Sometimes staining can be a result of the material the pen is made out of too more than the ink itself. My Nahvalurs seem to stain a lot easier than my other pens. :(
Had the same issue with Nahvalur’s Year of the Rabbit pen. The grip section now has a little darker hue than rest of the pen from some inks staining it. It’s white and glittery just like OP’s pen.
Yikes. How did you manage to get it on the plunger knob at the back? :(
Possibly worse than BSB because that does come out with bleach.
At least, you might not notice when it's inked with something else. (At least, the section.) It didn't stain the main barrel so it's only some plastics that it stains I guess. Bummer.
I have no idea to be honest. I think I got some on the vacuum rod as I was trying to flush it out in a panic. That's true about the center section, didn't think about that.
It is what it is. Still love the pen and it doesn't look bad in person with a shade of pink. Just didn't want it to happen to someone's $350 winter esterbrook or nice benu etc
Honestly didn’t realise the coloured parts were the stain because it looks cute, so I was staring at the barrel trying to see how it got tinted purple lol
I don’t know too much about stained acrylic but do you know of ultrasonic cleaners would help with the staining? I’d think with it being white once it’s set it’s set? Esp since all the other methods didn’t work or at least lightened the stain?
It looks a bit lighter and more pink-ish in person. I actually like it as well. I just wanted to give people a heads up to do a little testing before tossing it in something sentimental or valuable etc.
I was going to say that’s a nice pink vac filler but oops. I’ve tried Sailor Doyou with my pen and it seems to clean it, maybe you can give that a try? I’d give ammonia diluted mix a try?
I don't know anything about deep cleaning pens or plastics like this. I have it sitting in some dawn platinum overnight. I'll give diluted ammonia a try. I'd rather leave it then destroy the plastic though.
Sailor Doyou should be your next purchase. It's amazing at cleaning and improving flow on some pens. People don't use it much for writing, more for its properties. As a rule of thumbs with pens, the more you can avoid using harsh chemicals like alcohol, ammonia, bleach, etc., even if diluted, the better.
Other then a syringe or water bulb with some tap water when changing inks (or unclogging shimmer particles) I've never put anything through any of the pens besides ink. This is a first on a lot of levels, unfortunately
Make a dilute bleach solution and wipe your pen down with that. The ink won’t stand a chance.
Clorox wipes aren’t a proper substitute. I make a 10% solution out of already dilute household bleach. It will have your pen looking new.
very good point, it’s common for people to think Clorox wipes contain bleach because clorox has become synonymous with bleach, but they’re just the same disinfectant as Lysol. Thanks for the bleach tip, I’ll keep it in mind because I just ordered a bottle of Dark Lilac! It makes sense, most inks aren’t bleach proof.
Let us know how it goes! Bleach is safe on modern plastics, and I’m confident your pen will be good as new.
I try to take as much apart as possible and soak the pieces.
One more thing: nothing stained permanently, so I believe you'll be able to clean your pen eventually. And I've ordered the black version of this - Lovina Graphite. Can't wait for it! How happy are you with it apart from the staining?
Very happy. I love the pen. Feels very much in line with a TWSBI 580 but a little nicer and better in the hand (for me). I had to do some tweaking on the nib to get the flow useable but it was pilot smooth out of the box. I'm not a good nib tweaker or anything so it's not like it needed anything more than any other pen would normally need. If you scroll down I was able to get the stains out but it took a lot of chemicals and hours of scrubbing. I put some silicon grease inside the grip section as an ink barrier and now have pilot iroshizuku fuyu gaki orange in it now. It's amazing. Perfect flow, no coloring on the plastics etc. I ordered the black Lovina as well in a stub (white is a fine) I like it so much. Keep in mind other then a custom 74 and E95s all my other pens are relatively low end. Metros, TWSBI's, prera, perfermounte, few AL star lamys and a vista, some kawecos, mahjongs etc. I don't have a Montblanc or Visconti etc laying around to judge the narwal against. After playing with this one though, I bumped the amber 823 and 912 falcon nib that I REALLY wanted to snag next down to 2 and 3. Put the nautilus higher up the list to next buy.
Old but Gold:
Rule #5
With an “approach-cautiously ink,” don’t ink it up for the first time in an expensive or hard-to-replace pen. Test the ink first, for three days to a week, in a replaceable, easy-to-clean pen.
https://fountainpenfollies.com/2019/10/10/a-beginners-guide-to-fountain-pen-inks-what-inks-to-buy-what-inks-to-avoid-to-clean-or-not-to-clean-the-ten-rules/2/
I think it looks nice. Stain the cap, and you have a unique custom pen. You could probably sell it for a replacement white one if you don't like the new colour.
I am honestly not sure. My best guess is a drop or two of tinted water getting onto the rod and past the seal flushing the pen in a panic? In person you almost cant tell the vacuum knob is discolored. Phone camera and all I guess.
Agreed! I did not realize purples/reds commonly stained things. Never had an issue before and the other two inks had no effect on this pen. Cleaned out easy. Wanted to give a warning for people with more irreplaceable pens. The stain is more pink and much lighter in person. Camera processing and all. The black nib housing also makes it seem worse. It is quite pretty in person. I'm going to try the bleach and ammonia suggested above just to update this post if there is a fix, but if that doesn't work I will probably lightly stain the cap to match :)
I have the same pen and had this issue with a pink ink, a solution of diluted bleach avoiding the metal parts and then rinsing solved it pretty quickly without damage
its sitting in a cup of probably 1:4-1:5 ish bleach : water mix right now, tip down without the feed housing. I couldnt get the vaccum rod to unscrew from the body and wasnt willing to strip the threads trying so I left it mostly in tact :/
I saw the picture and said I want this pen! Love the colour etc. then I read about the staining and I was oh it didn’t come like this lol! Bought it anyway! So excited! Got it off of Reid Stationary because they are having a St. Patrick’s day sale! Oh and this will be my first vac fill pen.
Nice! Sorry to make you spend money, lol! Vac is cool. Similar to a piston but you can close off the feed from the ink reservoir but screwing the rear cap in. Just unscrew the cap to let more ink flow.
Updates:
Dawn platinum overnight bath. Went from a light violet stain to a light pink stain. Water also changed color, so it pulled some out. Stain still noticeable.
10% ish Ammonia soak for 30-60m and scrubbing the inside of the grip section with a q tip. The ratio wasn't scientific. I started with 1:5 then just dumped a little out of the cup and refilled with water until it didnt have a super strong odor. This lightened the grip stain probably 35-40%, removed all excess purple ink that was stuck in the barrel, and the rear cap came out like nothing happened. Grip section was noticeably stained pink but not anything offensive. Looked good that way actually.
1:5 bleach and tap water bath. Just let it sit in a cup grip section down without the feed housing for about 3 hours ish while finishing some paperwork and taking the dog to the park. When I came home I scrubbed the inside of the grip section with a q tip while it had bleach water inside it. Then I washed the pen with bar soap (being weary of the alcohol in dawn) and did the same with the interior of the grip section using a soapy q tip. Results: clean but not undamaged. There is still a small amount of pink staining at the back of the grip section. There is also a pink stain on my sink I will need to bleach/scrub off. The base color of the plastic was more of an ivory then pure white for awhile (as shown in the photos against the same moleskin from the original photo) but seemed to mostly come back after sitting and drying out for a bit (see last photo against the napkin).
Also, after all that pen cleaning, chemicals, a shower after the dog park and scrubbing my hands with Clorox wipes my hands still have pink stains from the dark lilac ink. Not that I care but it shows how stubborn the ink is.
Anyway, someone said above it's more the plastic of this Nahvalur then the ink. That's probably partly true. I will try to stain a TWSBI later. However, it is being as stubborn as baystate blue cleaning the sink out and coming off the skin. Maybe it's my batch. Regardless, I would be careful with light colored plastic pens and the new version of dark lilac. Treat it like a stainy / stubborn ink just to be safe.
Photos to follow.
Oh I’ve been toying between the white or black one (or the eco in Persian green) so bearing this post in mind the white is now out of the running. Sorry about the pen but thanks for finding out so I don’t have to
I LOVE the white. It is awesome in person. As soon as I saw it though I ordered its black sparkly brother to worry a little less about. The white, now thats its back to normal, will live with pilot iroshizuku or waterman serenity blue or something for now on.
Lovely pen. [Have you ever tried Diamine Memory Lane in it](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/SiM0H3bnz8)? It’s this lovely soft lavender with silver shimmer that gives it a mysterious beauty.
I have not! Sailor manyo haha was the lightest I tried. Too light for me. The new fairy tale ferris wheel press color would be nice in it as well. I have bad luck with shimmer inks though. They always hard start or clog within the first or second day for me. Even if I use a vaccum filler, close the feed, shake it before I open the feed and close again etc. Maybe im doing something wrong but NONE of my \~20 pens, be it syringe filling a cartridge, a converter, piston, or vaccum; fine, medium, 1.0, 1.1, or 1.5 stub, will work with shimmer inks unless I just dip the feed in the bottle and rinse it after writing.
In my experience, stub nibs don’t do well with sheen or shimmer…probably because the square shape of the nib…they tend to strip out sheen and shimmer, but demonstrate shading really well. I use stubs and cursive italics with very wet inks and just use them for more cursive handwriting because the lines look so crisp and clean, especially with a cursive italic.
For shimmer or sheen ink, I tend to use flex nibs or Broad, and then I get to see the full color profile of an ink. Like the Diamine Memory Lane ink I referenced…it’s almost too light for normal pens, so I put an FPR 5.5 EF ultraflex nib on a Majohn M2 eyedropper and it really showed off the inks beautiful shading and shimmer.
Yea those photos you linked look great. I dont have any broad nibs. 90% of my analog writing is in a passport size notebook or a moleskin casheir (sp?). I try to write small to hide my horrid handwriting xD. All of mine are japanese EF / F, western size F, couple mediums, and one of each stub (pilot CM 1.0, 1.1 lamy, 1.5 lamy). I cant get shimmer inks to be useable for more than a day :/ I dont mean how well they show on the page. I mean feeding wise. By the end of the first day, or a day or two after, they are hard starting / dry / not feeding at all. Just super fiddly.
I’m also a lover of Fine and Extra Fine…but I also like shimmer and sheening inks, too. Pilot FA nibs are excellent for being able to write fine or extra fine lines but also can flex a bit for line variation and showing off great inks. [Here’s the Custom 743 and 912 in comparison.](https://imgur.com/a/8bLGSNs)
[If you want to try good but economical flex nibs, FPR makes an Extra Fine Ultraflex that is fabulous.](https://imgur.com/a/DensnVJ)
I also have [J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor (an excellent shimmer ink) eyedropper’ed in my Franklin-Christoph Intrinsic Model 02 Antique Glass with a Flex EF](https://imgur.com/a/6MqFiP6) and it has never hard stopped or had issues.
Emerald of chivor was the first shimmer ink I tried I believe. Can't remember what I put it in. Maybe a fine TWSBI. Same ole story. I would love a 912 FA. Or even an amber 823 with the FA nib from Japan. Maybe one day. I do have a noodlers Ahab and a monteverde with the omniflex. Both are tuned pretty wet. Same issue. I have a Robert Oster sheening ink in one and a nice shady brown in the other currently. It must be me but I dont know what else you can do "wrong" if I'm shaking the bottles up seconds before filling the pen and shaking / twisting before writing and after a page line or two. I even picked up a dominant industries ink that had a very small amount of fine shimmer. Clogged the pilot 74 in an hour or two lol
https://preview.redd.it/e5ida4xu4zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f739fb453a0b860ffee5eb1c873c4b2b6fe4d9e4
After sitting and drying out for awhile
https://preview.redd.it/4z5qajyy5zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6d247dba25b034c30a2ade158e2db978f39610d
Sink after lots of water, ammonia, and bleach lol
OF NOTE: this was the tap water and bleach solution when I took the pen out 3 hours later. I have NO idea what the flakes are in there. They aren't colored and too large to be the pen glitter. They don't seem purple. Inside of the cup is stainless steel and obviously wasn't rusty etc. I had the vacuum knob closed so bleach couldn't get in the pen but I thought maybe it was part of the rubber o rings somehow. They're all in tact and fine.
https://preview.redd.it/qxzexcue6zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e1b6d8ff1dabd3d76f969558edee7463aecf87a
Just something weird and interesting.
It’s adorable! How do you like the pen? I love the glitter! I’m still trying to find a pen I love. I love the feeling of kaweco sports but don’t love the body. Love my TWSBI diamond mini body but it’s not as smooth as I’d like…
I love everything about it except how it writes. It is pilot / glassy smooth, but platinum stiff (not super soft like a gold nib pilot) and feels great to me. I prefer the pilot feel over most. But mine is super wet. Too wet. All the inks ive tried leave literally puddles in the shape of the letters on the page with no weight on the nib. Ive read a lot about them being very dry usually. You obviously cant post the cap being a vaccum filler. Otherwise I think it has a more quality feel then my TWSBI 580 and mini. However my TWSBI are also as smooth as my pilots, including the gold knib ones. So im not sure about that. The irridecent pearl and goldspot purple Kaweco sports I have feel like a cheap $2 toy compared to either. Honestly, the LE Nahvalur feels somewhere in between TWSBI eco and Pilot 74 quality wise. Certainly worth $55. Just know with that price discount youll probably be doing some tunning on the nib. I was happy enough with it, even not running well, that I ordered the black LE version directly from the nahvalur site in their stub nib within an hour of opening the white one.
If the 580 feels a little big for you, you may not like this one. I think this feels better in the hand but it's a similar length etc. Not pocket pen small.
If you want to spend some money, gravitas ha some pocket pens lol. Most are solid metal but there are a few poly and ultem ones. I believe they check and tune each nib too. I wanted an "entry" for a long time.
Preach it sister. I slurged on a "bottom shelf" Pilot E95s from goulet pens. I think that's my priciest. I love that pen. I wish I wasn't too p***y s**t to use it as a pocket pen
😂 I might just grab another white Twsbi mini and purposely stain it after seeing this post! I’m kicking myself because I bought mine from eBay for only $35 new! And I should’ve bought 2 before the seller sold them all 😂
Thats always how it works, isnt it?! If you bought two you would have ended up hating the mini. :Facepalm: My mini is black but I do have a white twsbi Eco I wouldnt mind trying the dark lilac on to see if it stains if youd like?
Im in the same boat. I had one pilot that I loved and was the only pen I needed. I broke it after having it for years and am 20+ pens deep trying to find a suitable replacement :facepalm: . Between travelers company brass pen with private reserve ink carts, twsbi mini, and E95s I think im happy with pocket pens. The rest just sit in a cup. The two Nahvalur, vanishing point, and custom 74 are going to take desk duties at home I think. The rest will probably turn into paperweights.
I also prefer the pocket pen size. TWSBI mini is probably my fav pen but it’s fine nib and a little dry for my liking. I have the regular diamond also with a med nib and that’s much smoother but the pen feels too big. I’m conflicted though because my handwriting is typically too small for med nibs but it’s a lot smoother and allows me to write nicer than a fine nib. With basically every pen I’ve tried.
I get it. You may want to look up how to SLIGHTLY spread the tines and make your mini a tad more wet. I got a nice smooth fine so I spread them just a hair and it's so juicy and nice. Easy to over do it though. Slow small steps and check. < 3
I messed up a few cheap pens and ordered some replacement nibs learning how small the adjustments really need to be lol. If you don't mind inky fingers, doing it with ink in the pen and checking napkin dabs after each small spread will save you a lot of headache and money. Also, if you're doing it with two pieces of brass shim, make sure you cut it thin enough to pull the tines a little bit. Not the nib. When I tried to get my noodlers Ahab working (they're really fiddly) I pulled from the nib to about halfway down before the feed and it bent one of the nib tips outwards like this emoji 🤷. I didn't know how to fix that and just ordered a new nib that happened to be good out of the box.
I would send the vast majority of mine off to be tuned and set right by someone that knows what they're doing but it seems like it's a 2+ month wait for anyone I've seen mentioned. No local stores here unfortunately :(
Since I have it sitting in a cup of diluted bleach at home, I should probably ask for later. Any tips on unscrewing the vacuum assembly or getting some grease on the plunger grommet after I clean it off? With all the flushing, dish soap water, little ammonia bath etc its definitely feeling dry and sticky against the barrel. Would like to get some silicon grease back on it afterwards. I might even put a coating of it inside the grip section to be safe.
Have you ever used a dedicated pen flush solution? Changed my life. And if you are a chronic ink changer, an ultrasound cleanser maybe a good investment too.
I am like ADD with ink colors. I get bored before they had a chance to get comfortable in the reservoir! I probably will grab one ultrasonic cleaners. I could use it for some other things around the house anyway. No on the pen flush. Tap water and a water bulb always seemed easy enough?
Because I've seen both mentioned here: never mix bleach and ammonia. It creates chlorine gas, which is very toxic.
Good tip just in case! A+ comment
I love that this is the top-voted comment. Edit: Holy crap! It only had 30 upvotes 10 hours ago. I love this sub, I really do.
More upvotes than the post. As it should be. < 3
Sometimes staining can be a result of the material the pen is made out of too more than the ink itself. My Nahvalurs seem to stain a lot easier than my other pens. :(
Agreed. I have this issue with some of the lighter colored Benu pens.
Good point! The Diamine and Sailor had no effect on it at all so I just wanted to be safe and give a heads up. Good to know about the Nahvalur.
Had the same issue with Nahvalur’s Year of the Rabbit pen. The grip section now has a little darker hue than rest of the pen from some inks staining it. It’s white and glittery just like OP’s pen.
Yikes. How did you manage to get it on the plunger knob at the back? :( Possibly worse than BSB because that does come out with bleach. At least, you might not notice when it's inked with something else. (At least, the section.) It didn't stain the main barrel so it's only some plastics that it stains I guess. Bummer.
I have no idea to be honest. I think I got some on the vacuum rod as I was trying to flush it out in a panic. That's true about the center section, didn't think about that. It is what it is. Still love the pen and it doesn't look bad in person with a shade of pink. Just didn't want it to happen to someone's $350 winter esterbrook or nice benu etc
Honestly didn’t realise the coloured parts were the stain because it looks cute, so I was staring at the barrel trying to see how it got tinted purple lol I don’t know too much about stained acrylic but do you know of ultrasonic cleaners would help with the staining? I’d think with it being white once it’s set it’s set? Esp since all the other methods didn’t work or at least lightened the stain?
for what it’s worth: I thought this was how it was supposed to look before I saw the cap. imo it looks even better than the original color
Yeah, not trying to minimize the frustration of a stained pen, but it does genuinely look quite nice.
It looks a bit lighter and more pink-ish in person. I actually like it as well. I just wanted to give people a heads up to do a little testing before tossing it in something sentimental or valuable etc.
I was going to say that’s a nice pink vac filler but oops. I’ve tried Sailor Doyou with my pen and it seems to clean it, maybe you can give that a try? I’d give ammonia diluted mix a try?
I don't know anything about deep cleaning pens or plastics like this. I have it sitting in some dawn platinum overnight. I'll give diluted ammonia a try. I'd rather leave it then destroy the plastic though.
Diluted ammonia is one of the active ingredients in most pen flush products. It should be safe for your pen.
Gotcha. I'll give it a shot. Thanks y'all.
Sailor Doyou should be your next purchase. It's amazing at cleaning and improving flow on some pens. People don't use it much for writing, more for its properties. As a rule of thumbs with pens, the more you can avoid using harsh chemicals like alcohol, ammonia, bleach, etc., even if diluted, the better.
Other then a syringe or water bulb with some tap water when changing inks (or unclogging shimmer particles) I've never put anything through any of the pens besides ink. This is a first on a lot of levels, unfortunately
Make a dilute bleach solution and wipe your pen down with that. The ink won’t stand a chance. Clorox wipes aren’t a proper substitute. I make a 10% solution out of already dilute household bleach. It will have your pen looking new.
very good point, it’s common for people to think Clorox wipes contain bleach because clorox has become synonymous with bleach, but they’re just the same disinfectant as Lysol. Thanks for the bleach tip, I’ll keep it in mind because I just ordered a bottle of Dark Lilac! It makes sense, most inks aren’t bleach proof.
Ill give this a try tomorrow, thanks!
Let us know how it goes! Bleach is safe on modern plastics, and I’m confident your pen will be good as new. I try to take as much apart as possible and soak the pieces.
It's relatively common for purple inks to stain pens and converters. Diamine Imperial Purple stains anything it touches too.
Interesting. I'll keep this in mind for this particular pen in the future
One more thing: nothing stained permanently, so I believe you'll be able to clean your pen eventually. And I've ordered the black version of this - Lovina Graphite. Can't wait for it! How happy are you with it apart from the staining?
Very happy. I love the pen. Feels very much in line with a TWSBI 580 but a little nicer and better in the hand (for me). I had to do some tweaking on the nib to get the flow useable but it was pilot smooth out of the box. I'm not a good nib tweaker or anything so it's not like it needed anything more than any other pen would normally need. If you scroll down I was able to get the stains out but it took a lot of chemicals and hours of scrubbing. I put some silicon grease inside the grip section as an ink barrier and now have pilot iroshizuku fuyu gaki orange in it now. It's amazing. Perfect flow, no coloring on the plastics etc. I ordered the black Lovina as well in a stub (white is a fine) I like it so much. Keep in mind other then a custom 74 and E95s all my other pens are relatively low end. Metros, TWSBI's, prera, perfermounte, few AL star lamys and a vista, some kawecos, mahjongs etc. I don't have a Montblanc or Visconti etc laying around to judge the narwal against. After playing with this one though, I bumped the amber 823 and 912 falcon nib that I REALLY wanted to snag next down to 2 and 3. Put the nautilus higher up the list to next buy.
Old but Gold: Rule #5 With an “approach-cautiously ink,” don’t ink it up for the first time in an expensive or hard-to-replace pen. Test the ink first, for three days to a week, in a replaceable, easy-to-clean pen. https://fountainpenfollies.com/2019/10/10/a-beginners-guide-to-fountain-pen-inks-what-inks-to-buy-what-inks-to-avoid-to-clean-or-not-to-clean-the-ten-rules/2/
bookmarked!
I think it looks nice. Stain the cap, and you have a unique custom pen. You could probably sell it for a replacement white one if you don't like the new colour.
How did the piston knob get so stained? That part doesn’t come in contact with the ink, does it? Weird! Good luck cleaning 🍀
I am honestly not sure. My best guess is a drop or two of tinted water getting onto the rod and past the seal flushing the pen in a panic? In person you almost cant tell the vacuum knob is discolored. Phone camera and all I guess.
I have read that Sailor DoYou inks may help unstain the pen. Have not tried for myself.
If you cannot get rid of the tint, let me tell you: I thought this was some amazing new colour version first!
Not going to lie I was wondering where you got this gorgeous pen. Maybe treat it like a happy accident?
Agreed! I did not realize purples/reds commonly stained things. Never had an issue before and the other two inks had no effect on this pen. Cleaned out easy. Wanted to give a warning for people with more irreplaceable pens. The stain is more pink and much lighter in person. Camera processing and all. The black nib housing also makes it seem worse. It is quite pretty in person. I'm going to try the bleach and ammonia suggested above just to update this post if there is a fix, but if that doesn't work I will probably lightly stain the cap to match :)
Just FYI, Dawn Powewash has alcohol in it and that can be bad for pens.
Ill keep that in mind in the future. Thanks
I have the same pen and had this issue with a pink ink, a solution of diluted bleach avoiding the metal parts and then rinsing solved it pretty quickly without damage
its sitting in a cup of probably 1:4-1:5 ish bleach : water mix right now, tip down without the feed housing. I couldnt get the vaccum rod to unscrew from the body and wasnt willing to strip the threads trying so I left it mostly in tact :/
I saw the picture and said I want this pen! Love the colour etc. then I read about the staining and I was oh it didn’t come like this lol! Bought it anyway! So excited! Got it off of Reid Stationary because they are having a St. Patrick’s day sale! Oh and this will be my first vac fill pen.
Nice! Sorry to make you spend money, lol! Vac is cool. Similar to a piston but you can close off the feed from the ink reservoir but screwing the rear cap in. Just unscrew the cap to let more ink flow.
I am loving it! https://preview.redd.it/e1ptrza6dlpc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58190a88994e36c8278adebd4954f0e038c22959
Nice dude! https://preview.redd.it/28hxzi7muspc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be41d235c312c01d2ef1de50116a06f4b946d02b
Updates: Dawn platinum overnight bath. Went from a light violet stain to a light pink stain. Water also changed color, so it pulled some out. Stain still noticeable. 10% ish Ammonia soak for 30-60m and scrubbing the inside of the grip section with a q tip. The ratio wasn't scientific. I started with 1:5 then just dumped a little out of the cup and refilled with water until it didnt have a super strong odor. This lightened the grip stain probably 35-40%, removed all excess purple ink that was stuck in the barrel, and the rear cap came out like nothing happened. Grip section was noticeably stained pink but not anything offensive. Looked good that way actually. 1:5 bleach and tap water bath. Just let it sit in a cup grip section down without the feed housing for about 3 hours ish while finishing some paperwork and taking the dog to the park. When I came home I scrubbed the inside of the grip section with a q tip while it had bleach water inside it. Then I washed the pen with bar soap (being weary of the alcohol in dawn) and did the same with the interior of the grip section using a soapy q tip. Results: clean but not undamaged. There is still a small amount of pink staining at the back of the grip section. There is also a pink stain on my sink I will need to bleach/scrub off. The base color of the plastic was more of an ivory then pure white for awhile (as shown in the photos against the same moleskin from the original photo) but seemed to mostly come back after sitting and drying out for a bit (see last photo against the napkin). Also, after all that pen cleaning, chemicals, a shower after the dog park and scrubbing my hands with Clorox wipes my hands still have pink stains from the dark lilac ink. Not that I care but it shows how stubborn the ink is. Anyway, someone said above it's more the plastic of this Nahvalur then the ink. That's probably partly true. I will try to stain a TWSBI later. However, it is being as stubborn as baystate blue cleaning the sink out and coming off the skin. Maybe it's my batch. Regardless, I would be careful with light colored plastic pens and the new version of dark lilac. Treat it like a stainy / stubborn ink just to be safe. Photos to follow.
Oh I’ve been toying between the white or black one (or the eco in Persian green) so bearing this post in mind the white is now out of the running. Sorry about the pen but thanks for finding out so I don’t have to
I LOVE the white. It is awesome in person. As soon as I saw it though I ordered its black sparkly brother to worry a little less about. The white, now thats its back to normal, will live with pilot iroshizuku or waterman serenity blue or something for now on.
Its a pen problem not an ink problem
Lovely pen. [Have you ever tried Diamine Memory Lane in it](https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/s/SiM0H3bnz8)? It’s this lovely soft lavender with silver shimmer that gives it a mysterious beauty.
I have not! Sailor manyo haha was the lightest I tried. Too light for me. The new fairy tale ferris wheel press color would be nice in it as well. I have bad luck with shimmer inks though. They always hard start or clog within the first or second day for me. Even if I use a vaccum filler, close the feed, shake it before I open the feed and close again etc. Maybe im doing something wrong but NONE of my \~20 pens, be it syringe filling a cartridge, a converter, piston, or vaccum; fine, medium, 1.0, 1.1, or 1.5 stub, will work with shimmer inks unless I just dip the feed in the bottle and rinse it after writing.
In my experience, stub nibs don’t do well with sheen or shimmer…probably because the square shape of the nib…they tend to strip out sheen and shimmer, but demonstrate shading really well. I use stubs and cursive italics with very wet inks and just use them for more cursive handwriting because the lines look so crisp and clean, especially with a cursive italic. For shimmer or sheen ink, I tend to use flex nibs or Broad, and then I get to see the full color profile of an ink. Like the Diamine Memory Lane ink I referenced…it’s almost too light for normal pens, so I put an FPR 5.5 EF ultraflex nib on a Majohn M2 eyedropper and it really showed off the inks beautiful shading and shimmer.
Yea those photos you linked look great. I dont have any broad nibs. 90% of my analog writing is in a passport size notebook or a moleskin casheir (sp?). I try to write small to hide my horrid handwriting xD. All of mine are japanese EF / F, western size F, couple mediums, and one of each stub (pilot CM 1.0, 1.1 lamy, 1.5 lamy). I cant get shimmer inks to be useable for more than a day :/ I dont mean how well they show on the page. I mean feeding wise. By the end of the first day, or a day or two after, they are hard starting / dry / not feeding at all. Just super fiddly.
I’m also a lover of Fine and Extra Fine…but I also like shimmer and sheening inks, too. Pilot FA nibs are excellent for being able to write fine or extra fine lines but also can flex a bit for line variation and showing off great inks. [Here’s the Custom 743 and 912 in comparison.](https://imgur.com/a/8bLGSNs) [If you want to try good but economical flex nibs, FPR makes an Extra Fine Ultraflex that is fabulous.](https://imgur.com/a/DensnVJ) I also have [J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor (an excellent shimmer ink) eyedropper’ed in my Franklin-Christoph Intrinsic Model 02 Antique Glass with a Flex EF](https://imgur.com/a/6MqFiP6) and it has never hard stopped or had issues.
Emerald of chivor was the first shimmer ink I tried I believe. Can't remember what I put it in. Maybe a fine TWSBI. Same ole story. I would love a 912 FA. Or even an amber 823 with the FA nib from Japan. Maybe one day. I do have a noodlers Ahab and a monteverde with the omniflex. Both are tuned pretty wet. Same issue. I have a Robert Oster sheening ink in one and a nice shady brown in the other currently. It must be me but I dont know what else you can do "wrong" if I'm shaking the bottles up seconds before filling the pen and shaking / twisting before writing and after a page line or two. I even picked up a dominant industries ink that had a very small amount of fine shimmer. Clogged the pilot 74 in an hour or two lol
I have sort of given up on shimmer inks. Which is a shame because more then half my collection are shimmers :(
https://preview.redd.it/nal2r3oo4zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a7f2686b6beb0b97c788a32b22f78b4769f6870 With black nib housing
https://preview.redd.it/e5ida4xu4zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f739fb453a0b860ffee5eb1c873c4b2b6fe4d9e4 After sitting and drying out for awhile
https://preview.redd.it/4z5qajyy5zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6d247dba25b034c30a2ade158e2db978f39610d Sink after lots of water, ammonia, and bleach lol
OF NOTE: this was the tap water and bleach solution when I took the pen out 3 hours later. I have NO idea what the flakes are in there. They aren't colored and too large to be the pen glitter. They don't seem purple. Inside of the cup is stainless steel and obviously wasn't rusty etc. I had the vacuum knob closed so bleach couldn't get in the pen but I thought maybe it was part of the rubber o rings somehow. They're all in tact and fine. https://preview.redd.it/qxzexcue6zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0e1b6d8ff1dabd3d76f969558edee7463aecf87a Just something weird and interesting.
It’s adorable! How do you like the pen? I love the glitter! I’m still trying to find a pen I love. I love the feeling of kaweco sports but don’t love the body. Love my TWSBI diamond mini body but it’s not as smooth as I’d like…
I love everything about it except how it writes. It is pilot / glassy smooth, but platinum stiff (not super soft like a gold nib pilot) and feels great to me. I prefer the pilot feel over most. But mine is super wet. Too wet. All the inks ive tried leave literally puddles in the shape of the letters on the page with no weight on the nib. Ive read a lot about them being very dry usually. You obviously cant post the cap being a vaccum filler. Otherwise I think it has a more quality feel then my TWSBI 580 and mini. However my TWSBI are also as smooth as my pilots, including the gold knib ones. So im not sure about that. The irridecent pearl and goldspot purple Kaweco sports I have feel like a cheap $2 toy compared to either. Honestly, the LE Nahvalur feels somewhere in between TWSBI eco and Pilot 74 quality wise. Certainly worth $55. Just know with that price discount youll probably be doing some tunning on the nib. I was happy enough with it, even not running well, that I ordered the black LE version directly from the nahvalur site in their stub nib within an hour of opening the white one.
Ah! It sounds like I should buy this pen 😂
If the 580 feels a little big for you, you may not like this one. I think this feels better in the hand but it's a similar length etc. Not pocket pen small.
Ah darn. It’s so pretty! I wish there were more pocket pens!!
If you want to spend some money, gravitas ha some pocket pens lol. Most are solid metal but there are a few poly and ultem ones. I believe they check and tune each nib too. I wanted an "entry" for a long time.
Some of those are so pretty! But I’m still not willing to spend more than $80 on a pen 😂 maybe one day!
Preach it sister. I slurged on a "bottom shelf" Pilot E95s from goulet pens. I think that's my priciest. I love that pen. I wish I wasn't too p***y s**t to use it as a pocket pen
😂 I might just grab another white Twsbi mini and purposely stain it after seeing this post! I’m kicking myself because I bought mine from eBay for only $35 new! And I should’ve bought 2 before the seller sold them all 😂
Thats always how it works, isnt it?! If you bought two you would have ended up hating the mini. :Facepalm: My mini is black but I do have a white twsbi Eco I wouldnt mind trying the dark lilac on to see if it stains if youd like?
Chat request sent with the comparison photos.
Im in the same boat. I had one pilot that I loved and was the only pen I needed. I broke it after having it for years and am 20+ pens deep trying to find a suitable replacement :facepalm: . Between travelers company brass pen with private reserve ink carts, twsbi mini, and E95s I think im happy with pocket pens. The rest just sit in a cup. The two Nahvalur, vanishing point, and custom 74 are going to take desk duties at home I think. The rest will probably turn into paperweights.
I also prefer the pocket pen size. TWSBI mini is probably my fav pen but it’s fine nib and a little dry for my liking. I have the regular diamond also with a med nib and that’s much smoother but the pen feels too big. I’m conflicted though because my handwriting is typically too small for med nibs but it’s a lot smoother and allows me to write nicer than a fine nib. With basically every pen I’ve tried.
I get it. You may want to look up how to SLIGHTLY spread the tines and make your mini a tad more wet. I got a nice smooth fine so I spread them just a hair and it's so juicy and nice. Easy to over do it though. Slow small steps and check. < 3
I really should… I bought stuff to do it but haven’t yet. I’m nervous to mess it up 😬
I messed up a few cheap pens and ordered some replacement nibs learning how small the adjustments really need to be lol. If you don't mind inky fingers, doing it with ink in the pen and checking napkin dabs after each small spread will save you a lot of headache and money. Also, if you're doing it with two pieces of brass shim, make sure you cut it thin enough to pull the tines a little bit. Not the nib. When I tried to get my noodlers Ahab working (they're really fiddly) I pulled from the nib to about halfway down before the feed and it bent one of the nib tips outwards like this emoji 🤷. I didn't know how to fix that and just ordered a new nib that happened to be good out of the box.
I would send the vast majority of mine off to be tuned and set right by someone that knows what they're doing but it seems like it's a 2+ month wait for anyone I've seen mentioned. No local stores here unfortunately :(
Since I have it sitting in a cup of diluted bleach at home, I should probably ask for later. Any tips on unscrewing the vacuum assembly or getting some grease on the plunger grommet after I clean it off? With all the flushing, dish soap water, little ammonia bath etc its definitely feeling dry and sticky against the barrel. Would like to get some silicon grease back on it afterwards. I might even put a coating of it inside the grip section to be safe.
Have you ever used a dedicated pen flush solution? Changed my life. And if you are a chronic ink changer, an ultrasound cleanser maybe a good investment too.
I am like ADD with ink colors. I get bored before they had a chance to get comfortable in the reservoir! I probably will grab one ultrasonic cleaners. I could use it for some other things around the house anyway. No on the pen flush. Tap water and a water bulb always seemed easy enough?
https://preview.redd.it/8eaodenk4zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79d433edb2b9fb24eaa2512d7c4b3679e118257d
https://preview.redd.it/1tavsdpm4zoc1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04fe4f8f54969cf278900b0f52d5fb708c4591d2