Inkier Things
Hello!
Welcome! This site is primarily a blog where I post about fountain pens, inks, and other stationery. Much of the content was imported from my posts on Mastodon. I have a particular hyperfixation on macro and high magnification imagery and fluorescent inks which glow under ultraviolet light.
Visit my main blog for posts of a more technical nature.
Recent Posts
Seeing lots of people sharing new (and just finished) journals and planners, which is fun
I’m tempted again, but I have never once used a Journal or Planner for more than a couple days
Shockingly, I made it through to 2026 without panic buying
Year-end price increases were high, but I didn’t want anything
New shelf for ink and other items
It replaces the little cabinet I had ink in.
NPD - Lanbitou 3059
It’s obviously trying to be a TWSBI, but doesn’t quite make it.
Jinhao 10 sealing experiments
Designed and 3D printed some tools, but no luck so far
The two new Jinhao 20s survived the weekend of non-use
But not unscathed
Filled up the new Jinhao 20 pens
So far, so good
NPD - Faber-Castell Essentio
Fountain Pen Secret Santa (green tier) gift arrived today, lots of great stuff!
Comparing the cross-compatible Pilot CON-40, Majohn A1, and Jinhao 10 converters
The Majohn seems to be the best overall
NPD - Transparent Jinhao 20
Not too fond of the glitter in the plastic, but it’s not overdone or distracting
Another cold and snowy day, so have more Shel Silverstein
Have more Shel Silverstein
Since its a cold and snowy day, and Im still playing with T&L inks
Here’s some Shel Silverstein
Replaced the Jinhao 20 converter so I could see the ink level
And get higher capacity
Ink Swatch - Tono + Lims Star Light Series fluorescent inks side-by-side comparison
I liked all of these for different reasons, no bad one in the bunch.
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Aldebaran
There is a lot going on, and it’s wild!
I finally managed to finish the UV Paper blog post
I’ve been threatening to write it for a year now
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Fomalhaut
Dark blue, red sheen, dark blue fluorescent glow.
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Quantum
It’s sort of a dark slate teal, but there are distinct hints of both blue and green chromashading.
If you want to capture things like chameleon shimmer in a photo/video
Try moving the light source, not the camera and paper
Finished the Secret Santa letter
I blurred the photos enough so the color and such would show but not be readable
I feel like I owe the Penbbs 494 an apology about its piston lock
I thought I remembered the knob spinning freely when I first filled it
Nearly done with Secret Santa!
Made a bunch of samples, wrapped all the gifts, and labeled it all
NPD - TWSBI ECO Cosmos Blue w/Onyx
I like the mix mine has, it’s a pretty good blend
Ink Swatch - Akkerman #13 Simplisties Violet
Another instant favorite
Ink Swatch - Vanness Possum Pie
aka Possom Pie/Opossum Pie, etc. LE Thanksgiving 2025 Ink
Looks like Platinum is raising prices on a bunch of pens again
Quite a bit in some cases
Ink Swatch - Colorverse Dust Storm
One of a trio of Colorverse ink samples I was gifted last year in the Secret Santa exchange
Ink Swatch - Colorverse Life on Mars
One of a trio of Colorverse ink samples I was gifted last year in the Secret Santa exchange
Jinhao finally released fully clear, not tinted, Jinhao 20 colorways
We’ll see how they do, sealing-wise
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Antares
Another good & very usable fluorescent ink!
Endless released an upgrade kit for the Endless Phantom
Mine are still behaving OK but I’m always up for ways to further improve the seal.
Ink Swatch - Akkerman Out of the Blue
Just when you think you have enough ‘blue w/red sheen’ inks, along comes an even better shade of blurple
Was using the Jinhao 20 this morning and it started writing a bit thin
Turns out I ran it out of ink again. Not dry, just empty.
Ink Swatch - Colorverse Martian
One of a trio of Colorverse ink samples I was gifted last year in the Secret Santa exchange
Seeing a lot more swatches and writing samples of Diamine Lady Grey
And in writing it’s mostly too light and gray
Yet another new TWSBI ECO coming, Cosmo w/Onyx
They sure do love cranking out a ton of these
Ink Swatch - Endless Alchemy Magic Peach Fuzz
Plus a test of my new hand-crafted swatch cards
The most difficult part of working with fountain pens
Is resisting the temptation to drink all the yummy-looking liquids involved
My last Fountain Pen Day post (probably)!
For 2025, that is
Had a Prefounte and two Preppy pens to refill
So I figured I’d try some fluorescent inks in them. Works just fine
A couple more for Fountain Pen Day
Asvine C80 in Cobalt Blue w/Stub nib inked with Akkerman Out of the Blue
NPD - Preppy Wa Edo-Monogatari in Purple / Neko
Happy Fountain Pen Day!
Inked up my new TWSBI ECO Plum w/Onyx with Tono & Lims - Antares
Another one of their very usable fluorescent inks
Greeted by several packages
Better pics soon
On August 1st I swapped the O-rings on my Hongdian M1 and M2
Just shy of three months later I checked them both
I was trying to be good
Vanness and JetPens both have the new TWSBI
Clicky pen updates again
Jinhao 20, Curidas, Endless Phantom, Majohn A1, A2, A3, Jinhao 10, VPs
New Notebook - Bookaroo A6
I rather like it
Managed to get the Jinhao 9019 clean
I ordered a pack of very thin-walled nut drivers
NPD - Asvine C80 in Cobalt Blue with a Stub nib
I ordered it back in June(!), finally arrived today
Cleaned a few stubborn pens out today
Seemed like no amount of soaking and flushing would get them to run clear.
Finally, something close to a red TWSBI
Not exactly red, but red-adjacent
Messing around with stamps to make ink swatch cards of sorts
out of some Midori paper
Did a round of pen refills
No cleaning needed since I used the same inks again
NPD - Platinum Curidas in Abyss Blue with an EF nib
Ticked too many boxes to pass it over
I am happy to report that after three weeks with the Jinhao 20 and using it every day
It has worked perfectly the whole time
Clicky pen updates
Jinhao 20, Majohn A3, Endless Phantom
Welp, may be time for another strategic purchase or two
Pilot is hiking prices significantly starting October 1st
They announced the chosen Lady Grey variant for the Reddit + Diamine ink collaboration
The one I wanted to win, did win (the one that was more purple)
NPD - Sailor Hocoro dip pen with Fude nib
Came with an ink reservoir, which makes a significant difference when writing
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Comparison between Regulus and E=mc²
Very usable fluorescent inks, fast favorites
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - E=mc²
This one is very interesting. Is it green, gray, or both?
Ink Swatch - Tono & Lims - Star Light Series - Regulus
Got this because it’s blue, fluorescent, yet dark enough to be generally useful
Dont talk to me or my kid, or my kid’s kid ever again
I like that Colorverse uses the same weird bottle shape
Another round of pens refreshed
5x Jinhao 82
NPD - Majohn A3 in white with black trim and an EF nib
Meet Spaceball-1
What ink should I use to fill this FPR Jaipur v2?
Decisions, decisions
Why is it that all letter openers seem to fall into the following categories
Stabby but dull, razor in plastic but dull, gadget that doesn’t work
Another round of pen cleaning!
FPR Jaipur v2, Majohn A1, and two Jinhao 10s
Watching a quick review to check if a certain notebook was fountain pen friendly
and the auto-captions were their usual mess, but funnier
Trying a Galen Leather folio
It looks extremely well-made and feels great
I also bought a full bottle of Pennonia Napnyugta Sunset
Since I liked the sample
NPD - TWSBI Affogato/Onyx Diamond 580ALR
and it looks great!
Its never too early, but it felt like the right moment
To get out my pens with Tramol Turritopsis Nutricula
Next round cleaned and re-inked
Majohn A2, Asvine C2000, Endless Phantom, FPR Jaipur v2
Since the WingSung 699 cracked I disassembled it
And tucked it away with other random parts
Snapped this earlier when I had the bottle out to fill a pen
Do not drink the yummy-looking punch.
Re-inked two of the pens with different colors (VP and Phantom)
And two with what they had before (Penmanship and Kakuno)
I found a couple fountain pens I had forgotten about
(like ya do)
Aftermath of just the first of many rounds of pen cleanings
These are ones I intend to refill tomorrow
NPD - Jinhao 20
Showed up today
Its been a year since I starting using an air-tight Plano as a Pen Dungeon
Sadly, every pen in there is dry
Another Endless Phantom update
Now at 5 weeks
Inside the Jinhao 10, Majohn A1, and Majohn A2
In both cases you can see the adhesive is really sloppy
POV You’re a Pilot VP nib unit
Take a trip inside
TWSBI may get me with this one
Diamond 580ALR Affogato / Onyx trim
Endless Phantom update
One of them had a hard start today after a couple days
There were some freebies with my last JetPens order
Including a couple packs of Beverly Marumi Sticky Notes
Apparently the first Saturday in August is supposed to be Stationery Store Day?
No stores within 100 miles of me, though.
Finished cleaning the M1 and M2
Soaking did the trick
Learned an important lesson
Don’t put Electric Blue Spider Lily in an EF Kakuno
Somehow I missed that 5 months ago(!) Colorverse announced the 2024 Colorvent winning inks
Voting results inside
Started to clean out a few pens today
All three had some ink that dried out
NPD - TWSBI Diamond Mini AL in Grape
I hesitated due to its size, but it’s nice
NPD - Pilot Vanishing Point Decimo in Burgundy
I have been repeatedly disappointed by my red Jinhao 10 so I decided to do the proper thing and replace it with a Vanishing Point
Ink Swatch - Endless Alchemy - Mystic Forest
One of the few greens I have and I rather like it
Ink Swatch - Endless Alchemy - Candy Sea
It looks great, but …
The Phantom pens made it through the weekend test with flying colors
No sign of hard starts or drying out
Using a crack scale to compare line widths
Handy tool for objective measurement rather than eyeballing
Ink Swatch - Endless Alchemy - Molten Bronze
The launch deal Kickstarter tier for the Endless Phantom came with a free 45ml bottle
NPD - Endless Phantom Demonstrator
Initial impressions are decent, but time will tell on the sealing.
They posted the next step in voting for the Reddit & Diamine ink collaboration
At least one of the options is a bit different
It’s a good thing I don’t really care for glass pens
Not to mention the prices!
Ink Swatch - Diamine Forever series
Plus chromatography strips
Ink Swatch - Diamine - Forever - Cherry Red
Bright red water-resistant pigment ink
NPD / NID - TWSBI Diamond 580 Clear and Diamine Forever inks arrived in record time!
I’m going to try Cherry Red first
JetPens has Diamine Forever inks in stock
And they’re the first I’ve seen with a good comparison swatch
Nothing new here, but I did refill several pens I cleaned yesterday
CH912 and Majohns
A pen? PERRY the Platy-pen‽
I thought the colors on my wife’s pen looked somewhat familiar
Anyone get their hands on the Diamine Forever inks yet?
They look promising
There was a promo for a free random 3ml ink sample
Didn’t work out for me
NPD - TWSBI Diamond 580ALR (Nickel, Stub) and Pilot Vanishing Point (Gun Metal Matte Black, EF)
They are the other two things that mysteriously found their way into my cart.
NPD - TWSBI ECO Slate Blue Onyx with 1.1 stub nib
Pondering one of life’s great mysteries over lunch
Oh look, another blue TWSBI ECO
Slate blue onyx
NPD - Jinhao 10 Coffee Gradient
Hopefully this Jinhao 10 seals better than my last one
One of the contestants on Jeopardy tonight said they had ~100 fountain pens
and didn’t want to say how much some of them cost
A little St. Patrick’s Day PSA
In fountain pen form
Got tired of ink sample vials falling over every time I reached for ink
So I 3D printed a sample vial rack
NPD - Kakimori Frost fountain pen ink rollerball
Has a converter and takes fountain pen ink
Moving on to more practical prints
3D printed an ink sample vial holder, pen tray
Ink Swatch - Pennonia - Karpatzoid/Carpathian Green
It’s a nice ‘grassy’ green
Ink Swatch - Pennonia - Napkelte/Sunrise
I had high expectations
Ink Swatch - KWZ - Sheen Machine
I got a sample since everyone praises it, and indeed it sheens like a machine
Ink Swatch - Ink Institute - Meander Series - Electric Blue Spider Lily
Heres a fun multi-shader
Looks like this years Diamine/Reddit ink collaboration is going to be Purple/Violet
Hoping it’s not something too light or so dark you can’t tell it’s purple.
Ink Swatch - Pennonia Napnyugta/Sunset
This is the first of a few Pennonia fluorescent ink samples
Ink Swatch - KWZ - It Smells Like Coffee
I have to be careful with scents so I got a sample of KWZ It Smells Like Coffee to find out if I could tolerate it
Well, how else would one hold an ink sample vial without a proper rack?
(Really, I’m curious what other people do!)
Companies are making it easy for me to not buy things lately
Scented inks are not for me
Time to start voting on this years Diamine ink collaboration on Reddit
Past years resulted in Writer’s Blood, Aurora Borealis, Earl Grey, Celadon Cat, and Sailor’s Warning/Red Sky
Ink Swatch - Banmi Neutron 90° BP (Blue & Purple)
Continuing my trend toward inks that do weird things
Thought I’d give wax sealing a try
It looked interesting
Ink Swatch - Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro
A tale of two papers, or: WTF?
NPD - TWSBI ECO Transparent Yellow
To-ro looks even better in a stub nib than an EF
Happy National Handwriting Day!
Writing by hand is great
NPD - TWSBI Diamond 580ALR Caribbean Onyx
Turns out the Caribbean Onyx is quite close to the Prussian Blue
My Asvine C2000 is still not sealing well even with an added o-ring
Might need to try a different o-ring and/or a different ink
NPD - Asvine C2000 Red/Blue with 1.1 Stub nib
Its a beaut! I ordered the Red variety but as shown it’s more heavy toward blue on the mix
Also tried another new Pilot Iroshizuku ink in a pen, Rikka
Sort of a dusty blue.
Finally had a chance to ink up a pen and try the new Pilot Iroshizuku
A warm and legible yellow
Migrating fountain pen inks and related bits
From a small cabinet in a desk to a larger and more visible open cabinet
The 2025 Strange Planet page-a-day style calendar paper isn’t very fountain pen friendly
For those who might be curious
As if I wasnt already swimming in ink
Some more arrived yesterday, too
Now that Colorvent is over, time to circle back
And take a better look at the pen and ink from my FP Green Secret Santa
Mulled things over a bit and sorted the 2024 Colorvent inks
By how much I liked them and how frequently I could see myself using them
Colorvent 2024 - Days 13-24 drying under a microscope
An album of short videos
Colorvent 2024 - Day 24 - Christmas Star (Glistening)
A bright orange with heavy shading, a little orange sheen, and it’s crammed full of gold shimmer
Colorvent 2024 - Day 23 - Dante’s Cosmology
A dusty midnight blue with lots of shading and a smidge of coppery sheen
Colorvent 2024 - Day 22 - Portuguese Meteor
A bright aqua/turquoise color with low shading and cyan shimmer
Colorvent 2024 - Day 21 - Giant Sunspot
A bold red-orange with plenty of shading and some sheen
Colorvent 2024 - Day 20 - White Hole
A light blue with lots of shading
Colorvent 2024 - Day 19 - Milky Way (Glistening)
A purple ink packed with teal shimmer - To put it mildly, ‘It’s full of stars!’
Colorvent 2024 - Day 18 - Morning Glow
A multi-shading gray where the (heavy) shading can be gray, pink, brown, blue, and even green
Colorvent 2024 - Day 17 - NGC 2264
Medium forest green with some shading and no sheen
These showed up today after almost three weeks in transit
Banmi Neutron Star shimmer inks
Colorvent 2024 - Day 16 - Eclipse Silence
A black ink with almost no shading and a sheen of what appears to be gold
Colorvent 2024 - Day 15 - Brinicles
A medium blue-green that shades a little and has a tiny bit of reddish sheen
Colorvent 2024 - Day 14 - Pulsar Pulse
Turquoise with dark magenta shading and heavy pink sheen
Colorvent 2024 - Days 1-12 drying under a microscope
An album of short videos
Colorvent 2024 - Day 13 - Neptune Occultation
Which has a lot going on, all good!
Colorvent 2024 - Day 12 - Sunbeam
A dark yellow-brown that shades well, but that’s about the only good thing
Colorvent 2024 - Day 11 - DaVinci Glow
A blue-gray dual-shading ink that shades in blue and gray separately, which is neat
Colorvent 2024 - Day 10 - Aquarius Whispers
A light sea green/jade, teal but greener.
Colorvent 2024 - Day 9 - Red Horizon
A medium dark red with a small amount of coppery sheen
Colorvent 2024 - Day 8 - Blue Moon
A light blue ink that runs wet and shades significantly
Colorvent 2024 - Day 7 - Rover (Glistening)
A dark gray with iridescent shimmer, looks like a star-filled night sky!
Colorvent 2024 - Day 6 - Kilonova
A blue-purple/indigo (blurple) with medium red/purple-ish sheen
Got my FP Green Secret Santa gift today
Tons of good stuff inside!
Colorvent 2024 - Day 5 - Rosette Nebula
A pleasant pinkish-red/Fuchsia shade
Colorvent 2024 - Day 4 - Sailing Stones
A light brown/tan color
Colorvent 2024 - Day 3 - Moonlit Veil
A light gray color which also seems to be a bit on the wet side
Colorvent 2024 - Day 2 - Edge of Night
A blue-gray color that is on the lighter side and shades decently on most papers
Secret Santa gift sent
tracking and shipping proof submitted
Colorvent 2024 - Day 1 - Supergiant
A very bright red with a tad of orange, also maybe a hint of sheen?
Between board games, fountain pens, and the microscope I’ve been tinkering with…
anyone looking through things around my desks would be very confused about the contents
Finally managed to finish the blog post I’ve been threatening to write about UV reactive fountain pen ink
I only went two years between blog posts this time.
Nipped over to the post office to grab a priority mail box
for the fountain pen Secret Santa exchange
Finally ran my Pilot VP dry after over 3 months
It never hard started or showed any signs of drying out
NPD - Osprey Madison with an Architect nib
Low cost and lots of nib options
Osprey order finally landed
Osprey EF ultra-flex
NPD - Pilot Custom Heritage 912 with FA (“Falcon”) flex nib
Who wore it better - Falcon Edition
NPD - WingSung 699
It was fairly inexpensive ($25) and seems to be well-regarded
I wasnt planning on backing the Phantom retractable from Endless
but the super early bird tier was too tempting
This may be of interest for those looking at TWSBI alternatives
I’ve had great luck with TWSBI
Grabbed these swatch cards to use with the Colorverse inks
(and another TWSBI 580ALR)
Lots of good stuff came in the mail
Several orders at once
Found out the fun way that a Jowo
…was actually just a Jowo #6 nib+feed in a housing that was not Jowo compatible
Cleaned the last of the pens today that were empty (or nearly so)
One of them had a cracked nib unit housing
NPD - TWSBI Eco in Cerulean Blue
The shade changes dramatically
This is the slightly stained Jinhao Shark I cleaned last week
I’m guessing those are actually tiny cracks/fractures in the section
For the most part cleaning the Sharks went smoothly
Nothing clogged so badly it couldn’t be flushed
Next I’m going to clean out my Jinhao sharks
About half are dried out
Cleaned some more pens at lunch, all of the Kakuno family
No clogs, but some stubborn ink
Another interesting pen cleaning result today
Ink stained the converter and pen
Hit my first fountain pen today that was so clogged I had to use the ultrasonic cleaner
Hero 1086, had Diamine Ancient Copper in it
A little post-Halloween/fountain pen day accounting work
The best kind of accounting
So far all the Fountain Pen Day sales are a miss for me
Nothing I was looking for
Saw a post with the 2024 Colorverse advent calendar inks
I liked them a lot better than the Diamine 2024 calendar
Ugh
WingSung 698 cracked
Still working out the finer points here but the tripod holds the phone pretty well
Here’s a quick video
Midori MD block memo pad and A6 +Stand notebook are both great for UV
They behave just like the A5 notebook and pads
I’ve had this Jinhao 10 Press for a month and the converter is dry
Seals very poorly
NPD - Asvine P36 demonstrator with an EF nib
EF is thin and smooth like the V126
NPD - Pilot Custom 74 demonstrator with an EF nib
Great so far, writes smoothly, and the EF is very thin
Last two paper types arrived
Maruman and Rhodia
There may come a day where I get tired of pointing this new microscope at stuff
but today is not that day
Little follow up on paper reacting to UV light
Microscope video of invisible ink
NPD - TWSBI ECO in Glow Purple, and Rohrer & Klingner Salix
My first iron gall ink
Picked up some more Tomoe River paper and a Midori MD Cotton pad
And some Sakura Gelly Roll UV Gel Pens
Went a little wild with the new USB microscope
Checked out all the fountain pen inks I have on hand
Playing around with this USB microscope
Looking at various things I had handy
Saw a thread on Reddit where people were sharing wear-damaged pens from pockets
Mine aren’t too bad
Finally found a multi-level pen tray
To tidy up my desk
NPD - Parker Vector Calligraphy Set
Compared to an older one
NPD - Jinhao 10 in Red with an EF nib
I took a chance and threw a couple bucks at it
If tracking is to be believed, I have a new inexpensive red fountain pen arriving
So what shall I ink it with
Little update on the pen dungeon / pen-itentiary
Three week check results
A little fountain pen mystery is afoot
Curious find of an extra inner cap
Time for a round of Which lines are Kiri-same and which lines are pencils?
A fun, though not terribly difficult, guessing game.
NPD - Jinhao 85
Not bad for $6
My bottles of Tramol Turritopsis Nutricula arrived!
UV Invisible Ink
NPD - Penbbs 494 with an EF nib
Inexpensive piston filler
Any other fountain pen users have a dedicated pen dungeon
For misbehaving pens that don’t seal well
NPD - Pilot Vanishing Point in Blue Carbonesque with a stub nib
Plus few new inks
Good news and bad news
First shimmer ink clog
Cleaned out a couple fountain pens that dried out
Might be the pen and ink combination
Finally had to re-ink a fountain pen from legitimately using all the ink
Platinum 3776 Century
These cheap WingSung 3008 fountain pens keep making me question my initial impressions
Great seal elevates what seemed like a low quality pen
NPD - Vazir Meteor Shower in Blue with a 1.1 Stub nib
This was a bit of an adventure
A little moment of zen courtesy of Diamine Golden Sands in a TWSBI Diamond 580ALR
Watch the ink flow
A little lunchtime Kakuno family portrait
Kakuno Family Fountain Pens
Clear UV cure resin to block the safety holes on Pilot Kakuno
Helps them seal better, dry out less.
Pilot CON-40 converter full fill trick
Tricky, but possible, though the converter is still not great
NPD - Kaigelu 316A EF
Latest inexpensive pen with a little critter
Heres a fresh-ish grid comparing a variety of EF and similar fountain pen nibs
Nib comparison grid
NPD - HongDian 1861 Black Forest Pro in Raw Brass with Long Blade nib
It’s been great so far
HongDian sure seems to love putting cats and birds on their pens
HongDian finials and nibs with animals
Finally had time to ink up pens with Endless Alchemy Candy Sea & Mystic Forest
Trying Endless Alchemy inks
Once again I must resist drinking the forbidden Kool-Aid
Still not a good idea!
Figured out a slightly better way to compare fountain pen nibs
but it takes much longer!
Still trying to find the finest of the extra fine
More contenders for thinnest EF
Seeking the thinnest EF nib
Comparing some thin writing pens and a pencil
Look at this happy lil nib
Pilot Kakuno
Must not drink the forbidden Kool-Aid
Don’t do it!
Fisher Space Pen Refills
Lately I’ve taken a liking to Fisher Space Pen refills for rollerball pens