1700 Inks!

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We have surpassed 1700 inks! We have hit winter so I tend to reach for darker inks right now, especially bright reds and greens for the holiday season.

The rules: the inks have to have been in the first 1700 ink reviews. They have to be my current favorites in that color, meaning the ones I use them the most frequently. My favorites change often, so these are the ones I have used the most in the last two months.

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1400 Inks!

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We have surpassed 1400 inks! I’m ready for spring so right now I’m reaching for more pastel and dusky inks.

The rules: the inks have to have been in the first 1400 ink reviews. They have to be my current favorites in that color, meaning the ones I use them the most frequently. My favorites change often, so these are the ones I have used the most in the last month.

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Orange

Robert Oster Peach, Diamine Peach Haze, Papier Plume Sazerac and Diamine Gerbera are inks I use every spring without fail.

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Purple

So many good purples in the spring!

What are your favorite inks right now? Do you reach for specific ones each season?

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Love & Hate Inks

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Happy Valentine’s Day y’all! This weekend I’ve been playing with some of my favorite pink inks for Valentines and it made me think about some of the inks I absolutely love and some I can’t stand to use. I love reading about other peoples’ favorites so here are a few inks I both love and hate.

Inks I Hate:

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Noodler’s House Divided is probably the #1 ink I hate. Why? Because not only does it feather like a baby duck, it also tends to separate dyes-the red stays where you put it but the blue underlying dye separates out and travels up to an inch away from the red. I get that the ink creator was trying to make a political statement with this ink, but I prefer the ink to say what I want it to, not what someone else does.

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Organics Studio Amino Acid seems like a normal blue with a little bit of shimmer, right? Well, it seems fine at first but over time the ink broke down which not only damaged the paper I wrote on but also ate some of the interior of one of my pens, so this ink is a no-go for me.

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3 Oysters Navy Blue had a weird thick, stringy consistency. I greatly disliked the ink just based on the flow and consistency. It didn’t smell weird and I know it was a fresh samples so it wasn’t moldy or anything, just had a funky consistency.

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Tono & Lims Universe and Moon. Universe is a clear ink with silver shimmer which weirdly reminds me of sparkly nail polish top coats from my teenage years. Both of these inks fluoresce under UV light so I know they have some use out in the world, but not in my world.

Inks I Love:

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Platinum Carbon Black is an ink I always have in a pen, it currently lives in a TWSBI Mini Rose Gold. I use it almost everyday. It’s highly water resistant and gives a great writing experience.

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Sailor Ink Studio 224 has awesome shading and is a little more readable than the ever popular Sailor Ink Studio 123.

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KWZ Butterscotch aka Meet Me in St Louis 2019 is such a great ink I wish I had ten bottles of it. It’s smooth and has the most gorgeous shading. I use it constantly in the autumn. I might cry when my bottle is empty.

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Sailor’s Sailor is a beautiful blue, shades really well and is nice and smooth. It’s just an overall great ink.

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Pilot Iroshizuku Tsutsuji is a fabulously bright, fun ink. It’s well-behaved and has a nice wet flow.

So now it’s your turn! Let me know what inks you love and hate in the comments below.

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page and this post is not sponsored in any way.

Holiday 2020 Inks

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Yesterday we covered my current favorites and an inky gift guide, today let’s talk about inks that are great for the coming holidays!

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While our Thanksgiving is going to look very different this year, I still reach for specific inks each November (this one is KWZ Honey).

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Christmas is my favorite holiday! There are so many great Christmas greens and reds that I couldn’t limit myself to just a few.

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Not only do I love the dark greens for Christmas, but there’s always room for some lighter brighter greens and of course some shimmer inks as well.

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I have a love/hate relationship with red inks. I’m always on the lookout for my perfect red, so far the closest I’ve found is Sailor Jentle Irori, but it’s still a bit too bright for me.

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I posted my favorite Christmas inks last year, and had a lot of requests to include Hanukkah inks this year.

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I wanted to include a range from black to silver even though I know the traditional colors are only blue and white. White inks are almost impossible in fountain pens (yes, I know some actually exist I just haven’t tried them yet).

What are your favorite holiday inks? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: all photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

1300 Inks!

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We’ve passed 1300 inks so it’s time for another favorites post! Since we are so close to the holidays I decided to make this not only my current favorites but also a gift guide of sorts, based on ink properties.

This year has been really difficult, especially for small retailers. When you are doing your holiday shopping please remember to support small businesses! I did a blog post awhile back about my favorite small businesses and another post about custom pen makers if you are looking for more pen people to support.

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Water-resistant Inks:

Water-resistant inks are perfect for the journaler who wants their writing to last, the klutzy friend who always spills their coffee or the artist who loves to mix fountain pens and watercolors.

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Copy Paper Inks:

These inks perform well on cheap paper so these inks are perfect for the penny pincher friend who doesn’t want to buy nice paper, the office-dweller who doesn’t get to pick their paper or the student stuck with school papers.

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Wet Inks:

Wet inks are great for the writer who loves big juicy broad nibs or the calligrapher who uses flex and stub nibs.

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Dry Inks:

Dry inks are great when you have a nib that’s too wet and needs a little taming.

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Iron Gall Inks:

Iron Gall inks are great for the archive journaler, artist or historian.

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Non-shading Inks:

Non-shading inks are great for the office-dweller when shading isn’t appropriate, the boring friend who wants their writing to look like “normal” or the perfectionist who hates variation.

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Shading Inks:

Shading inks are a great gift for 99% of pen users, especially when they are as pretty as these ones!

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Crazy Shading Inks:

Dual shaders, chromo shaders, multi shaders-whatever you call them, they are fabulous for the artist in your life. They are rather pale in writing so I stick to broad and flex nibs to see the gorgeous shading.

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Sheeny Inks:

While I love a good sheeny ink, I hate ones that smear. I tend to stay in the medium to high sheeners, where Sailor and Colorverse perform well.

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Shimmer Inks:

Shimmer inks are great for those in your life that want a bit of sparkle and shine in their writing.

So now that we’ve covered the first 1300 inks, on to the next ones! What’s your number one ink to penable a friend? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. This post does not contain affiliate links and is not sponsored in any way.

1200 Inks!

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We have surpassed 1200 inks! We actually hit 1259 inks yesterday so this post is horribly late. It’s starting to feel like fall so I’m reaching for more autumnal tones: wine reds, warm browns, and golden yellows. I had a really hard time deciding on my favorite inks this time, so some colors have way more than others.

The rules: the inks have to have been in the first 1200 ink reviews. They have to be my current favorites in that color, meaning the ones I use the most often. My favorites change often, so these are the ones I have used the most in the last month.

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Black

Platinum Carbon Black is still my current favorite black-I love how smooth and water-resistant it is.

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Blue Black

I love Blue Black inks so much, and this 5 are consistent favorites.

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Grey

I don’t reach for grey inks as much in the fall, but I probably reach for Earl Grey the most right now.

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Purple

So many good purples in the fall, and I’m pretty sure I love them all!

What are your favorite inks right now? Do you reach for specific ones each season?

Disclaimer: All photos and opinions are my own. There are no affiliate links on this page, and this post is not sponsored in any way.