Doane Paper Idea Journal Large Giveaway

The Doane Paper Idea Journal played a huge role in my stationery journey, and I’m glad to see that designer Chad Doane believes in this product so much that he just wrapped up a full product overhaul. To celebrate, he has offered up Three updated notebooks, one of which will ship to each of Three winners of this giveaway.

One note: This giveaway is limited to US winners only, as shipping these heavy-duty notebooks is expensive. This rule supersedes the shipping rule below.

Read the other rules below and enter away!

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Giveaways.

Nahvalur Eclipse Retractable Fountain Pen Review

I love modern takes on classic fountain pen design challenges. Whether it is creating a better filling mechanism, modifying nibs to meet the needs of today's user, or trying make a better retractable fountain pen, I’m here for all of it.

Nahvalur decided to take on the latter challenge with the Eclipse, their version of a retractable fountain pen. We have seen several companies attempt to match what the great Pilot Vanishing Point brought to the market decades ago, but none have been able to equal it. Given that the VP is untouchable, how does the Eclipse stand up to the rest of the retractable pen market? Pretty well.

Nahvalur Eclipse Retractable Fountain Pen

The main design element of the Eclipse that differentiates it is the nib deployment mechanism. Instead of a button knock on the end of the pen (Vanishing Point, Platinum Curidas,) or a twist (LAMY Dialog,) this pen is what I’m calling a barrel knock. To deploy or retract the nib, you grab both ends of the pen and push it towards the middle. You can see the gaps in the middle of the barrel that allow the alternating aluminum parts to slide together and engage the mechanism. At the end of the day it’s still a knock mechanism, but handled in a unique way.

Nahvalur Eclipse Retractable Fountain Pen Barrel

Given this design, how do you get inside the barrel to access the nib unit and fill the pen? The rear of the pen twists, and in turn, unthreads the pen in the middle interior. The pen then slides into two halves where you can access the nib unit and ink converter. The pen fills by putting the removed nib unit into an ink bottle and using the supplied converter to draw in ink. Reverse the assembly process, and start to write!

I never used the launch version of the Eclipse, but there were reports of difficulty re-assembling the barrel once undone. Whatever the issue was seems to have been resolved in the current models, because I’ve had no troubles taking the barrel apart and putting it back together repeatedly.

From a writing perspective, I like the nib a lot. This one is a Fine Steel model (also available in Medium,) and both the line width and ink flow have been great. As someone who likes fine lines, I couldn’t ask for much more.

Nahvalur Eclipse Retractable Fountain Pen Writing

The Ecplise has many of the standard retractable fountain pen downsides, such as a long and wide barrel, and a clip in the grip area. It’s on the limit size-wise for me (my retractable preference lies with the Vanishing Point’s partner, the skinner barrel Pilot Decimo,) but still very usable. The bigger challenge with the Eclipse is the edginess of the aluminum parts in the middle of the barrel.

*Close-up of the raised edges on the barrel.*

The questions here are two-fold: 1. can you pinch your fingers when engaging the mechanism, and 2. just how sharp are those aluminum parts? To answer the second part, they obviously aren’t sharp, but each strip of aluminum has a raised lip along the edges. Given the number of them, you can really feel them on the barrel. Not so much when writing, but they are there. For the first question, I haven’t pinched myself yet, and I’ve used both single-hand and two-handed deployment options. If I didn’t pay attention, I do wager that I could get caught out.

Nahvalur Eclipse Comparison — *Retractable pen comparison, top to bottom: Platinum Curidas, Nahvalur Eclipse, Pilot Vanishing Point, Pilot Decimo.*

At $99, I think the Nahvalur Eclipse is a great option, if you can deal with the considerations listed above. Those considerations are what makes retractable fountain pens a secondary or specialty pen for many users, as for some people they just don’t fit their hand. For others, it offers something different than the Platinum Curidas in the same price bracket, and is much cheaper to try than the Pilot Vanishing Point and Decimo, both of which use 14k nibs. Overall, Nahvalur has made something interesting with this pen, and I look forward to continuing to use it.

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

Posted on October 27, 2025 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Nahvalur, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Misfill, Sashiko Edition

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:

Read:

— How a Tsunami Revived a Global Craft Movement | The Story of Japan’s Sashiko Gals (Carryology)

— Pelikan Hubs 2025 and On Being A Female Pen Collector (Writing at Large)

— Pelikan Hub 2025 in Bremen (Bleistift)

— Fill ‘Em Up! (From the Pen Cup)

— Water Resistant Ink (Comfortable Shoes Studio)

— Ink Review #2866: 3 Oysters Caramel Macchiato (Mountain of Ink)

— New to me: Pilot Kakuno Madoromi Series (The Well-Appointed Desk)

— Modern Pen Drawings, 1901 (feuilleton)

— Social Realism and the Surreal Converge in Bryce Wymer's Evocative Sketchbooks (Colossal)

— Inktober 2025 Skirmishes, Indian Captive (Rachel’s Reflections)

— Moglea Notebook Review (Notebook Stories)