The drawing itch struck me about a year ago. Sure I drew as a kid, it's amazing what things fall away as we move through life for various different reasons. My day job is at a desk, behind a computer screen, feeling chained. I've been teaching myself how to draw since sometime last year. I had sticky notes at my desk and realized that I was drawing on them close to every day. I am drawn to nature, botanical, leaves, flowers, mushrooms, etc.

Fast forward (or rewind) to January 2026. I saw a post on Mastodon about The 100 Day Project and I was intrigued. A quick search brought me to The 100 Day Project homepage (https://www.the100dayproject.org/about). I was already doodling at my desk on sticky notes close to, if not everyday. And I had started sharing those on Mastodon in January. So after reading about The 100 Day Project and what I needed to do to participate, I decided to go for it, but what am I going to spend the next 100 days doing? Well .. duh using the sticky notes I had available on my desk to doodle through a book that had already been a motivator to me, Botanical Line Drawing by Peggy Dean.

According to The 100 Day Project all that I needed to do was to participate. Tag my posts on Instagram ... but wait ... I don't have Instagram. No problem. I could also sign up for the newsletter, here is where free turned into paid. Which is totally fine if you need inspiration, want project updates from featured creators, or maybe need some prompts, etc. I decided to remain free and that meant I got a newsletter about once a month or so. Totally cool. So I decided to keep it to Mastodon and used several hashtags in my toots (what Mastodon calls posts).

The first day was February 22, 2026 this year. I started the project on day 3, February 25, 2026. Part of me wasn't sure if I could do it? Little by little, starting on page 1, every morning. I drew. Sometimes it was five minutes, sometimes ten minutes. There was some stuggle, since it was easy to draw at my desk everyday before work. My sticky notes, quickly turned into little notebooks. What I realized was that it was harder for me to draw on the weekends because I wasn't sitting in my office. I had to find a way to remember to bring my book and my notepad downstairs, so I could draw in the kitchen.

It wasn't until day 24 that I started posting my little doodles on Mastodon. Over time, I developed confidence with my line drawings. I liked a certain aestatic with my posts. I got a ton of inspiration and enjoyed seeing others who were also participating on Mastdon. Some drawings I really liked and others I didn't like. I know what shapes I want to practice. In the end all of this lead to me taking a Botanical drawing class which I'm really excited about. I'm hoping to build upon what I did for The 100 Day Project. And I continue the habit of drawing everyday.

A little while back Vanness introduced Ishimaru Colorbar inks to the US. Ishimaru is a stationery chain in Nagasaki, Japan. Their exclusive Colorbar inks are named after cocktails. I’ve not had the chance to ever see these inks so I was excited and promptly put 10 of these inks on my wishlist. Before placing an order, I had to cull the list down and decided on Gypsy, Wine Grog, and Irish Coffee. Ishimaru Colorbar inks come in 23ml bottles.

Irish Coffee is a light/medium brown-orange ink that seems to pop off the page. Especially on Iroful paper, where it feels brighter. I can see where it captures the mix of coffee and cream used in an Irish Coffee drink. The color is a cozy color that makes me want to curl up on a chilly evening in deep winter or early spring.

Irish Coffee looks beautiful on paper, it’s a heavy shading ink and I don’t have anything else like it in my collection. The downstroke shows the darker cozy orange, while the rest of the stroke shows the warm cozy brown. The flow feels wet from a Pilot Kakuno with a medium nib. Writing was smooth on all the papers that I tested and this led to a quite enjoyable writing experience. Lines were all nice and crisp. I did not see feathering, bleed-through, or spead from the ink. This is an ink that I want to keep inking again and again.

Swatches

The swatches are done on Col-O-Dex and Col-O-Ring swatch cards. Here in the larger swatch is a little bit of drark black sheen. You won’t see this in the writing. There is a subtle pink hue where I did a water wash on the coloring card. The cards both show a rich medium brown-orange color reminicent of an irish coffee right after mixing in the cream. Mmm.

The chromatography is showing pink and yellow dye with a small hint of orange at the very top.

Long Writing Samples

I did six writing samples because I enjoyed writing with this color very much. It was relaxing and fun. The papers used are Nebula Note, Sanzen Tomoe River, Canopus, Yu-Sari, Life Bank, and Iroful.

Nebula Note is from Colorverse and I really like this paper. It’s a heavier paper coming in at 90gsm and feels like it has some tooth to it, however, the writing experience is very smooth. It shows off light shading in some areas. Mostly, the brown-orange color is going to come through on this one. The lines are nice and crisp and there is no spread.

Good ‘ol Sanzen Tomoe River. More shading is present on the TR paper as expected with the orange appearing in the downstrokes and the brown coming through on the up stroke. Lines are crisp with no spread.

Canopus paper is very nice. It feels slightly textured and yet is a smooth writing experience. The paper does show shading, I’d call it low shading and it’s more present than on the Nebula Note. The orange downstrokes and brown upstrokes blend nicely creating an even rich color experience on the page.

Yu-Sari is a smooth paper giving away to a smooth writing experience with this ink. Shading is also present here with the orange and brown blending on the up and drown strokes. The writing is crisp and even with no spread.

Life Bank Paper is a bit toothy and even still this was a nice writing experience. Life Bank is an off-white paper (Although the sacn makes it look stark white, it’s not) that sometimes can do weird things to ink. The color here is the same brown-orange, shading is low on this paper and not present in every word. Lines are again crisp and there is no spread.

Iroful is a pillowy type of paper, meaning that sometimes the nib can feel draggy across the paper. The color popped on Iroful and heavy shading is present again seperating the orange and brown on the up and down strokes. The color looks really lovely on this paper. Lines are crisp. No spread and enjoyable to look at, as if under crystals, if that makes sense? The color is vibrant on this paper.

Wrap-Up Thoughts

The ink was nice to write with on all of the papers I used. Even on the toothier papers I felt the experience was smooth. The flow was nice on all of the papers. Each paper showed a variation of the shading. Some low shading and some high shading. Each paper kept the lines crisp and there was no spread, ghosting or bleed-through. I very much enjoyed using this ink on Iroful. Iroful made the ink vibrant and pop off of the page.

Have you used Ishimaru inks? What did you think and what were your favorite papers to use?

PS - All ink reviews are my own and have been purchased with my own dollars.

Spring is upon us and I've been looking for something that reminds me of new growth and tender leaves. Enter Colorverse King's Road. King's Road is part of the Korea Special inks and is number 49. It's a leafy, vegetable green color. It is on the lighter side, at least as light as I'd like to go for writing purposes. However, the color is somewhat complex, in that hints of blue come out around the edges of the writing and dare I say a hint of chromoshading?

Swatches

The Col-o-Dex really shows the blue on the edges. The green shows shades from a light new leafy green to a darker vegetable green with some hints of yellow.

I ended up doing two chromatrogrphy strips because I really thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I expected to see some of the green move, however, you can see it’s only those blues coming out in the chromatrography. So strange.

Long Writing Samples

Longer writing samples were done on Yu-Sari 95gsm paper. View Corona 52gsm paper, Tomoe River S 52gsm paper, and Colorverse’s own Nebula Note 90gsm paper.

The Yu-Sari paper brings out the shading properties in this ink. Writing was very smooth on this paper. I quite enjoyed King's Road on this paper. The blue around the edges is present if you look closely. I think King's Road stands out on this paper and even more so after I flooded the feed toward the end.

View Corona also brings out some shading but not the way the Yu-Sari does. View Corona did bring out the color a little more. I also liked the flow on this paper. The blue is a little harder to detect but it is there in some of the bigger strokes.

King’s Road on Tomoe River S paper performed similarily to View Corona, though more shading comes through on Tomoe River. I cannot detect the blue around the edges of the writing on Tomoe.

Nebula Note was interesting as in it’s a thicker feeling paper even from the Yu-Sari which is around the same weight. Nebula Note also feels like it has a bit of texture to it. The writing is still smooth. Shading though barely came through on this one. Although the color is punchy on the Nebula Note, and you can see a blob of blue in the “G.” This was right after I took a shim to the tines.

Up-close pictures

Final Thoughts

I filled a TWSBI Eco with a broad nib for this one. The flow was a little on the dry side and I found that I had to flood the feed from time to time. However, I also think the pairing wasn’t the best choice. I’ve come to find that this particular nib even though it’s a broad, it runs dry due to the coating on it. All of that aside, I still found the writing experience to be pleasant on all the papers that I tested on. The lines were crisp and there was no feathering what-so-ever. I think the ink in terms of showing properties performed the best on Yu-Sari paper.

I do not have anything in my collection that is remotely close to this color, so if the color catches your eye, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a sample or a bottle. Just be sure to use your very wettest nib.

Thanks for reading! Keep enjoying those inks.

PS - All inks were purchased with my own dollars!

Tono & Lims is quickly becoming a favorite. Their ink names are fun and colors are quirky. They make ALOT of ink releasing many different collections of ink, it can be a little intimidating.

Welcome Yome! is the first ink I picked up from the Friendship line. The bottle has a cute little cat on it, and I couldn’t resist. I do love a good blue and this is exactly what you’re getting in this one. This ink is a standard medium blue with shading throughout.

Swatches

The Col-O-Dex card is a vibrant medium blue and shows that shading on the right hand side. The middle circle is 1 to 1 water and ink.

This is on Tomoe River S paper. The shading comes out here too.

This is on Graphilo Paper. This also shows off some of the shading, but not as much in the swatch. It does show off those vibrant hues.

Long writing samples

Longer writing samples were done on three types of paper. Tomoe River S 52gsm paper, Iroful 75gsm paper and View Corona 52 gsm paper.

Here are some up close photos of the shading on Iroful and View Corona.

Wrap-Up Thoughts

The ink was nice to write with on all of the papers I used. I got a medium flow paired with the TWSBI Eco Broad nib. No feathering or bleed-through on any of the papers.

On the Iroful paper, the writing looks bluer then on the other two papers. Iroful tends to turn colors blue or in this case more blue. I tend to like that. Notice though that Iroful also appears to make the line wider, so if using a broad nib or bigger, that’s something to watch for.

View Corona paper is a thin paper and smooth, that offers just enough texture to provide good feedback and feel when writing. Not to mention I think inks look really good on View Corona.

Welcome Yome! showed off plenty of shading on all the papers, which lends a really pleasing touch. Just about every letter is getting the shade treatment. I think that very much so comes through on Tomoe River.

Overall, this ink is up my alley. I love a good blue and this one did not disappoint. I am eager to try more Tono & Lims inks.

PS - All ink reviews are my own and have been purchased with my own dollars.

The well known and needs no introduction, River City Pens Co. last year, around the Triangle pen show, released a blue ink that could only be bought at the show. I believe it was Urban Ripple.

Fast forward to the Philly Pen show this past January. River City is one of the usual suspects at the show, and I got excited that I would not only see Rich’s pens in person, but that he would have his ink! And he’s expanded into three additional colors! As of this writing, his inks are now available online. Extra bonus if you’ve been wanting to try his inks, and you should!

I picked up Coal Barge and Viva La Violet. Today, I’ll be focusing on Coal Barge, described on his website as a blue/black, I see more of a dusty purple that dries down with a hint of grey in writing. although on the Col-O-Ring swatch I see blue. This one is a weird one and unlike another color that I have in my collection.

Writing Sample

The writing sample was done on Tomoe River S 52gsm with a medium nib. The writing was smooth. Good flow. There is some shading in the letters. To me the writing has more of a purple-grey tone then a blue/black tone.

Swatches

The large swatch on Tomoe River S 52gsm also dries down more of a purple-grey dusty color. But on the Col-O-Ring swatch I can see more of the blue coming through in the middle which is one part water to two parts ink.

Chromatography

The Chromatography shows just grey dye, not much going on with this one.

Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on this one is this is a weird ink. Goes down more of a dusty blue and dries into a dusty purple. Dare I call this a chromashader? Or maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me? This was in my new River City Pens CrazyFibre in the Westwood model with a medium nib. It was nice to write with. Shading came through in the writing. I wouldn’t say this ink is overly wet. It has a nice flow to it. Overall I’ll certainly be reaching for this again and of course, it’s a little homage to the barge’s that still go up and down the rivers of Pittsburgh. It’s certainly a sight to see if you’re not used to it.

The long January is over ... that doesn’t mean I can’t still talk about intentions for the rest of 2026!

This year I said that I wanted to make / do more art! Fountain pens are a big part of that. Fountain pens have been a gateway for me back into journaling and it’s lead me to drawing / doodling / line drawing.

Inks have opened up another world, watercolor, traditional and with fountain pen ink, which I really enjoy. Making more art started with the idea that I wanted to make a point to sit down with the DI color book and explore my inks every week.

2025 was a difficult year personally and I wanted to start off 2026 in a positive mood. But I knew that wouldn’t quite happen. 2026 has hit hard. A week into the new year, I had to say good-bye to my sweet 20 year Lynx Point Siamese Yuki. I got him from the shelter when he was 6 years old in January 2012. He gave me 14 years of silliness, love and cuddles. I miss him dearly. The house isn’t the same without him and I’m not the same without him either. With his loss, that’s three of our furry babies lost over the past two years.

On the stationery front the hottest topic is the price increases from the major Japanese brands and other brands are following suit. As a new-ish fountain pen user, I do feel a little priced out. Really two grail pens have made their way to the top of my list from all of this. The Platinum Mountain Mist - which I wished that I had jumped on last year and Sailor Pro Gear Sunlight from the Ocean Floor. That one came out as I was getting into fountain pens in 2024 and has stuck in my mind all that time. Will those happen for me? Who knows?

Making Art

In the past I was heavily into photography, landscape photography specifically. In 2020 I really struggled with sharing beautiful photographs in a time when so many were struggling and isolating at home. What I didn’t realize at the time was that those pretty places might have been a release for people stuck at home in the early throws of Covid. With the current events, turning on the news is an exercise in a roller-coaster of feelings all at once. It’s very easy to feel upset, sad and at times hopeless. How is this a time to be giving into stationery? Well because stationery, fountain pens, washi, stickers, and of course art, bring joy and help me not feel as hopeless. Maybe some of you feel the same also?

Not only that but the connections that are made in-person and online through the hobby is a life-line. It’s something that I have to remember, is that sharing art, can put a smile on my face and maybe to someone else too.

So with that in mind. My intention is to sit down, once a week, if not more and create art. I’ve already been doing this off and on - now I want to be consistent. So every week I’m going to get out my DI Ink Archiving Book and paint. This is my way of creating and using inks.

Not only do I want to be more consistent in painting with inks, I’ve realized that for the better part of last year, I’ve had a sticky pad on my desk that I’ve used for doodling. When I realized this, it was an ah-ha moment.

Lastly, with all the ink swatching and loose leaf paper, I’m slowly taking an interest in book-binding. I made my first booklet with 52gsm Tomoe River paper recently and would like to explore more non-adhesive methods.

First attempt at bookbinding with non-adhesive materials.

Pens and Pen Shows

I acquired a lot of pens in 2025 and really did not mean too! I did however acquire an Opus 88, which was on my list from last year to pick up and very much enjoying it. Another brand I wanted to pick up last year was Franklin-Christoph, and I did - three to be exact. I also picked up a number of maker pens - one of which is really cool, in that I picked it up from a maker at pen club and his wife poured the material. So that one is special to me. I also picked up a number of TWSBI’s, with all those marble resins they put out, got me.

A pen in 2026 will really have to knock my socks off for an acquisition to happen. Again, with the price increases I’m waiting to see how things shake out. My suspicion is that these pens will have to go deep discount to counterbalance the price increases? We’ll see.

Last year I wanted to make it to a pen show. I figured there a a few that a close to my area, DC is out - on the account of the show being massive. It was either Baltimore or Philadelphia. Philadelphia was the winner. Check that off the list.

My wife and I went to the 2026 Philadelphia Pen Show. It was an awesome experience. I met a few of my favorite twitch streamers. Talked with and got to know some vendors. Took two classes. Got a grind, mini cutlass from AllintheNib which I absolutely love! And got try so many pens.

I did come home with two maker pens. One was a black ultum from Schon Dsgn that I’ve been scoping out for a year. The other pen is the CrazyFibre from River City Pens. I could not put this one down at the show, so that meant it was coming home with me. I’m happy with those choices and those could be the only pens I acquire this year.

Inks

I’m an inkofile, an inkhead, I love inks. I’m still going to look to acquire inks that catch my eye, however, I want to focus a bit more on certain brands. Kobe, Taccia, Tono&Lims, Lennon Toolbar and maybe Van Dieman’s are my top contenders. Of course small maker inks as well.

I did go ham while at the pen show on inks. Coming home with 15 total. I got to see and test inks that I don’t normally get to see. Like the limited Mizutama inks that Sailor did. Plus, I picked up some serial out of stock Colorverse inks like Coffee Break, and the mini Taccia box set that I’ve had my eye on forever.

Wrap-up

2026 will be an interesting year moving forward in the stationery realm. I suspect alot of folks will be going into ‘use what I own’ mode and waiting for deep discounts and sales. I also think 2026 will be the year of the maker pen, and why not? There are sooo many talented makers out there and frankly I’m all for supporting the small maker! I’m interested in how retailers will be handling the price increases.

This post is going to cover days 15 through 20 of both the Colorvent and Enigma Inkvent calendars.

Colorvent 2025 - Week 3 Favorites.

For my Colorvent favorites:

1. Follow the Water
1. Cosmic Reef
1. Golden Airglow

Follow the Water is a taupe, maybe dark wheat, maybe olivey color with a blue green shimmer. This is a weird color and I’m here for this! Some say this is a Ina-Ho dupe. I couldn’t say because I don’t have Ina-ho and it’s now discontinued. I know that I don’t have anything like this is my collection. Anyway, this is a candidate to get inked very soon.

Next is Cosmic Reef. This is a base color of dark blue with a heavy dark red sheen. It kinda takes over but there are lighter areas where the dark blue comes through. It didn’t smudge after it dried for me, so I think this might behave really well. This is an interesting ink.

Lastly for this week, Golden Airglow. Wow, wow, wow on this one. This is dark brownish-yellow with heavy golden shimmer. This knocked my socks off as soon as I swatched it.

Honorable Mention: Polar Night

For all the people out there who like to use fountain pen inks with water brushes. This one is for you! This is a pale lavender that chromashades blue. This reminds me of a lighter Ink Institute Electric Blue Spider Lily.

Enigma Inkvent - Week 3 Favorites

For my Enigma Inkvent favorites:

(Again this week, these are hard to pick since Enigma does such a good job with this set! Including many small makers and hard to get inks)

1. Amarillo Stationery Teal Waistband
1. Bungubox Thumbelina
1. Mishima Akori

Amarillo Stationery Teal Waistband. This is a beautiful teal that shades nicely. This was one of the set that I did not have and after swatching this, I am going to pick up a bottle. This color just jumps off the swatch card! There is something to this that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Bungubox Thumbelina. The second Bungubox ink in this set and another beautiful ink. This is a slightly darker pink than last week and still muted and dusty. I’ve had somewhat of an awakening with pink lately.

Mishima Akari. Another Mishima from the same set that mimics popular food stuffs (furikake) packaging in Japan. This is the orange in series. It’s a nice bright, shading orange. I couldn’t leave it out.

Honorable Mention:

Pennonia x Inkdependence Hens & Chicks. This was another one that I when released I didn’t pick up. I picked up Mike’s other green ink, Mr. Noses Peepers. Hens and Chicks though is a nice medium dusty green that leans a little blue in lighter areas. This also has a purple (I think) shimmer. I forgot there was shimmer in this and didn’t capture a lot of it on my swatch, sadly. This is a nice springy ink and I can’t wait to use it.

Thanks for reading! Keep enjoying those inks.

PS - All Inkvents were purchased with my own dollars!

Jumping back into the Inkvents for week two, so that is days 8 through 14. I liked these colors released this week and it was VERY hard to pick some favorites.

Colorvent 2025 - Week 2 Favorites.

For my Colorvent favorites:

1. Flame Nebula
1. Snow Angel
1. Maven Mission
   

   

Flame Nebula is a muted dusty orange that leans red. This is a standard ink, that appears to be a nice shader. I would like to get this one into a pen, I’m really intrigued by this color, it’s unique. Most of the oranges in my collection are very saturated.

Next is Snow Angel. I almost didn’t include this here and the more I look a this color, the more I like it. This is a brown-pink, or taupe, according to Colorverse. I was worried about the writing experience with it, and I saw a writing sample from someone else doing daily videos, it looked really readable! So I put it in a pen with a fine nib (Little experiment of my own) and I think it’s perfectly readable. Shades really nicely.

Lastly for this week, Maven Mission. I was drawn to this one. The base color is a deep saturated purple that dries with this heavy gold/green sheen. I might have some other examples of this in my collection and I also feel like this isn’t seen often.

Honorable Mention: Morning Frost on Mars - Glitter Potion

This might be a little controversial and I’m super excited that Colorverse included something like this. Morning Frost on Mars is a glitter potion!! Or they call it Gleamix. What the heck is a glitter potion, you may ask? It’s a shimmer additive so you can mix shimmer into your standard inks and have sparkly goodness in anything! How cool is that!? The shimmer in Morning Frost on Mars seems to be a chameleon, meaning it changes depending on what ink it’s in.

I added some to LGM (Little Green Men) - It was really hard to photograph. Maybe I didn’t add enough shimmer. This is my first time using a shimmer potion, so more experimentation is needed for me. Science!!!

Extra Honorable Mention: Both Golden Mist and Blue Hole.

Ok, this covers everything from this week but I couldn’t resist. These two colors are cool even if they are both on the pale side.

Golden Mist is a chromashader with hints of yellow and peach. I don’t think this will be very readable in a pen. However, this will be wonderful for artists. Still this color combination is really unique.

Blue Hole is also a chromashader. A base color of light blue, baby blue with hints of green. I also think this might be a little on the pale side to write with. To paint with this will be beautiful! I think it’s neat that Colorverse continued with this naming theme. I was intrigued by White Hole from last years set, another pale chromashader and sad it didn’t make the cut. Blue Hole likely won’t either, sadly.

With all that said, I included these because I think these will tickle the fancy of anyone who likes to paint using fountain pen inks with a water brush.

Enigma Inkvent - Week 2 Favorites

For my Enigma Inkvent favorites:

(These are hard to pick since Enigma does such a good job with this set!)

1. Sheaffer Skrip Pink
1. The Wet Pen Everett Massacre #2
1. Mishima Kaori

Sheaffer Skrip Pink is a pink! I mean hot pink with small amounts of gold sheen. This is a new color formulation for Sheaffer, I believe. It’s just as smooth as one would expect. It’s certainly a striking color.

The Wet Pen Everett Massacre #2. I was very excited to see this ink. This is one that I skipped when it came out, just due to my preferences. This is a nice brownish-red and I found that I really liked this color as I swatched it. This ink is named after the 1916 event in which eleven IWW Union protestors and two sheriff’s deputies were killed on the waterfront of Everett, WA. While that may sound macabre. This ink (made to look like blood, ew) is actually quite nice. I will have to pick up a bottle due the next run.

Mishima Kaori. Mishima is another brand that I have never heard of. This ink is made by Sailor and from the information I found this mimics popular food stuffs (furikake) packaging in Japan. This is a beautiful bright green. I did track down the brand in the US to one retailer, unfortunately, they are out of stock! Bummer!

I have an Honorable Mention (Again!) yes I know:

Kiwi Inks Lavender. I really was drawn to this color. It’s pale, yes. It may border on too light to write with, however, I’m calling out to the artists here. Those who like to color and paint with fountain pen ink. This will be nice for that and I will be using it in the DI coloring books.

Thanks for reading! Keep enjoying those inks.

PS - All Inkvents were purchased with my own dollars!

Last year during inkvent season, I eagrly waited everyday to see what the color was going to be. I had been new in the ink game and wanted to see what these nkvents and newly on the scene Colorvent was all about. This year I decided to jump in and picked up both the Colorverse Colorvent and the Enigma Inkvent.

I liked alot of the colors that Colorverse did for their Colorvent last year and knew that I wanted to pick one up this year. The Enigma Inkvent I was suuuper excited for and picked it up on pre-order the day they put them up. Enigma does a graet job showcasing hard to get and small maker inks and this year was no exception.

Releasing a post everyday felt overwhelming and there are alot of people already do that. I did however, want to share my favorites in these sets and decided to highlight some of my favorites on a weekly basis. I’ll be covering days 1 through 7 here. So without further ado ..

Colorvent 2025 - Week 1 favorites.

For my Colorvent favorites:

1. Erebus Crater
1. Milky Sea
1. The Void

Erebus Crater is a cool green-grey that chromashades as it dries into this bluish-brownish color. It’s very cool. I like this one a lot and immediately put it in a pen. I filled my Opus 88 Demo with a flex-fine nib and from this nib, it shades for days. This is a neat ink! I hope this gets full bottle treatment.

Small writing samples of Erebus Crater in a Flex F nib on Nebula Note Paper

Next is Milky Sea. Milky Sea is a dark blue with blue shimmer! How fun!? It looks to shade nicely and I think this is particularly unique, at least in my collection as I don’t have a dark blue with blue shimmer.

Lastly for this week, The Void. I’m usually not a fan of black inks, unless they have some unique property, and The Void does! It sheen’s! Heavily sheen’s. As it dries this nice broze sheen takes over. I did find it to dry in a reasonable time and not to smear! This color really captured my attention as I was swatching it out and I think it will be next to go into a pen and to be used to setup my 2026 planner.

Honorable Mention: LGM (Little Green Men)

I love this color. It’s a bright Chartreuse. I’m not sure it would be readable from a pen, maybe a broad or stub? However, I couldn’t let this go unmentioned, especially, if you’re someone who likes to use a water brush. I’m really looking forward to using this color in my Dominant Industry Log of Atlantis and/or Log of Elixir coloring books.

Enigma Inkvent - Week 1 favorites

For my Enigma Inkvent favorites:

(These were much harder to pick)

1. Platinum “Mixable” Medocino Twilight
1. Bungubox Kanda Festival Sarugakucho
1. Azonx Gogh Yellow

Medocino Twilight is a unique color that was mixed by the Enigma folks themselves using Platinum’s line of mixable inks. I believe they will be releasing their recipe sometime during the month of December, if anyone wants to mix the color again. This is another dark blue or blue-black, that appears to shade nicely and has a hint of sheen to it.

I was very excited to see a Bungubox ink included. This is my first Bungubox ink. Bungubox Kanda Festival Sarugakucho is a warm orange-red. The shading here looks really nice and the color is warm and inviting. According to Jetpens the color is “inspired by the well-worn hanten coat of a particular palanquin bearer at a Kanda Matsuri celebration.”

Azonx Gogh Yellow. Azonx is a brand that I’ve never heard of before and I believe this ink is made by Sailor, at least it has the Sailor ink scent (if you know, you know). According to Plaza Japan “Azone Artist Ink is an ink series that reproduce colors inspired by representative works of famous painters in history. A total of 6 colors variety, from Vermeer, which is characterized by realistic and precise, to Monet, a representative painter of Impressionism.”

How Cool! This is a nice golden yellow again looks to be a nice shader and should be no problem using for long writing in a pen. I don’t think I have anything quite like it in my collection.

I have an Honorable Mention (Again!):

The Wet Pen Rainier Blue. The Wet Pen is a small, one guy maker. I would say Rainier Blue is one of his signature colors and one that captured my attention, last year, with it’s nice shading and red sheen on some papers. This is the ink that really clued me into The Wet Pen inks and I’ve been collecting them ever sense. They are harder to get, but Matt, the person behind TWP has newly introduced 20ml bottles in addition to his normal 50ml bottle in effort to make more ink available in a given drop. I’m only calling this an honorable mention because this is a dupe for me.

Thanks for reading! Keep enjoying those inks.

PS - All Colorvent and Inkvent calendars were purchased with my own dollars.

My year and a half journey into fountain pens has lead me to be curious about flex nibs. Modern flex nibs. Why? The writing experience. I’m so fascinated with how the line looks on the page. I realize these nibs don’t compare with vintage flex nibs, however, I’ve not had the opportunity to play with vintage flex nibs.

Modern flex nibs are a little softer of an experience and can be pushed to get that line variation. My first modern flex-nib was the Opus 88 flex-fine. This is how I got really interested in the line variation. But this isn’t a post about the Opus 88 flex nib (JoWo #6). Nor is it a comparison to other flex nibs.

I was intrigued when a few weeks, maybe a month ago Franklin-Christoph released a flex extra fine nib in titanium. The nib also came with an ebonite feed. I’ve never used an ebonite feed before. According to F-C the nib is JoWo #6 shaped and will fit in pens that accept a JoWo #6. I was also curious about this. So I ordered one and promptly fitted it into my Hogtown x Enigma PDX (which has definitely become my favorite pen of the year) and filled it with Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare ink.

I used this combo over a month’s time in my journal. At first, I thought wow the nib is really firm. Over time and more usage I found the nib to loosen up a little more and become more bouncy. I could write lighter and saw more line variation on the down-stroke. What really captured my attention, was the ink flow from the ebonite feed. It felt like I was putting more ink on the page in general writing. I was concerned with bleed-through, however, in my journal the Life paper stood up very well as did the Iroful paper when I switched out to that notebook for everyday journaling. Both held up just fine, and the R&H Blue Mare isn’t a particularly wet ink. It’s medium, and it paired with the ebonite feed very well.

Writing Tests

In addition to my everyday journaling I wanted to test the line variation on different papers.

Life Bank

First up is Life Bank Paper. Life Bank has some texture to it so I was curious how if at all it would effect the writing. Actually, it didn’t in my opinion. And Life Bank is where I got a good amount of line variation.

Cosmo Air Snow

Cosmo Air Snow is a heavier paper, pillowy. However, the writing here was as smooth as ever. The line here is thicker and I don’t think there is much variation, even still it’s a beautiful line and I can even see some of the sheen in the ink in various places. Not many, but it’s there if you look closely. This paper also brought out shading. I think these two properties is an effect of the thicker line.

Iroful

Iroful is similar to CAS above. It’s a heavier paper and feels pillowy. However, here too I was again surprised at how smooth the writing was with the EF nib. Not draggy at all. Again, the nib puts down a thicker line here, although I can see some variation in the loops as opposed to the down stroke. There are a few areas that if I look closely, I can see the sheen in the ink and shading is both present. Again I think this is the effect of the thicker line that this paper displays.

Yu-Sari

This is the same thickness as both CAS and Iroful, however, Yu-Sari is a smooth paper. Writing on this felt very nice and pleasant. I was able to get very good line variation on this paper. And overall, this turned out to be my favorite.

View Corona

View Corona is the thinnest of the papers I test, coming in at 52gsm. It’s a smooth paper and nice to write on. Here though I felt that I didn’t get the line variation at all and the EF nib was just that, an extra fine line. I was able to see some sheen come through, however, this paper is very good for showing off ink properties, although that wasn’t what I was testing this time.

Final Thoughts

All of the papers tested here handled the flow of ink very well, there was no bleed through at all, nor would I expect there to be even with the ebonite feed laying down more ink. I can definitely see myself using the TI-flex as an everyday writer and it may even have found a permanent home in my Hogtown PDX. I had no issues with the ink, and it dried in a very reasonable amount of time. Given though I don’t find that Rohrer & Klingner Blu Mare is an overly wet ink. The refill might be a wetter ink to see how using a wetter ink changes the ink flow with the ebonite feed. The nib itself started out feeling stiff, and over time loosened up to a nice bouncy writer.

I will say though that while I don’t write in cursive, sometimes words do come out in cursive, especially those words with double letters. Otherwise, I don’t consider myself a cursive writer, that doesn’t mean line variation is lost on me. I think using a modern flex nib can give my writing a little flare, hmm maybe.

DISCLAIMER: Nibs and pens were all purchased with my own dollars.

In 2025 I started to plan a whole lot more. I wanted to get my calendar out of the computer and onto paper. After looking at various layouts, I ended up with a 2025 Hobonichi Weeks after seeing it in person. I’ve never used a planner and I never used Hobonichi before 2025. When I got settled in, I started to notice that some inks would really bleed through, and the other side of the paper was really tough to use. I’m not going to re-hash the Hobonichi paper problems or anything like that since I really don’t have anything to compare to. Talking with other’s in the FP community they had mentioned that some bleed through happened in previous years. After using the Hobonichi the last 10 months, I had some thoughts and wasn’t sure if I was going to go the same route in 2026. Enter Wonderland 222. I pre-ordered their B6 unstacked weekly planner, knowing that they were moving away from TR paper, though they were not saying what they were going with. I decided to take a chance. Then I heard that Hobonichi worked with Tomoe River to improve the paper for 2026. So the stars aligned and I was able to see the 2026 Hobonichi’s in person, and I decided to take a chance.

The Inks

My problem inks ... well I shouldn’t say problem inks, because it wasn’t the inks. The inks that tended to bleed through in my 2025 Weeks (and mostly in the early pages and late pages) are these:

• Octopus Fluids Fairy
• Birmingham Intersteller Bronze
• F-C Olivae
• Birmingham Aquaduct
• Diamine Oxblood

The Tools

• Kemmy’s Labo Dip Pen
• Pilot Iro-utsushi
• Dominant Industry Ink Muddler
• Brass Kakimori nib in the Inkthrower

My Process

I really wanted to test the pages in each planner using the several tools above. I didn’t want to fill a pen with these inks, so I am using the Pilot and the Kemmy’s Labo to simulate the “pen experience” Actually I use the 365 day tracker in the back of the Weeks with a dip pen often.

The Results

Hobonichi

Both planners handled ink equally well. I would absolutely have no issues using either one of these planners for 2026. The paper in the Hobonichi is better than last years paper. Whatever Hobonichi did to work out the paper issues with Tomoe River worked. The paper is better than last years. The Hobonichi did a better job with bleed through, however, Octopus Fluids Fairy did bleed through in the writing and swatches. Not as bad as last year. Olivae had bleed through in the swatch from the ink muddler and in the writing. Honestly I don’t understand what is up with that ink, it’s a neat color and I like that color a lot, it just behaves weirdly on certain papers. Lastly, there was ever so slight bleed through with Aqueduct in the Hobonichi. Otherwise, the Hobonichi paper held up to the rest of the inks with no bleed through.

Front and back of 2026 Hobonichi Weeks - Octopus Fluids Fairy

Front and back of 2026 Hobonichi Weeks - Birmingham Intersteller Bronze

Front and back of 2026 Hobonichi Weeks - F-C Olivae

Front and back of 2026 Hobonichi Weeks - Birmingham Aquaduct

Front and back of 2026 Hobonichi Weeks - Diamine Oxblood

Wonderland222

In the Wonderland222 Octopus Fluids Fairy also has some bleed through, in the larger swatch from the ink muddler only. So that’s an improvement. To my eye, if I look reeeally close there is slight, ever so, with Aqueduct and Oxblood. This is not even noticeable unless looking up close. Olivae again is the weird ink out. There is bleed through slightly in the swatch from the ink muddler. Again, here I mean slight. However, the ink spread or feathered in the writing from all the the tools, except the Iro-Utsushi. The Wonderland222 paper also held up to the rest of the ink with no bleed through or other weirdness.

Front and back of 2026 Wonderland 222 - Octopus Fluids Fairy

Front and back of 2026 Wonderland 222 - Birmingham Intersteller Bronze

Front and back of 2026 Wonderland 222 - F-C Olivae

Front and back of 2026 Wonderland 222 - Birmingham Aquaduct

Front and back of 2026 Wonderland 222 - Diamine Oxblood

The Decision

I would be happy with either of these planners in 2026. It’s really nice to see Hobonichi did work with Tomoe River and the paper got much better from the 2025 version. While the paper in the Wonderland222 is undisclosed, it’s clear they put in time and effort to find a paper that is fountain pen friendly. So which am I going to use for 2026? I don’t know yet. Both of these are in hand. I’m really happy with how the ink held up on both of these papers. For me, it might come down to format. If someone is looking at either of these planners for 2026, I really think it will be up to personal preference. As both papers perform very well.

DISCLAIMER: Planners and inks were all purchased with my own dollars.

This has been entirely too long since my past post. Admittedly, the last few months of summer got away from me and this project was a wee bit intimidating! Nonetheless, I gathered different papers to test ink properties. I’m really interested in how the ink behaves, what ink properties show on each paper, and if the paper has a draggy-ish feel to it. This was quite the under-taking. I thought it would be neat to swatch each color on these different sheets.

Tools Used

Tools that I used to make these swatches. A dip pen of some sort. Two favorites that I liked using for this project are a glass dip pen from Kemmy’s Labo and the Pilot Iro-utsushi. I used both of these for writing the ink names. To do the swatch, I used the Ink Muddler from Dominant Industry. These really have become my favorite tools for ink swatching, although lately I’ve been diving more into the Kakimori nibs.

Iroful

I really like this paper and have several notebooks filled up with it at this point. It’s a 75gsm paper. It’s a coated paper and there is a pillowy or draggy feel when writing on it. I can really feel it when using a fine nib. It feels like I’m pushing the nib across the page. This is okay though, I do like the color representation on Iroful, it feels brighter or more saturated to me, and it’s known to color shift some inks. You’ll see this as I move through the papers. Keep an eye on Sailor Manyo Uri on page 3. Also, I like how Iroful shows off ink characteristics, especially shimmer and shading.

Green inks swatched on Iroful paper

Cosmo Air Snow

Next up is Cosmo Air Snow. Cosmo Air Snow from what I can tell is similar to CAL (Cosmo Air Light), both are 75gsm and both have a smooth surface that also creates drag on the nib, similar to Iroful. I believe the difference between CAS and CAL is the paper color. CAL is a warm white where CAS has more of a neutral tone. Cavet, I have not used Cosmo Air Light. I like again how Cosmo Air Snow shows shimmer and I see hints of sheen in certain inks, like Tono&Lims Mistletoe and Anderillium Michigan Ave. CAS also feels more saturated, the colors are bright to my eyes.

Green inks swatched on Cosmo Air Snow

Life Bank Paper

What really kicked off this entire project was finding Life Bank paper at the beginning of the summer. I had been hearing about Bank Paper and it was recently discontinued, although as of this writing is still readily available. Life Bank paper is a 86 gsm paper, it’s a toothy paper. People seem to either don’t like it or really like it. I liked it. Colors popped and color representation was what I’d expect. No color shifting of the inks. This paper showed off sheen and shading very well, this is seen again in Tono&Lims Mistletoe, Anderillium Michigan Ave and Tom’s Studio New Forest. Shimmer pops on this paper also, as seen in PennoniaxInkdependence Peepers and Tono&Lims Leprechaun. I’m really glad to have picked this up and will certainly be using it for writing.

Green inks swatched on Life Bank Paper

Yu-Sari

Yu-Sari is the heaviest of all the papers that I tried, coming in at 95gsm. No color shifting on the inks and they were nice and saturated. Shading really came out on this paper as did sheen. Shimmer to my eye was hit or miss, or maybe that’s just how I swatched it? However, I thought shimmer was represented less on Ya-Sari then some of the above papers. Not a deal breaker for me. Writing was smooth from a fine glass nib. I became a big fan of Yu-Sari paper and went out and got a notebook of it for journaling, Logical Air.

Green inks swatched on Ya-Sari loose leaf paper

View Corona

View Corona was new on my list and I was curious about it. I saw loose leaf sheets available on JetPens and decided to pick it up. This is listed as a white paper but seems more of an off-white paper. It’s very crinkly, and I think I really like that, but maybe not for everyday journaling? It’s a 52gsm very similar to Tomoe River. This paper blew me away in terms of ink characteristics. Shading, shimmer and sheen were all present. Shading on this paper is very apparent and as far as sheen goes I was able to see blue and red sheen in Tono&Lims Mistletoe. I really want that to come through in the scans, I’m not sure it did. Which is a shame because it’s striking. I was shocked when that came out. This also quickly became a favorite and I think I might make a notebook out of the loose leaf that I have.

Green inks on View Corona paper

Tomoe River

Everyone knows Tomoe River. This was sort of my control paper since it’s very well known. This isn’t the famed Tomoe River or anything like that. I cannot source that. Tomoe River is 52gsm and crinkly. Which is very pleasing. Shading, shimmer and sheen are all very well represented. Colors are saturated and bright. I think Tomoe River is a solid paper. Sailor Manyo Uri was darker on TR than anything else. So was Papier Plume Honey Island Swamp Monster. This version of TR felt smooth when writing with a fine glass nib. I wish I could compare to the OG Tomoe River, but I cannot.

Green inks on Sanzen Tomoe River paper

Overall

I think all of these papers will show off ink properties well, depending on the ink properties you want to show off in your writing or based on which ink you’ve chosen to write with. There really is no wrong answer here. Ultimately, my favorites were Ya-Sari, View Corona, and Iroful. Your favorites may be different!

I did this experiment and then put it down again when it became a little overwhelming. When returning to it, I found that I didn’t swatch the rest of the colors in all the papers. So I have some homework to do for the next round. I may add another paper (although I may not). I have two papers that I didn’t do this experiment with and since this was done, I’ve added more ink in all the colors.

I hope this was informative, or helpful to someone. It was to me, I thought it was neat seeing color shifts on Iroful and sheen colors that I didn’t know were present on View Corona.

PS - All the paper was purchased my me with my own dollars.

Fountain Pens have been in my life for a year already, and I cannot believe a year flew by! I'm feeling nostalgic, looking through the first journal I kept with fountain pens last year. It's a mis-mash of random thoughts or things I didn't want to forget. Tidbits about fountain pen companies to look back on, so I wouldn't forget. Then the processing of losing our sweet Benny too soon.

The desire to move back to more analog tooling coupled with seeing beautiful fountain pens shared on Mastodon got me curious and looking at pens. Losing Benny being the catalyst for me to pick up journaling again. Finding beautiful grey ink with gold shimmer to honor him in those journal entries lead me down the ink rabbit hole. Which I fell down HARD! Benny is also where I picked up the namesake 'BennysLittleThings' He brought so much joy and laughter to our household and I wanted to carry that on in his memory.

Above anything else, the fountain pen community has been the most welcoming, genuine, helpful group of people I've ever come across in a hobby community. You all made me feel apart of the community from day 1. Folks whom I’ve never met sent me well wishes from losing two fur babies over the past year. We've had wonderful conversations about inks, paper, books, tea and more!!! Honestly, this community is numero uno and to top it all off, outside of my local pen community (which I found because someone online alerted me to them) I've not met anyone in person. I'd really like to!

Where do I start ... wait didn't I already start?

June 2024

My first pen was a Platinum Preppy and I loved it (and still do)! In the beginning I wasn't too sure about nib size, so I safely went went a .05 which is Platinum's Medium nib. Picked up a pack of sample notebooks, very small notebooks to test with.

July 2024

This is when I started to journal again and by the end of the month, I was journaling everyday. A habit that is still in full force. I started to get up earlier in the morning to do this and it felt good. I was also starting to deal with the grief of losing Benny so unexpectedly.

August 2024

This is when I found the PenAddict podcast and started listening to more FP podcasts (Gourmet Pens, Stationery Cafe, etc). It was so interesting diving into the FP world and all the off-shoots, stickers, stationery, and even art. The PenAddict gave a shout of to Gnomedic - a Twitch streamer who did these wonderful, relaxing, morning streams where they would turn on some very chill tunes and journal. This was so amazing to me and that's how I got myself on Twitch. I don't stream, but have found some wonderful streamers and look forward to hanging out with them as they talk stationery, inks, and pens. I'm Archeopen ... say hi! I'd say those have been the biggest things in my fountain pen journey.

Pens

I've acquired 16 pens, and took a liking to F nibs, except in TWSBI's where I like a M or B and that's to play around with shimmer. A goal for next year would be to explore more maker pens and to go to a pen show and get a grind or two done. I've recently started to take a liking to specialty nibs, those ones outside of the standard gamut of EF, F, M, and B and would like to explore that more. I recently picked up an Opus 88 with a Fine Flex nib and two nibs from Kirk Spear (standard F and M - candidates for a grind, maybe?) recently and loooooove them. So smooth.

My favorite Pens in no order really, Hogtown x Engimia PDX, Franklin-Christoph 03M, Opus 88 Demonstrator, and any one of those TWSBI's.

Inks

On the ink front ... and that rabbit hole ... I've acquired 121 inks in a YEAR! What can I say? I don't think another 121 is coming in my second year? Storage really needs to be figured out. I really enjoy color and studied color theory while taking photography classes in 2012. In other-other spare time I enjoy photographing a good sunrise, so really it's no surprise that I took to ink. Fountain Pen ink with all it's properties, shade, sheen, shimmer, dualshaders. It's really neat to see what a color will do in a variety of situations, in a large swatch, in a pen, used with a dip pen, left in the sun even! So many science experiments have yet to happen! Plus, I really like studying colors using chromatography. I was completely blown away by the effects when I first figured out what the heck that was. An ink can surprise me this way and I've come to like an ink or two more after I saw the chromatography then in a large swatch, specifically Pennonia Gesztenvebarna (Chestnut Brown). Which has become a favorite.

Collecting ink also means ink swatching. I took to that really fast and started out using cotton swabs in my journal and little tester notebooks. Then I caught wind of Col-O-Dex cards by The Well-Appointed Desk. These are big enough to use to make a nice big swatch and also use a dip pen for a finer line around the edges and I think the cards looks really nice that way, it helps my brain arrange. Plus it's a cool way to use all the inks. So I swatch them as them come in and log them in FPC (Fountain Pen Companion). My FPC link is Fountain Pen Companion: Archeopen I'd love to trade ink samples!

Around September last year, I found about about the Dominant Industry Ink Archiving Book, very likely from an early OliveOctopusInk stream and thought wow what another cool way to use these inks. I put it on my wish list for my birthday and got it! It was a little intimidating at first, but over time, I figured out how I'd want to approach it, picked up a water brush for the first time, grabbed some paint brushes we had but never used from an unopened art kit and gave it a try. I was hooked immediately. What a relaxing way to use all these inks! After dinner, I can be found painting / coloring each night. Through this process, I've also found that I've taken to true watercolor. So I've been dabbling in that, recently picking up small sheets of cold press watercolor paper and drawing mushrooms and flowers to be painted in with watercolors.

hand drawn mushrooms and flowers; some painted with watercolors

Favorite inks, again in no order, Sailor Afternoon Tea, Wearingeul I am a Cat, The Wet Pen Rainier Blue, Teranishi Night-time Soda, Pennonia Gesztenvebarna and Taccia Koiami ... and recently DI x Wonderpens Ginger Chicken <--- perfectly matches my own ginger chicken (Mitchell) whom we lost late last year at 16 years old. Sweet boy. I have inks now that pretty closely match all the kitties in my life, those are fun to use and are a beautiful reminder of my babies.

Overall on the ink front, I'm intrested exploring different papers to see how differences in the paper (coated vs. not coated) can affect color or ink properties.

What's next

Fountain Pens have been my gateway back to journaling. Using any color I desire and pairing that with stickers and washi tapes, not only helps keep my journal interesting, I also find it helpful to be able to write down the things in my head. Say things 'out loud' in a way and work through thoughts in a safe way. That goes for the good things too, which I've really put a lot of thought into. Journaling about good things is helpful. It helps measure my growth and keeps me accountable. Keeping a consistent journal is really important for my mental health these days.

I'd like to go to my first pen show, there are four that are within driving distance, so it's a matter of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ohio, or DC, although I'm not sure my anxiety can handle a big show like DC (plus I don't want to be in DC in the current climate). But I do look forward to meeting and connecting with other good people in the fountain pen and stationery community in person.

As the year went by I am figuring out what I like in a pen. I'm letting go of a few early pickups in hopes to put funds toward something that will round out my tastes a bit better. Otherwise, no real plans to add additional pens.

The blog

When I started this blog last year, I started it to be able to share my experiences as a beginner. Since I got heavily into ink, I started to share reviews; that wasn't necessarily my intent and I certainly don't want to influence anyone and add to the consumer culture. I do like sharing what inks I'm enjoying and how they might perform on different papers. I think I might try to approach that a little differently as I try new papers and start to share some color studies.

Thank you to everyone who follows this little corner of the internet. I hope you get as much joy from it as I do sharing it. I love the interaction it's brought and I always love to hear other people's thoughts on inks they're using or their recommendations.

Tom's Studio is a fountain pen company out of the UK. They caught my attention late last year with the release of their inks that were available in the US. According to the website, Tom's Studio got their start when he created a pen for his wife, a calligrapher. Tom's Studio has since released many new cool and innovative products.

Today though I'm focused on the ink. I've got two inks from Tom's Studio, and my newest pickup is New Forest. At time of this writing New Forest is in stock at Atlas Stationers.

My wife bought me New Forest for our anniversary and immediately I had to get it into a pen. This is a beautiful forest green, it's a standard ink, though in larger swatches there is some red sheen. I put this ink into a TWSBI with a medium nib. The flow is good and this is a wet ink from the TWSBI nib.

The chromatography shows blues and yellows, as expected. I like this chromatography though, this one looks neat.

Sample writing, swatches and line variation tests on small test notebooks from Mauraman Mnemosyne, Apica, Travelers, Rhodia, and Clariefontaine. These swatches are done with Dominant Industry's new ink muddler.

The sheen does not come through on the Apica but the shading does. No feathering or bleed through from the writing. Although I did see bleed through from the large swatch, but that is expected.

Mnemosyne paper has become a fast favorite because it’s very good at showing ink properties. Here the sheen can be seen in the large swatch. Some shading is also present.

This is on Rhodia Dot Pad paper. Shading is visable in the larger swatch and the lettering, but looking closely there is some feathering in the letters. I’m not sure if the scans show it.

On the Traveler’s paper the ink is nice. The shading comes through and little bits of the sheen come through on larger swatches.

New Forest performs very well on TR. No surprise there, I suppose. In the large swatch the sheen is visable. Shading is visable in the writing.

New Forest also performs well on Clairfontaine. The sheen isn’t visable, however, the shading is.

On all the smaller writing samples New Forest performs very well. Sheen is visable in larger swatches on most of the test papers. I suspect that is due to the coating on the paper if the sheen shows. Shading is good on all the papers. Dry time is very quick on all papers, between 10 - 20 seconds.

Now onto the longer writing samples. I’ve been getting into some different papers, so included in these samples is paper from Yu-Sari, which I’m starting to like very much. It’s similar to Iroful, without the feeling of the nib dragging across the paper.

In the larger writing samples, shading is visable to varying degrees, even if the scans didn’t pick it up. There is shading on the Tomoe River and shading is very visable on the Iroful. And on the Yu-Sari the shading is visable and the sheen is visable around the edges, again the scans didn’t pick that up, but it’s there! The flow of the ink is wet, so wet that I didn’t experience the typical drag on the Iroful. Everything was nice a flowy on each of the papers. I’ve really enjoyed using this ink and think it’s perfect going into the summer season.

PS - All ink reviews are my own and have been purchased with my own dollars.

Back again with another Birmingham ink. This time it's Birmingham Sterling Silver. This was a sample given to me by a new pen friend. She was sooo excited about it and I now know, for good reason. Sterling Silver is part of Birmingham's Delicate Formula fountain pen ink line. Birmingham describes this ink as best for delicate vintage pens and easily washable from most surfaces with soap and water. So this is a really gentle ink. Initially, I was hesitant to put a review out there, only because the ink was not in stock. Last week I found out that the ink is now back in stock, and still is, at the time of this writing. Birmingham sells this in 100ml bottles, for $19usd, heck of a deal. I had to pick up a bottle. This is the biggest bottle I own now and could probably last me for the rest of my life. LOL.

On the Birmingham website the color swatch is a cool grey and shows some shading. I’d say my swatch is fairly close, a little darker, to the Birmingham swatch on their website. I inked this up in a TWSBI Eco with a broad nib. This ink was a nice matchy matchy with the new TWSBI Slate Blue and Onyx pen. It was really neat seeing the purple hue in the pen when the ink sloshed around.

In larger swatches the ink starts off as a dusty purple color that as it dries turns this beautiful cool toned grayish-blue. It's meant to look like tarnished silver and I think Birmingham did a great job capturing this effect. The swatch below was done with the Dominant Industry ink muddle on Mnemosyne paper. Yes! This is the same ink, can you believe it?

The chromatography shows light mix of rose, purple and blue with a heavy grey line at the top. Same effect in the writing as it dries.

Sample writing, swatches and line variation tests on small test notebooks from Mauraman Mnemosyne, Apica, Travelers, Rhodia, and Clariefontaine. These swatches are done with Dominant Industry's new ink muddler. A tool I've been using more often to do my swatches, both in my small testing notebooks and on my swatch cards. On the Apica paper, I laid down way to much ink for the swatch and had to dab it dry with a paper towl, it bled through almost immediately, but that’s expected. The writing did not bleed through. You can see the heavy shading here.

Longer writing samples on Tomoe River and Iroful paper. On all the papers the ink is smooth to write with, even on the Iroful which sometimes feels grabby. The ink goes down that dusty purple and dries various shades of cool grey, blueish-grey. Heavy shading on each paper.

The ink performs very well, as expected. It’s a nice solid ink with beautiful chromashading effects across various papers. This ink shades for days on all the papers I used to test. I'd say this is another really complex ink due to the chromashading properties. Not much line variation, as expected, from a stock broad nib, the ink however is very wet in this nib. Writing was smooth on all papers and the ink is nicely saturated. Dry time varied depending on the paper, between 10-20 seconds, a quick drying ink. This is definately one of my top 5 inks.

PS - All ink reviews are my own and have been purchased with my own dollars.