terriko

Trying two new inks this month, and a new book cover for my journal! Also, if you’ve got tips for using shimmer inks better, one of my pens is already acting a bit clogged and we’re not even two weeks into the month, so I’d be happy to hear any advice!

New stuff

I picked up a KOKUYO journal cover for my current softcover journal. I also picked up a KOYUKO campus A5 calendar that will fit in there with it, in preparation for the end of summer when I need a new calendar. I keep an academic year calendar partially due to my own habit (getting a PhD and then doing a postdoc means I spent a lot of years in school) and also because I have a kid in school now so it’s nice to be able to have his whole school year on hand when planning stuff. The cover adds just enough extra rigidity to the setup to make it easier for me to write journal entries when I’m not using a flat surface, which is honestly most of the time for me as I typically write entries on my lap when I think of stuff. I’d previously been using writing boards for this but they tend to slip out so I think it’ll be less hassle overall. The only problem is that it’s just enough bigger that I can’t fit my pen case and journal into the same A5 pouch I’d been using, but that hasn’t annoyed me as much as I thought it would. I don’t think I’ve reached what I consider a *perfect* setup yet, but I definitely feel like the cover is a good addition.

The two KWZ inks are new: Firecracker is another “all that glitters” ink with the very small shimmer particles that make it more like a metallic gel pen than my other inks. I love it so much. BUT I will note that I used another ink from this line in my TWSBI Eco and had a lot of sparkle residue left over in the feed that caused mild problems, so I made sure to use this in a converter pen that should be easier to flush.

Gummiberry is less exciting as far as inks go, just me trying out a slightly brighter purple because I’ve learned that I mostly find darker inks disappointing. I didn’t pick up this hobby to then have writing that I could get with just any pen. I want bright colours, sparkle, drama! But I’ve been having a rough time with shimmer inks lately (possibly because I’m writing more on the computer and less by hand) so I’m trying to enjoy some options that are less of a hazard. This one is nice and I like it.

I picked up a second Kaweco Sport pen with a broad nib (it’s the yellow one) and got a calligraphy nib for my existing blue pen. The broad nib is an utter delight with the Firecracker ink. It feels absurdly smooth and looks beautiful. The 1.1mm calligraphy nib seems to be a bit less forgiving for everyday writing than my existing stub nibs, but it’s kind of fun when I use it right. I suspect, again, that I’m having more trouble with it because of the shimmer ink I’m using — lots of small skipping problems with the ink flow. But I’ve seen a few reviewers comment that the feed has trouble keeping up with the wider calligraphy nibs on this pen so it might not be the ink, I don’t know. I’ll try it on something less sparkly eventually. I like the size of the Kaweco Sport because I’ve got small hands but also because the tiny converter makes it closer to the amount of ink I actually use in a month. Who knew I’d be so into small converters?

Not new but I don’t think I talked about it before: I picked up a Lihit Labs “Compact” pencil case to hold my pens so they wouldn’t get so scratched up (the reason my existing Kaweco hasn’t been in rotation was that it was getting kind of beat up in my previous pencil case). A lot of the pen cases I looked at were very expensive and lots of them were made of leather. I like leather in general, but it’s heavy and seemed likely to get really torn up the way my journal supplies wind up in the bottom of my knitting bag that I then carry around the house all the time. This was reasonably priced and solves the problem, though I likely want to find a thinner eraser-pen thing so it fits in there, because my existing eraser has a bulky little case and honestly I mostly erase tiny calendar stuff so smaller would be fine.

Stickers

• purple bunnies from TheLatestKate’s patreon





• bunnies and books from PinkPafu via stickii





• bunnies and flowers from Dai and Qin via stickii

I think both the stickii ones were from this year’s advent. I’ve been thinking about advents since the yarn ones are starting preorders now, and I think I’d probably do the stickii one again, but I’m less sure about the Diamine ink one because I definitely won’t have made as much of a dent in using the inks as I have the stickers unless I start writing a lot more. But the inks were more fun actually *in* December than the stickers were because I enjoyed all the swatching. It may be all a moot point as work is figuring out layoffs right now so who knows if I’ll even have a job to be spending money on advent stuff, but I find it good to think about these things in advance so I don’t get trigger happy when things come up for pre-order.

Fountain Pens & Inks

• Kaweco sport <b> – KWZ All That Glitters – Firecracker
  
  
  
  • an orange-red ink with gold shimmer. More like a metallic gel pen than most shimmer inks. The “gimmick” is that it’s suppose to need less agitation and it’s true. I find it a lot easier to use as an everyday writing ink.
  
  
  
  





• Kaweco sport <1.1> – Diamine – Pine Needle.
  
  
  
  • Green that honestly isn’t quite like either new or old pine needles, but it’s a nice colour anyhow. Lots of gold/green shimmer. Was an absolute dream to use the day after I put it in the pen, but I think the feed is slowly clogging up with the shimmer because it’s already getting less fun to use. I’ll probably try to use it more for my todo list/craft tracking and see if the problem is mostly that it’s getting used every 4 days instead of more often, but it may just need more agitation before I try writing.
  
  
  
  





• Pilot E95S <m> – Pilot Iroshizuku – kon peki
  
  
  
  • A repeat from last month. Still the nicest nib I own and I love using it.
  
  
  
  





• Pilot Metropolitan <cm> (not pictured because it was getting cleaned) – KWZ Gummiberry
  
  
  
  • A nice bright purple with a bit of shading. Easy to use.
  
  
  
  

Let’s try getting this posted before the end of the month this time! Here’s what I’m using for journal/calendar stuff this month, with some mini reviews of the supplies I’ve used already.

Notebook

As I mentioned last month, I’m starting a new notebook for April even though my iroful one isn’t quite full, because I wasn’t loving the slower dry time for day to day journalling and decided to use the last pages for playing with new inks instead. The new notebook is a Clairefontaine Triomphe, which is blank inside. I used to prefer blank notebooks because I liked them better for doodling, but I’ve spent a few years using dot grid ones now so we’ll see how this goes. So far, the paper is nice and I like that I can use very differently sized pens and write in different sizes easily (in dot grid, my stub nib writing feels a bit cramped), and the dry times are short enough that I’m not constantly smearing my todo lists when I flip back and forth. I would like a slightly stiffer cover, but I’ve got a couple of pencil boards stuck in there the same way I did with the Iroful notebook, and it’s working well enough. I wish the Hobonichi one had a darker set of guide lines on it so I could use them (they’re too pale to show through this paper) but I can always print out my own guide lines if I decide I want them. For now I’m just letting my writing be what it is.

Fountain Pens & Inks

I impulse bought an “Ooly Writer’s Duo” set for US $13 from Powell’s when I was getting the new Seanen McGuire InCryptid book. These are fountain pens on one side and highlighters on the other. The fountain pen side uses a cartridge, I don’t think the highligher side is as easily refillable. I don’t know if they’re a standard size and I haven’t bothered to look it up since it’ll take me a few months to use each cartridge. I’m currently only using the pink/orange one since I don’t want to have too many cartridges open at once and I already have a few pens in rotation that have them. It’s approximately a fine nib, but thankfully not too scratchy. The fountain pen colour is less bright than the pen and the highlighter is more bright, but both are nice enough. Maybe I’ll remember to take more photos later, but so far I’d say they’re a nice deal for $13 and will likely find a niche as todo list or calendar pens, though I think they’re smooth enough that they’ll be ok for longer journal entries too if I want.

The other pen ink combos are repeats from last month:

• TWSBI Eco <medium> – Diamine Noble Fir (bright green with shimmer)





• Nahvalur Original+ <stub> – Diamine Aurora Borealis (dark teal with red sheen)





• Pilot E95S <medium> – Pilot Iroshizuku ama iro (sky blue)

We’re a week in to the month and I’ve already had to pull the Nahvalur out of rotation for cleaning because it went from “occasional hard start” to “annoying to use” pretty quickly. I’ve replaced it with a new pen:

• Hongdian M1 <fine> – Jaques Herbin Violette Pensée

This is my first time using this M1 and I don’t love it. It’s got a scratchy nib that feels like writing with a mechanical pencil, which isn’t great for me ergonomically so it makes my hand ache after a while. I’ll give it at least a few more tries but it may get pulled from the rotation before the end of the month too. The ink is lovely as always, though!

Stickers

All from stickii again! Flower party dogs, snail stamps, and cute little critter icons. The last one I’m using for calendar tracking. I need more sources of tiny stickers for that!

People actually responded to my January ink palette so I’m encouraged enough to post one for February! I’m starting with just 4 inks this month. My current plan is to also rotate in some of the other pens I have inked if I want a few more colours (I have a few on my desk for todo lists/work notes plus a few more in my backpack for when I’m out and about).

February Inks

• Diamine Cranberry (from Inkvent 2024)





• Diamine Noble Fir (from Inkvent 2024)





• KWZ All that glitters – Stardust Blue





• Pilot Iroshizuku – Momiji

KWZ All that glitters is meant to have a special formula that helps keep the shimmer in solution longer and I’m hoping to compare it with how the shimmer works in Noble Fir, so they’re both in the two TWSBI demonstrator pens.

February Pens

• Hongdian N8 Maple (long blade nib)





• Pilot Elite E95S (medium)





• TWSBI Eco-T Clear (stub)





• TWSBI Eco Glow Green (medium)

The Pilot Elite was my birthday gift and I love it so much. It’s a weird shaped pen with that long long cap but it works really well in my hand. The Hongdian N8 is new because I had a gift cert from work and I wanted to try the long blade nib, which I gather has line variation similar to a stub but the direction in which it’s thick vs thin is reversed. I only just inked it up so I can’t say much more yet!

February Stickers

• frogs and food (stickii advent 2024, Sinnin Studios)





• something valentines-y (stickii advent 2024, Neko Mori Arts)





• dogs with sweaters (stickii, didn’t have an artist name on the sheet, at photo in bottom of post)





• February calendar cat (By Mossy Pine, in photo at bottom of post)





• polar bears (The Latest Kate, not pictured)

This is *probably* more stickers than I’ll actually use but I’ve had some problems with the iroful journal paper having fingerprint-like sections that don’t really retain ink very well, so I’m keeping extra stickers on hand so I can cover those up and not be irritated by them as I find them. I’m guessing that they are actual fingerprints of the folk handling the paper during coating since the marks have ridges and whorls if I inspect them closely, but I don’t really know.

A side note: the iroful paper has been a fun experience for showcasing sheening inks, but it’s just irritating enough as a journal that I probably won’t buy another one: there’s the fingerprints where ink won’t take, the fact that the signatures are glued together so periodically it won’t lay perfectly flat, the thinner cover so I have to have a separate rigid writing board in when I’m writing, and the slower dry times for the coated paper which isn’t so bad for most of my journal use but is obnoxious when I’m adding art or flipping back and forth to todo lists and book review sections. I might swap to a new journal after February and save the remaining pages for ink testing depending on how many pages I use in February and how grumpy I am about the paper by then. I’m currently about halfway through the journal after 1.5 months.

Washi tape

• purple with gold hearts 3mm





• fuschia 1mm

I originally bought the teensy shiny tapes for nail art, but since I haven’t been doing that lately they’ve become great as a replacement for drawing lines.

February has historically been my least favourite month because it’s when the darkness is starting to get to me and the weather is all over the map, and living in the US right now isn’t the greatest, but I’m trying to focus on things that bring me joy so I’ve got the energy to quietly (and non-publicly) deal with the stuff that doesn’t. I’ve been making some inroads into improving some stuff that wasn’t working for me at my day job, and I’m slowly recovering from the flu (or maybe it’s covid again) that my husband brought back from a work trip. Glad to spend some time appreciating inks and stickers and doggies in sweaters.