Tag: Tags and Challenges | Page 3 | Rachel's Reflections

October 15, 2021

Fails from my Favorites

DISCLAIMER UPDATE (6/24/22): TWSBI and Narwhal have released a joint statement which I cover in my most recent TWSBIgate post. While not completely satisfied with TWSBI’s response to the situation, I no longer feel the need to dissuade people from purchasing their products.

DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.

I’m not sure where it originated, but the other day I watched a video from Angelica Nyqvist about fails from her favorite makeup brands. Seeing as I had so much fun with adapting the makeup tag to pens, I figured I could do the same thing with this. So, without further ado, here are some fails (for me) from some of my favorite pen brands.

Disclaimer: I’m calling this “fails,” but that refers to failing to satisfy my pen wants & needs. These aren’t bad pens, I just don’t like them. Also, the alliteration is fun.

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Capsule Pen Collection

October 1, 2021

Rachel

Capsule Pen Collection

Posted in Fountain Pens

DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.

Ink Journal’s September 10th Flex Nib Friday issue included a link to ukfountainpens.com‘s article The Three Pen Collection for £1,000. The idea was based on a series of posts on the watch blog Worn & Wound called the three watch collection for $5,000. UK Fountain Pens adapted the idea to pens, dropped the budget to $1,000 because “watches are much more expensive than pens” — *chortle* some watches are much more expensive than some pens — and limited picks to pens you can go out and buy today.

It’s an easy enough premise. My problem, however, is that the pens I’d choose don’t work out well with the budget provided. So, I gave it some thought and decided to curate two collections, one with the adjusted $1,000 budget and one with the original $5,000 budget. As a note, I did not include taxes when figuring out my choices.

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The Fountain Pens Tag

September 14, 2021

Rachel

The Fountain Pens Tag

Posted in Fountain Pens, and Non-Fountain Pens

The other day, I watched a video on Theresa is Dead’s YouTube channel covering The Eyeshadow Palette Tag. It was an old video, from a year ago, and based on an idea from Allie Glines and Samantha March. However, it occurred to me that I could have fun with it — with some modifications — for fountain pens.

Some of these questions were hard for me to answer, but, let’s give it a try.

1. What is your newest fountain pen?

At the time of writing (9/5/21) my newest pen is the Retro 51 Wings of the Monarch fountain pen.

I decided not to get the rollerball version last year, and regretted it. So, when a fountain pen version was released a few days ago, I jumped on it. No regrets here. It’s stunning, and I already did a Makeup Monday look with it.

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Unpopular Fountain Pen Opinions

March 12, 2021

Rachel

4 Comments

Unpopular Fountain Pen Opinions

Posted in Fountain Pens, and Paper

Alright, I’ve got a potentially (probably) divisive post for you today. I’m sharing opinions I have that seem to be unpopular based on what I’ve seen and heard in fountain pen groups and gatherings. Let’s jump in, shall we? I’ll start slow, leaving the doozies until the end.

“Rainbow”/”Iridescent” Finish

It’s been on a lot of pens in the past couple of years, and I think it’s ugly and overpriced. From Visconti’s Rainbow Watermark to TWSBI’s Vac 700r Iris and Conklin’s Duragraph Rainbow, pens at all price points are using the colorful finish.

I don’t know what to call it. It’s not a proper rainbow — the colors aren’t in order and there isn’t a good red or purple. It’s not iridescent — the colors don’t change, or even appear to change, at different angles. Regardless, I bought a seven piece cutlery set with the same finish about 3 years ago for $11 thinking it would be super cool and ended up woefully disappointed. I definitely won’t be investing in a pen with it.

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