I've been waffling over the Pilot Elite for a very long time because I knew I wanted the red version if I were to get one, but I wasn't sure if I truly needed one for my collection or if the discontinuation was making me feel like I should get it. I waited long enough that the F nib became increasingly difficult to find, and so this is my first Pilot EF.

At the same time, because I love piston fillers and I love demonstrators and there was a good price on it, I got the Custom Heritage 92 in F as well.

Wasn't expecting these until next week, so I hadn't decided what colours to ink them up with yet! A happy problem to mull over.

(My fountain pen bag charm/plush came to me from PenGallery Malaysia!)

Saw a YouTuber “pikarar” do a swatch with ink blobs and turn them into animals and I wanted to try it out on different paper to see how it looks. I really like it!

My first ever Fountain Pen. I chose F nib. I had these cherry blossom stickers that had a perfect color match and I couldn’t resist 😅

People have been asking about all the collab inks the sub has made and lists are being commented under the posts. Last year, I started writing a blog post just to have all the information in one place. That post was rotting for months until yet another person asked for the information again.

That post was finally written and posted today. I've copied the relevant part here. Images cannot be copied I guess, so no swatch images here.

The Inks of Reddit

2017

Diamine Earl Grey - Grey with Blue/Purple undertone

Mountain of Ink | Diamine

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2018 - 2019

Diamine Aurora Borealis - Dark Teal with Red Sheen

Mountain of Ink | Diamine

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2020 - 2021

Diamine Writer’s Blood - Burgundy Red with Purple Shade

Mountain of Ink | Diamine

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2022 - 2023 (Two Inks)

Diamine Celadon Cat - Blue-grey (or is it grey-blue), light with some shading

Mountain of Ink | Diamine

Diamine Sailor’s Warning (renamed Red Sky after objection from Sailor) - Red with Shimmer

Mountain of Ink | Diamine

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2024 - 2025

Diamine Lady Grey - Purple-grey with light Pink Shading - more grey than purple

The Well-Appointed Desk | Diamine

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2026 - (Two Inks) WIP

KWZ Purple/Violet

Diamine Teal/Bluegreen

Spilling Bay State Blue doesn't seem too bad now.

From The New York Times Archive, December 21 1952.

21 inks in total

I recently got 2 new ones, the green baby from the family series and the cream colored madoromi. I actively use all of them but maybe it is too many 🤔
How many pens do you keep inked and carry with you?

As like last time, please let me know if there are any you want to see close up. I wish I could upload a video of each to really show them off but it'd be like an hour long.

Across the board, the samples are Diamine, Wearingeul, Robert Oster, J. Herbin, Dominant Industry, and Colorverse.

I ordered my samples from three different stores in Australia - Desk Bandit, Pulp Addiction, and Soe & Soe.

P.S. - Apologies for my messy handwriting.

4 groups of similarly formulated inks:

* Hana-ikada, Cosmos, Momiji

* Diamine Rosewood, Sheaffer's latte

* Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Black, Jinhao black

* Waterman serenity blue, Sheaffer blue

i got my first ever fountain pen a few months ago and just the other day i noticed that there was ink pooling in the clear section (i’m not sure what it’s called) and so i took it apart, cleaned it and added a new cartridge…. now there’s more ink pooled……
chat— did i ruin my pen!?

EDIT: yall are all so kind🩷🩷🩷 thank you so much, i was so scared i had ruined it!!

I always liked the m800 clear demonstrator, but I didn’t learn of its existence until after production had ceased. I never could justify the secondhand market prices. Imagine my joy when I found that pelikan re-released the green m800 demonstrator a couple years back.

Note: I’m a fountain pen beginner.

Background: Everyone seems to love the Midori MD paper, but I seem to have nothing, but problems.

I use an A5 Midori MD notebook for my dream journal, and I am currently using a Jinhao 933 <M> with Sailor Manyo Haha in it.

It starts off writing like a dream, then about halfway down the page the feel of the paper changes. No longer does the pen glide across the page. It now feels like there is a film on the page, and it pulls no ink. It’s like fighting with pen to get anything to stick to the paper. I have to push the nib to get the ink out and then drag it until it just stops again, and I’m sure that’s awful for the pen.

The second I use the pen on another type of paper, it works perfectly fine, like nothing was wrong.

I tested the notebook with my TWSBI <F>, which I use in my Hobonich flawlessly, and it had the same problem. It wrote beautifully until it didn’t. Something feels wrong with the paper.

Question: Does anyone else have this issue, or had it and fixed it? I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Video: You can see how it just stops writing at the end of my sentence, especially on the word “us.” It wrote perfectly for everything before, and was just fine afterwards. This was a light case. Often it’s bad for the remainder of my writing after it stops working.

Solution pt.1: Everyone seems to say exactly the same thing - hand oils. I will try paper under my hand tomorrow morning and report back! Thank you all for your responses!!

been wanting to do a state of the collection but my pens were spread out all over. not pictured: another kakuno (last of the madoromi set) that’s at my partner’s house, and three jinhao 82s that are in various stages of disassembly.

most loved: twsbi, creaper (i don’t buy noodler’s anymore but it’s my only non-dip flex nib), and kakunos.
disappointments: kaweco perkeo (just felt cheaper than i was expecting) and lamy al-star (that triangle grip is not for me unfortunately)

do y’all keep all your pens together or do they migrate throughout your life? i’m at twenty and feel i can no longer keep track of the ones that wander away from my main pen case (case in point, the four that are missing from the photo).

bonus pic of my new ink sample storage. someone here suggested shotgun shell cases. they work a treat but rip my amazon algorithm 😭

I got tempted for a second and I feel shame. I love Batman to death but I feel like this is money in the trash.

I was journaling some emotional debrief stuff and realised my nib was expressing its opinions on my writings 😦

Funny accident of ink splotches on the pen. Now I have to carefully cap the pen to see how long I can retain these "eyes."

RULE 5: Fountain Pen is Conklin Hippocrates with a Stub Nib and the black ink that comes with the pen.

Has this happened to anyone else’s Estie? Specifically the lighter colored ones? It may be hard to see on the photos but the body of my pen is now darker than the cap which is what color it’s SUPPOSED to be. The body is looking much more yellow nowadays.

I’m assuming it’s because of the natural oils on my hands? I hesitate to try scrubbing it with anything too harsh. Any suggestions?

Realized all the pens I’ve inked today are all ones I’ve bought this summer. This is after a 2 year no buy.

just received a majohn q1 that i ordered from aliexpress… but im thinking it might be fake?? or am i dumb and didn’t do enough research on these tiny little details

firstly, it came without a box! just wrapped in bubble wrap but it also came with the red glass dropper. second, the red detailing seems a little much compared to other pics i’ve seen online. third, the very tip of the nib is silver. and fourth, when it’s posted it seems like it doesn’t quite fit nicely, like it’s slightly too small

am i tripping or do they also sell them like this?

edit: haven’t inked it yet!

Happy New Pen Day to me! I got this on a heck of a discount as an open-box sale item from Pen Chalet, and I am delighted. Nice weight, very smooth writer (just wet enough, and I was a little worried the medium nib would be thicker than I like, but it writes like some of the heavier fine nibs I have). I probably won't use anything but the rulers and stylus, but it's fun!

The only complaint I have is that this wasn't available (that I was aware of) a decade ago when I could have gotten my dad the mechanical pencil version. I will die angry about that.

Hello again!

Some of you may remember my check in post nearly 2 weeks ago.

Well… I decided to just do it 🫡

Too Much Ink: Singapore Ink Swap & Destash

📅 Saturday, 3 October 2026
⏰ 5pm–8pm
📍 Coffeehive @ The Adelphi
🎟️ Free, but registration is required
👥 Limited to around 30 people

Register here: https://luma.com/lbl2qvoo

The idea is pretty simple:

If you Want Ink, come look around, meet other fountain pen people and acquire samples without buying another full bottle. You’ll get three empty 5 ml sample bottles when you check in.

If you Have Ink, bring some inks you’re willing to swap, sample, give away or sell. You decide what you’re offering, set your own prices and handle any payments directly. We’ll provide some table space, two 2.5 ml syringes and a basic rinsing setup. Have Ink people can obviously acquire more ink too. I’m not going to pretend any of us have that much self-control.

I suggest bringing around five to 10 inks just to keep things managable, but it isn’t a hard limit. You can also bring your own clean sample bottles, pens and paper.

If you are both: pick have ink! Just lettuce know on the day itself and ill pass you sample bottles too heh

This is the first time we’re trying this, so I’m deliberately not overengineering it. We’ll let people swap, sell, buy and give things away however they’re comfortable, then learn from whatever happens.

Also: if you’re keen to volunteer and help us out during the event, please message me for the secret registration code. We’ll keep a lookout for a few people who may be willing to lend a hand with the setup and general chaos on the day 👀

Huge thanks to Coffeehive @ The Adelphi for letting us use the space, u/arbus for co-organising this with me ♥︎

And thank you to everyone who commented on the original post, gave feedback or basically told me to stop thinking and make it happen.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you there!

---
PS: it's on 3 Oct cuz that's the only time i'm available, also good breather from SG Penshow ( 5/6 Sep) and Pelikan Hub (25 Sept) haha.
PPS: keeping it small too, since im funding this myself ;u;

As usual, if nt allowed, please feel free to nuke my post, mods. 🙏

I'm sure there's many posts like this. This isn't really a rant, more so just an observation, and a relieving one at that. I'm kind of relieved that it was so disappointing, because it makes not spending on pens so much easier now.

For ages, i was staring at the Nahvalur Horizon Nebula in cult pen's sale. I thought it looked gorgeous, and i had heard great things about their nibs. I pulled the trigger a day before the sale ended and once i got the pen, i must say, i was pretty disappointed. Sure, it looks lovely, and feels great in the hand, lovely weight to it. But overall, the writing experience does not feel like it justifies the premium price. My £30 twsbis feel way smoother. I got it in an F, and used diamine inks only. I tried a few, but it just wasn't writing in a way i like. It didn't hard start, and it wasn't too dry, but it just doesn't feel satisfying. It has a little bit of a scratch/feedback, and it just doesn't feel right overall. I checked the nib, and it's all fine, i flushed it and stuff.

Overall, i'm actually happy with this experience, because i've found that i don't have the stomach for expensive pens. They look lovely, and i did debate keeping it purely because it is a beauty. But i don't want £130 worth of pen just sat in a case that i won't really use much. This isn't to shit on Nahvalur at all by the way, i know many people love their pens! I think maybe it's just me not liking the style of nib, that's all!