Six Years and Counting!

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Before I get started, I just wanted to say thank you to folks who were so kind about my article last week on family memory loss/dementia. It really means a lot to me.

The end of May has marked my penversary for the past 6 years and I wasn’t really in a good head space to celebrate it last week but I’m much better this week, so I can now say “Holy cow! How can it be that I have now been in this rabbit hole for 6 years!” Time to celebrate, right?!

You may recall that last year, I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out what my 5 year penversary pen should be. When the Platinum 3776 Shape of Heart was announced last spring, I knew that would be the perfect penversary pen! But, it turned out, it wouldn’t be available for several months. And by the time it got to the states, I had put it on the back burner and sort of forgot about it.

Since I didn’t get around to getting one when it came out, it became harder and harder to find. For some reason, it was sold out everywhere! I checked ebay, international vendors, Japan, and even the US distributor Luxury Brands of America didn’t have any more. Nooooo!!!! But wait! A pen friend found one for me!! Hallelujah! (Of course, I have since seen the pen for sale multiple times, but that’s just how it goes, I guess!)

I won’t go into a full blown pen review of Platinum 3776s since it has been reviewed by many folks already. I think they are beautiful pens and I love how they write (the Medium nib is just perfect for me), but this one is special. Platinum stamps out a heart-shaped breather hole in their nibs and subsequently recycles & melts the punched out hearts to make more nibs. For the Shape of Heart pen, however, they take the heart cut-out and put it inside the crystal-filled finial!

Heart-shaped breather hole that’s cut out of the Platinum nib (and Nakaya too!)

Look at the heart!

The little heart in the cap finial really embodies the love I feel for pens, this hobby and this community. I inked up this pen with Colorverse Brunch Date partly because of the matchy match and everything about this combo makes my heart warm. Yes, Platinum and Colorverse always reminds me of my friends at Luxury Brands of America who distribute both brands, but the Colorverse Brunch Date ink from Smruti Pens also reminds me of my conversations with owner Akhila Sheth about Instagram’s frustrating algorithms, parenting and pen shows. It also represents the friendships I’ve made, both online and in real life - penabling people, being penabled, sharing, learning, playing with inks and pens over meals, at the bar, cafe, coffee tables, stationery shops, and of course, I will always think of my friend who remembered I was looking for this pen and helped me buy it when they saw it.

Writing sample of the Platinum 3776 Shape of Heart, Medium nib with Colorverse Brunch Date on 90 gsm Clairefontaine Triomphe.

I am still in shock that I have found a hobby that I’ve embraced this tightly for this long and that I’m still loving every minute of it! Yes, the pens and things are wonderful and all, but it’s really about being a part of this community that keeps me coming back for more! I love spending time on Slack, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, Zoom, and traveling to pen shows and meetups so I can hang out with pen friends old and new. So whether or not I’ve met you, I want to thank you for being a part of this rabbit hole and for making the past 6 years such a blast! Onwards to the next 6 years and beyond!

Lamy Accent - A Quick Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

It’s been a while since I had inked up a Lamy, and Myke and the Bossman were talking about the Lamy Accent not too long ago and lightbulb! I have one of those! Let’s ink that up!

The Lamy Accent is a slim pen that comes in two finishes - Palladium and Black. Lamy Accent Palladium (sometimes referred to as aluminum) has a slightly matte metal finish and comes with the same steel nib that is used on the Safari/Al-Star/Nexx, most Studios, etc. The Lamy Accent Black (or Brilliant Black), on the other hand, has a high gloss barrel and cap and comes with a 14kt gold nib - this is the one that I will be reviewing today.

I bought the Lamy Accent second hand years ago and fell in love with not only its sleek design but more importantly, the gold nib. As I mentioned in my Lamy Studio review, Lamy’s non-L2K gold nibs feel nothing like their steel counterparts, nor do they feel like the L2K gold nib either. They are slightly softer and wetter writers, which also means you will have a broader line with their gold nib. These nibs can be purchased separately and greatly improves the writing experience of your favorite Lamy pen (except the Lamy 2000, which uses a differently shaped nib).

Writing sample with Kobe #70 Rokko Forest Blue on Clairefontaine Triomphe 90gsm.

Closeup of 14k Gold Medium (top) vs Steel Medium.

But I’m not really here to sing the praises of the Lamy gold nib. No, the Lamy Accent has a secret power that most pens do not. After unscrewing the nib from the section, all you need is a simple pull, swap and snap in a different accent piece (see what I did there?), and voilà, you’ve got yourself a new look! You can have a pen that has the sophisticated elegance of black with silver rings, or something a little warmer with a deep red wooden grip or any one of 7 different grips (sold separately)!

One pen, 3 different looks! L to R: Brilliant Black Rings, Dark Blue Linen (not really linen), Deep Red Wood.

Unscrewing the Accent is a different experience than with most pens. When you hold the grip section and twist the barrel, the section doesn’t separate from the barrel. What actually happens is that the nib assembly & converter come out together! You can then remove the nib/converter, pull out the accent piece and wham, bam, new grip, ma’am!

Unscrewing the pen actually “ejects” the nib/housing/converter out. There are red arrows marked on the top and bottom of the housing but they aren’t needed because it’s obvious which way to put the nib.

On the left is the grip and the right is the barrel. The grip only fits on the barrel in one way, so it’s pretty foolproof. The notches are where the nib housing fits into the pen. You don’t even have to put it in a notch first, just put the nib assembly back into the pen and start screwing the barrel and it will fall into place.

Lamy’s higher end pens (which also include the Dialog 3/CC, Logo, CP1 and Studio) require the use of the LZ26/27 converter which is different from the regular Z28. Aside from the absence of the Z28 “nubbins” that slide into the grip of the Safari, et al. as well as the metal (vs plastic) ring near the piston knob, the LZ 26/27 has a step down near the end of the converter which the Z28 does not.

Lamy’s LZ26/27 (left) has a metal ring, a step down, and no nubbins compared with the Z28 on the right.

One of the benefits of a slim pen is that the pen can fit into more pen loops, especially skinny ones. And the clip on the cap ensures that it won’t fall through. One caveat though, the cap only takes a mere quarter turn to uncap itself, so it is best to use this in pen holders that are more snug, otherwise you may end up with a lovely cap clipped to the pen holder with no pen in sight. This isn’t an issue for the two pen holders that I would be using it with (see below) because both hold onto the pen very securely.

Fits just fine in the PLOTTER pen holder (closed on the left.)

No problem for the Traveler’s Company pen holder either (view from the back of my TN.)

Here are some other pens, including some slim ones, to compare with the Lamy Accent:

Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Pilot/Namiki Grance, Pilot Metropolitan, Kaweco AL Sport, Lamy Al-Star, Lamy Accent, Lamy Studio, Lamy 2000, TWSBI Eco-T, Cross Townsend, Platinum Preppy, Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Waldmann Tuscany, Platinum 3776, Pilot Vanishing Point.

Pros:

• Ability to swap grip sections easily!
• Grip is slightly convex, which is very comfortable in hand.
• Ability to swap Safari/Al-Star/Studio/etc.-compatible nibs, including gold
• Only needs a quarter turn to cap/uncap
• Fits in the Traveler’s Company and PLOTTER pen holders!

Neutral

• Can be posted
• Threads at the nib end requires one’s grip to be further back (This would usually be more of a Con for me because I like to hold my pens close to the nib, but it isn’t an issue with this pen)
• If you want to use a converter, you have to use the Lamy LZ26 or LZ27 converter, which is NOT the one that works with Safari, etc.

Cons:

• It is a fairly slim pen
• Slightly backweighted when posting (solution, don’t post, lol)

The Lamy Accent in Palladium retails around $109 while the shiny Black is around $249, though it did take some searching to find US vendors who still sell the Lamy Accent fountain pen. New and used prices vary widely on the secondary market, so shop around. I bought my additional grip sections from Appelboom. If you like the Lamy nibs and want a slimmer option for pen loops or just like the thought of being able to change up the look of your pen, the Lamy Accent is a great way to go.

(Disclaimer: All pens/products were purchased by me with no compensation for inclusion in this review.)

Sailor 1911L 4am 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!)

Pen shows are a great place to try out the pens you have resisted buying for years, because it's so much easier to resist things online. And by "great" of course I mean dangerous, because it's so much harder to resist things in person. Especially when Brad says, "Hey, you were looking for one of these, right?"

In any case, I left the Chicago Pen Show with a Sailor 1911L 4am, and I'm very glad I did. As a habitual night owl who frequently greets the hour of 4am with pen in hand, that cool, blue glow of pre-dawn is like an old friend. The resin material of this pen matches that tone perfectly, and the gunmetal grey accents look elegant and moody. It's a gorgeous pen, and I coveted it when it was first released. I hesitated, though, because it was a limited edition and pricier than a standard Sailor, and I already have a number of lovely Sailors, and I didn't NEED it, and and and, etc. There was always an excuse. And then Sailor raised their prices, and even though this pen remained at the pre-rise price, I was feeling grumbly about the brand in general. So I kept resisting. Until Brad texted me at the Chicago Pen Show.

Brandon, of Rocky Top Pen Co., had a 4am at his table. It was used, but it also had a MF cursive italic nib grind by John Mottishaw, and he was selling it for $275--$37 under the retail price for a 1911L. While the pen is still available at many retailers in the smaller version for $220, that nib was calling to me. It's practically my favorite grind, and I don't own any other Mottishaw nibs. And that pen was right in front of me, then it was in my hand, then I put it down and walked away, and then I walked right back. Let's just call that the Pen Show Tango.

The pen has a 21k gold nib, and the CI grind on this MF nib is crisp and perfect. It shows just the right amount of character in the lines it creates, while still being both very fine and maintaining good flow. This nib is easily in my top three nibs that I own, maybe even the top one--though I'd need a Platinum showdown to confirm that. In any case, it's almost too good to write with, not because I'm afraid to use it, but because it's difficult to think about what I'm writing when I can't stop swooning over HOW I'm writing. That hasn't stopped me from using it every day since I bought it, though.

Perhaps this is more a review of the nib than the pen, as Sailor hardly needs my voice added to its chorus of praises, or maybe it's a review of the pen show experience, where you can find rare treasures and irresistible deals. But I wouldn't hesitate to recommend all three: The Sailor 4am, which you can still find in most online stores; Mottishaw nib grinds, which have utterly enchanted me; and attending pen shows, where resistance is futile.

This pen has seen two 4am writing sessions already. It will see several more in the coming weeks, as I'm in my heaviest deadline season. I'm very glad to have this aptly themed writing companion along for the ride.

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