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Birmingham Pen Company Hydrangea
It’s late hydrangea season, which means there’s no better time to review Birmingham Pen Company’s Hydrangea ink. Here are some actual hydrangea bushes from my front yard in June, then August: These flowers can change every year depending on your soil acidity and the weather. This year happened to be an exceptional bloom for the…
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Fun With Ballpoints
Ballpoints, they’re everywhere. They’re in banks, grocery stores, restaurants, under your car seat, there might even be one wedged in between your couch cushions. Ballpoints were invented as a cheaper, cleaner, maintenance-free alternative to fountain pens with patents dating back to 1888. For more on the history of the ballpoint, please click here. Ironically, people…
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The Noodler’s Cinematic Universe: Six Degrees of Baystate Blue
What do Baystate Blue, Bambi, kittens, and Smokey Bear have in common? Let’s find out! The most infamous Noodler’s ink is Baystate Blue. It’s so infamous that it has its own Reddit user account. BSB is an intensely saturated ink that will stain whatever pen you put it in, and is water and forgery resistant.…
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The TWSBI Eco 2 Years Later
I’ve already reviewed the Eco, specifically the yellow edition from last spring, but I feel that post didn’t accurately reflect my feelings about this pen. I used to have four Ecos, and now I have one, and I’m perfectly fine with that. It’s my first Eco, the transparent orange edition from 2019. This was my…
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Upturned & Downturned Nibs
Take a look at a nib of yours. Is it straight, or does it have a slight upturn or downturn? Is the tipping ball on the top or bottom? There’s an entire spectrum of nibs from an upturned fude all the way to a downturned concord or reverse fude. Fude nibs somewhat resemble a painter’s…
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KUM Pencut Scissors
Scissors can be a sensitive subject with lefties, because we’ve been scarred with a lifetime of embarrassment from trying to wrangle a pair of right-handed scissors. There are many options now for lefty scissors or even ambidextrous scissors that work great, but I’d like to highlight one highly portable pair of scissors by KUM called…
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Pilot Iroshizuku Ama-Iro
Ama-Iro from Pilot’s Iroshizuku line is a consistently great ink. It dried super fast on every paper I wrote on in my paper tests. Across all 21 papers that I tested, the average dry time was 6.6 seconds. For several months I had Ama-Iro in a TWSBI Eco with a fine nib, and that combination…
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The Pilot Deluxe Urushi
Back in March, I posted some first impressions of the Pilot Deluxe Urushi on Buy Me a Coffee. Here are some of those impressions along with the insight I’ve gained after having this pen for a few months. The Pilot Deluxe Urushi is a slim snap cap fountain pen with an Urushi lacquered brass body.…
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Snap Cap Fountain Pens
Snap cap fountain pens are great for taking quick notes, writing on the go and general convenience. Here I have compiled a list of ten snap cap pens, for beginners and experienced users alike, for any way you hold your pen. This isn’t a ranked top ten list because there are so many snap caps…
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The Noodler’s Cinematic Universe: Noodler’s Lermontov
You’ve heard of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now get ready for the Noodler’s Cinematic Universe (NCU). Nathan Tardif is a salty New Englander who makes inks that are as wet as a Nor’Easter and shade like a Cape Cod sunset. Tardif uses all kinds of historical and political references for his ink names and ink…
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