The little star of today's show & tell is my new fountain pen made by Analog Notes, a small American penmaker located in Bloomington, Indiana.
The pen was first advertised for sale on their Facebook page at the end of July, and the post said: "Indiana, we're all for you! Check out this amazing Cream and Crimson material special request from @turntpenco . I couldn't be more pleased with how this pen turned out. This is for all you Hoosiers out there!"
I didn't see that Facebook post, but I'd recently heard about Analog Notes from my fellow pen club members Louise and Natasha, so I took a look at the company's Instagram account (note: you might have to log into Instagram to see it) I really liked the fountain pens I saw there, so I went to their Etsy store (they have no official website yet) and immediately spotted a beautiful fountain pen I knew I had to have. I couldn't believe someone else hadn't snatched it up already, so I bought it right away. The price was $92 USD plus $13 shipping, which I thought was a good price for a handmade fountain pen.
I waited patiently for the pen to arrive (knowing it might take a bit longer to get here during the busy Christmas season) and it finally showed up, safe and sound...
(please click on images to enlarge)
The pen came gift-wrapped in green tissue paper, along with a a cool holographic sticker and a very nice handwritten note from the pen maker (Ronnie) thanking me for my business.
The packaging consisted of a very simple, but pretty, cardboard box with a little cutout window...
....and peeking behind that window was my new Analog Notes 'Faraday' fountain pen in the gorgeous "Hoosiers" resin (made by the Turnt Pen Co)!
Isn't it gorgeous? (In his note to me, Ronnie said it was "one of (his) favorites", and I can see why!) When I first saw Ronnie's photos of it on etsy, the swirling white and red colours reminded me of an Eton mess, a decadent British dessert made of strawberries, merangue and whipped cream (I first tried one at the Irish Heather restaurant during a Pelikan Hub event).
(I didn't have an Eton mess handy for the photo above, but I had some
leftover cranberry sauce, so I made a granola parfait for breakfast)
Back to the pen... Its section matches the rest of the pen (a design feature I love) and flares slightly at the end closest to the nib. The pen's cap doesn't post, but at 5.1 inches/ 13 cm from nib tip to barrel end, the pen is long enough for me to use unposted. It's not a heavy pen (capped weight = 21 grams; barrel & section weight = 14 grams ) so it's good for long writing sessions.
The pen comes with an ink converter, but also takes international ink cartridges. I was surprised to discover that the section takes nearly 13 turns (!!) to unscrew from the barrel. Wow. The good news is that since the barrel has no metal parts, the pen makes a good candidate for conversion to an eyedropper filler :) The cap takes three turns to unscrew. which might annoy some users who are in a hurry to cap and uncap their pen, but it doesn't bother me at all.
It's a bit tricky to spot in my photos (it's not difficult if you're looking at the pen in person), but there are lots of sparkly bits in the resin....
...and some clear parts to it, as well... which creates a beautiful effect. I love the resin because of its colours, and because it has such depth to it. And it looks, well, yummy....
The pen came with a plain JoWo steel nib, which is a #6 size nib. I ordered a Medium nib for my particular pen, and it writes very smoothly. The nib is wet & juicy and has no start-up issues.
All in all, I love the pen and am very happy with my impulse buy. Thank you very much, Ronnie, for this wonderful handmade fountain pen!
Since this isn't my first handmade fountain pen made by a smaller pen maker, I thought I'd share a few shots of it next to another great handmade pen--my lovely Rockster "TroubleShooter 1313" fountain pen in "Doolittle" resin (reviewed previously here):
As you can see, the Analog Notes fountain pen is a bit wider and longer than the Rockster, although their caps are the same length.
Their sections are also the same length, but the threads on the Analog Notes pen are longer; this may or may not matter to you, depending on where you grip your pens (ie. higher or lower on the section). The Rockster takes one-and-a-half turns to unscrew its cap vs. three turns for the Analog Notes pen.
The key difference in design is that the Rockster can be posted, whereas the Analog Notes pen cannot (although, as I mentioned earlier, it's long enough for me to use unposted).
Finally, here are some specs for the Analog Notes 'Faraday' model fountain pen, courtesy of the official product brochure:
(note: the "Body Length" referred to above is the length of the barrel without the section attached)
( ~ photos and review by Maja ~ )
No comments:
Post a Comment