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Lotus is a new brand to the Indian handmade pens scenario. It has carved a niche for itself, crafting high quality pens from high quality materials. They are priced well for what they offer. I got one after great thought and I'm happy to say its worth all the hype it has been getting. Design and Material I knew I had to get a Lotus. I knew I had to get a Lotus in the Honey Dew Celluloid. But what I did not know was which model to get. Finally, I decided on a design based on the Churchill, and I couldn't be happier. I am a huge admirer of the Churchill by Conway Stewart but since that pen isn't affordable for me, I got one made based on it. This design for some reason shows off the Honey Dew material much better than any other design (in my opinion). It is a flat shaped pen with a small taper towards the end on the barrel. The top finial has ridges on it which I love. The first trim ring appears just below it and then comes the clip. Then there's a wider trim ring above the cap lip. Right where the taper begins on the barrel, is another trim ring. And then the last one is at the section threads. I asked for all brass trim but some of it was gold plated but it wasn't hard for me to sand it down and polish it so that now all's just brass. The clip originally had a pseudo diamond like end which I shaped into a sharper diamond shape. The Honey Dew celluloid is a beast in itself. It's a deep black with flame like orange and red flecks. It looks like a flame caged in the belly of a pen. The only branding is done on the clip and on the nib (the branding on the clip got sanded off while I was removing the gold plating). In sunlight, the pen looks like it's gonna ignite. I love the way this pen looks. Construction and Quality The Lotus Churchill is the best made Indian pen I have in my collection but I still feel it can be improved. The polishing is great but the finishing is where things go a bit off track. There are a few lathe marks here and there and the section has a poor polish. I'm pretty sure this isn't captured in my pictures though. But not all's bad. I would rate their making miles above many makers in India (with due respect to all). The quality of materials seem pretty good and only time can tell how it'll all hold up. The trim rings are all nice and thick. One thing I would say is that the nib unit was screwed in too tight and that caused the feed to crack inside the unit while I tried to unscrew it for cleaning. I couldn't take screw out the unit since there was nothing protruding that would let me unscrew it. Lotus was prompt to offer a new section but I managed somehow managed (with tips from some of my friends) to screw the cracked unit out by using a knockout block to first get the broken feed out and then use a screwdriver to remove the collar. This deemed the unit useless but the nib was unharmed. I just took a new unit and slathered a ton of silicone grease and now it screws and unscrews just fine. Filling Mechanism It's a good old CC. Uses any international converter. Mine came with the Schmidt K5. It is a convenient mechanism and works well. I also put in an agitator ball from a cartridge just so that I won't end up with any air gaps inside. You can see a hint of the metal part o the converter in the following photo. Comfort This is no small pen. It borders on the oversize and that's exactly what appeals to me. Its tall enough to be used unposted and the balance is pretty much perfect. I would prefer a tiny bit more heft. Maybe a metal threads insert at the section might help. The section first has a taper towards the nib and then a small flare up. It is gently curved and is very comfortable to hold. Writing Ah, the most important part of a pen. I'm have to say that this was the most disappointing part for me. Lotus offers stock grinds with their pens and I had asked for a #6 JoWo gold tone CI with the intention of making it a two tone nib and was very excited for it. What I received was a flimsy stub that had a triangle shape and a TON of scratch. Under the loop, I could make out the tines being off alignment and once I had aligned them, it wrote okay. It was still feedback. I had to then grind the nib to make it write the way I liked. I couldn't make a cursive italic out of it due to the shape but managed an uber smooth stub. I was much happier but for some reason, the nib doesn't seem to connect with the pen. I'll be getting a regular broad at some point and use that in this pen. The #6 nib is a good match but it does deserve a bigger nib, but I don't really have the funds for that so I'll live with this. (The stub I ground) (Writing sample) Wrapping Up Its a pen that I love. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good quality celluloid pen. It does have a few flaws here and there, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. Edit 1: I forgot to mention that the material is see through at the orange flecked parts.

I just recovered from influenza but I am so excited to tell you a story that I also just told my friends on Facebook. Around 15 years ago, Japanese Shippo artist 岡垣幸得 (Okagaki Yukie) presented me 2 big frames (1 of them is in second picture).They are handmade with Japanese Cloisonne or 七宝焼 /shippoyaki/.These two were supposed to be displayed in Museum but she chose to give to me.At that time, I thought, how wonderful it is to have this art on a fountain pen. But honestly, it seemed impossible haha.A few years later, that idea still hang over my head so I came back and talked with artist Yukie about this idea.She said "I can make a small piece of shippoyaki, but it will be harder".I was never more excited than that. I spent many more years researching and testing how I can make a fountain pen with this precious art.I tried with ebonite and plastic and celluloid but all failed. Ebonite didn't work out with piston filler mechanism I have, plastic was not a good idea for a traditional pen and celluloid is so hard to carve.But finally there was one material that made my idea become possible, it is bakelite. It is rolled up from many layer of paper.And it works best with piston filler. But most importantly, I can carve the Shippoyaki on top of the pen for forever use. Sadly, there are not many Shippo artists nowadays. I am already old and Master Yukie is also very old now but we really want to make this art continue.I would never expect that a small idea of 15 years ago would turn out to be real now. I just want to say that if we try, there will be good result. I feel thankful that master Yukie gave me this treasure.In Japanese, Shippo is written as 七宝 which means Seven Treasures. So I call this fountain pen Seven Treasures.Do you have any other name suggestion? If you might want to read more, you can go here.https://www.wancherpen.com/pages/shippoyakiI have a giveaway of one prototype for one of those who help me fill a survey about this pen.Please help if you also care about unusual arts and fountain pen. Thank you very much again!

Hello friends, how are you? Please allow me to share with an Urushi technique for fountain pen that I have been working on last three years. It is called 季映塗り or Kieinuri (季映is pronounced /ki ei/ which means seasons reflection) It is real leaf on Urushi and then gold powder and then matt Urushi. The process is double what it takes with making Urushi. In the second picture you can see the leaf veins after steaming and pounding process. Left is Camelia Japonica (さざんか）and right is Holly Olive (ひいらぎ） This is just one third way. Next is to dye with gold powder and continue with urushi coating to put on the pen. I would really appreciate any of your thought about this. Thank you very much!

Here is my latest pen I made. I'm 99% sure that it will be mine and not get sold . I'm not sure why, but the crazier the colors on a blank, the more I like it. This pen is 6 1/4" long 7 1/2" long posted pen body itself is 5 3/8" long threads are 14 x .75 and I put waaayyy too many on (takes 8 turns to put the cap on) Medium #6 Bock Nib You can't see it in the picture but I also threaded this for a K6 converter and I think that might be my new favorite. Once the converter is screwed on.... its really on there. So no worries about ink leaks. Questions and comments always welcome. Jeff.