Review by Laura Cameron Over the holiday break, Ana let me play with the set of Karas Kustoms Starliner and Starliner XL fountain pens that she had received for review. I love my Karas Fountain K and prototype Decograph so I was excited to see what else Karas has to offer! The Starliner series pens…
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Fountain Pen Review: Zebra Zensations
Review by Laura Cameron Several weeks ago I was browsing JetPens and saw the 4-pack of Zebra Zensations ($9.75) and thought I’d give disposable fountain pens a try. Zebra Zensations are plastic bodied disposable fountain pens. They come in a variety of colors including: red, green, blue, turquoise, black, purple and pink. My 4-pack included…
Intro to Vintage Esterbrooks
Editor’s Note: I asked Jesi to write this post. “How to get started with Esterbrooks” is something I’ve wanted to write about for a long time but with someone as knowledgeable about Esterbrooks as Jesi on hand to do a far better job than I would, it made sense for her to do it. She…
Fountain Pen Review: Birmingham Pen Co. Model-A Liquid Hot Magma
I had been itching to try one of Birmingham Pen Company’s custom fountain pens — their Model-A series designs. They release a small batch of a particular color material every few weeks or months. For some reason, I was taken by the Crystalline Liquid Hot Magma ($119) acrylic color, aptly named after the Austin Powers reference.…
Fountain Pen Review: Kaco Retro EF in Green
There have been a lot of better-quality, Chinese pens introduced into the market recently and the Kaco brand, like Pen BBS and the Moonman line, is one to put on your radar. While the Kaco Retro (approx. $11.49) is not the most innovative pen in terms of design from Kaco (more to come about their…
Fountain Pen Review: Esterbook Estie (Tortoise with Gold Trim)
By Jessica Coles A few months ago I heard that the Esterbrook trademark had been purchased by Kenro Industries and the manufacturing of Esterbrook pens was going to restart. I had many thoughts about this, not many of them comforting. Esterbrook closed their doors for good in 1972. There was a brief attempt to revive…
Pen Review: Airless Pens (Kickstarter)
Review by Tina Koyama If I had my druthers, all pens would be retractable. Since I use so many of my pens and other tools while out sketching somewhere, pens with caps are always at risk. (I once dropped a pen cap from the upper level balcony of a mall where I was sketching. The…