I’ll be honest, partly off the back of my Magna Carta Elements, when I heard they were making this pen for a US pen show I was interested, and with it appearing to possibly be a one-off I was hoping there would be some left over to buy on line. There were not. More appeared for another US based show and I contacted Hiren over whether there would be more. There would be and online, but not straight away. Come October last year and I suddenly found Magna Carta would be at the London Pen Show, remembered I wanted a Denima and crossed my fingers.

Sure enough Hiren had three Denima pens at the show, allowing me to choose the most visually appealing. Due to the nature of the resin and the way it is cut and then machined, there can be some differences and you can get large dark or light patches. After all the material is real denim, probably the offcuts/trimmings from making jeans, combined with a resin and so you get the weave of the source material coming through.

One thing you quickly notice with this pen is the warmth. It feels like you are holding denim cloth and not a cold acrylic based resin. There are some downsides (though none as bad as I first thought when encountering them) to this though, as I will cover later, but the key thing at this point is a really nice feel to the pen and a shape not too dissimilar to the Elements Water I had previously purchased.

When looking at the pen the first thing that stands out is the bright work, which comprises of an upper cap band, which is separate from the long clip, the main cap band, and the barrel band, which contains includes the threads. While these are not subtle, they do nicely break up the blue-grey of the denim material and are far from being in your face. To me the combination works well.

The cap unscrews in a turn and a quarter, so quick enough for virtually anyone. It is a chunky and surprisingly heavy affair, possibly down to the metal work. The main band, by the cap opening, has Magna Carta stamped on the clip side and the company logo on the reverse. It is folded under the opening to protect that from knocks, however it just covers the pen, it does not include inner grooves, meaning the metal barrel threads could wear them down over time (though I’m certain I am over thinking this). The final piece at the top is flat and impressively is lined up with the material below the upper band to continue the pattern.

The cap will post, but only just. Having said that it does feel firm and there is an audible pop when you remove it. Thing is though, this is a relatively long pen and posting the cap really stretches that plus moves the balance point to almost your wrist. This might work well for left handed writers, but not for me. Fortunately I prefer not to post.

The clip, as previously mentioned, does appear to be a separate piece from the upper band, though they do touch. It is relatively stiff and well sprung, which when combined with it’s curve and large nub means that it works and works well. Moving over pocket seems with no problems while also staying securely in place.

Remove the cap and you have quite a chunky pen. The section may look narrow compared to the barrel but this is an oversized pen. For me it is a nice size and comfortable to hold. It is also long enough that I barely touch the threads, which are part of the barrel. As with most Magna Carta pens the section gently slopes towards the nib, with a ridge at the end to keep your fingers clean.

The barrel has some weigh to it, almost certainly due to the threads, which is a single piece of metal, containing both soft wide threads for the cap and fine grooves for the section to secure to. The barrel itself tapers gently towards a flat rear and sits comfortably in the crook of my hand. The warmth of the material is also noticeable at first when you hold the pen. Balance wise the weight sits just behind the fingers and it is noticeable. The pen weighs 39.3g, with the cap being 25.1 and the barrel 14.2g.

In the hand I do find the pen to be comfortable, with the warmth of the material being part of the reason. Someone who prefers thinner or lighter pens may struggle with this model. It is the one catch to it only being available online and at some pen shows.

The nib is Magna Carta’s own design, a steel #6, as is the ebonite feed and collar. As before I really rate their nibs as they have a little bounce and have proven themselves to be reliable. This one has slightly more tooth than on my Elements and a slight sweet spot if held at a higher angle. Still with the number being produced it is nice to see them being picked up by other pen makers to join the ranks of Bock, JoWo, and Schmidt, and I feel they are well and truly a league above the produce of Kanwrite and Wality. One thing to note is Magna Carta’s nib sizing is Japanese/Asian so this particular pen came with a broad nib (sizing is not marked on the nib) though to many of us the line is more like a medium.

The filling system on this pen is the standard international cartridge/converter, with Schmidt K5 being installed. It sits snugly and securely within the section. I can not remember if I got any cartridges with this pen, but then I also can not remember if I got a box or just put it straight in to the pen case I had with me when I purchased it.

So all is great with this pen. Well there are a couple of issues, one of which at first seemed major, but proved to be amusingly minor, the other of which is an annoyance, both down to the design of this pen. The annoyance first. The threads design might mean that the pen is comfortable to hold, even if you are touching them, but the wide metal threads on shallow resin grooves as the cap closes means it does not seal properly and I have found ink evaporation to be some what of an issue with this pen. If not in much use then a full converter will empty in about a month. Now this is not an issue with my Elements, nor have I heard it being a problem on other Magna Carta pens, so I think it is just with this model. Something to be aware of, it should be remembered there are plenty of manufacturers out there who have multiple models suffering from this issue, with Parker possibly being the worst, though Graf von Faber Castell also being guilty. The bigger problem for me was this issue also meant that the ink in the nib and feed would dry, causing hard starts. I have several times had to hold the nib and feed under running water and once actually remove the unit and soak it, though this was partly due to me using Robert Oster Fire and Ice in this pen and that was gumming up the flow as it dried.

The second, but more amusing issue is down to the material. The denim cotton, probably from the offcuts from jeans manufacture. When combined with the resin this should feel like a plastic, but it does not. It is warm and feels like the surface of denim cloth. So when I rinsed out the pen prior to use and saw the section darkening as it absorbed water I should not have been surprised. After all stand in the rain in a pair of denim jeans and they soak up all the moisture they can. Of course I forgot about this when I went to first fill the pen and saw the ink rapidly start to move up the outside of the section above the surface of the ink the nib was dipped in to. Quickly the section was under running water and all the ink was removed. Over time I started to notice ink staining on the end of the section, by the nib, and this started to move up. Using blue ink this was not an issue but it did cross my mind what would happen or what the pen would look like if I switched colours. This did actually appeal and I considered it a potential source of patina. However due to the other issue I found I needed to soak the nib and feed so removed the nib unit. On impulse I put the section under running water and all the ink came out. Just like doing a wash cycle with your jeans I suppose. This does give a level of comfort with this pen, though I would not risk using a known staining ink such as Noodles Baystate Blue, any Krishna RC ink, or (from my own collection) Bril Laurel Rose. The pictures above are from a couple of months after the ‘wash’ and I do regret not taking a picture before.

So am I happy with this pen. It is not perfect but yes I am. Sure the ink evaporation causes hard starts and can be frustrating, however I will at some point switch to a better behaved ink (after all Fire and Ice is infamous) and I expect the hard starting to become a lot less of an issue at that point (though the evaporation speed of a wetter, more fluid ink may become worse). With this pen Magna Carta have produced something original in a world where that is rare.

Would I recommend this pen to others? Well this becomes a little trickier, but actually due to the size and weight, not the ink evaporation problem. It is both a larger and heavier pen and that might be an issue for some people. If not and if you are either going to use the pen regularly else are not bothered about how often you need to refill it, then yes, after all how many other pens are out there which are warm to the touch and do not have disadvantages and/or cost an awful lot more (and arguably are not as well made). Just one thing to remember, this pen is just $150 plus postage (if not at a pen show) for a pen with an unusual and limited run material.

Pros:

• Unique looks and material.
• Warm to the hand.
• Comfortable to hold.
• Magna Carta nib and feed…
• Price.

Neutral:

• Size and weight of the pen.
• If you are a cap posting person the balance will be too far to the rear.

Cons:

• Bad rate of ink evaporation.
• Hard starting issues due to the above (though I suspect the ink I use also does not help).

Writing Sample:

Comparison Photos:

Here not only with the ubiquitous Lamy Safari/Al-Star but also a Magna Carta Elements Water.