(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!)
I love tiny pens. So portable! So cute! I can fit more of them in my house! And I love Gravitas Pens, so trying out the Quark, the new itty bitty pen from Ben Walsh, was inevitable. Probably also inevitable that I was going to love this pen.
This is a really tiny pen! It's pocket-sized even for girl pockets. Its closest sibling in size is the Kaweco Liliput, which it is often compared to, as that is the other notoriously tiny pen. It's a bit smaller than the Liliput when capped, but a bit longer when posted. It's very comfortable to write with when posted, and the back end has threading on it so that the cap screws in place, keeping it secure.
The cap covers most of the body when closed, and beneath it is a full-sized grip section with a full-sized nib. There may also be a 5th dimension hidden under the cap, which would explain where all of the pen goes when the cap is closed.
The body unscrews from the grip section to reveal juuuust enough space for a short international cartridge.
This titanium version of the quark is very light, so it causes no hand fatigue after long writing sessions. This model also has a titanium flex nib and polymer feed. The nib flexes smoothly, and writes with a nice bounce when not flexing. The feed keeps up well, and I can write quickly with no dryness or skipping. It's a fantastic writing experience, and I've been reaching for this pen for both quick notes and long afternoons of writing.
I've carried this pen daily for over a month, from everyday routines to wild adventures. For daily carry, it's excellent--it may be a permanently inked fixture in my kit. It did not love going camping with me, however. I'm not sure if it was the rough hiking-pack life, or the temperature shifts from cool nights in the woods to hot days on the beach, but it leaked an entire cartridge on that trip. I had no leaking issues with it before that, and have had none since, so I definitely attribute the leaks to my own abuse of the poor pen (or it could have been a faulty cartridge). I would need another trip to the wilderness to be sure--hopefully I can do that soon, for many reasons. I will say though, that I had no idea that the pen had leaked, because the cap contained the entire mess--likely stored in that 5th dimension. Not a drop spilled out of the cap. Until I uncapped it, which was epic.
For my tastes, this is another win for Gravitas. Some may find the pen too small, even when posted, but I prefer smaller pens, and the light weight and fantastic nib and feed mean that I can write with it for hours.
The pen comes with a plastic tube on a lanyard that can be used as its carrying case, and mine also came with a wee canister to hold spare cartridges. The standard Quark is 90 Euros, or about $95, and the upgraded titanium flex nib with polymer feed increases the price to 110 Euros, or about $116. I think that's a very fair price, and it's certainly a lot less than I paid for my Kaweco Liliput Fireblue back when they were first released. This pen has definitely become my favorite pocket fountain pen, so if you're a wee pen fan, definitely give this a try.
(This pen was purchased from Gravitas Pens at full retail price.)
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