made in india

of late, indian made pens have been my focus.

especially when they are well made and very reasonably priced.

the pens i ordered, made in india, finally arrived!

all in different ebonite colours.

(l to r: asa nauka, gama forever, wality/airmail, asa athelete and asa i will)

and below are all my current indian pens together.

pens capped.

(l to r: wality/airmail, asa athelete, skt, gama forever, asa nauka, asa i will, ranga model 5) 

pens uncapped:

(l to r: skt, wality/airmail, asa nauka, gama forever, asa athelete, asa i will, ranga model 5) 

only the asa i will and ranga model 5 are fitted with jowo nib unit.

the rest have stock indian nibs.

"the pen"

i got this no brand ebonite eyedropper fountain pen from e-bay for USD14. i believe it was made in india. at that price point, it was meant to be the pen i would tinker with and not worry about. after all, the pen's dimensions were much smaller than what i would normally prefer.

when i started writing with it, i couldn't help but admire everything that didn't fit my specifications. yes, admire. the nib was small (i was told it was #5.5 but i have no way of knowing this) and was scratchy. but it was comfortable and balanced in my hands even though the girth is less than what i'm used to.

weeks passed and i finally mustered courage to tweak the nib. i've never done that to any of my fountain pens. after applying my limited knowledge of just aligning the tines (it was misaligned to start with), i was amazed at how smoothly the nib writes now!  

i have to admit, this has become my favourite pen and it's always in my pen wrap. and it's the pen i reach out for most of the time. i did have some 'burping' action going on when my ink supply was low, but hey, i enjoy having inky fingers anyway. 

just goes to show to never underestimate anything in life. 

it might just turn out to be something you'll fall in love with... 

(size comparison shot: L to R - Lamy Safari and "the pen").

charleston in primary manipulation

jonathon brooks of carolina pen company is an artist.
a skilled master craftsman.
not only does he make custom fountain pens,
he also creates the material he needs to work on if you don't find something you already fancy.

late december 2015, brooks posted a pen he made on instagram.
i saw his instagram posting 3 hours after.
i didn't think.
i just rushed to his website and clicked 'buy'.
no second thoughts. no regrets.
i just wanted it.
especially since i know, you can never get the material he made looking like that again.

so this is not a fountain pen review.
of course, brooks' fountain pen designs are amazing.
this is to share the 'art' that brooks created, and fashioned into a fountain pen.

absolutely beautiful.

it's coming...

i've waited for quite a bit for this package to arrive.
finally it's on my home soil.
let's hope they send it early next week.

what's inked for jan 2016

for many years since i had this Danitrio cum laude, i was not able to get the nib unit out to exchange with another. it was frustrating. i was close to sending the pen to a pen expert to work on it.

first of 2016 came with a blessing i'm sure.
because at long last, i was able to unscrew the stubborn nib out and replace it.
the Danitrio nib needs some tweaking.

Danitrio cum laude

and these are the pens currently inked for this month.

(L to R): Franklin Christoph Model 02, Franklin Chrsitoph Model 66, Lamy Joy, Danitrio Mikado, Danitrio cum laude, Aurora Talentum, Sailor Profit and Kaweco Brass Sport.