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Author: Rachel

Ink Battle: Pelikan and De Atramentis

Posted in Ink

This ink battle is between Pelikan Edelstein Golden Lapis and De Atramentis Cyan Blue Gold with a guest appearance by Wearingeul 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Golden Lapis and Cyan Blue Gold are both in a Benu Talisman fitted with an F nib. The ink splat battle is on Canson recycled bristol, the written battle is on Maruman Giuris Loose Leaf Paper.

Today’s ink battle is another bout of bottle versus sample(s), but there’s a twist. I received Golden Lapis at the annual Pelikan Hub. When I used it, I found that it wasn’t a particularly well-behaved ink, feathering and bleeding through Tomoe River paper. But, the color is pretty, and when I got samples that looked like they’d be similar, I decided to square them off against each other. Because of this, I’m also tagging this battle as an Ink Dupe.

For those unfamiliar with these inks, Golden Lapis is Pelikan’s 2024 ink of the year. Cyan Blue Gold is part of the Pearlescent line and is also available with copper, bronze, or silver shimmer. All three inks used for this post contain gold shimmer.

Reminder: You can find all of the ink battle posts on the tag page.

SPS Series: Spotlight on Brandon Lodewyk

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Brandon Lodewyk who you can find on Instagram

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


I’m still trying to determine what pen(s) I want to get with Brandon’s art, although I’ve been seriously tempted by several of his fabulous works, especially his recent cat-themed pens. Brandon specializes in pencil and charcoal, creating gorgeous photo-realistic art. Don’t let his mastery of those media trick you, though, he’s also adept at painting in acrylic.

SPS Series: Spotlight on Kseniia Nel

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Kseniia Nel who you can find on Instagram.

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


Kseniia is the 4th SPS artist I commissioned a pen from. Kseniia is a versatile artist who studied art from 14 years of age. She works in a variety of styles — both digital and analog — featuring a multiplicity of subjects. Her diverse portfolio defies the expectations of such a young artist.

Pen Porn: SPS Egyptian Cats

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉


I’m back today with a commissioned pen, my first from Kseniia Nel. When Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) posted her snake pen, I almost bought it, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted. After a bit of thought, it occurred to me that the style would be perfect for Egyptian-style cat statues.

What I was expecting was basically the same idea, but with cats, and probably something cat related instead of the flowers. But, what I got was so much MORE! Kseniia really knocked out of the park.

Stanford Pen Studio Imperious Egyptian Cats

SPS Series: Spotlight on Carla Nel

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Carla Nel who you can find on Instagram and Behance.

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


I’m still trying to determine what pen(s) I want to get with Carla’s art, although I’ve been seriously tempted by a few of her beautiful works.

Carla is a professional illustrator, graphic designer, and multimedia artist. She works in widely versatile styles ranging from quirky and bold to somber and surreal to photorealistic pointillism. She works digitally and analog, with stunning results regardless of medium.

SPS Series: Spotlight on Yulia Glas

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Yulia Glas who you can find on Instagram.

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


Yulia is the fourth SPS artist whose work I purchased, although, unusually for my SPS purchases, none of the pens I have with her artwork were commissions. She currently specializes in anything nature-related, with a special emphasis on animals. Yulia also has a delightful array of paintings on/with gold leaf.

Pen Porn: SPS Delft Cats

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

As with my other two pens by Yulia Glas, this was not a commission. But, somehow, she was able to create a pen that seems like it’s made specifically for me. And I snagged it within seconds of it posting.

To start, I’ve wanted a pen to represent my Dutch heritage for a while. While my family wasn’t from Delft, Delft Blue is certainly a famous Dutch export.

Then, she included four cats — Jim and I have four cats. And she even managed to paint personalities that match my kitties’ personalities. It’s amazing!

Stanford Pen Studio Delft Cats

SPS Series: Spotlight on Val Myburgh

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Val Myburgh who you can find on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and X/Twitter.

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


Val is the second SPS artist I commissioned a pen from, but she bears the distinction of being the first SPS partner artist. She specializes in educational, medical and scientific illustrations, with an amazingly diverse portfolio of work. Val works both traditionally and digitally, and it looks like there aren’t many techniques she hasn’t tackled.

SPS Series: Spotlight on Hanna Farmer

Posted in Fountain Pens

Welcome, or welcome back, to my Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) series. If you haven’t seen my previous posts, I suggest you check them out to see the amazing work the SPS collective produces. This entry is spotlighting Hanna Farmer who you can find on Facebook and Instagram

SPS Series Posts: SPS Overview | Brandon Lodewyk | Carla Nel | Di Möhr | Hanna Farmer | Kseniia Nel | Lana Le Roux | Lisa Strachan | Val Myburgh | Yulia Glas | Zelna le Roux | Initial Wrap-Up


Hanna Farmer is the third SPS artist I commissioned a pen from — in this case, pens, plural. Her specialty, both in traditional and pen art, is nature-inspired zendoodles, an incredibly intricate craft, as can be seen in the photos below. Hanna’s tools of choice include Sakura Pigment Micron pens of various sizes, and that carried over into her pen art.

Pen Porn: SPS Cats and Books

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

I fell in love with this pen when Yulia Glas posted her first preview of it to her stories. Then, when I saw the second preview, I knew I needed to have it. Cats AND books?! Literally two of my favorite things! I turned on alerts for Stanford Pen Studio (SPS), and pounced (pun intended) as soon as they posted the pen for sale. Before you continue reading my post, I suggest watching Di’s video — it’s only 90 seconds — where she reads each book title.

Stanford Pen Studio Cats and Books

Spotlight on Stanford Pen Studio

Posted in Fountain Pens

My love of Stanford Pen Studio (SPS) started with the first pen I commissioned from them back in 2022. This was when they were still Stanford Wood Studio, and before they began collaborating with other artists. But even then, Di and Dave Möhr were making gorgeous works of art.

Since then, SPS has carved out a large name for themselves in the pen world and my pen collection. I own more pens from them than from any other indie maker — 10, and soon to be 11! I only own 6 from the next most prevalent indie brand in my collection.

Ink Battle: Bungubox, Robert Oster, Sailor, and Sailor

Posted in Ink

This is a four-way ink battle is between Bungubox The Ink of Witch, Robert Oster Black Violet, Sailor Ink Studio 752, and Sailor x Tinterías Blue Corn. The ink splat battle is on Canson recycled bristol and the water battle is on Fluid hot press watercolor paper.

Today, while it’s a battle between four inks, it’s a traditional ink battle. I own a bottle of all four inks. When writing, and in my ink swatch book, they look similar enough to be considered dupes, and I wanted to test that.

With the exception of Blue Corn, which is a limited edition of 300 bottles, these are all part of their respective brand’s standard ink lineup.

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.

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". 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.

Pen Porn: Engraved Sleeve

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

I spotted this pen on Country Made Pens‘ Instagram feed back in 2020. This was before engraved and painted pens jumped in popularity — and availability — among indie makers. I can’t remember how long I’d been following Troy at that point, but I hadn’t seen a pen like this before, and I wanted it.

What looked great on Instagram looked even better in person, and I’ve done my best to give you a good, close look at this gorgeous engraving.

Country Made Pens Engraved Sleeve

Ink Battle: Diamine and Diamine

Posted in Ink

This ink battle is between Diamine One More Sleep and Diamine x Cult Pens Platinum Jubilee. The inks weren’t in any pens, but I did use a Sailor Hocoro dip pen with an F nib. The paper is Canson recycled bristol.

For those unfamiliar with these inks, One More Sleep is an ink from Diamine’s Inkvent Green edition (2022). Platinum Jubilee is a Cult Pens exclusive developed for — as the name implies — Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee in 2022. It has shimmer, but Diamine shimmers settle completely, which I let happen for this battle so I can just compare the colors.

Today’s ink battle is definitely also an ink dupe. So, I decided to have fun with another battle inspired by Azizah‘s Inky Messes and Candace‘s Doodling with Fountain Pens classes.

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.

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". 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.

Am I a Weirdo?

Posted in Fountain Pens, Ink, and Stationery

Well, yes, definitely, but perhaps I should explain better.

I’ve had this post on my “idea list” for quite a while. It was time to buckle down and finally write it. I know I think differently than many others. I get reminded of that fairly often. That’s what inspired this post. I’m curious to see if I’m basically alone in these feelings, opinions, and actions, or if others agree and/or do the same.

Pen Care

Cleaning pens each week

Let’s start with an easy one. I know there are people out there who do this.

With rare exceptions, I clean out my pens within a week of finishing their rotation. And I ALWAYS clean my pens before putting them away. I also don’t mind cleaning out my pens. It’s not the best part of pen ownership, but it’s not onerous.

Pen Porn: Journey in Space

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the pen images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

I first saw this pen as a story on Yulia Glas‘ Instagram account. I thought she was planning a bubble pen. Clearly, I was very wrong. I believe I next saw it on Stanford Pen Studio‘s stories, and knew I had to have it.

Stanford Pen Studio Journey in Space

I Like Mechanical Pencils, Too

Posted in Stationery

I’ve got something a little different for you today. Rather than pens, I’m devoting a post to pencils. Mechanical pencils, to be specific. NOTE: I’m not affiliated with JetPens in any way, they simply have a lot of useful information and carry a lot of cool stuff.

My Pencil History

Through middle and high school — grades/years 6-12 of my education — I used mechanical pencils as my primary writing implements. Then in college/university, I continued using mechanical pencils fairly often.

My favorite was a 0.5mm Pilot Dr. Grip Ltd in pale blue. I don’t have it anymore — it finally fell apart a few years ago — but it was the same as the one in this review.

Ink Battle: Robert Oster and Lamy

Posted in Ink

This ink battle is between Robert Oster Velvet Storm and Lamy Petrol — Lamy’s Safari-matching ink from 2017. The inks weren’t in any pens, but I did use a Sailor Hocoro dip pen with an F nib. The paper is Kokuyo KB loose leaf.

Today’s ink battle is also an ink dupe with two “off-black” inks. Since they’re so dark, I decided to play with them so you can truly see their potential. Inspired by Azizah‘s Inky Messes and Candace‘s Doodling with Fountain Pens classes, I have a truly inky battle.

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.

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". 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.

Keeping Nibs Straight

Posted in Fountain Pens

If you’ve been here a while, you already know I have a lot of altered nibs. If you’re fairly new here, then my recent nib overview post likely gave you a clue.

I have 32 altered nibs from 9 different nib customizers/meisters. About 10-15 nibs ago, I realized I need a foolproof way to keep track of them. I settled on a two-part system involving marking the nibs and storing them.

Storage

The storage is the simpler part, and likely isn’t unique to me. I store the nibs in a bead storage box. I’ve done this for a while, but recently downsized for portability. I store the rest of my unaltered nibs in the previous, larger container.

Pen Porn: Aurora 100° Anniversario

Posted in Fountain Pens

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for pen envy or impulse purchases resulting from viewing this post.

Per usual, you can click on the images to view them larger. I do my best to provide you with high-quality pen porn. 😉

To be completely transparent, I’ve been feeling a bit disenchanted with the 100° Anniversario since Aurora released the Duca. I don’t like that a pen as special as this one — developed as the company’s signature 100th anniversary pen — has been “copied-and-pasted” in blue for a regular release. I’m hoping this post will rekindle my love for it.

Aurora 100° Anniversario
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