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Month: July 2026

Pen Show Prep, Differently

Posted in Ink, and Pen Shows

While social media abounds with tantalizing Stationery Fest details, I’m diligently preparing for the DC Pen Show. I’ve signed up for the classes I’m taking, I’ve book my nibmeister appointments, I’ve started my shopping list, and I’m making progress on the presentations for the classes I’m teaching. But this year, my pen show prep started in June with a push to finally use more ink samples and make some sellables.

Since my June 7 pen rotation, I’ve only filled pens with ink samples — rather than bottles — my long-fill pens excluded. My goal has been to test samples I’ve had for a while to decide if I want to pick up a full bottle at the DC show.

Ink Battle: Wearingeul and Anderillium

Posted in Ink

This ink battle is between Wearingeul Pinocchio and Anderillium Luna Moth Green. Both inks are in a Pilot Kakuno fitted with a medium nib. The paper is Maruman Giuris with grid ruling.

Today’s ink battle was another bout of bottle versus sample. It determined if my sample of Pinocchio got to stay in use, or got relegated to the “for dupes” baskets. Were I to keep it in use and go through the whole sample, then I’d likely buy a bottle.

For those unfamiliar with these inks, Pinocchio contains gold shimmer. While Wearingeul shimmers typically settle completely, I shook the sample before inking my pen.

Ink Battles Explained

Between myself and Jim buying inks, we own far too many. This means I have some inks that are incredibly similar in color. And, because of that, I need to figure out which inks to keep and which to dispose of. Sometimes, I have samples of two or more similar inks that I’m trying to decide which to buy, or if I should buy one ink when I already own a bottle of a similar one.

Enter ink battles. I put the similar inks into pens with the same nibs (two Jowo #6 M, two TWSBI F, etc.) — or I create ink splats and doodles — to test them out to see which I like better. Or, I may find out that they’re sufficiently different to keep or buy a bottle of the sample.

You can assume I have no problems with any ink that appears in an ink battle. I may find, when using the inks side-by-side, that there are performance differences, but the point of the battle is to choose a favorite ink, a “winner,” based on the color properties, not the way the ink functions. These choices are often subjective, and you may disagree with me.

An ink battle — unlike ink dupes — is between inks I like. I enjoy using them enough to have them in my “for use” ink collection — as opposed to my repository of inks for testing dupes. If an ink performed poorly or caused problems, I wouldn’t keep it. And, if that were the case, an ink battle would be unnecessary.

Reminder: You can find all of the ink battle posts on the tag page, and I have a page dedicated to my ink comparisons.

If I Could Only Keep Ten

Posted in Fountain Pens

When I saw Inky Imaginings’ post in my email, I knew I wanted to come up with my list before reading anyone else’s. So, I waited until I’d determined my ten pens to read Laura’s list or Ana’s or Laura C’s on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I tried to track down an “original” post for this challenge, but I didn’t have any luck. I found random, semi-related posts and videos shared in the past 5 years, but no clear thread like is developing from Laura’s. So, without any parameters to guide me in this, I’ve come up with my own.

Athena: 3 Years Cured

Posted in Cat

Today, we get to celebrate another anniversary of a momentous occasion. Three years ago, Athena was declared cured of FIP. There isn’t too much to say this year for Athena’s cureaversary. Not much has changed since her last post, which is mostly good.

Health

As always, I’ve also updated her FIP Bloodwork Google Sheets file, which includes all of the blood work values that could be related to FIP and her blood work history dashboard.

30 Inks, 30 Days, 15 Comparisons

Posted in Ink

In an effort to continue reducing my ink collection and to better “learn” the inks I have, I decided to tackle Ink Journal’s 30 Inks 30 Days challenge as ink comparisons. And, in a happy nod to Pride Month, I went for a rainbow of inks. I made an effort to create doodles that have both standard lines (to show how writing might look) and larger, filled-in areas.

Like any human, I made mistakes as I worked through the 15 skirmishes. Since I want the focus to be on the inks, I’ve edited out the mistakes using Photoshop for the “final” image. However, for transparency, I’ve also included the “original” version without those edits. I’ve done my best to edit the ink colors to be true-to-life, but some of them were exceptionally difficult.