The end of an era: A new Lamy Joy

June 11, 2019 | 18 Comments

I just realised that I forgot to share with you the end of an era!

I’ve officially retired my first white Lamy Joy and replaced it with a new special edition Joy White and Red. This new pen was purchased in Assisi by one of the lovely participants of the Palladian Odyssey Tours.


I started using my original White Joy the week I resigned from my architect job so I have a lot of sentimental attachment to it. Last year when visiting Lamy San Francisco I got a replacement White Joy as the cap wasn’t staying on but I left that at home and I replaced the original grey o-ring on my first White Joy with a black one to fix the cap problem.

This trip my White Joy leaked twice (first time ever) and cap kept coming off. So it was time to retire it.


The new Joy is a lot of fun and I love it. It looks like my white twsbi eco from the end. I use the Eco for writing but love love love the balance of the Lamy Joy in my hand when I’m sketching.

I’m using a gold nib which was once EF but is now like a Med. Using De Atramentis document black for ink. it was amazing how well the new pen flowed.

Happy girl!


 

18 Comments

  • Congrats on the new pen!!! May it serve you well…

  • Hello from Germany! The new Lamy Joy looks very nice. I already have the Black and the normal White Lamy Joy and I use it for Sketching. I use a fine nib. Hm, I do not need another one, but maybe I will get the new Special Edition nevertheless ?.

    By the way, I made a support board for sketching on the go for myself, there is a blog post about it at my website. This was inspired by you. Thank you so much for sharing this. Love your work ?.

    Greetings,
    Angelika

  • Myrna Komar says:

    Do you have a special cleaning kit – if so where did you buy it

  • Aneen Graupe says:

    Hi Liz, I recently bought myself a Lamy Joy but the ink isn’t waterproof? I can’t sketch then use watercolor or should I do it the other way around? Thanks

  • Chas says:

    You mention using the Goulet pen flush. I also use that product and it is good. However there is another way. I have a collection of about thirty fountain pens, some of which I have been using for several decades and which don’t write or draw as they once did.
    Back in the days of technical pens and india ink being used for drawing and cartography we used a much harsher flush than Goulet’s but we also used an ultra-sonic cleaner to help the process. I recently got into a discussion with the owner of one of Toronto’s pen stores about the “good old days” and the way we once cleaned those delicate instruments. By the end of the discussion I was asking “why not do it that way today?”
    I sourced and bought a U-S cleaner and spent several day going through the collection starting with my usual process and ending with an hour in a warm water bath in the cleaner. The results are so good that they are almost beyond belief, several pens that had been almost unusable are now possibly better than new.
    The cost of the cleaner, tax, shipping total was about $150 but the results revived almost twenty times that value in pens. Even pens I hadn’t recognized as needing some TLC are astonishing. Money very well spent

    • Liz Steel says:

      Hi Chas. So funny that you’ve left this comment this week… on Monday I bought a cheap under $50 ultrasonic cleaner and am over the moon with how it’s cleaning my nibs!!!!

  • Chas says:

    On the topics of pens and new things…

    Have you tried the new(ish) Lamy “Cursive” nib? Its a bit stiff but its about the same as an extra fine and it has a stroke differential that is wider on horizontal strokes.
    I’m not sure whether it will be a regular thing for me but for the moment it’s in one of my Lamy Joy bodies with an ordinary black ink for everyday writing.

    • Liz Steel says:

      Hi Chas – no I haven’t tried that nib yet! 🙂 always more and more things! its neverending!!! 🙂

  • Ania says:

    Did you change the nib to regular? Is it difficult? I’ve seen Lamy Joy with calligraphy nibs only .

  • Chas says:

    Changing the nibs on Lamy Safari or Joy pens is beyond simple, you can do it with no more tools than your fingernails. Just grip the nib near the tip and pull it off the regulator. Putting a new on on is almost as easy the only tiny tricky bit is making sure that the “hooks” on the sides go over the edges of the regulator.
    When I got this joy it had a 1.1 mm nib which I changed to the cursive. I have used the 1.1 on one of my regular writing pens with a bright blue ink that shows off the variation in the width of the strokes beautifully. the fine nib from the Safari ended up in my box of spare nibs…
    If you need more info let me know and I will see if I can post some pictures.

    • Ania says:

      Thank you @Chas, I will give a go, the “hooks” position tip is very helpful!

      • Chas says:

        Hi Ania
        I was thinking about this and realized that I should have said if you can’t pull the nib off by pulling on the tip you can put your nails on either side of the nib at the finger-grip end and pull toward the tip. It’s also worth mentioning that both of these methods work better if the nib is wet. Rather than dipping the nib in ink you can just use water (easier, cheaper, cleaner…).
        Chas

      • Ania says:

        thanks Chas, it was easier with water, not much wiggling needed – thank you!

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