The remarkable Islander pen by Fosfor of India

by Vaibhav Mehandiratta

 

Islander - In the wild

Well this particular pen, ISLANDER from Fosfor Pens was love at first site when I actually saw it in person at Delhi Pen Meet. I had seen lot of Islanders in the Wood online but never saw one in polycast resin. Rishminder was the guy at pen meet who had the pen made out of polycast resin in tri colors of Indian Flag and i must complement Manoj Deshmukh of the wonderfully executed job.

And trust me friends, it was love at first sight. I ordered the pen that very day and waited patiently for 3 weeks while going through the process of selecting colors, clips and bands. It was an amazing experience dealing with him and thus it led me to ordering few more pens from him.

This review is about the Fosfor Islander. (Islander being named because it was first commissioned by a person who lived on an island)

DESIGN & BUILT: 05/05

Where shall I start ? Actually I was speechless when I first saw the pen. It’s such a beauty. It arrived in a very nice cardboard package which actually is a nice case for this big pen. The pen box is the only area where the branding is done and you won’t find the branding anywhere else.

 

Islander - Glamor shot

The pen is made of polycast acrylic resin which Manoj Deshmukh of Fosfor pen casts himself and thus you have the flexibility of having the pen in any color mix you want. And I actually wanted something brownish orange with white as a base and Manoj has produced a beauty.

Close up

As far as the finish is concerned, I can find not even a single fault. It’s supremely well finished, not even a single lathe mark. I can even go to an extent of saying that the pen is the best finished pen of India. The quality of the resin is superb though I believe that being acrylic it is brittle. So care is needed in that regards. Its an eye-candy for sure.

As far as design is concerned it’s a beautifully designed and executed pen. It’s a straight cylindrical pen with barrel tapering at bottom. The cap top and barrel bottom have soft rounded edges. Below are a few images which might help in understanding the design:

Capped

Uncapped

Detail

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The cap top and barrel bottom have subtle protrusion i.e. they are raised. Clip is springy and stiff and like the fact the bottom is raised for easy clipping. The band above the clip is above has intricate design and is made of pure Silver.

Cap top view

Cap side view - intricate silver band

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Below are the few images of the pen showing comparison with other pens:

Fosfor Islander vs. Ranga Model 4C vs. Italix Parson's Essential vs. Pilot 78G - Capped

Fosfor Islander vs. Ranga Model 4C vs. Italix Parson's Essential vs. Pilot 78G - Uncapped

Fosfor Islander vs. Ranga Model 4C vs. Italix Parson's Essential vs. Pilot 78G - Side View

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I love this pen and soooo beautiful. And this has taken place in my top 5 pens with steel nibs.

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BALANCE: 04/05

It’s a perfectly balanced pen when writing uncapped and unposted. But for me it becomes quite large and uncomfortable when cap is posted at back. Yes the cap posts quite securely.

The pen length is 149mm when capped and 133mm when uncapped.

Below are images of the pen showing comparison of writing with cap unposted and posted.

 

Writing unposted

Writing Posted 

Since it's a long pen I don’t think there is any need for posting cap.

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NIB AND INK FILLING MECHANISM: 05/05

There were lot of nib options like JoWo, Schmidt and Ambitious and I opted for Schmidt silver monotone #6 Medium nib which is tried and tested.

Nib unit - angled view

Nib unit - top view

Nib unit - side view

Nib unit - bottom view

 

The ink filling mechanism is via converter and cartridge mechanism. It can also be used as eyedropper:

Cartridge filling mechanism

Can be used as eyedropper - showing inner side of cap at top and barrel bottom

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This pen writes beautifully and writes wet and is perfect for shading inks. Below are a few images which show the handwritten review along with test of wetness and line variation.

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CONCLUSION:

This pen is available starting from 70USD and is available in different materials like wood, ebonite, acrylic resin.

It is my top favorite pen. No.1 in my top favorites, followed closely by Ranga Model 4C. Just to tell you all that this is completely handmade pen. Kudos to Mr. Deshmukh. Thank you.

 

by Vaibhav Mehandiratta

Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Vaibhav's Blog

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