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.