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Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

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Quick Look: Six Bung Box Inks

Bung Box Inks: Hard-to-Find Liquid Treasures

There’s a small, boutique stationery shop in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan called Bungubox that opened it’s doors in 2012. They were pretty much a mom-and-pop type of place, catering to local residents looking for nice pens and other writing supplies. Bungubox started commissioning various manufacturers to create exclusive items for their store.

One of these partnerships was with the company Sailor, who they commissioned to make a line of inks for them under the name Bung Box. Sailor’s Jentle inks are widely regarded as beautiful, high-quality inks, so it’s no surprise that the Bung Box colors were also very popular.

Sailor is one of the “Big 3” Japanese pen & ink manufacturers…with Pilot and Platinum being the other two.

Sometime last year (2015), word got out about the Bung Box inks, and all hell broke loose. People from all over the world began ordering the inks, making the shop proprietors scramble to fulfill orders and cleaning the inks off the shelves. The availability of Bung Box inks goes in and out as supplies run out and the inks need to be reordered & made. At this moment, at least some of them are available, so I ordered a pile of samples to check them out (at $42 for a 50 ml bottle, they’re extremely expensive inks…so I just stuck with samples).

Holy Gosh! I see why they’re so popular.

Below are images and descriptions for six of the Bung Box inks. There’s not a dud in the bunch.

Quick Look: Bung Box Inks, showing swatches and writing samples with Ink of the Witch, Piano Mahogany, and Silent Night

… Read More

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Schneider Glam Fountain Pen Review

The Schneider Glam Fountain Pen, Capped and ready for action

I’m extremely impressed by how much I’m unimpressed with this pen.

Schneider Glam Fountain Pen

Price: $15.00
Nib: Fine
Filling System: Standard International Cartridges (and apparently nothing else)

About the Pen:

The quick review: I’d rather jam it in my eye than write with it. The end.

If you’d like a little more detail, then feel free to read on. But don’t expect a different outcome in the long version.

I recently started to run across Schneider fountain pens on eBay. The most common model I saw was the Base, which is a funny-looking thing. It sort of resembles some Faber-Castell designs…but more of a cheesy, drunk-looking version. But then I found some listings for their Glam model, and I thought it looked a little more interesting. The Glam comes in a number of different screen-printed designs, and their “Cog Wheel” design was the one that caught my eye.

So I got to looking at the pen a little more in-depth. I noticed right away that… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Reviews / 14 Comments

Delta Unica Fountain Pen Review

The Delta Unica Fountain Pen uncapped, with the pen section resting atop and perpendicular to the cap

Straight outta my “I really gotta consider more European pens, you know?” files, here’s my review of the simple yet sexy…

Delta Unica Fountain Pen

Price: $76.00
Nib: Fine (F)
Filling System: Screw-Type Piston Converter

About the Pen:

Unlike fellow Italian fountain pen manufacturers Montegrappa, Aurora, and Omas (RIP), which are pushing their century mark, Delta is a relatively new player in the field. Founded back when the Go-Go’s were sealing their lips, The Cars were shaking it up, and Joan Jett was stating the obvious (1982, in case you didn’t know), Delta has yet to hit their 35th birthday. When looking at the big players of Italian fountain pens, only Visconti (1988) has been around for less time.

Despite their relative youth, Delta smashed one out of the park with their luscious and sexy
… Read More

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Lanbitou 280 Fountain Pen Review

Lanbitou 280 Fountain Pen Capped

For the next entry in my “Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, I would like to call your attention to the…

Lanbitou 280 Fountain Pen

Price: $7.00
Nib: Fine/Extra Fine
Filling System: International Standard Converter & Cartridges

Born of an Old Chinese Proverb:

An old Chinese Proverb states “A good memory is no match for a worn pen nib.” It’s lesson: to write everything down…a written account of an event, by its very nature, is stronger (and more accurate) than an oral tale of that account passed down through generations.

In Chinese, “worn pen nib” is translated to lan bi tou (or Lanbitou). What a beautiful name for a pen brand. I love it. It tells me that the company takes writing seriously, and that the pens that bear its name can be trusted to record all the events of my life, all the stories I hold dear, all the knowledge that I want to live on after I’m gone…. Read More

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Nemosine Singularity Fountain Pen Review

Nemosine Singularity Fountain Pen, uncapped, with the cap standing up behind the pen, which is laying down

An interesting, little $15 wonder…

Nemosine Singularity Fountain Pen

Price: $15.00
Nib: 0.6mm Stub
Filling System: Cartridge/Converter (Standard International)

About the Pen & the Company:

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this pen. Opinions around the InnerNets are very mixed. Some love their Nemosine Singularity. Others have found them unusable. I’m definitely in the “love” category, but it does have some potentially large flaws that could be considered deal-breakers for those shopping for an inexpensive fountain pen.

Before I get into the pen too much, though, let’s chat for a spell on the company, Nemosine, as they’re sort of a big mystery…. Read More

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Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen Review

Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen, uncapped and looking sexy

From my “I can’t believe it’s not broader” file, I would like to introduce you to the…

Faber-Castell Basic Fountain Pen

Price: $45.00 (+ $5 for the converter)
Nib: Extra Fine
Filling System: Converter & Standard International Cartridges

About the Pen:

Founded in 1761, Faber-Castell is one of the oldest and most well known manufacturers of writing instruments and art supplies. 1761. That’s over 250 years. Two and a half centuries. We’re talking a quarter of a millennium, people. They’ve been around a while. They’ve had lots of time to perfect their products. And it shows.

I bought this pen a long time ago, and never got around to inking it up. I figured that because it’s a European pen, the nib would probably be broader than I’d prefer. When I finally tried the pen, I entered a fit of jubilation and regret: Jubilation over how fine a line it actually puts down, and regret over having let it sit in a drawer for so long.

Faber-Castell Glamor shot of the Basic Fountain Pen, capped… Read More

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Inksperiment: FrankenPurple

Recipe: A random blue cartridge that came with a Monteverde Invincia and a few drops of Noodler’s Red-Black

Origins:

I recently got a fountain pen that doesn’t take converters. It came with one cartridge (Standard International Short), but I managed to get it jammed inside the barrel of the pen. So I had to destroy the cartridge to get it out. I had a few more laying around, so it wasn’t a big loss.

So I used a blue cartridge that came with my Monteverde Invincia, and I hated the color. It was a lame, weak blue. I’m not sure if it was Monteverde ink or not, but it was unacceptable. Instead of throwing it out, I figured I’d experiment a bit and mix in another color and see what happens. So I put in a couple drops of Noodler’s Red-Black, thinking I’d get a nice, rich purple.

What came out was more of a weird brown-black with purple overtones. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I figured I’d use it up to see if it would grow on me. It didn’t. But I did discover some interesting things about it (click the image below to enlarge it).

Inksperiments - FrankenPurple Initial writing sample of words and doodles… Read More

/ / Babble, Conspiracy, Fountain Pens / 6 Comments

My White Whale and the Dark Deception It Uncovered

Some Things Are Way Harder Than They Should Be

Moby Dick: The great, white whale who for so long eluded and tormented Captain Ahab, invading his dreams, becoming the subject of his infamous obsession, and eventually leading to his demise. We all have one, don’t we? That one thing that’s always on our mind…that just eats at us night and day until we capture it, defeat it, or figure it out.

For some in the fountain pen world, the white whale is a rare pen model, color, or date of manufacture (or a combination of all three). For me, it’s about 1/100 of a penny’s worth of plastic: a simple … Read More

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Yiren 860 Fountain Pen Review

Yiren 860 Fountain Pen, uncapped

Next up in my “Cheap Inexpensive Chinese Fountain Pens” series, another winner from one of my favorite Chinese brands…

Yiren 860 Fountain Pen

Price: $7.00
Nib: Medium
Filling System: Standard International Converter (& Cartridges)

About the Pen:

I’m a really big fan of gunmetal-colored pens. It’s just classy, you know? Eye-catching. I often peruse eBay in search of cool-looking pens that won’t break the bank. Quite often, I find interesting Chinese pens for under $10. I’ve purchased and used a number of them, and I’m always happy when I find new designs that I haven’t seen before. I stumbled on an auction for this beautiful little Yiren 860, and immediately fell in love with the gunmetal and gold colors.

Given the terrific success I had with another Yiren pen, I pounced on the 860 like a rat on a Cheeto. And I’m not sorry about it, either…. Read More

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Quick Look: New Chesterfield Antique Inks

New Chesterfield Antique Inks

Chesterfield recently released four new antique inks. They were on a serious sale from XFountainPens, so I picked up a 50ml bottle of each. I think most Chesterfield inks are re-branded Diamine colors. I’m not sure if these new ones are also Diamine, but I’m blown away by all four of them.

The image below shows writing and swab samples of all four. I apologize in advance for my horrible writing. I’m a menace with a dip pen. I’ve got some quick write-ups below the photo, so get your butt down there and read them.

Writing samples of the new Chesterfield Antique Fountain Pen Inks using a dip pen and a q-tip… Read More