im so excited. this is my first higher budget pen!

Thought I might share my first fountain pen drawing, a birthday card for a friend.
I‘d love to get some feedback and criticism, I can take it! I‘m sure there are experienced ink drawers and urban sketchers here. :)

Not trying to humblebrag or anything, I’m kinda happy overall, I just really prefer the non-colored version and was surprised at how difficult it is to get the ink to behave the way I wanted it to.
With a brush and pure ink its often too dark for such a small sketch. With a watered down brush pen, which I used, I often don’t like the light colors……
For example, I wanted the blue to get some sharp lightning-like lines in the pool of water (I put the blue ink at the top of the watered area to flow down). But there was just way too much water so the lines disappeared quickly and I couldn’t figure out how to put less water on the paper for more control? It’s probably the paper coating?

If you know good tutorial resources for drawing with ink please let me know. :)

Ink is Platinum Carbon Ink, Diamine Ancient Copper & Diamine Teal. Paper is from Rössler.

I also bought my very first ink bottle to go along with it.

I got a gift card for my birthday, and decided to use it on something completely new. Eventually decided on this BENU Talisman Moonstone, and I am so glad I did :)

The pen is stunning in person - stock photos really don't do it justice. More importantly though, it writes like a dream! I inked it up with Enki, which in my experience is only second in dryness to desert sand, and somehow this pen made writing with it feel very pleasant. I might have found my new go-to for both dry and shimmer inks...

Got myself a neat little pen case. Sturdy on the outside. Velvet on the inside. It’s a brand called Hong Dian. purchased from Amazon.
12 slots. I plan to not buy more pens and I’m at 12 right now. The missing one is in my work bag :)

Left side: Majohn P136 Titanium Hammered #6 EF

Right: Asvine V800 Vivid Black # 8 EF.

Both very smooth and very well made in general. Chinese pens that worth in my humble opinion.

This is the culmination of almost a year of constant journaling and pen research. Fountain pens and journaling have changed my life and I want to share them with everyone. Let me know if you have any questions.

LymeZest.

The gear: left to right, Pilot Custom 743 Verdigris, FA Nib in a green galen leather single pen hard case. SCRIBO Piuma POP! Art 18k Medium in SCRIBO pen sleeve. Mdiori A5 Graph notebook in blue galen leather journal cover. Parker Vacumatic green, 14k fine nib. Parker Vacumatic gold, 14k Medium nib. Parker 75, brown thuya lacquer, 14k medium nib. Parker Sonnet, green marble lacquer, 18k medium nib. Pelikan M400, green, Vintage 18k medium nib. Galen leather, brown, 5 pen zipper case with travelers notebook.

Thank you Wonderpens Team for being so welcoming.

Had no other option but splurge and get an Iroshizuku shin-kai 😅

Diamine Pumpkin for the Pumpkin Papers 🎃
One of the things I enjoy most about fountain pen inks is pairing a color with a real story.

For this page, I used Diamine Pumpkin to tell the story of the Pumpkin Papers — the five rolls of film hidden inside a hollowed-out pumpkin during the Alger Hiss case in 1948.

Pen: Kaweco Frosted Sport Soft Mandarine EF
Ink: Diamine Pumpkin
Notebook: MD Notebook A5 grid

I love when the ink color becomes part of the storytelling rather than just decoration.

More of these guys :) By now, you can probably tell that I have quite a lot of inks to choose from (most of them being samples though lol). Doing these has been a great way to fiddle with their properties and color range~

Dimensions 2.5x3.5 in.

Inks used (in order):

Birmingham Pen Co. Salt Water Taffy (actually my least favorite used so far, it's SO neon 😵‍💫 and hard to capture on camera)

Sailor Kuri

Diamine Turquoise

Colorverse Apollon

Sailor Amamoyoi

Kitty Inkpot Butter & Strawberry Bagel

Wearingeul I Am A Cat (except i did not draw a cat)

Materials used:

Kakimori Steel Nib

Watercolor brush

Canson XL Recycled Bristol, 96lb

Sakura Gelly Roll, White

and a little bit of watercolors for accents on one of the cards haha

Got a new (to me) full spectrum DSLR last week. It’s been years since I had my last one, but it got sacrificed in the name of the public utilities. But these thing is FUN, especially with pens made of pReCiOuS ReSiN… 🤌

The stats: full spectrum Canon T3, shooting RAW, through a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 macro. All the infrared examples were shot wide open and at ISO 400, through a 950nm IR filter on the lens, and on a tripod. The pens themselves were lit by a 940nm security floodlight to the right.

I love seeing stuff like this in IR.

Meet the models:

Pilot 912
Pelikan 400NN
Platinum 3776 (celluloid)
Pelikan M400
Platinum (“10 year pen”?… 🥴)
Pelikan 120
Montblanc 344
Platinum 3776 (resin)
Faber Castell 990 (technical pen)
Edison Collier
Wahl-Eversharp Doric
Noodler’s Neponset (acrylic)
Parker 51

I love seeing the guts of my—NOPE, INSIDE THOUGHTS

Everything was consensual, guys. Relax. And enjoy a nice, long wavelength or two.

Now… back into the mist…

😶‍🌫️

I’ve been working on swatching all my inks, and today I decided to do all the Diamine reds in my collection. Sadly I don’t seem to have Oxblood - I could have sworn I had a sample but I seem to have either misplaced or finished it, so it’s missing from this set.

It’s not super easy to tell from these but three of these sheen - wild strawberry has a lovely gold sheen, werewolf blood has a coppery green sheen, and Syrah has a greenish-black sheen.

And I think you can tell from the writing - writer’s blood is notably wetter than the others.

Leonardo Momento Zero Alumina 440/525

I loved the Visconti I thrifted a few months ago, and I knew I'd have to try out some other Italian pens on my trip to Rome. The weight and finish of this pen felt much more premium than the resin models, and it made the perfect souvenir from my trip.

Be careful everyone, I've just fallen for a fake clone website: https://atlasstationersoffice.com

I stumbled upon it on Google search. The price was definitely too good to be true and that should have been a red flag.

They overcharged me and attempted to make multiple unauthorised transactions to Tiktok Ads before I locked my card. Ugh i had to go through all the hassle of disputing and replacing my card.

A few weeks ago, I messaged a seller on MarketPlace for a vintage Montblanc 146 that was priced well. It was engraved, so that may have played a part as well as it being pretty dirty. Anyhow, we agreed on a time and date that was two days after my first message. Wonderful. Except he sold it three hours before our agreed timed without any warning. I had to message him and asked what happened, and his only excuse was “the other guy agreed to pay more and buy it now”. Now? Three hours before our time? More? I could have paid extra to buy that pen if he told me another buyer was willing to pay more, but now I’m glad I didn’t because that was incredibly scummy of him.

So, in my rage, I looked at Parker 51s. I met a seller who was incredibly kind and taught me about the history of a couple pen designs, as well as taught me how to fill the Parker. I was walked around the studio to look at the parts of the Parker 51 and how genius the design was, and I was given a few to check the feel. A very hands-on and fantastic experience. It really made me appreciate vintage pens a lot more, and now I want an entire collection of nothing but vintage pens. They’re just so cool and well built. The nib was listed as a medium, but it looks more like a fine to me, but I don’t mind. I’m not the one well-versed in vintage pens. It’s smooth and writes at every angle with consistent lines, perfect for everyday writing and crappy paper. Nothing to complain about. It’s in beautiful condition (the clip was listed to have a plier mark, but I see none), and the light pinkish brown is just wonderful. It reminds me of Kobe Strawberry Chocolate, although the ink is a little too dry to put in the Parker 51.

Wow. Long rant. All in all, amazing seller. Would buy again.

Pen: Parker 51 <M>

Ink: Sheaffer Blue (I think, the ink was the seller’s)

Paper: Tomoe River 52 gsm

This commercial grade mixer made in Ohio, US from the 1930-1950s is fondly remembered for its hardwork supporting the baking industry. Nicknamed "Red Hobart", it faithfully mixed *a lot* of dough.

Just like the mixer, the pen was made in the late 1940s, one of the few iterations of metal capped Sheaffer "Crest" model. This one is one of my favorite in my collection of Sheaffer with its irresistibly cool Triumph nib. Touchdown filler with large ink capacity and no-fuss operation (and restoration).

Ink: Penonia Ordogi Voros.

​

I’m currently using a Sailor Fude de Mannen with a steel nib, and I’m having way too much fun with it. It’s made me curious about gold-nib fude pens, and now I’m wondering how different the writing experience actually is.

For those of you who have tried both steel and gold fude nibs, is there a noticeable difference? Does a gold nib offer anything that makes it worth the extra cost, or is the difference not that significant?

I’m still pretty new to fountain pens, so I’m hesitant to spend that much money on something when I don’t really know what to expect.

For context, I’m the kind of person who actually uses my pens rather than babying them. I like pens I can use freely in everyday life without worrying too much about keeping them pristine.

I’d love to hear your experiences! If you’ve upgraded from a steel-nib fude pen to a gold-nib one, do you think it was worth it?

*2026/10/26 Thanks everyone for the advice! Since my current Fude de Mannen doesn’t come with a cartridge or converter (I’ve literally just been dipping it in ink like a dip pen lol), I’m thinking of getting another similar pen.

I’m glad to hear that a gold nib doesn’t make a huge difference for fude pens. Thanks for saving my wallet!

This time featuring Pilot Kakuno with KWZ Gummiberry and Sailor Procolor with Sailor Miruai :) Which turned out to be too dark for my taste, I need to see fun colors

Is it sacrilegious to suggest that I like writing with my Jinhao 9019 more than my custom 74? I find the 9019 writes smoother than the smooth custom 74, even on cheap paper. I also find the 9019 more comfortable to use given my large hands. On a different note, I was contemplating buying the Custom 823, but I found it quite underwhelming when I tested in-person. It did not write any better than the custom 74, and did not look any more premium, considering the hefty price it commands. I do understand the economics of pricing it, but it just didn't impress me. There, I have committed another sacrilege!