Abaloney revisited / Scriptorium Pens Idyll Custom Fountain pen [REVIEW]

Scriptorium Pens Idyll Custom Fountain Pen in Johnathan Brooks ‘White Abalone’ custom resin
$321USD
Currently Inked: Troublemaker Inks ‘Abalone’ (Phidon Pens)
Name: Tristan

Wait…did I just pronoun my pen? Yes I did. Actually, I thought about this for a while, ever since I knew my pen was ready to be turned, I thought that I had to do it. I’ve decided to name my pen. His name is Tristan. After the opera Tristan and Isolde. To be honest, I have no idea where it came from, but it was, for whatever reason, the first name that popped into my head as I turned the pen in my hands, examining the bronze Excalibur pen clip and the soft swirls of a brooks Abalone blank. Officially the first custom pen I ordered for myself, I’m happy to finally be writing this review! Let’s get to it.

Looks
Does this pen look super awesome? It’s a dream!

There’s no denying the initial allure and charm this pen gives. A Jonathan Brooks ‘White Abalone’ staple blank cannot go wrong. I put an order for this custom pen from Renee at Scriptorium pens sometime in May of 2020. It was about a year’s wait for the pen, but I had been browsing for a custom pen in this blank for a while and it just felt like it was time to just make a decision!

The full details of my custom order included a black oxide steel Jowo nib and a bronze ‘Excalibur’ pen clip. I also requested that the top and bottom be flattened from the standard ‘Idyll’ style pen from Scriptorium’s selections. Lastly, to add a personal touch, I also requested some additional notches in the cap and base for some flourish.

That’s the fun part about a custom though, right? You can pretty much request exactly the pen that you prefer, in the colour/blank of your choosing with the nib size you jive with. Since I was fairly new to the whole ordeal, it was a bit daunting. Renee was super nice throughout the whole process and while ultimately landing the pen in my hands around December of 2021, it was a very fun and enjoyable experience.

Side tangent, within a month or two of me putting in this order, I ended up acquiring two additional customs on an impulse whim purchase. These weren’t technically custom since they were readily available maker pens that I happened to scroll by on Instagram. These of course were my Tailored Pen Company Tiffany Stained Glass and Atelier Lusso in Teal Agate.

Back to Tristan. This pen is on the slender side which I think fits my hand quite well. The flat tops and custom notches really made me feel like this pen was my own. It does make me quite happy every time I look at it. I will say that the ‘white’ of the ‘white abalone’ blank only really shows through when shone with really bright light or daylight. Otherwise, the pen errs on the side of the blues, purples and dark streaks resulting in less contrast. Unfortunately, once again with a custom resin, it appears my ink is staining the grip section, appearing slightly purple.

Tristan came in a Rickshaw single pen sleeve. These are not aesthetically my cup of tea, but boy do they feel protective. It’s like wrapping your precious pen in a comfortable armoured pillow. The inside lining of fuzzy faux fur is probably what makes me feel like my pen will really be happy inside this pillow. Otherwise, in terms of packaging, I don’t recall anything significant, nor was I expecting it to me.

The ‘abalone’ name to the blank is of course just a name to imply what the colouration and swirls are inspired by. Compared to real abalone shell, it’s actually not that similar. I have only one other such pen, my Abaloney, and I decided to share the comparison stage with a few of the other customs I have. 🙂

Feel
Even after all these years of being a fountain pen enthusiast, I admit I am only now beginning to understand the slight nuances of pen feel. If I were to go back and look at my earliest reviews, I might cringe with how little I knew about pens. I do think a lot of pen knowledge and understanding just has to be experienced and a lot of it is just how one feels when using or looking at pens.

Using an instrument like a fountain pen is so much on a personal level because every person has different qualities and preferences. Those with larger hands could find much more comfort in using a large or wider pen, while those with longer fingers might enjoy a girthier grip. Those with smaller hands could find preference with slimmer pens. etc, etc.

I have found over the years that I prefer thinner pens less than I thought I would. At the same time, I can’t really use a heavier or thicker pen for long because it puts more strain on my wrist. Being an artist, I also use my pens to doodle a lot, so I found I actually prefer smaller nibs with the grip closer so that I have more control. More on that later.

All that being said, do I know what my exact preferences are? NOPE. It’s been years and I still just go down the route of enjoying the process of discovery more than just simply knowing what my hand prefers. You’d think I’d have more of an inkling of what I wanted when ordering a fully custom pen. But at the end of the day, I liked the material and I liked the options and I wanted to support a maker! The black oxide addition on the classic Jowo nib was also a nice touch.

Now back to the actual feel of the pen. The weight is nice, and overall feel when using is pretty good for me. The nib is solid and reliable as steel Jowos go, and the pen wrote right from the start every time I filled it up. No start/stop issues and it wrote pretty consistently everytime. Everything about the pen is very solid and rigid due to the nib experience. There is little to no spring in the nib, but that was what I expected of a steel Jowo.

Because of my obsession with my cheap pilot penmanship, I think I do prefer the control that comes from smaller nibs. The #6 size is just bigger than I’d prefer, despite so many of my pens coming in that size! For larger nibs like this, I actually tend to use them more for sketch doodling rather than tight controlled doodling. That means I don’t hold the pen with the pinch or fist grip I’ve mentioned in the past (pictured), but hold the pen wayyy back onto the barrel behind the grip. Don’t ask me how that works for me, it just does. You can see even in fist grip (second image), I’m not even holding the pen fully at the grip.

My review doodle stemmed from two inspirations. One from Peter Draws – absolute mastermind of doodling the most wonderous and random things. And the other from my interpretation of abalone swirls. I just imagined the pen blank swirls as part of a cave complex with rainbow liquid gushing amidst the craggy openings. Tristan, holder of the one and only Excalibur waits embedded in the abalone rock face for the right user to come along and wield him.

Ok enough storytelling. I really like this pen, and I want to love it because I ordered it just for me, but I have one major gripe with it! The twist cap untwisting has way too much friction. It makes the pen feel sturdy and sealed, but it’s too much resistance and I feel like I have to move a mountain before I can enjoy my pen. I’ve found myself leaving it uncapped just so I don’t have to cap and re-cap it again and go through the gruelling effort. I’ve discussed my preference for caps that untwist with ease and with as few turns as possible in previous posts (the Opus 88 Koloro for one). I think it’s because I don’t sit down for long writing or drawing sessions, but rather short bursts, which require me to cap pens on and off on the regular. I will continue cycling this pen in for monthly inked, but it’s probably better served as eye candy in my pen drawer than as a daily use instrument.

Value

This is not an inexpensive pen. Nor are many custom pens by pen makers out there. I think it takes a considerable amount of thought and introspection (unless you’re fortuitous enough to be frivolous with your disposable income ^_^) to decide on ordering one. I heard recently on the Gourmet Pens Club podcast that custom pens were just ‘pretty writing sticks’. Not wrong, it is essentially what they are. And I think I am quite content and glad I picked up the few I have now. Was this particular custom worth it? I think so. I had a pleasant experience, received a pen that was wholly my own, and it functions just as many of my manufactured pens do.

Seeing value in a pen can be very subjective for custom pens in particular. They’re pain stakingly made by hand by someone and having lovingly hand-sanded our marble keyboards, I can completely relate to the labour of love put into these pieces of art. I love that makers exist and that these pens are available. I don’t think I am far down the rabbit hole enough to drown myself in them though.

Conclusion

Pros

• Beautiful custom and unique material
• Custom requests including flat tops and notches
• Excalibur pen clip
• Writes well and feels solid

Cons

• Not inexpensive
• Cap turning is really tight and not smooth
• Material can stain depending on what ink you use

Ink

What better ink pairing than an ink named ‘Abalone’ by Troublemaker inks (one of my more recent favourite acquisitions) in a pen with a blank named ‘White Abalone’! I’ve discussed this ink before, actually in last year’s Bloggiversay (it’s coming up very soon!). I really like this one, especially the shading. The colouration is also really pretty and I do think it’s a nice match with the pen. The ink is on the dryer side, but it flows well and I have had little to no trouble trying it in multiple pens despite what the brand name implies.

Thanks for reading and enjoying my blog! I once again took a lot of photos, so here’s a gallery.

Cheerio~