Throwback Thursday: First of Firsts (Pilot/Namiki Vanishing Point + Pilot Blue)

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For the first Throwback Thursday, I thought it would be fitting to share the first hand-written fountain pen review that I ever did.  It was also the first ink review.  And for that matter, the first paper review (barely).  In other words, it was the First of Firsts.  

I was originally inspired to create pen and ink reviews while mass-consuming entire libraries of past videos from Brian Goulet  and Pen Addict podcasts with Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley.  I didn't really know what I intended to do with them except to maybe personally refer back.  

Over the past 1-2 years I have filled up more than a few Rhodia No. 16 pads.  In the back of my mind I wanted to share these somehow but I never had time or energy to do it.  So, here we go.

I look back at this "first review" and it's quite laughable.  Literally, I was a noob and had no idea what I was writing about at the time.  I unpacked the pen and was excited to try it.  I popped in the stock blue ink cartridge and that was it.  I recall that the pen didn't write as smooth as I imagined (likely because I hadn't flushed it) and the Pilot blue was not that inspiring of a colour.  It performed well but didm't excite me.

I'll do a more detailed article on my experience with the Vanishing Point at some point so I'll forgo the details for now.

Pen:        Namiki Vanishing Point Raden, 14K M
Ink:         Pilot Blue cartridge
Paper:    Rhodia No. 16 grid

Handwritten Review

First of Firsts

This is the first ink review,  it's also the first paper test and first pen test!  Lots of firsts!  Hooray!

So I think after scribbling for a day (few/couple hours) the nib has settled down.  It writes very smoothly on this Rhodia paper.

This ink cartridge came with the pen and, I think it is quite nice already.  It's pretty smooth (though I really have no point of reference).

It certainly dries very quickly in this paper,  I think it has some nice shading going on.  But I can't wait to try the Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.

Closing comments
You can tell that I was listening to the back-catalogue of the the Pen Addict podcasts when Myke and Brad were getting into Vanishing Points and Pilot Iroshizuku inks.   I had also read more than a few glowing reviews on Kon-Peki.  I was excited to get a bottle of Kon-Peki to try.  But I was even more excited to try a fountain pen for the first time so I had opted to simply pop in the stock blue cartridge for ease.