I do not have much experience with Rohrer and Klingner. Blu Mare is a turquoise ink by Rohrer and Klingner. It’s bright, cheerful colour that pops right off the page. It shades nicely even in a Japanese nib going from a cerulean blue to a light shade bright blue-green. It shifts between a greener or bluer turquoise depending on the paper and nib. Blu Mare is fairly lubricated and feels like a wet ink. If you are are looking for a nice bright turquoise, Blu Mare is one to check out.

Similar Inks:

• Pilot Iroshizuku Ama Iro
• Bril Turquoise
• Sheaffer Turquoise

This is part of an ink series that Sailor has discontinued a while back. Never understood why they decided to do so. Epinard is a dark olive green that shades well. It reminds me of Tokiwa Matsu from Sailor’s current series. Epinard is a nice lubricated ink that works well in my Sailor pen. Personally I think Tokiwa Matsu is a close enough with match to Epinard. I’m not that sad that it has been discontinued. Blasphemy, I know.

Similar Inks:

• Diamine Evergreen
• Robert Oster Signature Jade
• Sailor Jentle Tokiwa Matsu

This is part of Sailor’s recently re-released of an older 4 Seasons ink series. Rikyu-Cha is an odd blend of green and brown. Like most Sailor inks, it is fairly lubricated. I really enjoy this one of a kind colour. The shading is just wonderfully. Why Sailor ever discontinued this ink is a complete mystery to me. It goes down a dark green but dries to a brownish hue. In the water test, all the green and brown hue washes away and strangely leaving just a blue colour.

Similar Inks:

• Rohrer and Klingner Alt-Goldgrun
• Sailor Jentle Epinard
• Sailor Jentle Tokiwa Matsu

The Numbers:
Weight: 12g
Length (capped): 135mm
Length (uncapped): 123mm
Price: 144 Indian Rupee from Amazon India
Body Material: Plastic
Nib Material: Stainless steel
Filling Mechanism: Cartridge / converter
Colours: Various

Intro:
Parker Beta is an Indian made fountain pen by Parker. It is only available exclusively in India. It costs SGD$3 and is geared towards the student market.

Packaging:
The Parker Beta comes in a normal blister pack. I wonder if they sell these in packs of 6 like how ballpoint pens are sold. The packaging is nothing special it just serves as a way for the product be displayed on racks.

Performance:
The Parker Beta has a simple flat top design. The body is straight and of a single diameter throughout. The cap is slightly wider and snaps on and off with a click. Mine has a white and purple polka dot pattern on the body accented with a black clip and rings around the top of the cap and end of the pen body. Unlike most pens where you will find the logo stamped or etched onto the finial of cap, instead the Parker logo can be found at the bottom of the pen.

The black clip is in the traditional Parker arrow shape. It isn’t the tightest clip and it does have quite a bit of side to side play on the clip too. The cap comes off easily and posts to the back of the pen with a click. I found the Parker Beta to be a light weight and balanced pen. Personally I prefer using it unposted but posting it wouldn’t change the balance too much.

The grip is a faceted textured black plastic. It tapers slightly towards the nib. The section is long enough to accommodate a variety of grip styles. It has enough texture for my fingers to maintain my grip on the pen. The barrel twists open to reveal the converter. It is a push / pull style converter, the first I’ve seen so far. I quite like the push / pull style converter as this would make quick work of flushing the pen.

The Parker Beta comes only in two nib sizes namely fine and medium. Mine is a fine stainless steel nib. It writes well with a slightly hint of feedback. The nib is a very boring affair but for a pen of this price I am not expecting any scroll work on the nib.

Conclusion:
Personally I am impressed by the amount of value you can get out of the Parker Beta. It is not a fancy pen but it works. It does what it is designed to do. It provides a no frills reliable writing experience without fuss. Plus it comes equipped with a converter right in the pack. I would say this would be able to rival the value for money aspect of some China made fountain pens.

Pros:

• Very cheap
• Reliable writing experience

Cons:

• Only available in India
• Comes in F and M nibs only

We came, we saw, we bought. Today is the first time Singapore has a pen show. This is organised by the admins of the Singapore Fountain Pen Lovers' Facebook group, lovingly known as SFPL. The admins worked hard to got this organised and it was held at the Tea Party Cafe. Beloved vendors brought their wares down and there was a good discount off all items there. Even Nakaya fountain pens are on sale. The pen show is still going on as I post this. It will run till 8pm tonight so if you are reading this on the 10th December 2016, hurry up and go down.

Hopefully this will be an annual event from now onwards. My thanks to the admins for organising this. My thanks to the vendors and everyone who worked the booths for making this pen show a success. Check out the photos of the event I took this afternoon.

Grand Canyon is part of the Caran d’Ache Colours of the Earth series which has since been discontinued. I’ve reviewed Sunset previously which was part of the same series. Grand Canyon is a brown ink which shades nicely. On my TWSBI Mini, it feels super dry but on my Visconti pen it feels lubricated. I feel the experience on my TWSBI Mini is quite bad. It’s like the ultimate worse pairing or something. On the Visconti pen, it is dark, saturated and wet. What a world of difference.

Similar Inks:

• Noodler’s Walnut
• Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi
• Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Guri

My thanks to Robert Oster for sending me this sample.

Robert Oster Signature Jade is a nice blend of green and yellow. It looks really good and shades very well. This is one ink I really wish I have a full bottle of. Jade is a beautiful colour that goes from a light yellow-green to a strong dark green. This is defintely best paired with a nib to show off the shading Jade is capable of.

Similar Inks:

• Diamine Dark Olive
• Sailor Jentle Tokiwa Matsu
• Sailor Jentle Waka Uguisu

The Numbers:
Weight: 18g
Length (capped): 123mm
Length (uncapped): 115mm
Body Material: Italian resin
Nib Material: Stainless steel
Filling Mechanism: Cartridge only
Colours: Various

Intro:
My thanks to Sunny of Straits Pen for lending me this pen for review. The Visconti Van Gogh Mini is a pocket fountain pen that has already been discontinued. It is of a size in between a Kaweco Liliput or Supra (with used without the extender) and a full size fountain pen. The pen is shaped like an elongated bullet. The black resin body is accented with a traditional Visconti clip, centre band and drumrolls please screw to secure the clip. The screw thankfully is flush against the cap but it is quite an eyesore in terms of the aesthetics. Both ends of the pen is slightly pointed but just mildly so.

Packaging:
The small fountain pen came in a box bigger than it really needs. The box has a faux crocodile leather look. Opening the clam shell box reveals a suede like bed that holds the pen and a bottle of ink. The presentation is nice but I much rather a smaller box in general.

Performance:
The Visconti Van Gogh Mini is a simple pen especially this black resin version. The clip is the traditional Visconti bridge shaped clip. It is spring loaded for easy slipping over paper or fabric. The centre band feels slightly more chunky especially when comparing it to the size of the pen. The cap unscrews in about 1 and a quarter turn of the cap. The metal grip section is understandably short. Though on second thought the Kaweco Supra is able to provide me with a longer grip section. The metal grip isn’t very slippery because it is short. Plus it has a textured segment just before the nib. It helps to keep my grip on the pen. The threads are nice and smooth as well.

The Visconti Van Gogh is a fountain pen that takes only cartridges but I found it takes my tiny Kaweco squeeze converter though it was a loose fit. The converter still worked so I had wrote two converters worth. The stainless steel medium nib that came with the pen is smooth and not too much of an ink gusher. I do not have many European medium pens in my collection so I enjoyed the nib very much. Personally I think given that the Visconti Van Gogh Mini isn’t that small so it should be able to at least take the standard international cartridge or even the converter. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

Conclusion:
This discontinued Visconti Van Gogh Mini is a stylish small fountain pen with a number of colours. What’s with that exposed screw on the cap? I wished they have bothered to hide it inside the cap. This pen doesn’t really perform very well as a pocket fountain pen. There are smaller and cheaper fountain pens that exist plus it is already discontinued so it’s all a moot point.

Cons:

• Takes only short international cartridge

Pros:

• Small and slim profile
• Smooth nib

Additional Reading:

• The Pen Addict’s review of the Visconti Van Gogh Midi
• The Unroyal Warrant’s review of the Visconti Van Gogh Maxi

This is one ink sample that I’ve been putting off filling up with it for a long time. For no good reason other than I didn’t feel like it. However, Montblanc JFK Navy Blue is quite a pleasant surprise. It’s a rather wet ink, wetter than I am used to for Montblanc inks. It’s dark and saturated but it still shades rather nicely especially in broader nibs. The grey undertones surfaces prominently with broader nibs. Alas, this is one of Montblanc’s limited edition inks. Why did I wait so long before inking this up?

Similar Inks

• Lamy Blue Black
• Pelikan 4001 Blue Black
• Pilot Iroshizuku Shin Kai

Yuki Akari is one of the newly re-issued inks by Sailor. It’s a light sky blue colour. It isn’t so light that it is hard to read against the white paper. Yuki Akari reminds me of Bungbox June Bride Something Blue. Yuki Akari is more blue and lighter than June Bride Something Blue. It shades very subtly and seemed to dry reasonably fast as well. It’s a nice colour but it is not a colour I would reach for most of the time.

Similar Inks:

• Pilot Iroshizuku Ama Iro
• Bungbox June Bride Something Blue
• Sheaffer Turquoise

This is a true green ink made by Montblanc. It shades nicely even in a Japanese fine nib. In my 1.1mm nib it shades all the better. It goes from a deep dark green where the ink pools to a bright leaf green. It flows well and behaves nicely. Colour-wise, this isn’t my favourite green but I reckon this will be a good workhorse green ink.

Similar Inks:

• Chesterfield Emerald
• Diamine Sherwood Green
• Pelikan Edelstein Aventurine

The Numbers:
Weight: 16g
Length (capped): 124mm
Length (uncapped): 123mm
Price: USD$380 on Pen Chalet
Body Material: Resin and cellulose acetate Nib Material: 14k Gold nib
Filling Mechanism: Piston filler
Colours: Various

Intro:
I’ve been lusting after the Pelikan M800 Brown Tortoise ever since I’ve laid eyes on one. I love the play of light and dark colours of the brown tortoise shell finish. However the price have always put me off buying one of my own. Maybe Pelikan has heard my prayers and launch the Brown Tortoise in M400 size this year. With a quick check on the price, I promptly ordered one for myself.

I’ve previously reviewed the M205 and I went into detail about what does the various model number mean in the Pelikan lineup. Do go over there to read about it, I won’t be repeating it here.

Packaging:
The M400 Brown Tortoise comes in a regular Pelikan box that can be open by pulling on the tab at the side. It also has the standard white faux leather pouch which holds the pen. There wasn’t anything particularly more fancy in terms of the packaging for this special edition fountain pen.

Performance:
The M400 is mostly made of dark brown resin and brown striped cellulose acetate for its barrel. It is accented with double rings of gold around the end of the cap and at the piston knob. The clip and finial is also gold. The pen looks very classy but the brown stripe barrel adds a flash of character to the otherwise standard looking Pelikan fountain pen. You can tell that this is a quality fountain pen, the fit and finish of the pen is flawless.

It takes slightly less than a single revolution to uncap the pen. The M400 being a pen on the smaller end of the Souveran lineup, the cap can be posted to extend the length of the barrel. The cap securely at the end of the barrel. Personally I found it comfortable enough without posting.

The grip section is relatively short and thin. I would say the M600 would be a comfortable size for most. Those with larger hands should try it out in person before buying. I had some issues with my M205 previously. Maybe this is a special edition fountain pen or the M400 series generally get better quality control, the threads that I found sharp on the M205 are smooth here.

Pelikan Souveran fountain pens are all piston fillers. Thanks to that, they have substantial ink capacity. The resin barrel is clear, while the stripes are opaque. It makes it easy to monitor the ink level of the fountain pen when you looked at it against light. The Pelikan M400 Brown Tortoise comes with a variety of nib options, going from EF to B and special for this particular release an Italic Board nib. Me being me, opted for the EF nib. It wrote well out of the box but personally I found Pelikan nibs does nothing for me. They wrote broader and wetter than usual of their nib size so I promptly handed it off to a local nibmeister to have it ground down into a Japanese EF.

The result is a nib with delicious feedback. It writes very finely as expected of a Japanese EF nib. Though this nib wasn’t modded for additional flex, with a little pressure I can get some line variation from the nib. The feedback can be a little much so this particular nib modification isn’t for everyone.

Before moddiing

Conclusion:
The Pelikan Brown Tortoise is one of my grail pen, I “settled” for the smaller sibling but the colour of the light and dark alternating stripes is just as beautiful to admire. Plus, I don’t believe any two Brown Tortoise pen is completely identical because of the stripes. As a standard M400, this isn’t the cheapest model you can find out there, but the Brown Tortoise finish is just too hard to say no to. Though the nib modification is an additional cost but it is also what makes the pen special to me.

Pros:

• Brown Tortoise!
• Delicious feedback from nib modification
• IB nib option

Cons:

• Limited number of pens

Additional Reading:

• The Pelikan’s Perch’s news about the M400 Brown Tortoise

There are affiliate links in this review. I may get a small amount of store credit if you purchase anything via the link(s). You are under no obligation to do so but if you would like to do something nice, do buy what you need via my links.

Congrats to Maxim Mee! You are the winner of the Wing Sung 698 fountain pen. Please contact me within 7 days (26th January 2017) to claim your prize. You can contact me via the contact form on the blog.

My thanks to Robert Oster for sending me this sample.

Another beautiful ink by Robert Oster. This is one ink maker to watch! The turquoise isn’t the bright blend of blue and green that I expected. Turquoise is way more green than turquoise inks of other brands. I think Robert Oster Signature Turquoise feels like it’s right on the line between teal and turquoise. Robert Oster Signature Turquoise shades nicely and flows well even in my Sailor fine nib.

Similar Inks:

• Akkerman Zuiderpark Blauw-Groen
• Diamine Teal
• Pilot Iroshizuku Syo Ro

I’m sure everyone who is into fountain pens and inks will find themselves the owner of too many pens and/or inks and/or paper. Personally, I have been forced to face the realities of my addiction not just because I do yearly tally of my spendings. I use my Dudek Block as a good gauge of when my pen herd needs some thinning.

Recently I’ve purchased and ordered two top tier fountain pens from Montblanc and Nakaya respectively. (It’s my first Montblanc fountain pen!) I began the process of culling the lesser used pens from my pen stand. This is in part to make space for the incoming pens of 2017 and also to free up some funds to acquire more pens.

So these pens are up on the chopping block right now.

• Faber Castell Loom
• Lamy CP 1
• Tactile Turn The Gist
• Visconti Van Gogh Starry Night
  My only rule is any pen received as a gift will never be sold, instead they will live in cold storage.

Why these 4 pens? I have all 4 for some time (months if not at least a year for some)* but I almost always pass over them to ink up another pen. It can’t be because they are not gold nib pens because I use plenty of steel nib pens on a daily basis. The only way to find out is to ink them up and take them out for a spin. The Faber-Castell Loom is a gift from my aunt, it originally came with a medium nib which was too wet but super smooth. I swapped it out with my Faber-Castell Ondoro’s F nib and sold the Ondoro. That one I sold last year because of the grip section and the faceted barrel. After a week or so with the Loom I found the nib and the pen rather boring. Functionally, there is nothing wrong, it was just kind of regular. Since I didn’t have to decide to keep or sell the pen, it was easy to defer the decision by putting it into cold storage.

The Lamy CP 1 was next. Filling it with the Sailor Jentle Kin Moku Sei, it wrote beautifully. It even has a little stubbish quality in the 14K EF nib. The nib provides a nice feedback that I enjoy. However, I found I wasn’t enjoying the pen body as well. I didn’t want to keep the body but I balk at the thought of selling the nib. Luckily for me, Lamy’s nibs are interchangeable. It’s just a simple matter of swapping the nib out and selling the Lamy CP 1 with another nib.

I had backed Tactile Turn Gist Kickstarter for two pens - one bronze the other zirconium. The bronze that came with the 1.1mm nib was sold a few months after I got the pen. Stub nibs are seldom for me since they are usually too wide for my liking. The one I have left is the zirconium with a titanium EF nib. Now the titanium nib can be tamed with a dry ink but it sings in a different way from gold nibs. I am very gentle with the nib because I was afraid I will spring the nib. I decided that’s no way to live so that is going to go. Also, I found the cap cracked all by itself in the pen stand. After a week of use, the crack turn into a chip. Will Hodges of Tactile Turn will be sending me a new cap once my old one get to him. If you have the same issue, do drop him an email.

Finally, the Visconti Van Gogh Starry Night. This is a pen I’ve purchased during my Italy trip a few years ago. I got the Visconti Van Goh along with a Delta The Journal and Lamy Al-Star Copper Orange. Both of which have since been sold so this is the last pen standing, so to speak. The week of using this pen I re-discovered my love of the pen. The steel is slightly springy and also slightly stubbish in character. This I’m told is hard to achieve for an EF nib. I am on the fence for the Visconti. There is nothing wrong with the pen, it’s just being pass over for no good reason. Maybe it deserves a better home where it will be used? I’ll be keeping this pen for now.

So this is usually how I go about culling my pens especially once my Block gets full. Tell me in the comments, how you decide for your collection!Stay tuned next week for part 2 where I write about where I sell my pens and some tips regarding selling.

I’ve recently do a count of my entire pen and ink collection. So here are the stats. I have 27 fountain pens. There are 11 different brands among the pens. Out of 27 pens, 12 are Pilot pens of varying prices. They go from the humble Pilot Kakuno and Metropolitan to the more expensive Custom 823 and 742. The next most popular brand would be Lamy and Platinum standing at 3 pens each. (I count Nakaya pens under the Platinum brand.) My collection is overwhelmingly Japanese pens heavy. There are only two pens of which I owe more than 1 of each. They are Pilot Kakuno and Metropolitan. The Pilot Kakuno are both fine nibs one of which is out on loan. The Pilot Metropolitan I have 3 of, one is out on loan, one is being used as a review pen and the last is the only one available for my normal use.

I have a Dudek Modern Goods’ Block on my desk. I keep all my pens on the Block. Every time my Block is getting crowded I know it is time to thin the herd by selling them. The Block holds 21 pens. I think that is a good number to cap the collection at. You might notice that I say I own 27 pens so that’s 6 more pens that the Block can hold. There are exception to this rule. There are pens that are gifts. Those I won’t sell even if I do not like them. Those would live in my Nock Co Brasstown in semi permeant cold storage. Strictly speaking, I now have 3 empty slots on my Block. Once I am down to one slot, it time for another culling. I am of the opinion that it is better to let a pen go to a better home where it will be used and loved, than let it languish in my pen stand being unused and sad. Plus I keep all my pen packaging in the event I sell the pen so that’s also taking up space as well.

Now my ink collection has gone through many cycles of buying and selling. I have a total of 40 ink bottles of varying volumes. Some are small like the Pilot Iroshizuku Mini bottles other are giant like the 100ml of Pilot Blue Black I have. I keep all my inks in two IKEA boxes sized to hold DVDs. They are not very big boxes but with some clever stacking I managed to fit all 40 bottles into the boxes. I have a third box but when I start spilling onto the third box I know it is time to cull the collection once again.

Out of 40 bottles, I have 15 brands if I count Bungbox and Kobe to be under Sailor’s brand. There are 16 individual bottles from Sailor, Bungbox and Kobe alone. The next most popular brand is Pelikan coming in at 5 bottles of both Edelstein and 4001 series. If we go by colour, green and purple are tied with 6 each. However both green and purple has a wide ranging in terms of the actual colour. On the other hand I have 5 all rather similar looking orange inks. The only ink I have more than 1 bottle of is Bungbox L’Amant but all time favourite colour. This is of course not counting the many many ink samples I have as well. Those come from ink swaps with friends and fellow members of the local pen club. I shudder to think about that.

I must say I am impressed that I’ve managed to keep my personal collection number so low. I had totally expect to be totally out of control in regards to sheer volume of pen and ink acquisition. Though the collection being so overwhelmingly Japanese heavy is not a surprise to me. Pilot pens are one of the best out of the box regardless of the price. Sailor inks are just fantastic in terms of the sheer amount of colour and the sheen! I definitely fall squarely in the user category. There isn’t a right or wrong way to enjoy our shared hobby. All that matters is to enjoy it within our means be it monetary or space constrains.

If anyone is interested in my actual break down of my pen and ink collection, drop me a comment and I’ll update this post with the breakdown.

Ok, some readers have requested I go into the breakdown of my pen and ink collection so here is the breakdown of my pen collection.

Pilot Metropolitan White Tiger - F On loan
Pilot Metropolitan Pop Red - F
Pilot Metropolitan Pop Orange - M
Pilot Custom 74 - SF
Pilot Custom Heritage 92 - F
Pilot Custom 742 - FA
Pilot Custom 823 - F
Pilot Myu 701 - F
Pilot Murex - F
Pilot Kakuno Orange - F
Pilot Kakuno Grey - F
Pilot Vanishing Point - F (SS)

Lamy Safari (Matte Black) - EF / F / B
Lamy 2000 - EF (Modded)
Lamy CP1 - EF 14k

TWSBI Mini - 1.1 stub / F / EF / M / B

Sailor Pro Gear Imperial Black 21k - F

Nakaya Decapod Mini - SM
Nakaya Fox with Harvest Moon - SF
Platinum #3776 Kawaguchi - SM

Deccan Advocate Jr. - F

Visconti Van Gogh Starry Night - EF

Kaweco Supra - F

Tactile Turn Gist - Ti EF

Pelikan M600 - EF
Pelikan M405 - EF (Modded)
Pelikan Twist - M

Faber-Castell Loom - F

Edison Pearlette - EF

The Edison Pearlette is a new addition that I neglected to add to the total pen tally. As you can see I have a lot of Pilot pens. Most of them are not super expensive, they are my most reliable fountain pen. They all just work right out of the box. I am in the process of spring cleaning so I’ll have some pens for sale soon. Right now I’m trying to sell my Pelikan M600. If you are interested, drop me an email or look for me on social media.

Now for my inks.

Pilot
Iroshizuku Ku Jaku
Iroshizuku Ama Iro
Iroshizuku Yama Budo
Blue Black

J Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor

Diamine
SBRE Brown
Pumpkin
Majestic Purple

Sailor
Kobe #31 Kaigan Grey
Bung Box Blue Black
Bung Box L'Amant x 2
Bung Box Hamanako Orange
Bung Box June Bride Something Blue
Jentle Oku Yama
Jentle Yama Dori
Jentle Gernade
Jentle Tokiwa Matsu
Jentle Apricot
Jentle Souten
Jentle Yuki Akari
Jentle Rikyu Cha
Jentle Kin Mokusei
Athena Sepia

Montblanc
Lavender Purple
Toffee Brown
Irish Green
William Shakespeare Red

Pelikan
Edelstein Mandarin
Edelstein Amethyst
Edelstein Topaz
Edelstein Turmaline
4001 Dark Green

Graf von Faber-Castell
Stone Grey
Deep Sea Green

Rohrer and Kligner Scabiosa

Lamy Dark Lilac

Delta Sepia

Caran D'ache Sunset

De Atramentis Singapore

Montegrappa Special Reserve

Same thing here, I have an overwhelming number of Sailor made inks. I just love their inks. I am in the process of streamlining my ink collection. I’ve ear marked 5 bottles to go, these have found new owners already, I just have to pass them on to their new homes.

Drop me a comment if you have any questions about my collection.

Another year has come and gone. I’ve posted at least 52 fountain pen inks reviews if not more. It’s time for me to share my top 5 inks of 2016. The criteria to make it onto my top 5 inks list are simple. Firstly, I’ve made the purchase of the ink during the year. And, I’ve used it and loved it. With that out of the way, onto the list.

Number 5: Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red

This is an ink released just this year by Montblanc. It is a companion ink to the Montblanc Writer Series fountain pen. Velvet Red is one of the surprising buys of the year. I didn’t expect to like a red ink but the shading just blows me away.

Number 4: Lamy Dark Lilac

Another ink that is released this year. Lamy Dark Lilac was released in conjunction with the limited edition Lamy Safari of the same name. I didn’t buy the pen but the ink was a no brainer. The dark purple is also another great shading ink.

Number 3: Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline

Pelikan Edelstein Turmaline was a surprising ink. I never expect to buy a bottle of pink ink, ever. Pink have never been my favourite colour. Howeverm Turmaline changed my mind about pink inks in general. I was lucky enough to locate a bottle locally. My thanks to Ana of The Well Appointed Desk for introducing this ink to my life.

Number 2: Caran d’Ache Sunset

Surprise, surprise another pink-ish ink. This is part of a now discontinued ink series by Caran d’Ache. When I initially did my ink review, I had resigned myself to only having a small sample of the ink. However my local store some how miraculously conjured up a couple of bottles from the ink series. Buying a bottle of this ink was a no brainer.

Number 1: Sailor Jentle Apricot

Orange, orange inks have always been my favourite. It is no surprise that the ultimate orange ink is top of my ink list this year. The only surprise was someone generously offered to sell me a bottle. Apricot needs no introduction. Just look at the vibrancy and shading of the ink.

Upon reflection, this year has been a year of discontinued inks. I am playing catch up with my fountain pen inks, buying the inks that I had missed out on. My list has been heavily dominated by warm colours. One special mention is the De Atramentis Singapore, this is the blue ink that caught my eye this year but my love for the above 5 inks pushed it out of the list.

I've recently had a trip to Hong Kong. I didn't went out of my way to go pen shopping but I did drop by Winner Pens Collection. I didn't buy anything but I took some photos. Enjoy them!

You can find Winner Pens Collection at

中環德輔道中68號
萬宜大廈商場 110 號
Man Yee Arcade, Shop 110
68 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong.
Tel.: (852)-2710-8802
Fax.: (852)-2781-2608

Another year of blogging and another year of pen buying. Like the top 5 inks of 2016 list, the criteria to make it onto the list are simple. Firstly, I must have made the purchase of the pen during the year. And, I’ve used it and loved it. With that out of the way, onto the list.

Number 5: Faber-Castell Loom

This is a good value for money beginner fountain pen, not that only beginners can use the Loom. Mine came with one of the smoothest stainless steel nib that I’ve ever used. Coupled with it’s ability to take both a standard international cartridge and converter it makes the Loom an versatile and outstanding fountain pen.

Number 4: Kaweco Supra

My personal experience with my Kaweco ICE Sport aside, the Kaweco Supra took me by surprise with both its ingenuity with the extender and the size of the nib. The #6 nib makes the Supra easily upgradable because you are not only limited to only Kaweco offerings. The Supra is the best EDC fountain pen I have in my collection now.

Number 3: Pilot Custom 823

The Pilot Custom 823 in amber was acquired this year. It has a giant ink capacity and a fantastic nib that wrote well out of the box. I must say the Pilot Custom 823 is one of the best workhorse fountain pens around.

Number 2: Pilot Vanishing Point

I have a love / hate relationship with the pen but after switching to the Hobonichi and then the Traveler’s Notebook for my daily planner, the Pilot Vanishing Point shines as the pen that I pair with my planner. It’s a pen that I come crawling back to even after selling my first. My preferred nib is the stainless steel nib instead of the softer 18K one, the stainless steel nib helps with quick note taking and on the go writing.

Number 1: Nakaya Piccolo - Fox with Harvest Moon

What can I say? I am a sucker for the way a fountain pen looks. Look! Pretty fox, that actually is raised. Plus, that SF nib is just sublime. The very tactile experience of writing is addictive and tingles my senses. This isn’t a pen for everyone for sure due to the price but I love mine, a lot.

I have more stainless steel nibs on the list than gold. That speaks to the quality and writing experience that can be achieved with a good stainless steel nib. A gold nib isn’t needed for a great writing experience. The enjoyment of a fountain pen isn’t just limited to the writing experience too.