I was scared.

So so scared…

…when this beast landed on my door mat. Is it a police baton? No. Is it a dildo? No.

It’s a PEN, apparently.

And it is MASSIVE. That is not something I often say.

Thanks to Jake for sending his Streamline model around the United Inkdom crew to review; I’m honoured to get my hands on a pen the same size as a small person!

 

Vital Stats

 

• Streamline Pen Model
• £148
• Made of ebonite (which is creepily warm to touch)
• Psychedelic section acrylic in green and blue swirls (groovy baby, yeah!)
• 150mm long capped
• 130mm uncapped
• Diameter at widest point 18mm (a heffer this one!)
• Steel medium Bock nib. EF – B available
• Cartridge converter fill
• Comes with own velvet pen sleeve – nice touch

Made by the delectable Jake Lazzari of Jake Lazzari Designs / Applied Pens on Etsy. He has a range of different hand made pens available, including an awesome looking desk pen that resembles an Alien wand! He also makes candlesticks, bottle openers and ominous sounding ‘vessels’ – check out his work. Top fella!

 

The Body

The ebonite is beautiful, and I love the slightly conical shape; it looks the business. The section feels good to touch and the aggressive step down is far enough away from the nib that I don’t notice it when writing. Jake’s craftsmanship is also apparent as all threads, lines and curves are painstakingly smooth.

Yet, it’s MAHOUSIVE. It’s so big, it is difficult for me to hold (that’s what she said). But seriously, I found it uncomfortable to write with as my hand was dwarfed by it and the balance didn’t work with my delicate lady fingers. This is nothing against the hard work that went into creating this pen, it’s just an acquired taste size wise. I’d try before you buy if you can. Or ask a police officer to hold his hitty stick. It’s about the same.

The Nib

It’s a Bock, so the Ronseal of nibs: does exactly what it says on the tin. Mine was a medium/fine, wrote a little dry, and was nothing to write home about (geddit?). A decent writer but nowt special.

BUT what is special, is that it is a standard number 6 size nib. You could put a titanium one in it, a gold one in it, hell you could even try a flex nib. I think a custom nib in a custom pen could really make this big boy sing!

The Verdict

Massive props to Jake for sending his work to review. The Streamline is beautifully made, and all his pen models look really interesting. A commission piece would be incredible, and I think the £130-150 mark for handmade pens is pretty reasonable.

That said, this humongous beast of a pen is too much for me to handle, and the nib wasn’t the greatest ever. But I’m just a weakling girl, so don’t trust my opinion…;)!

What do you think of big pens?!

Keep those nibs mucky!