Just Arrived: Danitrio Bat

[ronw]

The Danitrio Komori Bat I ordered about a month ago arrived a few days ago. What a gorgeous pen. I was expecting a work of art, but it beats my expectations. There is such a wide range of Maki-e styles on this one pen - just adds to the intrigue for me.

 

 

 

I had no special reason to get a Danitrio at all. I felt I should have (at least) one "high art" fountain pen. I looked at the available Nakaya maki-e pens, but the one I selected sold _two hours before I called to buy it_. I was determined to not wait six months for a pen, so I branched out and looked at the Danitrios. I could immediately remove the $30,000 pens from consideration, which narrowed the field considerably.

 

Actually, my budget was far below that. I wanted something unconventional, original, and artful. There were a few I liked, but the work of Hironobu struck me (along with a few others), especially this Komori design. (What does it say about me that I had to struggle between this and the butterfly design? Am I schizophrenic for liking both?) It was the raden eyes on one of the bats that sold me on this pen. Needless to say, in real life they sparkle in a very lively way - even better than the photos.

 

 

 

I love the choice of materials for that bat, too. It has an unconventional aspect that I just love. The other details are just as beautiful and complex:

 

 

 

 

 

My nib of choice was the soft extra-extra-fine (EEF is how it's marked on the nib).

 

 

 

The pen is fairly wet (I would estimate 7 or 8 out of 10), so the line quality is not quite where I want it to be. I'm going to send it back and get that adjusted to a dryer state - just enough to make a good line, but thinner, just enough ink. Right now, the ink comes out enough to pool at times - which makes for gorgeous shadings in the color saturation, but that's not what I want out of this pen. (Yep - I'm taking a perfectly perfect pen and having it modified. I must be nuts, but I really do like a very fine line...) The "handling" on this pen is very much that of a sports car; nimble, smooth, goes exactly where I want it to.

 

I am not terribly artful about my writing, but here is a writing sample anyway. Note that the pen is very good at shading...some parts are thin, some are more saturated/darker, mostly due to speed changes on my part.

 

 

 

The pen is also an interesting choice for drawing. I did a very quick sketch of a face - this type of drawing is a good test for a pen. First, can it keep up with the rapid drawing speed? Does it glide well over the paper (anything scratchy makes it impossible to do such ad-hoc sketches)? Is the line quality expressive and interesting? Does the pen and nib stay out of the way and avoid intruding into the drawing process? I want to focus on what I'm drawing, not the instrument.

 

The answers were all good. Looking at the drawing (and having just done that writing sample, I'm really thinking I may be nuts if I have the ink flow altered. It's pretty good. But I can't help wanting to know...

 

 

[OTDoc]

Wow! :puddle: :puddle: Just wow! Congratulations.

[Earthdawn]

WOW is right

 

Those pictures show just how awesome that pen is.

 

Love the eyes... and I agree, that would push me to it.

 

Question; is it an eyedropper or convertor?

[ronw]

WOW is right

 

Those pictures show just how awesome that pen is.

 

Love the eyes... and I agree, that would push me to it.

 

Question; is it an eyedropper or convertor?

 

Thanks. It's a converter pen. The physical Danitrio model is the Takumi.

[Painterspal]

Wow, what a super pen. The Takumi is a fabulous model - just right in so many ways - and I love the bats. I'm sure it will give you long service and a great deal of pleasure.

[ronw]

Wow, what a super pen. The Takumi is a fabulous model - just right in so many ways - and I love the bats. I'm sure it will give you long service and a great deal of pleasure.

 

This is a bigger pen than I've used before. I have a lot of vintage pens; the largest pen I've used was the Nakaya Naka-ai, and it's no giant. I was surprised at how comfortable the pen is. The nib is also the longest I have; my fingers are well away from the paper, which I thought might interfere with control. I suppose I have a little less control, but I really like the loose feel with a longer nib. The whole experience is very balanced and free; I wrote five (big) notebook pages today (a complete short story) with this pen and I felt zero fatigue. (I was startled at then end, when I flipped back to see how much I'd written.)

 

The Takumi (let alone the maki-e) is an easy pen to love. It sounds risky, but I really want this pen to be my daily carry. I will probably get another Danitrio, without the fancy stuff, for that job, however. It's just a question of when.

[persco]

That's a pretty beautiful pen! Not sure I can get into the animal motifs on the Danitrios and Nakayas, for myself. I generally prefer things less adorned. But I can certainly appreciate the skill and beauty. Plus, I like bats. So this is cool. Thanks for posting.

[JLS1]

Great pen - thanks for sharing this with us! So now that you bought the pen, are you going to get the requisite secret lair below your house complete with Batmobile, Batwing and Batboat?

[jde]

<snip snip> There were a few I liked, but the work of Hironobu struck me (along with a few others), especially this Komori design. (What does it say about me that I had to struggle between this and the butterfly design? Am I schizophrenic for liking both?) It was the raden eyes on one of the bats that sold me on this pen. Needless to say, in real life they sparkle in a very lively way - even better than the photos.

 

We all have a place inside us for butterflies and bats.

 

There's something about those raden eyes, yes! Just a touch of raden, a bit of a surprise, appeals to me a lot. The one Danitrio maki-e pen I have is the Fellowship pen, and it is often part of my "daily carry."

 

Congratulations on your delightful new pen!

 

 

 

[marie9999]

Congratulations! Beautiful pen and as jde so eloquently put it - "We all a place inside us for butterflies and bats."

 

Enjoy! Please let us know how the adjustment works out...

[ridiculopathy]

Congratulations on such a stunning pen!

 

One look at those raden eyes and I'm already getting tempted.

[Sblakers]

Beautiful pen. Congrats !!!

[renpei]

Nice pen!

[hari317]

[TomJKT]

I'm speechless! Congratulations!

[ronw]

Congratulations! Beautiful pen and as jde so eloquently put it - "We all a place inside us for butterflies and bats."

 

Enjoy! Please let us know how the adjustment works out...

 

The pen is back. Wow - the tuning is so perfect for my needs. It can now write a very, very thin hairline, or a nice thick line for emphasis. It's not the same as a flex pen; it's expressive in a different way, doesn't move from one to the other in the same way.

 

When I am writing with a light hand, I get interesting variability - it just happens. With a slight increase in pressure, I get a M to B line. The pen manages to be quite pleasantly wet, enough to give me ink saturation variations as well as line width. Amazing range of expression!

 

A brief handwriting sample attached.

 

Edited May 16, 2013 by ronw

[georges zaslavsky]

huge congrats

[JustWrite Pen Company]

Stunning. It truly is a work of art.