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Pen Pit Stop : Edison Collier LE Red Dragon Welcome to the Pen Pit Stop. Here you will find reviews of pens that already have some mileage on them. More specifically, these reviews are of pens that are in my personal collection, and that have been in use for at least a year. I thought it would be fun to do it this way – no new & shiny pens here, but battered vehicles that have been put to work for at least a year. Let’s find out how they have withstood the ravages of time. The fountain pen that enters the pit stop today is the Edison Collier Red Dragon. This is a Limited Edition pen that was a Goulet Pens' special back in 2020. Mine is number 79 out of a 150 pens that were produced. This pen is a beauty with a stunning red & black DiamondCast resin, made by Tim McKenzie. The defining feature of Tim’s resins is the real diamond dust that is incorporated in the mix, and that is responsible for the incredible shimmer and sparkle. The picture below is taken in sunlight, and accentuates the diamond dust sparkle, but it’s also present under normal lighting conditions. I simply love the looks of this pen, and use it on a regular basis – usually filled with an ink that matches its tones. Edison Pen Co – which is situated in Huron, Ohio – is a small family business started in 2007 by Brian & Andrea Gray. They create beautiful acrylic pens that are top quality products. You really notice the love & care that these pens receive. The Collier is one of the bigger fountain pens that Edison creates. Hefty pens, but still light-weight and very comfortable pens for long writing sessions. I bought my pen in October 2020, so it’s been in use for some time now. Let’s take a closer look at it. Pen Look & Feel The cigar-shaped Red Dragon pen is made from a Tim McKenzie’s DiamondCast resin with a red and black colour pattern. Tim’s DiamondCast material is widely known for its stunning beauty, and the resin used for this red pen is no exception. On the barrel the words “Edison Pen Co – Collier” are engraved in a discrete manner. Because this is a limited edition, the individual pen’s serial number is also engraved below the logo. The only other branding is the company logo etched on the nib. The Collier pen has a sturdy silver clip ending in a ball. This comes in handy as a roll-stopper. You use the pen by removing the screw-on cap. No posting with this pen though, which is not really a problem with a large pen like this. The pen has a decent size JoWo #6 silver-toned steel nib, that works well with this large body pen. My Collier Red Dragon came originally with an M-nib, that worked well right out of the box. Brian makes sure that all nibs are tuned to perfection before shipping. And it shows – these are some of the smoothest writing nibs I have ever experienced. Simply perfect! The pictures above illustrate the size of the Edison Collier in comparison with a standard Lamy Safari. Capped and uncapped both pens are about the same size, but the Collier has a lot more girth to it. It looks and feels substantially larger than the Lamy, even though it’s the lighter of both pens. Pen Characteristics Build Quality : the pen is very well build, and polished to perfection. Mine is about two years old now, and still looks good as new. The DiamondCast resin used is definitely of high quality and retains its beauty without getting dull and losing its shine. This Red Dragon pen has aged very well. Weight & Dimensions : a fairly large pen – almost 15cm capped and 13cm uncapped. The grip section is about 1cm in diameter. Aside from nib and clip, there are no metal parts to be found. This translates to a very light pen, that is really comfortable for long writing sessions. Filling System : this is a cartridge convertor pen, that uses standard international ink cartridges. To use bottled ink, I simply syringe-fill used cartridges. Nib & Performance : the Jowo #6 steel nib is well-proportioned for the size of this pen. On the nib, the Edison company logo is engraved. All Edison nibs are tuned to perfection before being shipped. And it shows! These are some of the smoothest nibs I’ve ever seen, and they are a real pleasure to write with. I also appreciate that the nib units are easily replaceable, and can be bought separately. The steel nib units cost about 24 EUR (taxes included), and come in sizes EF, F, M, B, 1.1 and 1.5. Price : this limited edition Edison Collier cost 254 EUR including taxes, which is more expensive that the standard Collier pens. But personally, I found the price point quite acceptable for such a beautiful limited edition pen. In my opinion: excellent value for money Conclusion Edison Pen Co produces high quality pens, and this Collier LE Red Dragon is no exception. A very comfortable writer with an excellent nib - this pen is made for long writing sessions. And the Red Dragon DiamondCast resin is really beautiful – it’s definitely an eye-catcher. Needless to say that I’m glad to have this pen in my collection.

I'm currently reviewing some of my favourite Diamine inks. This is Diamine Red Dragon. I think it's a very good alternative for Montblanc Hitchcock. In fact it's more saturated. It also leans less pink than several other dark red inks. It's what I would call a blood red ink, but it isn't as dark or brownish as Diamine Oxblood. If you prefer your red inks to be a bit darker and not eye-poppingly bright red, then Red Dragon fits the bill. This ink is neither waterproof nor archival but it's water resistant.Bearing in mind the paper I use is very smooth, and I write with M and B nibs, this ink took 25-30 secs to dry.It flows quite wet, especially in broader nibs, and lubricates the nib very well so that it's smooth to write with across the paper.It is currently available in 30ml plastic bottles and 80ml glass bottles.Diamine sell it directly to end-users on their web-site.It's reasonably priced.

Hi, friends. I've got my new Custom Urushi with astonishing vermilion finish. It came with CON-70 converter, and I inked it up with Diamine Red Dragon which is one of my favorite red. The problem is that, the combination of CON-70 and Red Dragon seems to not working well. Red Dragon makes an air burble in the converter about after I write a few sentences. I tried an empty Pilot cartridge, but it doesn't help a lot. I think I should find more thinner ink rather than Diamine Red Dragon to use with CON-70. I don't consider other converters from Pilot because CON-20 uses exposed rubber sac, and CON-40 and CON-50 have so limited ink capacity. I've already flushed both the pen and converter, but it barely helped. Have you guys used this combination without any flow issue? If then, I'd buy another CON-70 to test it. If you have had some problems, I think I should find another ink with dark red color and thinner than Diamine Red Dragon. Do you have any suggestion for my case?

Made a little something on a groggy English morning... Quite pleased Autumn Oak + ~1/4 Red Dragon --> Red Oak. http://i.imgur.com/zYLiio2.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/HrGhSUp.jpg?1 I haven't really mixed any inks before, so this was a happy accident more than anything else. The result is a darkened Autumn Oak that is not so harsh to read for a long time, improved shading on Red Dragon with some orange flair, and damn great shading. Mixing two well behaved inks, the result seem to be okay -- no feathering or bleeding on Rhodia 80gsm paper. (Unfortunately this isn't super calculated so I can't give you exact amounts I used... I literally went out on a whim and decided to do this). http://i.imgur.com/lh0dOS4.jpg

Hello all, This is my first post on the FPN. I am looking for an opaque or at least very saturated with little to no shading red ink. This is mainly for use in a 6mm Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen. I've tried several colors but to no avail. I've highlighted the problem exemplars in yellow in the images below. Diamine Red Dragon is my favorite red ink, and it almost gets the job done, but it still looks blotchy in the 6mm PP: Here is Noodler's Park Red: I prefer the shade of the Red Dragon, but I need something that doesn't look splotchy when going over the same area with multiple strokes. Also, don't cringe too badly at the letter forms here, they were part of my practice . Any suggestions are very much appreciated. Also, I'm looking for a rich red pigmented ink for dip pens. I'd like something akin to sumi-e, the best I've found in that family is an orangish red though.