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Diplomat Deep Green
I've been a fan of Diplomat pens for the last several years. I did my first review on a Diplomat Traveller in December of 2013. It was a fine pen. Then the first Diplomat Aero in 2016. I maaaay have...
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St. Louis Pen Show 2021 Ink: KWZ's Meet me in St. Louis "Forest Park Green"
The St. Louis Pen Show has sent me a sample of their show ink to review every year, and it's always been pretty cool. I think this is my favorite one yet. Thanks, Ken! A bright, planty green, Forest...
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Energel's New Clothes: The Kuro
I've always liked the EnerGel pens from Pentel. They're very good gel pens, with really good inks. Their most common body style here in the USA are the silver ones in the photo below. They're a really...
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How To Pen Show
 One of the things I've been thinking about for a long while is starting a How To series of videos over on my YouTube channel. They'd cover basic things like "What are the parts of a Fountain Pen?" or...
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ST Dupont Line D Guilloche Large Fountain Pens!
 Confession time: I started this post in May. Somehow I just never hit the "publish" button. These ST Dupont Guilloche pens were sent out for me to review by Coles of London. The short version is that...
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Esterbrook Aqua & Shimmer Aqua
 Written Review Esterbrook sent out a set of samples of their inks for review, and they'll be coming to the blog now that the inks are available to buy. As far as I know, these aren't limited or...
View ArticleFountain Pen Day Give Away!
I'm happy to be able to give away quite a few things this year for Fountain Pen Day! Prizes will include an Esterbrook JR Paradise pen in ORANGE (I know, I can't believe I'm giving it away, either),...
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What I've been using this week! 11-13-2021 Edition
Hi folks! I've never written a post like this before, so you'll have to bear with me while I work out the kinks and get into a flow. I know that lots of bloggers have gotten into a habit of tracking...
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What I've been using this week! 11-21-2021 Edition
It's week two of this "What I've been using" experiment. The last post got some views, so I guess someone out there likes these. Thanks! Or hates them and reads them, anyway. That's also fine. Enjoy...
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What I've been using this week! 11-28-2021 Edition
 I didn't keep any good records of the pens I used this week. I know. Bad Mike. It was a busy week, though. The end of the semester is here and I'm swamped. Add to that the upcoming Inkvent videos and...
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Lennon Tool Bar Hobe
My second LTB ink! I really like this one, too, and it's worth checking out for sure. See my video below for all sorts of details, comparisons, and other things! And thanks for subscribing!
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Pilot's Tsuwario Blue
Pilot has new inks! Along with, and separate from, the new additions to the Iroshizuku line of inks, Pilot has introduced three new pigmented inks under the "Tsuwario" name. These inks are advertised...
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Sheaffer Coastal Blue
Sheaffer has recently introduced a new line of inks, and it seems like the Skrip line might have been discontinued. These new inks come in a 30ml glass bottle that includes the inkwell that older Skrip...
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Sheaffer's Bling: Shimmery Sheaffer?
This new line of Sheaffer ink is pretty great. Bling has a subtle shimmer, but it's certainly there even if you won't always see it. What you'll always see is a really nice grey color. It also works...
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Private Reserve Black Cherry (the new formula)
This was one of my first inks. Maybe not the very first, but it was probably one of the first 3, and they were all Private Reserve. When I first got into fountain pens, back in the 90s, there was only...
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Laban's Aphrodite
 This is the first Laban ink I used, and it didn't disappoint. I probably wouldn't have bought this ink based on the label color. It looks like it's going to be a soft, inside-of-a-seashell sort of...
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Robert Oster Pen Chalet Exclusive: Scorpion!
This was an ink that I just knew I HAD to have when I saw it. I like scorpions, I like weird yellow-browns, and I like Robert Oster & Penchalet. So, it was an insta-buy. Sort of. My friend Kimberly...
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Birmingham Pen Co. Heron
Okay, I know that there are blue herons out there. They never really look blue to me, though. They always look sort of grey. This ink is a dark teal, and it doesn't really look like a heron to me,...
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Pennonia x Cult Pens' Arvacska
Y'all, this is a really good ink. I was already turning a corner on the color purple, but this one was so impossible to ignore. It's great. The color is excellent, the performance is very good on bad...
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Wearingeul x Pen Chalet Taming of the Shrew
Written ReviewI knew as soon as I saw this ink on social media that this was an ink that I really wanted to try out. Penn Chalet was kind enough to send it out for review. Thanks Pen Chalet! This was...
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Aurora Sepia Special Edition
Until a few years ago, Aurora was a company that only had 2 inks. They had a Black (that is great) and a Blue (that is not good). Then they expanded to a Blue-Black that I wasn't a big fan of. Now,...
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Diplomat Pine Tree
Written ReviewClose-upsChromatographyCopy Paper TestThis is a really good result. Wheat Straw PaperTomoe River PaperDomtar Bold 28Col-o-Dex ComparisonsVideo Review*This ink was given to me for review...
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#21Questions from Well Appointed Desk
 My friend Ana has started a pen community hashtag, and I thought it would be fun to participate! Here goes! 1. What is the pen they'll have to pry out of your cold, dead hands?I don't have a single...
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Chicago Pen Show 2024: Papier Plume's Faceless Lady
It's Chicago Pen Show time, and that means that it's time for a new exclusive ink from Papier Plume! This one is based on he statue of Ceres (the Roman Goddess of Agriculture) of that graces the top of...
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Franklin-Christoph's New Ink: Bronze Age!
 New inks! Those are always the best kinds of inks, if you ask me. I also like inks in this odd sort of brownish tone. It's a color that I was tempted to file under the "swamp vibes" category, but I'm...
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