one pen, ink, drawing and maybe a lipstick at a time

Something blue

I had been waiting for a sunny day to take photos of the Aurora Optima Flex pen, but when you live in Seattle, the sunny days are sometimes few and far between so you just have to make due.

Taking advantage of a rainy day in Seattle.

The folks over at Kenro were kind to send this lovely Aurora Optima Flex pen over for a review! This is very appreciated and super fun as I do enjoy trying out new pens.  First off, the color is perfect for this time of year, very springy!  While I’ve often said, and those that know me know…I am not a fan of blue.  This though is light blue, which is an entirely different blue altogether, right?  Maybe I’m just becoming one with blue after all.  I really like this color a lot!

When I first saw this pen, I was all hearteyes.  I really like the shape of this pen as I tend to like flat ended pens to pens with pointed or rounded ends.  It’s easy to ink it up by unscrewing the back end of the pen, dipping the nib into some ink and turning the end to draw in the ink which simultaneously closes off the piston.  I always like to invert the pen after an initial inking and tap it lightly to shift the ink in the reservoir to the back.  Carefully unscrewing the back again with the nib up squeezes the filler inside to expel the air and to make room for more ink!  The reservoir window in the body also lets you know how you’re doing inkwise so there won’t be any empty pen surprises mid sentence.

Cream Tomoe River paper, Kaweco Paradise Blue ink

A 14kt nib can lend to a smoother and softer writing experience and is the reason that I heavily lean toward them in my pens.  (Unless a steel nib is really smoothed it tends to drag on the paper a bit too much, causing fatigue for me.) The Aurora nib is 14kt gold and leans toward a semi-flex feel being soft yet firm at the same time.  With a little added pressure it easily makes every day writing look fancier than it started out and I welcome a nib that can do this.

Write it out.

It’s a good size for my hand and the thing that surprised me the most was when I tried it posted, it was nicely balanced!  I’m not one that usually posts her pens so this was quite a finding.  If you’re wondering how it compares to some other pens sizewise, please take a look at the following photos, I think you may be surprised by a couple of things.

Some of my favorite pens. Can you spot the rollerball?

The Aurora “looks” to be shorter than the Sailor ProGear and closer to the Slim size, but feast your eyes on the following:

When uncapped, the Aurora is actually longer than the Sailor.  The section is longer and wider and I think most will find the Aurora Optima to be extremely comfortable used with or without the cap posted.  The weight of the pen is light for the size which makes extended writing sessions easy. The ebonite feed kept up with my writing and didn’t disappoint.

Some will try to compare a modern flex-style nib to a vintage flex nib and there are reasons why they are different.  Vintage nibs were often forged which made them incredibly strong and flexible at the same time.  Many modern nibs are not manufactured the same way, so some of that vintage flex is lost.  The Aurora Optima gives a great writing experience for every day while some of my vintage nibbed pens produce excellent flex, but aren’t suited as well for every day writing.

It’s ironic that this picture taken in natural lighting hypercolorized the pen.  Sigh.

This is a Limited Edition color with 330 made.  You can find them at numerous authorized Aurora retailers and more information can be found at the Kenro Industries website.

Thanks to Kenro Industries for sending this pen over on loan for review! My thoughts of course are my own and I have not been compensated for this review :).



2 thoughts on “Something blue”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *