Currently Inked: March 9, 2025

How are y’all doing? I hope you are well this Sunday. Let’s talk about what I inked up this week! This week I focused on black, blue and teal inks. I inked up two of my favorite inks, Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi and Sailor Jentle Black. (This post contains Amazon affiliate links, just FYI. It gives me a small commission at no extra cost to you, and helps support this blog).

On Monday I used a Pilot Prera in Ivory with a fine nib full of Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi. It’s one of my favorite inks, and using the cartridges in this Prera is so convenient! My main ballpoint for the day was a Uni Jetstream Lite Touch ink in Shell White, 0.5 black ink from JetPens. I’m not a huge fan of ballpoints, but I wanted to give this one a go. I’m not super impressed. It’s fine, but not particularly good. For my colored pen I used a Writech Vintage Peacock Blue gel pen in 0.5, which is fabulous. So far I’ve been really impressed with Writech gel pens. This Staedtler Triplus Textsurfer Highlighter is a good one. I don’t love it as much as I love Zebra Mildliners, but it’s still a good highlighter.

On Tuesday I used an Esterbrook Model J Violet in fine, full of Sailor Jentle Black. I got this pen recently, and I usually fill new pens with Sailor Black first so I know how well the nib behaves. It’s my go-to ink. My bottle is running low, and it will probably be my first empty ink bottle. It’s crazy that I’ve never emptied a full bottle, but I use so many different inks and usually don’t focus on just one.

I prefer rollerballs over ballpoints, but I still prefer gel over both of them, so I wasn’t sure I would like this Uni-ball Vision Elite-0.5 black. I saw it on Brad’s top five rollerball list on the Pen Addict Blog and decided I needed to give it a try. For a rollerball I really like it. I used it for a really long writing session and was really impressed with how well it wrote.

For my colored pen I used a Staedtler Triplus Fineliner (I think this is the Mauve color). I love using these pens, they are wonderful to write on most papers including coated papers. I really like that the ink color matches the Esterbrook Model J. I used a Zebra Mildliner for my highlighter of the day, which are my all-time favorite highlighters.

This Jinhao 80 in brown was a surprise to me. I love the classic body of the Lamy 2000, but so far I haven’t been impressed with any of their nibs. Yes, I am super picky sometimes. I bought two of them and ended up selling them, and crazily enough I bought two more and need to sell them. The nibs just aren’t smooth enough for me. All of the four Lamy 2000’s I have purchased have a weird sweet spot and just a little bit stubbish. I like smooth round nibs, so the Lamy 2000 nib isn’t the dream for me. If I was headed to a pen show any time soon I would just have them worked on by a nibmeister, but unfortunately I’m not planning to attend any shows this year. Back to the Jinhao-it has a steel nib, but it’s really lovely and smooth. I really enjoy writing with it. I also like that it’s a cartridge converter since I prefer them over piston fillers. (I switch inks too often to love pistons-converters are easier and faster to clean). This pen is absolutely worth the $11 I spent on it.

I’m loving this Pentel Energel Infree Gel in 0.5 black. It’s interesting because it’s marketed as both a ballpoint and a gel. It’s nice and smooth and comfortable for longer writing sessions. The Uni-ball One 0.5 in Poppy Red’s ink is on the lighter side but I think it would be a perfect red to use in the spring season. This Kokuyo Mark + highlighter in Grey is nice; it works well and isn’t too dark.

In February I discovered the Pilot Kakuno for the first time, and I love it so much that I somehow ended up with four…luckily they aren’t very expensive. I’m loving the Madoromi series, but so far I’ve only found two of the colors in stock anywhere. I’m waiting for the other colors. This Drowsy Blue one is full of Sailor 50 States New York, which is a fabulous dark navy blue.

Why do I keep trying ballpoints when I know I don’t usually like them? Clearly (like the Lamy 2000), I give pens way too many chances. This Zebra Blen 2+S includes a black and red ballpoint 0.5 refill, and a 0.5 pencil. It is comfortable to use, but the ink doesn’t flow smoothly enough for me to write at a comfortable speed. I found myself slowing down for the ink to keep up.

As stated above, I’m loving the Writech gel pens. This one is the Dual Color 0.5 in Azure and Turquoise. I really enjoy how smoothly they write. The Monami Essenti Soft Highlighter in Brown is a really good alternative to the Zebra Mildliner. If you can’t get your hands on the Mildliner, give the Essenti Soft a try.

I have the nicest readers! I had mentioned I was looking for a used Pilot Custom 74 in fine (I have two 74’s in medium and love them, but lately I’ve been using smaller nib sizes), and the kindest reader sent me one! This one is in the Smoke color, and the nib is wonderful. I filled it with Teranishi Guitar Smoky Navy, which I absolutely love. It’s a fabulous ink!

I tried out a Yasutomo Y&C Xtreme Gel pen in 0.5 black. It’s a solid “meh” for me. It’s alright, not great, just okay. It’s not one I would use for longer writing sessions, and it’s definitely not a daily writer for me. The TUL 0.5 however, is lovely and smooth. This is the purple version, and I really like it. I’ve enjoyed all of the TUL pens I’ve tried so far. Once again, the Monami Essenti Soft Highlighter is a good choice.

The Jinhao 82 in Caribbean Sea Blue-fine is nice and smooth. If you haven’t noticed yet, I prefer smooth nibs over ones with feedback. I’ve tried a lot of Sailor pens, and I never like the nib feedback. I ended up selling all but two of the Sailor pens I own. This Jinhao has a steel nib, but I really enjoy writing with it. I do wish the nib was just a touch wetter, so next time I’ll fill it with a slightly wetter ink. I love Sailor Jentle Yama-dori, but it wasn’t quite the perfect match for this pen.

I need to stop buying the same type of pen over and over! I’m not a fan of Pilot Frixion pens, which is crazy since they are so popular. The ink has a stingy flow and the ink is more of a grey rather than black. I decided to give this one (The Pilot Frixion Ball Knock Zone Gel-Break Time Beige-0.5 Black) a shot since it’s a “gel” version of the frixion ink and it’s definitely an improvement over the standard ink in my opinion-it’s darker and flows easier.

The Zebra Sarasa Clip Vintage in 0.5 is such a good pen. I have both sets of five and love all of them. The colors are fabulous and the ink flows well. This Tombow Kei Coat Highlighter in Brown is a little reddish for me, but it still works well.

Sunday’s pens include a Majohn T1, a Pilot Dr. Grip, a Papermate Inkjoy Gel, a Zebra Mildliner and a Sharpie. The Majohn T1 in Vintage Brass has a fine nib full of Sailor Ink Studio 864 (one of the colors Sailor retired). I found this one to be comfortable in the hand, but there’s something about the nib that just feels off to me. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I don’t enjoy using it on coated papers, but I like it just fine on non-coated paper. It’s the weirdest thing. I think it’s absolutely worth the $33 I paid for it though.

Another ballpoint. Seriously, there’s something wrong with me. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I tried this Pilot Dr. Grip Multi Acro Ballpoint Mint Green. It has 0.5 ink in black, blue, green and red, as well as a 0.5 pencil. The pen is just a little bit too fat for my hands-it’s not super comfortable for longer writing sessions. Like the other ballpoints I shared above the ink just doesn’t flow as smoothly as I would like.

The Papermate Inkjoy Gel was my major pen crush of 2016. When it came out I had it in all the colors, albeit in the 0.7 size. I’ve recently switched to smaller tip sizes, so I picked up a pack of the Inkjoy pens in 0.5 and don’t regret it for a minute. The ink flows so smoothly!

The Zebra Mildliner is my favorite highlighter and I have it in a bunch of colors. If you haven’t seen them yet, there’s a new pack of Mildliners out there. The colors are fabulous, but I love the Mild Moss Green the best.

Here’s some inks I tested out this week while working on some reviews. I love three of these inks. I have a review coming this week for Pilot Iroshizuku Rikka, but the short version is that it’s just as good as the other Pilot Iroshizuku inks I’ve already tried. Teranishi Guitar Night Time Soda-I love Teranishi inks. They’ve become one of recent hyper focuses. I’ve tested out quite a few of them and absolutely love them! I actually have a review of Teranishi Innocent Mauve that will publish later this week as well. Diamine Port of Call is a wonderful medium blue.

Most of these inks were too pale for me, but Ink Institute Lavender Coral was the most readable out of the five. I’m not really a fan of any of these inks sadly.

Here’s the swab for Teranishi Innocent Mauve. I’m really digging Mauve’s lately, I have no idea why. Diamine Athol Violet is a really good purple, and is well behaved. I tested out the four new Colorverse Blue Green Snake colors-I’m not a huge fan of any of the three shimmers, but I like the standard version just fine.

As you can tell from the photos above, I’ve gone a bit crazy with Chinese pens. I ordered all four of these early in February and they just recently started showing up at my door. The only one I didn’t have inked up this week is the Jinhao 10 in Caramel Orange Gradient. I was a bit disappointed in the nib-it’s not quite as smooth as these other Chinese pens, and the ink dried out super fast. So far it’s not a replacement for my Pilot Vanishing Points. I do love the color though.

Here’s some other currently for this week:

Watching: I’ve been watching a lot of Booktube this week. I love getting good book recommendations from people who read as much as I do. The channel I’ve been watching the most is Chantel Reads All Day. She shares everything from classics to new releases, which is right up my alley. I read a lot of different genres, and she shares books from all of them.

Listening to: Like my reading, the music I listen to is very eclectic. This week I listened to a lot of Matt Hansen. My favorite song of his is called Strangers Again. I also listened to quite a few podcasts including The Pen Addict, The Read Well Podcast and a new-to-me podcast called Stationery Adjacent.

Reading: In watching Chantel Reads All Day videos, I came across a playlist called DIY Literature Degree. I attended public school growing up, and even though I took all of the AP English classes that were available, I feel like I missed out on a lot. When I went to college I took a ton of English classes, most of them just for fun. I still feel like I never discovered a much as I wanted to know about literature. I read a lot, often to the tune of around 300 books a year (I listen to a lot of books on double speed while I work and I read fast). Chantel offers some practical tips for designing your own diy literature degree which I loved. I’ve added a ton of books to my TBR and started reading even more.

I have books stashed everywhere. Currently I’m reading one book when I’m downstairs, one upstairs, one on my kindle before bed, one on my phone for when I’m out and about, and one audiobook. My favorite at the moment is Sherlock Holmes The Hound of the Baskervilles. I read it about 4 times when I was in middle/high school and loved it, so it was time for a re-read.

Drinking: Dirty Coke: Coca Cola, coconut flavoring, cream and a lime. I know it sounds super weird but it’s delicious. My husband thinks I’m crazy for liking it. (Yes, I know about the Coca Cola boycott, but I’ve decided to use up what I have and not buy more).

Cooking: I recently discovered the Baker by Nature blog and it’s so good. I made these Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donuts (Made with Brown Butter) and my kids went crazy for them. I’m a mean mom-I don’t often let them have doughnuts, but I made these ones with whole wheat flour and they were delicious.

Making: I have 33 nieces and nephews, which is a lot of birthday presents. This year I’ve been making the Sallie Tomato Mia purse for my nieces, which they have been loving. I have one I need to make today for my 9-year-old niece. She picked lavender unicorn fabric and lavender faux leather.

Hating: Daylight Savings. It goofs up my kids sleeping schedules, which is not fun for me. Also insomnia. I started this blog post at 1AM this morning because I couldn’t sleep for the life of me.

Burning: Goose Creek Pink Peonies (apparently it’s already out of stock, but I’ve been impressed with all of their 3-wick candles). I’m not usually a floral candle fan, but peony has really grown on me. I’m also loving lilac candles for spring. I know it’s not technically spring yet, but I’m so ready for it.

Shopping for: I’m not actually shopping right now. I’m on a self-imposed no-buy for the month of March, and probably April too. I’ve just consumed too much lately and I’m trying to cut back a bit.

If you have any recommendations for me this week, let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which give me a small commission at no further cost to you, but this post is not sponsored.

Currently Inked: February 16, 2025

Last Sunday I did a Currently Inked post, and most of you seemed to enjoy it, so we’re going to do another one today (this post contains Amazon affiliate links, just FYI). We still have bronchitis at our house, so I’m keeping my daily carry setup pretty simple. I stuck to fine/medium nibs and mostly black inks.

This Pilot Kakuno Green with a fine nib came in the mail last week and I inked it up and fell in love. For the price point it’s really great-smooth and lovely in the hand. The Zebra Sarasa Mark On 0.5 Black is a fabulous gel pen, one I think I’ll use often. That’s not a surprise-so far I’ve loved all of the Zebra Sarasa pens I’ve tried, including these Zebra Sarasa Vintage pens. The Steadtler Triplus Textsurfer is a good flexible highlighter in a nice neutral color. I always have a Sharpie on hand.

Last week I got asked why I always have a highlighter and a sharpie with me. When I write out my to-do lists I usually use a standard/gel pen in my planner. Then I highlight my top three priorities and cross each one out with a sharpie as I complete it. When all three highlighted tasks are finished I go through and highlight the next three until all tasks are done.

I purchased this Anodized Aluminum Faceted "Pocket Six" Fountain Pen like 5 or 6 years ago at the San Francisco Pen Show and it’s basically been inked up with Monteverde Documental Black ever since. I actually don’t think I’ve ever cleaned it-I just put a new cartridge in it with the same ink every time it runs dry. It’s small but mighty. This Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 3 color is a little girthy for me, but I enjoyed the 0.5 tip size. I love these Writech Dual Color Gel 0.5 in Navy Blue and Persian Red-I purchased them in a bunch of colors, and so far I love all of them. I like this Kokuyo Mark + highlighter in gray and of course I have a sharpie.

This TWSBI Mini in Rose Gold (medium nib) has been inked up with Sailor Jentle Black for weeks. I think it’s my sixth time filling it. It’s just such a good combo that I don’t have any plans of separating the combo anytime soon. I fell in love with the Zebra Sarasa Grand (in white) months ago, and have switched out the refill 4 times. Right now it has a Sarasa Dry 0.5 refill in black. It used to have a 0.7 refill until I switched to smaller grid paper, so I downgraded to a 0.5 refill. It’s still pretty juicy on nice paper so I could even go down to a 0.4 refill (0.5 is the perfect size on crappy paper). I love these Staedtler Triplus Fineliners, especially in the wintery colors. The Monami Essentisoft Highlighter in brown is a nice highlighter-pale and a good neutral color.

I don’t remember which Kaweco Sport with a fine nib this is-I always get the color names mixed up. It’s full of Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi, which is a fabulous combo. I loved using it in my journal. The Uni One F Gel Pen in Pink Beach with a 0.5 black refill is wonderful-smooth and a perfect size in the hand. I saw the Pilot Juice 0.5 in Classic Green online and knew I had to try it out. I love Pilot Juice pens, and I love this Classic Green ink color. This Pilot Kire-na highlighter is terrible-the tip is too floppy and the ink is too pale.

I ventured away from black inks for one day with Diamine Canalside in a Pilot Custom 74 in Forest with a medium nib. Canalside is a really good wintery green, classic and smooth. In the past I’ve loved Pilot G2’s, but recently I’ve steered away from them. They’re just not quite juicy enough for me. I put a Pilot G2 0.5 black refill in this Pilot G2 Limited Premium Gel Rose Gold body, and I’m just not a fan. It’s okay but not great. The Muji Gel Pen 0.5 in blue is so good. It’s smooth and comfortable to write with. I just ordered some more in black since I only had it in blue. I hate this Morris Just Click Highlighter in Gray. The clicker is terrible-you extend the tip and it gets stuck that way. It went in my never-to-use-again drawer.

The Pilot Kakuno in Blue with a medium nib is full of Platinum Carbon Black. I’ve been using this combo to re-swab some of my ink bottles. I love how water resistant it is. The bottle lives on my desk and I use it often. This TUL gel pen in 0.5 is so nice and juicy-I love it. I also love the Pentel Energel 0.5 Blue Black. I love blue black pens so much-I need to get more of them ASAP! The Tombow Kei-coat Highlighter in brown is a nice highlighter, the color is just a little too warm for me.

Here’s some pens I inked up to test out inks for ink reviews-here’s a few of my first impressions: I’m loving the three Diamine 160th Anniversary Inks (I’m pretty sure Wax Seal is going to be one of my new favorite red inks), as well as Teranishi Guitar Classy Burgundy. Ink Institute Fortune Bunny is ok, but not fabulous.

I’m not a fan of Ink Institute Shuinandong Smelter and Dominant Industry Atlantis-they are too pale to be easily read. I love both Teranishi Emotional Olive and Lady Emerald. Emotional Olive has some fabulous shading. Diamine 160th Anniversary Tariff Teal is a wonderful dark petrol teal.

The Pilot Kakuno in Green showed up in the mail last week and I quickly ordered a blue one. I love how smooth the nibs are, especially for the price. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the size-I wish it was just a little bit smaller. Now I need to pick up some in the new Madoromi Color Series. I’m waiting for someone to have some in stock

This week @daniellekindsfater on Instagram sent me some stickers to try out and I’m in love. They are super good quality and amazingly detailed. They are going in my journal right away. The fountain pens and dragons are my favorite.

This week I’ve been working on re-swabbing my bottled inks. I love rediscovering inks I’ve forgotten about. I’m swabbing by brand and by color, which helps me find what I need quicker. I’ll do a blog post about the process when I’m done.

Here’s some other currently for this week:

Watching: I’ve been re-watching some episodes of the Big Bang Theory and M.A.S.H. Both are funny, and have cheered me up while I’m still feeling ill.

Listening to: this week I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift with my teenage girls (they are huge fans, I am not).

Reading: I read/listened to eight books this week. I just started re-listening to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The last time I read it was in college so it’s time for a re-read.

Drinking: Blue Lotus with Raspberry Torani Syrup.

Cooking: Today I’m making BBQ Beer Pulled Chicken Tacos with Ranch Corn Slaw in my Crock Pot. It’s a family favorite and I love how flavorful it is.

Making: I’m sewing up some Denver Totes by Sotak Handmade. I love Sotak Handmade patterns. I’ve made at least 25 of her bags/pouches (mostly for gifts) and the instructions are clear and well-written.

Hating: I’ve discovered that I absolutely hate full cast audiobooks. I’m old-fashioned-I grew up with Harry Potter audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale. He did a fabulous job of doing all the different voices while still feeling cohesive. Full Cast Audiobooks have multiple narrators and just grate on my nerves for some reason. I have no idea why.

Burning: Capri Blue Volcano candle in Copper, exclusive to Nordstrom. I love burning candles-I find them relaxing and pleasant. I always have a candle burning on my desk.

Shopping for: I’ve had multiple Platinum pens in the past (all with large nib sizes), but the nib has never been quite right for me. Now that I’m transitioning into smaller nib sizes I’m considering giving Platinum pens another go, probably in a fine nib. I saw this Platinum 3776 Century Shape of a Heart Bluebird Fountain Pen and I fell a little in love. The pen looks fabulous, but that’s way too much money for me to spend when I’m unsure if I will like the nib, or if it will work for my handwriting style. I’m also considering picking up TWSBI Eco’s in Creme, Caffe and Espresso with fine nibs. I’ve had my eye on them for months, so it might be time to finally pick up one or two.

If you have any recommendations for me this week, let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which give me a small commission at no further cost to you.

Currently Inked: February 9, 2025

I never know what to post on Sundays. Do I stick to ink reviews and only ink reviews (which can get a bit tedious at times), or do I branch out and do more interesting posts every once in a while? This Sunday I decided to focus on what my daily carry was for this week. Generally my daily carry is different almost every day, mostly because I get bored easily and I really enjoy variety. I don’t know if these kinds of posts are interesting to y’all, but here we go anyway. (This post does contain Amazon affiliate links, just a heads up!)

I placed huge JetPens and Tokyo Pen Shop orders last week, which quickly arrived and I’ve had so much fun testing out new pens. I’ve been in search of new gel pen/rollerball/ballpoint pens to try out. In the past I’ve always used 0.7 standard pens along with large nib sizes, but as I’ve started enjoying paper with smaller grid sizes (like the Sterling Ink 3.9mm x 3.7mm grid), my nib size and standard pen sizes have shrunk as well. Now I’ve been using fine/extra-fine nibs and 0.5 pens. So for my pen orders I stuck to 0.5 sizes for the most part and got just a bunch of different styles to try.

Overall, this week has been rough at our house-most of our household has bronchitis, including me, so that has slowed me down a lot. Being super sick has made me slim down my daily carry quite a bit, and I’ve kept it pretty simple. I didn’t actually plan on writing a blog post today but it’s something I can do from the couch while I watch a movie.

This TWSBI 580 AL fine/Sailor’s Sailor combo is one of my absolute favorites. Sailor’s Sailor is one of my all-time favorite inks and I really enjoy it everytime I ink it up in a pen. I’ve come to the conclusion that I should use my favorite inks and enjoy them rather than hoard them for the future. It helps give me some joy when I’m feeling so crappy. I’ve inked up this combo twice now, and it may just live in this pen for a while. This is my second Pentel Energel Clena, and this one is almost out of ink. It’s smooth and comfortable to use. I almost always have a Zebra Mildliner and a Sharpie with me.

Wednesday’s fountain pen was a Pilot Decimo in Stone Grey (fine nib). I’m pretty sure I’m settling into my brown/neutral pen era, so I’m loving this grey color. The Pilot Vanishing Point used to be my all-time favorite pen but lately I’ve been passing over it for the slimmer Decimo. It’s just a little more comfortable for longer writing. I really want to get a Decimo in this Champagne color. I used to hate the Pilot fine nib so much, they were just way too fine for me, but over time it’s really grown on me and now I enjoy it. I had some issues with this Monteverde Documental Black feathering in this combo, so it’s not a combination I would ink up again. The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner is a pen I had years ago and I wore them out and had to throw them away. I finally got around to replacing them and I’m enjoying them again this time around. I’m leaning more towards the vintage style colors this winter rather than the bright and summery colors. This is my first Pilot ILMILY pen, and it’s been a surprise to me. It’s a smooth writer for a 0.5 tip, and I’ve written multiple pages with it. Again, I always have a Zebra Mildliner and a Sharpie with me.

I tried out Pilot Iroshizuku To-ro for the first time this week and fell a little bit in love. It’s right in-between a yellow and an orange, while still being readable. I love Pilot inks and usually get a full bottle of each one, so I need to pick up a bottle. I tried this Uni-ball One for the first time and absolutely love it. It’s so smooth and the grip is comfortable. I’m adding this one to my frequently used pen case.

I love the Pilot Ishime in Navy I got it a few years ago and it’s almost always inked up. It’s one of my favorite fountain pens, but I do enjoy the fine nib more than this medium nib. It’s full of KWZ Chicago Blue, which is one of my all-time favorite blues and I wish it hadn’t been a limited edition ink. I always seem to fall in love with limited edition inks (why do they do this to me???). This Tombow Mono Graph Lite 0.5 in Smoky Pink is an immediate no for me. I grip my pens pretty close to the tip/nib, and the grip on this pen is way too far away from the tip for me to comfortably use it. The ink is also too pale and stingy for me. It’s going in my drawer of pens to never be used again (maybe I’ll do a giveaway from this drawer eventually). The Zebra Sarasa Vintage 0.5 on the other hand is awesome. I’m glad I picked up both sets of these colors since they are fabulous. I’ve eyed them in the past and always passed over them due to the 0.5 tip size, but now that I’m into that size I finally decided to give them a try. Again, another Mildliner and Sharpie to complete the day.

Here’s some other currently for this week:

Watching: Star Trek Voyager. Yes, I’m a nerd, but I’m enjoying watching these old episodes with my kids. I’m also watching a lot of YouTube videos by Seaweed Kisses. She’s fabulous, and while I don’t share her love of the Moleskine, she and I enjoy a lot of the same pens and inks.

Listening to: My music tastes vary widely from Classical and Opera to Country and Pop. This week I’m listening to Livingston.

Reading: I read/listened to ten books this week (I spent a lot of time reading on the couch while I’ve been so sick, and I’m a fast reader) thank goodness for the Libby/Overdrive library apps. The standout to me out of the ten books was the newest cookbook by Tieghan Gerard called Quick and Cozy. My sister got it for me for Christmas since she knows I’m a big fan of Tieghan’s recipes. I’m just nerdy enough to read a cookbook cover-to-cover (but I’m pretty sure I outed myself as a nerd earlier by watching Star Trek so that ship has sailed).

Drinking: Lemon zinger herbal tea and flavored water.

Cooking: I have Lentil Tortilla Soup going in the crock pot because there’s nothing better than soup when you are sick.

Making: I’m finishing up sewing the Social Sharks quilt by Elizabeth Hartman for my son. I already made him the Dinosaurs by Elizabeth Harman, but now he’s into sharks more.

Hating: I’ve discovered that I absolutely hate Lemon Ginger tea. I know it’s supposed to be good for you, but I’m not a fan.

If you have any fabulous recommendations for me this week, let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which give me a small commission at no further cost to you.

Mountain of Ink Turns 5

Today Mountain of Ink turns 5 years old! I can’t believe it’s been that long. To celebrate 5 years I’ve teamed up with Yafa for a giveaway!

Yafa will be giving away a Conklin Endura Deco Crest and 2 inks to the winner. This giveaway is limited to the United States only (sorry!) You can enter the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Adventures in Ink Mixing

I put a poll up on my Instagram stories a few weeks ago, asking what content you wanted to see in 2021 and I had a few requests for ink mixing. I decided to try a faux Lamy Dark Lilac first. Lamy Dark Lilac (pictured above) seems to be one of those unicorn inks-it was released in 2016 and many of the ink-obsessed have been looking for a dupe ever since.

I looked all over the internet for recipes for a Dark Lilac dupe and this one came up the most: Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo paired with Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai.

I mixed up three different testers:

• #1: 3 parts Yama-budo + 1 part Shin-kai

• #2 2 parts Yama-budo + 1 part Shin-kai

• #3 3 parts Yama-budo + 1 part Shin-kai + 1/2 part Robert Oster Fire & Ice

I tried out all three mixures but none lived up to Lamy Dark Lilac for me. I didn’t have any issues with the inks interacting together though, no funny consistencies or smells.

I still haven’t found the perfect recipe for mixing up a dupe, but there are a few inks out there that are similar already. Which one would you pick?

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page and it is not sponsored in any way.

More Robert Oster Blues

I had a request recently for a new comparison of Robert Oster blues, so I grabbed every RO blue ink currently in my desk (I don't know what that says about me that I was able to quickly come up with 25...) and started swabbing. I included Monsoon Sky, the newest ink I got and haven't even swabbed yet, but I feel like it's more green than the blue it shows on the bottle lid. Anyway, my top 5 RO blues: Blue Water Ice, Soda Pop Blue, Grey Seas, Evening Sapphire and Fire & Ice. Keep in mind that if you ask me tomorrow my answer will probably be different. What's your #1 favorite RO blue ink?

3 Year Anniversary & Pen Collection

Today is my three year blog anniversary and I can’t believe I’ve made it this long! One of the most frequently requested posts is for my full pen collection but I’ve been hesitant so far. I never want to call it a “collection” since I don’t consider them collectables, rather as tools that are used everyday. 90% of my pens are inked up every month, the other 10% need repairs or are waiting to be given to a pen friend.

I decided to go ahead and round up every fountain pen in my house (minus my daughters’ 2 Pilot Kakunos), and take photos of everything. I actually don’t recommend anyone else do this-ignorance is bliss. My husband kept making snarky comments like, “are you sure you need more pens?” and “wow, that one’s pretty, can I borrow it?” No. He isn’t allowed to borrow my pens since he spilled Noodler’s ink all over one of my throw pillows and cracked the cap of my TWSBI 580.

I love buying used pens rather than buying new, but when I do I usually go to one of my favorite retailers.

I love Pelikan pens so much. The M600 nib is my favorite, and that size fits my hand best. I would absolutely buy the M600 in every nib size, although I do prefer the M605 finish. Eventually I’ll find a M600 Pink for a good price and add it to my flock.

• Pelikan M805 Stresemann-M, M800 Renaissance Brown-M, M805 Ocean Swirl-B, M805 Vibrant Blue-B

• Pelikan M600 Vibrant Orange-M, M600 Vibrant Green-EF, M600 Turquoise-B, M600 Violet-F, M605 White Transparent-M

• Pelikan M400 White Tortoise-M, M200 Gold Marbled-M, M400 Green (vintage), M205 Star Ruby-F

Pilot is another of my favorite pen brands., especially because I love so many different pen models from their lineup. I use Pilot Vanishing Points to test out every ink I review.

• Pilot Custom 823 Smoke-B

• Pilot Custom 74 Merlot-B, Teal-M

• Pilot Custom 912 Black-FA

• Pilot Vanishing Point Crossed Lines-M, Galaxy-M, Crimson Sunrise-EF, Yellow-M, Tropical Turquoise-M, Twilight-B, Copper-F

• Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop Purple-M, Turquoise-F

Kaweco Al-sports are good sturdy pocket pens.

• Kaweco Al-sport Black-M, Anthracite-M, Red-M, Petrol-F, Rose Gold-M, Gold-B

• Lamy 2000 Black Amber-F

• Lamy Studio Terracotta-M

I love how many fun colors Kaweco Sports come in.

• Kaweco Sport Blush Pitaya, Rose Quartz, Orange, Coral, Sunrise, Sage, Turquoise Demo, Lagoon Blue, Mint, Serenity Blue

I swap nibs between my Al-star and Safari pens constantly. I love how easy the nibs are to swap.

• Lamy Al-star Bronze, Vibrant Pink, Charged Green, Turmaline, Pacific Blue, Purple

• Lamy Safari Pastel Rose, Mango, Pastel Mint, Petrol, Aquamarine, Bleu Macaron

I use TWSBI Eco’s for inks I think might stain-since they are demonstrators it’s easy to see if any shenanigans are happening, and since they aren’t too expensive I don’t worry about needing to replace them. So far only the Transparent Purple has stained; Troublemaker Dona Victorina is a fickle mistress.

• TWSBI Eco Blossom Red-M, Transparent Orange-M, Transparent Green-M, Transparent Blue-M, Transparent Purple-M, Pink-B, Pastel Pink-F, (Eco-T) Coral-B, Yellow-B, (Eco-T) Mint-B, Pastel Blue-F, 580-AL-M

I love vintage Waterman and Mabie Todd pens, they have wonderful nibs and I love the ornate finishes. I keep 2 Jinhao pens as well as 2 Noodler’s Ahab’s for pen newbies.

• Platinum 3776 Nice-B Architect, Nice Lavande-B

• Waterman Ideal 752 1/2, dated 1903

• 2 Mabie Todd Swan Ringtops

• Waterman Ideal 0552 1/2V

• Waterman Ideal. 452 1/2V

• Jinhao 750-M

• Noodler’s Ahab-Flex

• Noodler’s Neponset-Flex

The Visconti Homo Sapiens was one of my “grail” pens but the retail price is so far beyond what I’m comfortable paying for a pen that I never thought it would happen. A pen friend posted it for sale at a crazy low price within my pen budget so I jumped on it. I love the feel of the material.

• Sailor Pro Gear Sparkling Rose-B, Sparkling Emerald-B

• Sailor Pro Gear Slim Red Supernova-B, Purple Cosmos-Zoom

• Visconti Homo Sapiens Bronze Age-M

• Conklin Durograph Forest Green-B

• Esterbrook Estie Lilac-B

• Fountain Pen Revolution Himalaya-Flex

Last year I made a goal of buying more pens made by small US makers, and so far I love every one I purchased. You can find a list of small pen makers here.

• Edison Collier Persimmon Swirl-M, Blue Steel-B

• Edison Beaumont Unicorn-F

• Franklin-Christoph 46 Autumn Oak-M, Blue Diamondcast-B, Green Diamondcast-B

• Franklin-Christoph 45L Italian Ice-M, Salmon Glow-M

• Franklin-Christoph 45 Vanness-B

• Bonecrusher Studios Blue Diamondcast-Regalia Writing Labs Crossflex Nib

• Montegrappa Copper Mule-F

• Montegrappa Elmo Blue Cross Gentian-M

I bought these shark pens as a set because I heard people raving about them, but I haven’t had the best luck. Right now I’m saving them to give to pen friends.

• 12-pack of Jinhao Shark pens

Do you see your pens as tools or collectables? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and is not sponsored in any way.

Ink Storage Tour

We finally reached 1,000 ink reviews earlier this month! I never though I’d hit that many, let alone in the first three years. I try to do a favorites post every 100 ink reviews but decided to do something a bit different this time. I took a vote on Instagram, and the #1 request was for a tour of my ink storage, so let’s go for a wander through my cabinet.

Ink Tower:

This cabinet is the Alex 9-drawer from Ikea, and is where most of my ink lives. This tower lives to the left of my desk.

I do own a lot of ink, but most of these inks have come to me in the process of reviewing inks. I occasionally take a box of ink to my local pen club to give away. The light inside isn’t the best so forgive some of the crappy lighting. Generally I take my photos outside but I can’t really move this whole tower outside.

This first drawer holds my Sailor Ink Studio samples as well as my Birmingham samples (since the glass vials don’t fit in the vial holders) and some Thornton’s Luxury Goods inks.

The next drawer holds 3 vial holders with samples divided by color: neutrals, orange/yellow and red/pink. In the front are some J Herbin, Thornton’s Luxury Goods, David Oscarson, Montblanc and Sailor Ink Studio bottles.

Drawer #3 holds another 3 vial holders: green/teals, blues and purples. Bottles are from Blackstone, Troublemaker and KWZ (If you can ever get your hands on a bottle of the KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis Butterscotch-DO IT!).

Next we’ve got Papier Plume and some random J Herbin, Montblanc, Callifolio, Noodler’s, TWSBI, De Atramentis and Colorverse.

This drawer is mainly Sailor with some Kobe and Private Reserve mixed in.

This drawer is all random: Noodler’s, Organics Studio, Rohrer and Klingner, Krishna, Vinta, Pelikan, Platinum, Cross, J Herbin, Sheaffer, Parker, Kaweco and some re-bottled Bril.

Monteverde, some overflow Robert Oster and Diamine, the Colorverse Voyager set and the Sailor Nano inks.

Robert Oster deserves his own drawer because I love his inks.

Diamine gets its own drawer, and even spills over into some other drawers. I love these 30ml bottles-I think I paid under $2 per 30ml bottle.

Here’s my Pilot Iroshizuku inks-one day I’ll own them all, some PenBBS, Lamy, Waterman, some overflow Diamine, and some Ancient Song bottles in the very back.

This is a drawer in my desk that holds inks I’m currently working on reviewing and ones I want to review soon (ones that have been sent in by retailers or readers).

Samples

After I’ve reviewed an ink if there’s any ink left in the sample then I throw it in these bins. I have one bin for neutrals, one for warm colors and one for cool colors. I try not to waste any ink, and I often search through these bins for a specific sample.

I love this Alex cabinet-it has held up really well for the past 5 years. I do put a cardboard support on the bottom of the drawers with the heaviest inks in them to prevent any sagging. You can probably tell what my favorite brands are, just based on which I own the most bottles of. My top 5 are (in no particular order): Robert Oster, Pilot Iroshizuku, Sailor, Monteverde and Diamine.

Discaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

2019 San Francisco Pen Show

I got my first fountain pen in 2015 and since then I’ve had approximately 1, 762 people tell me I need to attend a pen show. Since I have three little kids and have been in school for the last 5 years it’s been almost impossible for me to make it to one. I finally finished school in July so I promised myself I would get to the San Francisco Pen Show in August. Since this was my first pen show and my view may be a bit different than most I decided to do a bit of a re-cap. 

Vendors

Let’s talk about vendors first-there were a lot of them, but a few stuck out to me. Unfortunately I missed getting photos of Bungubox, Dromgoole’s, Edison Pen Co, Yafa, Luxury Brands and more.

Curnow Bookbinders

The very first vendor I saw when I got into the show was Curnow Bookbinders. They make custom notebooks they mainly sell through Facebook and Vanness Pens. I’ve been looking into their custom notebooks for a while but never actually purchased anything. They recently started making notebooks with a new paper that’s supposed to be very fountain pen friendly so I purchased a set of 3 small notebooks to try the paper, and if I like it I’ll purchase a custom A5 journal through their Facebook page.

Vintage Pen Shop

Jessica Coles owns the Vintage Pen Shop and knows everything about vintage Esterbrooks (she also writes articles for the Well-Appointed Desk).

She had vintage Esterbrooks in a ton of colors and even a vintage testing station where you could try out a bunch of different nibs. I was surprised by how small most of the pens were.

Rickshaw Bags

Mark owns Rickshaw Bags and had a million fun things at his table.

Mark had a ton of fun stickers he’d made for the show-I picked four to play with. I love that he gave the pens personality-I wish I had grabbed one of the mad ink bottle too.

There were these fun pen sleeves in bright colors. I appreciated that he brought a variety to choose from. I ended up choosing a 6-pen wrap with art done by @pensivecandy on Instagram. It’s the perfect color palette for me-teals, purples and blues.

Nock Co.

Brad Dowdy is one of my pen heroes, one I’ve always wanted to meet in person. I am the queen of social awkward, but he gave me a big hug and let me ask him a bunch of questions about his pen cases. I walked away with a Nock Seed A5 in a gorgeous teal color.

He also had some new Nock cases debuting at the show. I love the pink and green watermelon combo.

Franklin-Christoph

Franklin-Christoph is one of my favorite pen companies. I’m always jealous of those who get to see the prototype pens at the shows so I decided to stake out their table before they opened for the day to make sure I got one. But let me tell you, it is BUSY. There are a ton of people who want to see everything so I ended up leaving and coming back. I was still able to find a pen I loved-this olive diamondcast 46. It’s my one pen show pen for this year. I’m pretty anti-glitter in my life but diamondcast materials just look amazing.

One great thing about the F-C table is that they have a nib testing station where you can try out all of their stock nibs before you decide which you want. I ended up going with a broad nib on my pen and Audrey and Scott both worked on my nib for me.

I enjoy Mike @Inkdependence’s YouTube channel so it was nice to meet him in person. 

Here’s @allthehobbies-she and I have corresponded before, so it was great to meet her. You have to be careful though-she’ll help you spend all your money on F-C pens!

I bought a F-C Penvelope 6 a few years ago and I use it daily. Of course I don’t just carry six in it-I usually stuff about 16 pens in it, but it has held up beautifully so I had to remind myself I didn’t need another one (even if that Suit Dark Blue one looks AMAZING!)

Vanness Pens

I love Lisa from Vanness Pens-she’s fun and spunky and was crazy busy. I ended up with a ton of ink.

Galen Leather

Galen Leather was present but selling via Vanness Pens. Their table showed off some new items including this new Writers Medic Bag they’ve been working on. I talked myself out of buying the washi tape dispenser but now I’m wishing I had bought it.

Additive Pens

These pen barrels by Additive pens look like so much fun and one day I’ll cave and try one out. I love how creative they are. 

Straits Pen

Straits pens has been branching out into their own ink and they had this fun ink mixing station. I appreciated the mixing card that showed a few of the colors you could make with them.

BauerInk

 I ran into Claudia from BauerInks and of course had to take a look at all of her Robert Oster swabs. I’m a huge fan of RO inks and had to see if she had any new ones…

…and of course she did. Astorquiza Olive is a new BauerInks exclusive and as soon as I saw this illustration Claudia’s daughter did I knew I had to give it a try-so look for a review of that in the near future.

Musubi

I love Musubi’s social mission. They do a great job of helping minorities and providing jobs to the disadvantaged. They were sold out of the notebook I wanted by the time I got to their table, but I look forward to purchasing from them in the future. I think the cream little owl fabric is my favorite.

Ink Testing Stations

One of my favorite parts of the pen show was playing at the ink testing station. There were multiple tables set up around the show where you could try a ton of different inks. I especially enjoyed being able to try some vintage and hard-to-find inks. 

Kanilea Pen Co

Kanilea uses some of the most beautiful materials. I’ve been lusting after the Haleakala pen for quite a while, and someday I will get one.

They had some extra lighting above their table so it was easy to see some of the iridescence in the materials.

This is their newest pen-Aolani. It’s a purple swirly pattern.

The Nib Smith

Dan Smith is an amazing nibmeister. For this show I wanted to have one of my pens worked on and see how the process went. I have this Platinum 3776 Nice Pur that I bought used. It had an architect grind which I was excited about, but it had a very high sweet spot and I use a lower writing angle, so it never felt quite right to me-too scratchy when I held it comfortably. I finally decided I either needed to get it adjusted so I liked it or sell it. Cue the nibmeister! I showed up for my appointment with my clean pen. I told him what the problem was and demonstrated how I hold my pens. He looked at it for about three seconds and felt how it worked on paper and then took it straight to the grinder. This is where the trust comes in-it can be nerve wracking to see someone take a grinder to your pen, but trust me here, it’s worth it. After grinding it for a second he tested it out, went back to the grinder and tested it again. Then he smoothed it, flossed the tines and filled it up with ink for me to try. I asked that he make the flow a bit wetter which he quickly did and handed it back. I tried it again and it was perfect. The whole process took about three minutes, but it’s something I didn’t know how to do on my own and a lot of experience went into those three minutes. Would I do it again? Absolutely.

Pen Show Haul:

So what did I end up getting?

• Franklin-Christoph 46 Olive Diamondcast, broad nib

• Nock Seed A5 in the Ooh La La color way

• Yamamoto Paper Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection-This pad contains 5 sheets of 18 different papers to try

• Logical Prime A5-B Notebook

• Rickshaw 6-pen roll with art by @pensivecandy

Small things:

Fun stickers from Rickshaw

Backpocket Journals from Curnow

Cal-o-ring and Col-o-ring oversize from the Well-Appointed Desk

Monteverde’s new ink collection Sweet Life which includes:

• Chocolate Pudding

• Blue Velvet Cake

• Mango Mousse

• Pumpkin Cake

• Blueberry Muffin

• Iced Cookie

• Strawberry Shortcake

• Birthday Cake

• Key Lime Pie

• Cherry Danish

Private Reserve Fall Sampler Set:

• Shoreline Gold

• Copper Burst

• Fiesta Red

• Chocolat

• Robert Oster Astorquiza Olive (BauerInk exclusive)

• Monteverde DC Supershow Teal (Yafa)

• Monteverde Malibu Blue (this ink was free with the welcome tote bag)

• KWZ Honey (Dromgoole’s)

• Papier Plume Marina Green

• Monteverde Ocean Noir (Yafa)

• Blackstone Lemur Lime (Lemur Ink)

• Monteverde Smoke Noir (Yafa)

• KWZ Sheen Machine (Vanness Pens)

• Robert Oster Carolina Blue (Carolina Pen Co)
  

Struggles

I try to mix both pro’s and con’s in my posts. As much as I loved the pen show, I did have a few issues. Some of the vendors did not have great customer service. Some of the vendor helpers clearly did not want to be there and it showed in their interactions. After running a salon for years and handing a lot of customer service, it’s something I pay attention to. 95% of vendors were amazing, but there always seem to be a few issues in any crowd.

There weren’t a lot of options for food nearby the show. There was the restaurant attached to the hotel and a little market in the hotel as well, but it was open very limited hours. Outside the hotel there weren’t any close food options, so we mostly ate at the hotel, which was expensive.

It’s so easy to spend a lot of money on pens. I used a cash budget which worked really well. If I had used a debit or credit card I know I would have gone over budget.

Events with lots of people are not the easiest for me-I’m a true introvert and struggle when meeting someone new. I knew that there would be “pen show after dark” meetups at the bar in the evenings and there were-people congregated in small groups all over the bar area. I was often in the bar in the evening but found that since I didn’t know anyone personally in the small groups it was hard for me to try to involve myself. I think it would be best to attend a show with a pen buddy-someone who is in the hobby and can help you join in some of the groups and meet more people without feeling too awkward.

Favorite Parts

I was able to attend the live recording of The Pen Addict podcast on Friday which was great. I loved putting faces to the voices I hear every week. They interviewed the owners of the Kanilea Pen Co and it was interesting to learn more about the company.

Many attendees were very friendly. There are lots of people in the room-it gets hot. I went and sat in the little lobby outside the main room to take a break for a few minutes and ended up talking with a fellow pen lover-we discussed pens and he let me try his Nakaya. Seriously-pen people are the best people.

I often attend the Seattle-ish Pen Posse and I was surprised to find that seven of my pen friends from Seattle also made it to the show. We were able to have a mini Seattle meetup at the bar. I love seeing so many products in person. There have been many times I’ve held off from making a purchase because I want to see it in person first, and a pen show is a great way to do that.

Overall, I had a great time at the show. I would absolutely go again, but next time I would like to attend with a fellow pen addict.