Fontoplumo, For Your Next Pen

Fontoplumo has quickly become one of the premier pen and ink destinations in the world, both online and off. Founded in 2012, they have recently opened their first brick and mortar shop in the Netherlands to allow their customers and fans to get hands-on with their favorite products.

One of those products is the beautiful Conid Monarch Bulkfiller. Crafted in orange ebonite and featuring Conid’s patented filling system, the Monarch Bulkfiller is an exclusive to Fontoplumo, and impressive in every way. There is even an exclusive KWZ Monarch Orange ink created to match.

Fontoplumo stocks a wide range of pens and ink from brands like Aurora, Pelikan, and Visconti, and offers free worldwide delivery on orders over €125. My thanks to Fontoplumo for sponsoring The Pen Addict this week.

The Diplomat Aero in Sunset Orange: A Review

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

I’ve always admired Diplomat Aeros. I like the Zeppelin shape and matte finish of the pens. When I saw they offered one in a new color, Sunset Orange, I decided I needed one.

The Diplomat Aero comes packaged in a box topped with an aluminum lid that slides off. It’s really pretty cool packaging.

Inside, the pen is held by a ribbon atop a white satin-like pad with the Diplomat logo. Beneath you’ll find a couple of cartridges and a booklet. The converter (included) is already inside the pen.

The pen is made of anodized aluminum and comes standard with a steel nib in F, M, or B, though you can actually get the pen with a 14K nib from Points of Distinction for about $100 more. Because the pen is metal, it has some heft to it, weighing 30.5 grams uncapped. The pen is 5.5 inches capped, 5 inches uncapped, and 6.25 inches posted. It doesn’t post very securely—just a couple of shakes dislodged the cap from the body of my pen. This isn’t a problem for me since I never post pens, but for those of you who do, be careful.

The Aero’s style is quite striking. I love the dark grey anodized aluminum accents (finials and grip), and the grooves in the body and cap evoke the Zeppelin.

The cap’s finial sports the Diplomat logo. The logo is called an “ink flower,” and represents droplets of ink (thanks to Hillary from Points of Distinction for answering my question about that). But I also think it looks like a Zeppelin propeller in motion. Regardless, from what I’ve read, the logo is painted on and over time wears off.

The clip is made of the same grey aluminum. It’s quite stiff, so if you clip your pens to shirt pockets or papers, it should stay put. Although I prefer screw caps, this one snaps on and off with a satisfying click.

The stainless steel nib is engraved with the Diplomat logo. I got a fine nib, and it’s a very smooth writer, but hard as a rock. There’s no give at all with this nib. The tines are very close together, and the nib seems a bit stingy with ink. I tried flossing but couldn’t get the piece of cellulous acetate between the tines (that’s how tight they are).

Even though it’s a dry writer, the steel nib is consistent and I had no hard starts or skipping. I noticed that my hand grew fatigued after a couple of pages of writing. I assume this is due to the weight of the pen, but I have other heavy pens that don’t cause my hand to cramp. So, maybe the weight combined with the grip (which is a little slippery even though it’s anodized aluminum) caused the fatigue.

The pen comes with a Diplomat converter. It draws up ink smoothly and is standard international size, holding around .7ml of ink.

The Diplomat Aero is a substantive, visually appealing fountain pen. I think the Sunset Orange color is fabulous—the matte finish tones it down so that it looks classy not flashy.

Vanness Pens has the Diplomat Aero in Sunset Orange for $195, along with all other colors of the Aero lineup.

Pros

• The Diplomat Aero is a great example of German engineering. The pen looks flawless and the design is gorgeous.
• I absolutely love the muted Sunset Orange color.
• The steel nib is a smooth, consistent writer.
• This is a hefty pen, so people who prefer weighty pens will definitely enjoy the Diplomat Aero.

Cons

• Although the Aero feels comfortable, my hand grew fatigued after only a few pages of writing. I don’t think this is a balance problem, because the pen feels well balanced. However, the weight of the pen combined with the metal grip (which is slightly slippery) may have contributed to my fatigue.
• I like my nibs wet, and this steel nib is a bit stingy with ink. I’m going to try to find my brass shim to see if I can get in between the tines to loosen them up a bit.

(I received a discount when purchasing this pen from Vanness Pens for purposes of this review.)

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Montegrappa Game of Thrones Rollerball And Ballpoint 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.)

In their latest themed series, Montegrappa raises a bejeweled goblet to the popular Game of Thrones series with four new pen designs that pay homage to some of the powerful families in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire saga. Each of the designs is available as a fountain pen, rollerball, or ballpoint.

There's a blood-of-your-enemies red with gold-plate accents for the Lannisters, icy white with palladium for the Starks, regal black with gold for the Baratheons, and black and wine-red for the Targaryens that fittingly looks like it's been through a fire and come out of it even stronger. The colors are fetching and well-suited to the themes and the families they're made to represent.

At the Chicago Pen Show, I got the chance to play with the Lannister rollerball and Targaryen ballpoint models. Are they a bit cheesy? Yep. And also charming and a lot of fun.

They come in some of the best pen packaging I have ever met. There's an outer black cardstock slipcase. Inside that is a great hinged box with the Game of Thrones logo and the coat-of-arms of many of the great families of Westeros. The illustrations and colors are fantastic, and the box feels sturdy. Inside there's a lovely soft pen bed with a strap. The strap didn't do much to secure the pens--it's too loose and doesn't fit around the area where the clips are located. So I had to be careful carrying the box so that the pens didn't jiggle around too much inside. The Montegrappa name is engraved into the fabric of the lid. The bottom board comes out to reveal a compartment with the themed guide book. You could also store suspicious documents or a variety of poisons there.

The Targaryen ballpoint has a black lacquer body with wine-colored filigree pattern accents. The nose cone, center band, finial, and clip are dark bronze. The clip is molded in the shape of a dragon's head, the center band has the Game of Thrones trademark, and the finial is engraved with the three-headed dragon of house Targaryen and their words: "FIRE AND BLOOD". I didn't want to test this on borrowed pens, but I suspect the finial might serve as an excellent wax seal stamp--for when you need to keep any spiders or little birds out of your correspondence.

The pen twists to deploy the ballpoint cartridge. It's a Parker-style refill, so while it comes with the Montegrappa brand refill, you can easily replace it with your favorite brand. Which I would likely do, because this refill stopped writing for me every few words. When it was writing, it was fairly smooth and had a nice line--but I had to do the scribble-to-restart-it trick three times over the course of a fairly small writing sample. It's possible this individual refill is a dud, but since the pen takes a nice standard size, I don't consider that much of a ding against the pen itself. There are plenty of refills one could put in this very regal pen.

I do have a few issues with the ballpoint, though. For one, it is a little difficult to hold. It's broad and heavy, and the lacquer is slippery. My fingers kept sliding down the tapered nose. It wasn't terribly comfortable to write with. I do have very small hands, though--so this may not be an issue for others. Also, the clip is stiff and shallow. I didn't find it to be functional as a clip, but it does make a very attractive roll-stopper.

The Lannister rollerball pen is bright red with subtle gold scrollwork on the lacquer. It has 18k gold-plated accents on the finial, cap band, clip, and grip section. The cap band has the Game of Thrones trademark, the clip is in the shape of a lion's head with a long mane, and the finial has the lion rampant with the Lannister words "HEAR ME ROAR". The cap twists off. There is a long gold grip section that I found to be quite comfortable to hold. The pen does post, but becomes much too heavy for me when it is. It's still quite heavy even unposted. Unless you're Gregor Clegane, these pens are, I think, better suited to jotting a quick note to send by raven or adding your newest heir to the family records--but maybe not for writing lengthy declarations of fealty or 900-page books.

The clip on this pen has the same issues as the Targaryen pen--it's just not designed for effective clipping. It's designed more for intimidating your family foes into abandoning their principles and swearing loyalty to your corrupt lineage. I haven't been able to test that feature, but on first impression, I bet it works.

The refill in the rollerball is the Montegrappa brand, though it looks like it will take a variety of possible refills. The stock refill worked very well for me, though. It was smooth and never skipped and laid down a nice dark line.

These are definitely fun statement pens--especially if the statement you need to make is "I am the one true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms". If your plans involve world domination, you're going to need one of these sticking out of your shirt pocket or prominently displayed on your desk--right next to the strands of severed ears of those who dared to oppose you. Or next to some nice stationery--depends on which pen you choose.

If you're a fan of pens and a fan of the books or show, these are pretty delightful. They're just the right blend of a practical tool with a strong playtime factor. They are on the expensive side. Retail price for the ballpoint is $295 and the rollerball is $325. At those prices, even as a life-long fan of the books, these aren't something I would buy for myself. But if I were sacking an enemy city and happened across one, I wouldn't toss it into the fires of conquest. I'd likely pass it down my family line as a bit of nice treasure. Like a cool sword, but mightier.

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

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