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My girlfriend has one of those purple "retro-pop" Pilot Metros with a transplanted 1.1 stub nib from a Plumix. She keeps complaining that it's "leaking," which seems to mean that when she uncaps it to use it there's ink all over the section, so she gets inky fingers. I've inspected it fairly closely over the course of several weeks and I can't find anything wrong with it - no cracks in the section, the nib/feed is sitting properly, I've swapped out a couple of different cartridges / converters, etc., all the usual suspects. I have noticed on my own two Metros that a substantial quantity of ink appears to pool under the hood of the nib, sometimes even working its way around to the under side of the feed. If you give either pen a pretty good shake ink will come splashing out and splatter all over your paper. I realize that fountain pens should, generally, be treated gently. However, my other similarly priced pens do not exhibit this behavior - I have a Platinum Plaisir (F), a Kaweco Classic Sport (1.1 stub), and a Parker Urban (M) inked up in daily use and they do not splatter when shook. My suspicion is that there is something about the design of the Metro that leads to this ink pool forming (since I observe it in all three of our pens) and that in my girlfriend's case, living as it does in the pen-loop of her padfolio, at various points throughout the day her pen is sometimes jostled, leading to ink from the pool spraying all over the interior of the cap. I know this is a cheap pen, but she really loves it, and I would like to make it useable for her, if I can. Has anyone else observed this phenomenon or come up with a way to solve it? Thanks! - N

Do you have Ink Splash Fever? Do you find yourself with a half-syringe full of diluted ink, completely unable to send it down the drain? And instead, splatter it onto some paper? Or maybe you keep a paper towel handy while cleaning your pens...and once it's covered in ink it looks kind of beautiful. Maybe you do something else a bit abstract with your fountain pen inks - like make little puddles of ink to ogle? Please snap a photo and share with your fellow ink-o-philes. All splishes, splashes, dribs, drabs, drips, drops, splatters, puddles, smears, fingerprints, and other inky messes are welcome! Here, diluted Noodler's Sunrise frolics with some drips of diluted Noodler's Dragon's Napalm. I smeared some of the Sunrise around with a cotton swab I had previously used to clean up some ink, which made a pretty nice green on the paper!