I’m back here blogging on my site! Thanks to the wonderful responses from y’all in my previous post, I’ve decided to come back here to contribute a series of “newsletter-styled” post once in a while. The poll showed a 96% positive response, which is simply overwhelming. Thank you to all of you for being so supportive. I will call this new series “Noteworthy Onfountainpens”, or “Noteworthy OFP” for short. If you’re on social media, you can use a hashtag “#noteworthyOFP” so I’ll know that you’re talking about it! The series will feature fountain pen related products, articles, and companies that are worth mentioning about. If you have an interesting article or product to share, or would like to get featured on this weekly series, drop me an email at write@onfountainpens.com. I can mention you for free as long as the product or article is of reasonable quality. Don’t forget that it needs to be related to fountain pens and writing. This Noteworthy OFP series is a step up from my previous Sunday Inkings series. In that series, I introduced links from other blog posts without much more details. Now, I’ll be writing a little bit more about each article or […]
Read More
I’ve made my fair share of mistakes when it comes to using fountain pens. Leaky ink, splayed nibs, scratchy writing – these things can all take the pleasure out of writing with pen and ink. So, having learned from my mistakes, we’ve put together a short list of the most common fountain pen faux pas and how to avoid them. A heavy hand Fountain pens aren’t like ball-points. They only need the lightest touch to produce a nice flow of ink. Unlike ball-point pens and pencils, fountain pens don’t rely on pressure to work. They use capillary action to get the ink flowing freely. Applying too much pressure when writing with a fountain pen not only makes your handwriting look scratchy, but if you’re particularly heavy-handed it can also lead to splayed nibs. Writing on shoddy paper A fountain pen is only as good as the paper you’re writing on. You’ll find certain notebooks work better with different inks. There’s lots of room for personal preference when it comes to paper for fountain pens; but even so, there are some notebooks that really don’t cope with fountain pens. Some papers absorb too much ink, creating bleed, making the writing difficult […]
Read More
I blogged a few days ago that there was going to be a Pilot Pen Clinic in Singapore, and I had to miss it due to work trips. It was a rare event that I wish I could have attended, and met the Pen Doctor, Mr. Atsushi Takizawa, in person. It was really too bad that there was a schedule conflict! Nevertheless, Pilot Singapore and Mr. Takizawa have very kindly accommodated to my request of doing an email interview instead of a face-to-face one, so I am really appreciative of this opportunity to ask Mr. Takizawa a few questions. Mr. Atsushi Takizawa is Namiki’s nib specialist, with 14 years of expertise in mould designing for pens and jewellery before he specialized in nibs. He has been travelling globally to service Namiki pens since 2005. I was curious about some of his personal preferences and experience and was interested in his perspectives of nib choices. Here were the questions asked and the answers provided: Nibmeisters and a pen doctor like you are highly respected in the fountain pen community due to the high level of expertise you possess. It is certainly interesting for us to learn about your life as a pen doctor […]
Read More
I recently received an invitation to the Pilot Pen Clinic in Singapore, but I am absolutely disappointed because… I WON’T BE AROUND AT THAT TIME TO ATTEND IT! Damn, why do such exciting events always clash with my business trips! The Pilot Pen Clinic will be held from 27-29 July 2016, and the esteemed Namiki Nib Specialist, Mr. Atushi Takizawa from Japan, will be present to “diagnose and heal” Namiki pens. Interestingly, he is also known as a “Pen Doctor”, since he specializes in servicing the pens. According to Pilot, a Pen Doctor is a “highly experienced nib specialist who will do his best to service your fountain pen to a reasonable condition within the allocated timeframe. Here is the background information about the Pen Doctor and Namiki Maki-e, (all information and the picture are from Pilot Singapore): A doctor of a different kind – A Pen Doctor, Mr Atushi Takizawa Mr Atushi Takizawa, Namiki’s Nib Specialist from Japan joined PILOT Corporation (formally called The PILOT PEN CO. LTD) in 1981. After 14 years of career in mould designing for fountain pens and jewellery, he joined the tip manufacturing section and has acquired vast knowledge and its technique. Since 2005, […]
Read More
Click, click! Pilot introduces annually some new designs for their Capless retractable fountain pen, and this year they have just unveiled 3 new designs. Two of them are the Kasuri designs as seen above, in green and red. Kasuri refers to fabric that has been woven with dyed fibres that create specific patterns and motifs in the fabric, particularly in the 18th century. The two Pilot Capless Kasuri pens show a simple repeating pattern that is not too flashy, and is subtle enough for everyday use. I wonder why they chose these two colours – might there be some link to the Chinese traditional “red for male, green for female” symbolism? The Pilot Capless Kasuri pens have nibs that come in fine, medium and broad sizes, and are 18K rhodium plated, along with the trims of the pen. In addition, Pilot has also introduced a less traditional-looking, and more modern variant which is the Pilot Capless Midnight Blue. This pen boasts a striking blue colour, with matte black trims which fit the description of being a “Midnight Blue”. This pen looks a little more masculine and might attract those who enjoy a contemporary and sleek-looking pen. The blue barrel has a […]
Read More
I bought the Montblanc Rouge et Noir ballpoint pen. Before any of you scream at me for buying a non-fountain pen – and a BALLPOINT PEN in fact, let me try to redeem myself by explaining why I bought it. 🙂 Truth be told, I do have a great many fountain pens, but how many do I actually use – and how many cartridges or converters do I actually finish using – in a year? Probably less than my fingers can count. It’s quite unfortunate that I don’t get to use fountain pens because pretty much the only time I get to use a pen would be at work, where I need to scribble in a designated laboratory book, of which the paper I wish I could burn. In fact, most of my time is spent at taking notes in this one and only book, so I never really got to use fountain pens that much at work. Outside of work, I don’t tend to write much. The only journal I keep is this website. I love my fountain pens, but I don’t get to use them enough. So 2 weeks ago, I went to the Montblanc anniversary private event in […]
Read More
Stabilo Singapore has provided me for a review their EASYbirdy fountain pen, one of their first fountain pens which they have launched this year. It is an interesting pen with a feature that I haven’t seen before in other fountain pens – the nib angle can be adjusted using the red tool in the picture. The red tool is actually a device where you can plug into the cartridge area and unscrew the nib part of the pen, after which you can adjust the nib angle in 3 different places to find your preferred one, and then tighten it again. To explain the mechanism better, I have made a video introducing the pen and its special nib adjusting mechanism, as well as a brief review of the writing experience. Oh, and I should mention that this particular version that I received is a left-handed version, which means that the ergonomic grip on the pen section is shaped nicely for a leftie to use. That’s kind of them! Although, to be honest, I am so lazy that I don’t actually bother to change the writing posture of my hand. 🙁 If you’re looking to give a fountain pen to a child […]
Read More
Just a short and brief update today: Cody from The Pen Haul has invited me to guest post on his website, ThePenHaul.com. I took a long time, honestly, but I managed to come up with a decent post to contribute! I wrote about my journey in my sub-collection of small fountain pens. Yep, I have this strange fascination for small fountain pens. They just look so cute. Here’s a picture: CLICK HERE TO READ MY GUEST POST: INTRIGUED BY SMALL FOUNTAIN PENS Thank you Cody, for letting me guest post on The Pen Haul! It’s an honour! MaybellineI am the founder of this website. Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic of stationery all the time. I write with my left hand, but can also do the same with my right hand – it just won’t look very pretty. onfountainpens.com
Read More
Thanks to the help from C.H., a Singapore Fountain Pen Lover and a friend of mine, I got my hands on this interesting Lanbo 008 fountain pen (temporarily). He had borrowed it from his colleague who also agreed to lend it to me to play with. Don’t be intimidated by the dragon’s head embellishment on the clip – the fountain pen itself look relatively simple and harmless. As usual, let me start by talking a bit about the pen and its design, before going into the cleaning mechanism. It is black with gold accents and the barrel has a nice lotus flower design that is placed in the centre, but does not take up a lot of space on the barrel. The only other interesting design on the pen is really just the dragon on the clip, gold with ruby-red eyes. Not real rubies, of course. On the cap, between two gold bands, is the brand name in Chinese. 蓝泊 (pinyin: lán pō) translates somewhat to “blue berth”; “berth” as in the place where a boat stops. The other side of the cap shows the brand name in English, “Lanbo”. The nib is a two-tone gold and silver coloured nib. […]
Read More
A while ago I had published my Rohrer & Klingner (I will just call it R&K in the rest of the post) series overview from parts 1-6, covering 3 R&K inks in each part. I love manufacturers who make a greatly attractive series of ink colours, but then again, we are all spoilt for choice, and a variety of ink colours can make choosing the “ideal” one quite difficult. But call me picky or not, sometimes I am targeting that one specific ink colour which eludes me, despite the sheer variety of inks available on the market! Before the R&K ink series, I had also published a 4-part series of the Pilot Iroshizuku inks, 24 colours in total. For a number of those inks, I managed to spot some sheen very easily. I don’t know if this is characteristic of Japanese inks or not, but I hadn’t managed to spot much sheen in other inks, especially those from R&K. I wasn’t convinced that R&K inks have totally no sheen, so I decided to do a little experiment on my own. DO ROHRER & KLINGNER INKS HAVE SHEEN? For my ink swab records, I usually made a single ink layer followed […]
Read More
