Today we’ll be talking about a new pen that I’ve got last year: the Noodler’s Konrad Acrylic fountain pen. We’ve had a new dealer for Noodler’s stuff in Singapore and he’s part of our fountain pen club, so when he brought all the stock in, you can be sure that we snapped them up like hungry hyenas. I bought two of the Konrads myself, and was pleased to hear that, being so new, the ones I have chosen hadn’t even been named yet. Let’s take in their entire beauty: Of course, these pens have been launched last year, and they have since been named beautiful names. The top, red and purple swirl patterned pen, is the Forbidden City, while the bottom blue-swirl patterned one, is the Marbled Marianas. As I’ve said before, I’m not such a great fan of red, but this red and purple is such a striking combination that I just had to get it! So this is the pen I am going to review today. The only other Noodler’s pen that I’ve ever owned or reviewed has been the Noodler’s Ahab Jade fountain pen. The Ahab and the Konrad both use the standard Noodler’s nib, and […]
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On December 31, 2012, I have done up a list of my top 10 pens of the year which you can read here. I will do a similar list for 2013, except that I did not manage to get it out in time to post it within 2013 itself, so it ended up being posted this year! The 2013 list will take a slightly different angle from the previous one. Pen acquisition has not been superfluous, which is good news for my bank account but bad news for my hobby! I will feature my top ten most used pens for the year. Running from left to right: Pilot Super Gel 0.5mm, Zig Brushables Brush Pen, Pilot Parallel Pen, Noodler’s Konrad Acrylic Forbidden City FP, Danitrio HD-3 Screen Temaki Flowers FP, Platinum Music Nib FP, vintage Nova Pen (Rose), Sailor Lecoule FP, vintage Waterman FP, and vintage Platinum PKA-500 Pocket Pen. Yes, I’ve included 2 non-fountain pens in the list, and a calligraphy (Pilot Parallel) pen, which some argue is not considered a fountain pen. Other than the non-fountain pens, I have arranged them in order of length, so that no pen bias occurs! It is also very difficult to […]
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It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed anything on this site! It’s not that I have no more pens to review – in fact, the number of pens waiting to be reviewed is a few times more than the number of pens I have actually reviewed on this site. But today, I am choosing this pen to talk about because I thought it fits into the Christmassy Season of Giving. I received this pen from The Pen Company a while ago and I couldn’t be happier when I received it! Presenting… the Lamy Joy AL Calligraphy Pen! For those of you who are familiar with the “nomenclature” of Lamy pens, you can pretty much guess that this is named “AL” because of the aluminium cap, as opposed to the glossy, all-plastic cap and barrel of the original Lamy Joy. This Lamy Joy AL has a silver aluminium cap with a black clip, and the barrel, while still made of plastic, has a smooth black lacquer over it. It is not glossy, but matte, the way I like it. Unless I’m mistaken, the AL release comes only in one colour and finish so far. I’ll be looking […]
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One of my readers wrote to me to tell me about her Monteverde pens. Here’s what she said: I have been using fountain pens all my life. This year in May I received a Monteverde Prima for my birthday (brown swirl). Even though I normally like thinner pens this has an excellent ink flow and is fun to write with. When I went online to register it @ Monteverdepens.com – I saw that they had a clear barreled Monteverde Arista rollerball. Because you could purchase colored ink cartridges I decided to check that out. Wonderful! I also cut a small portion of cherry blossoms from a Hiroshige print from a small calendar and customized my pen by putting the print inside the clear barrel (my sister drew a black & white design for her pen). Fun! Well, Sando, thank you for writing in to share about your Monteverde pen! I’ve seen them around but haven’t gotten down to buying one yet (or request for samples). I should go take another look! Want your comments/reviews to be shared in a blog post? Write to me at write@onfountainpens.com! MaybellineI am the founder of this website. Chemist by day, slacker by night, fanatic […]
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Some time last year, via the kindness of Goldspot Pens who gave me a discount based on the fact that I am a fountain pen blogger/reviewer, I bought a bunch of pens. That included the Kaweco Sport and some Sheaffers (which I will review later). The Sport comes in a nice black box with some brown swirly motifs, making it look elegant for an inexpensive pen. I bought a bunch of Sports to try out and to pass on to friends, because they are adorable little pens! My friends were excitedly messaging me, “I want the Bordeaux!”, “I want the blue… no, the white! Aargh I want everything!” So, after they have finally made their decisions, I ended up pretty much getting one of each colour, and a transparent one with a fine nib to keep for myself. And so this kind of started my interest in mini-sized fountain pens! These pens measure just about 10.5cm capped and 13.5cm posted. That means it’s a real pocket-sized pen that transforms into a nice length for holding when using it posted. After the Kaweco episode, I started getting on the hunt for mini-sized pens; the smaller they are, the greater […]
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I am actually writing this quick post in a huge rush – I’m flying off to Vietnam for a business trip (with extra fun on the side after all the meetings!) in a few hours, and I do need to get some sleep before going to bed. I could have gone to bed, like, right now, but I am so excited and eager to share with everyone about this new pen that I received, thanks to a nice friend, that I absolutely have to blog immediately. As you might see, I had no time to adjust the quality of the pictures, nor add my watermark, nothing. This is how excited I am about this pen. This is a Platinum Pocket Pen, or a “Long-short pen” if you prefer (this name always makes me laugh, what an oxymoron). The model is probably that imprinted on the red sticker – it says “PKA-500”. It’s a pen produced during the 1970’s, when this design got really popular. There are many similar pens with this huge-cap/small-barrel feature from makers like Pilot and Sailor. I doubt they actually sell or produce such pens anymore, which is why I am so excited about it. I browsed the web […]
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Hello there, dear readers. Busy as I am, I have managed to squeeze time on the eve of New Year’s to scribble a final blog post of the year. And what could be more fitting than a summary of my best pens of the year! Upon updating my pen list a few days ago, I have realised that 2/3 of my pens have been acquired this year. That is to say, my pen population had seen an increase of about 200% in 2012, as compared to 2011! That is quite an epic number considering I am a fountain pen amateur. Alright, perhaps only amateurs like me buy every pen they see, without considering too much (I want that pen, I just want it). But this is likely a good start for such a hobby, no? I have not hit the 100s for my pen count yet, but already it is not an easy decision to only choose 10 from my entire posse. So, as the list goes on, it’s good to know that I picked these pens based on a variety of justifications: design, feel, nib, and price. The list is also made in no order of preference. I don’t […]
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Back after a decent amount of time, I’m bringing to you a little review of an adorable little diary: Daycraft Animal Pals 2013 Diary! This is the second of three diaries that Mr. Foreal Lee from Daycraft has sent to me for review, and it really made my day. This is a great gift idea for anyone who loves piggies. I showed it to my mum who was born in the lunar year of the Pig, and it also made her day. Probably will end up in her hands… This little piggy diary is made of a delightfully pink “fine Italian polyurethane” material. Here are the rest of the specifications according to the label that came with the diary: – 106mm x 150mm (A6 size) – 216 pages – 60 gsm paper – Weekly view (71 weeks from 27 Aug 2012 – 5 Jan 2014) – International holidays included – Nutrition labelling information – Gift ideas – Inside back cover pocket Wonder what the 216 pages consist of? Here are some picture of the insides of the Piggy: %nbsp I really like the idea of having a back pocket to slip […]
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Note: This review has been nicely contributed by The Pen Stabber a.k.a. Hwee Min from my Fountain Pen Lovers Facebook Group. She has done a guest review before, and we hope you will like this one too! Hello there again. This is the Pen Stabber and I’m back with my 2nd Review! I’ll like to say that I’m more interested in vintage fountain pens, and they are a huge part of my young collection. Hopefully, I’ll be able to bring more reviews with interesting pieces of history to this blog’s readers in the future. I have the Esse Fountain Pen from Tabo. This is a wonderful, petite Italian fountain pen with a flexible nib. That about sums it up. On yeah, how can I forget? This is one GORGEOUS, gorgeous pen. Take a look. First Impression: I saw this pen on Sanpei’s website. Those familiar with FPN will know that Sanpei sells vintage Italian fountain pens through FPN listings. He has other selections from his website as well. When I saw it, I did a double take. It looks like a Parker Vac, in BLUE. And a prettier blue than I’ve ever seen on a Parker Vac. I had to […]
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To the recent plethora of Daycraft notebook reviews on the blogosphere, I’m going to contribute my own. Some time ago, Mr. Foreal Lee from Daycraft sent me three of their newly-released 2013 diaries for review. You heard right. THREE of them! I collected the parcel from the post office, and ripped it open in a restaurant in Sentosa, scattering packaging material everywhere. The waiters were glancing at me from time to time. I can imagine them thinking, “Suspicious character”, or “is she going to clear up the mess, or not?” So I will take them one by one. Let’s talk today about the Daycraft Signature Chromatic Diary. Warning: the following will be super picture-heavy. Pictures speak more than words. Probably the best way to present the diary to you! Signature Chromatic 2013 Diary (English version) – Orange – Fine Italian polyurethane – 106mm by 150mm (that’s an A6 size) – 192 pages – Week-to-view – International holidays 2013 – International guides – Gift ideas – 70gsm paper I copied the above info from the description on the brown paper! Let’s break them down and analyse them one by one… Firstly, yes, it is ORANGE, and a bright […]
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