Review: Pelikano Fountain Pen - 2010 Edition

This review is by Kalina Wilson, who can also be found at geminica.com.

The Pelikano Fountain Pen has been around for 50 years as a sturdy, easy-to-use fountain pen aimed at school kids. Pelikan has redesigned the pen several times over the years; this version is new for 2010.  

The Pelikano writes smooth and wet, gliding easily across the paper with ink flow that doesn't let up at any speed. Probably due to this abundant ink flow, the line width seems to depend largely on the surface. 

On absorbent papers the width of the "fine" nib is similar to a Lamy Safari EF, but on non-absorbent papers (or sketching over watercolors, as shown above) the line gets quite broad.

As with previous designs, the Pelikano 2010 is available in a few nib sizes, colors, and customized for left-handed and right-handed writers.  It currently retails for $18.40 at JetPens.

Like our friend the Pen Addict, I favor a fine line or else a variable line that is quite fine at its minimum width so this one is a bit broad for me. That said, the ease with which it lays down a whole lot of ink is quite alluring. I have no other fountain pen that will effortlessly fill an area with ink like this one will. The sketch to the right was made on a relatively absorbent paper, but it was still easy to get a thick, rich ink fill.

The grip on the pen feels very comfortable. Fingers naturally end up where they are intended to be.  The body is lightweight and unobtrusive. The cap is not as unobtrusive;  it doesn't feel like it is intended to be posted, and wobbles around on the end of the pen. I notice it a little, but it's not so bad that it stays on my mind while drawing.

The bright side of the cap is that it snaps closed very snugly over the nib. Between the cap and the design of the nib housing, this pen feels... safe.  My fingers don't come into contact with the ink at all.  There has been no ink leakage at all.  Any time you have a large amount of ink in any pen in your bag, there is at least some small chance of disaster - but this pen feels quite secure.

The Pelikano takes international standard ink cartridges as well as a special long cartridge that appears to hold twice as much ink.  I don't really like the way these cartridges connect to the pen - it takes a little pushing to get the cartridge to connect, and it's hard to be certain when it is all the way on.  However, it is nice to know I could travel with this pen and have no problem finding extra cartridges.  Between the easy-to-find cartridges, clean nib, and affordable price point as far as fountain pens go ($18.40), this would be a good choice for on-the-road sketching.

I do wish there weren't two holes in the bottom of the body because otherwise this would be a great choice for an eyedropper conversion.  You can use a silicone sealant to close up those holes but personally I would never be able to trust the pen enough to travel with it after that.   If you want to use your own inks, the other option is the cartridge converter ($5.50).

This pen was a pleasant surprise, despite the broad line.  I'll probably fill it with black ink and use it in combination with a finer-tipped fountain pen to achieve two different line weights.

 If you like a broader line or tend to have flow issues due to writing or drawing quickly, this pen could be a great match for you!

Pen Reviews by Andrea Joseph

I am honored to be able to share with you these great pen reviews by my friend Andrea Joseph. Her ballpoint ink drawings are some of the most amazing pieces of art I have laid my eyes on, and I am very grateful to her for sharing these with the readers of The Pen Addict. Be sure to click on the drawings to read the reviews. Thanks Andrea!

When I approached The Pen Addict about doing a ballpoint pen review I felt there was only way to go about it; draw it! At first, I intended to review blue ballpoints but I couldn’t stop there. So, here are some of the ballpoints that I use for drawing and doodling. They are by no means my favourite pens or the only ones that I use, they are just a random selection. Actually, maybe not that random, they were selected because they worked well in the over all composition of the drawings. I hope!

A little about me; my name is Andrea Joseph and I am a ballpoint addict. It doesn’t just stop at ballpoints; I am a pen addict in general. I have three bulging pencil cases for ballpoints alone (there are, of course, all the other pencil cases with fine liners, fountain pens, colour pencils etc.). These drawings are a selection from each of them.

If you’d like to see more of my ballpoint drawings, you can find them on my Flickr page. For more information on drawing with ballpoints you might be interested in my ballpoint zine or my ballpoint ‘starter pack’. They can be found in my Etsy shop. And, for all other news on my work check out my sketchblog.

Zebra Sarasa Clip 1.0mm Review

It is a well known fact that I am a Zebra Sarasa Clip fan. From placing the 0.3mm at number one on my personal Top 5 Pens list, to ranking the 0.4mm as one of my Top 5 Micro Tip Gel Ink Pens to recommend to new users, it’s pretty clear that I like the pen. The Zebra Sarasa Clip 1.0mm is a little bit out of my range for every day use, but I know many readers are fans of 0.7mm tips and greater, so let’s take a look.

If there is one thing that is consistent across all of Zebras product lines it is how vibrant their ink colors are. All of the colors really pop on the page, and the black is a very deep black. The red ink of the Sarasa is especially nice, and for some reason, I thought the red pen performed better when writing than the blue or black inks. I felt it gave a sharper, cleaner line, but it could just be an illusion.

Another thing that is consistent across all of Zebras products is that their gel ink cartridges run out quickly compared to other gel pens. This has been the case ever since I became a heavy Zebra user over 15 years ago, and still holds true to this day. Based on my experiences with the 0.3mm and 0.4mm models, my initial thought was I am going to blow through the ink on these 1.0mm pens at an epic rate, but Zebra has a little trick up their sleeve. The 1.0mm cartridges have more ink in them than the smaller tip sizes.

I guess this is done so that a 1.0mm cartridge will last approximately as long as an 0.3mm or 0.4mm cartridge, but I sure would like to see this wider ink reservoir in the smaller tip sizes. You can see the differences in the photos - the 0.3mm cartridge has a thicker plastic wall than the 1.0mm. Again, my guess is Zebra doesn’t want the 1.0mm to run out so fast, but I would love to see the 0.3mm last longer.

Ink cartridges be damned, this is still a good pen. And the 1.0mm is refillable in the three colors shown here, so you can always have a backup on hand if needed.