18th February 2023 - More Fountain Pens
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Well fountain pen madness continues. I have acquired another teeny 
tiny pen - a Kaweco Liliput. This is a similar size to the Ohto Tasche 
but in a more attractive package. There is some 3 to 5 mm difference. 
I ended up getting a black aluminium version of the Liliput, mostly 
down to cost and worry about how well it writes. There are lots of 
warnings about bad nibs. It cost around Â45. The steel and brass 
versions are closer to Â100. The design of theLiliput is essentially 
a tube with rounded edges. The cap is attached through being screwed 
on and off. Without the cap, the pen is 87 mm and so many will 
struggle to use the pen without screwing the cap to the end or posting 
the pen. I can write fairly well without the cap posted and so this is 
not an issue for me. For some people, the need to post the cap to 
write will remove the pleasure of using the pen. I got the fine nib 
and found it writes well. There is sufficient wetness to give a smooth 
writing experience. I sort of find the fine a bit too thick for use in 
my notebook so I am awaiting delivery of an extra fine nib. The fact I 
can easily swap nibs is appealing. A key downside is the fact you can 
only fit small international standard cartridges. Sadly, I cannot seem 
to find short versions of the cartridges for Waterman mysterious blue 
ink. There are long versions but not short. It is very frustrating and 
I hope it related to a branding swap over. The plan is to fill an 
empty cartridge up with it. 

Comparisons to the Ohto Tasche are hard to avoid. I have found the 
Ohto Tasche a frustrating pen which promises a lot but dries up too 
quickly. This might be due to the cap being a push fit. The Liliput on 
the other hand writes first time regardless of having lived in my 
pocket for a few hours before hand. The Tasche needs time to prime 
after just lying sideways. This need for priming removes any time 
advantage from having a push fit cap. Of course this could all be due 
to a nib which is not quite right and requires tuning. Hmmm. I might 
need to find some videos and have a play. 

In the end , the liliput is just a fun pen and makes me want to write 
and doodle. We shall see whether that continues past the new pen 
excitement stage. I have discovered the next pen I want.... Another 
Kaweco which likes an awful lot like the Liliput... It is the Supra, 
essentially a wider Liliput with an optional mid section in the body 
of the pen. This gives the option between a longer pen which can 
accept convertors or a Liliput sized pen with the same cartidge 
restriction. For this one, I am very tempted to go for the flame blue 
steel version. It is a whopping Â150 but looks very pretty. The steel 
pen is subjected to flames until you get a bluey, orangey hue. It 
looks amazing. 

On the ink side of life, I have ended up trying Diamine Prussian Blue 
and have some Kaweco Midnight Blues and Royal Blue cartidges to try. 
The Prussian Blue writes well and looks pretty good. However, it does 
not spark joy in the same way that the Waterman Mysterious Blue does. 
I have not yet tried the Kaweco inks. All of the cartridges are 
cheap enough to tempt me to try even if I have plenty of ink already.