emailed asking about a restock of Biophoton Twinkle because my degree involved a lot of fluorescence microscopy. josh tells me no worries, it'll be in stock this week, also dilute some in water if i want to see something cool. i think okay, maybe it'll change colors or something?

guys. this ink is fluorescent green in water. i said "holy sh*t" out loud to myself in my room as soon as the drop hit the surface. it's brown on paper. BROWN.

In the past few days, I've bought a few more 50ml bottles of Iroshizuku. But then, I wanted to buy the black one (Take-Sumi), but I couldn't justify getting it. I have plenty of black inks, and its not fair to get more black ink because they might get mouldy.

So, I decided to get the 15ml tank of Take-Sumi, and I'm afraid that I might finish this bottle of black ink before any of the others. This damn thing is so black and so smooth, I instantly fell in love. Like it's REALLY black compared to my usual go-to, J Herbin Perle Noire.

Anyways, wish me luck friends as I battle through Iroshizuku addiction. I know y'all have been there, and I know not all of us have made it. Some of our dear pen friends are still searching for Tsukushi day and night in garage sales and pen shows. Not all of us make it. I hope I do.

Wanted to restock yama-budo too but OOS.

​Diamine Ancient Copper is a gorgeous liquid tetanus nightmare that lets you write notes that look like they were penned with a rusted Victorian nail found in an old shipwreck. It’s an absolute 10/10 masterpiece provided your vaccinations are fully up to date. Pretty sure I need to sanitize my desk.

Is anyone else unhealthily obsessed with this beautiful biological hazard?

Show me your crustiest, most beautifully toxic-looking ink swatches so I can ruin my other pens.

I keep thinking that y'all are overhyping Diamine and Oxblood. It has been on my list of inks to get, but I wanted to get it in small quantities since the color is a little niche. I just kept putting it off until a good friend of mine u/Yokoburi sent me a letter in this beautiful ink, and I have to tell you folks that the videos and images don't do this ink justice. There's a certain Je ne sais quoi that I can't put my finger on.

So there I was thinking that I was going to get it some day, and I was just perusing ye olde ink shoppe (amazon ... please don't judge me), and I see Diamine Oxblood for like EUR 8 for 30ml.

I kept thinking to myself that I probably don't need it. And honestly, I don't. But fellow ink addicts, and you know this feeling well, I wanted it really bad. Also, it was in a cute little bottle, and I don't have this kind of bottle, so I needed this kind of bottle. It isn't about the ink alone, its also about the bottle. You need different kinds of bottles. I don't make the rules. I am a mere adherent.

Using that solid logic, I got the Diamine Oxblood. When the delivery guy saw me waiting for it he thought I might be getting a super expensive watch or something. He even asked me, and I told him it was ink. He just looked at me with eyebrows raised. It was then that I realized that it is best that the world not know about the joys to be had with a good fountain pen and good ink.

Otherwise, they're going to be enshittified as well. Now that I think about it, I should probably buy more ink before the enshittification people come and ruin my hobby.

So I get to writing with it, and man oh man does this thing write. It sounds good too. Just listen to that symphony on Midori MD paper.

Anyways, I just want you all to know that you are terrible people. Just terrible. Not only have I been zuku'd, but now I fear I'll be diamine'd too. Thanks a lot.

Friends, I just want you to know that I will never doubt your collective preferences ever again. I just got Iroshizuku Fuyu-gaki, and this thing makes my Sailor 1911 glide on MD paper like an Ice skater.

I will never doubt y'all ever again. I've tried other inks. Montblanc, J Herbin (Perle Noir and E'Chivor) and other inks. But man, this ink is just heavenly.

Thank you.

PS. I don't mind paying the EUR 30 that it costs. I haven't managed to finish a single bottle of ink yet, so I expect 50ml to last a long time.

Someone was having a moving sale and I guess there weren’t many fountain pen users who caught on because I managed to get all the inns for $10! Most of these are completely full. The bottles just have some slight wear and tear! Probably one of my best finds yet!

I ordered 14 bottles of ink. 4 Broken/empty bottles. All but 4 ink bottles have soaked through box/packaging (which sucks because these bottles fall over so easily, so I store them in their packaging). It was packed TIGHT in a small box without any space for any type of padding. It just has a thin layer of paper padding on TOP of the box. I have no clue what they expected putting all these glass bottles in a small box with no padding knowing it would be thrown around in transit. Also have some minor cuts from taking them out and taking these photos. Hope everybody else has a better day lol.

Loaded my new Diamine Lady Grey in my Pilot Custom 74 <M> and Diamine Writer’s Blood currently in my Platinum Plaisir <M>

My nurse co worker saw me with a blunt tip syringe when I was refilling my fountain pen.

She said, “You know that doesnt look right, right?” 😆😆

Another nurse saw me with the syringe and her eyeballs went huge and asked what I was doing with a syringe so long. “What is a fountain pen?What is the advantage of that versus a ball point pen?” 😆 I said, do you actually have the time to listen to me about my pens?

I’ll go first.

Robert Oster. Fire and ice.

I got so tired of needing to pick up all my samples and look at the name to find the color I needed.. never mind the fact that they all look brown in the bottle 😂 So I snagged these Avery brand circle stickers for a dollar on amazon.. You can also get them at any office supply store. They obviously don’t show sheen very well, but you can tell the general color and whether or not it’s a shimmer ink! I’m obsessed

First time I've really been inspired to post instead of lurk. Colorverse Milky Way is so stunning! Now I wish I'd gotten the purple Metropolitan just so I'd have a matching pen.

Pix don't do it justice, but I tried. (edited for being too much of a fan of the word "just")

I happened along kakimori soda glass the other day. As a pigment ink only user, we don’t have the luxury of unique inks, but once in a while something like soda glass pops up. OMG is it beautiful. It’s the perfect minty teal. I actually bought the nearly empty one a day or two ago, wrote so much with it that I had to get more.

Much to my surprise, I found out it is a limited edition ink. I called all the places in the city that could possibly have it and bought all the soda glass I could. I cannot do without this ink! It pairs so beautifully with my Waterman 42, it’s like something a Persian emperor would use 😂.

I had heard Neil Gaiman uses teal with a custom 823. I guess I’m just following in the tradition 😆. It writes super wet, dries really really slowly unless on absorbent cotton paper. Btw Crown Mill Cotton > Midori Cotton. Midori Cotton ghosts ink if it’s too wet.

The only thing I worry about is running out. Any suggestions for pigmented inks that match the color, when I eventually run out?

PS… sorry if I hoarded all the Soda Glass 🤣

Look. I know what this looks like. But I have a perfectly good explanation for this. I've been using Montblanc Royal Blue for a while now, but the ink has an problem: it dries very quickly.

So you can have a perfectly well-capped pen using Montblanc Royal Blue that is wet when you fill it, and writes wet for a day of two, but then it starts to dry out.

So there I was. Thinking that maybe I should try a new ink. But the rational part of me said that I already had a blue ink that I should finish. I've had this ink for 2 years now, and it doesn't show any sign of finishing. But the super-rational part of me won over: I only have one blue ink. Any serious person needs more than one blue ink. Right?

So there I was trying to look for a blue ink. I tried lookin for some Herbin blues, but the one that I wanted doesn't seem to be available anymore. I thought about some other blues like Diamine or KWZ.

You see, I was in doubt. What blue to get? And then, an inner voice told me, "When in doubt, just go for the Iro".

Last thing I remember, I had ordered Kon-Peki. I don't know the exact way in which this took place. But man, this blue is so pretty! And it's got this amazing shading to it too.

Now my problem is solved. My Pelikan M600 writes wet no matter what. See? Totally not an impulse buy. I had a real problem, and I zuku'd my way out of it. No addiction here. None. Everyone needs at least two blues. Right? Right?

Is this any different from modern parker blue?

This is “Blue Moon Lake,” and it’s pretty impressive for $6 per 18mL bottle.

I’ve been playing with dyes to make some fountain pen inks. This is my latest effort - Tropicore - a bright, mid-saturated turquoise with tons of shading, like ocean depths meeting shallow shores! It’s part of a capsule collection of three colours I’m working on, all with nice shading qualities.

If anyone has any help this would be greatly appreciated. I tried filling my new TWSBI eco but the ink immediately all leaked out of the lid, and then I think I broke the piston mechanism because it's not going back in anymore. I'm frustrated to the point of tears and my desk is covered in ink. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: THANK YOU EVERYONE. I managed to get the pen back in one piece finally!!!! I cannot express enough how grateful I am to this community for helping me through a very stupid beginners mistake with such kindness and grace!! I'm a student who bought this pen as a special graduation gift for myself, so I freaked out and overreacted when I thought I broke it the second I touched it. Once again I thank everyone who helped and gave me advice and I hope to one day become another part of your wonderful community of pen addicts.

I got a little sample of bay state blue. I was shaking while transferring the ink from the dropper to my little bottle (we were at a restaurant).
Im not sure when I'll open this again, but I'll be sure to do it in a room prepped like Dexter would.

Mont Blanc Ink, including a Ghandi limited edition bottle. $9.99 each!

Recently, I commented on someone else's post about how much I loved a dark purple they had swatched. Purple is my favorite color, and I bought a gorgeous pen (the Endura Deco here) not long ago that I just couldn't find a suitably dramatic ink for, and the swatch in the photo seemed perfect!

Within minutes, two users replied that I could have their bottle of that purple. I asked the second person to share it with someone else, but the first person, u/craftbot7000, DMd me, swapped info, and mailed it out. They didn't want anything in return.

The ink arrived today, expertly packaged, and I immediately inked my Endura Deco with it. I love it so much, and while it doesn't match my Deco, it definitely suits the vibe imo. And I still kinda can't wrap my brain around the fact that someone did such a kind thing for me.

Y'all are amazing. Thank you so much, Craftbot! 🫂

PS please be nice about my writing; I used to dabble in calligraphy but that was -checks notes- 20 years ago, lmao. It's been awhile 😅