10. Diamine

Diamine is a tried-and-true brand with a huge range of colors and multiple lines: the standard line, the 150th anniversary collection and the new Inkvent collections. The prices for each of the collections are so reasonable that I think the inks are often overlooked — and sometimes overwhelming. Diamine has often worked with fans like FPN and Reddit to create custom limited edition inks too. The most recent Celadon Cat was a Reddit fans collab.

The standard line of inks are available in 30ml (about $8 each) and epic 80ml bottles (about $17 each). The 150th anniversary line come in 40ml pie-wedge shaped bottles and sells for about $18 per bottle. Many colors can even be purchased in standard international cartridges (18 cartridges for approx.$9) .

If you’re just looking into Diamine inks and haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole of the Inkvent inks yet, one of the most popular colors is Red Dragon, a deep red with a bit of gold sheen. Ancient Copper is also a popular choice.

9. Pen BBS

Pen BBS is a Chinese online fountain pen community much like FPN in the West. They started creating their own inks and pens pre-2016 (thats the earliest date I have on a bottle of ink) and has continued to produce new colors ever since then. Originally, Pen BBS inks came in massive 60ml faceted bottles with engraved logo caps. As new series have been released the bottles have changed size and shape but the quality and wide range of color options have continued. When the shimmer inks trend first took off, Pen BBS lead the way with the finest shimmer particles and remains one of my favorite options for shimmer inks. June Pearl No. 226 is a delightful pale purple with silver shimmer. If you can find a bottle, I highly recommend it.

Lily of the Valley No. 507 is a great option as well, its a watery green with just a hint of blue. Its another one to keep a look out for. Vanness is clearing out the Pen BBS inks so what’s left is marked down considerably. Get a bottle while you can!

8. Pelikan Edelstein

Pelikan 4001 is a classic ink but when Pelikan introduced the jewel-inspired Edelstein line, they really helped to launch a new era of fountain pen ink fans. As a result of being one of the earliest to create new inks in a wider range of colors, Pelikan Edelstein is often overlooked until they announce their “ink of the year”. The 2023 color is Rose Quartz. Each bottle is 50ml for about $28 per bottle. It’s not the most affordable ink in this list but its a good ink in a beautiful, desk-worthy bottle.

One of my favorite Edelstein colors is Jade, a bluish green. It’s a very pretty, unusual shade. But if you are purchasing your first Edelstein ink, Smoky Quartz is also a great option.

7. Callifolio

Callifolio is an ink made by a French art supplies company.  Each of their ink colors come in a 40ml pie-shaped bottle (just like the Diamine 150th Annivesary inks for about $13 per bottle) or a 50ml refill pouch for about $10.25USD. The palette of colors (or should  say “colouers”) is truly sophisticated and refined.  Inti and Heure Doree (Golden Hour) were early alternatives to the coveted but hard to get KWZ Honey for a short time but now I think that the Callifolio options are a better option for those golden-y yellows without the controversial fragrance of the KWZ inks. Don’t get me wrong, I still like the way KWZ Honey smells but I think I might be in the minority.

If you’re looking for a gateway color from Callifolio, I recommend Gris de Payne (Payne’s Grey), a smoky steely blue-grey color. The previously mentioned Inti and Heure Doree are also solid first-time Callifolio options.

6. Papier Plume

Papier Plume is a small New Orleans pen shop that makes their own inks. They have made many standard colors as well as New Orleans-themed colors and many, many special editions. Their standard 30ml bottles sell for $8 to $10 per bottle.

Get in touch with your inner Nawlins with one of the New Orleans collection colors like one of my favorites, Sazerac, a deep orange that makes me thirsty just looking at the swatch.

5. De Atramentis

DeAtramentis offers over 475 (actually 492 inks according to Vanness Pen Shop) different ink colors including the most insane array of scented inks. If you’ve ever participated in one of the Vanness open house events during the Arkansas Pen Show, you might have been forced to endure one of our “guess the ink stink” games and been forced to sniff Leather, Motorbike, Cannabis, or help us all, Horse. No joke.

They have lovely floral scents as well. And document inks, artists inks, shimmer inks, . But the array of colors is why I stick with DeAtramentis (40ml bottles for about $14) after all these years. My favorite ink from my earliest days of fountain pens in Pigeon Blue but the Deepwater Obsession Black Edition series is a great collection of dark colors. I especially like Black-Red.

4. Kaweco

While the Kaweco ink line is a little smaller than most with just 10 colors, it’s a classic assortment. Previously, the inks came in the 30ml bottles shown above but now the inks ship is square shaped jam jars. These 50ml bottles sell for $11 per bottle.

The Summer Purple, Smokey Grey and Paradise Blue are my favorite shades in the line so if you’re trying to decide where to start with Kaweco inks, I recommend one of these three.

3. Lamy

Lamy’s stock ink line (AKA T52, approx. $12.50 per bottle) comes in the most unique 50ml bottle. The exterior of the bottle includes a channel with an absorbent tape to wipe off your nibs after filling your pen. While there are not a ton of colors in the line, if you need a staple ink, having one of the colors available from Lamy is a great addition to your collection.

Lamy has their posher T53 “Crystal Ink” line but these come in smaller 30ml bottles for approx. $16 each. The colors are more sophisticated but the bottles don’t have the tissue tape.

Both the Crystal Inks and the standard line offered the Vibrant Pink color which is one of my favorites. It’s not super vibrant but provides a stunning pink color. The Vibrant Pink was a limited edition color for 2018 and can still be found if you look around for it. The Vibrant Pink contains some gold flecks which gives off a fabulous gold sheen. Rhodonite from the Crystal Ink line is the same color if you can’t find it in the T52 bottle.

2. Waterman

Waterman inks are the inks I most recommend to people looking for inks that are “safe for vintage pens”. But Waterman inks aren’t just for vintage pens. The line of 10 classic colors have some hidden features at a price that won’t shock your wallet. Several of the 10 colors have some sheening properties including Serenity Blue Audacious Red and Tender Purple. Each 50ml bottle costs about $12. If you’re looking to have a couple tried-and-true inks that can be used in any pen, you can’t go wrong with Waterman.

…and finally…  1. Monteverde

Monteverde is by far one of my favorite inks. It’s well-behaved and some of my favorite ink colors are from Monteverde. Its not an ink that people talk about in rhapsodic tones but I do. It’s inexpensive, there are some amazing colors. The box sets of 10 colors in 30ml bottles ($100 pr set)  are great gateways for new ink collectors too.

Monteverde inks are available in 30ml (MSRP $10)  and 90ml bottles (MSRP$20) so ints relatively inexpensive to purchase a small bottle and, if you really love an ink, 90ml for $20 (or less) is a deal. A couple years ago, Monteverde had a brief issue with a couple colors of ink having mold or scumming issue but those have been resolved. Unfortunately, it has given a lot of folks pause before purchasing. I spoke with a representative from the company earlier this year and he assured me the problems have been resolved and any bottles with issues were replaced with no questions — even when people insisted they had issues with bottles that were not actually from the affected batches. That said, there’s no reason to hesitate in purchasing ink from Monteverde.

Monteverde inks are also available in standard international packs of 12 for approx. $6 each, not all colors are available in cartridges but this gives some great color options for on-the-go needs.

If you’ve not tried a Monteverde ink before, I recommend either California Teal, a great green-teal with sheen or, my favorite ink, Birthday Cake.

California Teal was a favorite sheening ink a couple years back but as more ink makers have created sheening inks, people have forgotten about California Teal. I still think its one of the best sheeners. Its a deep green that has a hint of blue and a red sheen. It looks good, even in fine nibbed pens.

Birthday Cake is a deep, muted purple ink is the perfect balance between a unique, unusual color and a good everyday writer, even subdued enough for the office. Birthday Cake has been my go-to ink all year and I may have to invest in one of the 90ml bottles.

There are lots of other ink brands I could have mentioned here. Which under-appreciated inks would you include in a list like this?

The post Top 10 Under-Appreciated Ink Brands appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I have to say, this is the first ink from Diamine that I’m sort of underwhelmed by. It is a gorgeous dark blue, and in certain lights I get the reddish pink sheen. However, I shook my bottle well and there was nary any shimmer to be seen?

In terms of color, this one is quite like Dromgoole’s special Colorverse NASA Blue ink, right down to the red sheen. The blue is also similar, though not quite as dark as, Diamine’s 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet.

I’m having a hard time with this one. In the sample swatches it looks to be a gorgeous shimmery, sheeny blue, perfect for my non-denominational holiday needs. But the real ink just isn’t as exciting, and so given the bottle I got, I’d give this one a pass.

• Paper: Crossfield Journal ($24)
• Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80)
• Swatches: Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Inks: Diamine Blue Edition Happy Holidays Shimmer & Sheen ink (50mL for $22)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Inkmas Day 9: Diamine Blue Edition Happy Holidays Shimmer & Sheen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Why?

When I am in a meeting or on-the-go, a cartridge fountain pen can be quickly re-inked without mess, fuss or complication. I just untwist the barrel, pull out the old cartridge and pop in the new one from the barrel or from my pencil case where there are always a few floating around or stored in a container like the J. Herbin tins. This quick change means I don’t miss any part of a discussion while I dig for another pen or try re-inking from a bottle in the middle of a meeting — awkward!

I recommend a fountain pen (or heck even one of the many rollerball or felt tip pens we’ve reviewed here) that takes a standard international cartridge over pens that take proprietary cartridges. This will give you more flexibility: there are far more ink colors available and it’s easier to find cartridges in the wild should you need more.

How

I recommend keeping at least one fountain pen that takes the classic standard international ink cartridges on-hand and filled with cartridges. I particularly like models that can have one cartridge loaded and a spare in the barrel. Great examples of this are the Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pen and the Kaweco Special FP. There are plenty of others but these two slim pens are my official go-to office pens for ease of use and their ability to carry a spare cartridge in the barrel. Other good options are the Diplomat Esteem or Traveler.

My favorite brands for cartridges are:

• J. Herbin: the cartridges come in darling metal tins that can be saved and used to carry other cartridges later (pro tip!)
• Diamine: not only does Diamine offer lots of fan favorite color options like Ancient Copper, Oxblood and Purple Dream, they also sell a couple variety packs so you can purchase mini-collections of ink colors to try like the Elegance, Sovereign, Classic and others.
• Retro 51: They only offer black and blue cartridges but I learned at a pen show that their black is the blackest black around.
• Graf von Faber-Castell: Yes, these are pricey but not as pricey as buying a whole bottle of their ink so it you want some of the unique colors available from Faber-Castell, this is a great option.
• Kaweco: Kaweco offers a good quality and color range, including their highlighter yellow color at a reasonable price. I’m also a big fan of their cartridge holder.
• Monteverde: There are a great variety of their core colors available in cartridges and those colors have sheen and shading to boot.
• Visconti: I confess I like the Visconti ink cartridges for the beautiful containers they used to  be packaged in. Sadly, Visconti has switched their packaging to paperboard boxes but you can still find a few sellers online who still have the cartridges in the original matched bakelite-style plastic canisters. It’s worth seeking at least one container of Visconti cartridges for the canister alone. Check ebay.

Do you have a go-to pen you use with cartridges? Have you ever considered keeping a pen “cartridge only” as your work/car/bag pen? Tell me in the comments!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post In Praise of Ink Cartridges appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The original Inkvent Calendar was a paperboard package that featured classic perforated windows. Under each numbered window there was one of twenty-four 7ml glass vials and on the 25th, they included a large 30ml bottle.

Each bottle indicates the color as well as whether the ink is sheen, shimmer, standard or a combination of these characteristics. The new Blue Edition Collection lists the inks with the same notations.

Per the listings, the inks are as follows:

Standard

• Elf
• Purple Bow
• Gingerbread
• Fire Ember
• Mistletoe
• Mulled Wine
• Ho ho ho
• Nutcracker
• Triple Chocolate
• Poinsettia
• Candy Cane
• Roasted Chestnut

Sheen

• Midnight Hour
• Festive Cheer
• Holly
• Polar Glow
• Noel
• Season’s Greetings

Shimmer

• Solstice
• Blue Peppermint
• Gold Star
• Snow Storm

Shimmer & Sheen

• Winter Miracle
• Jack Frost
• Happy Holidays

This video will give you a day-by-day swatch preview of each color from day one to day twenty-five. There’s no audio for this video, it’s just a flip through.

I’ve also grouped each of the swatches by color. I’ll start with the reds. The set included six reds. It’s a holiday set and red is a predominate color for the holidays. There are three bright reds and three darker reds. Candy Cane is a little more pinky-red/cooler red. Ho Ho Ho is very Santa suit red. Fire Embers is a warm red-orange. Surprisingly, none of the reds were shimmers. The only sheener was Noel and it was almost a wine color.

I think the holidays is one time where it is entirely acceptable to have a shimmer ink for addressing holiday cards or packages. I think including a shimmery red ink would be totally appropriate in the Inkvent calendar and was a missed opportunity. For 2020, shimmery red with silver particles is my recommendation.

I found Poinsettia to be very watery. It bled on my swatch cards and that seldom happens. I noticed that it happened on the Vanness swatches too so it’s clearly the ink and not my nib.

There were five blue shades in the calendar. They are lovely colors but five is a lot of blues especially considering that blue is a common color in most ink collections. With a small sample size like the Inkvent calendar features, I think being more experimental is totally acceptable. It’s a great place to try out inks and get feedback from consumers.

The next grouping of colors is browns. There are four browns in the set. I think all four colors are lovely but naming two after nuts was unimaginative. I would have renamed Nutcracker and called it  Santa’s Boots or after one of the reindeer or Sleigh Horses or something. There are lots of options. And again, I think there could have been more experimentation here.

There are three greens in the set. Elf is a classic bright green, Mistletoe is a deeper green and Holly is a more deep forest blue-green. It’s a decent range but next year, I’m hoping for some more vintage-inspired pale greens, aquas or celadon.

There are two violets: Winter Miracle and Purple Bow. Winter Miracle has a lot of sheen. It’s supposed to have shimmer as well but I had trouble seeing it. Maybe because it’s such a deep color. Purple Bow is listed as a standard ink but on Col-o-ring paper there’s a little bit of a reddish halo sheen.

Finally, there are five standalone colors: a gold, an aqua, a grey, a green-black, and a deep navy/blue-black. Besides being standalone colors, several of these are also shimmers: Blue Peppermint, Snow Storm, Gold Star and Solstice. Season’s Greetings is a sheening ink that is an unusual blue-black/deep navy color. While I don’t use a lot of shimmer inks in fountain pens (I tend to use them with dip pens more often), I like some of these ink colors best in the set, maybe because they are more unusual?

I did a quick ink vial stamp and swab of each color in order (from bottom to top) on Col-o-ring OVERSIZE to have a record of the colors altogether since they will get separated in my Col-o-ring and Col-o-Col-o-dex  by color.

Of the set, I think Polar Glow, Mulled Wine, Gold Star and Gingerbread are my favorites. At some point, I might buy a full bottle of one of these but I would I rather wait to see if Diamine will try to repeat the success of 2019 with a 2020 Inkvent Calendar.

Tools:

• Pens: Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder – Model 40 dip nib holder ($8.25) with Zebra G chrome nib ($13.50 per 10-pack)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10), Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15), Col-o-ring OVERSIZE ($15)
• Brush: Schraff 3000 Fineline #3 Round ($34.50)
• Ink: Diamine 2019 Inkvent Calendar,  now available as Blue Edition Ink Collection  ($20 for 50ml bottle)

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Holiday In July: Diamine Inkvent Calendar 2019 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This week I decided to take a break from my normal lines of Sailor Studio and Montblanc inks and instead show an ink that is beautiful, inexpensive, but hard to find.

Diamine makes an astoundingly large variety of inks for a wide variety of clients. Some people even joke that Dimaine makes all inks (it isn’t true!). Two of the more interesting presentations of Diamine ink are their Music set and their Flower set.  I have admired many of the colors in both sets for a while; the inks in each set are beautiful and well-matched to one another.

The existence of two sets actually became a problem for me, however. I could never decide which set I preferred. But then, I discovered that I didn’t need to purchase an entire set. I could order individual bottles from Cult Pens!

Although ordering from Cult Pens means ordering from overseas, the shipping rates are quite reasonable Music set along with Gerba, Pansy, and Marigold from the Flowers set.

Handel is a lovely pink-purple-brown ink. When it is first laid down, the ink looks rather muddy and pure brown. But as it starts to separate and dry, the purple and pink undertones start to show and then become the dominant colors. Handel is similar to Monteverde Blueberry Muffin but a dusty version of the reddish ink.

I used a glass dip pen for the writing above, so the shading is not as evident, but in the writing below, I used a fine nib that had no problem showing the shading qualities of Handel. It was rather mesmerizing to watch tthe ink turn from muddy brown to a dusty rose as I was writing.

Here’s a close-up of the shading in Handel (even bettter since the word IS Handel so the shading is actually IN Handel! Sorry).

In larger swatches, I found that the brown is more present that it is in writing. A very faint green-black sheen showed up at the edges of a large pool of the ink, but I never saw it in my writing.

I love that the colors are each very muted but easy to see in my writing – it is one ink that makes me want to keep writing longer just to get more of the color down on the page.

I hope you have enjoyed exploring an often overlooked ink with me! If you have any future suggestions, please let me know!

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Ink:  Diamine Handel (Cult Pens, approximately $4.50 for 30mL)
• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER: All materials used in this review were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

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