Peacock pens

• Throwback last month
• Caught my attention
• April magic: where possibilities sparkle and dreams come alive
• Smooth is good
• A good quote

In the month of March I actually had a lot of fun with fountain pens. There was a lot going on in fountain pen world. I started testing some pens again and I paid a lot of attention to reviews. Filling in my free time, balancing between drawing, sketching, testing fountain pens, discovering new things and running (yes start to run again) has once again caused some chaos in time management. But the challenges present themselves in many areas, so there is no time to lose. Before continuing with April, let’s take a look at what March has brought.

Throwback last month

• Drawing challenge 1000 portraits/faces
  As much as I tried my best to really go for the 1000 faces challenge, the motivation and the time took a toll on it. In March I changed my approach a bit and used different techniques, see also my last update. As a result, I spent quite a lot of time on one portrait. I started to fall a bit behind on my planned schedule and I don’t want to sacrifice quality. So I won’t make it for a second year in a row. But I’ll come back to this in a later post.
• Watercolour sketching
  Because of my drawing challenge and my fountain pen review revival, I think I haven’t been able to sketch enough with watercolours. It still fascinates me and I’m definitely getting this going again. My sketch ‘The Man in the Garden‘ is definitely a good attempt. My post about creating a certain mood has also given me a better understanding of how to use colours.
• Eight pen questions
  I had been aware for some time that these eight questions were doing the rounds. Now I thought it was the right time to answer this question myself. You can find all the questions and answers in my post. I offer you the opportunity to link your own post to this. Go for it!
• Pen swapping
  In March I still managed to get three pen reviews when doing my weekly pen swaps. The following pens were swapped:
  – Lamy Vista –> BENU Chameleon
  – Kaweco Special Brass –> TWSBI VAC 700 R
  – Montblanc Meisterstück 149 –> Conklin All American
  I have adjusted my system for reviewing fountain pens. The way in which it is done seems to give me a better idea about a fountain pen. As you can see, it remains a fascinating hobby because so many challenges are formed.

• Revealing my first order of 2024
  In March I revealed my first ordered fountain pen of 2024, the BENU Skulls and Roses. This pen looks so special and appears in so many fountain pen collections that I decided to buy one before it’s too late. Check my reveal.

Caught my attention

The pen world does not stand still. Rumors and truths are emerging. A number of things have caught my attention and seem interesting to follow.

• Lamy, the reputed fountain pen builder, has made the news many times. Firstly Lamy was acquired by Mitsubishi Pencil Company. The Lamy family business, founded in 1930, is therefore entirely managed by the founders of the Uni brand. So it remains to be seen what this acquisition has to offer in the long term. I just hope that Lamy will be able to retain his individuality and that new opportunities will open up. Secondly, there was a lot of fuss about their Dark Lilac ink. This ink was recently re-proposed, being that the colour was not the same compared to the original colour of 2016. Poor communication about this by Lamy made the rumor mill run at full speed. Lamy has publicly, let’s say, commercialized this rumor. When I recently visited the local dealer, the colour was temporarily unavailable, sold out! Although the new Dark Lilac is not a limited edition, it remains to be seen how soon we can have it available. Wonderful story!
• I could be wrong, but it strikes me that a number of new pens have recently been introduced to the market with piston. Apparently, they’ve had it with the cartridges and converters? I’m thinking of the KAWECO piston Sport and the TWSBI Kai edition. Is this a harbinger for more piston stuff?

April magic: where possibilities sparkle and dreams come alive

March was still drizzly, cold, wet… in short, a month to focus on what f(s)un things we can bring for April.💌:

• For sure a last update on my 1000 faces drawing. How it ended and what the future will bring. Is it lost?🎡
• Watercolour sketching will be my focus in April.🎨
• Hopefully I manage to bring you some new fountain pens ready to be inked. I can already tell you that the following pens will come into action: Duke 551, Lamy Ideos, Otto Hutt Design 04 and Waterman Concorde (vintage). 💥🖋
• What’s fun about reviewing pens? A look behind the curtain: how do I do it!🖋

Smooth is good

Last month I introduced the ‘Smooth is good’ fountain pen competition. Time for the second round. As a fountain pen enthusiast, I love fountain pens that write buttery soft, where the fountain pen glides over the paper, as it were. The intention is that I have a kind of competition between the inked fountain pens where the best will be in the lead. This competition is always held at the end of the month. Only inked fountain pens are discussed. The judging will be purely instinctive, in which all factors play a role (writing performance, look, quality, value for money, …). Since I do a maximum of 4 pen swaps per month and because I always have 8 inked fountain pens, this means that each pen ends up at least twice in a ‘Smooth is good’ competition.

Here are the results for March 2024:

1. Pelikan 400 🥇 – Outstanding flex writing performance, vintage!
2. Parker Duofold centennial 🥈 – Top writer, vintage!
3. Opus 88 Jazz🥉 – Smooth fine writer, nice grip!
4. TWSBI VAC 700 R – Looks great and writes good, piston.
5. Sailor Profit Jr. – This small pen is outstanding, good fude nib!
6. BENU Chameleon – Nice pen, special look and good nib.
7. Parker Urban – Not hot, just a pen, no emotion involved.
8. Conklin All American – Bad writing performance, false starts all the time! 🤬

A good quote to start April