This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.
Second set of Inkvent inks! Yes, I’m behind. It’s been an absurd month as we prepare to move, with our entire plans getting derailed repeatedly, but most of this week’s news has been good so here’s hoping!
Day 5: Marie Rose. Kind of an orange-brown that shows a bit of black at the edge of the bigger swatches. I wondered why it was names “rose” when at best it might be a really desiccated old rose petal colour, but apparently it’s named after a type of sauce and not after the plant. I actually don’t have anything particularly close to this colour and it’s a nice uncomplicated standard ink so it’ll definitely get used even though it’s a colour I might never have thought to buy.
Day 6: Fir & Fog. Beautiful blue-leaning green with iridescent shimmer. It makes me think more of spruce than fir trees but I don’t think most people think that deeply about their evergreens. Love it. I’d probably get this even without the shimmer; it’s a really nice colour. Plus the name really makes me feel like Pacific Northwest winter, where I see the big Douglas Firs looming out of the fog many mornings.
The same Diamine Inkvent Teal day 5-8 swatches shown with the camera at a different angle to show shimmer & sheen better.
Day 7: Blush. Pink. This one goes on the page looking like fresh nosebleed (look, I was one of those kids and I’m very familiar with what a drop of fresh blood looks like on the page) but it dries pleasantly into a red-leaning pink. I think the closest colour I have is Pilot Iroshuziku Momiji which is more pink and less red. I’ve been struggling to use Momiji in palettes because it’s a bit too bright, so I think the slightly more muted feeling Blush is going to fit in really well.
Day 8: Dream Catcher. There is so much pink sheen that you can barely see the base colour, but it is actually blue. This is fun but *very* similar to last year’s Cosmic Glow, so even though it’s lovely it maybe wasn’t quite as exciting as it would have been if I didn’t have last year’s colour. I had to really stare at them together to see that Dream Catcher’s base blue is subtly more greenish than Cosmic Glow’s (but it’s not as far over as Vibe, also in last year’s inkvent). I have a few other similar blue-with-pink-sheen inks but none of them have as much sheen as these so they feel pretty different.
Dream Catcher and Cosmic Glow swatches showing that they have the same colour of pink sheen but slightly different base colours.
Dream Catcher and Cosmic Glow swatches shown at an angle so the sheen is less visible and you can see that they have slightly different base shades of blue, with Dream Catcher leaning slightly more greenish.
Even though Dream Catcher is nearly a dupe and a colour family that’s already over-represented in my collection, these are all very pretty and will definitely get used. If I had to guess, Blush is the one that’ll get used most often because I have wanted a different pink for a while, but I’m really in love with the spruce green of Fir & Fog plus the name will make me think of the pacific northwest winter.
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.
Going with a spooky kitty theme this month, since I had a pair of good spooky kitty sticker sheets from last year’s stickii Halloween countdown. (I didn’t get this years halloween countdown because I still had plenty of spooky stickers.)
Stationary for journaling in November 2025. There are two stickii sticker sheets with ghost cats, witch cats, then a fall mushroom themed set of sheets from MU and another stickii sheet with happy raindrops on leaves and stuff. There are four fountain pens and ink swatches below that: a Pelikan Pura with Diamine Baltic Breeze (blue with pinkish sparkle), a Pilot Metropolitan with Diamine Twilight (dark grey), a Monteverde Ritma with Van Dieman’s Last Light (purple-blue), and a Pilot E95S with Sailor Mayo Asagiri (pink). Below that are a set of 4 thin washi tapes in blue/purple/pink.
Stickers
Fountain Pen ghost cats by Yudoart (from stickii halloween last year)
Witchy sticker sheet by November Rush (from stickii halloween last year)
MU “print on stickers” (transfers, really)
Droplets sheet by Starriesena (also from stickii)
Pens and Ink
Pelikan Pura <b> with Diamine Baltic Breeze (blue with copper? sparkle)
Pilot Metropolitan <cm> with Diamine Twilight (dark grey)
Monteverde Ritma <flex> with Van Dieman’s Last Light (purple-blue)
Pilot E95S <m> with Sailor Mayo Asagiri (pink)
The Van Dieman’s Last Light is a new sample I picked up from their line of two-tone inks. I actually really like the way this ink works other than the fact that I keep thinking it’s too light to read while I’m writing but it does dry darker as so many purple-ish inks do. It’s especially nice in this particular flex nib, which basically lets you pour out more ink with bit of extra pressure, and a bit more ink in this case gets more of the dual colour effect.
Using the Metropolitan right after using the Maple pen last month has cemented that the Metropolitan is significantly easier on my hands, so my ranking continues to stand.
Thoughts on last month’s selections
Some thoughts on what worked and what didn’t from last month. The architect nib in that maple pen is very fun to use but definitely tires my hands out. Not sure if that’s primarily due to the nib or it’s also the heavier and larger pen. It worked really well with Southwest Sunset except that I’d forgotten that this particular ink leaves little dots that take forever to dry, so I smeared it a few times. I had this trouble with the other noodler’s ink I had as well, and wound up giving the rest of that sample away. I like the colours of Southwest Sunset enough that I’m keeping my last tiny bit of sample but I’ll try to remember that it’s kind of annoying to use even if the shading is super pretty.
The combo of Wearingeul Frankenstein and my TWSBI Eco worked, but it was clear that all the shimmer was getting stuck in the feed and very little made it to the page, so next time that ink goes in the Pelikan to see if I can get a better effect. It is really nice without the shimmer, though, so not too sad.
Using KWZ All that Glitters Firecracker reminded me how much I enjoy their easy to use shimmers that work in all my pens. Since they’re only $10 per 30ml bottle, I just went ahead and bought the two colours I didn’t have. I don’t think they’re as pretty as the two I bought first, but I think I’ll enjoy using them anyhow!
The Pelikan Pura made Diamine Pine Needle work much better than last time I used it. Very happy with how much the Pura improves my ink collection!
The Leuchtturm1917 is working well. The paper definitely is a bit thinner so I found myself rearranging inks so the dark purple Frankenstein was mostly used on the left hand page and I wasn’t writing on something with seriously visible ghosting. I don’t find it too disruptive but it’s there and I notice and think about it regularly. It’s been nice enough for writing, though — not too slow to dry or anything. I do really love the pre-numbered pages and the way the top and bottom have wider margins, though, so the layout is great. I think my perfect notebook would be this dot grid page layout with thicker paper in a smaller page count, but I’ve still got a small collection of notebooks to try so maybe I’ll find something I enjoy even more.
Pen collection changes
Three fountain pens: the first one is a large, teal Jinhao 100, the second a dark blue marbled Noodler’s flex nib, the third a light purple Hondgian M2 that is a pocket pen (as in, much smaller than the other two pens).
I passed 3 pens on to a friend this month. From left to right:
Jinhao 100 <fude>: This one has to be held at a steep angle for the width of line I want, which made it not super useful for regular use since my normal writing angle produced very thick lines. It’s probably tuned for calligraphy? It would have been nice for making cards or something, but I seldom do that. It’s a pretty pen but it really wasn’t working for me, and I have a few other fudes in my collection. My friend is a lefty and it worked better for her, so off it goes.
Noodler’s Creaper <Flex>: This is actually the only fountain pen I’ve ever had which I hated the feel of the pen body rather than the nib. It constantly gave me the vibe of one of those cheap conference giveaway pens that didn’t quite fit together right. No idea why, it wasn’t actually loose, maybe it was something about the shape. But it’s been sitting in a cup because I don’t want to use it, so I’m glad to pass it along where it might get used!
Hongdian M1 <ef>: The extra fine nib in this felt like I was writing with a toothpick, scratchy and too small. Actually, I think I’ve painted with toothpicks that I liked better than this. I’m not a huge extra fine fan, but the other ones I have don’t feel as bad as this one did to me. Could have replaced the nib but I decided it was better to give it away.
I’d intended to reduce my pen collection by not replacing these, but then Fountain Pen Day sales happened and I picked up a couple of cheaper pens on my wish list. A paragon of restraint I am not, this month. Which is fine, my unemployment can cover a few pens and inks if a bit of retail therapy is helping me survive a month of solo parenting and all the preparation for an international move and dealing with job interview stuff. I’m still feeling less burned out as a whole, but the past few weeks have been A Lot.
Countdown time
In other related news: I wound up buying both the Stickii Advent and the Diamine Inkvent calendar.
The stickers were an easy choice: I’ve used most of last year’s, and with my regular usage at around 2.5 sheets per month a December countdown isn’t so many stickers that it’s going to overwhelm me for the year. Unlike the halloween collection, these aren’t all wintery so I used last year’s year-round easily. I love picking out stickers and matching inks every month, and the stickii ones are a bit thinner, smaller and more convenient for journal use than some of the others I get from individual artists. I’d probably like their subscription club too but that one is more stickers than I use per month so this fits my life better plus I get a cute binder to store my sheets in. I use last year’s a lot.
The inkvent calendar was a harder choice: I use maybe 2ml of ink in the average month, so I strongly debated just making myself a 12-sample pack to enjoy over the holidays which would match up better with my ink usage. But then I kind of overwhelmed myself trying to pick 12 colours and the ones I chose kept going out of stock and I realized I wasn’t actually having that much fun with that plan. So in the end I decided to just get the Inkvent set and stop fussing over picking things. It’s “too much ink” but I really loved the experience last year and the excuse to swatch and use a new ink every day. And I know I won’t be sad about having more colours to use in my monthly palettes, since I know I sometimes struggle with finding something to match my chosen stickers. In hindsight, I should have just planned to trade ink samples with my friend and use those, but I didn’t think to do an ink swap until nearly a month after I ordered the inkvent calendar. Whoops.
Not sure how I feel about the sparkle-sheen gimmick for Inkvent but now that I’ve got the Pelican pens that seem able to take advantage of my shimmer inks, I’m sure they’ll get used.
Also, it’s got me thinking about painting with fountain pen inks as a way to enjoy them more. I’ve been doing a bunch of watercolour painting by going through lessons in various books I’ve gotten from the library, and it’s been really pleasant and I’m starting to get some paintings I’m proud of even if they’re just duplicating the exercises. Inks are more complicated pigments than I’m used to using but I can learn and experiment. So ink painting might go on next year’s “fiber goals” though it’s a little less fiber-y.Speaking of fiber, I skipped out on bigger yarn advents but did get the 8 day Chanukah set from ChemKnits again because I love supporting her videos and 8 minis isn’t too much yarn. I haven’t always knit with these right away because I’m usually doing advent stuff that starts earlier in the month, but since this will be among the yarns I have with me when I get on the plane in December, it makes sense to plan some socks in January or something. I have to actually plan a few months of projects in advance so I have the right yarns and tools on hand during the move. I usually do have rough plans of what I want to knit next, but it’s definitely different when almost all my yarn and half my tools will be packed and on a truck! So far I’ve got a half formed plan to do Grand Opening with a mini set from my stash, but I’ll figure out more soon!
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.
Happy Spooky Month! I’ve got a lot of Halloween-themed stickers leftover from last year’s Stickii countdown, and I’m slowly trying to make a dent in my ink samples this month.
Journal Stuff
My Clairefontaine Triomphe journal is a few pages from done so it’s getting retired this month. (In theory I’ll use the last pages for ink swatching.) I started it in April 2025 so it lasted 6 months. I liked the blank paper ok but didn’t do as much drawing in it as I hoped. Most of the reason was that I got really into writing stories instead so visual art fell by the wayside, and I’m okay with that.
October I’ll be starting a Leuchtturm1917 softcover book from my collection of paper brands I haven’t tried yet. This one reminds me a lot of my beloved Pentalic notebooks that I used to carry everywhere — slightly more rigid cover, big pocket in the back. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the fountain pen experience but I’ve tested my current set of pens in it (including my two broad nibs both of which are currently inked) and while there’s *definitely* ghosting I don’t think it’s going to be a dealbreaker for me. At my current rate of writing this should last around 9 months which is good because I’m moving and there’s a non-zero chance that my other stationary supplies will wind up hard to find for a while, so I didn’t want to use one of the smaller 3-month sized notebooks this time and be scrambling for a new notebook at a time when my office might be still packed or even on a moving truck.
Front cover of the Lochby A5 field folio showing two places A6 sticker sheets can fit (middle pocket and side pocket) and some ink swatches and washi tape in a smaller mesh bottom pocket. There’s also a short pocket at the top that is not in use, and a horizontal pen pocket (also not in use, but sits above the journals so sometimes I have my pencil or the day’s fountain pen in there).
In September, I picked up a Lochby A5 Field Folio. I’d been eyeing it for a while but couldn’t tell if it would work for me, and finally decided the only way I would know was to try it out. So far it’s going great! This replaces both my green notebook cover and the ghost whale zipper pouch: it keeps my calendar and journal notebooks together and stops them from getting too beaten up when I carry them around in my knitting bag all day. It’s got a more rigid structure so I can write more easily when I don’t have a flat surface (honestly, I rarely write at a desk). And it’s got significantly better pockets for the size of sticker sheets I have (I think the stickii ones are A6). I like that they thought to make the pen pocket be usable even with the notebooks open, although since I keep a pen case and have multiple writing tools going, I only sometimes use it. I’ve had the Field Folio a couple of weeks and things are going great; we’ll see if it starts to feel too heavy once I’ve got the thicker Leuchtturm notebook in there.
Lockby A5 Field folio back cover pckets. A set of A6 sticker sheets is sitting in the half-height pocket with enough sticking out the top that one can see which stickers are there. there’s also a pocket on the side that woudl work for stickers or for fitting the back cover of a journal. The fabric is honey yellow/orange and has a honeycomb texture on it. The stickers are somewhat visible through the fabric.
Stickers & Stamps
All of these are from last year’s stickii halloween countdown. I was tempted to get the new one this year but clearly I have enough halloween stickers for the moment and didn’t need more!
trick or treat kitties from Tiny Yume
More costumed kitties from Moon Attic
Halloween tickets from Asakodraws
Icon squares from Laurelmaeart
Got some black/gold washi tape to go with it, and I also picked up a couple Pilot FriXion stamps to track when I floss my teeth and when I practice singing. It’s taken a bit to get used to how lightly they should be pressed to look their best, but I like them! I have a few others in different colours that I’m not using for specific tracking at the moment, too.
Fountain Pens & Inks
KWZ All That Glitters Firecracker (red-orange with gold shimmer) paired with a Kaweco Sport <b>
Wearingeul Mary Shelly Frankenstein (purple) paired with a glow in the dark green TWSBI Eco <1.1 stub>
Noodler’s Southwest Sunset (orange) paired with a Hongdian maple leaf pen <long blade>
Diamine Pine Needle (green with shimmer) paired with a Pelikan Pura <b>
Trying to make a dent in my ink samples. That Noodler’s sample comes from before I learned more about the company so I won’t be picking up a full sized bottle once it’s done even though the colour is nice. The Wearingeul sample honestly didn’t wow me that much when I used it last year so it’s unlikely to get re-bought either but maybe I’ll like it more this year in a different pen? I think it’s just too dark for my tastes. Unlikely that I finish either this month unless I start using them for painting. (That isn’t actually too far fetched; I’ve been practising watercolour painting techniques from library books!) The Firecracker / Kaweco sport was already inked as kid entertainment for last weekend’s trip.
You might note that this is a rare time when my Pilot E95S isn’t in the line-up: it’s because it’s got a few drops of Aurora Borealis left in it and I’m going to use them up before cleaning and re-inking it.
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.
I’ve been thinking a bunch about my fountain pen collection lately. I’m up to around 25 pens (I should probably count or something) most of which are relatively cheap ones that I got with the idea of trying a specific thing: a different nib, brand, filling mechanism, body material, size, etc. At this point I know a lot more about my preferences than I did a year ago, so as a “new school year” kind of thing I wanted to record which pens I’m reaching for most and what’s working for me right now. That way I’ll have a record for next year when I want to see if things have changed.
Current Top Pens (S tier, Pokemon style)
Pilot E95S <medium> – My most expensive pen and only gold nibbed one. It gets an emotional bonus for being a birthady gift from my husband. I like the odd pockiet pen shape and it has a consistently lovely writing experience although I am afraid to put sparkle inks in it thanks to my experience with my other pilot pens. I don’t think it’s going to inspire me to upgrade to gold nibs everywhere but I’m very happy to have one for the experience.
Pelikan Pura <broad> – SPARKLE PEN! This is my go-to shimmer ink pen now and I’ve only had it a few weeks so it feels a bit weird to put it here but I love it so much. Beautiful turquoise with a Y/snowflake pattern that reminds me of quilts but most importantly I like the grip more than the one on the Twist.
Pilot Metropolitan <CM> – I really like the way my writing looks with their cursive italic nib, which is smaller than my other stub pens. If I could get a few more stubs at this width I would, it’s a perfect balance of fun to write with but usable even in smaller notebook spacings. I’ve seen it marked as a 1mm vs a 1.1stub but I think it’s more like a .7 in practice? This was one of the first pens I bought (alongside a TWSBI eco) and I still love it. Turns out I’m a big fan of the shiny metal look. Often when not in use this one still sits in front of my computer to look pretty (the rest are in a pen cup nearby when not in use). I still kind of want a bunch of the other colours in the retro pop line.
TWSBI Eco glow green <medium, stub> – It glows in the dark, which makes it better than my other two TWSBI pens. This is one that sits on my nightstand so I can watch it glow when not in active use. It’s really taught me that it’s worth being finicky about getting a colour I like, since it’s functionally the same as my other TWSBI pens but I just love it more. I bought this with a medium nib but am swapping in a stub from my other eco.
Platinum Preppy Wa Koi pattern <fine> – My todo list pen. I like the texture of the pattern under my fingers and the fact that the cap seals so well that I don’t have to worry much about it drying out. I don’t really like fine nibs in general but this one is nice and sometimes I want to write very tiny things in the flip book I use for daily todos.
Except for the Pura (which is very new) these are basically the pens I reach for most often. The Preppy and the Pilot E95S are almost constantly inked, the others rotate in regularly as I’m trying different inks and experimenting with other pens. I usually have 3-6 journal pens and 2 todo list pens inked and if I don’t rotate I’d basically never use any other pens.
A tier pens (as in, second rank)
These pens are good and write well but basically they aren’t as pretty so they don’t get used as often. These are the ones that sometimes go in my purse or on trips with me because I like the writing experience but I won’t be as sad if I lose one.
All the “less pretty” versions of what I have in my favourite pen list. So that’s my other TWSBIs (an ECO-T and a Swipe), my Pilot Kakuno and Varsity, my other Platinum Preppy. These all write well and consistently and get used sometimes but I’m gonna reach for the prettier one most times. I will give a shout out to the TWSBI Swipe which has a smaller converter instead of a piston so it gets used more often than the ECO when I’m using up ink samples.
Ooly Duo <fine?> – These are todo list pens that I impulse bought at the book store. They are refillable on the fountain pen side, not sure about the highlighter side. Great for todo lists, I like the colour, and the one I opened months ago is still going strong with no sign of drying out. Honestly, I’d recommend these to people looking for a fun starter fountain pen for planner use.
Jinhao Shark Pen <fine> – Nice todo list pen or purse pen. The shark look makes it especially good as kid distraction purse pen.
Kaweco sport (I have 2 bodies and and 3 nibs in M, B and stub) – I like these and I particularly like how easy it is to clean them and swap nibs, and the very small converters use about a month’s worth of ink at my current usage, so that’s nice. They get pulled out for travel and rotated in as purse pens because of their size.
Hongdian maple leaf pen <architect> – This is a lovely pen but it mostly loses out to the Pilot Metropolitan because I like it a bit better and they have a similar niche. I should probably get this pen into rotation more; it’s barely been used since I bought it.
B Tier pens
These pens are ones I like but have things that irritate me. They get rotated in for specific purposes but tend to get rotated out early because I’m tired of using them.
Pelikan Twist <medium> – Fantastic sparkle ink pen, but the twisted triangular grip isn’t a good ergonomic fit for me so I actually use this with a gel wrap over the grip if I’m going to write for a while. I did finally have a sparkle get stuck in it but it recovered without needing a full nib cleaning. Still significantly better than my experience with the same inks in my TWSBI or Kaweco pens.
Endless Phantom retractable <fude, medium> – Dries out too fast for my regular use. I need a pen that can stay wet for 4 days because I rotate between journal colours, it only consistently stays wet for 2. I may yet find a use for this one because I like the fude nib I got with it, and I don’t have another fude I like except on my dip pen. May just come out on months when I have 2 colours going, or I may accept that it should move down into the forgotten tier.
Monteverde Ritma <flex> – This pen is so beautiful and I love the feel of the magnetic cap, but it is SO HEAVY. But it’s really pretty and while I know it’s not a “true” flex nib I really like the way this one can lay down extra ink so you can have fun with sheen and I’ve had some luck with shimmer too. I should probably rotate this one in a bit more often now that I’ve got a better idea of what inks suit it.
Nahvalur Original Plus <stub> – Good for travel, but this vacuum filler has such a large ink tank that I get tired of the ink long before I finish it even on a lazy non-full fill. Also, I don’t know if it’s a vacuum filler thing but it seems to dry up a bit mid-writing no matter how open I have things so I have to shake a bubble out of the way every once in a while.
Everything Else
And then there’s… everything else. Cheap pens that broke, things with fine/extra fine nibs that I hated (which is basically F/EF nib except the Preppy and the Ooly pens listed above). Most of these I should just give away, although there’s a couple in there that I haven’t really given a fair shake to because they didn’t wow me after one month (e.g. I should probably give the Conklin Durograph I got on super sale another go, I think it was a bad ink combo that landed it here).
Things I’ve learned about my fountain pen preferences
Preferred filling system: Converter. I usually have a few pens going for journal use and use less than 1ml of ink in each pen, so small converters are pretty great for me in terms of switching most of a palette of inks monthly. I don’t have any filling system I hate, though the jury is still out on the vacuum filler.
Preferred nib: I like having a variety in my journal pens so I can sometimes write fast with an easy medium nib and sometimes take my time with a stub. Turns out I like broad and should probably try a double broad. I hate almost every extra fine nib or fine nib I’ve tried, and I now have enough todo list pens, so I should probably never buy another F or EF unless it’s something really special.
Preferred size: I really love pocket pens and smaller pens, probably because I have small hands. I haven’t actually had ergonomic issues writing with bigger ones other than maybe my stupidly heavy Ritma but I definitely find myself wanting to go for smaller and lighter.
Preferred materials: I really love shiny coloured metal. Anodized aluminum, I guess? I thought for sure I’d be more into the sparkly resins since that’s more like my taste in jewellery, and don’t get me wrong, they’re pretty, but I really love the bold colourful metallic pens. Might be partially because resins and whatnot are a bit heavier? Knowing this has helped me avoid buying those fancy benu pens.
Preferred inks: I like a variety, and prefer saturated colours with less black and blue. I need less shimmer and more shading inks in my collection at the moment, I think, and I’d like to finish a few more samples so I have space for new ones in the box I use to organize them (I could get a second box but I probably shouldn’t). I really like smaller size bottles and samples so I can have more variety, so a lot of my preferred inks are just because they come in 30ml or smaller sizes.
Preferred Notebooks: A5 size, smaller softcovers. Ideal size is probably under 100 pages. I’m waffling on dot grid vs blank but probably one of those. I didn’t love the more coated iroful paper for journal writing (though it was delightful for playing with inks) but everything else I’ve tried has been good. I’m currently enjoying the Clairefontaine Triomphe notebook I’ve got going. I do wish more notebooks came pre-numbered because I don’t love writing numbers myself but it’s a minor issue. I’ve given up on indexing since it turned out to be minimally useful and not fun for me, but I use the page numbers to estimate how long I have left in a given book and see if I’m writing a lot more or less than usual. I was previously more picky about the quality of the notebook cover itself because it impacted how easy it was to write in weird places (I don’t often use a table) but now that I have a slipcover and writing boards that’s been not such a big deal.
Special editions: I’ve been trying to avoid getting really into the “collecting” part of fountain pens as a hobby, but looking at my top pens, it’s clear that “pretty” factors a lot into what I love the most, especially in cases where I have similar pens. So it’s good to know that it’s worth waiting for my favourite colour to come into stock or occasionally to splurge on a special edition if that’s the one calling my name. Which isn’t a surprise since one of my favourite scientific results is the “pretty things are more usable even across cultures” one but it’s nice to put it in action for myself.
We’ll see how I feel about all these preferences in a year or two, but that’s where I’m at right now!
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.
Back to school for my kiddo! And I bought the Pelikan Pura to replace my Pelikan Twist and I have zero regrets.
Here’s this month’s stationary supplies:
Stickers
household stuff sheet from Eggtart Studio (via stickii; I think this was an advent sheet)
day to day icons sheet from Neko Mori Arts (via stickii, I think I bought this one specifically because I needed more habit stickers. Currently tracking writing days with these!)
Calendar from Mossy Pine (as usual; I got a whole year’s worth!)
These were the intersection of being a little bit back to school-ish and also having the right colour vibe to go with the inks I wanted.
Paper Products
Campus Diary free monthly calendar (new)
Clairfontaine Triomphe blank notebook (going since April 2025)
Koyuko campus notebook cover
I already talked about my new calendar for the year, a Campus free monthly diary. It worked great with the fountain pen I used for numbers in September so I’m pretty happy with it so far, and I’ve got it slotted into the green cover (pictured below) on the opposite site of my current journal. Because they’re slotted in opposite sides rather than using strings or clips in the middle, there’s a bit of a gap in the centre. I was worried this would be a problem for writing but so far it seems to be fine. I’ll try some ink testing with dip pens on the back pages when I next do swatching.
Three fountain pens and inks: Pilot Elite E95S with Diamine Aurora borealis, Pelikan Pura with Diamine Snow Globe, Pelikan Twist with Diamine Winterberry. The latter two have sparkles.
Fountain Pens and Inks
Pilot Elite E95S <m> – Diamine Aurora Borealis (dark teal, carry over from last month)
Pelikan Pura <b> – Diamine Snow Globe (blue with blue shimmer)
Pelikan Twist <m> – Diamine Winterberry (red with red shimmer)
Since my blog post about the Pelikan Twist I managed to find someone selling the particular model of Pelikan Pura that I’d fallen for with the broad nib I wanted at a sale price, so I decided to jump on it even though I’m unemployed and should probably not be buying $100 pens. But I *love* this pen as much as I hoped I would and it fills a gap in my collection so I don’t feel like I made the wrong choice. The Pelikan Pura anniversary design with the little Y geometric snowflake shape and the pretty teal colour is fantastic, and obviously I’m very excited about having a feed that doesn’t clog up with sparkle. It has a round grip so no issues with that (the way there were with the Twist’s odd triangular grip). I expect this pen will be inked almost constantly since it will likely be my sparkle pen going fowards, and I have a lot of sparkle inks from Inkvent to use. Honestly, this pen jumped immediately into second place in my collection (behind my beloved Pilot Elite).
After this month, the Twist will probably go back to being relegated as a sometimes pen because of the annoying triangle pen, although I’ve been playing with a coil grip thing on it that helps a bit and we’ll see how I feel about it after a month of use.
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