My 10 Favorite Black Inks

We’ve been slowly tackling my top ten inks in each color category and today it’s time to have a go at black inks! You can find my top ten by color posts in the favorites tab at the top of the blog. So let’s take a look!

Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi is a fabulous dark ink with a nice wet flow.

Sailor Jentle Black is my go-to black ink. I’m so close to finishing the bottle, which doesn’t happen to me often. I keep it in a TWSBI Mini Rose Gold, and I usually refill it once a week.

Sailor Kiwa-guro is one I reach for when I want a water-resistant ink, but it does have a pretty long dry time.

Aurora Black is a good everyday black. I love using it for taking quick notes in a Pilot Vanishing Point.

I love Platinum Carbon Black. I use it often-it has high water resistance and has a nice wet flow.

Monteverde Documental Black isn’t the darkest black ink on this list, but it’s dries fast and is water-resistant.

Cross Black is a nice well-behaved classic black ink.

Platinum Chou Kuro is wet and smooth and a dark black color.

Nagasawa Kobe 05 Tor Black has a nice wet flow and a little bit of shading and sheen.

Pelikan Edelstein Onyx is on the drier side and tends to tame some of my wetter nibs.

What ink would you add to my favorite black inks? Let me know in the comments below!

My 10 Favorite Blue Black Inks

We’ve been slowly tackling my top ten inks in each color category and today it’s time to have a go at blue black inks! You can find my top ten by color posts in the favorites tab at the top of the blog. So let’s take a look!

Sailor Sei-boku has a lot of depth to the color, and has high water resistance.

Bungubox 4B is an interesting color, dries fast, and has some nice sheen.

Robert Oster Thunderstorm-I love this ink. I love the color. The shading is great and has an average dry time.

Rohrer and Klingner Verdigris leans toward teal on some papers, but is a nice color and affordable too!

Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai is one of my absolute favorite blue black inks. I love the color, I love the smooth flow, and I love the quick dry time.

Sailor Souboku is an amazing ink. I love the smooth flow and high water resistance.

Nagasawa Kobe 07 Kaikyou Blue is a nice dark color and has some shading, sheen and a nice wet flow

Cross Blue Black is a classic in the fountain pen community. It’s a great everyday office appropriate blue black ink.

Nagasawa Kobe 51 Kanocho Midnight-I love this ink. It’s so pretty and I love the wet flow and green and silver sheen.

Diamine 1864 Blue Black is a good classic blue black. I love the smooth flow. I use it primarily on Tomoe River paper since it’s not great on cheaper paper.

What ink would you add to my favorite blue black inks? Let me know in the comments below!

July Favorites

I can’t believe July is halfway over! There’s just a handful of weeks before the kids go back to school. I’ve spent most of the summer working, playing with my kids and swimming. I’ve had some requests to share my current favorites so here ya go!

Pens:

TWSBI Mini Rose Gold with a medium nib (version 1): I don’t love TWSBI pens in general, but I do own a lot of them because the nibs are pretty good and they are affordable. They are great for testing out inks but I don’t usually use them for my everyday writing. There’s something about the TWSBI Eco that doesn’t sit in my hand well-I do prefer the Eco-T over the standard Eco. This TWSBI Mini when posted, however, is the perfect fit for my hand. The nib is smooth and the perfect size-not too broad and not too fine.

Zebra Sarasa Grand in White (aff. link) with a Zebra Sarasa Dry 0.7 refill: This has become my daily writer that sits on my desk. I use it 10,000 times a day, and my kids frequently steal it off my desk. Sometimes I have to hunt them down to get it back. I’ve used up 2 of these refills in the last month-I use them that much.

Nagasawa Decimo Original Gradation Kaigon Stone Gray with Rhodium Trim: Wow that pen name is a mouthful. I love how pretty and neutral this pen is-I don’t have enough neutral pens. As much as I love the Pilot Vanishing Point, I’ve kinda fallen in love with the Decimo just a little bit more. I love how slim it is-it makes it more comfortable for me during long writing sessions.

Inks:

Sailor Jentle Black: This is going to be the first ink that I empty the entire bottle. I love this ink so much. I currently have it in three different pens just because I enjoy it that much. You can see in the photo above where I compared it to some of my other favorite black inks.

I’ve been color coding my notes a lot this month, so I have almost every color in the rainbow inked up. I do need to add a blue black ink in there. I love all of these inks.

Paper:

Levenger Circa Midway: I have been planner jumping for years. Years! I’ve tried everything from Hobonichi to Erin Condren. I tried a Levenger Circa notebook like 8 years ago and didn’t love it-I felt like the pages came out too easy and it was too hard to turn the book over on itself. Someone suggested that I try heavier paper with metal rings so I decided to take a leap and give it a try. I got the Midway size, which is 1/8 of an inch off of Happy Planner Classic size, and upgraded it to 1 1/2 inch aluminum rings.

It arrived the last day of June and I quickly printed off dividers and planner pages so I could use it for One Book July, which it turns out I stink at. I tried a lot of different styles-I tried 6 different planner daily pages until I found the one that really works for me. So far I’m using it as a combo planner/bullet journal and I’m really enjoying it. It’s just the right size. I’m using HP 32 lb paper in it, which isn’t my absolute favorite-it’s a little too glassy for my taste, but it holds up to fountain pens well and I’ve yet to find a better copy paper since they discontinued my favorites. I still need to do another Copy Paper Conundrum post part 2 (you can find the first one here), so in the comments let me know what your favorite copy paper is so I can test them out!

Taroko Breeze Notebook: I love these notebooks so freaking much! I’ve got three ones going right now and they all have been really great quality. I’ve abused this one so much and the binding has held up beautifully.

Currently:

This month I’ve been working on organizing my swabs (I use the Col-o-ring by Skylab Letterpress). My swabs have been a mess for months (it’s seriously bad as the photo above shows). I had them sorted by main color, so when I do a review I have to sort through 350 blue swabs to find the similar colors. I finally got around to breaking them up into smaller categories like light red, medium red, dark red, red-violet, cherry red, etc. Hopefully this makes the review process a little faster. I’ll do a blog post about the process soon, but you can find more photos of the process on my Instagram page.

Most Recent Purchase:

Lamy 2000:

I finally broke down and ordered another Lamy 2000 during the Endless Pen 4th of July sale. Years ago I purchased a Lamy 2000 Makrolon and a Lamy 2000 Black Amber together when I was still new to fountain pens. The Makrolon was an EF nib and I hated it as soon as I tried it, so I sold it. The Black Amber had a fine nib that I didn’t like either, but it ended up having some pitting near the nib so I couldn’t sell it, and I still have it. I wanted to try one with a medium nib but wasn’t sure I wanted to buy one just to try it, but I finally just pulled the plug and purchased one. It arrived just this week and so far I like the nib, but the nib is broader than the other Lamy medium nibs I have. It does have a bit of a sweet spot, but I can deal with that. I like the size of the pen and that it doesn’t have a screw cap.

Wish List:

I have a few things on my wish list-things I’m thinking about purchasing soon. Here’s a few things I’m looking at:

Esterbrook Model J Blackberry Ebonite Fountain: I’ve purchased a few Esterbook Esties, both the standard and oversize and so far I’ve had a good experience with the brand. I’ve fallen out of love with the Estie however, and ended up selling all but one of them (If anyone is looking to buy an Esterbrook Estie Maraschino with a broad nib let me know). I’m looking at trying the Model J to see if I like it better. I love the hammered band on the body. I’m trying to decide between the Violet and the Blackberry colors.

BENU Talisman Sandalwood:

I know this pen isn’t available yet, but I’m seriously debating ordering it once it becomes available. I have the BENU Talisman in Cat’s Eye and absolutely love it. It fits my hand well, has a smooth nib and is a cool color. Most of the BENU pens are way too flashy for me, but this one is a bit more subdued and perfect for the autumn season.

Clairefontaine Fontaine Aquapad Watercolor Paper: I love using watercolor paper for playing with ink and to my knowledge this is a new product for Clairfontaine. I want to try it out and make some ink charts with it.

Diamine Inkvent Calendar Black Edition:

Each year I’ve reviewed the inks in the Inkvent Calendar and I’m interested in this year’s edition.

Other Thinks I’m Enjoying:

SBREBrown’s What I've Learned in Thirteen Years of Reviews Video: I’ve been a long time fan of Stephen’s and appreciate his views on making reviews.

Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy

I have the first two Half Baked Harvest cookbooks and absolutely love them. Not only are the recipes wonderful but the photography is amazing. I can’t wait until this new one comes out in November.

Flourished Hope’s The 5 Part Journaling System That Changed My Life Completely (How to Journal): I appreciated her take on journaling since I’m trying to improve my system.

So that’s it-my favorites for July. What are you loving this month? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This page does contain two affiliates link for Amazon and this post is not sponsored.

My 10 Favorite Orange Inks

We’ve been tackling my top ten inks in each color category and today it’s time to have a go at orange inks! So let’s take a look!

Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-yake is so smooth and pretty. I love the color.

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki is my favorite red-orange.

Robert Oster Peach is my favorite Robert Oster orange ink.

Diamine Gerbera is such a gorgeous color!

Diamine Peach Haze is such a good peach color!

Sailor Ink Studio 173 has the best shading I’ve ever seen in an orange ink.

J Herbin Essentials Orange Soleil is so smooth and lovely.

Sailor Jentle Apricot is one of the first inks I ever bought and I still use it today.

Papier Plume Sazerac is my favorite springy orange.

J Herbin Cornaline d’Egypte is my favorite orange shimmer ink.

What’s your favorite orange ink? Let me know in the comments below!

My 10 Favorite Grey Inks

We’ve been tackling my top ten inks in each color category and today it’s time to have a go at grey inks! So let’s take a look!

Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun is so smooth and pretty. I love the cool-tone.

Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same is like Fuyu-syogun but warmer.

Diamine Moon Dust is my favorite grey shimmer. It’s just pretty.

Sailor Manyo Hinoki has gorgeous shading: from green to grey to purple.

Sailor Ink Studio 224 has similar shading to Hinoki but it leans a bit more toward purple.

Diamine Earl Grey is a fabulous purpley-grey. It reminds me of elephants.

Montblanc Oyster Grey is a good medium grey.

Monteverde Smoke Noir reminds me of graphite.

Rohrer & Klingner Thea is my favorite water-resistant grey.

Diamine Silver Fox is gorgeous and well-behaved.

What’s your favorite grey ink? Let me know in the comments below!

My 10 Favorite Teal Inks

Last month we looked at my 10 favorite purple inks so today it’s time to take a look at my 10 favorite teal inks, in no particular order. There are so many good teal inks out there that it’s hard to narrow them down to ten, especially because it’s my favorite color!

Robert Oster Marine is a fabulous medium teal.

Diamine Marine is the first ink I ever bought, and is still one of my favorites!

Robert Oster Sooty Shearwater was dedicated to the founder of Galen Leather, and is a gorgeous teal.

I love how dark and interesting Robert Oster Deep Sea is.

Sailor Yama-dori is smooth and wonderful.

I’m not a huge fan of shimmer inks but Diamine Peacock Flare is gorgeous!

Diamine Soft Mint is a perfect spring teal.

J Herbin Emerald of Chivor is one of the most popular inks, and for good reason.

Robert Oster Monsoon Sky is from the Arizona collection.

Diamine Spearmint Diva is another pretty teal shimmer ink.

What’s your favorite teal ink? Let me know in the comments below!

My 10 Favorite Purple Inks

Last month we looked at my 10 favorite yellow inks so today it’s time to take a look at my 10 favorite purple inks, in no particular order. There are so many good purple inks out there that it’s hard to narrow them down to ten.

Sailor Manyo Fuji has fabulous shading, but it is very dry.

Colorverse Pillars of Creation has some gorgeous green sheen.

Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi is another good purple shader.

Diamine Music Handel is gorgeous and has some lovely shading.

Monteverde Blueberry Muffin is a great purple for fall.

Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai is a lovely blue-violet.

Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-budo is so pretty and bright.

Monteverde Amethyst is a lovely medium purple.

Platinum Lavender Black has some awesome shading and I love watching the color change.

J Herbin 1798 Amethyste de L’Oural is such a pretty purple with silver shimmer.

What’s your favorite purple ink? Let me know in the comments below!

My 10 Favorite Yellow Inks

I decided it would be fun to tackle some of my favorite inks based on color so today let’s take a look at my ten favorite yellow inks, in no particular order. Yellow inks can be so hard! Some are too light to be readable and some are rather fluorescent, it’s hard to find the good ones.

Robert Oster Gold Antiqua is a dark gold with shading. I love using this ink in the winter months.

Robert Oster Heart of Gold is the perfect gold shimmer ink. I love using it on holiday cards.

Bungubox Ebizu Gold is perfect for the winter or spring, it’s a great neutral gold.

Franklin-Christoph Honeycomb is right in-between yellow and brown depending on what paper you use it on.

KWZ Honey has gorgeous shading. It really is the color of honey.

Robert Oster Yellow Sunset is bright while still being readable.

KWZ Old Gold is the color of tarnished gold.

Colorverse Adobe makes me think of desert sands.

Robert Oster Yellow Sunrise is bright and cheerful.

Private Reserve Buttercup is a fabulous spring yellow.

What’s your favorite yellow ink? Let me know in the comments below!

Holiday 2020 Inks

Yesterday we covered my current favorites and an inky gift guide, today let’s talk about inks that are great for the coming holidays!

These metallic inks are perfect for any holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. No matter what the occasion, these inks always add the “wow” factor.

• Platinum Carbon Black

• Robert Oster Gold Antiqua

• Robert Oster African Gold

• KWZ Old Gold

• Bungubox Ebisu Gold

• Robert Oster Heart of Gold

• Nemosine Coalsack Nebula

• Monteverde Smoke Noir

• Colorverse Anti-matter

• Pilot Iroshizuku Kiri-same

• Diamine Grey

• Diamine Snow Storm

While our Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year, I still reach for specific inks each November (this one is KWZ Honey).

Browns and reds are my favorites this season, especially those with fabulous shading like Colorverse String and Taccia Tuchi Golden Wheat.

• Colorverse String

• Taccia Tuchi Golden Wheat

• Robert Oster Caffe Crema

• Monteverde Scotch Brown

• Robert Oster Toffee

• Monteverde Pumpkin Cake

• Diamine Oxblood

• Robert Oster Astorquiza Rot

• Diamine Mulled Wine

• Diamine Burgundy Royale

• Robert Oster Maroon 1789

You can’t go wrong with oranges and yellows in November.

• Diamine Autumn Oak

• Kobe Arima Amber

• KWZ Butterscotch

• Robert Oster Terracotta

• Montblanc Red Fox

• Monteverde Fireopal

• Kobe Taisanji Yellow

• Robert Oster Honey Bee

• Jacques Herbin Ambre de Baltique

• Franklin Christoph Honeycomb

• KWZ Honey

Christmas is my favorite holiday! There are so many great Christmas greens and reds that I couldn’t limit myself to just a few.

Dark green inks are perfect for Christmas.

• Taccia Midori Green

• Robert Oster River of Fire

• Robert Oster Spearmint

• Montblanc Irish Green

• Robert Oster Peppermint

• Diamine Woodland Green

• Diamine Holly

• Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-ryoku

• Robert Oster Evergreen

• Robert Oster Emerald

• Diamine Ultra Green

• Diamine Sherwood Green

Not only do I love the dark greens for Christmas, but there’s always room for some lighter brighter greens and of course some shimmer inks as well.

• Robert Oster Peppermint Candy

• Diamine Golden Ivy

• Diamine Magical Forest

• Diamine Golden Oasis

• Robert Oster Fizzy Lime

• Robert Oster Ryde Green

• Blackstone Lemur Lime

• Diamine Kelly Green

I have a love/hate relationship with red inks. I’m always on the lookout for my perfect red, so far the closest I’ve found is Sailor Jentle Irori, but it’s still a bit too bright for me.

• Diamine Matador

• KWZ Maple Red

• Sailor Jentle Irori

• J Herbin Rouge Grenat

• Monteverde Cherry Danish

• Robert Oster Red Candy

• Diamine Firestorm Red

• Diamine Crimson

• Monteverde Love

• Diamine Red Dragon

• Diamine Noel

• Robert Oster Clay Red

• Robert Oster Blood Rose

• Robert Oster Red Gold

I posted my favorite Christmas inks last year, and had a lot of requests to include Hanukkah inks this year.

I wanted to include a range from black to silver even though I know the traditional colors are only blue and white. White inks are almost impossible in fountain pens (yes, I know some actually exist I just haven’t tried them yet).

• Sailor Kiwa-guro

• Sailor Nano Souboku

• Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim

• Sailor’s Sailor

• Robert Oster Blue Water Ice

• Colorverse Horizon

• Diamine Moon Dust

• Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun

• Diamine Silver Fox

What are your favorite holiday inks? Let me know in the comments below!

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

1300 Inks!

We’ve passed 1300 inks so it’s time for another favorites post! Since we are so close to the holidays I decided to make this not only my current favorites but also a gift guide of sorts, based on ink properties.

This year has been really difficult, especially for small retailers. When you are doing your holiday shopping please remember to support small businesses! I did a blog post awhile back about my favorite small businesses and another post about custom pen makers if you are looking for more pen people to support.

Water-resistant Inks:

Water-resistant inks are perfect for the journaler who wants their writing to last, the klutzy friend who always spills their coffee or the artist who loves to mix fountain pens and watercolors.

• Sailor Sei-boku

• Rohrer & Klingner Salix

• Sailor Souboku

• Platinum Carbon Black

• Monteverde Documental Black

Copy Paper Inks:

These inks perform well on cheap paper so these inks are perfect for the penny pincher friend who doesn’t want to buy nice paper, the office-dweller who doesn’t get to pick their paper or the student stuck with school papers.

• Rohrer & Klingner Salix

• Rohrer & Klingner Alt-goldgrun

• Lamy Benitoite

• Sailor Kiwa-guro

• Bungubox Ebisu Gold

Wet Inks:

Wet inks are great for the writer who loves big juicy broad nibs or the calligrapher who uses flex and stub nibs.

• Platinum Carbon Black

• Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris

• Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-kai

• KWZ Butterscotch

• Monteverde Ocean Noir

Dry Inks:

Dry inks are great when you have a nib that’s too wet and needs a little taming.

• Robert Oster Bishop to King

• Platinum Lavender Black

• Kyo-iro 01 Stone Road of Gion

• Diamine Citrus Ice

Iron Gall Inks:

Iron Gall inks are great for the archive journaler, artist or historian.

• Platinum Lavender Black

• Rohrer & Klingner Salix

• KWZ Iron Gall Gummiberry

Non-shading Inks:

Non-shading inks are great for the office-dweller when shading isn’t appropriate, the boring friend who wants their writing to look like “normal” or the perfectionist who hates variation.

• Platinum Carbon Black

• Aurora Black

• Diamine Oxford Blue

• Sailor Jentle Shigure

• Pilot Iroshizuku Take-sumi

Shading Inks:

Shading inks are a great gift for 99% of pen users, especially when they are as pretty as these ones!

• Sailor’s Sailor

• Taccia Tuchi Golden Wheat

• Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim

• Colorverse String

• Colorverse Saturn V

Crazy Shading Inks:

Dual shaders, chromo shaders, multi shaders-whatever you call them, they are fabulous for the artist in your life. They are rather pale in writing so I stick to broad and flex nibs to see the gorgeous shading.

• Sailor Ink Studio 123

• Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi

• Sailor Ink Studio 150

• Troublemaker Abalone

• Sailor Manyo Haha

Sheeny Inks:

While I love a good sheeny ink, I hate ones that smear. I tend to stay in the medium to high sheeners, where Sailor and Colorverse perform well.

• Sailor Jentle Yama-dori

• Sailor Jentle Irori

• Colorverse Andromeda

• Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue

• Colorverse Gravity Wave

Shimmer Inks:

Shimmer inks are great for those in your life that want a bit of sparkle and shine in their writing.

• Robert Oster Heart of Gold

• Robert Oster Rose Gilt Tynte

• J Herbin 1670 Emerald of Chivor

• Diamine Winter Miracle

• Nemosine Coalsack Nebula

So now that we’ve covered the first 1300 inks, on to the next ones! What’s your number one ink to penable a friend? Let me know in the comments below!

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