David Parker joins me this week to discuss all the things in the Figboot Cinematic Universe. I pick his brain on several recent product videos, and he shares the details on his latest fountain pen collaboration.
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(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, Root Rot, is now available for pre-order!)
I don't know how I can still be so delightfully surprised by ink colors when it feels like we've got to have run out of ink colors by now, but here I am, with a new favorite color from Diamine.
Celadon Cat was a collaboration between Diamine and a Reddit fountain pen community, and while I'm not on Reddit, I send them my thanks, because this ink is fantastic.
The color is a light blue-green-jade with a huge variety in its character depending on the paper saturation, nib, and even the light level in the room. It's impossible to really capture it in photographs. It's a little bit spring storm clouds, a little bit ocean water, a little bit frost on spruce needles in the blue light of morning. It's a very peaceful color. Chromatography shows an interesting blend of a dusty rose with moss green and cyan. Clearly this was made with some kind of alchemy.
It is on the pale side for writing, especially with a fine nib. It pools to a perfectly readable shade, and it shades like mad, so this would be exceptional with a wet nib. On the downside, that wet nib is going to lay down lines that will take ages to dry. Even a fine nib line took 35 seconds to stop smudging. It's okay for me, as I always use blotting paper, but left-handed writers might find this dry time to be frustratingly slow.
There is no water resistance to this ink, and it fully washed away where water was dripped. And despite its excellent shading, there is no trace of a sheen.
My ink came in the plastic 30ml bottle, which sells for a remarkably inexpensive $8 on JetPens. While that's a great deal on a wonderful ink, the bottle itself is almost impossible to fill from, as it has a very narrow opening. Fortunately, there is an 80ml glass bottle for $17, which is a good way to stock up on a color I'd be happy to use forever.
(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)
The Nahvalur Nautilus is a fountain pen that I really enjoy using, and it's also fun to see the different materials and colors that they experiment with. Outside of the Nautilus, I haven't tried any of the few other body styles that Nahvalur offer, but that changed recently. The Nahvalur Horizon is a more traditional shape, but it has all the magical goodness that I've come to love from my Nahvalur pens.
The Nahvalur Horizon is a line of pens that feature beautiful pearlescent materials (made by Starry Night Resins) that dance and shimmer as light changes around them. The colorway that I have is called Twilight, and it's a mixture of creamy pearl, dark and medium greens, some silvery grays, and reddish-browns. This iridescent quality is so beautiful in person and is paired with a dark gunmetal finish on this model. I'm a big fan of anything with iridescence, so I'm really loving this pen.
Like all Nahvalur designs, the Horizon's cap has a wavy bottom that carries the maritime theme. There's a small narwhal in the center of the scroll design on the cap band, but there's no other branding on this pen. The clip is a simple shape that works well with the cigar shape of the pen. And, it's really strong and has no problem attaching the pen to whatever can fit under the clip opening.
Unlike the Nautilus, this pen doesn't have the unique porthole ink windows, but it does have a traditional, large ink window that gives you a good view into how much ink is left in the reservoir. The piston filler mechanism operates smoothly and the reservoir holds plenty of ink for long writing sessions.
The grip section on the Horizon is a good size and doesn't taper, but there is a sudden diameter change next to the ink window where the body slims down to the grip. Interestingly, the threads on the grip section aren't at the top where it meets the body (which is the most common location for cap threads); instead, the threads are on the very end of the grip. This provides a really clean grip section with no threads getting dirty under your fingers while writing. And, they're at the very end of the section so that your fingers don't notice them as you're writing either — the threads serve as a boundary for letting your fingers know that you're getting close to touching the nib or feed (ink fingers ahead!).. I really like this placement, but I know that it isn't everyone's cup of tea.
The Horizon is equipped with one of Nahvalur's own #6 steel nibs that has some lovely decorative scrolling and the same dark gunmetal finish as the rest of the trim. The stub variant that I have in this pen is similar to a broad stub, and it is capable of laying down some really thick, juicy lines while also staying very thin and crisp when making left/right lines. The nib is smooth on paper and flows easily, and the lines are crisp at the edges and transition flawlessly from wide to thin widths as you move the pen. I've noticed that the ink takes one down stroke to start flowing properly, but it's smooth sailing after that. Ink flow is terrific and I've been really happy when writing with this nib.
The nib paired with the body of the Horizon is a really comfortable writing experience. It's a "full-sized" pen, meaning it's about the same size as a Lamy Safari. As such, I don't like posting the cap when writing. The cap can securely post to the back of the pen, but it messes up the balance of the pen for my grip style.
The Nahvalur Horizon is available in Twilight (seen here), Dawn, Dusk, and Aurora. Seriously, good luck choosing one from that lineup — they're all beautiful. There are also plenty of nib options from the typical EF to B, and then some of the colorways also have some extra nib options like the stub shown here and a double broad. This is a fantastic writing instrument that doubles as a piece of art. At $168, they're also a fair price for what you get.
(Pen Chalet provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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