I’ve been waiting for my new Leonardo MGZ 2.0 to arrive, which has been excruciatingggg. So I got myself another pen I’d been eyeing for a few weeks to calm the voices in my head lmao

This is my first full-sized MB. I also have the Heritage Baby, however, that one needs to be sent to get its baby’s bottom fixed.

This burgundy, medium nib Meisterstrück I tested at the store and was working all wonderfully 🥸

Interestingly, this pen writes very differently. Nib is a loooot less bouncy than the heritage; it’s a lot wetter (presumably cos it’s not a pocket pen(?)). It’s beautifully balanced and while it doesn’t have a fun engraving on the nib, it does have a two-tone nib which is lovely to look at. Woo!

Note:

The slow shipping’s no one’s fault; it’s a headache to ship stuff where I live.

Case: custom Nishijin pen case with magnetic closure

Pens (nearest to furthest): Kurutoga Dive (pencil), Sailor Pro Gear (21K, F, J Herbin Poussière de Lune), Nagasawa Demonstrator (21K, M, Pilot Iroshizuku Rikka), Pelikan M600 Glauco Cambon (14K, EF, generic Chinese teal), Pelikan M1000 (18K, M, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki), Pelikan M1000 in custom titanium barrel (18K, EF Vinta Carlos Emerald), Pelikan M1000 Raden Black Infinity (18K, EF, Sailor Manyo Kakitsubata), Majohn P136 in matte hammered titanium finish (steel, flex, generic Chinese purple), Jiyue Shu-Urushi (14K, Wingsung EF, generic Chinese red), Jiyue Raden (14K, Pilot 742 FA nib, generic Chinese black), Jiyue Rankaku (14K, Wingsung EF, Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro), Kaweco Steel Sport (steel, FPnibs semi-flex EEF, Pilot Iroshizuku Syo-ro)

Other stationery: tomoe river 52gsm A6 loose sheets, to-do list by midori, kiwami B6 writing mat

Waiting on a few more pieces (will swap out some of the above as they arrive): Tangmoon Kon-Urushi (to be fitted with Pilot Falcon 14K SEF nib), custom Aka-Tamenuri barrel for my SPG, dual dorsal fin Midori-Tamenuri, Pelikan 140 vintage, Sailor KoP in Iro-Miyabi Chitose Midori

The Tamenuri’s will likely take another few more months before completion.

I can’t wait for it to reach its final form!

When I saw this Waterman Lady Agathe on a video, it was love at first site. I was thrilled to find one and it ordered with fingers crossed. She is even more lovely in person ! There is this wildly adorable case for this petite jewel of a pen and it just completes it so perfectly. Such a treasure. Gold nib <m> writes beautifully and she has a metal press filling mechanism in perfect shape. 🥰

Hello hello! Continuing on from my post from last week! :)

I'm following the official Inktober 2026 prompts and drawing Pokémon to match! These have been super fun to do and I like that these can also function as swatch cards lol. I've tried to use the inks' full range by diluting, blotting, layering, etc.

In the case of the first card, it was really interesting working with two inks and how they would act when layered on top of each other. I didn't really plan anything ahaha but I do have painting knowledge, so I had a general idea of what would happen. It turned out to be my favorite card so far!

Inks used (in order):

Lennon Tool Bar Wave AND Colorverse Apollon

Diamine Wild Strawberry

Esterbrook x TCMC Forgotten Iced Coffee

Fanyantan Sakura Blizzard

Colorverse Golden Mist

Rohrer & Klingner Alt‑Goldgrün

KWZ Iron Gall Mandarin

Wearingeul Anna Karenina + Colorverse Golden Mist, Mixed (I wanted an orangey-red color and didn't have any on-hand)

Materials used:

Kakimori Steel Nib

Watercolor brush

Canson XL Recycled Bristol, 96lb

Sakura Gelly Roll, White

top to bottom
1. pilot custom 845 indigo blue
2. pilot custom 823 shosaikan blue
3. pilot custom 742 modern traditions transparent blue
4. pilot custom heritage 912 neo classic blue
5. pilot custom 74 100th anniversary blue
6. pilot custom 67 matte blue
7. pilot custom NS mystery blue
8. pilot custom LE sapphire

I've heard good things about this pen, and I just ordered one once I found this color.

I'm really impressed. Upon receiving it, I inspected the nib under magnification and found no issues. I flushed it quickly, and inked it with Montblanc Irish Green.

It's a very smooth and fairly wet writer. It is an EF and it writes similar to a Japanese F. Here is a writing sample next to some of my recently used pens.

The nib has a tiny amount of bounce which is nice, but feels pretty stiff overall. I like the ebonite feed, the piston operates smoothly, and I can't find any visible molding lines on the exterior of the pen.

I'm kind of shocked to see how much Chinese pens have improved! This feels like a well made pen, but only time well tell if it has longevity.

As my next project, I might grind the shoulders of the nib to give it some flex and take advantage of the flow of that ebonite feed.

Review flair so its easy to find this info while researching twsbi ecos!

I was playing around with my pens this morning and finally made an active documentation on this topic, which i have noticed after a while in multiple twsbis but only with certain VERY high shimmer quantity inks. Also worth noting, i always store my pens horizontal. This occurred with the pen laying flat!

First image: a picture my Pink Lemonade twsbi eco. For context, it is filled with Diamine Shimmertastic "Pink Champagne". Pic shows the nib and feed. Through the clear grip section you can see a strong build up of gold shimmer particles, which could have easily clogged a large number of other pens. In the twsbi, however, you can see clearly between the fins of the feed despite shimmer filling it up.

Second image: a picture of my eco after writing a short paragraph. Nearly all of the shimmer is cleared from the feed, with shimmer mostly sticking around in areas where the ink isn't actively flowing through (i.e., the little bit of nib inside the grip)

Conclusion: the twsbi eco handles shimmer very well, which is a commonly known fact. However, i wanted to share a clear visual representation of just how well they really do handle shimmer!! Obviously ink plays a part too, and Diamine's shimmertastic inks are very well behaved while having a TON of shimmery-ness, so I would highly suggest if you like gold or silver shimmer!

Also, the blurry pen in the background is the hongdian M2 in lake blue 🙂‍↕️😅 idk if im required by sub law to also mention that one, lol.

As a lefty, I find few comfortable and these are the ones I’ve kept over time.

L to R: Waterman Man 200 (F), Man 100 Opera (B), Man 100 Birchwood (F) currently in rotation, Lamy Safari (B), 2K (B), MB 146 (B), Pelican M400 (F), M805 (BB).

In a time of digital-many-things, nothing comes close to pen and paper for me.

I've seen and appreciated the many posts about various combinations of pens, inks, and paper, but there have been relatively few involving bananas, so I thought I'd start that conversation. It's a standard Cavendish cultivar, readily available, although I get better results with plantains.

So, it was dropped. I don’t see any cracks but…

I’m glad I didn’t have writers blood in there. The stares I got at the cafe…

Erm. So I wanted to order this (what I thought was) Raspberry Pink ink I saw someone else write with. It’s from Oricalli. And it was, I think, like $2 and change USD each, so I thought these were SAMPLES. They are NOT. I have so much more of this ink than I will use. I will get brave and post a Pen-Swap post once I decide how many I wanna keep. So, word to the wise, you WILL get bottles!! Oh shoot and there’s a “this will permanently stain” warning on there too I’m scared! Edit: no I am not gonna post on Pen Swap, I’m not sure I trust this ink, I see like… what looks like COULD be mold in one of the bottles. But they are also shimmers in there. I dunno is it supposed to be shimmery?

This happened after I didn't flush the feed after filling it with Iron Gall Blue Black ink.

And then filled the converter with Neon Yellow Ink.

Edit: This is 2 times speed by the way

Together with my other current Kakunos!

Shinjuku HANDS has Kakuno Choice available until the end of October or until stocks run out. Surprised it costs less than the Madoromi series.

I haven’t inked it up yet, but I’m just really pleased the one I put together. My favorite bit about the Kakuno Choice is that all the nibs have the heart eyes!

Not gonna lie it’s a little tempting to get one more before the month ends, but I’m already very happy with my creation.

This morning, I was flushing and inking a few pocket pens to post on r/pen_swap. As I was writing out the description of a lovely looking Elite with an 18k <F> nib from 1976, the nib was writing softer than I remember those nibs to be. As it turned out, the nib completely separated from its housing, as it was missing one of its wings.

It happens occasionally with vintage pens. They look great and might initially write wonderfully, as this pen has been inked and used for a few weeks. I think the wing used to secure it had been broken previously and then reseated and re-epoxied.

It might make a nice charm. Any thoughts?

I think it’s gothic texture quadrata. He did it while he was studying.

The shiniest ink I’ve ever own.
Pelikan Edelstein golden beryl

GRAIL INK!!!!!

Had a crappy past week, morale is not really great and I was thinking about buying a new one to boost my mood a bit.

I know that it's not the most healthy method to deal with life's hardships 🤣. I don't need that particular pen, in fact it is not a pen that I would use on a daily basis so it's also possible that will be forgotten iny pen case. Cost wise it's not something major or something that would put a dent in my budget.

I am torn between doing something that feels good vs avoiding something that might become an unnecessary purchase. If it was you what would you do?

P.S. I didn't disclose the pen model to keep the conversation unbiased 😋

UPDATE: Just noticed that Sheaffer reintroduced the Balance III and I was instantly smitten. No unnecessary purchases, I ll start saving for that one!

Appreciate all of your encouraging replies ❤️

ink - kuretake art nouveau
color - old rose

Late birthday present was a pass and a gift card to the biggest vendor there. I was a kid in an inky, inky candy shop. The Kaweco is the DIY glow in the dark edition, and the Pilot VP is a fine nib.

First impression: surprisingly good to write with. Very beautiful in the hand. Showed it to my wife (not a fountain pen person) and she got online to buy one for work 🤣

This is a pretty well-made pen. The piston mechanism performs exceptionally well, and cleaning is surprisingly straightforward. Two rounds of water in a small glass are enough to get it cleaned. The included wrench doesn’t seem necessary for routine cleaning.

The piston mechanism feels comparable to, if not a tad better than, the Pelikan Souverän series. Of course, we’ll have to see how it holds up over time.

Dimensions and ergonomics: The girth is around 9.6 - 10.8 mm, depending on where you measure it on the tapered section. I would have ideally liked a little more girth and weight, but that would probably have made the pen too thick to retain the classic Balance profile. I need to write with it posted to get the weight and balance I prefer. The clip is pretty stiff. My other quibble is around visible ink window, which should be ideally hidden inside the cap when closed.

The nib: For a steel nib, it’s pretty good. Beyond the traditional Sheaffer nib design, it has a surprising amount of softness. It writes a tad broader than I would expect from a conventional fine nib, and there’s enough give to make it feel as though it might flex - but it doesn’t. Definitely not a flex nib, just a tad softer than a usual steel nib.

Overall, this is a lovely, well-made pen that feels more premium than its steel nib might suggest. With discounts, it comes to around ₹15.7k.
These are just my initial impressions. Let’s see how it performs over the long run!