Tag Archives: Taccia

Fountain Pens

January Review: All of the things!

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.

A blue/purple/yellow sparkly pen placed horizontally above an entry in a notebook listing the name of the ink and pen, a sample of the ink in an ink bottle stamp, and a brief review.
I use a notebook from Ink Flight to record the palette’s I use every month. Here you can see my comments on this combo: “I love this nib! 3 widths, so useful. Pretty blue/purple ink, one of my usual favorite shades. When the shimmer comes thru it is very pretty.” And on the right I list the pen and ink details.

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. 

Lines of ink colors applied to a Monthly planner section that gives one line to every day. The numbers 9, 15, 22 and 31 are circled.
So many colors! I circled the dates for the inks I will reference below, 9, 15, 22, and 31.

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?

Fountain Pens

November Daily Samples, Review: 2022 Samples Review

Whew, using the word review twice in one title is super annoying. I’ll have to think of something better the next time I do this. Anyway – this month’s daily samples are using 8 different ink brands.

A notebook page with a list of inks (these will be shared in the posts below) written in silver ink and then rewritten to the right in the color of the ink named. At the top of the page the text reads “November Daily Samples Year Review” in silver ink.

I pulled each sample randomly from a pile that gives me enough samples for November and January. Then I grouped the inks by brand, so I’ll be showing them grouped like that here. However! I wasn’t thinking and did not take the opportunity to order them by number – if they had one – or by series – if they had one. So, in January, I have to remember that! But, let’s look at the November daily samples:

5 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-5” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a reddish ink, three various brown inks, and a blue ink.
Taccia: Hokusai Benitsuchi, Sharaku Kurocha, Utamaro Usuzumi, Utamaro Ume Murasaki, Hokusai Fukakihanada

Taccia:
Hokusai Benitsuchi: rusty brown, dark red with orange hints.
Sharaku Kurocha: Brown. Very straightforward brown.
Utamaro Usuzumi: Black, slight sheen.
Utamaro Ume Murasaki: A brownish pink.
Hokusai Kukakihanada: Ocean/whale blue – maybe not literally, but that is what it makes me think of?

5 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-10” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a blue, a black, a pink-red, a lighter blue and a light green.
Kyo No Oto: Aonibi Iro, Nurebairo, Iamyou Iro, Hisoku, Kokeiro

Kyo No Oto:
05 Aonibi Iro: Mushy denim blue.
01 Nurebairo: I can’t tell if this is sheen or not? I feel like it is. Super darkest blue with just like…a wet colored sheen honestly?
02 Iamyou Iro: Bright pink, red tones.
07 Hisoku: Light to medium blue, readable, might be chromatic…
03 Kokeiro: Writes out like pea soup, dries to a goose poop greeny brown.

3 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-13” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a orangey-red, a pink, and a light brown.
Kyo Iro: (03) Fushimi’s Flaming Red, (05) Keage Sakura, (01) Cobblestones

Kyo Iro:
03 Fushimi’s Flaming Red: Bright red, leaning towards a dark pink.
05 Keage Sakura: Nice cherry blossom pink.
01 Cobblestones: A really soft brown, or a brown tuned grey? Perfect for cobblestones.

3 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-16” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a brighter red, a more sedate red, and a blackish brown.
PenBBS: (520) Light Snow, (508) Grain Buds, (392) Black Bread

PenBBS:
520 Light Snow: Fall red, orange tones when it’s written lighter.
508 Grain Buds: Makes me think of coffee, both to drink when it’s dark and to stain.
329 Black Bread: Black! A very dark grey is what it dries to.

5 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-21” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a a light maroon, a darker maroon, gold, light blue, and a dark brown.
Vinta: Ubi, Andrada, Pamana, Lakbay, Romblon

Vinta:
Mulberry Ubi 1663: Mulberry purple, dark, only noticeably purple in the light.
Teal Andrata 1898: Dark teal hidden under a purple sheen – or at least it looks like an almost black purple, I suppose it could be read mixing with the teal?
Heritage Brown Pamana 2018: Orangey brown with a green sheen.
Sea & Sky Lakbay 1861: Pretty, light blue, pink shimmer, not sure how much the shimmer comes thru, but when it does, pretty! Kind of dirty looking in the swatch tho.
Black Onyx Romblon 1582: Black/green undertones to the ink, faint dark purple sheen, and a very faint shimmer? Can’t see it in the vial, just the swatches. In writing it’s hard to see because of the sheen so…secret shimmer? I like it tho. For a black ink, nice subtle colors if you look at it right.

6 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-27” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is an orange ish, then a yellow, a dark greenish, lighter blue, darker blue, and a bright red.
Wearingeul: Kyonghui, A Star Spattered Hill, Shooting at the Moon, Mature, Stars in Autumn, Human Problem

Wearingeul:
Color of Literature, Project 4, Kyonghui: A sort of tan gold…reminds me of the color you’d see on plastics from the 80’s.
Color of Literature, Project 1, A Star Spattered Hill: A buttery yellow, warm brown tone, gold shimmer. Pretty!
Color of Literature, Project 1, Shooting at the Moon: Dark ink with a faint sheen. The color reminds me of a night sky and that hazy halo that you can see sometimes around the moon.
Demian Literature, Mature: Medium denim blue, grey tones as it dries.
Color of Literature, Project 1, Stars in Autumn: Medium to dark blue with blue shimmer. I feel like I really like this one, the swatch came out really pretty.
Color of Literature, Project 4, Human Problem (Issue): Interesting that an ink called ‘Human Problem’ is the color of blood?

A single sample card, blue ink with a reddish sheen swatch on the top. The text says “Akkerman (00) Royal Akkermanblauw, xxxooosssssss and 22NovVent-28. On the right side of the card the text says “sheen” and there is a pool of ink below a stamp of a nib.
Akkerman: (00) Royal Akkermanblauw

Akkerman:
00 Royal Akkermanblauw: Medium dark blue, reddish sheen, looks purple. Subtle.

2 ink sample cards stacked on top of each other. Only the bottom one is visible, and you can see the ink swatch at the top, the name of the brand of ink, the name of the ink, xxxooosssssss, a stamp of a fountain pen nib, a pool of the ink, text at the bottom left reading “22NovVent-30” and on the right edge of the card is the text “standard.” From top to bottom there is a lighter blue and an orange ish red.
Pennonia: (032) Csontvarys Blue, Draculea

Pennonia:
032 Csontvarys Blue: A sort of sky blue with denim darker blue tones.
Draculea: An orangeish red? Or a reddish orange? Sort of a fall color.

It was nice revisiting these brands. I am looking forward to finishing out these in January!

A notebook page with lines of ink colors on lines numbered 1- 30. At the top in a purple ink is text reading 2022 Review.
Month of iiiiinks!
30 ink vials from the top, only the white caps can be seen, each has 3 stickers. The vials are labeled 1-30, and each has the date 11.22, and each has a single color dot.
Look at all of those pretty vials of ink!