Some of my friends surprised me with a visit and a gift the other day – a beautiful and completely unique blown glass pen! I had seen these pens online before, and had been really curious about them but decided against buying one at the time. I’m [...]]]>

Some of my friends surprised me with a visit and a gift the other day – a beautiful and completely unique blown glass pen! I had seen these pens online before, and had been really curious about them but decided against buying one at the time. I’m thrilled that Lindy bought one for me, and from a Queensland glass artist too! Wolfgang Engel lives and works in his Bundaberg studio and creates unique glass pens that follow the style of the glass pens that were first blown in Venice around 150 years ago.

The spiral handle is gorgeous!

The nib is also beautiful, and draws a line that is pretty close to a 08 felt nibbed pen.

Writing is really comfortable, and the spiral nib does hold heaps of ink for a dipping pen. I was using Noodlers Bulletproof Black ink. I love how the ink fades as I write and by turning the pen around in my hand as it runs out I can use the ink that is caught in the spirals around the nib.

Drawing with the glass pen feels just as lovely as writing with it! I would love a whole heap of these pens in different nib widths so I can retire my felt pens entirely – it’d also solve the problem of having to dispose of so much pen waste each year, as the only consumable of using a dipping pen is the ink.

A close up of my hand writing – the paper I was using wasn’t the best, but it still wrote beautifully.

If you like unusual writing instruments, I recommend a glass pen highly! It’s just a little bit more fancy, yannow?

In the comments of my last pen review, Bob asked about the waterproof-ness of the Copic and the Pilot pens I had road tested. He was specifically interested in how they’d wash I think, so upon figuring out my new Rotring Rapidograph just [...]]]>

In the comments of my last pen review, Bob asked about the waterproof-ness of the Copic and the Pilot pens I had road tested. He was specifically interested in how they’d wash I think, so upon figuring out my new Rotring Rapidograph just before I decided to do some science and test the Pilot Hi-Tec-C, Copic Multiliner SP and Rotring Rapidograph.

The Pilot is conclusively not waterproof. Insofar as getting a nice wash out of it, I think you’ll be disappointed. The ink just sort of feathers out and becomes obnoxiously furry, and you can’t push it around with the brush at all.

I have decided that the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP is my natural enemy. It is useless if you want consistently nice, inky, black lines. It is waterproof, so I guess that’s one upside. I don’t know why the nib has started performing like this – I have hardly used the pen! It looks blocked to me, but I’m completely disinterested in purchasing another nib – unfortunately I bought a spare ink cartridge for this pen too. What a waste!

And now my new lover, the .10 Rotring Rapidograph. I bought it from an ebay seller in Malaysia and it didn’t come with instructions. So, I was furiously googling for information on how to assemble it properly for fear I’d do something wrong and render it unusable. Kate came to my rescue with a scan of her instructions and I discovered that I’d managed to assemble it incorrectly, so once it was all connected properly I was so happy to see the ink flowing perfectly!

I’m happy to say that the Rotring ink is waterproof, which suits my purposes perfectly as I occasionally use watercolour over an inked drawing.

Bob, I hope I’ve satisfied your curiosity on the subject of the waterproofosity of these pens!

I got my order from JetPens last week and I was so excited I thought I’d do a review. I ordered the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP, the 0.3 Pilot Hi-Tec-C, the Tradio Pulaman fountain pen and for fun, the Pentel Outline Marker.

I got my order from JetPens last week and I was so excited I thought I’d do a review. I ordered the 0.03 Copic Multiliner SP, the 0.3 Pilot Hi-Tec-C, the Tradio Pulaman fountain pen and for fun, the Pentel Outline Marker.

I bought the Copic Multiliner in the finest available size, 0.03, so I could see just how fine a line I could get from it. It is definitely the finest tipped pen I own now! I feel like I ought to be super delicate with the tip though, and forget about quick up-strokes or curves – you definitely need to know where you’re placing your line with this pen. The ink isn’t true black either – I don’t know if that’s a result of the super fine nib or if the ink colour is indeed slightly feint.

Yuki recommended the Pilot Hi-Tec-C to me when I was looking for fine tipped pens. I was dubious because I have worked only with felt tip pens, and these are a gel pen. I was pleasantly surprised when I started doodling with the Hi-Tec-C though – the flow of ink is perfect, the colour is lovely and the line is fine. However, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 0.03 Copic above! This is a great pen for writing, it’s so smooth!

I have looked longingly at fountain pens for a while, knowing that if I scratched the itch I’d only end up with a rash. I found the Tradio Pulaman while browsing and decided I’d purchase it because it was reasonably priced and had a felt tip (which is more familiar to me, natch). I really really love writing with it, but I wish the felt nib was finer because it’s a little heavy in my mind.

Click the above images to get an idea of the felt nib, and the little “splashbacks” you get whenever you draw a curved line. I quite like the effect!

And finally, the fun pen! The Pentel Outline Marker basically has two inks, a heavier dark ink sinks to the bottom and forms a “stroke” of sorts around the silver ink. I wish you could get this in a white “fill” colour instead of the silver.

I ordered a 0.10 Rotring Rapidograph from ebay last week as well – I can’t wait to see how fine it is!