Stationery Marvels
Rachel at Rachel’s Reflections has adapted another questionnaire from the beauty community and I wanted to answer it! I am really enjoying seeing these thoughtful questions popping up in our community. It’s another opportunity to think about my collection and maybe even rediscover parts I have forgotten about or taken for granted. Here are some previous posts that I have answered: Fountain Pen Tag: 10 More Questions and #21PenQuestions.
Now, let’s get to it!
One. A product that is actually useful/offers a significant improvement?
For me this is the Kaweco syringe cleaner. It fits on any pen that can take a standard international short cartridge. Once I got my hands on one it made cleaning out pens much easier and for an unapologetic ink swapper like myself it is a must.
One of those products where you have to explain it to non-fountain pen people every time, haha!
Two. Ink that was actually worth the hype.
The first brand that came to mind for me was Wearingeul, but I haven’t used them long enough to know if they will take a big chunk of my ink collection (I currently have 5 bottles). But I do have another Korean brand that I adore and had a lot of hype when it first came out for its themes and design - Colorverse. The inks are solid and the design of the bottles and boxes are very clever. They have a variety of standard, sheening, and shimmer inks. Some of my recent favorites from them have been Iris Nebula and Golden Gate Bridge (SF Pen Show ‘23 exclusive). I’m also a sucker for their space-themed special editions, my favorite being the Apollo missions edition from a few years ago (seriously, Apollo 11 is a great blue).
I think it was Brian Goulet of Goulet Pens that dubbed these the “space slug” bottles. L to R: 65 mL, 5 mL, 30 mL, and 15 mL.
Three. Pen/Ink you wish you hadn’t waited to try.
The Kaweco Art Sport. I wasn’t deep enough into the hobby when they were last released in 2018 to be comfortable spending around $200 on a pen. In fact, I actively talked myself out of them (the one that got away was the red and black Art Sport - I have never seen it on the secondary market). I watched eBay and buy/sell/trade pages for over 2 years before I finally found one that was a colorway I liked and I was comfortable with the price (I recently saw one of the more popular colorways go for over $500 on eBay). The Tiger’s Eye is a beautiful pen and I hope that Kaweco will do another run of these acrylic, hand-turned Kaweco Sports.
Every time I bring it to a pen meetup it gets attention. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of these out there.
Four. Pen/ink you were on the fence about, but are now obsessed with.
Ferris Wheel Press inks. I remember eyeing them when they first launched on Kickstarter. I was intrigued by their brand story and the pretty round bottles. It’s been wonderful to see them expand. My first purchase from them was a while back with a few ink chargers and a bottle of Writing Desk (one of my favorite browns). From there I slowly picked up ink chargers and some other special editions (like Roaring Patina Black). At the end of last year I applied to be part of their Creative Ambassador program and my collection has boomed from there with a series of inks that I’ve bought and been gifted. While I will concede that the bottles aren’t always practical (a syringe or putting the converter straight in the bottle is the only way to successfully fill from the Ferritales bottles or the ink chargers), but they are beautiful and I love that each ink has a story.
Five. Product or process that literally changed your relationship to fountain pens.
I have two. The first is nib swapping between pens. Getting comfortable with disassembling nib units for cleaning and swapping enabled me to try a bunch of different nib sizes in pens I already had and loved. It’s part of why pen collection is so small. I just swap out the writing experiences when I need to freshen something up. It also opened a world of nib grinds, one of my first purchases was a stub grind on a medium nib from NibSmith. I appreciate that Dan and a few other nib grinders off nib units only when I don’t really need a whole other pen.
Specialty papers were the other thing that changed my relationship with the hobby. For most of my adult life I was stuck with random legal pads and whatever was at the office. Occasionally, I branched out into a Moleskine. But when I got deeper in the hobby and discovered all of the different options… it’s been a fun road ever since.
Six. Ink that actually looks like the swatch.
I think there are a lot of factors that play into this. I do my swatches on the same paper with a q-tip so that I’m being consistent (and sometimes I swatch on different papers just for fun - but not for reference purposes). Standard inks usually are the most accurate, sheeners and shimmers can end up looking too rich in swatches that doesn’t always translate to writing.
Seven. Shimmer ink that doesn’t seem to settle, meaning it stays shimmery in the pen without shaking or rolling.
This is so dependent on so many factors, but some of my favorite well-behaved shimmer inks are Diamine Olive Swirl and Ferris Wheel Press Velvet Ballet. One of my best investments as a fan of shimmer inks has been Vanness White Lightning, just a little bit goes a long way.
Eight. Easily portable pen case that actually protects pens.
I’ll preface this by saying I don’t have a lot of pen cases. One of those reasons is because the Rickshaw Pen Sleeves are that good. I like how well they fit the pens and how they mold to the pens over time. They have a ton of color options and I’ve literally had my Kaweco liliput-sized duo pensleeve in my pocket every day for nearly 5 years now and while it looks well-broken in, not a stitch is out of place. They are definitely worth a try.
Mark of a good everyday carry - it’s been everywhere and it still works!
Nine. Paper with a good balance between dry time and showing ink properties.
Kokuyo Business Paper. It handles everything from EF to BB and still shows off shading and sheen. Bonus is that it’s not very expensive and can be run through a printer for layouts.
Your turn: What are your favorite stationery marvels?
Thanks again to Rachel for sharing this list!
Currently Inked
Needed an assist from the brief show of the sun!
Ferris Wheel Press Treasured Manuscript - Ferris Wheel Press Carousel Brilliant Beanstalk M - This ink was really not working for me in a broad nib, so I decided to try something thinner. I feel like this is a better fit for this ink. It makes it look very vintage.
Ferris Wheel Press Roaring Patina Black - Kaweco liliput copper 14K B - Alternatively, I swapped this ink from a thinner nib to a thicker nib. This ink has been powering through a lot of journal entries this week. I love the red sheen and the gold shimmer.
Anderillium Luna Moth Green - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - I was regretting not picking this ink up alongside Tolype Moth Warm in San Francisco so during Fountain Pen Day I grabbed a bottle from Atlas Stationers. It’s literally the perfect luna moth green color. I’m really enjoying it (even though I’m not the biggest fan of green inks, this one is unique enough to keep me interested).
Ferris Wheel Press Cloak and Forest - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K M ‘selvedge’ - Despite not being the biggest fan of green inks, I have a few in my collection that have gotten there in a variety of ways. I wanted to give this one another try. This is a dry shimmer ink which was not working well, so I did have to doctor it with some white lightning, but now I’m really enjoying the red sheen and silver shimmer.
Colorverse Brunch Date - Kaweco Sport Cognac M stub - Still rocking this earthy pink. An ink I need to use more often.
Sailor Ink Studio 280 - Kaweco Sport Mellow Blue B ‘premium’ - This is such a cool ink. It’s not quite green and it’s not quite brown, but the pink shading is fantastic.