Pairings Party: Kakimori Frost Violet Fountain Pen, Taccia Aomurasaki

Dark Purple has always been my vibe, and these two separate acquisitions - the Kakimori Frost Violet Fountain Pen and Taccia Aomurasaki Ink - ended up being the pairings party I didn’t know I needed.

Let’s kick things off with a review of the fountain pen. Kakimori introduced their Frost pen series back in 2024 with both a fountain pen and rollerball version. The idea being that the nibs were swappable, meaning you could buy the fountain pen setup, add on the rollerball nib, and use it with an ink cartridge or converter. The reverse is also true, and the total price ends up the same no matter which base you start with.

I stuck with only the fountain pen, as I traditionally don’t care for the rollerball nib/fountain pen ink setup. The option is there is I ever decide to, though. The fountain pen is only available with Fine or Medium nibs, so I went with the narrower of the two. It’s a Steel nib, and looks like a #5 with Western tip sizing, and the line width agrees with that. I would prefer Extra Fine, but the ink flow is consistent, and shows off well.

The Frost Fountain Pen is lightweight, checking in at only 14 grams. That’s identical to the Pilot Prera, another small and light fountain pen. The Frost also has a very narrow tapered grip section (9.2 mm, compared to 10.6 on the Prera,) and may pose a problem for some. It works for me, but the Frost finish on the pen gives it a satin-y feel that can be slick with dry fingertips.

The cap is threaded, and only takes a fraction of a turn to open. With that quick opening I wonder about the cap coming loose, but I haven’t carried it in my pocket enough to tell. It should be fine give it is plastic on plastic. The cap does post, but not deep enough to make it a viable option.

Given my preferences for small, light, and narrow pens, the Kakimori Frost should be right up my alley. It is, visually speaking, but I would be hard pressed to recommend it for $58. That’s simply too much for this “feel” of a pen. I get that they are made by a small maker (a personal favorite, at that,) and likely in small batches so there is real cost involved, but the nib swappability ($72 total for one barrel and two nibs,) isn’t enough of a feature for me.

I like it, but in the land of pens like the Platinum Prefounte and Pilot Kakuno, I’m not sure the Frost can compete.

OG Tomoe River 52 gsm, left, Kokuyo Good Tools, right.

It’s saving grace, for the time being, is my acquisition of Taccia Aomurasaki Ink. Given its name, with ao meaning Blue and murasaki meaning Purple, I would think the Blue tones would pop more, but I’m glad they don’t. This is more of a Purple/Grey or Purple/Black, and it’s glorious. From the moment I inked it up I’ve been hooked, and that hasn’t changed given the different paper types I’ve tested it on.

It flows well from the Fine nib in the Kakimori, and my next fill will be something in the XXF category to see if I can still pull Purple out of it, or if it is too dark for that fine of line. Regardless, it looks great, and I can see it being used in many pen types and nib sizes. It’s jumped immediately up towards the top of the list.

So there you have it: mixed reactions at this party, with the pen leaving a bit to be desired, and the ink off the charts good.

(JetPens provided the Kakimori pen at no charge, and Vanness Pens provided the Taccia Ink at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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rOtring 600 Ballpoint 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

rOtring are very well known for their iconic mechanical pencils. The signature look evokes serious-business design. It's a plain sort of elegance, but jazzed up by the fun new colors available in the 600 line. The ballpoint version of the 600 has the same look as the pencil.

This pen is in the newer “Chocolate Truffle” color, which is a burgundy-brown that I absolutely love. The smooth matte finish gives it a very elegant look. It's also available in blue, black, dark stone (grey), gold, silver, green, red, pearl white, and rose gold. They all look good enough to make choosing difficult.

The body of the pen is brass. It's still lightweight, but feels very solid. The body is hexagonal, so it doesn't roll, and the grip section is the gritty knurled tube that rOtring is known for. It has a very sturdy metal clip. The click knock has a very satisfying clunk, but it's surprisingly silent. You can click to your heart's content without annoying your coworkers. The nosecone is narrow and elongated, designed to let you see the tip of the pen better as you draw or write.

The grip section unscrews to allow access to the refill. The refill included is a rOtring oil-based, parker-style ballpoint. And it's not great. It's fairly pale, railroads, and it smears, even long after writing. It's still perfectly useable for a practical purpose. I've been using it at work for a few weeks now, and it's been a pleasure to use. But it could be so much better. Fortunately, there are many better options that will fit. The Schmidt EasyFlow 9000, the Uni Jetstream, and the Fisher Space Pen pressurized ballpoint refill are all good options.

The rOtring 600 Ballpoint sells for $41.60 at Vanness Pen Shop, marked down from the list price of $52. It's a lot for a ballpoint pen, but the prestige of the brand is part of what you're paying for, here. For the good quality build, easy refill access, and timeless look, I think it earns its sticker price. It's one I keep reaching for. It's a convenient staple that makes the experience of everyday writing a bit better.

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

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Jacques Herbin Refillable Marker 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!.)

At the 2026 CA Pen Show, I bought a couple of Herbin Refillable Markers from Lemur Ink. I’ve been eager to try them so let’s see how they did!

Herbin Refillable Markers in 3 mm and 8 mm. They are also available in 5 mm and 10 mm.

The instructions are printed on the back of the insert and in French, English, and German. Neither my French nor German are good enough, so let’s stick with English. 😂

Plastic pipette (left) is included with the snap cap refillable marker.

Aside from the cap (not pictured), the marker is composed of the barrel (right), the tip & cone/grip, a spring piece that sits inside a plastic “cup and a metal agitator.

It didn’t take much effort to pick an ink that I had a lot of, Pilot Blue Black.

Hard to tell, but it’s only partially filled up - less than half full, which turns out to be about 6 ml.

This will be the last time this tip is white. It takes a bit for the ink to flow, so you have to press down on the tip a few times to get the ink to saturate it.

Hey! We’ve got writing! Also, tell me you learned programming in the stone ages without telling me as much, lol.

First writing sample with the 3 mm marker and Pilot Blue Black.

I tried the marker on the Nikitana paper that I reviewed recently. I even pressed a bit too hard and the ink was noticeably darker, albeit for a couple words.

Considering the ink is fountain pen ink and the paper is fountain pen friendly, it didn’t ghost or bleed through on the back.

I wanted to see how easy the marker would be to clean - definitely use a mesh strainer over your drain because there are lots of small parts!

The “cone (left) houses the reversible tip (the far right end is the regular tip, the left end is the chisel tip), and a small foam piece to hold the tip in the cone.

The parts were easy to clean in the sense that they just rinse out, but given that the ink was barely in the pen for more than 15 minutes, I was surprised that it already had a slight bluish tinge to the parts and the tip didn’t rinse fully clean. I even put it in the ultrasonic for 15-20 seconds to no avail.

The barely used marker and parts are “clean, but already slightly stained. Compare that to the pristine 8 mm marker.

I put the Pilot BB ink back into the pen after cleaning it and resumed writing.

Yes, this is barely legible because the tip or “wick is still saturated with water. The text reads “Hello world. It takes a bit for the ink to flow in this very wet ‘feed’.

I am going to keep writing and occasionally pressing down on the tip to get the ink going in here.

The ink is flowing just fine. It just takes a bit because I did not dry it at all, which makes sense.

That it is still lighter than it was at the start. As you saw in the other picture, the “wick wasn’t totally white.

After I rinsed it, which made me leery of trying pigment or calligraphy inks in here. I couldn’t find anything on.

The J. Herbin website about these refillable markers, but I think it’s pretty cool! Just don’t mistake this for a Sharpie! (because I’m not using permanent ink in it.)

The 3 mm (and I believe the 5 mm as well) has a reversible chisel tip, in addition to the regular tip. I changed to the chisel tip to see how it would behave.

This is the chisel end of the marker tip. Yes, it looks frayed, but it came this way. In fact, I initially didn’t think it had a chisel tip because it looked like this.

I just rinsed and flipped the tip to the chisel tip (I spared you the diluted writing.) The chisel tip is roughly cut.

But you can see the line variation. Cursive minimum neat! (Fun fact: “minimum is one of my favorite words to write.)

Can I write (like) it’s a cursive italic/stub? Sorta? The angled tip make me hold the pen (Jeebus, what kind of grammar is going on here? It’s the sideways chiseled tip’s fault!)

More sideways which is not very comfortable.

After another cleaning, I decided to try another ink. I didn’t want to try pigmented or calligraphy ink given that I couldn’t get the marker tip fully clean, so I also didn’t want to try shimmer inks either. So let’s try sheen. What’s another sheener that I had a lot of?

Changed the ink to Akkerman #5 Shocking Blue, which is usually a red-sheening ink, but it’s not sheening on ...

... this Endless Regalia paper. Really saturated the tip and still no sheen with writing.

You can just barely make out some subtle edge sheen on those dots. Definitely not typical of this ink.

Let’s see if it will sheen on the Nikitana paper. It’s darker but I think the tip soaks up the sheen and doesn’t release it onto the paper.

Again, you can see some very subtle sheen on the dots - a wee bit more than the Regalia but not super sheener levels like one would expect from Shocking Blue.

A few thoughts:

• Replaceable tips exist but not readily available - The few websites that I found which sell the replacement tips are based in Australia, which is a bit of a bummer because I could see them getting beaten up pretty quickly, especially if you weren’t careful when recapping the marker and scraped the tip. Not that I did that or anything.
• Clean after use? - According to the directions, “after use (and when changing colour) rinse the marker and tip thoroughly. Does that mean I can’t keep it inked up until I write it dry?
• Tip not fully clean - As with any sort of wick-type of pen (like the Pilot Petit1, for example), it’s difficult to get the tip completely pristine again. Hard to tell if this will impact future inkings, especially if you’re using a completely different color, or a lighter ink after a dark one.
• Agitator thoughts
  • Agitator isn’t really needed for regular dye-based fountain pen inks. A couple of gentle tips up/down is sufficient.
  • The agitator is more useful for pigmented, calligraphy, and shimmer inks - though, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not comfortable using any of those in this marker, until I’m willing to risk ruining it since replacement tips aren’t available.
  • Maybe not iron gall? - Since there is a metal agitator in the barrel, I wouldn’t recommend keeping iron gall ink long term in the marker, though you could remove the agitator, or use it for a short time before cleaning it out.
• It’s not a Sharpie - Even though it gives Sharpie-like lines, it’s easy to think it’s a Sharpie, but unless you’re using permanent ink, it isn’t water resistant.
• Writes like a marker - This is a bit of a “no $h*t, Sherlock kind of statement, but I mean this not just in the tactile sensation of a marker, but in the way the ink flows from the felt tip. Because of this, the properties of sheen, and likely chromashading, are greatly diminished. The tip just doesn’t deposit ink the same way that a nib does, which is fine, it’s just something to keep in mind.
• Couldn’t test the 8 mm because the grip was screwed on too tight (even hubs couldn’t unscrew it), and yes, I tried soaking it in hot water and nada. Will try a few more times before resorting to harsher and possibly more damaging methods.

The Herbin Refillable Markers sell for around $12 each. While I wish replacement tips were more readily available, it’s not too bad for a product that helps you use your fountain pen inks when you need that really broad line! Now to find some boxes or paper signs to write on!!

Disclaimer: The Herbin Refillable Markers were purchased from me at regular price from Lemur Ink at the CA Pen Show. The Nikitana paper was provided for review.

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!