Is the LAMY 2000 part of stationery journey?
Myke and I are fired up to meet in Memphis next week for the St. Jude Podcastathon, but first, we have pens to talk about! Wait, make that pencils, as I have a few words on the latest uniball Kuru Toga Dive, and then we dig into pens, and some advice on the stationery hobby as a whole.
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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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)
The Opus 88 Mini Pocket Pen has been in my daily rotation for several months now, and it has really impressed me with how many of my favorite pen features it fits on its tiny lil body.
For one, it's pocket-sized. I love a pocket pen. Pocket pens are so practical for carrying around, and I'm constantly on the go. I also have small hands, so they tend to be comfortable for me, too, though that won't be the case for everyone. This one does post, though. I love the full-sized Opus 88 also, but I do feel like I'm wielding a baseball bat while I'm writing with it. The main downside to most pocket pens is their ink capacity. Tiny body means tiny ink reservoir. But not here! This thing is a mini ink tank. Nearly the whole body fills with ink, thanks to the handy included eyedropper. I've had a lot of eyedropper-filling pocket pens, and quite a few of them have leaked. Not this one! It has a plunger seal that blocks the ink from even reaching the feed unless the end-cap is unscrewed to release the vacuum. That makes it safe for pocket carry and travel.
Its other practical features include a sturdy clip and spare o-ring. It also writes very well, even after being neglected for a few days. It does take a while for the ink to saturate the feed when it is first filled. It's an eyedropper-fill pen, so the ink is deposited directly into the pen body with the included eyedropper. For this pen, the grip section unscrews to open the ink reservoir. Since the ink isn't drawn up through the nib, it needs to take the long route there. I let the pen sit nib-down for a while with the plunger open to let the ink flow to the nib.
Okay, that's enough practicality. The reason it first caught my eye is because it's cute! I particularly like this Baby Beluga design, but Opus are not stingy in creating an abundance of fun and interesting designs for this model. From florals to stripes to animal prints, you're bound to find one you like. On this model, the main body of the pen is an aqua-tinted semi-translucent acrylic, so you can see your ink sloshing around inside like the water it's meant to resemble. The ocean waves and whale illustrations, along with schools of wee fish, add to the oceanic effect.
The Opus 88 Mini Pocket Fountain Pen sells for $89 at Goldspot Pens, which is a very fair price for the quality of this pen. It's refreshing to see a pen this nice for under $100. I missed some special Halloween designs they did in this model a few years ago, and now that I know how nice the pen is, I doubly regret that. So if you see an edition of this one that speaks to you, I highly recommend grabbing it while you can. This one is coming with me on a trip to Lake Superior next week. There aren't any whales in Lake Superior as far as we know, but when it comes to that epic inland sea, we don't know very far at all. I'll settle for some whale-sized freshwater cryptids.
(Goldspot provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)
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(Caroline Foty's first fountain pen was a 1970s Sheaffer No Nonsense that still writes perfectly. Since she discovered pens by independent makers, she wants "one of each, please" and wants to meet all the makers. Maybe you do, too. She lives in Baltimore with pens, cats, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.)
You can’t talk to many pen makers who do anything with metal, before you hear mention of David Broadwell, and how he has been an influence or inspiration for their work.
So it’s particularly fun to hear that this artisan and artist began with pens close to my heart, the inexpensive Sheaffer school fountain pens, and the Skrip cartridges they take. “I wrote with Sheaffer school fountain pens in the fifth grade. One of them burped all its ink into my pencil bag.” He just cleaned out the bag and carried on with the pens. “Nobody else was using fountain pens, everyone was using Bics. We found that if you warm the ‘clip’ on the cap of a Bic stick pen with a match or a lighter, you can modify it so you can actually clip it to things.”
Broadwell, like many kids growing up in the US, had art daily until sixth grade. “I drew pictures of tanks, ships, and cars with my fountain pens.” After that, he took as much art as possible, and also mechanical drawing and wood shop. “Wood shop isn’t there to turn you into a cutting board maker, it’s about how to have skills and take pride in making things.” Sadly, high school wood shop classes seem to have died out in many places, but Broadwell went on from that background to become a machinist.
His father was a Mason, and he liked playing with his father’s Masonic sword. “I made a cardboard shield with our coat of arms, I put on my dad’s bathrobe, and I fought the mimosa tree dragon.” Knives were the first thing he specialized in, beginning in his mid-twenties. “I was working as a machinist and I had a broken file on my bench. I thought, ‘I could make a knife out of that.’ It was terrible.” But he persevered and was soon making knives full-time. “I mostly make 7-11” blades. I made a couple of swords but someone else had to do the heat treating for me. I chose not to make switchblades because of federal laws about shipping them. I’m semi-retired now from making knives.”
Pens seem like they are some distance away from these art forms. About twenty five years ago, his then wife decided she wanted to sell component pens, and he thought he could do that. Almost right away he could see beyond their limitations. “I thought, I’m a machinist, why would I use kits? I can make all the parts. I needed to do something more complicated.” His first pen, which still can be seen on his website, was “really ambitious. Sheaffer acrylic I got from Bexley, Mokume gane clip, cap top, cap band, a metal sleeve.”
Broadwell’s pens are in fact rooted in his knife making background. “All the things I do can be traced back to my knives. I use a belt grinder. I like making things different from what anyone else does.” His first pen model was the Trinity, a three sided pen. “I hand grind it freehand on the belt grinder.” His signature pen, the Eléf (from the Greek eleftheros meaning free), is free-form with a bend in it, and is also hand ground. He still uses a lathe to turn metal bands.
Broadwell cites a few makers whom he mentored as they began to work with metal, including Tim Cullen of Hooligan Georgia and Jason Olson of WriteTurnz. He was also happy to see that Jon Tello of Hello Tello has embarked on engraving, and he likes the engraving John Albert did on his pens. “Tim (Cullen) would call me and ask lots of questions. I told him there are no secrets, but if you’re not going to do it I won’t waste your time. He’s taken everything I told him and put it into practice and developed his own style.”
He’s not tempted to make his own materials, having found his ideal material partner in Tim Crowe of Turnt Pen Co. “He’s my guy. I’ve sent photos to him and he’s always done great with them. I sent him photos of my Harley to make a blank, and I’ll put design elements on it to match.” He held up an orange blank into which he’s carved a grooved channel, and he’s sending it back to Crowe to do a second pour of black into that channel. There is also a knife and pen set in the works for the LA pen show with a material from Turnt. In 2025, Broadwell was approached by the author John Maxwell to create pens to match the cover of each of his books, and Turnt produced the materials. (Pen World magazine wrote a story about the project for the December 2025 issue, and that story is available to read in a post on the Broadwell Studios Facebook page.)
Show attendance has slowed down a little for Broadwell. “I don’t make inexpensive pens, I make unique luxury pens – I don’t want to make plain inexpensive pens. So I don’t have large sales at shows.” He’s tried a lot of shows, but he’s even given up going to Dallas, his nearest thing to a home show. His favorite show is the new California show. “I have friends and customers in that area. I’m donating a pen for next year as a show sponsor.” The most important reason to go to shows is people. “I go to shows to meet people. I’ve met some nibmeisters and I’m going to get a nib for a pen I want to make for myself.”
What pens does an artist like Broadwell have for himself? “I collect 1930s-1940s Parker Vacumatics. They have some of the best design elements of any pen, and I like art deco style.” He also has a few Bexleys – “Howard Levy is one of my mentors in basic pen design and manufacturing processes.” He did keep an early Eléf for himself for a while, out of a vintage tortoiseshell material, but he’s since sold it.
Broadwell gives a lot of credit to his wife, Nita, for pushing him to do new things. “She is always tossing out challenges. ‘Couldn’t you carve that on a clip? I think your next pen should be a Trinity Eléf.’ I’ll say, ‘Aw, I can’t do that!’ but then I think, ‘Maybe I could….’”
David Broadwell’s work can be seen at his website Broadwell Studios, his Facebook, his Instagram (the Facebook account is more active), and at the California Pen Show.
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