Jul 1, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Xezo Légionnaire Review

Xezo may not be a well known company in the fountain pen world, but they sure make some amazing pens. They are more popular for their watches and sunglasses. Xezo is based in Texas, USA but all their fountain pens are made in Germany. Did I mention that all of their writing instruments are limited edition with only 500 pieces? This is one of Xezo’s older pens that I’ve had for about half a year now.

Jun 30, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Dumping ink or saving it?

I’ve seen many questions of people asking about whether or not to dump unfinished ink down the drain or back into the bottle from whence it came. Now, I am personally not able to make a solid decision for you, but I will give some ideas for each side. Personally, I do return unused inks back into the bottle, but that is just my choice. Feel free to make your own choice!

Jun 28, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

First Impressions - Xezo Maestro

Xezo may not be a well known company in the fountain pen world, but they sure make some amazing pens. They are more popular for their watches and sunglasses. Xezo is based in Texas, USA but all their fountain pens are made in Germany. Did I mention that all of their writing instruments are limited edition with only 500 pieces? The Maestro is one of their newer pens made of abalone shell and 18k gold plated trim pieces.

Jun 24, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

First Impressions - Monteverde Catalina

Monteverde is a small town in rural Costa Rica, known for it’s lush rainforests and is a common place for ecotourism. Monteverde is also a pen company, that is a division of the large Yafa company. For those unfamiliar with Yafa, they also make pens for Conklin and are the U.S. distributor for Delta, Stipula, Napkin and Schmidt. I managed to snag a blue Monteverde Catalina after it has been sadly discontinued by Monteverde quite a while back.

Jun 23, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Nemosine Singularity Demonstrator Review

Nemosine is a new company that isn’t always talked about. They only make 3 lines of pens, each with a large variety of colors to choose from. The lines are: Fission, a heavy all-metal pen, Neutrino, a middle-sized metal pen, and Singularity, a light and all-plastic pen. I actually have both the Fission and Singularity, while one of my friends has a Neutrino. For the Singularity, I opted for a clear (demonstrator) color, as it was my first time seeing a completely clear pen.

Jun 23, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

First Impressions - Visconti Van Gogh

What do you get when you cross an excellent pen manufacturer with a famous impressionistic painter? You get a pen that is truly a work of art! The Visconti Van Gogh series certainly does not disappoint it’s artistic and surreal roots. This is the first post of my First Impressions sections, where I comment on the design and features of brand new pens I get! I had the amazing opportunity to get the Visconti Van Gogh Pollard Willows pen, in an M nib.

Jun 20, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Jinhao X450 Review (and fakes)

Some of you may have heard of the Chinese pen manufacturer called Jinhao. They are based in the port city of Shanghai, China and specialize in making all kinds of writing instruments, from fountain pens to ballpoints. Their pens can be found very inexpensively from places like Goulet Pens and if you want to take a risk, eBay. Many people give Jinhao a bad rap for quality control issues and very bad nibs.

Jun 19, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Noodler's Dragon's Napalm Review

Noodler’s is quite famous among the fountain pen world for their huge variety of ink colors and choices. Some of the colors have crazy properties like permanence and U.V. fluorescence. Some of the colors tend to be more normal and don’t have anything special about them. Noodler’s released Dragon’s Napalm quite some time ago, and made a very cool promotional video for it. Honestly, I picked up a bottle just because of this amazingly cool video!

Jun 16, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Montblanc Corn Poppy Red Review

Montblanc occasionally released a few Special Edition inks which have a somewhat limited stock. They are quite hard to find in most places, and may be abruptly ended at any given time. There isn’t really a production number, so it isn’t a “limited” edition per se. One of their special editions is the reproduction of Corn Poppy Red. Corn Poppy Red was once a popular color, but was discontinued quite some time ago.

Jun 15, 2015

Written by Felix Jen

Diamine Hope Pink Review

Diamine is a British ink manufacturer that makes all types of inks, from fountain pen inks to stamp pads. In the U.S., they are mostly known for their huge selection of different fountain pen inks, found Here. They offer both 30mL and 80mL bottles and are readily available in most places that offer ink. Diamine released Hope Pink a while back in both 30mL and 80mL sizes, and donates a part of all sales to breast cancer research.