♥ TWSBI NEW COLOR RELEASE ♥

[taimdala]

You know, I've been trying to be good to my wallet and resisting buying the Plum/Onyx Eco for over a month now ....

BUT DANG IT, TWSBI!

 

Why did you have to release the Eco COSMO right before Thanksgiving?

Now I have TWO pens to resist buying.

I'm a sucker for blue and the Cosmo swirls the blue with a lighter blue and a purple, with tinges of green.

 

Dammit!

And with Christmas coming up, I know what I'm getting for myself this year.

Anybody else have any thoughts about these two?

ALSO: is there a regular thread where we can post about new releases? It would be a handy way to keep a timeline of all the colors as they come out. For, you know ... (*cough*) ... archival concerns.

[taimdala]

On the subject of the Plum/Onyx ...

It fits the pattern I see emerging with TWSBI: RGB + OYP.
That's Red-Green-Blue, followed by Orange-Yellow-Purple.

For the Onyx series, we first got the G with Irish Green, followed quickly by the Slate Blue for the B. Plum bids fair to take the R spot in the RGB triad.  Taken together, the Irish Green, Slate Blue, and Plum are all colors in the tertiary spectrum--muted hues of middle value and chroma, perfect for an Art Nouveau-esque color array.

If TWSBI holds to pattern, they may release the next triad of their color wheel, OYP (Orange, Yellow, Purple).

How I predict it going is something like this:
O: a burnt orange or industrial rust color--not the Heat Eco nor the Saffron Eco-T nor even the rare Japanese market Orange. But a dirtied up orange, like ... burnt sienna evenly mixed with cadmium orange into a smooth orange-brown hue. No streaks--that would have to be reserved for their swirled colors line. 

Y: a rich deep yellow neutralized with plenty of brown or orange, giving a wonderfully sulfurous mustard yellow. Less green- or orange-leaning than the previous mustard yellow (limited market release, i think?), more a yellow ochre tone.

P: hands down, I would love to see a lavender-grey that leans more purple-blue-grey than purple-red-grey. Seriously, why hasn't TWSBI done this color yet? I think lavender is the ONE COLOR they haven't done AT ALL! (Glow Purple doesn't count, nor Lilac, because they both lean red.)

Dark Mustard, Rusty Ochre, Lavender Grey = a perfect second Triad in tertiary Art Nouveau hues.

Dang, but I can see the Mucha posters from here already, clear as day.


And a note on the color wheel triads.

I know that the classic terminology and rules dictate that the Primary Color triad is Red-Yellow-Blue and the Secondary Color triad is Orange-Green-Violet.  Tertiary colors are mixes made with a single Primary and a single Secondary closest to the primary on the wheel.

(And Quarternary colors are a Primary/Secondary or Tertiary/Tertiary mix ... but I'm trying not to get in the weeds, here...)

The more you mix non-primary colors into a primary, or mix two colors that aren't primaries, the color gets more and more muted. This is where the Art Nouveau masters really made it work. And I've noticed that TWSBI by putting secondary Green with primaries Red and Blue and relagating Yellow to fill the empty secondary spot in alongside Orange and Purle, they seem to follow the RGB sequence which is more like digital graphic arts and additive light mixing. This suggests the more secondary/tertiary mixes to me.

So this is what I'm using to predict the next possible color in any given series. It seems to be working with the Onyx series.

Kinda off the wall for a post, but at least it's still marginally TWSBI-related. 🤣

 

[Misfit]

I do like the looks of the Cosmo. Unfortunately I’ve already done my Christmas shopping for me. 

[taimdala]

I hear ya, @misfit!

 

I want them all!!

 

And TWSBI is not making it easy to resist them this year.

 

I keep thinking of the swirled Ecos, lined up on my desk in order of apprarance:

 

Amazonite

Serpentine

Carrara

Cosmo

 

So far, that makes an aqua blue, a dark olive green, a white with black threads, and a light blue with dark blue/purple/green threads.

 

Basically, it's predominantly a cool and light- to medium-dark range. 

 

Maybe they'll release a swirled yellow.  So many nature/flowers colors go well with yellow.

 

Or perhaps they'll release a variation of swirled/colored threads through a transparent color or clear/colorless barrels. 

 

Gosh, I just can't stop thinking of new color combos ...!

 

 

[Misfit]

The shopping for me is my other weakness: Kaweco. I have three of the Ice Sports, and found three of the four I don’t have on a Spanish website earlier this year, plus the transparent version. The only one I’ll lack is the Ice Sport in black. If the Cosmo was $32, I’d likely buy it. 

[taimdala]

On 11/30/2025 at 7:19 AM, Misfit said:

The shopping for me is my other weakness: Kaweco. I have three of the Ice Sports, and found three of the four I don’t have on a Spanish website earlier this year, plus the transparent version. The only one I’ll lack is the Ice Sport in black. If the Cosmo was $32, I’d likely buy it. 

 

If the Cosmo were $32.00 I'd buy 2!

 

But yeah ... Not at the retail price it's going for, a tick under $60.00.

 

Gorram tariffs!

[AmandaW]

Um... well... in Australia the Cosmo is Au$116 which translates to about $76... therefore $60 is a bargain. Not.

[Misfit]

Well, it isn’t all tariff pricing. TWSBI does charge more for the plating other than steel. It’s a process that adds to the cost. Plus the cap and twist mechanism colors are likely more expensive than one color. But it does seem to be higher than past versions with plating, so tariffs do likely add more to the cost. 

Years ago, I posted about the cost of the white and rose gold version. Philip from TWSBI posted about the plating adding to the cost then. 

[taimdala]

Just when I thought my wallet was safe ... 

TWSBI HAPPENS!!!

 

Eco Black Marble and Bronze, coming 06 February 2026. 

 

 

[Misfit]

Aw @taimdala TWSBI will keep these new colors coming. Your wallet will not be safe. 

[taimdala]

53 minutes ago, Misfit said:

Aw @taimdala TWSBI will keep these new colors coming. Your wallet will not be safe. 

 

So I'm learning .... 🤣 

 

Given all the color ideas/variations I've posted for the swirled colors line, white-veined black marble wasn't one I thought of. 

 

It was so obvious a choice, being the inverse of the Carrara, that I totally overlooked it.

 

D'OH!

[Penguincollector]

  Ooh I like bronze trim.

[Doc Dan]

On 1/23/2026 at 7:30 AM, taimdala said:

Just when I thought my wallet was safe ... 

TWSBI HAPPENS!!!

 

Eco Black Marble and Bronze, coming 06 February 2026. 

 

 

Aiyoh! Don't tell me stuff like this! I have other things that need my money.  😄

[taimdala]

45 minutes ago, Doc Dan said:

Aiyoh! Don't tell me stuff like this! I have other things that need my money.  😄

So do I!!!

 

Gosh  but TWSBI knows our number, right?