The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 667 - President of Stationery

Pens! (Image via The Boston Globe.)

My campaign platform, TL:DR version:

1. If a fountain pen manufacturer makes both pens and inks, the must also make notebooks.
2. Universal nib sizing standards.
3. Converter always included with fountain pen purchase for cartridge/converter filling systems.
4. Barcodes should never be printed on pen barrels.
5. Fountain Pen Day will become an official worldwide recognized holiday.

You’ll have to listen to the episode for Myke’s platform. I think it speaks for itself. 🤣

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Enigma Stationery: Unique items, top brands and hard-to-find imports. Get a free gift and free US shipping on orders of $50 or more.

St. Louis Pen Show: Join us June 26-29. Tickets on sale now!

Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 Guilloche 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 Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

Every now and then I open a new pen and it's a favorite at first sight. The Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 Guilloche gave me instant heart-eyes when I opened the box. It looks amazing. The texture, the finish, the colors--all perfect. I liked the look of it so much that I actually got nervous, because what if the writing experience didn't live up to the looks? There was no need to worry. This is a fantastic pen.

The body of the pen is a cool-toned blue resin that is subtly etched with a geometric guilloche pattern that resembles ears of grain. Each of the different colors has its own etching pattern. This color is called "indigo," though it looks to me to be more of a slate grey-blue. There is also “Iris” which is dark blue and “Verdigris” which is a sage green. They're all gorgeous. The Indigo is the only one that comes with the ruthenium trim, and the gunmetal grey looks perfect with the moody blue tones. The clip is slim and fairly flexible, with a tiny wheel at the bottom to make the clipping process smoother. The cap and piston knob have metal bands that add a decorative reinforcement to these stress points. Speaking of points, both the top and bottom finials are gently pointed. The overall look is very Art Deco vintage elegance.

Under the twist cap, the grip section is engraved with "Leonardo Italy" and you're greeted with a clear resin ink window, so you can keep track of your ink supply. This is a piston filler pen, so the back end unscrews to move a plunger inside the pen that draws ink in through the nib from a bottle. It is my personal favorite ink filling mechanism, as they tend to hold quite a lot of ink, as this one does, but they can be more difficult to clean. There is no way to disassemble the pen for cleaning, so rinsing ink out is a matter of repeatedly filling the pen with water and releasing it till it runs clear. It takes longer and is less effective than a filling system you can take apart, but it's worth it to me for the higher ink capacity, and I don't like reassembling tiny pen pieces after cleaning. I'm always afraid I'll drop one. So, I prefer this. There's no fear of a precious nib falling down the drain.

They all come with either a Fine nib or a Flex Fine nib. Mine has the Flex Fine, because I like a bouncy writing experience. The nib has its sides cut out to create a narrow neck that flexes when pressure is applied. The flex nib also has "Leonardo elastic" engraved on it. This is very much a modern flex nib, which is to say that it's not super flexy. It can take some light pressure and provide some slight line variation, but it isn't bendy like a vintage flex pen would be. What I love about it is that I can get fine lines when writing, but it still has a softer writing experience, and often flex nibs have better ink flow. This combination is perfect for me when I want a longer writing session. Writing a whole short story in one sitting, but don't want to run out of ink or get hand fatigue? This is your pen. Well, no. This is my pen. But you can have one, too.

The Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 is available on JetPens for $289, which is perfectly fair. It's a fancy pen and it has a fancy pen price. It is, however, much nicer and more solidly built than some pens that are considerably more expensive. When it comes to measuring cost against quality, I think Leonardo is at the top of the game when it comes to mass-produced pens. All of their pens that I've used have been winners, and this is my favorite one, yet.

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Wearingeul Tick Tock Croc Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's another week, so that means I'm on my continued green kick. I'm personally loving all the green I've been subjecting myself to, and I don't see any signs of this recent obsession dying anytime soon. This week, I'm looking at Wearingeul Tick Tock Croc.

Tick Tock Croc is a cool toned forest green with a little teal that shows through in the shading. Part of Wearingeul's Peter and Wendy collection, this ink takes inspiration from Peter Pan and the namesake crocodile villain.

I've had a great track record with Wearingeul inks in the past, but this ink marks my first slight issue. After inking a pen and cleaning up the nib and section, the pen wouldn't write despite having plenty of ink loaded in the feed. Touching a paper towel to an area around the feed would pull lots of ink, but the ink just wasn't making it down to the tip of the nib. I emptied the pen and refilled it, and the problem didn't persist. I've never had an issue like that before, so it could just be a fluke. At any rate, this ink is a touch on the dry side. The TWSBI 1.1mm stub that I used for the writing sample is typically a very wet and soft-feeling nib due to the large surface and good flow. With this ink, the nib feels a tiny bit scratchy. The flow is still great, and it can keep up with a fast pace, but it just feels a little dry. Not a problem, but something to consider if you plan on using this with a pen that you know to be on the dry flow side as well. Might not be a good combination!

But, the dry flow translates to pretty fast dry times on the page. In most cases, the ink is basically smudge-proof after 15 seconds if you're using a medium nib or smaller. With this large 1.1mm TWSBI nib, the ink is dry at 20 seconds. Not bad!

Since this ink is taking inspiration from something that is dark green (at least in the Disney adaptation) and lives in the water, I love seeing both of these portrayed in the actual ink colors. The dominant color is a forest green, and there are teal shades that peek through in the lighter areas of the ink. The shading is subtle in variation, but still easy to see on the page with any size nib. In general, this is fantastic green shade with delightful teal and cold green accents that come out through the ink shading.

One thing that the marketing material mentions is that this ink also has a red sheening characteristic. Technically, this is true, but it's incredibly difficult to demonstrate. I tried many different swabs on different paper using different instruments, and I just wasn't able to bring out the sheen in a way that is easy to see. In the cases I could detect some slight sheen with my naked eyes, I couldn't capture with a camera. And, when I was able to pick out some sheening, it was more of a dark purple instead of red, which blended in with the dark green easily. For practical purposes, you can just ignore the red sheening aspect of this ink's marketing information. It's there, but not easy to reproduce. There are plenty of other green inks that create obvious red sheening with zero effort.

Overall, Tick Tock Croc is a beautiful forest green ink with lovely teal undertones that add a lot of character to an otherwise plain color. The quick dry time is also big plus, but just be aware that it might make your pen feel a bit scratchy.

You can pick this ink up from Vanness for $22 for the 30ml bottle, or you can also grab a small 4ml sample for a few bucks instead. One cool thing to note about the bottle is that is features a holographic sticker on the front that changes between the standard logo and name to a graphic of a crocodile coming out of the water with its mouth wide open. Very cool! Not something that will influence anyone's decision to buy the ink, but it's definitely a fun surprise.

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

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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!