The Fountain Pen Network Community Blog List

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - My First Pen Review: Monteverde Giant Sequoia

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 01:57:00 +0000

Thanks to PenChalet.com for sending me a Monteverde Giant Sequoia to review. This is my very first pen review! It's probably not going to be your typical review, however, since I tend to use my fountain pens for drawing (I write and draw children's books for a living) as well as writing.

First off, the pen is GORGEOUS:

The shimmery brown really did look like a highly polished wood. It came in this classy-looking Monteverde box:

And here's what the pen looks like inside the box:

As you can tell from the photo at the top of this post, the pen comes with a converter for bottled ink. If you lift up the inside display thingy, though, you'll find some cartridges as well as info about the pen:

You can see my previous blog post for a sample doodle created with the Medium nib that came with the pen, and here's a video of me using the Monteverde Giant Sequoia to do some doodling (I can't seem to find a way of embedding a video in a blog post here -- if anyone knows, please let me know!).

The pen feels a bit big in my hand so although I love using it, I will probably give it to my husband (who loves the bigger pens). This would, in fact, make a wonderful gift for anyone who does like bigger pens.

I wrote the above using Robert Oster Take Sumi, and the Medium Nib that came with the pen. I inked up the pen with some KWZ Honey and liked how it drew just as well:

If you have any specific questions about my experience with the pen, feel free to ask them below and I'll try to answer.

Thanks again to Pen Chalet for sending me this Monteverde Giant Sequoia to try out!

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Trying Out My New Monteverde Giant Sequoia (Thanks, Pen Chalet!)

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 21:37:00 +0000

Pen Chalet kindly sent me a Monteverde Giant Sequoia. It is gorgeous, and I immediately had to ink it up with some Robert Oster Caffé Crema for a quick doodle. I'll be posting a proper review once I've had a chance to try it out for a while. THANK YOU, PEN CHALET! I lovelovelove my new pen. It was easy to fill, started up with no problems, love how it doodles.

Karas Kustoms' Blog - Welcome To 2018, Now Here's Some Free Stuff!

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 22:17:44 +0000

As a company we do a LOT of giveaways. Whether that's traditional raffle giveaways, social media giveaways of various types, hidden pens, and other random giveaways; it's something we've done for several years. But we've never done done giveaways one the scale you're going to see in 2018. For starters, we're running monthly random YouTube subscriber giveaways. If you didn't know about that, you've still got time to get in on that action. In February we're going to be adding monthly random Newsletter subscriber giveaways AND monthly random Facebook follower giveaways. We have yet to release the giveaway items for the Newsletter or Facebook giveaways in February, those will details are forthcoming, sometime before January 29th. We will also be doing random giveaways to members of the Karas Pen Club throughout the year, these will mainly be limited edition or very small batch/one-off items. If my math is correct that will be roughly 45 giveaways, but that's only the tip of the Giveaway Iceberg.

Our big announcement in terms of giveaways will involve a little more than simply subscribing to one of our social media channels. There will be a form you will need to complete that we'd like to get some feedback on to better serve our current and future customers. However, it's going to be worth it because the first 500 people that fill out the form will receive a free pen (one entry per person, duplicates will be deleted). Yes you read that right, we're going to giveaway 500 pens! No they won't be damaged pens, factory seconds, pens we bought from Target, or pens we found on the street. We're giving away Karas Pen Co pens. They will be assembled by our assembly staff and shipped out once you complete THIS FORM.

The form is only going to be used internally. Your information will not be given away or sold. We are not asking for any sensitive information beyond a name, shipping address, and an age range. The rest of the form is specifically focused on your preferences in terms of writing instruments. We really want to get a good idea on what YOU want to use, what YOU like to use, and what YOU'D like to see us do. That's not to say we'll be able to implement exactly what you are telling us, but when possible we'd like to use your ideas and feedback to potentially shape new product designs and releases. Are we getting something out of this? Absolutely, we are getting direct feedback, market research per se, but you're getting a free pen and the possibility of seeing your writing instrument desires more better served. We hope you see it as a win-win.

So please, we'd like you to fill out the above form, it's fifteen required questions, one paragraph for your direct ideas that is not required, and some required information about you the respondent. Make sure you fill out the form BEFORE you send the link to your friends and family members so you can get in earlier on the giveaway pens since we only have 500 of them. But we would like you to email the link to as many people as you can think of, especially people you don't normally associate with being "pen people". We want their feedback as well, and together we might be able to convert them to the "dark side" of Pen Nerd-dom.

Thank you for being such an integral part of Karas Pen Co and what we do. For taking the time to read this and complete the form and for being a part of our future as we go into 2018!

The journey continues this year to new and amazing places; trust me you won't want to miss what we have coming this year!

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Need Advice: Leaky Fingers From My Noodler's Ahab?

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 13:21:00 +0000

Hi all,

I'm giving my Noodler's Ahab another go. I like the bit of flex it gives, and I don't have to worry about springing the nib (I do have nicer pens now, so am aware of the difference).

BUT it always ALWAYS leaks on my middle finger (see photo). I've tried adding silicone grease to the bit where the body connects with the writing bit.

Any other advice?

Thanks kindly!

p.s. For the drawing above, I used Noodler's Black Swan In Australian Roses, one of my new favourite inks.

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Here Are The Fountain Pen Inks I've Accumulated Since Last October (And Yes, I Know I Have A Problem)

Sat, 23 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Diamine Oxblood Doodle

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 23:18:00 +0000

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Sailor Jentile Yama-Dori

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 22:15:00 +0000

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Loving The Shading In Noodler's Apache Sunset

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 15:35:00 +0000

My husband gave me a bunch of ink samples from Goulet Pens for my birthday earlier this year, and I'm still working my way through them. Today: Noodler's Apache Sunset. Wow, LOVE the shading.

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Inkyplay (And Why I Have Especially Inky Fingers Right Now)

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 03:47:00 +0000

Debbie Ohi's Inky Journal - Trying Montblanc Lavender Purple In My Edison Nouveau Premiere Seaglass

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 16:19:00 +0000

Inked up my Edison Nouveau Premiere Seaglass (a gift from my husband Jeff) with some new ink I acquired from my fountain pen enabler friend, mishie. Used a water brush to smear the ink around a bit.

This is my first Mont Blanc ink, and I'm fascinated by the bottle shape. Does anyone know if this shape customized for Mont Blanc pens? Or just for an interesting design?

Anyway, it's a beautiful colour and I'd like to try this in one of my pens with a broader nib to see how it shades.