The longer the title, the better the giveaway? That’s what I’m going with, at least in the case of this wonderful giveaway from PenSachi. I first learned about PenSachi from their impressive Sailor Limited Edition collection, and that is exactly the type of pen I have for you today.
They have provided one Sailor Limited Edition Pro Gear Classic Demonstrator Fountain Pen in Ruby Pink with a 21k Medium Fine nib to give away to one lucky reader. Read the rules below, and enter away!
(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
A few months ago I reviewed my first Sailor Ink Studio ink: Sailor 123. It is a fascinating color that shifts and changes before your eyes. Around the time I bought Sailor 123, I also purchased Sailor 442 from a different retailer.
Sailor 442 is a blue ink with purple tones. On my Col-o-dex card, the swab looks like a basic blue, but there is some green sheen in the splats. Shading isn’t very evident on the card because my Brause Blue Pumpkin nib was pretty saturated. You can see better shading in my other writing samples.
I tested the ink on Rhodia dot-grid paper with three Lamy Vistas in different nib sizes and the 2.4mm Pilot Parallel (dipped). The ink is a medium to dark blue with good shading in wider nibs. The purple tone comes out slightly in the broader nibs, but is most evident in the water test. The ink dries quickly but seems well lubricated when you write with it.
Chromatography reveals all the different shades combined to create this ink (light blue, purple, lavender, turquoise, green, and yellow). It’s a shame these colors don’t show up in swabs or shading. Unlike Sailor 123, 442 is not a shade-shifting ink. It’s quite striking in chromatography, but rather bland in the nib.
Even in my Handwritmic nib, which best displays the color variations, shading, and sheen potential of an ink, Sailor 442 was disappointing. There’s a good amount of shading, but only slight hints of the color variations found in the chromatography test. On the Midori Cotton paper, sheen was not evident.
After the magical experience of Sailor 123, I must say I was disappointed with 442. It’s not that it’s a bad ink--it’s actually a very nice blue with good shading and medium wetness. I just expected more from this rather expensive little bottle of ink. I now know that only certain Sailor Ink Studio inks have the shade-shifting characteristics of Sailor 123. I definitely plan to purchase those. I’ve read that the higher the number given to Ink Studio inks, the more sheen they have.
For an amazing overview of all 100 Sailor Ink Studio inks, I recommend Mountain of Ink’s blog. Not only can you read about the collection as a whole, there’s a detailed review of each one.
I purchased Sailor 442 from an eBay seller for around $21.00 plus shipping. Now you can purchase Sailor Ink Studio inks at $18.00 a piece (plus shipping) from Dromgoole’s (though you have to do so over the phone).
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
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(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)
I have a love/dislike relationship with Sailor fountain pens. I love the nibs. I dislike the PMMA resin bodies (which can feel kind of cheap) and the stingy converters (holding only .7 ml of ink). Obviously, many fountain pens are made of resin, so that’s not a deal breaker, and Sailor’s PMMA resin is strong and thick. But the converters seem rather flimsy.
But (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) I’ve been lurking on various Japanese pen sites like Wancher and Pensachi and discovered all the color variations Sailor offers to the larger world market. Sailor pens come in some outstanding special and/or limited edition colors. Many of the colors remind me of tropical flavor LifeSavers. Yum!
I fell for a Sailor Pro Gear limited edition called Tequila Sunrise. It was already sold out at both Wancher and Pensachi, but I found an eBay seller who had one with a medium nib, so I bought it. I ordered it July 4 from Japan and it was here on July 12.
Even though the Tequila Sunrise is a limited edition pen, it came in a regular Sailor clamshell box with a couple of cartridges but no converter. I had a spare Sailor converter on hand, so that wasn’t a big deal.
The pen is gorgeous from top to bottom. The finial is clear with a cool red and gold Sailor logo in the center.
The cap is a yellow-orange color with gold-plated trims (clip and cap bands).
The body is a peach-orange color that deepens the closer you get to the base.
And the finial at the base is a translucent red-orange.
The pen looks exactly like the cocktail after which it is named.
From Wikimedia Commons; original photo
The Pro Gear Classic is a small to medium-sized pen. It is 5 inches/128mm capped, 4.6 inches/116mm uncapped, and 5.9 inches/150mm posted. The grip is 11mm, and the barrel at its widest is 13mm. It weighs 25 grams inked and posted and 16.62 grams inked without the cap.
The nib is a beautiful two-tone 21K medium with all the usual Sailor scrollwork and anchor logo. I’m very happy with the medium nib, which writes smoothly and has perfectly-aligned tines.
I inked the pen with Robert Oster Ng Special ’16. The ink is a nice match for the pen, but may be a bit too dry for this nib. I didn’t have any skipping issues, but the ink doesn’t flow as smoothly as I would like. It may be that I need a wetter ink or that I’m just not accustomed to the Sailor nib feedback that people talk about. The last few Sailor pens I bought had custom-ground nibs, so they wrote more smoothly. I’ll try the ink with Sailor Apricot and see if they get along better.
Regardless, this is one Sailor I plan to keep in my collection. I love the unusual, bright colors which are happy and make me smile. Even though I typically prefer larger pens, I really like how the Pro Gear Classic feels n my hand. The grip is wide enough that my hand doesn’t cramp after writing a few pages, and the pen is light and well balanced. The only negative is I crave tropical LifeSavers whenever I use the pen.
If you’re interested in the Sailor Pro Gear (or any Sailor models), I highly recommend the eBay seller from whom I purchased my Tequila Sunrise. I also recommend Pensachi who carries Sailor, Pilot, Platinum, Namiki, and Lamy, and offers limited editions and special versions you can’t find at American retailers.
(I purchased this pen with my own funds.)
Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.
Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!
