My fountain pen hobby update – and current grail pen!

As you know I have been writing with fountain pens now mostly. I think the last time I wrote with ball pens were months ago. My primary reason for using fountain pens now is that I really enjoy the old way of jotting down notes and thoughts on paper. I know I could easily write meeting and lecture notes on my phone or my laptop but putting down my notes and doodles on a paper has been enjoyable and this make me remember better. I also find that it’s much easier for my wrists to write for a long period of time with fountain pens. Fountain pens hardly need any weight in order to write, especially the good ones. Plus, fountain pens are just so stylish and I have had people approach me and ask what pen I’m using so it’s a nice conversation starter. In fact, it makes my day when I see one using fountain pen as well! ❤

My Current Grail Pen

I attended my first pen meet in July this year, the one hosted by Everything Calligraphy’s store during the anniversary of the local fountain pen network here in the Philippines. I met new friends in that pen meet and they have been using fountain pens for so many years already. Some of them are serious collectors too. During the pen meet I got to try their pens and that’s when I first fell in love (head over heels in love) with Kasama Una pen – proudly made here in my home country too! The pen’s nib wrote so smoothly, the weight was just right and well-balanced in my hand. It is also locally by a medical doctor who is also a fountain pen connoisseur. The best thing I learned about this pen is that it’s made of Ultem plastic. I got curious and did a cursory research about Ultem. Apparently, Ultem is a thermoplastic that is fireproof and able to withstand extreme conditions that’s why it is used in aerospace and medical sectors.

Being a geologist, a pen made of Ultem would be perfect to use in writing my field data. So long as I don’t drop it accidentally nib down, the body of the pen can withstand extreme weather conditions and impacts. Although I don’t go out much lately, it’s nice to have a pen that can last more than the average human life span. I plan to give this pen to my kids when I pass on! Here are just some of the photos I took of the pen:

The photos above feature the Kasama Una Takipsilim pen. The top left photo is that of my leather A6 notebook and the resin coaster that I made myself. I shot this photo to promote the resin coaster I made which I am currently selling. The bottom left photo is of the pen beside a quartz mineral with rutile inclusions. The biggest photo is that of the pen alongside its packaging when it was shipped to me – a woven “bayong”. I love that the pen came in this “bayong” – it’s just so Filipino.

The Kasama Ina Takipsilim has Cerakote coating to make it chemically resistant. The finish has a nice ombre shade of blue, purple, pink, and orange that is reminiscent of tropical sunset we often see in my country. Takipsilim is a Filipino word for that time of the day when the sun is setting and night time is slowly taking over the day. It certainly is my favorite part of the day because of the play of colors the sky exhibits during that hour. Everything about the pen, the tough material, coating, and the color, certainly made it my grail pen. If you are interested to get a Kasama Una pen, it is produced in small batches only because each pen is hand made by a doctor – and you know how busy doctors get. Just head on over to their Instagram account, Kasama Ph, to inquire.

Bravely Eye Dropper-Filled a Preppy

Platinum Preppy fountain pen is probably the cheapest albeit an excellent fountain pen for beginners. They come in nice acrylic plastic bodies that are transparent with finial and cap also in transparent candy colors. They can be used with a proprietary converter (surprisingly more expensive than the pen itself) or a cartridge. However, I also recently discovered that a few FP enthusiasts have also tried filling it with eyedropper with success. In case you don’t know, eye dropping a fountain pen means literally putting the ink inside the barrel using an eye dropper, screwing in the body onto the feeder, and praying that the ink won’t leak on you.

So one day I did it. I got a sample ink bottle of Noodler’s in Navajo Turquoise and used the eyedropper that came with my Majohn Wancai. I was able to use up the 3ml sampler ink to fill the Preppy pen above and wrote that message in celebration of how brave I was that day. Thankfully, the silicon grease applied around the neck of the barrel seemed to have worked as I was able to write with it without any leakage. Next time I plan to use a gasket, I just couldn’t find one that fits this pen, at that time.

Franken Pens

The members of the fountain pen network in my country believe that once you have one Jinhao 82 pen, they will multiply like rats! It’s true in my case. The pens are quite cheap at less than 5 USD per piece and they come in attractive colors. They also generally write wet and smoothly with very little feedback. I just made sure to flush prior to inking because they are normally tested with blue ink in the factory prior to ship out.

The best part about Jinhao pen is you can swap the caps, finials, and barrel with other pens of the same model just like the photo above to make interesting “frankenpens”. They look like candies, don’t they? All these pens have been inked with colors that closely resemble the feeder or barrel which I think is part of the reason why I collected the pens in the first place, aside from them being so cheap. Collecting ink was also a thing that learned during the pen meet.

New Pens and Inks

Twsbi recently released a new Eco pen and it’s such a gorgeous one! I am lucky to have been one of the first few who got this in my country after getting included in the list by Everything Calligraphy when they did a call for pre-order. The day it arrived in their store, I booked a Grab rider to pick it up right away. I was that excited. Below is a YouTube Short of my unboxing:

Just like my first Eco, this one is a wet and smooth writer. Twsbi really did great with their pens in terms of design and colors. Next to Kasama Una Takipsilim, Twsbi Eco and Swipe are my favorite pens because they write like butter on any paper. It’s also great that they don’t cost a lot!

During the pen meet, I got to try Pilot Vanishing Point pen and loved how it wrote smoothly on my paper. However, after buying the Kasama Una pen, I just couldn’t afford to buy the Pilot VP at the moment. I watched some videos on Youtube about Majohn A1 as a good alternative and finally decided to buy it as it only costs about 20% of the Pilot VP’s tag price. Photo below is my blue Majohn A1 with Diamine Shimmering Seas ink and Elias (a local brand) loose sheets. The pen is almost 90% replica of the Pilot VP in terms of design but compared to VP, this one would sometimes write dry initially especially if not used for a few days. It does write wet after a few initial practice strokes so I don’t see it as a serious problem. I like how the pen can be clipped in my jeans pocket and I can just whip it out if I need to write or sign documents.

Another pen that I have just recently added to my collection is the Pilot Prera with calligraphy medium nib. Below is the unboxing video of the Pilot Prera that I posted on IG and test writing after inking with my new Diamine Blue Moon ink. Pilot Prera is slightly shorter than a regular Pilot fountain pen and caps with satisfying click. I bought this one to be included in my everyday carry (EDC) along with Twsbi Swipe and Eco. I only bring my Kasama Una pen occasionally because I’m scared to lose it!

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I think blue is my favorite color for inks judging by how I reach for blue inks every time I have the urge to write. Most of the inks in my stash are also in different shades of blue. It’s hard for me to choose which blue ink in my stash tops the list but if I were to pick one, it would be Sailor Shikiori dye ink in Nioi Sumire! I love how the ink closely resembles my favorite copper ore – azurite (photo below). The purplish undertone in this ink is such a beauty that I have inked three of my fountain pens with it. The next blue inks that I love because of how they shade are Diamine Blue Moon and Jalur Gemilang. Another ink that I love writing with although it’s not totally blue (green with touch of blue) is the Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-Ro (Dew on Pine). I will swatch all my inks and write about them in my next blog post.

That’s all for now, my dear readerships. Hope to be able to write here again in the next few days.

Cheers,