Okay, let’s take a look at what I played with in January. Second January I have been doing all of this by the way! I remember being super frustrated with shimmer inks January of 2022. But I have learned a lot since then – still more to learn tho, haha. Keeps things interesting. 

Pen/Ink Palette:
I went with “Ice” as a theme, and picked out some really pale and icy blues, purples, and teals. I actually enjoyed every single pen/ink combo. It was tough to pick a favorite. One thing that ended up being a little annoying was having my Magic Green and Favorite Purple pen still being inked but I didn’t use them very much. Considering putting one or both of them away.

Favorite:
While it was tough to choose, the one that ended up being my favorite combo was a Bonecrusher7 Studios pen, using a custom three-grind pen from Jose Munera, and filled with a limited edition ink, Dawn, from a Dominant Industry and Cult Pens collaboration. The ink really worked well both from the 1.1m stub grind, and the MF grind side. I’ve played with different custom nibs before and often the ink only looks right from one side or the other, so I was happy to find a combo that worked well with all of the grinds on this nib. 

Least Favorite:
This may have been my own fault, but my least favorite combo was an Iron Feather Creative pen, filled with A Watery Star, from Wearingeul. I don’t think it was the pen or the inks fault, but it ended up writing a much different blue than I expected, way darker, and bled thru the paper! Completely wrong from an ink I sampled as a shading medium blue with shimmer! But after a couple of days I got to thinking…I had put Thunderbolt from Diamine in this pen the month before, which looks exactly like the dark ink coming out right now…so maybe the nib wasn’t cleaned out enough? Something to keep in mind when I am cleaning it this time! I am going to use the cleaner liquid this time instead of just water. 

Learned:
I’m betting the things I learn every month will end up being from whatever my least favorite pen/ink combo was. Like, in this case, I learned that even if you THINK the nib is clean, it might not be. And I need to look into some more ways to make SURE they are clean when I am done cleaning them!

Daily Samples:
Okay, I ran into a conundrum. Last year, when I had decided to go back thru every ink brand I had sampled in 2022 and pick up the last couple of each that I hadn’t sampled yet, I ended up with…a lot of inks. More than I could sample one a day in November. I decided not to worry about it at the time haha, and so January 2023 was arriving…I discovered I had enough PenBBS samples for another whole month…which is what I am doing in December. Then the hodge podge that was left meant I needed 10 more samples for the month of January, and since I get 11 with the Ink Subscriptions I get monthly I thought, you know what! And just added them to the Daily Samples for January to fill that out. And I got super lucky! I had only previously sampled one of the inks from the Ink Flight subscription. Hooray! 

Therefore! This section will be just touching on the samples that I did not get in one of my subscriptions. 

Favorite:
A purple, so surprised. Taccia Naka Murasaki (January 9), a solid cool purple, and has that “dusty” feel that I like. I think this will go quite nicely in any of my purple palettes, and it is on the darker side, so easy to read. Probably going to be a little tough to tell it is a purple in darker lights tho.

Least Favorite:
Another surprise, my least favorite was a brown. (Being sarcastic by the way haha). Kyo No Oto, #10 Ochiguriiro (January 15). It’s a softer brown, which shares a little to a darker brown, has sort of deep yellow tones, and…I just don’t like browns. If you like browns, this is probably a good one tho, it behaved really well on my dip pen. 

Learned:
I don’t think I can completely guarantee that I have no brown ink samples in any of my reviews, but I can certainly try! This is definitely confirming for me that random ink samples are fun but only in small amounts, like the ink subscriptions. I have March figured out but I am going to have to do a think about what I am going to do in April. 

Ink Subscription Samples:
As I said, I actually sampled these in my Daily set, but I still! Gets it’s own section. And I got to play with Lamy inks from Truphae – which I have never tried before – and Anderillium from Ink Flight – which I have tried before, but out of the 7 I had only sampled one before. Also, I keep getting Monteverde pens in my Trupha subscription box haha, and the one from this month has not been tried yet! Next time I need a red pen I guess. 

Favorite:
The Lamy inks were all vaguely sheen-y inks, seemed to be a jewel themed pack. I ended up liking their Azurite (January 22) out of all 11 the best. It’s a very blue purple with a light green subtle sheen. I am guessing the sheen will only present itself in finer nibs by taking one thousand years to dry but otherwise I’ll need a broader nib to get it to show up visibly. 

Least Favorite:
For variety, let’s say the black ink, instead of the brown, was my least favorite…Anderillium, Common Loon Black (January 31). Nothing against the ink really, I just…think black inks are boring. Now! I could be wrong. But currently I have only seen one black ink I really enjoyed, and this was not it. Happy to be wrong some day tho.

Learned:
Well…I guess I confirmed that I am still sus of sheen inks, and I still don’t like brown/black inks no matter what. But maybe I was not paying enough attention…

Whew, let’s see what we’ve got next month, shall we?