Category Archives: Fountain Pens

Fountain Pens

November Pen/Ink Palette- 2022 Review

A purple notebook and pen case, with 10 pens on the left side, and a notebook on the right side. The notebook has two stickers, the one in the top left corner is 4 ghosts peeking out of a front door holding a cupcake, and with a welcome mat. The one in the bottom right hand corner is a green octopus with a red knit hat, and a blue flannel coat. He seems to be playing in a pile of autumn leaves and holding a fountain pen, a pumpkin, and a drink.
10 pen and ink combos for November. One from each of the previous 10 months in 2022.

I was originally going to theme this months palette “Comfy” but I started thinking about which inks and pens I would deme comfy and then realized I was thinking of pens and inks I had used in palette’s already this year that I enjoyed using. Then it hit me – I was already going to do a sort of review of the Monthly Samples – I could use one combo from every month palette this year! Matchy matchy. Since April I’ve been keeping track of the performance of each combo, so the only ones that would be tricky is Jan – Mar. Those will probably be wild cards. (Oooo except Magic Green from March!)

And it was EASY. Because in each month there is usually a combo that I enjoyed memorably. There were two difficult months, and very little info on how I felt about the pens I used in January thru March, but I ended up with 10 pens I am extremely excited to use. I did end up swapping out the pen paired with three of the inks – I’ll explain in the list. And to determine the best choice for the January and February pens I had to sort of look at how long and how often I would use the pen. There were a couple I remember filling early on and then reluctantly keeping them filled but not wanting to use them… I did that, of course, until I remembered this whole monthly change of pens and inks is supposed to be fun. And if I don’t like a combo nowadays I give it a day or two and then clean it out. Hopefully that won’t be an issue this month?

10 pens paired with 10 ink sample cards.
Tada! The list of inks and pens is below.

Let’s look at our options this month, shall we!

  1. Twsbi Diamond – Prussian Blue (F), Diamine Inkvent 2021 Subzero
    – this ink was originally in a Twsbi Eco and I decided the Diamond is just a little step up.
  2. Twsbi Diamond – Punch Pink (F), Van Dieman – Underwater, Moon Jellyfish
  3. Hong Dian 5019, Lan Tian – May Flowers (EF) / Ferris Wheel Press Moonlight Jade 
  4. Sailor Pro Gear Slim – Purple Northern Lights (MF) / ColorVerse 54 Hayabusa Glistening
  5. Bonecrusher7Studios – Monet (1.1stub), Ferris Wheel Press, April Showers 
    – this ink was originally in my Gravitas, but it was using the custom nib, so I figured I’d just put the nib in one of my favorite pens and go from there!
  6. Sailor Pro Gear Slim Mini – Night Blue (MF) / ColorVerse Cat
    – Cat was originally in the Twsbi Diamond Prussian Blue soooooo…leaving it in the Sailor.
  7. Leonardo Supernova (F), Diamine Inkvent 2021 Wonderland
  8. Esterbrook JR Paradise Pocket Pen – Purple Passion (F), Van Dieman, Harvest Collection, Beetroot Relish
  9. Esterbrook JR Picket Paradise – Key Lime (F) / Wearingeul Flowing Leaves 
  10. Mad Science Pen Company, Modified Clingman – Ghost (F) / Vinta Inks, Fairytale Collection – Clouds of Grey

One of the things I liked about this palette was that I could use the three favorite pens without them just being extra to the palette, they are actually part of it. And I am really looking forward to a nice cozy month with pens I know I like, even when they get a little blocked and won’t write. Because the inks and pens are WORTH it. 

Some of my choices were combos that I continued using into the next month. And the palette actually really came together. I was sitting and contemplating it, and Husband looked over my shoulder and was like WHOA That looks incredible! 🙂 Hope it goes as well as it looks! 

November Palette Dip Test! And the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” written out ten times, each line in a different color ink.
Dip test! Look at those COLORS.
Fountain Pens

October Pen/Ink Palette: Spoopy Monsters, Review!

10 pens lined up side by side. There are a variety of types. There is a grey one, then white, then swirly purple, darker purple, lighter purple, light green, green and purple swirled, orange, red, and last a yellow.
Spoopy Monster Pens! From left to right, Skeleton, Ghost, Witch, Purple People Eater, Frank the Demonic Octopus, zombie, Frankenstein’s Monster, Pumpkin Head, Vampire, Werewolf.

I really like this theme! I did end up swapping out two pens because Mad Science Pen Company made them with the EXACT names of two of my monsters, and I NEEDED them. Ahem.
Solid palette this month. I think my favorites are definitely split between the Mad Science Pen Company pens and the Sailor pens. But it’s pretty close.

Four Sailor Pro Gear Slim pens, laid out horizontally with their caps off and nibs pointed to the left. The top one is sparkly blue, then a blue-purple, a darker purple and a sparkly purple.
Yep, had 4 entire Sailor pens in my palette this month.

I really like the MF nibs from Sailor and the shape and balance of the Pro Gear Slims. They feel effortless. Pretty pen colors too. And the inks behaved nicely as well.

A purple swirly pen laid out horizontally, with the cap off, nib pointed out the left.
Mad Science Pen Company, Hooded Ranger, Proton

Mad Science Pen Company was someone I’d had my eye on from Instagram for a while. What first hooked me was the ”hooded” aspect. I’d never seen something like that before and I ended up really enjoying the aesthetic. And then I missed a pen that had an awesome color – something lime green, if I am remembering correctly. And so it began – I needed one of these pens. And when the Hooded Ranger popped up in that lovely purple, I snatched it up. I really like the balance of these as well, and the decision to pick up the Ghost and Frankenstein was EASY. So Easy. Look at these!

Two pens laid out vertically side by side. The one on the left is a swirly white, the edge of the cap has a swoopy edge instead of a straight edge, kind of looks like a ghost. The one on the right is a green and dark purple swirly, the top of the cap is a little more squared off than this model usually is, and the cap isn’t a straight line, but sort of angled.
Ghost and Frankenstein, by Mad Science Pen Company.

Now for the rest of these! Check out thoughts below:

  1. Skeleton: Ohto – Tasche FF 10T (?) / Diamine Inkvent 2021 – Ash 
    – solid ink, decent writing experience, tiiiiiny pen
  2. Ghost: Mad Science Pen Company, Modified Clingman – Ghost (F) / Vinta Inks, Fairytale Collection – Clouds of Grey
    – switched to Mad Science Pen Company pen on the eleventh. I love this ink, the shimmer is gorgeous. LOVE this pen, writes well, good weight. The nib got a little clogged once or twice, but it cleaned up okay. Also? When this shimmer gets on stuff, it STAYS.
  3. Witch: Mad Science Pen Company, Hooded Ranger – Proton (F) / Wearingeul, Yi Sang Series – Soyeongwije 
    – Gorgeous dark purple ink, shimmer comes thru beautifully. Nib gets clogged – this is not the nib I got delivered with this pen. It took a bit to get unclogged. Gorgeous pen!
  4. Purple People Eater: Sailor Limited Edition Pro Gear Slim Sapporo – Demonstrator Wisteria Purple (MF) / PenBBS – #095 Lin Huiyin 
    – LOVE this pen model, works deliciously. Does not like to be left uncapped – takes a second to start flowing again. Subtle purple ink, really solid performance.
  5. Frank, the Demonic Octopus: Sailor Professional Gear Slim, Manyo – Dianthus (MF) / Diamine Inkvent 2021- Nightshade 
    – Yep, several pens inked that are the same model, BECAUSE I love it. Tada. I love this ink. It is blue, is it purple? Why not both!
  6. Zombie: Esterbrook JR Picket Paradise – Key Lime (F) / Wearingeul Flowing Leaves
    – Continued from September. Love the pen performance. I did hit a clog or two, rinsed it and realized it had run out of ink the first time haha. Beautiful ink, shimmer comes thru great, fun shade.
  7. Frankenstein: Mad Science Pen Company, Modified Ranger – Frankenstein (F) / Kyo No Oto – Moegiiro 
    – Switched to the Mad Science Pen Company pen on the 11th. Beautiful pen, love it, good nib performance. Fun ink color, dark with light popping thru in shading, performs great.
  8. Pumpkin Head: Kaweco AL Sport Limited Edition – Orange (F) / Troublemaker – Mango
    – This nib is still a little wonky, feels like I need to hold it at a low angle to get ink to flow. This ink is super shady – in a good way – and I love it, the dark pops thru in the shade.
  9. Vampire: Monteverde Strata – Red (F)  / Diamine 2021 Inkvent Vintage Copper
    – Sometimes ink does not flow great, but pulled from Sept, writing well enough. I love this ink, the end.
  10. Werewolf: Esterbook JR Pocket Paradise Pocket Pen – Yellow (1.1m Stub) / Van Dieman, Midnight Collection – Howl at the Moon
    – This nib is FUN, and the ink is readable! I like how the dark comes thru, shimmer shows up pretty.
“October Palette Pen Test” in a dark purple ink. On the following lines “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Is written in 10 different color inks. Two grey, three purple, two green, one orange, one red, and one yellow.
October Palette Pen Test!
Monthly Pen/Ink Journal, with the ten combos sampled out. The text is the brand and name of each pen and ink, which you can find in the list above. The comments on how each pen/ink performed is captured in the same list above.
October Monthly Pen/Ink Journal!

I was impressed with these. Couple of wonky ones but not bad enough that I couldn’t use them. Very pleased!

Fountain Pens

October Subscription Box Review! Stipula + Krishna

Subscription Ink Samples! Truphae and Ink Flight, eh? Let’s take a look at those lovely inks. I’ve only tried one each of Stipula and Krishna before now, and I really enjoyed getting a look at more of them.

A lime green ink sample tray, 5 inks with the labeled plastic bag they arrived in. “Stipula, Fading Grey, Dark Red, Bright Green, Bright Blue, Dark Blue.
Truphae Stipula ink samples

Truphae sent me 5 Stipula inks, what do we know about them? Oooo Italian inks. Neat. They also ship 70ml bottles, which includes the best number, so obviously, I am a fan. The two dark inks are the ones that stood out to me, may use them in the future. 

The edges of three pages in a journal. Each page has samples of a single ink, a grey, a bright green, and a dark blue. Only the edges of the ink bottle mark and the lines drawn are visible on two of the pages. The top page you can see the geometric shapes, ink pool, ink bottle color in, straight lines, the end of the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the last dog” then a page separator of a straight line followed by a dot repeated, and then thoughts on the ink.
Stipula Inks, Fading Grey, Bright Green, Dark Blue.

Stipula:

Fading Grey, solid medium grey, nothing jumps out at me about it. Looks like that brownish grey color a black shirt fades to over time. 

Bright Green, cool green? Sort of a teal color? But too green…like spearmint maybe?

Dark Blue, velvety dark blue, nice, work appropriate.

The edges of two pages in a journal. Each page has samples of a single ink, a dark red, and a bright blue. Only the edge of the ink bottle mark and the lines drawn are visible on one of the pages. The top page, Bright Blue, you can see the geometric shapes, ink pool, ink bottle color in, straight lines, the end of the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the last dog” then a page separator of a straight line followed by a dot repeated, and then thoughts on the ink.
Stipula Inks, Dark Red, Bright Blue

Dark Red, wine red, touch of grape purple!

Bright Blue, pool vibes. 

A single page of a journal. The text reads “Oct 2022 Truphae, Stipula” in a shiny grey. Each ink name is written with that ink color, and has a smudged line underneath of the same color. “Fading Grey, Dark Red, Bright Green, Bright Blue, Dark Blue.”
All of the Stipula inks together!
Kaweco Sport pen, sitting on a dark wooden desk top. The pen is an iridescent white.
Kaweco Sport, Iridescent.

Kaweco Sport Iridescent – I am not a huge fan of the material the Kaweco Sports come in, but this one is heckin pretty. I like how the light plays on it. Will definitely need to use a shading ink with this pen. 

A lime green sample tray with 7 ink vials arranged in an upside down u around the edges of the Ink Flight note that comes with the pack. Text read “Ink Flight October 2022, Welcome Ink Travelers, Medical professional by day, ink connoisseur by night - Dr. Sreekumar is the mind behind Krishna Inks, a small ink manufacturing workshop based in Kerala, India. What started out as a hobby in 2010 has now become a passion appreciated by a worldwide audience.”
Krishna Inks, Ink Flight note!

Now, Ink Flight! 

They sent me Krishna inks, which I have read about, and I was very looking forward to sampling more of these. What do we know about these? Well, they’ve got some wild bottle shapes, which I always enjoy. The less stackable and easily storable the better, I say! Made in India, by a doctor, huh. This is his hobby apparently! Interesting.

Look at these COLORS.

The edges of four pages in a journal. Each page has samples of a single ink, a tan gold, a bright purple, grass green, dark blue. Only the edges of the ink bottle mark and the lines drawn are visible on three of the pages. The top page you can see the geometric shapes, ink pool, ink bottle color in, straight lines, the end of the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the last dog” then a page separator of a straight line followed by a dot repeated, and then thoughts on the ink.
Krishna inks, Cassia Flora, Mountain Breeze, Ghat Green, Sailor’s Blue.


Krishna: (quoted text pulled off the paper they send with their inks – excellent descriptions!)

Cassia Flora, “Along with Bamboo Shoots and Mountain Breeze, Cassia Flora is part of Spring ‘22 ink collection of shading colors. Cassia Flora has a chartreuse hue with tones of teal and reddish brown.” Oh that’s what chartreuse looks like! Only really seeing the teal and brown it mentions in the pooling. 

Mountain Breeze, “This bright and juicy purple ink looks exceptional when used with broad, flex, or stub nibs.” I LIKE this color!

Ghat Green, “This lush olive green shades nicely. A fan favorite.” I think of this as a grass green.

Sailor’s Blue, “This vivid blue ink is well-saturated with a pop of magenta sheen.” I’ve seen a couple of this combo, but I like the balance on this one.

The edges of three pages in a journal. Each page has samples of a single ink, a bright green, dark blue, and a bright red. Only the edges of the ink bottle mark and the lines drawn are visible on two of the pages. The top page you can see the geometric shapes, ink pool, ink bottle color in, straight lines, the end of the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the last dog” then a page separator of a straight line followed by a dot repeated, and then thoughts on the ink.
Krishna Inks, Bamboo Shoots, Mountain Breeze, Sindhoor.

Bamboo Shoots, “A fresh, light green ink that shades with a blueish halo and clouds of ochre.” Yep, I agree with that!

Golden Summer Blue, “Introduced in the summer of 2022, this ink has a blueish-purple base with a lustrous golden sheen.” Absolutely on the nose. 

Sindhoor, “A bright red ink with wet flow, some shading and a hint of sheen.” Didn’t see the sheen, but I know that can depend on the paper sometimes.

A single page of a journal. The text reads “Oct 2022 Ink Flight, Krishna” in a shiny grey. Each ink name is written with that ink color, and has a smudged line underneath of the same color. “Cassia Flora, Bamboo Shoots, Mountain Breeze, Golden Summer Blue, Ghat Green, Sindhoor, Sailor’s Blue.”
All of the Krishna inks!
7 ink vials lined up horizontally, underneath from the left to write: the message Ink Flight sends about the box, a pen loop, an octopus sticker underneath, a sheet of ghost stickers, and a Write notepad.
The full October Ink Flight box!

Along with these lovely Krishna inks I got a sticker of an octopus in a scary mask, wielding a fountain pen taller, and with one of those pumpkin halloween candy buckets but instead of being full of candy, it’s full of ink vials. Jealous. I’ll save this one for next October Captain’s Log. 

Also a pen loop that I can attach to something, and conveniently there is a notebook from Write – loop would go well with that. And lastly there is a sheet of absolutely adorable ghost stickers that I am super in love with from Midori. I definitely do what they recommend and draw little speech bubbles and reactions. SO CUTE. 

And that’s October’s Subscription boxes. Thoroughly enjoyed. Looking forward to the November boxes!

Fountain Pens

Origami Pen Dividers!

When I started this whole journey I probably should have realized I would end up collecting these lovely shiny pens, because this is what I do. When I finally did realize this I started looking into pen storage options. I went the cheaper route because I’d much rather spend my money on shiny pens, and ended up with a pretty standard two drawer with a top area display with glass. Not super well made, off Amazon, but it would work to see me through that time period I try to give myself when I first get interested in something new. If I abandon it quickly then I won’t have spent too much money. Once I can be sure I am going to really keep up the interest, then I start investing. As someone who is Autistic and ADHD it helps me curb unnecessary spending. But that’s another post!

So back to pen storage. Once I started getting close to filling the first box I looked for a portable option, ever hopeful that I’ll be able to go outside some day and if I ever went to a con, I’d want a way to carry pens I’d bought or wanted to trade or show off. Then THAT started to fill up and I got to thinking about how I would want to do this long term. And the biggest thing that bugged me about both of the ways I was storing pens at the time was that I can’t see the pens casually. There was only one place that was possible, and for only some of the pens, and it was top down. Not good enough! 

It was around this time someone I had recently started following on Instagram posted a photo of their pen storage – and it was amazing! Clear acrylic drawers, with clear acrylic inserts, and you could clearly see all of the pens, and it was gorgeous! I immediately wanted to replicate, fortunately there were links in the thread – Muji drawers, and specially made drawer inserts. So I immediately started sourcing the drawers, easy. But the specially made drawer inserts were a whole other thing. Then I saw that this lovely human was selling some! Immediately contacted, and we agreed on a price and suddenly they were on the way!

5 clear cryptic drawers, with curved clear acrylic drawer inserts, each row has 10 pens, the bottom two rows look like rainbows, the rest of the rows are various colors.
Pretty pen drawers! Look at my rainbows!

When they got here, I assembled everything, put all of my favorite pens in there, could see the rainbows I’d collected, the sparkle, all at a glance. I was so excited! It is so pretty! And then…I realized I was already running out of room. And there were no more drawer inserts. (Custom made.)

So I put my thinking cap on. 

Top down view of 7 pens seated on paper dividers within a clear acrylic drawers. It looks kind of messy, the pens aren’t all equally visible, and some of the pleats have flattened.
Attempt number one at paper dividers!

I tried this first, just folded it accordion style. I knew I couldn’t duplicate the graceful swoops of the acrylic inserts, but I thought I’d try the V’s, see if the pens would be separated and kept separate in a similar way. Not transparent, but at least the drawers themselves were still clear acrylic. After I made up a bunch of them, I put some pens in there, and realized the heavier ones would just flatten the fold. And the folds were a little imprecise, so it kind of looked like a jumble when all was said and done. I was not satisfied – I at least wanted the pens to have a little bit of separation. 

Close up of two clear acrylic drawers with the V paper inserts and various pens. It looks really messy, some of the v’s are taller than the pens, some of the folds are flattened, and the pens look jumbled.
Sad paper dividers…

Next I got to thinking about how Husband could 3D print these for me. I felt like the swoop bit was hard, so I tried to think of a simpler way to get what I wanted and realized it could just be square shaped. (According to Husband, the swoops are not hard, ahem.) THEN I realized I could make that out of paper, and a new idea was born!

Top down view of various pens, the edge of paper dividing each pen look like a uniform height, same height as the drawer, and it looks much neater.
Attempt Number 2

The first set I made was okay – I measured the width I needed correctly, but I made the “walls” too high.

Top down of a variety of pens with paper separators. The edges of the dividers are visible, but not intrusive, and the pens are cleanly separated.
Attempt Number 3 – a winner!

So my next set I made smaller, but it was turning out imprecise again. I stopped to think and decided I needed to math this. Next I measure a bunch of stuff, try a couple of things, and eventually landed on a solid process that gave me lower “walls,” was efficient with the paper I was using, sturdy enough to separate the pens, and looked much neater. 

I churned out the separators and I am really pleased with this. As I was doing it, I realized it was very much like what I’d been doing the previous afternoon, sitting in the same place. When I had been folding mini origami stars. I was folding paper to make pen separators – therefore! I declare these Origami Pen Dividers. Tada!

All 10 clear acrylic drawers, filled with various pens. The top five drawers have the curved clear acrylic dividers. The bottom 5 drawers have the squared off paper dividers.
Origami Pen Dividers!

Would you like to do this for yourself? I won’t drag you through all of the iterations, instead, here is the final result! These instructions are based on the Muji drawers I linked above.

Two halves of an 8.5 x 11” piece of white computer paper.
Step 1: Take an 8.5×11” sheet of white computer paper, cut it in half.
Half a sheet of paper, faint pencil lines every 2mm
Step 2: Measure out the folds – make a line every ~2mm
Half a piece of white paper folded and curled up by the folds.
Step 3: create the folds on the lines you’ve drawn, all folding in the same direction.
Half a piece of paper, flat on the table, with folded dividers, the folds are slightly separated.
Step 4: Pinch two folds together to create the wall
Two halves of a white pieces of paper, flat on the table, joined together, the paper walls are crisply defined.
Step 5: This step isn’t completely necessary but to keep the walls stable, you can add a little bit of tape to either end which will keep that fold from flattening out.

You’ll need to use one whole piece of paper for each drawer, so with 5 drawers, that’s 5 sheets of 8.5×11” paper, cut in half. You’ll need to fold both halves like the instructions above walk thru, and you’ll need both half’s in each drawer. 

I wouldn’t use paper any thinner than computer paper, but thicker would probably be fine. These are just the measurements I use, because I like the “walls” to be a little lower and 1.5mm is the width I got from some of my wider pens. Feel free to use different measurements if you’d like! I recommend tape instead of staples, because I think the staples would scratch the pens. I used white paper to make the colors of the pens pop, and I cut the page in half so that the separators were shorter than the depth of the drawer, to keep as much clear acrylic visible as possible but still have a nice set of separators. 

This is a neat, simple, home made set of drawer inserts. If clear acrylic display for your pens is something you are interested in, and you don’t have access to the clear acrylic inserts or your own 3D printer haha – then this is a decent solution to get you by for a while. Enjoy!

Fountain Pens, Monthly Post

September Daily Sample Review, Akkerman

I was really intrigued by the shape of Akkerman’s bottles. They look antique and have a glass marble in the neck which is to help make filling the pen easier. It’s a really interesting idea! I sampled this month out of vials, but I may decide I need a whole bottle of at least one color so I can try out this whole marble thing. I believe the inks I sampled this month were from a line to honor their 100 years of existence in 2010, and the names are related to the city of The Hague. Fun!

A notebook page listing the inks that were sampled in September. The list can be found in the post.The inks are listed twice, once on the left in alternating purple and orange ink. The list on the right is in the color of the day. There is also a dot of color on the left edge of the page matching the right side list.
I like to list the inks out ahead of time and then rewrite them in that day’s ink sample, also I find making the color dots every day very fun. Look at how fun that looks!

It didn’t take me long to realize I was going to be sampling colors grouped together – which ended up being something I found really pleasing – for some reason? Although I wish the purple group had been larger, sigh. Quite the variety of blues and reds. The greens were also a small group – so my two favorite colors, the least number of inks. Boooo.
None of these popped out at me, but I have heard they are very solid and reliable inks. So I assume at some point in the future I’ll need one for a good basic color. They performed well and consistently when I was sampling them. More specifics with the color groupings below! 

11 sample cards of different blue stacked on top of each other, only the color band at the top is visible on 10 of the cards. The last one is fully visible. It reads “Akkerman 11 Treves Turquoise, xxxooosssssss, 22SeptVent-11, standard” There is a stamp of a nib with a B on it, and a pool of the color used on the card.
So many blues! Each distinct.

The Blues! Listed in order seen on photo from top to bottom.

01 Passage Blauw

02 Redidentie Blauw

03 Blauw 

04 Nassaus Blauw

05 Shocking Blue

06 Binnenhof Blues

07 Koninginne Nach-Blauw

08 DiepDuin Water Blauw

09 Laan van Niew Oost-Indigo

10 Ijzer-galnoten Blauw-Zwart

11 Treves Turquois 

I think by the fourth or fifth blue I was just impressed at how many blues their were already and still to come! I like that there is a wide variety and that none of them look exactly the same. There are two or three in there that are similar, but still distinct. And 05, Shocking Blue, looks like something I’ll use in a future palette…

4 sample cards of different purples stacked on top of each other, only the color band at the top is visible on 3 of the cards. The last one is fully visible. It reads “Akkerman 15 Voorhout Violet, xxxooosssssss, 22SeptVent-15, standard” There is a stamp of a nib with a B on it, and a pool of the color used on the card.
4 purples – only 4! And that’s only if you consider Magenta a purple which…I sometimes do not. Sad Spoon.

The Purples!

12 Mauritshuis Magenta

13 Simplisties Violet

14 Parkpop Purpur

15 Voorhout Violet

There weren’t as many of these, but I do love them. I’m not a huge fan of magenta’s, but the other three are really pretty, and I hope I have an excuse to use them soon. Especially that 13, Simplisties Violet! 

8 sample cards of an orange, different reds, and a couple of browns stacked on top of each other, only the color band at the top is visible on 7 of the cards. The last one is fully visible. It reads “Akkerman 23 Bekakt Haags, xxxooosssssss, 22SeptVent-23, standard” There is a stamp of a nib with a B on it, and a pool of the color used on the card.

The Reds! Okay maybe more than just reds…

16 Oranje Boven

17 Staten-Generaal Rood

18 Garuda Rood

19 Rood Haags Pluche

20 Pulchri Pink

21 ChinaTown Red

22 Hopjesbruin

23 Bekakt Haags

Okay, so there is an orange and some tan/browns mixed into this pile, but its close enough! Let’s call these Fall colors instead of just Reds…Red is not my favorite color ink, but I found a couple of these intriguing. Super not a fan or tan/brown but they are still solid colors. And orange is becoming a favorite ink color for some reason, so glad that I got at least one of those!

7 sample cards of different greens and greys stacked on top of each other, only the color band at the top is visible on 6 of the cards. The last one is fully visible. It reads “Akkerman 30 Het Swarte Pad, xxxooosssssss, 22SeptVent-30, standard” There is a stamp of a nib with a B on it, and a pool of the color used on the card.
Greens and greys!

The Greens!

24 Zuiderpark Blue-Green

25 Denneweg Groen

26 Goenmarkt Smaragd

27 Bezuidenwoud Groen

28 Hofkwartier Groen

29 Hofvijer Grijs 

30 Het Zwarte Pad

Greens! I’m always looking for good greens, because they go well with purples! There is a good variety here. There are also two greys which is nice. The only color really missing is a yellow, but not a bad rainbow!

A close up of a planner notebook page. This page is for a single line for each day, and starts with “9 September” and the space underneath says “Akkerman.” Each line starts with a number of the day and the first letter of the day of the week. Each line is a different color, from the daily sample used.

Overall I enjoyed this month’s inks. None of them seemed to really be problematic at all, and all of them will be solid additions to my library. Now…which one do I buy a bottle of… 🙂 

Fountain Pens

September Pen/Ink Palette: Fall – Review

I enjoyed my palette this month. Fall is not my favorite season weather wise but the house I grew up in was always very very decorated for fall. Very decorated. So I guess now as an adult, I find a fall palette pleasing. I spent a lot of my growing up years in Maine, and the fall leaves there are literally a thing people will take a vacation to go see. Worth it. 

I used a dusky blue, a darker green and a light green, three different shades of orange and two of an orangish and darkish yellow. I felt that this spread covered what I remember of the woods in the autumn, on long drives in Maine. I googled fall palettes, and found one that looked about right and then winnowed down until I had what I ended up using. 

I got to try out a bunch of new inks and a couple of new pens. I made a couple of changes for the pens I started out using:
1. Sailor Pro Gear Slim – Purple Northern Lights (MF) / ColorVerse 54 Hayabusa Glistening
– This is my Forever Purple pen, continues to perform admirably! 
2. Sailor Pro Gear Slim Mini – Night Blue (MF) / ColorVerse Cat
– This is my new Forever Blue pen, had a couple of issues with it sticking a little bit, but that seems to be something I am just going to have to deal with when using ColorVerse Cat. Sad pants.
3. Esterbrook JR Pocket Paradise – Blue Breeze ( F) / PenBBS Break
– This blue ink is really perfect for a fall and I enjoyed writing with it, zero problems. Soothing, really.
4. Hong Dian 5019, Lan Tian – May Flowers (EF) / Ferris Wheel Press Moonlight Jade 
– My Magic Green pen, continues to be magic. 
5. Esterbrook JR Picket Paradise – Key Lime (F) / Wearingeul Flowing Leaves 
– I already knew I liked this pen but I ended up really adoring this shade of green. And the shimmer behaves beautifully. 
6. TWSBI Diamond 580 – Iris (F) / Kiwi Ink Quetzalcoatl
– I do love my Diamond pens. And I’ve used Quetzalcoatl before and it was as lovely as I remember. Although, it’s supposed to be a sheen AND shimmer ink, but the shimmer never comes through on page. I have two theories – one is that the paper I am using just shows sheen better. The second is that sheen always trumps shimmer. I really need to experiment more with papers…
7. Beardbarian Woodworking – Copper Eclipse Sunset (F) / Ferris Wheel Press Candy Marsala
– I really love this pen. Marsala came through lovely, and only got a little stuck once or twice, but resolved on it’s own. 
8. Majohn Wancai Mini Fountain Pen – Transparent Clear (F) Monteverde Strata – Red (F)  / Diamine 2021 Inkvent Vintage Copper
– I switched pens purely because this Monteverde pen was a sparkly red and came in my monthly Truphae box. It writes okay, gets sticky sometimes. Vintage Copper is one of my very favorite inks, but fun fact – I accidentally put some Raspberry Rose back in here when I was emptying some pens about a year ago. It doesn’t seem to have changed the color of this sample bottle of Vintage Copper, but who knows. 
9. Kaweco AL Sport – Gold (B) PenBBS 456 Fountain Pen – Autumn (F) / Kiwi Liquid Gold
– I kept finding ink inside the lid and all over the nib even when the pen hadn’t been dropped, so when my new PenBBS showed up, I switched over. I still haven’t figured out vacuum pens, but that’s on me. I love the way both of my PenBBS pens look, and the writing on this one was mostly fine. The color variations and shimmer came thru nicer with the broad nib, but this wasn’t terrible. I think the times where it felt like the ink wasn’t flowing well was something to do with me not using the vacuum part correctly. I’ll figure it out eventually. 
10. Esterbook JR Pocket Paradise Pocket Pen – Yellow (1.1m Stub) / ColorVerse Rising Reflections
– This is the first time I have used a 1.1m Stub nib and I loved it! Shows off the ColorVerse Rising Reflections shimmer beautifully!


I am considering keeping Flowing Leaves and Vintage Copper for my “Monster” palette in October. I like how Flowing Leaves flows and decided it worked well for Zombie – and Vintage Copper looks good for Vampire. 

I really want to figure out how vacuum pens work. Must science it. My favorite discovery of my palette this month was the 1.1 Stub nib – it’s so good! I wish I wrote larger when journaling, I only ended up using it for headings. It was odd not using any Kaweco’s. I count this palette as a success! 

Fountain Pens

October Pen/Ink Palette: Monsters/Spoop

A purple notebook and pen holder. There are 10 pens on the left, 9 of them in loops, 1 loose. From top to bottom, a light silver, a darker grey, a blue, purple, white swirl, a dark purple, a light blue/purple, a light green, a dark green, an orange, a red, and a yellow. Above the notebook/pen case is a 3 pen pen case, with the Forever Purple and Blue pens, and the Magic Green pen. On the right of the notebook/pen holder is a purple notebook with two stickers on it. In the top left corner the sticker is 4 ghosts looking out of a front door and a welcome mat. In the bottom right hand corner is a green octopus with a red knit hat and a blue flannel coat. He has a fountain pen in two tentacles, a pumpkin in another, and a coffee cup in another. He is sitting in a pile of autumn leaves.
These are the pens and Captain Log I will be using for October!

Yeah, the theme for this month is definitely not hard to puzzle out – Halloween is in October, Monsters and Spoopy things are Halloween related, therefore! Yeah, it’s not hard. I actually ended up picking out the inks themselves and then relating them to “monsters” – although that word was definitely stretched to fit in several cases…

I concentrated on Purple, Greens, and Oranges, specifically in a saturated fashion. After a WHOLE MONTH with only my one usual Forever Purple in September, I was very excited to play with purples again! Which, ahem, has nothing to do with why I picked purples, I mean, purples are totally a Halloween color, right? Right.

I am using a lot of shimmer, and a lot of inks from my August Daily Samples – Wearingeul – and I am very excited. So, let’s take a look at what “spoopy monsters” I used to justify the colors I picked!

On the left side is a grey ink paired with a silver pen, a silver ink paired with a dark grey pen, a sparkle purple ink paired with a purple and white swirly pen, a dark purple ink with a dark purple pen, and a blue ish ink paired with a blueish pen. On the righ side is a sparkly green ink paired with a light green pen, a light green ink paired with a dark green pen, a bright orange ink paired with a bright orange pen, a dark orange ink paired with a sparkly red pen, and a yellow ink paired with a yellow pen.
All 10 ink sample cards paired with 10 fountain pens.
  1. Skeleton: Ohto – Tasche FF 10T (?) / Diamine Inkvent 2021 – Ash 
  2. Ghost: Pelikan M205 – Moonstone (EF) / Vinta Inks, Fairytale Collection – Clouds of Grey
  3. Witch: Mad Science Pen Company, Hooded Ranger – Proton (F) / Wearingeul, Yi Sang Series – Soyeongwije 
  4. Purple People Eater: Sailor Limited Edition Pro Gear Slim Sapporo – Demonstrator Wisteria Purple (MF) / PenBBS – #095 Lin Huiyin 
  5. Frank, the Demonic Octopus: Sailor Professional Gear Slim, Manyo – Dianthus (MF) / Diamine Inkvent 2021- Nightshade 
  6. Zombie: Esterbrook JR Picket Paradise – Key Lime (F) / Wearingeul Flowing Leaves
  7. Frankenstein: Kaweco AL Sport Aurora Limited (F) / Kyo No Oto – Moegiiro 
  8. Pumpkin Head: Kaweco AL Sport Limited Edition – Orange (F) / Troublemaker – Mango
  9. Vampire: Monteverde Strata – Red (F)  / Diamine 2021 Inkvent Vintage Copper
  10. Werewolf: Esterbook JR Pocket Paradise Pocket Pen – Yellow (1.1m Stub) / Van Dieman, Midnight Collection – Howl at the Moon

(Also the two forever pens and the magic pen – but technically they are not part of this palette, so! I will not be including them in this list.) 

I am very excited about the purple Wearingeul ink and the Vinta. Those look very promising in this dip test:

Each line is written in a different color. Each line reads the “monster” it is inspired by, and the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” I will describe the color of the ink and then the “monster” it was inspired by. . Dark Blue: “Oct “Monster” Pen Palette Dip Test” Dark grey: “Skeleton,” Ash Light Grey: “Ghost” Clouds of Grey Dark purple with shimmer: “Witch” Soyeongwije Purple: “Purple People Eater” #095 Lin Huiyin Blueish: “Frank, the Demonic Octopus” Nightshade Green: “Zombie” Flowing Leaves Light Green: “Frankenstein” Moegiiro Orange: “Pumpkin Head” Mango Red: “Vampire” Vintage Copper Yellow: “Werewolf” Howl at the Moon
October Monster INK Palette – it should say! Since I used a metal dip pen to sample each one.

Howl at the Moon seemed like an ink that is to pale to use very much when I first sampled it back in December, but now I have started using stub nibs and I want to see how well the ink shows up from a broader nib! And I got the Troublemaker ink in the September Ink Flight and I fell instantly in love, so barely looked at other oranges when I was picking those out haha. Oh! And Frank, the Demonic Octopus is a reference to a creature my Game Master for a game of Dungeons and Dragons introduced, we fought, and my character – an ambulatory wheelchair using Wizard Librarian, who casts spells with a fountain pen and ink – got a bottle of demonic octopus ink. 🙂 Really I am excited about all of these inks, but thought calling out those specifics would be fun. 

Fountain Pens

October Daily Samples, Pennonia

From the top down, a clear drawer with 31 ink vials, laying on their sides. Each vial has a white cap, and the inks are various colors. The labels are not all readable because they wrap around the vial, they are also all different colors, unsure if they match the ink witching the vial.
31 Pennonia ink sample vials – October is going to be fun!

Pennonia is another manufacturer that numbers their inks, and it snagged my interest again. The company is based out of Romania, started in 2018, and is owned but what looks like a very passionate fountain pen ink maker! Something he calls out is that from what he knows, he was the first to introduce mixable shimmer powers and mixable liquid shimmer additives to the community. Which I want to look into – immediately! I do love me my shimmer. 

I am not sure if any of these have shimmer in them because while I do handle them I specifically try not to really look at what is in the vial. So we shall see! If I had to guess, I am betting there are no shimmer inks, due to the comment about additives! Let’s see if I’m right at the end of the month…

This is the order I will be sampling these in the month of October, and apologies if I got any spellings wrong, I double checked them but my auto correct is aggressive:

001 Orgona Lilac

002 Balaton Kek

003 Ragu Bubblegum

004 Danuvius Danube

005 Zuzmo Lichen

006 Abigel

007 Kekek Kekje 

008 Patina

009 Gyermeklancfu

010 Selyempezsgo 

011 Fekete Sas 

012 Almazold Apple Green

013 Csillant Nettle 

014 Dungo 

015 Hupikek Whoopie Blue 

016 Kekfesto 

017 Lila Arnyek Purple

018 Meggyes Sour Cherry 

019 Meregzold 

020 Ordogi Volos Devil Red

021 Roka Koma Fox Friend

022 Tihanyi Lila 

023 Torokkek Turkish Blue

024 Vattacukor

025 Viharfelho 

026 Kekfeny

027 Mustvoros Young Wine

028 Gesztenyebarna Chestnut 

029 Rezvoros Copper

030 Zoldike 

031 Godenyzold Pelikan  

31 individual vials, with white lids and three sticker dots on each one. They are numbered, 1-31. Each one also has one blank white sticker and a dated sticker, 10.22.
31 Pennonia inks in the awesome vial trays my husband designed and printed for me!
Fountain Pens

September Subscriptions Samples Review – (Ink Flight) Troublemaker, (Truphae) Private Reserve

I have added Ink Flight subscriptions to my monthly fun! I had to, there are 7 samples per month, so of course I needed it. I also noticed they have some other fun stuff, like stickers or puzzles, and I thought heck why not. Trying new inks is a greatly pleasing and calming for me. 

Anyway! 

Lime green tray with seven vials of ink arranged around the paper with Ink Flight’s logo, September 2022, and text related to the Troublemaker’s inks.
My first Ink Flight! Also, that tray? Husband designed and printed it. He’s pretty cool!

September Ink Flight Sample Subscription was for Troublemaker inks – which I haven’t tried yet, but now I want to get a bunch more! I enjoyed these inks a lot, they stayed on the metal nib, and applied to the paper pleasingly. There are several multi-chromatic inks, which are becoming my favorite thing these days, and the shimmer inks looked well distributed. 

7 ink vials frame a sticker of an octopus in a knit hat and flannel coat, holding a pen, pumpkin, and a cup. There is a long narrow piece of paper listing all of the inks. Below that is a clear plastic bag with empty ink cartridges and a syringe labeled Private Reserve Ink. In the bottom left hand corner is a sheet of stickers that look like different kinds of pens.
Okay, look at that sticker, how cute is that??? And suspiciously well timed refillable cartridge kit…

There was also an adorable sticker of an octopus wearing flannel and a knit hat, holding a pen and tea – clearly intended for my October Captain’s Log. The cartridge kit is something I am very excited about because I was thinking about getting into refillable cartridges so I can use some tinier pens and here comes this kit! And the pen stickers are shiny, which is delightful. I really enjoy the descriptions Ink Flight sends with the inks because I’ve been learning a lot from how folks with more experience describe inks. 

4 journal pages overlapping so each page can be seen enough to see the color. There is a maroon, a yellowish green, an orange, and a blue. The blue one is the only page mostly visible. There is an ink bottle stamp colored in with blue ink. The same blue ink was used to make triangle and circle shapes, some continuous s shapes, and straight lines. The text says “Troublemaker, Abalone, multichromatic, iro-utsushi, map”
First time I’ve tried Troublemaker inks and it was a lovely experience! Nenite, Tuslob Buwa, Mango, and Abalone.

Now for the inks!

Troublemaker:

Nenita, Ended up sort of a maroon color but the green sheen on top made it more brown than anything else.  

Tuslob Buwa, Goose poop. I think I have three different samples in this shade now…ew? 

Mango, I really liked the color and the way it shades when written, I’ll be using this one in my October Pen/Ink Palette! (Monster theme, this one is for Pumpkin Head!)

Abalone, This is a really pretty blue, very much in the denim realm, but I would call this one a soft denim, it’s supposed to be multi-chromatic, but I wasn’t getting any of the lavender to come thru – maybe I need a different paper!

3 overlapping pages, a grey, a dark green, and a blueish purple. The page with the grey ink is the most visible. There is an ink stamp colored in with grey ink. To the left of that is a pool of the same ink, but greens and pinks can be seen. There are triangle and circle shapes, continuous s shapes, and straight lines. The only text that can be seen read “fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Moon River, Polar Lights, and Foxglove

Moon River, I’d call this one a sort of grey ish lavender, doesn’t come across in the picture very well but it’s a really interesting multi-chromatic shading ink. I do like my weird grey inks.

Polar Lights, Sort of a super dark avocado green, looks black, but has a light blue shimmer that looks really neat in pools. Might be fun in a broader nib. The description says it’s a purple black ink and I super disagree! 😂

Foxglove, Fun shading lavender, light but should be fairly readable. I see pinks and blues in the multi-chromatic bits and these make me want to try a multi-shader palette some month! Maybe February…

A lime green vial tray with 5 ink vials. Each one contains a brightly colored ink. An empty plastic bag with a label is resting in front of the vials. Each line is written in that color ink. It reads “Private Reserve Inks, 1 Neon Fuschia, 2 Neon Orange, 3 Neon Yello, 4 Neon Green, and 5 Neon Blue.
Truphae! Third Private Reserve subscription!

My Truphae Sample Subscription this month was of Private Reserve Neon inks. I think this is the third pack of Private Reserve inks I’ve gotten from Truphae so far. I’ll need to go back and piece things together, but I’ve sampled an Infinity pack and a Silvers pack prior to this, for sure. Anyway! Neons aren’t my usual thing, but I think I would like to try these out on a fountain pen friendly black paper at some point. 

A red sparkly pen with silver hardware.
Look at the pretty peeeeeeen!

The subscription I have from Truphae includes a pen, and this month I got a Monteverde Strata, Red with a Fine nib. I got it in time to use for my September Pen/Ink Palette. I will talk more about that combo in the Palette post, but the reason I wanted to use it was the sparkly red finish, the weight felt nice in my hands, and I have had good experiences so far with Monteverde pens. It worked out well, and I’ll be using it in October as well! 

3 overlapping pages, a bright pink, a bright yellow and a bright blue. The pink is the only one visible. A stamp of an ink bottle, with pink ink colored in, a pool of the same color ink, triangle, continuous s shapes, and straight lines. The text reads “9.18 SeptTruphae”
Neon Fuschia, Neon Yellow, Neon Blue.

Now for the inks!

Private Reserve:

Neon Fuschia, this ended up being suuuuper pink, which is not my favorite color haha.

Neon Yellow, so bright, so unreadable! Curious how readable it would be on a black paper… 

Neon Blue, as usual, this one was the darkest of the bunch. Not sure I would call it neon per se, but it is on the brighter side. 

2 overlapping pages, a washed out orange, and a bright green. The fully visible page is of the green ink. The ink bottle stamp is colored in with the green ink, also a pool of green. Triangle, circle, continous s shapes, and straight lines. The text reads “Private Reserve, Neon Green, standard, iro-utsushi, mdp”
Neon Orange, Neon Green

Neon Orange, very light, almost seems washed out, not as vibrant as the pink or yellow. 

Neon Green, Not sure I would call this one neon either, but it is bright. 

Over all, not sure I’ll end up using any of these anytime soon, but they will probably end up useful at some point! Now, where can I find nice and fountain pen friendly black paper…hmmm… 

And that’s September! 

Accessibility, Fountain Pens

Morning Daily Sample/Pen Routine – Calibration

Any one wondering why I started sampling a new ink every day? It hit me one day that it was multi dimensional. Originally I thought it was just because of how delighted I was sampling inks  when I got the 2021 Inkvent Calendar. It was more than a year into the pandemic – I needed some good distractions. Advent calendars are something you open once a day for 25 days – a small joy, for 25 days in a row. I got about a week into it and I was hooked. I decided to rebuild the 2019 Inkvent calendar, to open in November, then thought in December I could try out some more shimmer inks, then…it continued. 

What it turned into was a Routine – with a capitol R. Routines for me are fairly inflexible and are intended to set a tone or a mood. They tend to be coupled with what I’ve been calling Transitions and Sectors (an idea I developed after reading Jamie Knight & Lion’s ideas on tunnels, mine are more about orienting myself in space, to help me navigate). Routines are comforting for me as an Autistic with ADHD, and it’s something that becomes easy to follow, which is helpful when I am low on spoons, or overwhelmed, or exhausted. And Sectors are helpful because I have set up spaces that are intended for a small palette of topics. A lot of people do this actually, not just Autistics or ADHD – someone might have a workshop or a craft room. I do something similar but with a lot of intentionality and practiced focus. Which tends to result in a heightened state of concentration – but only on what is intended in that space – or sector. For example, if I am in my study, which is not a space I use for work, I find it very difficult to concentrate on a work topic. But when I am in my office, which is the Sector I use for work – I find it’s easy to concentrate on work. 

What does all of this have to do with pens????? Well. Routines and Transitions and Sectors are how I manage my need for executive functions. It’s basically how I get myself to do stuff haha. And I’ve done a lot of research and thinking about how to get myself to engage with things, when I hit a period of Autistic Burnout in 2021. Actually, I developed this thinking alongside my interest in fountain pens and inks. For several reasons I am continuing to discover and develop, a solid way for me to engage in something is to tie it into fountain pens and inks. 

For example. Getting out of bed can be difficult because of the energy it takes to get started when waking up in pain. And getting out of bed will only increase the pain. When you wake up in pain every day, for years, the motivation to get out of bed dwindles. But. You’ve gotta get out of bed. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Not when you have Chronic Pain and are ADHD. So, I handle this with Routines and Transitions and Sectors. Getting out of bed means I get to go to the desk in my study, which is the Sector that is set up for me to sample inks. The Routine is what I do to get from bed to desk. The Sector is the desk in the study. And the Transition is the time between bed and eating breakfast. Most times, that’s enough. Our morning routine accommodates the time it takes – I do this while Aaron makes breakfast. Once I am at that desk, I am comfortable and I have a a defined task which I don’t even have to think too hard about. I can complete a task that I enjoy, first thing in the morning. The routine is calming, soothing.

Sitting at that desk is comfortable because every thing I need is within reach. There is only the usual expected chaos in the house (dogs going out, getting fed, kitchen noises). I have a pre defined and agreed on amount of time to do something I find extremely comforting, and sets me up to use my systems for the rest of the day. Timing is extremely important, but I’ll get into that later. The routine we have in the morning, when I am in the sector for pens and inks, I am specifically looking for what my range of motion, pain levels, and sensory sensitivities will be like that day. And all of that data helps me be successful with my day. 

There are big movements – walking, transferring from one chair to another. I get that data from getting to my desk from the bedroom, getting dressed. There are small movements – opening drawers to get the supplies I use, manipulating those tools to apply the ink to the sample card and my notebooks with a q-tip and a dip pen. There are big sounds – boiling kettle, talking to the dogs, dishes hitting the counter. There are small sounds – drawers opening, tea being poured, pen on paper. 

If I have trouble getting from my wheelchair to the desk chair, or reaching out to the drawer, or handling the pen, then I know I need to be very careful with my movements that day. If I’m careful, I can conserve energy, instead of wasting it and finding out the hard way that I should have been careful. If the sounds in the kitchen are overwhelming me then I know I need to be careful with sounds and other sensory input like light or textures or food. If I am careful and wear noise canceling headphones, dim the lights preemptively, don’t eat stressful foods, then I can prevent a melt down. Or at least reduce the likelihood. 

Over time this routine solidified into something I need to get myself going in the morning. Some people go for a run, or sit on the porch with a hot cup of coffee, or journal for an hour. I listen to tea being made and sample inks.