Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 477

Well, we're nearly three weeks into Spring, so I thought this would be a good time to post my review of a lovely Spring-like pen I acquired a few weeks ago---my handmade Tangent Pens fountain pen in "Papillon" resin!

I'd never heard of Tangent Pens before, so I hope you don't mind some background first....

I stumbled across their Etsy storefront (Tangent Pens is an off-shot of PeripheryWood) while searching for handmade kitless fountain pens --a recent-ish collecting focus of mine-- and this particular pen caught my eye instantly ("papillon" is French for "butterfly", and the resin looked like a butterfly's wings!) It was so beautiful that I couldn't believe it was still available for purchase, but it was... and it was made by a small pen maker from Canada! (Kanata, Ontario, to be exact) I'd bought handmade kitless fountain pens on Etsy from a couple of other Canadian pen makers --Hogtown Pens and Butterknife Creations -- and was highly impressed with their work. They'd been around for a while (some of my fellow VPC members own their pens), but Tangent Pens was the brand-new kid on the block ... and I wanted to be one of their first pen buyers :) 

I checked their "sold" listings and saw that they'd only sold one other handmade kitless fountain pen on Etsy before. I hadn't seen any online reviews of their pens, and I hadn't heard anyone in our pen club talking about them. The only feedback I found was from the other Etsy pen buyer, whose two-line review succinctly stated "Beautifully made and very high quality. Thank you!". There were no specs listed for my pen (aside from the 13mm triple start to its threads) in the description. The Etsy photos showed a lot of the resin's details, but I still wasn't sure of the size of the pen. I should have asked the seller, but I was really worried that someone else would buy the pen first, so I trusted my instincts and bought it.

Enough of my rambling.....Here it is!

(all photos by Maja,except where noted ~ please click on images to enlarge)

I paid $195 CAD (with free shipping) for the pen in four equal, interest-free installments via Klarna, a well-known Swedish global payments service. Since Etsy started accepting Klarna payments, I've used it several times --each time with zero problems-- and I was never charged a penny more than I would have, had I paid for my purchases all at once using a credit card/PayPal. I don't have any affiliation with Klarna, but I find it a very useful way to pay for items over a period of 6 weeks, and it's interest-free if you pay on time.

Anyway, back to this lovely pen...

The pen was packed in a simple tan carboard gift box and came with a bonus---a handsome brown leather single-pen sleeve made by Route 105 Leather (another Canadian company) -- as well as a nice note from Jay Moffatt, the talented pen maker behind Tangent Pens.

I really appreciate it when pen makers include info about the resins they use in their sales listings (as Jay did, but believe it or not, some don’t do this!) and/or include it in a note accompanying the pen. There are so many resins and resin-makers (including some pen makers who make their own resins) out there --- a dizzying array of options for pen makers and those interested in having bespoke pens made for them.

Pen maker Jay described my "Papillon" resin pen this way: "This pen features beautiful coloration that is true to its name. Beautiful iridescence like those of butterfly wings!"

And Jay is right--- the "Papillon" resin does have beautiful coloration and a beautiful iridescence to it (and my photos don't do it justice).

This wonderful custom resin was made by the Turnt Pen Company of Hornell, NY, who also make their own pens. There are so many different colours in the resin — purples, blues, a bit of green, black, white, and that wonderful metallic copper colour—but they go together perfectly, as they do on a butterfly's wings.

  (photo source)

                          (It's hard to believe their lifespan is only 2 weeks, on average 😢)

As for dimensions, (according to my measurements) it's about 14.5 cm capped, and 13.2 cm uncapped (nib tip to barrel end). The pen doesn't post. Aside from having a longer cap, the capped and uncapped lengths are almost exactly the same as my Analog Notes 'Faraday' fountain pen.

The midpoint of the grip section is 11 mm in diameter, and the total weight of the pen (including its converter) is 22.6 grams ---a nice girth and weight. The pen feels very well-balanced, as well.

Little details are important ... like how the cap lip is very smooth, and the drop-off from cap lip to barrel is barely perceptible.

The section matches the rest of the pen (this is very common with handmade kitless pens), giving the pen a continuous, unbroken appearance...

.... and the material is amazing.

There's only a small step-down from the barrel to the section, the barrel threads aren’t sharp, and the flared section is quite long, all of which make the pen very comfortable to grip.

The resin is highly polished, and the cap and barrel ends are nicely finished. Jay obviously takes a lot of care in getting things right with his handmade kitless fountain pens, as he does with the wonderful wood products he also sells in his Etsy store.

The pen came with a steel Bock #6 Fine nib, along with a standard international ink cartridge and ink converter. Interestingly, there are no markings on the nib at all, but I'm assuming it's a Bock, as per the sales description. The nib lays down a smooth fine line and there is no hard-starting or skipping.

 

No, that's not a logo -- it's just the way the resin looks on the top of the cap...
In fact, the pen has no ornamention or marks identifying its maker, not uncommon with handmade pens.

I'm extremely pleased with my purchase from Tangent Pens -- both with the pen itself, and because I'm supporting a talented small pen maker from Canada. 

Many thanks to Jay of  the Tangent Pens / PeripheryWood  for making this gorgeous, very well-made fountain pen, as well as his attentive customer service.

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 304

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 ~ )