
The smooth, slender shape of the Portable Cigar model serves as an excellent canvas for the detailed Camellia maki-e.
Nakaya pens can be filled with bottled fountain pen ink using the provided converter, and can also use Platinum brand ink cartridges. Hand-painted Maki-e converters are also available.
Nakaya smooth-writing 14k nibs are also well-suited to customizations including Stub, Cursive Italic, or Left Oblique, as well as the modification for added flex.
Nakaya pens ship in a solid softwood shipping box decorated with Japanese Kanji script and lined with decorative rice paper. A fabric pen ""kimono"" and starter box of Platinum brand cartridges are also included, making this pen a lovely presentation item. Sensible and elegant packaging has long been a hallmark of the Nakaya brand.
Nakaya pens are individually handcrafted in a process that requires a minimum of three to six months and often much longer.
Unless requested otherwise, each pen or nib you purchase from us will be carefully examined, tested, and optimized for your personal writing characteristics.
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Customization Guide
Stub
 
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Above is the same size nib after a regrind to Stub. A regrind to Stub is often a good place to start for your first customization. Â A Stub nib provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes while writing, and is less position-sensitive on the paper than the crisper and slightly more demanding cursive italic.
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Cursive Italic
 
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More demanding, but also providing crisper edges and more line-width variation, is the very popular customization to Cursive Italic. This also provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, but is also more position-sensitive in terms of how the pen is held and requires more skill on the part of the user. This is a common customization for artists and calligraphers, but is still smooth enough to make for a good everyday writer.
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Formal Italic
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Formal Italic is an even crisper and more demanding customization than either cursive italic or left oblique, and is usually utilized for calligraphy and by the most experienced users. This provides broad down-strokes and narrow cross-strokes, with even crisper corners and edges than a cursive italic - this is an extremely position-sensitive customization.
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Left Oblique
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 Commonly used for signatures and correspondence, the Left Oblique customization provides broad diagonal strokes and narrow cross-strokes, and like a cursive italic, is more position-sensitive and demanding than a stub. The whole pen must be rotated to the left in order to write smoothly, without skipping. The "Left" in Left Oblique refers to the cut of the nib itself, and does not refer to the handedness of the writer. |
Architect's Point (Also for Arabic and Hebraic writing)
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A more exotic regrind is that to Architect’s Point. Named after the style of writing used by Frank Lloyd Wright, this regrind is the opposite of cursive italic, and provides for broad cross-strokes and narrow down-strokes. This also tends to be a particularly useful customization for those practicing Arabic or Hebraic calligraphy. |
Spencerian
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Perhaps our most popular customization, but also one of the most advanced, the Mottishaw Spencerian Customization has gained special attention from being featured in a customer's YouTube video which has now received over twelve million views! The Spencerian starts from a semi-soft 14k nib and adds additional flex and a regrind to needlepoint to create a specialized writing point used for copperplate calligraphy. For more details, visit our special Spencerian page.. |