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.
This was a gift from a friend who said it was more for the fun little bottle than anything exciting about the ink. It’s a pretty cute little bottle and I didn’t have one since I think the only colorverse ink I have is a sample.
Colorverse Black Hole ink bottle, which has an unusual teardrop shaped base. This is the front view showing the bit sticking out on one side. The illustration has a stylized black hole and a little planet saying “SOS” on it.
Love that little picture on the front. The bottle has a teardrop shaped base which I guess makes it a bit less likely to tip over and mostly just makes it interesting.
Colorverse Black Hole ink bottle, which has an unusual teardrop shaped base. This is thebottom view showing the teardrop shape, though it sits nice and flat because of the flat label on the front.
Inside, the ink is as one expects, a pleasant black. There’s a tiny bit of sheen visible in the swatch on the right, and indeed I can see that in my writing occasionally if I look at it under a sufficiently bright light, but it’s more a cute coincidence than a regular feature of the ink on the paper I’m using. Might be fun to try it on the iroful paper to see if it happens more consistently there; my current notebook is a leuchtterm.
My swatch card for Colorverse Black Hole, a black ink with a tiny hint of sheen in the bigger swatches.
I’m not too worried about getting the sheen to show up more, though, since the only other black ink bottle I have is a black with sheen from Inkvent Black (uuuh, Good Tidings I think it was called?). I’m guessing that Black Hole dries quicker, though I didn’t actually test that. I did, however, have some fun painting with it in the margins of my journal.
Some margin patterns in my notebook using Colorverse Black Hole ink on a paintbrush. One side has curly vine-like shapes, the other a geometric zig-zag with partial triangles.
Fun bottle and a nice practical ink. Overall a very nice present! And I think this is the last ink bottle or sample I had that I hadn’t swatched in my collection, so I’m all caught up and there’s no ink purchases on my horizon until the weather warms up, and maybe not even then — I’ve got so much to play with 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.
I have done my first stationary order since moving back to Canada! I was looking specifically for a clip for my Kaweco Liliput, which had unfortunately been falling out of my pen case enough that I was worried about losing it, and a couple of extra traveler’s notebooks in the regular size for my commuter notebook needs. I chose Wonder Pens mostly because I liked the Wonder Pens blog, which is a good enough reason for me, and they are at least in the same province. Maybe someday I’ll get to visit them in person, since my kid is very excited about the idea of going to the Toronto Zoo again.
The package came with the prettiest stamp on it:
Wonder Pens Stationary Shop stamp, featuring a scene inside an ink jar with a squirrel writing and a cat reading a book while sitting on top of a stack of books. there are stars sparkling over their heads.
And here’s what was inside:
A set of items from my order: a wide flat case from Lihit Labs, a regular sized traveler’s notebook, a small bottle of stamp ink, a clip and converter for my kaweco liliput pen, a blank passport sized traveler’s notebook with a zipper case to match, and a pretty postcard with a photo of a collection of year of the horse themed stamps on it.
Since it’s what motivated me to do a purchase, let’s start with the clip for my pen.
The Liliput Clip fits nicely and most importantly, has solved my problem. Now the pen clips securely into the pencil case I use for my journal setup and it doesn’t slip out into my bag, the couch, or wherever I’m writing. I love this pen a lot but it was absolutely an escape artist. I decided to go with a more complementary colours vibe instead of getting the silver and I still haven’t made up my mind if that was the right choice (so it probably wasn’t) but I don’t care enough to get a second clip when this won’t transfer to my other kaweco pens. I also picked up a spare folding converter. I already had one of the regular ones and one of the folding ones and I’d been a bit mystified by the folding one because it didn’t make any difference in the kaweco sport — they both fit and have the same ink capacity. But it turns out that if you try to use the old converter in the liliput, the plunger has to be half depressed or it won’t fit in the body of the pen, so suddenly the folding piston thing makes a lot more sense. I didn’t desperately need a 3rd converter but now I’ve got the option if I want to ink all three kaweco pens at once. I do like them for travel because they’re easy to fill and clean in a hotel room and don’t hold much ink, so it might happen!
I’ve been been using a TN sized notebook as a kind of “everything notebook” for work and commuting, and I’d already squashed a few pages when something else in my backpack fell in between them. This happens to me a lot, which is why I prefer zippered holders for my notebooks. I switched to using an A5 “ghost whale” pouch that I already had, the same type I had used for my whole journalling setup for quite a wihle, but it didn’t fit well and I found it unsatisfying. It turns out that the Lihit Labs flat wide case was the right size, so I added it to my order. I also grabbed two spare TN notebook refills, one to use immediately so I could separate my personal and work notebooks, the other on hand for when I filled one or the other up.
My work bullet journal (a lochby TN sized notebook with a TN zipper case used as a cover) slipped into the front pocket of the new Lihit Labs flat wide pencil case. It fits but it it’s sticking out of the top a little.
Just in case you were wondering: one notebook does fit into the front pocket. With the zipper case on, it sticks out a bit, but without the case it kisses the edge of the zipper. I know it’s hard to figure out what will fit from online listings so I thought I’d post a photo. Having it in the front wouldn’t work for me, since I was aiming to keep the notebook from getting banged up in my backpack, but if you’re not stuffing things in your bag in a hurry when you get to the right bus stop, or you just cared more about fitting pens in the case, this would probably work? It does fit better in the inside pockets, though I actually use the inside pocket for a pencil board instead and just leave the notebook floating in the middle for easy “flip open and write” usage.
Inside of the Lihit Labs Flat wide case, showing some pens on the left and a traveler’s notebook pencil board on the right. The latter is also in the inner pocket, showing that it fits snugly but there’s enough room to close the zipper without any difficulty.
Honestly, I could probably do without the plastic zipper case now that the notebooks are protected in a different way, but I like being able to swap pretty stickers into the back where I can see them and it’s fun to be able to “glue” the two notebooks together by tucking a cover into each side of the non-zippered edge. I don’t think anyone cares what notebook I’m writing in at work but it’s nice that I can grab them both when I’m going to sit away from my desk with a coffee for a bit and write whatever’s on my mind. I’ve been doing a lot of writing at work just to organize my thoughts while I’m ramping up and it’s helping with the information overload.
The Lihit Labs pencil case opened to show some pens in the pocket on the left and the same notebook with cover on the right, although the notebook has been flipped over so you can see the stickers inside the zipper pouch. Prominent is one with an animal bones motif (from fireside textiles/tonkai) and some washi dots are visible behind.
Now that I’ve been using both notebooks, I will say that the Lochby refill that I got as a surprise “oopsie out of stock” substitution from The Gentleman Stationer is clearly a slight upgrade over the official TN refill. The paper is a little more resilient against feathering, there’s nice stitching so it lies a bit more flat, I like the rounded corners, and it has a slightly thicker cover. It’s probably not enough of an upgrade to be worth the cost and hassle of cross border shopping, but it was a generous substitution and if I were still in the US I’d probably stock up on them instead of the TN ones.
The passport sized notebook and zipper case were so I could duplicate my “covered notebook with sticker space” commuter notebook in a size that would sit in my smallest purse. Here it is with a little yamamoto ro biki book that I’d been toting around before I got the case. You can see it’s a little squished from use. I use the smallest purse for a lot of trips where I’m going to be on my feet most of the day because extra weight is hard on my body, but it’s nice to have a tiny notebook that my kid or I can draw in if we stop for a snack, and kid’s at the age where people give him stickers and it’s nice to have a pouch to put them in or flexible plastic to put them on because he doesn’t want to lose them. I’m honestly a little miffed that the zipper case in passport size has card sized slots because I think it would look prettier without, but I guess that’s what I get for not actually buying something intended as a notebook cover.
A rust coloured Yamamoto Ro Biki notebook with a stylized tree on it with spindly long branches and round dots for leaves. It has a plastic TN passport “zipper case” over the notebook being used as a cover.
The stamp ink I haven’t used yet, but it’s for this auto-advancing number stamp I got with the intention of quickly stamping page numbers into notebooks that didn’t have them. Unfortunately the ink that came with it takes forever to dry so the process isn’t quick at all and I have to blot the stamps or they take days to fully dry. I don’t know if the midori stamp ink will be better, but since I was already going to be paying for shipping I figured it was worth a shot. I haven’t gotten around to cleaning out the stamp pad and trying it, though.
A close up of a dot grid notebook with the page number “22” stamped inside. You can see that there’s some messy ink transfer from the stamp on the facing page.
I avoided adding fountain pen ink to this order because it was so cold and I didn’t want to risk having a bottle freeze solid and break en route. Thankfully the stamp ink came in a forgiving little plastic container and there were no problems.
Overall, I had a nice online shopping experience, and it was such a relief to find somewhere that would send me “back on stock” notifications for the TN notebooks after it turned out my local dealer either doesn’t carry the dot grid ones or they’re just out of stock all the time and I don’t know which. Hopefully I’ll get to visit Wonder Pens in person some day! And maybe next order (likely when I need a new planner in the fall), I’ll be able to get some ink.
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.
Still settling in to the new house. We’ve prepped a couple of rooms for painting but then the furnace decided it would just sometimes not turn on in the middle of a cold snap, and cold rooms are hard to paint. New thermostat is supposedly coming today and we really hope that’s the problem. It looks like the former owners had some weird zwave kickstarter thermostat that was not great even when it seemed to be working, but it may well be an issue with the furnace itself. Thank goodness for good insulation so we didn’t freeze when it turned off overnight.
Painting continues, so here’s a photo of Hatch who looked at the cardboard I put on the floor and thought “must be a dog bed.”
Caption: Hatch, a black lab mix dog, is sprawled across a cardboard wardrobe box that has been flattened and placed on the floor to protect it during painting. He’s got his face in the sunbeam and is looking towards the window with his head over his paws, while his hind end is sprawled at a “draw me like one of your French girls” pinup pose with his legs stretched out.
And then, immediately, “don’t take my picture!”
Caption: Hatch, a black lab mix dog, sitting on some cardboard with his front half in a sunbeam. He’s sitting up compared to the previous photo and you can see that his front paws are crossed. He’s looking vaguely in my direction with his ears back like he’s not very impressed.
Anyhow, let’s talk inks.
A set of four ink swatches from the Diamine Inkvent Teal (2025) calendar. Day 17 Gala is a bright purple, Day 18 Laurel is deep green with so much red sheen that the green is often completely invisible, Day 19 Overcast is a light blue with pinkish tones, and Day 20 Ambiance is orange with pink sparkles.
Day 17: Gala. A nice shading purple. I really like this one! It’s a little more pink than J Herbin Violette Pensée, which is the closest thing in my collection. I’m pretty much always going to have the My Little Pony song “At the Gala” stuck in my head when I use this, especially since it’s a very twilight sparkle kind of purple.
Day 18: Laurel. Dark teal-leaning green base with so much red sheen that it’s more of a red ink than a green one. I like this one but I do wish it had a little less sheen so you could get more of the base colour, and it is very similar to Vibe from last year so it’s kind of boring in context. Still, viewed on its own it’s a fun ink and I appreciate that it’s a lot more green than all the other pink sheen inks I have. I wonder why I never see a deep red with the pink sheen? Something chemical or it just doesn’t look as cool in product photos?
Day 19: Overcast. A dual-tone ink that’s grey-blue with a pink tone. This one is really lovely, but unfortunately very close to my Fountain Pen Day purchase of Van Dieman’s Underflow. Underflow is a bit brighter and more green so they’re not exactly duplicates just very similar. I’ll use both!
Day 20: Ambiance. A peachy orange with pink sparkles. This one is unique in my collection — the closest ink I have has gold shimmer and despite the photo above making it look more gold, this one is definitely more of a pink shimmer when viewed head-on. I like it!
These are all lovely and will get used, though I feel like Laurel could have been more interesting with less sheen. I think Ambiance is the one I’m most excited to ink up and use in my journal, but probably Overcast and Gala will see more use over time due to the lack of shimmer.
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.
Another belated Inkvent post for swatch Wednesday! I didn’t bother doing inkvent posts in December because of the move, and in theory now that some of our stuff has arrived I could probably be unpacking instead of blogging about ink. But our stuff got separated into two shipments and a lot of the furniture is on the second truck, and in some cases we have bookshelves but no actual shelves so they’re unusable for unpacking. Oh well. We don’t have an ETA yet on the second half of stuff so we’re doing what we can.
And in the meantime, here’s some ink swatches!
A set of swatches from the Diamine Inkvent Teal calendar showcasing day 13 Molten Basalt (grey with red sheen), 14 Mittens (hot pink, pigment ink), 15 Frostbite (dark blue with copper shimmer), 16 Ruby Taffeta (red with green shimmer)
Day 13: Molten Basalt. Grey with a reddish sheen. Normally I’m not a huge fan of greys because they’re either dark enough to mostly look black in practice, or they’re light enough that they’re kind of annoying to read without bringing much joy to my writing. (I like saturated colours!) But the sheen is enough to make this one interesting, and I like the name.
Day 14: Mittens. Hot pink pigment ink. I have no idea what could possibly call for waterproof Barbie pink ink in my life, but I love how saturated and unapologetic the colour looks. This one didn’t stain as badly as Brr! did but I was also a bit more careful about soaking the brush a few seconds after I was done using it.
Day 15: Frostbite. Dark blue with loads of copper shimmer. It looks a bit gold in the picture but its more coppery to my eye. This one’s very pretty and I’d like to see how it does in a pen where the shimmer is likely to be toned down a bit so you can actually appreciate the base colour.
Day 15: Ruby Taffeta. Red with iridescent green shimmer. For some reason the camera picks this up more as a silver but it’s noticeably green to my eyes in real life. This is the red of my dreams, exactly the red I’ve wanted and I’m almost mad that it’s got shimmer because it’s such a perfect red. (Look, I bonded with red pens during my stint as an editor, okay?) This will absolutely get used but it’s gonna be really tempting to not bother stirring it up and using it without the shimmer. Not that the shimmer is bad, but the slightly greenish iridescence isn’t what I would have chosen to go with such a glorious red. If anyone knows of a match for this colour without the shimmer, let me know!
Overall: I love all of these. Ruby Taffeta is probably my favourite, but Molten Basalt may get inked up more often due to the lack of shimmer. I do have some pinks similar to Mittens but they’re not pigment inks so it’s really a different beast. And the rest are all pretty different to what I had before!
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!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Liliput Clip fits nicely and most importantly, has solved my problem. Now the pen clips securely into the pencil case I use for my journal setup and it doesn’t slip out into my bag, the couch, or wherever I’m writing. I love this pen a lot but it was absolutely an escape artist. I decided to go with a more complementary colours vibe instead of getting the silver and I still haven’t made up my mind if that was the right choice (so it probably wasn’t) but I don’t care enough to get a second clip when this won’t transfer to my other kaweco pens. I also picked up a spare folding converter. I already had one of the regular ones and one of the folding ones and I’d been a bit mystified by the folding one because it didn’t make any difference in the kaweco sport — they both fit and have the same ink capacity. But it turns out that if you try to use the old converter in the liliput, the plunger has to be half depressed or it won’t fit in the body of the pen, so suddenly the folding piston thing makes a lot more sense. I didn’t desperately need a 3rd converter but now I’ve got the option if I want to ink all three kaweco pens at once. I do like them for travel because they’re easy to fill and clean in a hotel room and don’t hold much ink, so it might happen!
