Van Dieman have just re-released the Greek Heroes range in their new design 40 ml bottles, along with several other re-releases. Looks as if they're letting colours go out of stock in the old 30 ml bottles and then re-releasing at least someone of them in the bigger, more expensive bottles. @BennysLittleThings there may be hope for Sacagawea.

(Annoyingly, one of the ones I wanted that was out of stock during my Big Order is now back, although I'm not sure I want it enough to pay the hefty price rise for the bigger bottle.)

#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

Mmmm... Forbidden soup.

#FountainPens #FountainPenInk

#SwatchWednesday
Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz

I quite like this color, it does really look like the gem it's trying to emulate. Very dusty pink with nice shading. I used this in this M600 IB for a few weeks and it was really effective as a heading ink. Probably not so much as a writing ink.

#FountainPens #FountainPenInk

Drew @maiji's characters from https://smallquiet.humangray.com :possLove:!
When I draw other's characters, I try to borrow some element from their work – Maiji has cool brush and ink work, so that's what I tried to work in!

I originally planned to keep the painting more light and open, but my own experiments and tendencies for dramatic high contrast lighting crept through 🤪.

Inks: Platinum carbon black, Robert Oster tea time, Lennon Tool Bar Wenshan Pouchong Tea

#fountainPenInk #mastoArt #fediArt

Finished adding my 2020-2025 pen and ink purchases from Cult Pens to my spreadsheet.

Um. That's a lot of ink, and it's just the ones from Cult Pens (who, to be fair, were my only enablers until a year or so back).

I can stop any time I want.

#fountainPen #fountainpenInk

Right, the subscription for that pen and ink cataloguing app is getting cancelled. It does not do one of the things I wanted it for, which is to track what's been inked. It *should* do that, and clearly does for most users, but not on my iPad model/build.

This is coming up to six months since I reported it to the developer, and he did say he would look into it, but I've heard nothing back since then. I've had at least one major iOS upgrade, and there are release notes for the latest version of iOS, but even after deleting and reinstalling this afternoon it's not having any of it.

I have a paper log of pens and inks I've already used, but I now have enough Things that I'd like a searchable database that includes things not yet used/opened. A long time ago I would have simply fired up Lotus Approach, but that was a long time ago and I didn't bother to crowbar SmartSuite onto the Windows 11 machine.

I don't have the spoons to deal with installing LibreOffice and learning to use it, so the Spawn of Redmond it is.

ETA: before the Linux reply guys arrive, anyone telling me I should install Linux gets blocked. Spoons, kiddies, spoons. Don't make me dig out the rant about learning curves and privilege.

#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

A couple of years ago I got it into my mind to do a practical test on the lightfastness of the inks & pens we had around the house. The slip on the left was sealed with epoxy between two plates of glass and has been on the balcony in ambient sunlight; the one on the right has been kept in a safe in a closed envelope. Here are the results after two years; the test shall now continue. Thought this might be of interest to some of the artist here. #ink #calligraphy #fountainpenink #fountainPen

While cleaning my pen box I rediscovered a never-been-inked Jinhao 80 (I had bought it in 3 colors, intending to gift some). I inked it from one of my sample vials, with Birmingham Sandstone. On paper Sandstone reminds me of both J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil and Montblanc Swan Illusion inks. A little pale and a vintage looking grey-brown. Enjoy the Mountain of Ink swatches below:

#FountainPenInk

ダイアミンのインクが届いたので試し書き。レイディーグレーとセラドンキャットは、虹のような濃淡が出てとっても綺麗！
ブリリアントレッドは想像以上にパキッとした朱色でした。
初めてのカリグラフィーペン。まだ文字が上手く書けません。

My Diamine inks finally arrived, so of course I had to test them right away!
Lady Grey and Celadon Cat shade beautifully. 
Brilliant Red is much punchier and more vermilion than I expected.
First time using a calligraphy pen. I’m still getting the hang of it!
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk #万年筆

Slightly late #SwatchWednesday
Pelikan Edelstein Topaz

Got this at Pelikan Hub and proceeded to swatch it right there. I'm not so attracted to this sky blue color range (I don't really use kon-peki or ama-iro either) but the shading is nice and it's certainly a cheery ink. I've used a pretty wet nib here (a 14K OBB) so that bears out in the shading.

#FountainPens #FountainPenInk

Ayer me compré una tinta preciosa verde esmeralda de la marca Pelikan :)
Aquí probandola con mi Noodlers.
#fountainpenink #fountainpen

So far, so good with the nib transplants. The Pilot CM nib in the WS698 is a particularly pleasant combination. The two CM Kakunos are decent as well.

Having all the clean pens also let me finally try out the remaining inks I received in the Secret Santa exchange that I still haven't swatched.

Need to spend more time with the inks before forming opinions. I will say Stone Grey is a bit too light for an EF. Midori didn't seem too happy in EF either.

#FountainPens #FountainPenInk

Hey, all you letter writing and fountain pen lovers: You may already know about them but check out https://lettermo.com/

Put your paper to good use and send a letter or post card this month. It is International Correspondence Writing Month after all. Even though it's the tenth it's easy to catch up on the challenge. Details for that can be found here: https://incowrimo.org/

#FountainPen #InCoWriMo #FountainPenInk

Initial thoughts on Van Dieman's Ink Sacagawea Shimmering. Actual swatch and further thoughts to follow once I've done more than quick notes in my ink logbook.

My, it is indeed a shimmer ink. Lots and lots of shimmer, which settles very rapidly indeed. It was not fun drawing off samples to put in tubes for distribution, and I think I may end up doing tubes just for me, so that I can shake the little tubes and get something vaguely approaching consistent results when filling pens, rather than filling direct from the bottle.

This may be my fault for putting it in what may be a previously unused and unwashed WS3008, but the nib went dry within 5 lines and I had to use the piston to force more ink through. It lasted a bit longer before the second time I had to do this. It is a spectacular looking ink on the page, but I will not be putting it in any pen I can't easily dismantle for a thorough cleaning.

#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

It’s obviously the right sort of day for temperamental sparkly inks. This is another Jacques Herbin, Rivière de la Lune.
#fountainpenink #dippen

I took the day off work to finish getting the blackthorns in before it rains again making it a thoroughly unpleasant experience. The wee birds, faeries and other beasties are going to love it. Sitting at my desk writing about it now and the ink is behaving impeccably. Which is unusual for Jacques Herbin Émeraude de Chivor…
#fountainpenink #dippen #blackthorn

Weekend Painting

Inks used:
Colorverse Cosmic Reef
Colorverse Golden Airglow
Colorverse Sojourner
Colorverse Lunar Black
Colorverse Winter Wonderland

And I snuck in Colorverse Apollon. The green is a mix of days 2 and 24 (Apollon and Winter Wonderland).

#fountainpens #fountainpenink #DominantIndustry

I can still talk about 2026 stationery intentions, right?!

https://bennyslittlethings.substack.com/p/stationery-intentions-2026

#stationery #fountainpens #fountainpenink #blog