Delmoon Raden Pocket Mini Review: Gorgeous!

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

I'm not in the business of writing reviews but I haven't seen much said about this brand so I figured I'd share my experiences. 

 

 

 

 

I was tempted to get one of their pens for a while but held out, then I saw this one and could not resist. 

 

General:

 

The pen is gorgeous! It's kind of an interesting shape, short and stubby. I measured it and it came out to be around 4 7/16" long capped. It's definitely a pen you need to post to write with. Once posted it is a pretty large pen. The section is fairly big, it is almost as big as the rest of the pen. Very comfortable.

 

The pen is too short for standard converters (might fit one of those mini squeeze converters that Kaweco Sports have) but fits short standard internal cartridges just fine. I think it might work fine as an eyedropper since there are no metal parts on the inside and the body has a fair amount of threads but I don't intend to try (not a big fan of eyedropping pens) so I can't say for sure.

 

The design on this pen is absolutely gorgeous, the raden is done very precisely. I can't imagine how long it could have taken to get all those pieces of eggshell placed. 

 

 

 

Writing Experience:

 

Once again, very comfortable. It is too short to write with unposted but posted it does just fine, even a little large for me. The nib is a standard Jowo #6 but has a cool stamping/engraving on it. My experience might be biased because this is the first modern pen with a new nib I've bought in over a year and a half (and vintage nibs have... character. That's the best way of putting it.) but this nib is pretty well tuned.

 

I think the pens are all tested and tuned before shipping because mine still had a little bit of blue ink in it. I really don't mind about the ink, I'd rather a pen have a tiny bit of ink in it and be well tuned than new never touched and write poorly. Unfortunately most companies do the latter. I think the fact that the nibs are tested is a huge selling point.

 

I believe this has a pretty standard Jowo housing so if you don't like the nib you can easily change it out for one of any of the myriad Jowo options out there.

 

Extras: 

 

 

I'm a sucker for getting extra goodies with a pen so this was another positive for me. The pen came in a pretty solid hard cardboard box. It is appropriately sized which is a plus for me because I like to save pen boxes for my more expensive pens. 

 

It also came with a pen pouch, two black Pelikan cartridges, two microfiber cloths (feels like microfiber anyway), and two little notebooks which are apparently handmade. 

 

Minor Nitpicks:

 

If anyone follows my posts around here (not that you should...) you probably know that I have nitpicks and criticisms about everything. I've never come across a "perfect" pen or a perfect "anything" for that matter so don't let any of this dissuade you from getting a pen from this brand if you're otherwise interested.

 

I don't have much to say here but there are a few small things. First, the finish is very nice and the detail on the hummingbird made out of abalone shell (I think it's abalone?) and eggshell is incredibly nice but there are some areas where the lacquer has some bubbles, particularly around the ring where the clip is attached. The top of the pen (finial) has a bunch of raden as well and the lacquer there is also a tiny bit uneven. I didn't manage to get a good pic of it.

 

Second, there is a bit of a seam on the bottom part of the pen - I am guessing that the part of the pen with the raden and the bottom were done as two separate parts and then put together at the end. It's not a big deal and it is definitely more noticeable in pictures than in person.

 

I like the overall shape of the pen but I am not in love with it. You have to post this pen to write with it which makes me a little uncomfortable. At least the bottom bit doesn't have any design on it so I don't mind too much if it gets a little scuffed up.

 

My last nitpick is not with the pen but with the pen pouch. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and such, so I feel a little petty even mentioning this - the pen pouch uses velcro to stay closed. I don't like this because you have to be very mindful when taking the pen out, I am a little worried that the velcro has the the potential to scratch the pen. I think an easy fix would be to reverse the velcro patches - have the side with "teeth" be on the body of the pouch and the soft part on the top.

 

Ordering Experience and Value:

 

Pretty seamless! Delmoon Pens is located in India. If you're in India I think you can order straight from their website. I'm not, so I contacted them via WhatsApp. I got a response almost immediately even though it was around 1am or 2am in India. The owner of the company was also really responsive when I had questions about shipping and some stuff about the pen. From ordering the pen to getting it into my hands took only 8 days which was impressive.

 

Value is, in my opinion, amazing. I paid $200 + $20 shipping for this pen. I am not sure where else you can get a raden pen of this quality, with a nib that has been tested and tuned, for that amount of money. 

 

Overall/tl;dr:

 

Beautiful pen with a well performing nib for a fantastic price. That's really all that needs to be said about it at the end of the day. I think this brand deserves a lot more attention.

 

 

[jchch1950]

Thanks for the review. This is the first information that I read about Delmoon pens and Raden work made in India. The price is quite good and the nib design is very special.

[rudyhou]

👍 for the use of eggshell in design.  

[InesF]

This pen looks great. Thank you, @LoveBigPensAndCannotLie, for introducing it to us and for taking such nice macro photos from the raden details!

[LoveBigPensAndCannotLie]

Just wanted to revisit this, I haven't written with this pen in over a year, just took it out to write with it out of curiosity. The nib has definitely dried out a bit but a quick dip in water should revive it. I opened it up and the cartridge I inserted back in October 2023 has not evaporated at all. Pretty impressive cap seal! 

 

I kind of want to buy another one but none of their other designs have caught my eye. I hope they update their store with more maki-e/urushi offerings.