Fountain Pen Review

Hi everyone!

Here's a very short review of the fountain pens in my collection. I don't own a lot and what I do have I do use all the time. 

I started using a fountain pen when I started to journal more consistently. It felt more luxurious and nostalgic than a regular ballpoint or gel pen, at least to me, and I enjoyed the experience so much more. 

I think my first one after a very long time was this pink Lamy Safari. I used to hate how these looked but they've grown on me and I have several now. They're relatively inexpensive and come in many different fun colors. I love the Vista too which is a Demonstrator. 

The Lamys are also particularly flexible because you can change out the nibs from pen to pen, and they have several sizes to choose from ranging from Extra Fine to a 1.9 mm Italic nib. 

My favorite for actual journal writing is this Pilot Prera. I love how it looks!  Its small and compact and fits well in the Midori TN pen loop which is what I use as a journal now. It also writes very, I mean very, smoothly, with no blobs and globs, even after a few days of not using it. And as you will see from the rest of this post, I love demonstrator pens where you can see the ink through the barrel. 

My other favorite fountain pen is the Pilot Plumix which I use mostly for art journaling. It makes my handwriting look so good! Lol. And it's also a smooth pen. At $8, you can't go wrong with the Plumix. 

The clear one is a Pilot Penmanship that writes extra extra fine, albeit a little scratchy. Also $8. 

The other ones I have I admittedly haven't been using much, namely, the Sailor and Pilot Crystal. They're not bad at all, I just prefer the others. I do love though that they're Demonstrators. 

And lastly, the Pilot Preppy. These could be a starter fountain pen for some. They are refillable with cartridges and come in many colors. Another reasonably-priced pen at $3. 

You may be able to tell I'm a fan of Pilot pens. 

I did a small nib writing test for you so you can have an idea of how each one writes. I'm no expert so forgive me if this is not the way ink tests are done. 

If there was anything I didn't cover, or if you have any questions please leave them in the comments and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. 

(Sidenote: I was finally able to find a Midori 5th Anniversary Edition and that's what you see in the photos above.)

Thanks for visiting!

Carrying Pens in a Midori

Hi everyone!

When I first started setting up the Midori, I used binder clips and a magnetic pen holder hack to hold 2 multi-pens and a fountain pen in it.

It worked ok.  The binder clips were quite secure and I had 3 pens easily accessible to me.  The magnetic hack though was not a great success.  Although the magnets were quite strong, it just felt flimsy and moved around quite a bit.

And of course, like all my other projects, I had to find a better way to do it.

Here are a few attempts at ‘building a better (mouse trap) pen holder”:

The obvious Midori pen holder that’s fat enough for a Lamy Safari.  Too small for the Muji multi pens though.

I also tried securing the pens in the elastic.

Here's a DIY leather thing-a-ma-jig.  Like all my projects, super-simple construction. Just a long piece of leather with strong magnets.  It can even double as a magnetic bookmark, which is how it started its life..

My two personal favorites --

Keeping pens in the zipper pocket, even if it makes the MTN fat and chunky.

And lastly, a two-sided, DIY refill-sized pen holder made of plastic folder material.  The pen holders themselves are kept secure with flat brads.  And the pens are always out and ready-to-use.

I switch between the last two, depending on where I am.  When going out, I’ll keep the pens in the zipper pocket so they don’t snag on anything in my handbag.  When at home, I take out the pens and put them in the DIY pen “insert”.

Hope this inspires you to find the best way for you to store your pens in your Filofax or MTN.

Thanks for visiting!