Special Letters - InCoWriMo (only 4 more days left!!)

Conklin Stylograph Mosiac Red/Brown 'M'. Fringe Alphabet Address Book. Country Stamps. A couple of letters.

What a month is has been! February has been an amazing month for us here!

It has been even more amazing as it is still (only a few days left!) International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo). I have sent off a decent amount of letters and cards, and have also been blessed to be on the receiving end as well! What a blessing it has been to open up the mailbox and find letters for you (other than bills and such!). It's an amazing feeling to get something that you know someone took the time to sit down and work on. A letter. Not just any plain ol' typed up thing. No. These are handwritten letters. Something even more special than your everyday e-mail. 

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With some new accessories for my camera on order, I am hoping to really get  back into my photography. Especially since spring is here. The first Robin of the season showed up today. Granted it gets in the low 20's and even the teens at night sometimes. The day time usually is in the mid to high 40's right now. No more snow, which means springtime flowers should be popping up here really soon! With some Macro lenses on the way (hoping they are the correct kind) I should be able to take some better photos of my pens, inks, and such for reviews!

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There are some things that I will be looking forward to in the near future with this blog! I will be re-vamping some stuff, doing a giveaway (s), and changing/adding some more things. So keep a look out for some new things coming up! I hope everyone is having a wonderful February and keep your pen to the paper! Take care.

InCoWriMo month! Write Away!

We are halfway through InCoWriMo month! I have sent out a few letters, but would love to send out more letters to people! I came across this website link from Rhodia Drive that has people wanting to send/receive letters this year and meet new people! I too am on this list and would love to meet some new people and make some new friends! So send me an email if you would like my mailing address and I will be glad to reply!

Happy InCoWriMo everyone!

TWSBI Diamond 580 AL - Orange

My first TWSBI pen! It is about time! And to be honest, I like what I have experienced so far… Now onto the review.

Brand: TWSBI

Model: Diamond 580 AL

Nib: Fine

Color: Demonstrator & Orange

Material: Resin and Aluminum body parts

Cost: $60.00 (TWSBI website)

It took me forever to finally purchase this pen. I read some good reviews on the TWSBI pens, and some bad ones - mainly about the nibs. I dillied and dallied, and would get on the verge of wanting the pen, and then something else turned me away. I finally came to the conclusion that most people who have GREAT experiences with items, often do not write reviews. However, when a person has a fairly negative experience with an item or service, they are not slow to throw it all over social media and write negative reviews. So thus, I jumped on the item.  And boy what an experience it has been.

A little bit about the pen:

• Comfortable to hold

• Nice size ( about the same length - capped - as a Lamy Safari, however it is a tad bit wider than a Safari)

• Weight - Heavier than a Lamy Safari, just a tad bit heavier than  Conklin Duragraph, and about the same weight as a Lamy Studio.

• Feels very durable; thus I am not too fearful of dropping it

• Disassembles ( and re-assembles) VERY easily for easy and fast cleaning 

• Fairly smooth writer. Not butter, but pretty close. 

• Nib has some flex to it, which is nice

• It is a 7 on the scale for wetness performance (from 1 being dry to 10 being very wet)

• A very tiny bit of scratch to it depending on the type of paper you are using. Piccadilly paper is fairly absorbent so thus this pen produces a thicker line and is a tiny bit scratchy on this paper, where as Clairefontaine gets a thinner lines and much smoother performance.

Looks HORRIBLE posted! Actually, it doesn't really post well....period.

Yea, this pen does NOT post. You can try, it might stay on for a few moments. However, then the pen becomes completely imbalanced and is horrible to write with (way too long!). So I suggest just keeping the cap close by.

Cap is smokey colored... Not exactly sure why

As you can see, the cap is kind of gray or smokey colored. Not exactly sure why, as it sort of hides the nib while it is capped. Then there is one other thing that I noticed about the pen. I am not sure if this was just manufacturer error, bad quality assurance, or just maybe a trademark? Below you will see what I am talking about.

Arrow - pointing towards what looks to be a streak of orange paint on the resin part

So my only really negative complaint about this is pictured above (see arrow). It appears to be a paint streak on the resin part of the converter nob - which is not seen anywhere else and only there. As you can see, the mark is not even and looks like it might have been an error. Now I know that TWSBI was having some QA issues a while back with other TWSBI pens of theirs - cracks in the caps or other areas of the pen...and these were brand new never inked pens. My understanding is that the issue was fixed. Not sure what this one is. But it is not enough to make me want to return the pen for a new one, as it does not seem to affect how the pen works or operates. Just looks funny. More character to the pen I suppose.

 So if you are looking for a nice, sturdy, and affordable daily writer fountain pen, then this pen is a great canidate!

 From Around the Web:

•  Another Review - from Pen.Paper.Ink.Letter on a TWSBI Diamond 580AL

Via: Goulet Pens