Pen Review: MIG Brass Fountain Pen with Mini Kit
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely
4M ago
Shane of The MIG Shed has been on Fountain Pens Australia for several years ago. At some point the topic of me reviewing one of their pens came up and today before what became a successful Kickstarter campaign I was send this pen for review. The MIG Fountain Pen was originally a hand made pen that has taken a few different versions over the years, I believe, until it got to a point where it was able to be mass produced and turned into a Kickstarter. The campaign reached all of its stretch goals and the pen came in brass, copper, titanium and black (titanium oxide coated brass). As I had alre ..read more
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Pen Review: Esterbrook Premium Camden Northern Lights Manitoba Blue
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
1y ago
Around August 2022 Esterbrook released three premium versions of their Camden fountain pen. I’ve reviewed Esterbrook’s Estie three times with different nibs and pens sizes. In between I also reviewed the JR Pocket Pen. The only pen model left for me to review now is the Phaeton 300! The Camden sits somewhat in between the JR Pocket Pen and the Estie. A big thank you to Esterbrook for sending this in for review! I’ve been eager to try the Camden for a while now. I love my flat end pens and the overall shape of this one is subtly unique. While there are some differences between this and the no ..read more
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Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Co. Eroded Bronze
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
1y ago
Duotone, dichromatic, or whatever you want to call it. Inks that present on the paper with different colours have been very popular in recent years. The first of these inks that really took off were from Sailor’s Ink Studio set of inks but since then there are many from Sailor, from Troublemaker, Vinta and of course Birmingham Pen Company. Many of the dichromatic inks are based around a pink dye that separated from a blue teal or green dye. That is fundamentally the same combination there! The ink is green with a pink that separates when the ink pools and dries. The small two-brother run Bir ..read more
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Ink Review: La Couronne du Comte (Diamine) Vert Sapin
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
1y ago
In September 2019 La Couronne du Comte, a stationery store based in Tilburg, Netherlands (and sponsor of this blog) released Comte d’Or (“Count of Gold”), a gold ink made by Diamine exclusively for their store and the first from what will become their Les Couleurs du Comte (“The Colors of the Count“) ink series. La Couronne du Comte describe the series as “a range that focuses on special colours, rich in colour intensity, with a wonderful shading and/or sheen”. A year later they released three more inks, Bleu Cuivré (“Copper Blue”), a blue ink; Pan d’Epices (“Gingerbread”), a red ink; and Ver ..read more
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Pen Review: Esterbrook Estie Oversize (CANDY) with Kirk Speer Needlepoint Nib
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
Esterbrook’s latest release is the CANDY Estie and for this review I have the oversize model (which I haven’t tried before) and most importantly the new Kirk Speer of Pen Realm Needlepoint nib. Esterbrook release many different finishes for their Estie line and they are seemingly very popular. I’ve bought a few myself and received a few for review just like this one. I’ve said it before on reviews but custom nibs are always exciting to try! A big thank you to Esterbrook for sending this in for review! Back in April last year I reviewed and tried my first Esterbrook pen (with a custom nib) th ..read more
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Ink Comparison: Iroshizuku Out with the Old In with the New (Tsuyu-kusa, Tsukushi, Ina-ho, Sui-gyoku, Hana-ikada, Hotaru-bi)
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
Pilot giveth and Pilot taketh away! In October 2021 we found out that Pilot was discontinuing three inks from their Iroshizuku lineup, Tsuyu-kusa, Tsukushi, and Ina-ho. In November the same year they announced three new inks that will essentially replace the discontinued inks. These new inks are Sui-gyoku, Hana-ikada, and Hotaru-bi. Overall the changes make the Iroshizuku lineup more vibrant and colourful. This is going to be a long post with six comparison reviews (which quite aren’t as extensive as normal reviews) packed into one post. Thank you to Pen Classics for sending me the new Iroshi ..read more
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Pen Review: Platinum Curidas
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
This Platinum Curidas, sent to me by Pen Classics, has been a little while in the making! Platinum released the Curidas in early 2020 and it has always been a curious fountain pen and one I always wanted to add to my collection and compare with other retractable nibbed fountain pens! Now is the time. Thanks again to Pen Classics for sending me the Platinum Curidas which was given away (curtesy of Pen Classics) after the review to celebrate six years of Fountain Pens Australia! The name ‘Curidas’ is portmanteau of Kuridasu, a Japanese word referring to the action of extending the nib and Curi ..read more
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Ink Review: Wearngeul Kyonghui
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
Late 2021 Wearingeul, a somewhat new South Korean ink maker, reached out to me and others in the Fountain Pen community to introduce their line of inks. I posted swatches late last year of what I received. Wearingeul, itself is a brand within the Able Design family of design brands, has a mixture of shimmer, sheen and normal inks (as well as some dichromatic inks) in their lineup. I love burnt orange-like inks so I was eager to get this in a pen and review it first up! Thanks to Wearingeul for sending me this ink for review. Wearngeul is part of the Able Design Entertainment group which als ..read more
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Ink Review: Birmingham Pen Co. Projector Film
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
I’ve organised two group buys from Birmingham for my local fountain pen group (to maximise shipping efficiency) and in those two buys I managed to pick up 14 inks from the two batches. In the first batch was this Projector Film. I have to admit, I was initially more drawn to it because of the name (I’ve been getting into film photography lately and the loose connection to that interested me). But the ink colour seemed interesting as well and once I got it in a pen I realised it was quite interesting! The small two-brother run Birmingham Pen Co. have quite a few inks (which certainly made it ..read more
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Pen and Notepad Review: Midori MD Fountain Pen, MD A5 Notebook, and MD Paper Notebook Cover
Macchiato Man
by Yagan Kiely (Macchiato Man)
2y ago
Today is a review of a set of items from Midori that work quite nicely together. These aren’t an official set but I think they could easily be and would be great to buy together. They are the Midori MD Fountain Pen, the Midori MD Lined A5 Notebook with the Paper Notebook Cover. These are affordable products from an established Japanese brand that have a certain minimalist-like aesthetic about them. A big thanks to Ink’d Pens for sending these in for review! I had lots of fun photography these items. For some reason the items remind me a bit of 60s interior design colours. Lots of earthy, aut ..read more
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