PEN REVIEW: Montegrappa Espressione

So pretty.  So sleek and modern. A great profile. This Montegrappa Espressione is quite the looker!

And..it has a screw-to-post cap – Mr. Pentulant loves that.

Montegrappa is a well-respected line, many people love their pens. I don’t love this. In fact, I pretty much hate it. How is that even possible?

See the metal grippy part? (Grown ups call the the Section or Gripping Section.) It’s metal. And it’s omg, too short. Which means that my finger is resting on the threading. Which means it hurts. Bad.
And. It’s heavy. Too heavy. When posted (as it’s clearly meant to be), it’s unbalanced and gross.
No likie.
But man, it’s pretty.
Here is my written review.  Click to make it bigger.
In an act of unselfish love, I offered the pen to Mr. P. And even though he loves him a screw-to-post pen and he agrees the Espressione is gorgeous, he rejected this pen, too!
I’m going to ponder a bit on what to do with this pen. I won’t write with it again. Mr. P won’t use it either. Seems a shame to let it hang around here with no love when someone else would probably love to have it.
Will keep you posted on how this one plays out!
But tell me your thoughts – have you tried this pen? Have you given away pens you would never use?

INK REVIEW: Diamine – Syrah

Still recovering from the holidays here and wrapping up a few pre-scheduled reviews before diving into new and exciting things!

Syrah from Diamine is a berry nice shade. Kinda red-purple. Deep plum. And by now, everyone knows how I feel about “mixed shades” of ink. I’m not a huge fan.

Here’s the ugly. Major fail. (Those of you who watch “How I Met Your Mother” may now salute. Those of you who have no clue about which I speak may also salute. Major Fail – get it?)  Anyway, major fail = water test. Even the tiny droplet test (where the “ro” in “from” should be) faded this color into nothingness.

I used a dip pen and Syrah performed well enough. No big complaints, but no big compliments either.

Look at that compare square?  I do think if the writer is looking for something dark, but different, this could work (as long as one never nears the water).

It was a little wet as you can see in the Smear Here – but not intolerable.

Overall, I’d give Syrah from Diamine a good solid C. It would work, but I’m not in love. In looking at other reviews after I wrote this one – this is a popular ink. People love it and its color. Consider me the dissenting reviewer.
Such a contrarian.
What do you think? Love it?