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Fingers Were Meant to be Inky

/ / Babble, Ink / 9 Comments

I’m So Bluuuuuuuu…For Youuuuuuuuu!

A comparison of ten medium blue fountain pen inks (Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue, De Atramentis Steel Blue, Noodler's Navy, Levenger Empyrean, Noodler's Ottoman Azure, Pelikan Edelstein Topaz, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki, Robert Oster Blue Sea, Robert Oster School Blue, Toucan Bright Blue). This image shows the water test in progress.

A Comparison of Blues Similar to Noodler’s Navy

Google+ has a really nice fountain pen community going. It’s not super busy there, but a group of dedicated regulars keep the conversation going. There’s a lot of information sharing, show-and-tell, and (of course) questions & calls for recommendations. Regular contributor Nathan stopped in to ask for recommendation: He was looking for a blue similar to Noodler’s Navy, but that was even more water-resistant.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!!!

I knew that Noodler’s published a
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Quick Look: Robert Oster Signature Inks (Part 2)

Banner image for the Robert Oster Signature Ink Quick Look posts

More Amazing Colors from Robert Oster Signature

I asked Rob Oster for stories to share with you, wondering specifically how he decided to start making and selling his own line of inks. His reply: “My obsession with ink occurred out of the blue one day as I looked from over my powerbook at a sea of ink bottles….wondering why I don’t make an ink as close to nature as possible.”

I believe it. Especially looking at… Read More

/ / Ink, Reviews / 3 Comments

Quick Look: Robert Oster Signature Inks (Part 1)

Banner image for the Robert Oster Signature Ink Quick Look posts

Robert Oster Signature: A Tsunami of Color from Down Under

Australia has a lot of the grooviest things on this planet. They have the best spiders. They have the coolest snakes. They have the cutest marsupials. If that wasn’t enough, a mighty wave of new and little-known ink companies are emerging from the wild and wonderful island continent. In the last year, I’ve learned of four such companies from the land Down Under: Toucan, Blackstone, Bookbinders, and the newest kid on the block, Robert Oster Signature. Nestled in the heart of South Australia’s wine country, Robert Oster Signature is a (mostly) one-man outfit run by (you guessed it)… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Ink, Paper, Reviews / 1 Comment

Quick Look: Cheap Composition Notebooks

The covers of Five Cheap Composition Notebooks, four from Norcom (Brazil, Colombia, USA, Vietnam) and one Casemate (China)

“Back to School” Means Dirt-Cheap Notebooks! Are They Any Good with Fountain Pens?

Fountain pens are wonderful. That’s a given. But because they use water-based ink, they’re really not suitable for most run-of-the-mill paper (see what I did, there?). Fountain pens aren’t very popular in the US, so most of the everyday paper found here is a poor match for pens that use water-based inks. Ballpoints and gel pens effectively make up the entirety of American daily writing instruments, so manufacturers only need to supply paper that works well with those inks…which, really, any crappy paper can do.

So that leaves us poor fountain pen users stuck buying higher quality paper, mostly imported from France or Japan. These papers are great, but they’re pretty expensive compared to… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Ink, Reviews / 5 Comments

Quick Look: Six Pilot Iroshizuku Inks

Sampler image and title block for the Pilot Iroshizuku blue and green ink comparison

Pilot Iroshizuku Inks: Blue, Green, and In Between

Pilot is arguably the biggest name in pens. If you’ve ever put a long, pointy thing in your hand and wrote with it, you’ve undoubtedly used a Pilot product along the way. Pilot is a Japanese company, and regardless of whether you’re using a cheap, throw-away ballpoint or a $5,000 makie fountain pen, their products are all made with impeccable quality, and you’re sure to experience a nice, trouble-free writing experience.

In addition to pens, Pilot makes a wonderful line of bottled inks for fountain pens. While other brands shoot for vibrant, highly saturated color palettes, Pilot aims for colors that mirror the beauty found in nature. Here’s a description from the Pilot web site:

The name Iroshizuku is a combination of the Japanese words Iro (Coloring), expressing high standards and variation of colors, and Shizuku (Droplet), that embodies the very image of dripping water. Each ink name derives from the expressions of beautiful Japanese natural landscapes and plants, all of which contribute to the depth of each individual hue.


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Quick Look: Toucan-A-Palooza

All six Toucan ink swabs (Scarlet, Bright Blue, Sienna, Crimson, Aqua, and Orange)

Toucan Inks: Bright Colors from Down Under

Toucan inks are made by a company called Dye Manufacturers of Australia, which has been around since the early 1900s. In about 1918, they started to sell dyes meant for clothing and food products under the name Tintex. More recently, they’ve branched out, producing ink for technical drawing and fountain pens.

At first look, Toucan inks don’t jump out as being too interesting or special. They’re bright, but their colors are pretty basic and not too terribly saturated. The beauty with these inks, though, is that they are specifically formulated so you can mix them to produce any colors you want. I haven’t played with them as yet, but I can see myself doing a bit of mad scientist work in the very near future.
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/ / Commentary, Fountain Pens, Ink / 19 Comments

To Sheen or Not to Sheen? That is the Frustration!

Figure Eights in Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue Ink, showing a thin ruby sheen around the edges

Before I start complaining, I just want to say that I am NOT including shimmering inks in this discussion. Sheen and shimmer are two different things, people. Let’s just get this out of the way up front:

Sheen = Ink takes on a different color (1) at different angles (usually after drying); (2) around edges; or (3) where ink pools

Shimmer = Glittery particles added to ink for sparkle (like J. Herbin and the Diamine Shimmertastic inks…although J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor has both sheen and shimmer, and I do mention that one below)

And if you’re a fan of analogies and/or vampires:

Shimmer : Sheen :: Twilight : Necroscope

Yeah I know, that doesn’t make any sense. I just wanted to cram Necroscope into the conversation. If you like vampires and haven’t read that series, you should. Faethor & Thibor would eat those other glittery sissies for lunch and… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Ink, Reviews / 7 Comments

Quick Look: Five Akkerman Inks

Akkerman Ink Swabs (Konninginne Nach-Blauw, Diep-Duinwaterblauw, Ijzer-Galnoten Blauw/Zwart, Trêves Turquoise, and Zuiderpark Blauw-Groen

Akkerman Inks: Beautiful Blues from the Kingdom of the Netherlands

P.W. Akkerman is a fountain pen shop located in The Hague, Netherlands. They’ve been in business since 1910 and carry all the biggest names in fountain pendom. I first became aware of Akkerman inks from watching Stephen Brown’s pen reviews. Stephen lives in the Netherlands and has ready access to the shop and all the goodies inside.

To celebrate their centennial anniversary, Akkerman came out with their own line of inks back in 2010. The prevailing theory is that because they’re a shop, they must have commissioned their inks from a larger ink manufacturer. Diamine does a lot of this, so a lot of people assumed that Akkerman inks were rebranded Diamine inks. The only problem with this is that no one can really draw a line between specific Akkerman and Diamine (or other brands) colors. So at the moment, it appears that Akkerman inks are unique and not rebranded anything.

Have they been commissioned by a larger ink manufacturer? I’d say that’s probably… Read More

/ / Fountain Pens, Ink, Reviews / 2 Comments

Quick Look: Six Bung Box Inks

Bung Box Inks: Hard-to-Find Liquid Treasures

There’s a small, boutique stationery shop in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan called Bungubox that opened it’s doors in 2012. They were pretty much a mom-and-pop type of place, catering to local residents looking for nice pens and other writing supplies. Bungubox started commissioning various manufacturers to create exclusive items for their store.

One of these partnerships was with the company Sailor, who they commissioned to make a line of inks for them under the name Bung Box. Sailor’s Jentle inks are widely regarded as beautiful, high-quality inks, so it’s no surprise that the Bung Box colors were also very popular.

Sailor is one of the “Big 3” Japanese pen & ink manufacturers…with Pilot and Platinum being the other two.

Sometime last year (2015), word got out about the Bung Box inks, and all hell broke loose. People from all over the world began ordering the inks, making the shop proprietors scramble to fulfill orders and cleaning the inks off the shelves. The availability of Bung Box inks goes in and out as supplies run out and the inks need to be reordered & made. At this moment, at least some of them are available, so I ordered a pile of samples to check them out (at $42 for a 50 ml bottle, they’re extremely expensive inks…so I just stuck with samples).

Holy Gosh! I see why they’re so popular.

Below are images and descriptions for six of the Bung Box inks. There’s not a dud in the bunch.

Quick Look: Bung Box Inks, showing swatches and writing samples with Ink of the Witch, Piano Mahogany, and Silent Night

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/ / Fountain Pens, Ink, Reviews / 2 Comments

Quick Look: New Chesterfield Antique Inks

New Chesterfield Antique Inks

Chesterfield recently released four new antique inks. They were on a serious sale from XFountainPens, so I picked up a 50ml bottle of each. I think most Chesterfield inks are re-branded Diamine colors. I’m not sure if these new ones are also Diamine, but I’m blown away by all four of them.

The image below shows writing and swab samples of all four. I apologize in advance for my horrible writing. I’m a menace with a dip pen. I’ve got some quick write-ups below the photo, so get your butt down there and read them.

Writing samples of the new Chesterfield Antique Fountain Pen Inks using a dip pen and a q-tip… Read More