Pen review: Kakimori Refillable Pens

Pardon any confusion, when looking at the packaging, the brand name looked like “Okakimori” but the brand is actually “Kakimori”.

Her at The Desk, we are fairly obsessed with fountain pen ink and the myriad of colors available to us. I have experimented with the Kuretake fill-it-yourself fiber tipped and brush pens. And of course, we can’t pass up a fountain pen ink rollerball pen either. So, of course, when I found the Kakimori Colour Liner series ($5.50 each) I couldn’t resist. There are four options: Marker (with a chisel tip like a highlighter), Brush (with a soft, flexible fiber tip) and 0.5mm and 0.3mm fineliner tips.

The whole pen barrel is clear plastic with a simple metal clip. Inside each pen is an absorbent capillary ink reservoir section. To activate each pen, just choose a bottle of ink and place the ink reservoir section into the bottle.

Once inserted into a bottle of ink, the ink reservoir fills quickly. It’s quite satisfying to watch. Once filled, I wipe the end that was in the ink off with a rag to keep from getting residual ink on the interior of the clear pen barrel.

It takes less than a minute for the capillary ink reservoir to fill with ink. If it does not fill all the way to the very end, the instructions included recommend flipping the ink capsule upside to allow gravity to distribute the ink throughout.

Flip the end cap over to push the capillary ink unit into the pen and make contact with the feed (the little pointy bit visible beneath the pen tip).

The photo above shows the cap pressed halfway in. Push it all the way to make a tight seal at the end and with the feed. (see images below).

Once the ink reservoir is seated into the pen, I set the pens, tip end down in my pen cup for 15 minutes or so to let gravity pull ink into the tip. I doubt it takes all that long to distribute the ink into the tip but I set them in the pen cup and then got distracted answering email and 15 minutes elapsed before I retrieved them, By which time, the tips were fully saturated with ink.

I chose four different inks to try: Platinum Carbon Black (0.3mm) , Montblanc Lucky Yellow (marker pen), Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue (brush pen), and Colorverse Gravity Wave (0.5mm). The Montblanc Lucky Yellow made a nice alternative to neon highlighter ink for me. It’s a little too light to write with the fine point tip on the chisel but for underlining and highlighting, it looks lovely. The poppy Oster Soda Pop Blue in the brush marker performs admirably. It’s such a lovely blue. To my delight, all of the sheening qualities of Colorverse Gravity Wave were visible in the 0.5mm fineliner.

The 0.3mm and 0.5mm are the smallest fill-it-yourself fineliners I’ve found thus far so if you like the finer drawing pens but want to experiment with colors, these are at the top of my recommendation list.

Though it may not seem original or unique, I am pleased with the Platinum Carbon Black in the finest of the fineliner options. I plan to use it for drawing, lettering and various mixed media projects including in my journal/planner since once dry, it will not bleed into other colors.

Initially, I hoped that these pens might be refillable, but it seems unlikely that the capillary ink reservoirs can be rinsed and reused successfully. The ink units appear to be the same size that are used in the Kuretake Karappo pens. Maybe it’s possible to find replacement “wick cores” at some point.

Either way, if you are looking for ways to use your fountain pen inks, I find these fill-it-yourself markers and pens to be a great way to use your inks in new and different ways.

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