Pen Review: Darailz Pens Naomi
Two pen shows later I finally review it (as promised in April), and what better time than when we need a bit of color and a lot of positivity
The first time I saw Darailz Pens’ stand was at the Orlando Pen show a few years back. You’ll know when you see them; they’re the bunch with pretty, colorful pens, a selection of Colorverse inks, and the biggest smiles you’ll ever see from any vendor. Every pen show, you may notice a person or two come up to the table and sing. You sing first, you win a pen. I personally sing so poorly my own shower turns off when I try, but I’ve seen several talented individuals who have walked away with nice pens Adolphus of Darailz Pens had made just for the occasion. I’ve seen Joe, the owner of Florida Fountain Pen and the organizer of the Orlando Pen Show hold a great tune.
For those of us who are vocally challenged, there is always a slew of glorious pens to choose from and pay for, though. Once upon a time at the Triangle Pen Show in April (I can’t believe it’s been that long), when I walked up to the Darailz table, I couldn’t put down a pair of these:
Darailz Pens Darail and Naomi models.
Now, I’ve already mentioned this pen in my post about the Triangle Pen Show haul, and I said that the finish reminded me of the cover of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (20th anniversary edition), and I stand by it. That book absolutely blew the ink off my fingers, and having seen a pen that instantly brought me back to my college days when books could still very often make me cry, I knew I had to have it.
Of course, in the meantime, I learned that the blank is Varzea Cellulose Acetate (although I don’t know if The Turners Workshop is where Adolphus gets his blanks). And the blank doesn’t really necessarily have anything to do with books. I can dream though.
Onto the actual review.
The Naomi is a flat top pen that comes in both clipless and clip-ful versions; mine just so happens to have a clip. I don’t really care for clips on small makers’ pens, but I also don’t mind it here either. The pen is your standard Jowo #6 having, K5 converter having hand turned pen, but I think the craftsmanship and the material is where this pen stands out. I like that I can observe the ink level in the converter, as the material is not just white, pink, and green, but also see-through, and Adolphus definitely used that to his advantage when he was making this pen.
You can pick your own nib, and I went with the elastic fine which I later swapped with a Franklin Christoph 14k gold because why not. The elastic fine wrote perfectly well, of course. However, the nib units can be quickly unscrewed and screwed back in, so why not experiment with something more fun, I say!
The pen, when capped, is oddly slightly shorter than the TWSBI Eco, although it appears much bigger when you see it. Despite its looks, the pen is light and comfortable to use.
Left to right: Karas Kustoms Fountain K, Darailz Pens Naomi, TWSBI Eco, Drewnem Pisane Banana Pen (Orion model, fine)
I have long, thin fingers, so YMMV if yours are different — how dare we be different — but I believe most users would find this pen comfortable and a joy to both write with and look at.
Yes I swapped the nib again.
The black line you see in the picture going through the body of the pen is the converter, so your ink levels are safe, as I said.
Both the end cap and the top finial on the cap are made of a solid pink piece that was later glued on to the pen, but you can’t tell whether that’s true or not as the transition is seamless. Actually, everything feels extremely well finished, polished, and absolutely pristine. I’ve tried to find anything I don’t care for on this pen and I couldn’t. I mean, I hate green and I still picked it up.
I’m giving bonus points for the step in the cap that prevents drying out. I wish more pen makers implemented this. Basically, there’s a cap within the cap that contains the nib within the smaller chamber; less exposure to air means less drying out overall. So nifty.
So, what do I like? I like the weight and comfort of it; I like that my fingers aren’t digging into the proverbial lip at the end of the grip but also not slipping off the pen; I like the color, the polish, the finish, everything. As I said, the pen looks bigger than it is in the hand, which is great because it will fit most of your pen cases while retaining the aura of ‘big boy pen’. Now, I know that some may dislike the colorful nature of this finish, and I understand it won’t be everyone’s cup of whatever beverage you may drink. If you need a more metal approach to this pen, let’s pretend it’s all just ribcages! Zombie and human ribcages! There we go.
Generally, at one point, you may look at your collection and say hey, I have a bunch of flat top pens that unscrew and don’t post and use a Jowo #6, why do I keep getting more? Valid question. I believe that at a certain point oversaturation of the market is inevitable, so what I’m looking at this point is the materials. Or, rather, the blanks; I am not a fan of ebonite (a swine that I am), so acrylic it is. I want to see what you can do with a blank not many other people carry. I’ve never seen this blank anywhere else except, well, with Darailz Pens (in several pieces, of course, but still).
And boy did they deliver.
The invisible Naomi. The camouflage is perfect. Blends into this plant that I totally didn’t forget to water and my wife is totally not going to kill me.
All jokes aside, in my very layman opinion as a pen enjoyer and not a pen maker, I think this is a splendid looking pen and one that is going to the top then of my small makers’ pens collection specifically due to the blank and the execution combo.
What’s your opinion on wild blanks? Would you get yourself a Darailz?
I think it is gorgeous. I like my pens to post, so this would be a hard decision for me!!