Posts filed under Fountain Pens

Mythic Pens The Prime Fountain Pen Review

(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 check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

The Prime is the headlining standard from pen maker The Mythic Pen Co. The owner, Brad, hand-makes each pen and offers 8 different models, mostly fountain pens, with rollerball and ballpoint options as well. Custom pens can be commissioned, though the shop doesn't list any current custom openings. Your best bet for seeing what Mythic has to offer is to head to their Instagram feed, Mythicpens, where it appears pens are sold as they are made. Or if you're lucky, catch them at a pen show.

This model is The Prime. It's quite large with straight sides, flat finials, and only a slight taper to the grip section. There's no furniture or flourish--it's a very minimal design that lets the material do all the talking.

Mythic sources their acrylics from lots of indie blank-makers. This particular material is called Basilisk and comes from Tim Crowe of Turnt Pen Co. In low light the color looks dark and subtle, but when the sun hits it, you get the full effect of silvery-sparkle-red-blue-purple loveliness. It's another one of those pens where I can lose time staring at all the shapes in the color swirls.

The Prime has a twist cap with very smooth threads, and the section unscrews from the body. It can take a cartridge, converter, or eyedropper fill. It writes well, with good balance, though it's a bit large for my hands. The lack of significant taper on the grip section makes the size a little harder to manage for me, but if you prefer larger pens and wide grips, this may be the perfect one for you.

The Prime takes a #6 JoWo nib. This one is a fine point, and it writes perfectly. The flow is good and it writes smoothly while showing fun ink characteristics. I do find that it dries quickly between uses. Even with daily use, it needs some prompting to get started. Once it's going, it's delightful. Perhaps it's a cap seal issue, or a feed issue, or it may be the ink I'm using (most likely the ink, but more science is needed).

The baseline Prime is priced at $175, which can go up if any fancy features are added. That's well in line with similar pens from similar makers and it's the least expensive of Mythic's full-sized fountain pens.

If you're a maker-pen addict, or acrylic-pen addict, Mythic's lineup is well worth checking out.

(This pen was purchased from Mythic Pens at regular retail at the 2022 Atlanta Pen Show.)

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Posted on August 18, 2022 by Sarah Read and filed under Mythic Pens, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Otto Hutt Design 06 Fountain Pen Review

The Otto Hutt Design 06 is my latest dalliance with the century-old German brand. A century old, and you haven’t heard of them before? Don’t worry, you are not alone. In the US market, for example, they have only been widely available since Kenro Industries inked a distribution deal with them a few years ago.

My introduction to the brand was the all-black Design 03, followed by the Blue Wave of the Design 04. I got along extremely well with both of those pens, so I decided to keep carrying on up the charts and test out the Arctic Blue Design 06.

Being the third Otto Hutt fountain pen to land on my desk, you wouldn’t be surprised to know how consistent the 06 experience has been with the previous two. Right from the first inking, I knew it was going to be good, and that thought has remained the same over the last two months of use.

Let’s start with the build quality of the pen first. With 100 years of manufacturing in their back pocket, Otto Hutt knows what the end user experience should be like. Not only do they manufacture their own lineup of pens, they make pens for other brands you have heard of as well. If you think their pens favor other popular German brands, that’s no coincidence.

The Design 06 features an all-metal barrel that tapers on each end, with a noticeable concave metal grip section. I always wonder if this deep of concave will be too much for me, and it never is. It fits my hand perfectly. The balance is nice, too. For a metal pen, it’s not overly heavy, or off-kilter in any way.

Included in the build quality is the nib. I have a steel Extra Fine nib in my Design 06, and it is glorious. It is firm, which is my preference for any type of nib, and the line right out of the box was perfect. It continues to perform flawlessly with the Wearingul Cheshire Cat ink I’m using with it. The only question I have on the nib is who makes it-Jowo? Bock? Schmidt? I don’t think it matters, because it is flawless. I will say it feels more like a Jowo/Schmidt nib due to the firmness, so I’ll try to get some clarification this week.

Everything related to the build and performance the Otto Hutt Design 06 is unimpeachable. The same goes for the 03 and 04 from my previous reviews. And, as with those previous reviews, that leaves price as the only part of the equation to sort out. It’s an important part, and I believe Otto Hutt’s biggest challenge.

At $236 for the pen as set up in this review, I think it is fairly priced. The challenge is the competition, and where it stacks up to lower priced steel nibbed pens, and equivalently priced gold nib pens. Otto Hutt loses both of those battles.

I’m raving about how this steel nib performs, but you know what other steel nib performs similarly, if not better? The one in the $20 Pilot Metropolitan. Or in the $35 TWSBI ECO. Or any maker pen with a Jowo nib. Steel nibs are fantastic, and it’s costs very little for a great one. On the gold nib side of the ledger, the 06 resides in the same neighborhood as the Platinum 3776 and Pilot Custom 912, two of my most recommended pens. That’s a tough sell from a value perspective.

Then you have to consider the style of the Design 06. Is it $150 better than the very similar Lamy Studio? I’d argue not.

Otto Hutt is not here for your arguments, though. It is a good enough pen to stand on its own, with a price that places it squarely in the premium steel nib fountain pen bracket. Being near the top of that bracket isn’t a negative, but you better bring your A-game when that is what you are shooting for. Otto Hutt does that with the Design 06.

(Goldspot provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Posted on August 15, 2022 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Otto Hutt, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Gravitas Pens Polycarbonate Big Dropper Fountain Pen Review

I call this meeting of the Gravitas Pens Fan Club to order. We're here to discuss the Polycarbonate Big Dropper, a pen so cool it might require its own fan club within the larger Gravitas fan club.

The pen's most obvious features are evident in its name--this is a big pen made of polycarbonate that is perfect for eyedropper use (though it also takes a cartridge or converter). The polycarbonate is very lightweight and nearly indestructible. The model sent to me has a beautiful strawberry-coral ombre tint at each end--a feature I don't currently see listed in the shop, but hopefully it will be, as it is stunning.

Gravitas Pens Polycarbonate Big Dropper Fountain Pen

The lightly grooved grip section is made of coated stainless steel. It's comfortable to hold, and the weight of the steel compared to the lighter body of the pen makes it feel settled in your hand as you write. It has great balance in the hand and works very well for long writing sessions. Which is good, because when eyedroppered it holds a LOT of ink.

The ridges in the grip are not rough, with just enough texture to make it non-slip, and the threads behind the grip are very smooth and unobtrusive. The threads have o-rings both on the section and on the cap threads, so when it's eyedroppered there's little chance of leaking, though it is encouraged to put a bit of silicone grease on the sections threads as well.

Gravitas produces their own nibs which will fit any pen with Jowo #6 threads. I have three Gravitas pens and all the nibs I have run broad and wet compared to typical western nibs, but I've heard others say theirs run dry, so it may be that there's some variation there. Every one I've tried writes well, though. They're all very smooth, which I like in a nib. The feedback is minimal and depends on the paper.

I've really enjoyed writing with this pen over the past month. I reach for it often. I'm finding that I want to keep all my Gravitas pens perpetually inked, which could be a problem if I keep acquiring them, which I certainly hope I do. The brand is taking over my pen case. That is not a complaint.

The Gravitas Polycarbonate Big Dropper sells for 95 Euros, which is pretty much equivalent to the U.S. dollar at the time of writing. That price is ridiculously good. It's too low, frankly. There's a pocket-size version for the same price, which I'll need, especially if the color tinting becomes available. Just be cautious browsing the Gravitas site, because everything is as awesome as it looks and you might be overcome with temptation. Meeting adjourned.

(Gravitas Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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