Two lime green sample trays, 12 ink sample vials total can be seen.
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!