Teri at Peyton Street Pens has been generous enough to send us lots of pens and paper for review and giveaway. We’ll be sharing them all in the next few weeks, but today I’ll talk about the Miwok 2.
Teri actually designed this particular pen which is super fun! It’s called Tortuga, so named for the tortoise-shell look of the acrylic used in the body. The pen comes with a standard cartridge/converter filling system, but if you’ve got silicon grease and an eyedropper, you can also fill it that way (remember to great the nib section as well!). Teri uses Jowo #6 nibs in this model, either in steel or gold, and nibs are available in extra fine, fine, medium, broad or 1.1mm or 1.5mm stub.
This pen feels a bit chonky in the hand, but in terms of measurements it’s not that far off from a lot of others. Capped it comes in at 5.5″, and uncapped at about 5.25″. The cap is a screw on cap and does post (friction posting), but given that the cap is wider than the body, I find it makes the pen too long and unwieldy. While a large pen, this one weighs in at only 23g. Gotta love those acrylics.
For comparison, I pulled out a TWSBI Eco since that’s a pen many people have in their collections. I also pulled out my Townsend from Shawn Newton and my Charleston from Carolina Pen Co. Frankly, they’re all about the same length even though the widths differ between the pens.
Which brings me to how I feel about this pen. I actually really enjoyed writing with it! It’s lightweight, and while it’s a bit big for my hand, it wrote nicely. The body is super smooth and the section is nice to hold in your hand. While it’s big, it’s not heavy which is a huge plus. The nib was very nice, and had a little bit of spring and feedback which I found really pleasant. I compared this pen to two other acrylic pens I own that are also hand-crafted by smaller artisans. While the Townsend and the Charleston are a bit more polished (and the acrylic blanks are often also made by the artisans), I was impressed with the quality of the Tortuga for what is a more budget-friendly price. Honestly, if you love the look of acrylics but aren’t ready to make a more expensive purchase, this is good starting point to get into hand-crafted pens.
The standard acrylic Miwok 2 retails for $72 and the premium versions retail for $87. The Tortuga pictured is made of premium acrylic, and has a gold nib in fine.
(The ink I used is Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-ho and the notebook is Write Notepads Dot Grid Steno.)
Remember I said GIVEAWAY? That’s right. Teri has generously offered this pen up for giveaway! This pen has been used briefly for this review, but will be sent to you in like new condition.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us what ink you would put in your new Tortuga! (Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay?) One entry per person.
If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, June 11, 2021. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. ONE winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this post were provided free of charge by Peyton Street Pens and other vendors for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I think Pelikan Edelstein Olivine would be a good match for this pen.
Oh, hard to say, but, from the list of birmingham pens inks for sure. They have the best muted colors of any inks, I bet they have a muddy brown that would match this pen well. Unless I wanted to surprise, then I’d stick foxy in, a full, quite pen and then BAM! brite pink, lol.
I’d use KWZ Cappaccino. I’ve had no coffee yet today and it’s on my mind
I’d use a sepia ink in this pen to match its warm brown tones. I’ve had no problems using Higgins Sepia Calligraphy Ink in fountain pens.
To me, this pen needs a brown ink, although I’ve had a hard time finding a brown I really love. I would probably ink it with Diamine Ancient Copper, a not-quite brown that I do love.
Krishna Jungle Volcano. Seems a good fit.
Oooh: JV would be an excellent choice. It would go with the pen, but in a surprising way. Nice.
So I usually really like to matchy-matchy my inks to my pens. But if I go by what I have on hand…. I think Diamine Robert or Diamine Oxblood would both be neat choices!
I’d use Noodler’s Apache Sunset so my Tortuga could gallop off into the horizon line!!!
I’m an old codger, set in my ways, I’d fill with a good ol’ standby: Waterman Absolute Brown. Then, I’d go outside and yell at the kids to get off my dang yard.
Ha!
I would go hunting for a nice sepia or a red-brown colored ink.
I’d put Birmingham Pen Co Antique Sepia! Lovely pen.
I have GvFC Hazelnut Brown which is a beautiful, rich brown ink that frankly doesn’t have a brown pen to go in. I think this pen would make “Hazel” very happy. 🙂
Love the pen. I’d definitely pair it with KWZ Old Gold because that’s the most perfect ink ever. Plus it smells divine.
I love the color of this pen as I have a thing for brown inks and pens. I’d put FC Honeycomb ink in it 🙂
Thank you for the opportunity to win this pen! I would use Monteverde Brown Sugar.
I would use Montblanc Toffee. Such a lovely rich brown for a lovely pen.
8)
I have the Christmass ink from Diamine so I can think of a couple. I have triple chocolate that I have enjoyed. Gingerbread could be fun. The pen reminds me of plum pudding, figgy pudding, mincemeat with hard sauce. of course. How about and fudge browny with chunky chocolate and nuts of your choice.
I would use Diamine chocolate brown or Monteverde brown sugar with this beautiful pen!!!
That’s a beautiful pen! I would put Montblanc Toffee Brown in it!
I would go for a Pilot Iroshizuku ink in the Murasaki-Shikibu /Japanese Beautyberry color
I have a vial of one of the platinum ink galls – sepia black, and that looks like a perfect match for it.
I would fill this with papier plume Moss Green! Love these vintage looking materials!
None of my current inks seems to be a good match for the tortoise shell pen, so it’d be a good excuse to try something new. I’ve never tried a Pilot Iroshizuku ink… so maybe the Kiri-same as I like greys and that seems like it might be a nice match.
This pen needs R&K Alt Gold Greune
I would do Rohrer & Klingner Alt Goldgrain which is a cool olive green.
If I were lucky enough to win this lovely pen I’d have to fill it with Waterman Havana Brown ink, one of my favorites. What a fabulous-looking pen!
I’d fill it with Rohrer & Klingner’s Alt Goldgrün, which I feel is criminally underrated. Beautiful tortoiseshell outside, and an ink that shades from pale green to deep olive? Reminds me a bit of coloring turtles as a kid—brown shell, green body—and I have to admit that I kinda love it.
I would go with KWZ Honey oh or Montblanc Toffee Brown.
This is a gorgeous pen! And although the color doesn’t perfectly match, I’d use one of my purple Noodler’s inks. I recently lost my sister in law to cancer and turtles were her favorite animal so in honor of her, I’d use her favorite color, purple.
A tortoise shell pen obviously pays homage to the Ninjas! Therefore: Purple (Noodler’s Mata Hari’s Cordial of course). Because, Donatello is the ninja turtle wearing the purple mask. Don is named after Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi and he is the brain of the group. He is very charming, but shy and slightly aloof and is also the least violent, but still kicks ass. He is the scientist, the inventor and the tech guru of the ninja turtles. . His weapon of choice is a bo staff (long stick). Long stick=Fountain pen 😉
I’d personally use Ancient Copper first with this pen 🙂
I would choose Robert Oster Honey Bee to pick up the golden highlights. I love the material!
Thank you to Peyton Street pens for the pen giveaway!
I would fill this pen with Sailor Shikiori ink in Rikyucha. Thanks for the giveaway!
This looks like a pen I would enjoy as narrow pens are not comfortable for me. I would ink it with Robert Oster African Gold, an ink I recently fell in love with!
The ink, hmmmm, I think perhaps Robert Oster Caffe Crema. Thanks for doing the giveaway!
I’m limited to pretty conservative colors, so it’ll usually be black for me. In particular, J. Herbin Perle Noire.
I have some Noodler’s invisible that needs a pen for secret messages!
I would fill the pen with Noodler’s Harold’s Hearse ink. I think this color of ink and this pen would be perfect together! Thank you for this opportunity- Peyton Street pens has nice vintage pens and love how they are creating their own line of pens.
I really like the Ina-ho brown gold color ink with the tortoise-shell body of the pen. I’d like an ink color like that.
I think it needs something a little less green than the Ina-Ho. I’d go with KWZ Honey myself. If you wanted a brown, I’d use Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Guri.
I would fill it with Visconti Sepia.
Noodler’s El Lawrence, I think. Just because I want to put it in a pen!
What a gorgeous pen! I adore anything tortoise-shell. I’d love to fill it with De Atramentis Velvet Black Gold…. Thanks so much for the giveaway!
This pen is right up my alley! I think Robert Oster Moss Green would pair quite well with it.
Really loving the Van Dieman’s Pepperberry these days.
I would most likely use either Diamine’s Aurora Borealis or Noodler’s Air-Corp Blue/Black. Thanks for another chance at a giveaway win.
Well, I’m not usually a matchy-matchy sort of person. I typically pick an ink color based on whatever color range is most lacking in my currently inked line-up. Having said that, if I had this pen in hand today, I think I’d go for a muted green. Maybe Private Reserve Avocado. If not that, I’d go for a nice shady gold. Maybe KWZ Old Gold.
I would use a bright pink ink, because that’s what I like 😉
Herbin Perle Noir.
Great looking pen! I would use Robert Oster Caffe Crema.
I love the variegated tones of the tortoiseshell, and would go for something that captured that warm harvest-gold feeling, with a lot of shading. I’m thinking KWZ Honey. Thanks for the opportunity!
Hmm, not sure. I like Private Reserve Orange Crush.
Diamine Sherwood is the best ink I have on hand for this beauty. I think I would want to try out a brown ink with it.
Diamine Sherwood is the best ink I have on hand for this beauty. I would want to use this pen as an excuse to get a brown ink.
Definitely a warm brown ink or something golden (I don’t know a lot about ink brands!). Gorgeous pen! If I win, I might just gift it to my son who is starting to get into pens and paper.
For me it would be KWZ Honey. I’ve already got that in a Laban white and brown “Pinto” pen that seems to dry out every other day. I love Peyton St. Pens and Ranga, their pens are well made and rarely dry out.
This is a beautiful pen and I think the size would work for my hand too. I would try Diamine Ancient Copper ink though I fear it would clash and being that I have a small ink collection might just go with Platinum Carbon Black. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
I want to use Iroshizuku Fuyu Gaki. I like surprise colors from my pens.
I recently bought some beautiful blue green ink, I can’t remember what and am not sure where it is at the moment, but I’d use that, as I haven’t inked up anything with it yet.
A sample of Diamine Ancient Cooper or Montblanc Toffee Brown.
I’d use R & K Alt-Goldgrün Old Golden Green. Chief’s kiss!
I’d fill this pen with KWZ Honey. I’ve been looking for an excuse to try it, and I think the color would complement the tortie coloring of the pen. Also, it’d be kind of fun to refer to it as the sweet Tortuga Honey pen.
Thanks for the fun!
My first thought was Diamine Ancient Copper, an ink I don’t use often enough. But there’s a brown ink in the Bungubox set named for the Tokyo metro stations (whose names I never remember) that might fit even better. The pen looks quite nice!
I love Teri’s work. I’d use KZW Standard Honey.
I would fill it with Graf von Faber Castell Moss Green, which is a nice dark green color and water resistent ink I use at work and home.
I’m seeing a lot of browns listed. I think I would go with a darker green to contrast with the pen. Something like a Sailor Shikiori Tokiwa-Matsu.
I would put in SBRE Brown…recently received a bottle (the one with the glass marble) from Akkerman.
Ok… I’ll come out of my shell for this one – Montblanc Toffee Brown please, with a hint of clover!
Platinum classic sepia or J Herbin Lie de the would both go great I think
For a somewhat match, 3 Oysters Delicious Mustard.
If I didn’t wan’t to match, I’d throw in some Private Reserve Vampire Red.
Good luck to all and thanks for another Giveaway!
The fXirst ink i would put in it would be the ink i always use for a new pen: Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue. Once i get a feel for how wet a writer this is i pick another ink. If its wet, then maybe Waterman Absolute Brown. If its dry, then i would choose Diamine Ancient Copper.
Cool looking pen! I think I would try the Lamy Topaz ink (in my mind I don’t associate topaz with a brownish color, but that is what it says on the bottle!)
A brownish green like a turtle!
I would put in this beautiful fountain pen,the ink – Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukush, as this is the color of chocolate. That would put me in a mellow and productive mood as I use it to sketch the outdoors in my nature journal. Perhaps with a thermos of hot chocolate at my side even!
I would absolutely put KWZ’s Green Gold in this beauty!!
How about Sailor Manyo Shirakashi? What a lovely pen.
Diamine ancient copper!
Oh, this looks lovely!
I would ink it with Monteverde Pumpkin Cake…and then have some blueberry pie.
This pen seems to be asking for Diamine Ancient Copper.
Should I try to match the color or just use whatever ink I prefer at the moment?
I would ink this little tortoise () with Robert Oster gold antiqua!
This is a serious pen, and it needs a serious ink. I think I would go straight for Noodler’s Black.
I’d probably try to find a new ink to buy to put in this, but of the inks I have now that I’d put in it would probably be Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku.
Noodler’s Black to enjoy with my cup of black coffee in the morning, making notes for the day.
Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Guri would work for me.
I’ve seen great things coming from Peyton Street Pens and have wanted to try one out. As far as ink, it depends. If I go with what I have on hand, I think I would partner it with Mucha Iron Goddess from Lennon Tool Bar, but I am never opposed to using a new pen as an opportunity to research and buy a new ink.
I think it’s fun to pair the pen color with a compatible ink color. So in this case it would be: Iroshizuku yama-guri. A VERY dark brown which I refer to as my brown/black “go to” ink.
I think I’d start with Diamine Steel Blue. The pen reminds me of islands in the Caribbean and the ink is a nice tropical blue water color.
Ink the pen with Robert Oster African Gold, would look nice.
What a lovely pen! I would fill it with Colorverse Black.
I have the iroshizuku ina-ho ink which I dare say would be a near-perfect match for this pen!
…I just realized that iroshizuku ina-hi is literally the ink used in the review, lol, oops
I’m in, thank you for the chance.
I’m new to fountain pens, but I’d load the pen with Steel Blue.
I would try Noodler’s Burma Road Brown in this pen. This ink actually reads kind of khaki green to me, so I think it would be a nice pair-up.
Taccia Ukiyo-e Ink Hokusai-Benitsuchi would be it for me. The orange-brown would match up nicely to the pen’s spots I think. (I also love the box, I’m a sucker for Japanese wood cuts)
I would use in addition to Ina-Ho, Cacao du Brezil or Melon Tea. I really like Ina-Ho ink it is very suitable for this pen. The pen is splendid, it has a good vintage look. Thanks for the review.
i like the ina-ho combo you went with, definitly would go with a gold ink