A refillable glass piston filler

Just a quick blog post about a Kickstarter that was funded last year: Winkpens.

(Image © Winkpens)
(Image © Winkpens)

It’s basically a piston filler, but instead of using a traditional nib it features a glass nib (think glass dip pen).

I have seen similar pens from the 1950s and earlier, but I assume these were fountain pens that have been modified to hold a glass nib, not pens built specifically for this purpose.

One of the advantages of this nib is that you can write or draw using many more liquids, not just ink – the founder covers this topic in their FAQs. Winkpens is using the example of writing using wine. I guess you will have less problems when writing with wine than when writing with wine based ink [1]My wine ink from De Atramentis got very thick after a while, but luckily I got a free replacement.. The idea of writing using alternative liquids reminds me of a recent blog post from Scribbler, looking at the use of ‘dirty water’ in broad edged or pointed pens.

My understanding is that the pens are already being manufactured and that they will ship in April. The Kickstarter is over, but they are now being offered on Crowd Supply.

 


I believe that the use of the image shown in this blog post falls under “fair dealing” as described by the UK Copyright service.

References

References
1 My wine ink from De Atramentis got very thick after a while, but luckily I got a free replacement.

3 thoughts on “A refillable glass piston filler”

  1. Hmmm… I dunno… I rather thought that the appeal of a glass pen lay in its let’s-pretend-we’re-shooting-a-period-movie kind of quaintness… and that the dipping back and forth was rather necessary for that… but maybe there are people who want their glass pens to be effective and hassle-free too?

  2. Pingback: Just another pen ?!Blick über den Tellerrand vom 5. March 2016 - Just another pen ?!

  3. Thanks for your comment. I wouldn’t have guessed that the point you made re period movie feel i part of the appeal, but it’s a good point.
    Winkpens seems to emphasise the ability to write or draw using many liquids other than ink. I can see the temptation, but I haven’t tried a glass pen, so can’t really comment (I actually bought one in Manchester maybe 12 years ago, but it magically got lost (stolen?) before I reached home).

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