Recent Pen Day: Kakimori Glass Nib and Mini Holder, Namisu Ixion Pocket

"Quick" post about two new acquisitions for the fountain pen (or adjacent) collection: I finally snagged a Kakimori Glass Nib and Mini Holder in Cloud, and the Namisu Kickstarter pen I backed several months ago, the Ixion Pocket, arrived recently.

Kakimori Glass Nib and Holder

For a long time the Kakimori Glass Nib was discontinued, but I'd seen a couple people on YouTube use it, which made me wish I had one. Earlier this year they decided to manufacture more of them, but I'd missed the first few drops. I kept signing up for notifications of new stock, and this time around I was surprised that well after the announcement, stock appeared available, so I took the plunge, even though I wasn't sure how much I'd have to pay in tariffs and shipping fees. The nib isn't cheap at $82, and the mini holder at $35. I probably could've just bought a different nib holder, but I wanted to take the path of least resistance. I ended up paying an additional $36.72 in taxes and fees, which makes this ultimately too expensive a purchase, oh well. 🤷‍♀️ In hindsight, I probably should've opted out of the holder since I have a wooden Kakimori holder I could've used, but eh...

I haven't written too much with it yet, but it does perform pretty well. It writes a fine line, and when I tried it with a Journalize shimmer ink, the shimmer was well-distributed throughout the writing sample, though that could be more due to the ink itself rather than the nib performance, not sure. I used it for a journal entry using a shading ink sample, Troublemaker Kilom-Kilom, and it worked well in that scenario, too. My only discomfort was that I was dipping into a sample vial and had to contend with stray ink getting on the handle. I definitely need a better inkwell set up when I write with the glass nib for longer sessions.

I admit my experience with glass nibs is limited, since my only other glass dip pen is by Komamono (the Fonte glass dip pen). And I'm not even sure if the tip is actually glass or if it's acrylic... 🤔 It writes a little too broadly for my tastes, no matter how carefully I wipe off the ink. The Kakimori writes more finely, even though it can still dump a little too much ink after a fresh dip.

One annoyance is that when I put the glass nib into the mini holder, it seems immovable now. 😒 I might be able to pry it out with some pliers around the metal base, but for now I'll leave it.

Namisu Ixion Pocket

Namisu has been releasing a lot of their pens in a rainbow anodized color way they call Petrol. I bought one directly from their site a long time ago, the Namisu Horizon (note to self, move older fountain pen posts to this site!) after finding out about it, and then bought more from their Kickstarter projects; first the Nova Pocket, then the Ixion Pocket.

I have quite a few rainbow anodized pens (and am actually missing a couple in the picture that are stored away – a Hongdian Rainbow Forest, and a TWSBI Diamond 580 Iris); they're my jam! 😀

With the Ixion Pocket, I opted for a few add-ons: a Bock titanium EF nib (the pen came with a Bock steel F nib) since they're hard to find standalone, a Kaweco folding converter, and a JoWo section, in case I want to really switch nibs up.

Both the Nova and Ixion Pocket are titanium pens, but the Ixion is thinner and feels lighter. I haven't weighed them to see how they actually compare, but the design of the Ixion is narrower and feels lighter to me. I don't recall if the two pens have different finishes, but the Ixion has a soft touch to the metal, almost as if it has that soft touch rubberized coating like on some electronics. The cap may have a plastic liner that makes posting the cap feel solid without needing threads on the back, and doesn't worry me that the pen body will get scratched. The Nova Pocket is a very metal-on-metal feeling when capping and posting, but it's not uncomfortable or grating. It feels like you're handling an ancient artifact. 😀

I filled the Ixion Pocket with Birmingham Pen Company Sterling Silver. It's an interesting cool grey which strangely goes on wet as a violet/mauve color and dries to a cool silver grey, which in some lighting kind of looks pencil-like. Even though the nib is EF, I can still see nice shading in the ink.

For both pens, I am still getting used to using them, but I thought I'd post "quick" initial impressions for reference whenever I get around to a longer-term follow up. Any comments or questions? You can comment here, or catch me on Mastodon or Bluesky.