Misfill, Emboss Edition

Kingsley Embossing Machine

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

Tattooing Your Traveler’s Notebook: Leather Emboss (A Personal Story) (Scripting Studio)

Dominant Industry Ink Archiving Book: A Log of Elixir (Olive Octopus)

Paper Review: Iroful A5 Notebook (75gsm) (The Well-Appointed Desk)

Challenging Gender Norms, a Bolivian Skateboarding Collective Celebrates Indigenous Style (Colossal)

Caran d’Ache | Launching Les Fulgureuses with Kévin Germanier (Flaunt)

You Have To Make a Mess To Make It Better (From the Pen Cup)

Pictures of Words — July Notes (Line Variation)

Benu Tribute Fountain Pen: “Black Coffee” edition. A tribute to Ella Fitzgerald (Penquisition)

Cy Twombly Watermark (greg.org)

Ink Swatching Nib Holders: A Game Changer for Ink Lovers (DWRDNET)

From Vietnam to Nepal, Lee Me Kyeoung Expands the Geographic Bounds of Her Corner Store Drawings (Colossal)

Endless Stationary Phantom Fountain Pen First Impressions (dapprman)

June 2025 in Daily Purchase Drawings (KBBBlog)

Inkebara No. 1304 Kopi (Inkcredible Colours)

Subtle: The Graphite Drawings of Ozabu (Hi-Fructose Magazine)

I hate disliking inks, but I just wanted them out of my pen. (Inkdependence)

Overtourism in Japan, and How it Hurts Small Businesses (Ridgeline)

Top Ten Knives 2025 (Everyday Commentary)

Folklore meets design in Facing Forward, a new limited-edition book by HONDO & Astrid Chesney (Creative Boom)

Alan Rivera paints a travelogue of Texas that is filled with love (It’s Nice That)

Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!

Posted on July 13, 2025 and filed under Misfill.

Kaweco Collection Fountain Pen Apricot Pearl Giveaway Winner

The Kaweco Collection Fountain Pen Apricot Pearl is one of my favorite Kaweco releases over the past several years. Not only do I have one in my collection, I’m now giving away a second one, after a previous one around first release. What is great is great, and I’m stoked to be able to send another one out to readers. And the winner is:

Kaweco Collection Fountain Pen Apricot Pearl Giveaway Winner

Congrats Bridget! I’ve sent you an email to collect your shipping address.

Posted on July 12, 2025 and filed under Giveaways.

Kaweco Piston Sport - 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!.)

Those of you who know me, know that there are a few brands where I am a little crazy about and the Kaweco Sport is one of them. I have them in gold trim, silver trim, clear, frosted, and aluminum (the other metal versions don’t really appeal to me), so I was super stoked about the Kaweco Piston Sport fountain pen when it was announced over a year ago. It was only released in Black and as of this writing, there aren’t any other colors announced either. So I finally caved and asked the Bossman if I could borrow the one he used for his review of the AL Piston Sport. He said no because he had already given it away, but he ordered the Classic one for me from sponsor Pen Chalet so I could review it.

In looking up details for this pen, I realize that vendors had different names for this pen, so I went to the Kaweco website for the definitive name, which is the Kaweco Piston Sport Classic. There is also the Piston Sport AL (aluminum) which is what the Bossman reviewed, but this review is for the Classic, aka plastic, version. Classic also means that it has gold-colored trim, as opposed to Skyline, which is silver trim (other series also have silver trim, like Frosted or Ice, etc.).

Kaweco Piston Sport

Kaweco Piston Sport Classic.

The way to tell that you have a Kaweco Piston Sport (left) as opposed to a regular Kaweco Sport (this one is Honey), is the gold ring by the blind cap.

At the beginning of April 2025, I inked up the Kaweco Piston Sport with Franklin-Christoph ATL ‘23 ink, and I’ve used it 8 times over the last three months. It wrote without issues upon inking with the F-C ink, which has average flow, and I’ve had no issues with it despite not using it consistently during that time. It would write immediately regardless of how long it had been since I last used it - I’m sure there was at least a one month stretch in there (also, another shout-out to Fountain Pen Companion for making it easy to have these stats).

Uncapped, you can see that there is an ink window, which makes it easy to see ink levels.

Inking the pen requires removal of the blind cap, the presence of which prevents users from accidentally turning the piston knob.

I had wondered if the piston filler would make the nib write wetter/broader, but it gave me the expected line width for a Fine (it is available in Extra Fine to Double Broad). I was able to remove the nib unit from the Piston Sport, which also has an o-ring to prevent leakage. As I am currently traveling, I don’t have any of the non-plastic Sports with me to confirm, but it looks to be the same nib unit that is swappable with those models. You can also pull the nib and feed from the housing and swap it with other Sports as well (I don’t generally do this since I have other Sports I can swap from, and the Piston Sport is still inked up).

The Piston Sport’s nib unit unscrews easily. (Pardon the “fancy” backdrop, aka paper towel, lol.)

The Piston Sport nibs (left) next to the regular Sport.

Used both the Piston Sport (Fine) and the Honey Sport (Broad) to continue writing out Hamilton lyrics. The line widths are what I expected for both. The ink in the Honey Sport is Diamine Candlelight from the 2021 Inkvent.

With the regular Kaweco Sport costing around $28-30, I expected the Piston Sport to cost more, and it does, coming in at $75 MSRP. I know that there are other piston filler pens that cost less (TWSBI Eco/Swipe/Go, Nahvalur Original, Monteverde MP 1 are some that come to mind), but if you really like the form factor of the Kaweco Sport with the added ink capacity (1.2ml vs 0.7 ml cartridge or 0.5 ml mini converter), the Kaweco Piston Sport is a pretty good choice, especially when the AL Piston Sport comes in at $160. If Kaweco starts offering this pen in other colors, my wallet will be in trouble, but until then, I’m good with this one.

(Disclaimer: The Kaweco Piston Sport was purchased by the Bossman at a discount from sponsor, Pen Chalet. I purchased the Honey Sport separately.)

Posted on July 11, 2025 and filed under Kaweco, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.