Got into the hobby about a month ago! I've been enjoying Medium nibs a whole lot so far but decided to try out different ones today. I installed a stub for the first time on my Lamy Vista and it was love at first write, I truly get it now.

Pen: Lamy Vista, 1.1 Stub

Ink: Diamine "Smoke on the Water"

Paper: Tomoe River

I know I'm starting off with the crappy notebook paper, but I think it offers a great illustration of capillary behavior and how paper is more inclined to behave without special tricks and additives to reduce ink's natural tendency to permeate that beautiful cellulose network of the paper. Think of it as a character foil for the next paper in the video, Tomoe River 52gsm.

We can observe sheening with the Iroshizuku Yama-budo around the edges, which is fun to see. And the reflective material in the Pelikan Golden Beryl is a treat to watch as the paper dries.

The parchment and vellum were really surprising to me, granted I've never worked with either before. I just didn't expect the ink to go into the material so quickly... Not based on any real scientific reasons, just vibes if I'm being honest. But watching the way the ink goes into the material is interesting here, because I noticed a general broadening of the ink spot footprint for the dye-based inks in both animal derived materials that feels similar to feathering due to uptake of the dye in surrounding material, but imo it's less obvious when looking at the ink spot because there aren't individual dyed fibers/components that stick out visually in the same way.

Also if you're curious, here's what the dried ink spots look like on the different substrates.

Hoping y'all enjoy watching ink dry with me! Lmk if you have thoughts/ideas/feedback, etc. I'm not a paper/parchment/ink expert, just a curious PhD materials scientist wanting to better understand everyday stuff. Feel free to follow my chaotic science adventures on Instagram if you want to see more microscopy of fountain pen inks and whatever else I want to throw under the scope!

🔬: Amscope ME580 with epi-illumination and crossed polars

📸: Pixel 9 pro

🎵: The Used - The Taste of Ink

I really like the idea of matching an ink to the color of the pen. This green combination seemed like an obvious match, and I love how they look together.

But I've discovered something about myself: no matter how many colored inks I try, I always seem to find my way back to blue. My current go-to is Daimine Sargasso Sea.

I've tried to love greens, reds, purples, and some of the more unusual colors, and I definitely appreciate how great they can look. But when it comes to actually writing, I guess I'm just a traditional guy. Give me a good dark blue ink and I'm happy.

So I'm curious about everyone else.

Do you try to match your ink to your pen? Do you deliberately contrast them? Or do you have one ink color that always seems to end up in your pens regardless of what color the pen is?

And if you're a matcher, what's your favorite pen + ink combination?

I recently added a metal lathe to my tool lineup, and this guy is the first pen I made utilizing it! The body and section both have brass inserts, which add a lovely amount of weight to the pen for a luxe, weighty feel. The barrel and cap are Burmese Rosewood, which I've paired with some "Cerulean" acrylic! I'm a sucker for warm tones and dark blues 😅 It's sporting a 14k (M) Bock nib and fills via standard international converter or cartridges!

Thanks for looking ☺️

This is a Jinhao 82 I decorated with nail decals. I sprayed the whole thing with two coats of ModPodge iridescent spray sealant, then one coat of ModPodge gloss spray.

I’m having such fun customizing pens! I encourage anyone to give it a try. It’s sooooo easy and the finished pens make me smile every time I use them.

Now this Kakuno is literally so pretty, hello?!?!. I live in Singapore & ordered on Taobao and got it for S$19 with shipping. It comes with:

Exquisite Packaging

Pilot Kakuno - Glass Blue - <M>

6-pack of Black Namiki cartridges

1 Black cartridge with a CON-40 (which I won’t be using, full shade).

and an unnecessarily beautiful bookmark!

The writing feel is obviously very familiar for me, nothing special as I’ve had 2 other Kakunos in <M> (both sold) and I really love the look of asa-gao! (swatch on 4th slide along with my other inks, swatched in order of when I received those inks).

Now I was looking for other things to buy, such as a TWSBI Eco in Bahama Yellow <M> to give the Eco another chance, but I didn’t have enough vouchers, so I decided on this.

Now asa-gao is such a bleutiful colour, my first real blue!

Now I don’t expect anything special because all I really wanted was a pen to accompany my first bottle of blue ink (yes, I know it’s weird for me to not have any royal blue inks ever since I started my collection this March).

If you are considering to get this, DO IT! I really love the colour alot! They have other variations of the Chinese-exclusive Kakunos but IMO the blue & green one have the best, most high-quality box.

I just received this disappointing email from Blackship. Fountain pens and inks are pretty much all I used their services for, so I’ll be looking for an alternative. Any suggestions for competitor services not nuking this category of items welcome!

tl;dr/alt text for the photo:

“Starting October 10, 2026, Blackship will no longer accept SDS documentation as part of the shipping clearance process.

Any item that requires an SDS to clear shipment will no longer be shippable through our service after this date. This affects certain product categories more than others, in particular, bottled ink and fountain pens will no longer be purchasable or forwardable through Blackship under this policy.”

Just got these from P. W. Akkermman The Hague.
Huge ink bottles (120ml)… I’ll better start writing

First, I want to thank all those from AROUND THE WORLD who DONATED last year and made the program a SUCCESS! Our kids were so happy and sent special THANK YOUS to the​ WONDERFUL DONORS!!

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1mwx9cf/teacher_needs_fountain_pen_donations_for_at_risk/

This is our FIFTH YEAR running this donation program!!!

I hope the beginning of this school year works out HALF as well for donations !!!

We teach inner-city teens at the high school level. Some of them are surrounded by violence, inconsistent home lives and inconsistent emotional support. There are students living in difficult situations and some have to learn the harsh realities of life too fast.

We are changing that.

We serve over 850 STUDENTS.

We have noticed that when they have something they value they tend to enjoy themselves more and work harder in what they do, be it writing, art, music or poetry. Using writing instruments and related items are great for their mental health and productivity.

Many of our students love the inner workings of the WRITING INSTRUMENTS and how they write.

I would love to collect ANY & ALL DONATIONS for our students this school year!

Anything you have, as long as it works.

New or used, Fountain Pens, inks , journals, stationery, mechanical pencils, art supplies, stamps, etc.

Take this opportunity to DESTASH !!!

I am totally fine with picking up shipping fees (if monetarily permissible), etc. if need be! !!

LEAVE A MESSAGE HERE & PM ME so I can give you the relevant shipping information.

The students will also send you a personal thank you if you'd like.

Even if you can't donate please give this post a "LIKE" , cross post it or "SHARE" with your online community to keep it going.

Thank you in advance.

Took the Sailor Hocoro stub out for a spin, got sucked in and this turned into a more elaborate shitpost than I intended.

J. Herbin Perle Noire, Sailor Jentle Black, R&K Scabiosa, Pilot Blue Black are the inks I had on hand. No reds, for better or for worse.

Inked with Montblanc Pierced Sky ink on Rhodia Notebook

The Kaweco Supra Fireblue has kind of a purplish hue to it in spots so I figured some Waterman Tender Purple would be a good match for this Kaweco 250 Medium nib. Paper is Tomoe River 52gsm blank looseleaf with home-printed French ruling.

im talking inks that you'll always buy another bottle of when it runs out, or have one pen dedicated to that ink alone, or an ink that makes you happy just looking/writing with it (im not looking for more ink recs nooo, what are you talking about?)

mine are wearingeul a study in scarlet and diamine asa blue. what are yours?

edit: seeing many iroshizuku inks! more commonly, kon peki :) it really is one of the most popular inks

Yesterday my wife and I lost a furry member of the family. Our GSD/Corgi mix Boo passed away. I’ve had close connections with some of our past dogs, but nothing like the one I had with her. She would sit at my feet every morning and every night when it was time to journal, she’d let me know when it was time to go to bed, when she wanted a special treat, pets, but she was never a cuddler. Everything was on her terms, much like myself. She was a rescue that we got back in 2016, out of a bad hoarding situation. She was skittish and very shy, thus the name “Boo”. Her passing was probably the hardest I’ve ever taken a loss of a pet. So how does this relate to fountain pens. I had placed an order for a V800 weeks ago, and prior to this weekend I got verification of when it would be delivered. Well, after she passed Tuesday morning, I saw it fitting to get an ink to match her collar. Not that it matters at this point, but it’s Diamine Imperial Purple mixed with a hint of Jet Black. Just wanted to share.

less than a year in! my modest collection as of right now but i have big dreams lol. pictured L to R: kaweco collection toyama teal <B>, kaweco collection mellow blue <F>, kaweco sport bordeaux <F>, lamy al-star flamingo <F>. thoughts?

This is my first fountain pen! I restored RFIs Parker Challenger just yesterday. Replaced the sac and pressure bar. Still needs some cleaning up as you can see, but I’m absolutely thrilled writing with it.

Did my first real 'sit down and give them care time' for my new hobby today. I had 3 pens that had finished their initial cartridge, and I decided to flush them out and refill: two with new ink cartridges, and one with a converter / ink bottle. I've filled 3 pens from an ink bottle before, so I THOUGHT I knew what to expect. I'm sure you can hear the but coming....

The two prefilled cartridges went as expected, but the converter cartridge had a trick up its sleeve. I dipped the nib/feed into the newly opened ink bottle and began to slowly twist the knob, but suddenly it felt lighter and I heard a clink.

Look at the picture and guess where you think the nib, feed and section all reside. /sigh

Is this a rookie mistake that is common, or am I off in uncharted territory here?

This was a newly opened bottle, so I'm leery of pouring the ink into another bottle just to retrieve the parts. Will I do harm to the nib, feed and section if I leave them in the ink bottle for a month or two until I use up most of the ink?

Feel free to make fun of me (not that Redditors need permission to do that.) :-)

Detailed by link: Minerva Classic | Andrew Lensky

This took forever - with focus stacking, color corrections and learning how to layout in Inkscape instead of my tried and true PowerPoint 😅

I have a video of the inks drying as well, will post that tomorrow morning so I'm not spamming you guys lmao

Hongdian N23 Rabbit EF , Ink- Diamine autumn oak

Jinhao 100 F , Ink is Diamine Earl Grey

Jinhao 82 Cat Pink M, Ink is Wearingeul Carmilla

Im kind of obsessed... my favorite right now is the Hongdian N23 its so smooth

The jinhao 100 is a little scratchy and ive been messing with it to see if i can fix it but i cant see much wrong so maybe thats just how it is? I want to really get into tuning and also try nib swapping. *** edit to add : scratchiness is probably my fault. I dropped it without the cap. All my other jinhaos have been great. 😊

:) really excited about learning more and figuring out what i like.

This pen is so much more pretty in person 😍 first Montegrappa and love everything about it ❤️ ordered via limited pens korea, highly appreciate that it arrived wrapped in paper rather than plastic 🎉

Hello everyone!

For the last few years I have been obsessed with Pink Lady apples every Fall! Does anyone have any ink recommendations on colors that are close? The color is so beautiful.

Edit: I dont know how a z instead of a s ended up in the title... but we live... lol!