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I just got my Picasso 915 in the mail today. I've done an unboxing and first impressions video which I will be editing over the next day or two. My first impressions are that it is a beautiful looking pen. It is heavier than I thought and it took a little bit of work to get it writing smoothly and relatively wet. I love the presentation box. I ordered it with the box because I liked how it looked in photos I've seen on the web. So far, (couple hours), it doesn't feel like it will replace my Kaigelu's as everyday writers. I might futz with the nib a little more to see if I can get it to flow better. There is definite feedback against Rhodia paper but not much more than either my Kaigelu or my Visconti. When it is unposted, it sits in my hand very comfortably and I like the section and textured grip along with the $6 gold/silver steel nib that has a dove with an olive branch in its beak. The red acrylic body has some nice depth and chatoyance but it is nowhere near as deep and chatoyant as the Kaigelus. I've inked it up with Iroshizuku Yama-Budo which matches the red acrylic body nicely. So, I will write with it for a few days and get a better feel for how it performs in longer writing sessions. Thanks to Helen for suggesting this beautiful pen!

Picasso 903 Sweden King on Top With any Chinese fountain pen you are going to get a confusing name. For this review I am going to refer to it as the Picasso 903. I was a fan of this pen right from the start. I received it in a beautiful box; far better than some boxes of more expensive pens. I have never used a fountain pen from a Chinese Manufacturer that I absolutely loved... until this pen. It has one of the smoothest nibs I have ever used.

Hello fountain pen enthusiasts, Today I am writing my very first review. I am new and not well informed on the subject, I will probably make some mistakes. So, please excuse any error I can write. I am open to critics as long as they are not mean. Recently I was looking for several fountain pens in various colors to match with my mood. I already own a blue and I was looking for a red one to pair with the dark blue suit I have to wear sometimes. I am no a fortunate person, sadly I cannot afford the Parker I really like. I do not think buying a £400 or so pen is a good idea when I have million of things to buy first. Initially, I was lurking on Amazon, latter I took some days looking on Aliexpress. I started to have a growing interest toward the Picasso brand. I was conquered by the PS-915 with a red barrel and gold nib. Eventually, I found an appealing offer on eBay for the decent price of £26.31 (US$ 38.80), free delivery. I bough this baby and a Picasso Pimio 923 at the same time. It is amazing how easy it can be to buy the things you like on-line. A single click an your money is turned into smoke and impatience. Less than one month after I became the happy owner of two nice red pens. It did not last for long, when I have shown the Picasso Pimio to my best half I lost it in a heartbeat. Too bad, this poor pen was too appealing for here, and what woman wants is what woman gets. I have a mixed feeling, do I have so good tastes? Are they too girlie? Anyway, I was not prepared to that, it was a shock, to me the parker vector was a Royce Rolls. Now It makes me feel like the vector is a Lada. The box and its content: The pen came with a "Gift Box", I do not know if the other option was a blister. The pen traveled overseas, I am not sure if any other option than a box is an intelligent choice. My first impression was positive, the box looks clean and sturdy. A sticker inside contains a paint to scratch, I removed it, revealing a code. Its purpose is probably related to the after sale service, an authentication code to verify if it is a genuine product or a counterfeit one. I did not buy a lot of pens in my life but I bough a lot of high quality tools, the use of codes like that are generally, a good practice. The "shell" box protects its real content, a black box made of plastic and covered with a plastic/paper material, all sewed to the plastic. Even if it is not leather, this material is not easy to scratch, as long as you are not careless. Inside the box there is a white cotton like fabric, it seems to be a light felt. Along with the pen, an inspection card and a small general guide are enclosed, of course all instructions are written in an authentic Chinglish, nobody is perfect. The box: The pen and the nib: The pen is delivered with a converter, I did not use such thing until this year. I must admit, it is a real pleasure to chose which ink I use from the infinite colors and brand available on the market. You probably all know that, but I do not. To me, fountain pens were made for cartridges and quills for the inkwells. The nib is large (0.357 in, 9.7 mm), it is the largest nib I have seen in my life and I must confess that I love it. A dove with an olive branch is engraved on the surface, as well as the words Picasso and FRANCE. Is the nib made in France? If the pen refuses to write after 35 hours so the nib is French. I am still suspicious, even if it was clearly written "made in France" on it. Anyway, does it really matter? The nib is made of gold plated steel, this seems to be specific to the PS-915 with a red and gold barrel. The tip presents no problems, there is neither baby bottom nor misalignment, and the slit is perfectly parallel. The manufacturer says on its website that you can return the pen within three months to repair or adjust the nib and other parts. I cannot say if they have a god after sale service, but at least they seem to propose a solution to problems that occur within the first three months after purchase. If you have dealt with the Picasso after sale service, please fell free to complete this review with your own experience. The gold parts of the cap are pinker than the gold of the nib. I do not know if it came from the gold plating on a different material or if it is a brass covered with enamel. This is difficult to say without a destructive analysis. The barrel is made of celluloid, so the use of solvents must be avoided, even worst, this material is highly sensitive to fire/heat. The cap remains tightly clipped on the pen when closed. The only problem I observed is that the cap does not fit very well at the bottom of the barrel. Better use the pen without the cap. Either because it will fall from its bottom, or because it will be very hard to write when it is covering the nib. With a diameter of 13.3 mm (0.524 in), the barrel is thick but it is comfortable to use. The total length, with the cap on, is about 157 mm (5.7 in). Without the cap, from the tip of the nib to the bottom of the pen, the length is 129 mm (5.07 in). The pen: The nib: The writing experience: The first thing about the Picasso pens I like, is the ease of writing, the nib literally floats on the paper. The size highly depends on the paper used, in my case I find it slightly too thick, so I reserve it for the A4 paper size and bigger. The tip does not scratch the paper, this was predictable since the tip is well aligned, as shown on the pictures. The writing: This is the end of my review, you are free to judge by yourself what you think of this pen. In addition to the red and gold barrel presented on this review, the PS-915 is available with a green and silver barrel, and with a black/grey swirls and silver barrel. Note: This is the pen I bough. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Picasso-Fountain-Pens-915-Eurasian-Feelings-Rosy-Celluloid-Barrel-Luxurious-Gift/401163887600?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Note2: Pictures in the spoilers above are in low resolution 1000*750, the links in the spoiler below are linked to the high resolution pictures (2000*1500). List of links: ​ Geoffrey Hautecouverture

I have a Picasso 917 that I've only used for a short period of time but several problems have developed with it. It's not a common item, but there are a few reviews here and there on FPN, hopefully someone has experience with it. Firstly, shortly after beginning to use it, I noticed what I though were scratches on the "hood" section of the pen. However, every once in awhile, I would notice small amounts of some transparent material flaking off of the pen, after which the degree of "scratching" would seem to decrease. This leads me to believe that I'm not seeing scratches in the pen itself but cracks in some film or something that covers that portion of the pen. I tried to manually remove this "film" completely to improve appearances but this has proven impossible so far. Does anyone know what this material is and how i can remove what's left of it? Secondly, while I was cleaning out the pen today, I noticed that the paper I was wiping it with was drawing ink out from the seam between the hood and grip, meaning there is a leak there. Does anyone know if it is possible to remove and reattach the hood like you can with the P51? Thanks.

Hello, I am brand new to FPN and fairly new to using fountain pens, and I have just been faced with my first technical problem with one of my pens. Hopefully one of you experts will be able to help me out. I recently purchased a Picasso 903 on Ebay from a seller in China. As soon as I got it, I flushed the converter/nib with water quite thoroughly and then filled it with Diamine ink. I tested it briefly right after filling it and it felt like it was writing well (very smooth), although the ink itself seemed to come out kind of thin and pale. (The ink is Kelly Green and in my other pens comes out in a very vibrant bright green, but in the Picasso it was pale and watery looking.) A couple of hours later, I pulled the pen out to take notes in a lecture and something happened, though I'm not sure what caused it. I uncapped it and started to write, then looked down and saw that there were splotches of ink all other the paper and ink coming up onto the grip area of the pen, and all over my hand. I wiped the ink off the pen and put it away, and came back to it today, a few days later. It hasn't spewed ink at my again yet, but it's writing very badly. I have to put pressure on the nib to get the ink to flow and the flow is very inconsistent. It's writing very dry and basically feels like a temperamental ballpoint that's running out of ink. I'm hoping there's a way to fix this without getting the seller involved, since it's from China and took several weeks to arrive. This is such a shame because it is a beautiful pen and all the reviews that I have read have praised it so highly. What do you guys think I should do? Do you think it's a broken pen or is there something I can try that might fix it up?

Hi everyone, I got myself a bunch of Chinese pens last month and have been trying out a few of them since. My 'test-drives' have included writing out two A4-sized sheets continuously and filling up another A4 sheet with random line patterns including a checkerboard. Surprisingly, I see a pattern in some of the pens. Of my four Jinhaos put to the test, the blue celluloid Century has performed nearly flawlessly. Straight out of the box, without even a flush required. It sometimes doesn't write after I've stopped using it for a while but once it starts, it keeps going effortlessly. The X450, X750 and 159 have been a massive disappointment; I've flushed the pens, taken apart the nibs and feeds and carefully cleaned the feeds with dishwashing soap and a toothbrush (as recommended on a website) but the problems continue. And then I just thought of chucking the 159's Jinhao cartridge converter and replacing it from another standard converter. Knock on wood, but that seems to have done the trick for the 159, which now can't wait to get out of my pocket and on to the paper... incredible! When I pulled out the Jinhao converter, I saw that even on inverting it, the ink didn't drop down and was 'stuck' to the top, for the want of a better term. I suspected a breathing problem or whatever (could even be a small plastic sphere in there that's the culprit). No idea if this fix would make the X450, X750 and Kaigelu 323 usable but there's one final remedy that I now can try ere trashing them. I have three Picassos and these are by far the most reliable of my Chinese pens. The Dukes are still in the box and might yet perform well but the Picassos are hard to complain about. They're not my sort in that I like pens that are moderate to big-sized. The Picassos are all slim and dainty but never once have any shown the slightest hint of skipping or are there any other problems. Has anyone here had a similar experience?