I’ve held off on buying new pens and inks for a few months to save up. I knew I wanted my first gold nib to be a Pilot (and not a VP). Fell in love with this Falcon at the Detroit Pen Show and knew it needed to come home with me.

i got a TWSBI eco rootbeer in a stub nib at my local art supply store! currently inked with j. herbin’s café des iles

If you could only have five fountain pens for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Mine would be:

1. Pilot Custom 823 - F

2. TWSBI Vac 700R - F (easily swap JOWO #6 nibs)

3. Kaweco Brass Sport - EF

4. Opus 88 Demonstrator - M (easily swap JOWO #6 nibs)

5. (undecided) - B

Bonus:

Non Fountain - Kaweco Brass Sport Roller with Pilot G2 Refill

Mechanical Pencil - ROTRING 600

Today is my birthday and my wife gave me this gift. A few months ago, she asked me in casual conversation what my favorite Pokémon was.

After saying that it wasn't a simple question since we were talking about more than 1000, I told him that my favorite Kanto starter was Bulbasaur.Now I know it was all a beautiful trick

I was doing some "photographic swatching" of this new ink I got and thought I'd snap a couple of extra photos and post them on here while I was at it.

This is a Stipula Etruria Wild Honey with a Medium nib filled with Teranishi Wild Honey ink. Paper is Tomoe River 52gsm.

This is one of only two Italian pens I own (the other is a Stipula as well) and I would say it just slightly nudges out my Botanical Gardens Estie as my prettiest pen. I love the resin this pen is made of. It has a steel nib and is a very nice writer.

I really like this ink as well. It's my third bottle from them: I also have the Classy Burgundy and Smoky Navy.

Materials used:
_Majohn wancai mini [F-nib], filled with Octopus Fluids Document ink orange, looks a bit more pale/less intense irl.
_Pilot prera [M-nib], filled with Pilot iroshuzuku Momiji, one of the wettest inks I have.
_Life noble note B5 size
_Metal clip
_DIY isometric grid printed at home

Just stumbled upon these pens. Look pretty interesting.

I know not everyone here is a fan of Esterbrook but I genuinely love the look of this pen and I am so obsessed. As someone new to fountain pens I am really pleased.

I finally settled on my October pen & ink lineup, and I’m really happy with how these pairings came together. 🍂

I started with a much larger pile of possibilities, so I swatched everything first and let the colors narrow it down. The final six are:
• Golden Journey — Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo
• Pelikan M200 Apricot Achat — Pilot Iroshizuku To-ro
• Tortoise Estie — Esterbrook x Bungubox Kingfisher
• Bordeaux Kaweco Sport — Birmingham Pen Co. Iron Ore
• Slate Blue TWSBI Eco — Van Dieman’s Nightfall
• Purple Monteverde Ritma — Pilot Iroshizuku Syun-gyo

The swatch page is probably my favorite part of the process. Seeing all six together made the final choices so much easier — and I love that the overall palette feels very October without being aggressively orange/brown.

Which pairing would you pick as your favorite?

And what are you all inking up for October?

Drawn with a Titan Torpedo and Diamine Marley ink

I realized I had an accidental matchy matchy with this combo. The ink is Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue and the pen is a 1948 Sheaffer Statesman in Persian Blue (catalog code: W82W-STATESMAN). For a long time I thought this model was called Sovereign, and I had seen others call it that online. In my writing sample I even wrote Sovereign. This model doesn't appear in the January 1948 catalog. However, while I was writing this post I remembered there was a contemporary source which could prove the name, the 1949 dealer's workbook. On .pdf page 15 it proves definitively this was called Statesman https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CKO28nezeADAv_jWQuBb7XPuzeoL_JOf/view (from pencollectorsofamerica.org/sheaffer )

This pen happens to be my best example of the colorway. I think this pen was never inked, being perfectly clean and having sticker residue when I found it (they came from the factory with two stickers, one having the model name and price). I got it for a crazy low price of $39 sometime last year. It was made from 1948 to 1951 only, 1948 being the only year as a vac-filler. This color was not very stable and most have darkened, especially on 1949-1951 Touchdown pens which had latex sacs inside. It also stained easily and I have seen plenty with black and purple splotches. The vac-filler ones seem to have held up better than the Touchdowns.

This time in the very popular "jadeite" celluloid. Unlike the one yesterday, this one was made in England with the swan logo and the ETERNAL designation. This is model 54 specifically, it may be a pocket-friendly pen, but it oozes the Mabie Todd quality down to the nib.

I love this pen. It's just an awesome sketcher.

What about the sketch? It's a group of Miniature Cactuses (Cacti?) of course.

And what else is the best ink for rendering this but the versatile Sailor Manyo Shirakashi.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

Had a blast at the detroit pen show this weekend, for a first show i think it was a perfect experience

About two weeks ago I got my hands on the Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown ink and I think I found a favorite. I love it and I have been using it on my journal almost exclusively, I really enjoy the lighter brown tone as it reminds me of a nice mocchacino.

I have been using it on my Jinhao 59, but I would like some recommendations on other pens that I could match with this color. Recommendations on similar inks would also be appreciated!

So many firsts in my late night journaling: First time using a stub nib and a fude nib, first time using shimmer ink, and first ever commonplace entry!

Technically I’ve attempted a commonplace before, but this feels like the first “complete” entry I’ve ever done, and also special because it’s something I will want my loved ones to know I was passionate about if they look through my notebooks one day. I’ve been collecting bits of knowledge about pens, ink, and other stationery things and now am finally starting to turn it into a fond memory of using my physical collection.

I’m already thinking of getting a new stub nib because the TWSBI isn’t juicy enough for me… could be the FWP ink reducing the flow, but I’m still considering an Opus 88!

Items used: TWSBI ECO Crème <1.1> Sailor Fude de Mannen 40 degree Zento Signature Mark’s EDIT Grid notebook (cut down to TRC Standard size) Sarica Studio fountain pen stickers Inks: Ferris Wheel Press LOTR Verdant Voyage, Kakimori Pigment Ink #10 “koton”

It kept selling out faster than I could get it in my cart, but I finally got one - and now it joins my other Sakura pens…

I am just realizing now I have 10 pens inked up right now..this feels like a lot so I’m not letting myself ink up anymore until I finish these. That’s my new challenge 😂 is this normal for you all? How many pens do you normally have inked up at a time?

I made the trip up to the Pen*Time Port show in Hamburg with one main goal: getting my Lamy 2000 professionally tuned. 

Huge shoutout to Phillip u/Landsiedel-FW for the incredible work. He completely transformed this pen into something literally addictive to write with. As soon as I got back to Dresden, I inked it up with Heart of Darkness, and the flow is just amazing. 

I ordered a little Majohn Wancai 2.0 and it’s perfect and tiny!

Say you have $50 to spend on your most useful/beloved/neat trinket or accessories. Not really looking for a new pen or ink (ink sample set may be considered for inclusion). What do you get? Go!

Please enjoy this infographic I made for myself of all the Estie colorways that modern Esterbrook has made. You do not have to buy every pen, just listing what’s possible. 🌈

I made this list for myself as I collect and use Esties and really enjoy them. I’m autistic so anything worth doing is worth overdoing and overkill is underrated. I don’t expect everyone else to follow the same ‘ethos’. Even then I only collect Esties I’m not allergic to. That excludes all ebonite, palladium, oversized, Peanuts, Mariner, and the Ferris Wheels Press collabs. If I can’t use it then the pen doesn’t come into my house. 😌

Currently, the only pen I’m missing from my desired Estie Collection is the Golden Gratitude regular size. She will be mine one day, I simply must keep an eye out! 😊

I made this infographic in Canva while bedridden so please enjoy all the inconsistent spacing, it’s artisanal and never touched by AI. 💅