Conway Stewart Dinkie

June 27, 2007

I thought of adding this review (my first, by the way so please bear with me!) since there's only one review I read here on the CS Dinkie which was made by PaulK, who also recommended it in my search for small or mini fountain pens. Thanks PaulK!

I forgot to mention that pictures show the CS Dinkie Shingle with a Pelikan Souveran M300

Additional notes:

The CS Dinkie is offered as a bespoke pen at Richard Binder's website. This means that you can choose from any of CS's standard and special colors for the body.

With so many options available, it took some time for me to choose the Dinkie's color before I made my order. My choices narrowed down to the Shingle and Razorshell since both offer more colors to which I can match different inks. It was Phthalo's beautiful reviews, especially on the Aurora Optima Mini and Montegrappa Micra, that influenced me to think this way. Richard then recommended the Shingle because it will give the pen a warmer look. Thanks to Phthalo and Richard!

I first wanted to try the pen with the PR Orange Crush cart but it seemed too tight to fit. Then tried it with the JHerbin Terracotta cart which thankfully clicked into the nib. Makes me wonder if my other short carts in other brands will fit. By the way, the Terracotta ink seems to match the Shingle very well.

The nib is a duo-point or reversible nib. I chose to have it in Richard's ItaliFine which writes cursive italic when the pen is held the 'normal' way and writes fine when held inverted. The cursive italic writes smoothly while I find the fine side a bit scratchy, maybe because I'm holding it in a wrong angle or position (?). I prefer using the cursive italic which shows more shading in the ink. I switch to fine only when I have to write on small-sized paper or notebook.

Hope you'll find this review helpful. This review is my way of giving back to FPN. Cheers to FPN!

P.S. I decided to open the Moleskine Sketchbook I've been keeping as a future gift. Thought that writing my review on Moleskine, which many FPNers use or are familiar with, may help in the review. I also thought that 'collecting' FPs will be cheaper than buying gadgets. Boy, was I WRONG! Well, I just validate my purchases by telling myself that my 'investment' won't go to waste because my artsy daughter, who enjoys writing, doodling/sketching on her journals, will inherit them someday. First was the 'obsession' in small fountain pens, then the inks, then the nibs... I don't want to go into paper!

Edited October 25, 2008 by MYU

June 27, 2007

Nice purchase!

I'm sure the PR cart will fit...you might be being a bit too gentle. I'm like that with my pens - especially when they are new!

For my short cartridge filling pens, I refill Montegrappa cartridges from my ink bottles with a syringe, because the Montegrappa cartridges have a little plastic ball inside to aid ink flow - and with some inks it really helps.

(PS: Maybe it's just me, but are the links working ok in your post?)