Posts filed under Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell Design Ambition Fountain Pen Review

Faber-Castell Design Ambition Fountain Pen Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

I've had my eye on the Faber-Castell Design Ambition for ages, watching lovely limited editions come and go, but never at quite the right time for me to snag one. So I was thrilled to finally get the chance to play with one in this lovely shade of blue. I know, from the Neo and the Loom, that I like Faber-Castell nibs, though the Loom body didn't work well for me. I loved the Neo, but wanted more fun colors. This model seems to deliver on all my wishes.

Faber-Castell Design Ambition Fountain Pen

The cap and finials are a chrome finished metal, and the body is wrapped in a resin sleeve with the OpArt Sky Blue guilloche pattern. While from a distance it looks like a pale blue, up close you can see that the grooves are an almost lavender-grey color, or maybe a putty color, depending on the light. In any case, it's very visually interesting and the grooved texture makes it easy to grip.

Faber-Castell Design Ambition Fountain Pen Nib

That grippiness is an important feature, as the pen lacks a defined grip section. There's debate, in the pen world, about whether or not one is supposed to try and hold it by the wee metal nub that holds the nib housing. And you could, but I doubt it would be very comfortable. It's very small, slick, and would force your fingers onto the fairly sharp step in the resin. Holding the pen further back on the resin body works much better for me, and the texture still gives me good control of the nib.

Faber-Castell Design Ambition

The cap snaps to close and has a nicely springy clip that pivots into the cap itself, so it clips firmly and easily onto pockets or papers. The cap is etched with a faint "Faber-Castell" that doesn't intrude on the sleek design. The cap posts, but only loosely on the shallow metal end and doesn't click in place, so it may wobble or topple when writing. There is no decoration on the finials. It is all simple elegance.

Faber-Castell Design Ambition Nib

As I have experienced with all Faber-Castell pens, the steel nib is great. This one is an extra fine, and it writes with the perfect balance of fineness and wetness. It flows enough for me to enjoy the ink, but is fine enough to write in small grids or fill pages with copious class notes. It's been the pen I reach for first for school these past few weeks.

In short, this pen was worth the wait, and at $100, it's also worth the price. As pen prices are creeping up around the globe, this price starts to look better and better. It's a good quality pen for a price that's low compared to its peers. I wouldn't recommend it to folks who must post, or who hold their pens right at the nib base, but to all else, I say it's a gem.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Faber-Castell Design Ambition Writing
Posted on February 24, 2022 and filed under Faber-Castell, Fountain Pens, Pen Reviews.

Faber-Castell A5 Notebook Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

As far as notebooks go, my expectations are pretty simple. My needs can vary a great deal when it comes to size, legend (lined, grid, etc.), thickness, cover, and writing purpose, but a notebook is still a notebook at the end of the day. If I find a good notebook that I enjoy using, I don't really care what brand it is.

It seems that Faber-Castell is dipping their toes into the Moleskine / Leuchtturm waters by offering a new hardcover notebook that mimics the style of other popular brands. Seemingly every paper brand has a version of the hardcover notebook with an elastic closure and little pockets on the inside cover, but that doesn't mean they all perform well. If you're going to throw yet another notebook with almost identical specs into the pool, it better be good.

Luckily, Faber-Castell seem to have struck a fantastic balance when it comes to the paper quality in their hardcover notebook offering. It's rated as 100gsm, which is a little on the thick side, but it still feels lightweight and pliable. The writing surface is smooth with just the right amount of tactile feedback, giving you a great writing experience. With 194 pages, you also get a few more sheets than other comparable notebooks, but Leuchtturm still has them beat on this metric.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect when I opened this notebook because Faber-Castell is an unknown quantity in the notebook realm — at least in the US. I wasn't sure if it would be a serious competitor (like Blackwing's paper line) or just another half-assed copy cat meant to rake in some extra revenue through marketing hype and popular trends. I was pleasantly surprised when I started using this notebook. I found the writing experience quite enjoyable, and I would have no problem recommending this notebook to anyone.

The paper has a darker cream color than I normally prefer, but it's not too bad. The grid ink is also a bit dark for my taste, but this has more to do with the fact that I don't use grid paper very often (because dot grids are superior). I'm just not used to seeing this many lines on blank paper. But, when writing or drawing, the grids still easily get out of my way or help me stay aligned based on what I'm doing. In terms of paper and grids, it's great!

I tested this paper with several different pen and ink types and didn't notice any adverse effects. No bleeding, feathering, or splotchiness, and surprisingly little show-through on the back side. This paper is definitely safe to use on both sides due to how little show-through is there. I'm actually pretty impressed by this. Sure, the paper is rated at 100gsm, but it feels lighter. I was expecting more show-through because of this, but I'm happy to be wrong.

The other areas of the notebook are, frankly, boring. We've all used a hardcover A5 notebook — probably several different types from different brands. It functions great as a notebook. It stays open when in use, it stays shut when not in use. The pockets in the front and back are useful, and it also includes the token stickers for labeling the cover. There's even a couple of table of contents pages at the front of the notebook. The last page has a nice metric ruler, a la Field Notes style for making quick measurements in a pinch. And, of course, you get a bookmark and an elastic band to keep the notebook securely closed. Unlike many other notebooks, the elastic band is round instead of a flat ribbon. I like this change because it makes the band easier to pluck with your fingers when it's time to open the notebook. The flat band is great, but I usually have to slide it to the side to get my finger underneath it. The round band is just easier to use.

Overall, the Faber-Castell A5 hardcover notebook is a great product. I wasn't expecting much, but I'm happy to report that this is a real contender in the notebook space. At $23 MSRP, it's fairly priced.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


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Posted on October 27, 2021 and filed under Faber-Castell, Notebook Reviews.

Faber-Castell Textliner Highlighter Metallic Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Anything that can add a little festivity to homework reading is a good investment, in my opinion. Faber-Castell are among my favorite highlighters, so I was very excited to try these metallic shimmering varieties.

Faber-Castell highlighter bodies are a unique shape with broad bodies in a flattened oval silhouette. They are surprisingly comfortable to hold, as the narrow end of the oval rests against your hand and you hold it along its broader edge. The flat shape stops it from rolling off of desks, and even allows it to function as a decent bookmark. The clips are also broad and very bendy plastic. They aren't very strong and don't hold many sheets of paper, but they're fine for clipping to a thin book cover or a few pages of reading. The snap cap posts securely to the narrowed end of the marker.

The highlighter's chisel tip creates a 5 mm highlight when used on the broad side, and a narrower line when you use the tip of the chisel, so it's handy for highlighting large and smaller text.

What really makes these highlighters unique, of course, is the shimmer ink. I've used glitter markers before, but never in highlighter form. I would say these are marginally successful at the glitter effect. The four colors in this set are Shimmering Violet, Magnificent Blue, Precious Green, and Glorious Red, all pastel versions of classic jewel tones. They're all a little different in how they handle the glitter. Green shows no sign of glitter, red shows a hint, blue has so much that it has a mirror effect that's hard to read in bright light, and violet has the perfect balance. Part of that will be in how the shimmer particles are distributed and suspended in the ink. The package does say to make sure they are stored horizontally, which I was careful to do, but there still seems to be some issues with particle distribution, just as there often is with shimmer inks in fountain pens. The difficulty here is that it's harder to take apart and troubleshoot a felt tip marker than it is a fountain pen.

Another issue I had with these is that the ink is more flowy than normal highlighter ink. Regular highlighters generally feel a bit dry, even squeaky, which is a feature not a bug. The last thing you want is highlighter bleed-through, where it looks like the wrong side of the page is highlighted. Unfortunately, these bleed through a bit more than normal highlighters. They even cause a bit of paper buckling from the wetness of the ink. Caveat: these results were mostly on regular copy paper, which is what most of my school readings are printed on. They did not show any bleed-through or buckling on Rhodia paper. So if you're highlighting your own notes in a good notebook, you likely won't have any problems.

Apart from these issues, I do like them, maybe more as markers than as highlighters. The colors themselves are beautiful and not too bright or hard on the eyes. I think they'll be great for use in planners. The set of four costs $7.50; there's a set of 8 for $15; and individual colors are available for $1.75. That's a great deal for how long these highlighters last. I read and highlight many hundreds of pages every week and the Faber-Castell Textliners last longer than every other highlighter I've tried (I have tried all of them, as far as I know).

If you need to add some sparkle to your notes, I do recommend these so long as you have good paper, or don't mind a bit of destruction to your cheap paper.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)


Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

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Posted on October 21, 2021 and filed under Faber-Castell, Highlighter, Pen Reviews.