- A Fleeting Ripple
dubito: kaweco green liliput
Open your eyes. The room is drenched in pink. You blink once. Then twice. It is still there, a slightly golden pink, covering every surface. All of the furniture and objects that were once so familiar to you, now have this strange, happy hue. You get up to pull the curtains apart. The whole world is soaking up the sunrise, the golden leaves painted a wonderful red; the sky painted a shade of the brightest coral; the harsh dark brown of the bricks softened into an elegant, soft caramel colour. The world seems simply better, it gives you hope for another day. These are the most rose-tinted glasses you could ever ask for.
I love small-sized pens. The Kaweco Sport, Pelikan M200, Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Vintage pocket pens… They generally fit my hand well, and since they’re quite light, I can easily use them for long writing sessions. Though, even then, only few of these pens that I have mentioned get posted.
The smallest of them is also the newest: Kaweco Liliput.
This pen shouldn’t work as good as it does.
It was a dubious purchase on my part, because it seemed too small and too thin to accommodate any comfort. Then, I looked up some reviews of it. Especially the green one. My partner got one, in brass. It became his literal pocket carry, ready with a little copper clip and a pocket Lechtturm. It was all great for a while, then I found myself making excuses to use his pen. “Oh, I just remembered something that I absolutely have to jot down now before I forget.” “I need to sign these papers really quick.” “Oh look, I have no pen to fill out this form.”
I thought the brass would be very heavy, especially compared to the small stature of the pen. A little unwieldy, a little unbalanced. It is none of those things. The weight of it pulls the pen down into your palm, so that it sits in that curve between your thumb and finger even when you’re not actively grabbing it.
I got the aluminium one because of two reasons. Firstly, the brass makes my hands smell. I do not like that. Secondly, it is lighter, which makes it easier for me to use for longer writing. Short-writing pen is not a concept that I can understand, I have to use every single pen for longer writing too. That beautiful colour is truly a sight to behold. It is a bright leaf green, where the smoothness of the barrel reflects the world in so many shades of green. A line of darker, deeper forest green here. A line of pale green, almost white, there. Shadows obscuring where the pen ends and where the desk starts in the faded morning light.
The attention to detail is immaculate. The threads are smooth under my thumb, even though only the edge of my finger brushes against them. Uncapping the pen and threading it to the back was a little squeaky at first, now it is much smoother. It makes that noise of unsheathing a sword in the movies. A pleasant ring, signalling that the pen is ready to write. The back threads require a little getting used to, because I still fumble with it a little to put the cap at the back of the pen.
The “finials” are both rounded off. Perfect little domes, reflecting your distorted face back at you. My favourite part is that one of them has the Kaweco logo printed on it. The thin, white lines kind of blend into the reflections and the greenness of the pen, disappearing and reappearing every now and then. Only other branding is the “Kaweco Collection” writing on the cap, which stands out more, mostly because the reflections work vertically, and not horizontally on the pen.
It seems like the biggest concern with Kaweco is their nibs. One of my favourite ones is someone on Reddit receiving a nib without a slit. I’ve gotten super lucky so far. Over a dozen Kaweco’s and all the nibs wrote great out of the box. This one is no different, a smooth, moderately wet fine nib that is fun to use. The only thing to keep in mind is that their nib size does vary sometimes, though I think that is acceptable within reason. All my F nibs have been fine and all my BB nibs have been double broad.
The last thing I want to mention is the age old question of to post or not to post. I post this pen, because then it becomes a very comfortable full-size pen. Otherwise, it still sits in the curve of my hand, but just barely. Good enough for quick notes. I really like pens that you have threads at the back for posting, then the cap becomes a part of the pen instead of just added weight and length.
I keep the pen in its tiny little leather pouch. Since most women’s clothing does not have pockets and I live in the eternal fear of dropping something out of my pocket, it lives in my purse or backpack. Once, I even forgot to take my wallet, but took my tiny pen and my “purse” notebook. It is also inked with my favourite Kaweco ink, Summer Purple. Green and purple is an iconic duo.
Thank you for reading!