The Carousel — affordable fountain pen from Ferris Wheel Press

The Ferris Wheel Press range includes several pen options, with a decent variety of features and materials. What’s also important, is that the price range there spans from very cheap to medium-high range. At this point I have almost all of them, and I will be happy to tell you more about them. In the first “episode” of Pen Reviews we will take a look at The Carousel pen, that’s easily affordable, made out of resin and available in many colors.

The Carousel

The Carousel pens debuted on the market in autumn 2021. During these almost four years, we have already seen about 30 different colors on the market and another variant. However, I will discuss the aluminum-body option in a separate post, so stay tuned.

Carousel pens are fairly cheap, have a body made out of resin, a stainless steel nib and come equipped with a piston converter. The nibs are available in Medium and Fine thickness, and the converter is the international standard one, so we can use the pens even with typical short refills. The pen itself ships in a cardboard package with beautiful patterns and I promise that, you will have a lot of trouble throwing it away!

I have over… 10 of them already. I bought the first six right after their release, and the next ones I got here-and-there with Ferris packages. I remember that I got the black one even before the affiliate program appeared and the company offered them to regular loyal customers. But more on that in a moment!

There is only a few colors available in a “basic” range, but there is a lot of special releases, coming out as a match to a just-released ink color. In my collection you will find a few of them, like Little Miss Jubilee or Hearthy Harvest.

Manufacturing defect of the first models

However, I am happy to report that there have been no such problems for years now. The first pen that did not have this factory defect was a black model, called Nevermore Noir. It was a very exclusive release, that only reached a portion of the owners of the original The Carousel pens. The company reached out to them asking, if they would be willing to test the new and improved materials.

The original model debuted at the end of 2021, and less than a year later, a factory defect was discovered. So from the beginning of 2023, we can enjoy the trouble-free pens of The Carousel.

Impressions

When holding it in your hands, you have to remember that this pen is made rather for beginner users, or those who value quantity more than quality. After correcting the factory defect, however, I can’t say a bad word about them.

The Nib M works very well, also with sparkling inks, of which there are plenty in the company’s offer (as we all know).

The thinner nib (Fine) does well, although it’s not my preferred thickness and I use it very rarely. However, it is worth noting that it is still suitable for sparkling inks. I specially filled one of them with Ferritales ink to test it.

Both write very smoothly, do not skip and immediately start even after a longer time of lying in a drawer. I inked one of them with the Russet Typecase a few months ago and after a few slight shakes I was able to write with it! Now, try to do it with Lamy Safari…

The pen itself is very light, so it won’t tire your hands. It’s also a smaller-medium size, so should fit well into any sized-hands, including the children’s.

Is it worth buying?

The colors of these pens and their availability are definitely one of their biggest advantages. We have a lot of colors to choose from, most of them really nice. The Lady Rose pen is still one of the most unique in my collection. However, you must bear in mind that special editions that come out with inks do not always have the color of the ink. In the case of Lost in the Leaves, we are dealing with a light, almost pistachio color of the body, and the ink itself is a beautiful late-autumn forest green with rose gold sparkles. (Yes, I’m in love with this color). I’ll show you the ink up close soon, although on Instagram you will find a comparison of it with other greens from the Ferritales line.

But back to the Carousel themselves. They are lightweight, trouble-free and we can reink them with our favorite ink immediately after purchase. I really like that they come with a converter included, saving us extra cost and hassle. This is one of my biggest problems with Kaweco Sport pens, where in addition to the pen for 30 euros, I also have to buy a converter for a quarter of that price.

Due to their convenience and very low weight, they could be your perfect everyday companions. You can easily put them in a backpack or bag and use them for quick notes. And I must admit that I have already forgotten how good these pens are. The inconspicuous body hides a quite reasonable pen!

In general, the Carousel pen is very comfortable, in every sense of the word. And its usefulness and convenience will compensate for its rather banal appearance.

Technical details

Case Material: Resin
Nib Material: Stainless Steel

Available nibs: F (0.7 mm), M (1 mm)

Additional information: converter (standard) included with the pen

Where to buy?

Depending on where you are from, you can have some local (or online) stationery stores, that stock Ferris Wheel Press and if so, they should most definitely have the Carousel pens as well. If you are not afraid of foreign shopping tho, you can also buy them on the official website, where they cost about 18 EUR / 22 USD. If you are from the US, use this link. Buy it here if you live in the UK, or shop the European website. And don’t forget to use JA-PAPERLOVER at checkout for 15% off your entire order!

PS. and did you know that originally these pens started with a much higher price? Just today I was ripping the tag off with 27.99 EUR – now they are over 30% cheaper!