Fountain Pen: Edison Nouveau Fall 2018 - Galaxy Edition

Among fountain pen websites, there’s one that fountain pen nerds seem to appreciate the most. Goulet Pens is probably the best online source for information about fountain pens and for purchasing pens and other accoutrements. They have been making pens in conjunction with Edison in their own limited edition colors and designs. There’s a sense of uniqueness and care that you just don’t feel from other vendors. It’s really nice to have an educational resource and vendor that cares about our small community. Free shipping to APO’s is also really appreciated when I’m traveling overseas for work.

Typically I restore antique fountain pens, but this time I decided I would treat myself to a new fountain pen, which I haven’t done in about 4 years. I’m going to be working on my novel while I’m deployed overseas and I wanted to help keep myself excited with a new pen. I hand write nearly everything, mostly because I know I can’t second-guess myself and hit “ctrl-alt-delete". When it comes to writing, I’m a fan of Fine or Extra Fine nibs, but these nibs can oftentimes be scratchy and difficult to use with a dry ink. When properly tuned, a nib will glide smoothly over paper and deliver a satisfyingly wet line of ink onto the paper. Contrarily, a pen and ink combination can deliver too much ink onto the page which will lead to feathering, showthrough, and bleedthrough.

With this fountain pen, I decided to couple it with an ink from one of my favorite companies, Noodler’s Legal Blue. It’s a chalky, blue-grey ink that has a lot of character and is considered a “bulletproof” ink. This means that the ink forms a permanent bond with cellulose and is impossible to remove. Yes, I’ve ruined a shirt before with one of these inks when I spilled ink from my eyedropper. I can assure you that this ink is very permanent

NIB: After writing a few pages, I’m really happy with the nib. The writing experience is on par with some of the nicer nibs that I’ve used over the past decade, including some 14k gold nibs. Goulet’s EF nib isn’t quite as thin as an Asian EF, but it actually lays down a fairly thin line. It turned out to also be a good pairing with the Noodler’s ink, which didn’t feather… even on cheap copier paper. Even though the looks there are other factors that can influence the writing process, he nib is the most important pen about writing with a fountain pen.

LOOKS: The colors used in the resin are dark blue and purple set into a black base with some white highlights. This makes for a bright pen that is interesting without being obnoxious. I’m a fan of subdued colors, but this is a happy exception. The silver clip and nib accentuate the color balance very well. When light hits the resin, the pen almost seems to glow.

DURABILITY & BALANCE: The resin is thick, yet surprisingly translucent, and seemingly illuminates in sunlight. The pen has some weight to it, but doesn’t feel like a workout after a two-hour writing session. Additionally, the pen holds a good amount of ink with a standard cartridge converter inside. I love a good eye-dropper barrel because of the sheer volume of ink that can be contained within, but this is not a pen I would convert (by removing the ink cartridge converter.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: The pen is on the slightly bolder side of color designs and I’m really happy with my purchase. There’s not much that I could complain about and I’m honestly surprised I waited this long before getting one of these. Final shoutout to the Goulet nib. I may get another one to make this pen more versatile.