Ferris Wheel Press Evelyn Charger Set

Ferris Wheel Press does a great job at separating their collections into charger sets-3 x 5ml ink vials. The Evelyn charger set contains 3 inks from the Spring 2021 collection. Thanks to Phidon Pens for sending this set over for review!

Swabs:

Left to right: April Showers, Madam Mulberry and Morningside Mint.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry Time: 10-50 seconds

Water Resistance: Low-Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium-high shading (high shading on Morningside Mint), no sheen and silver shimmer (April Showers).

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was lots of feathering in every nib size as well as some bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

April Showers is closest to Diamine Moon Dust.

Madam Mulberry is similar to Sailor Ink Studio 252.

Morningside Mint is similar to Sailor Ink Studio 160.

Longer Writing:

I used a Taroko Odyssey notebook, all three inks had a dry flow.

Overall, I love the color of all three inks, but Morningside MInt can be too light in most nib sizes. Even in a wet broad nib it’s still pretty light. All three are a bit drier than I prefer, but are great colors for a spring season.

Disclaimer: These inks were provided by Phidon Pens for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored.

June Teals

June starts tomorrow! Summer doesn’t officially start until June 20th but I’m already craving the bright summery colors. While we are still in the very end of spring I’m loving dusky colors like Robert Oster Choc Pudding and Dusky Pink.

Teal is my favorite color and I’m a sucker for all things teal. This palette is made up of a lot of my favorite teals-Sailor Yama-dori and Diamine Soft Mint being two of my long-time favorites.

Robert Oster Monsoon Sky and Morning Mist are two less popular teals but they are perfect for this palette and wonderful inks too!

Teal and orange go so well together in the summer-Paradise Blue and Manago Mousse are so cheerful together!

I love everything about this one! I’m pretty sure I will be using these five inks together for the rest of the summer because they look so good together!

I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

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

May Purples

It’s finally May! We spent this Saturday hiking the Wild Horses Monument near the Gorge in WA. My kids loved seeing all the horse statues and the view was amazing. I was so glad I had my phone so I could take a quick photo. I find myself reaching for Sailor Ink Studio 143 a lot this spring-it is such a nice color and has some fabulous shading too.

I’m a sucker for the moody greens in this one! I have become a bit wary of Troublemaker inks-a few have stained my pens but I still enjoy using them (with some caution), especially this Seaglass.

This one just makes me think of Pepto bismol, but I love the combo of pink, purple and teal!

I love Pilot Iroshizuku inks but since I’m always trying out new inks I don’t use my favorites as much as I would like. Ajisai is one of my long-time loves!

I hope everyone is having a great May! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

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

Ink Review #1468: Ferris Wheel Press Blue Cotton Candy

Ferris Wheel Press Blue Cotton Candy is from FWP’s Spring 2020 collection and is available in 38 and 85 ml bottles. Thanks to the reader that sent this ink in for review! You can find this ink for sale at Vanness Pens.

The color:

Blue Cotton Candy is a pale baby blue.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper the ink has some interesting shading-from pale grey to bright blue.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 40 seconds

Water resistance: Medium

Feathering: None

Show through: Medium

Bleeding: None

Other properties: medium shading, no sheen, and no shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper there was feathering in all nib sizes but no bleeding.

Comparison Swabs:

Blue Cotton Candy is a little darker than Lennon Tool Bar Shuise. Click here to see the Ferris Wheel Press inks together, and click here to see the blue inks together.

Longer writing:

I used a TWSBI Eco-T Mint with a broad nib on a Taroko Enigma notebook. The ink had a dry flow, you can see in the middle of the page where it got so dry I had to prime the feed a bit to keep it flowing and it quickly dried up again.

Overall, I like the color of this ink, but it’s way too dry and pale for me. It’s a little more tolerable when you add a drop of White Lightning (ink additive) to improve the flow, but it’s still too pale to be readable in most nib sizes.

Disclaimer: This ink was provided by a reader for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links and this post is not sponsored.

March Greens

It’s March so bring on all the greens! It has been a long winter and one thing I’m looking forward to this spring is when the local farmers market starts up. I love using fresh local produce and can’t wait to find some again! Monteverde Moonstone is a long-time favorite of mine.

I am missing all the green! Last summer we moved from a very wet climate to the desert and I’m missing the green landscape more than I thought I would. I reach for Robert Oster Caffe Crema at least once a month, it’s a great brown.

We have been spending some of our weekends out hiking. We’ve been finding local trails out in the desert where it’s rare for us to run into another hiker. The kids can only handle so much school during the week before they are craving a full day spent outside. Sailor Jentle Tokiwa-matsu has really grown on me over time and I use it often.

My oldest sister hates succulents-who knows why, but she does. Anytime I see them it makes me think of her and how much she hates them. I love the range of color they have, especially the pops of blue and green. Sailor Ink Studio 264 is an ink I reach for again and again, I just love the color.

I hope everyone is having a great March! What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

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

Doughnuts and Tulips Ink Palettes

We are on day 51 of our self-imposed quarantine, and luckily we are all doing pretty well. I’ve been sick since Monday, so we are taking one day at a time. Today it hit me that I miss doughnuts. We are not big on eating out, but the one exception is when I take my son for doughnuts after appointments with his specialist. I could seriously use an Oreo doughnut from Legendary Doughnuts in Tacoma right about now (never mind that it’s 9 o’clock at night and they are probably closed-please tell me I’m not the only one that craves doughnuts late at night). Oreos+doughnuts=amazing and you really can’t go wrong, right??? Well you can’t go wrong with these inks either, because they are fun and bright and match these doughnuts that I wish I was eating.

I miss tulips. They are pretty and come in a million different colors. Coral oranges are my favorite oranges, so Sailor Ink Studio 473 is good one.

Gimme all the pastel shading inks in spring, but I also need some great classic inks too. Sailor Jentle Black is one of my favorite inks-I always have it in at least one pen.

I miss farmers markets. I miss being able to take my kids to help me pick out food each week and see what new ingredients they want to try. We have had really good luck with a local company delivering produce to us each week during stay-at-home and appreciate them so much. Sailor Jentle Irori is a really good tomato red and is one of my favorite reds. I’m still deep in my love affair with Platinum Carbon Black, I don’t think we will be breaking up anytime soon-I’m pretty sure we are going steady at this point. Try it because it’s amazing.

I hope you are all staying safe and well. What’s your favorite ink today? Let me know in the comments below!

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

Quarantine 2020 Ink Palettes

We are on day 24 of our self-imposed quarantine, something I’ve avoided talking about so far, but this is life right now and it doesn’t seem right to avoid it altogether. We live in Washington State and have three little kids so we decided to stay at home pretty early on and do our best to keep everyone healthy. It’s the first Sunday of the month so I thought I would post this month’s ink palettes based on what we’re doing and missing right now. I know a lot of us are struggling and my heart is with everyone having to deal with this. I’m doing my best to keep our routine as consistent as we can. My day job is on hold for now, but I’ll still be here posting ink content like usual for as long as I can.

One of the biggest things I miss right now is taking my kids to the park. We usually spend a lot of time outside-we go to a lot of local parks, splash parks and hiking trails. Since this isn’t really an option for us right now, I’m looking forward to days where chalk can be a fun part of our lives again. Diamine Soft Mint is one of my favorite Diamine inks, and has been for years.

My youngest is super into aquatic life right now and we have spent a lot of time on YouTube watching different sea creatures-have you seen the video of the octopus dreaming and changing colors the whole time?!? Coral and light orange are some of my favorite colors for spring.

Easter is coming up soon and my kids ask everyday if it’s Easter yet. They love dying eggs-mostly just so they can crack them open later, but it’s a good indoor activity when so many of our Easter activities won’t happen this year. I’m loving these colors together, they definitely have the spring vibe but are still pretty readable.

I’m struggling to keep everyone hydrated. It seems like such a silly thing but it’s something we are working on. I love teal inks and all three of these are great ones. Platinum Carbon Black is my new black ink fling, I don’t think we will be breaking up any time soon.

I’m hoping you are all well. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening sewing up some masks, but check back tomorrow for a new ink review. What’s your current ink obsession right now? Let me know in the comments below!

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

Ink Review #830: Pastel Pink Julia 1991

I’ve finally done it-I’ve found an ink the color of cotton candy. Vinta Pastel Pink Julia 1991 is baby pink, the exact color of cotton candy. Since it is a very pale pink with gold shimmer it also looks like a baby shower exploded in the bottle. According to Vinta’s website, “Julio and Julia, was a popular show about two magical twins. It went on air in 1991. It was actually created by a French writer Jean Chalopin and the original title was Les Jumeaux du Bout du Monde or ‘Twins of Destiny.’” Thanks to Vanness Pens for sending a sample over for review.

The color:

Julia looks just a bit weird when wet, a bit blue and cool-toned but then dries to this warm-tone baby pink. It has gold shimmer and just a hint of blue undertone that shows up in large swabs.

Swabs:

In large swabs on Tomoe River paper you can see that hint of blue undertone around the edges.

Writing samples:

Let's take a look at how the ink behaves on fountain pen friendly papers: Rhodia, Tomoe River, and Leuchtturm.

Dry time: 20 seconds

Water resistance: Low

Feathering: None

Show through: Low

Bleeding: None

Other properties: no shading, no sheen, and gold shimmer.

On Staples 24 lb copy paper the ink did better than I expected-almost no feathering, and most of the bleeding was confined to the flex nib.

Comparison Swabs:

The closest shimmer ink to Julia is Robert Oster Rose Gilt Tynte. For non-shimmer, Julia seems to be a lighter version of Sailor Jentle Peche (I didn’t think was possible to get lighter than Peche but here we are…), but Peche has a yellow undertone not Julia’s blue. Click here to see the Vinta inks together, and click here to see the pink inks together.

Longer Writing:

I used a Lamy Safari Pastel Pink with a broad nib on Tomoe River paper to run with the sunrise theme. The ink had a very dry flow and clogged twice just while writing this page.

Overall, it’s sooo pale. Performance-wise it’s very dry and had problems with clogging. I liked it best in the flex nib where it was the most readable, but it did clog rather often-about every paragraph or two. It would be good as a highlighter or art ink. If you need an ink the color of cotton candy or for baby shower art-this is the ink for you.

Disclaimer: A sample of this ink was provided by Vanness Pens for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are my own. This page does not contain affiliate links, and this post is not sponsored in any way.