Creative Palette
- Noodler’s Ink – Firefly
- Colorverse – USA Series – Rocky Blue
- Monteverde – Moonstone
- Pilot – Iroshizuku – syo-ro
- Noodler’s Ink – Purple Mountain Majesties
Details
I tried to pick some spring-like colors this month, as it’s the start of growing/blooming season.
I picked Rocky Blue, because it’s soft and multi-hued; Purple Mountain Majesties, as a vibrant, deep purple; and Monteverde’s Moonstone, the color of healthy dirt!
Syo-ro is a green in a different tone to other greens I’ve sent you – it’s a bit blueish, especially when it writes. It writes almost juniper colored but rapidly dries to a deeper, greener hue.
And then there’s Firefly. Firefly is a highlighter ink. It is shockingly bright. I don’t typically highlight (because it smears my ink!) but I do underline. Underlining serves a similar function but you get fewer smears.
If you need a pen for highlighting, I have markers by J. Herbin which will do the trick, as well as the Egyptian calame, which writes like a marker and has a nib on either end (but is dip-only).
Also, please note! Noodler’s Puprle Mountain Majesties wants may be a stainer.
Business Palette
- Colorverse – Office Series – Permanent Photo Black
- Monteverde – Moonstone
- Pilot – Iroshizuku – syo-ro
Details
This month I’ve sent you a Gray, a Brown, and a Green.
The gray is actually a permanent black – Permanent Photo Black by Colorverse – but it writes like a gray, so I’m calling it a gray. This is a permanent ink, so be prepared to wash your pen more frequently. The Colorverse permanent inks are less goopy than some other permanent formulas, so you shouldn’t have to worry about clogging as much.
Monteverde’s Moonstone is a deep, serious brown. It has a bit of shading in it, but is a reliable writer that doesn’t draw attention to itself but gives that bit of distinction on the page.
And syo-ro is one of my absolute favorite inks. You’re not going to want to sign legal documents with it (or Moonstone), but it’s a serious green-blue that, again, is understated at a glance. It’s from Pilot’s iroshizuku line, which are always smooth and reliable writers.
Deluxe Bundle
Your deluxe bundle this month comes with a booklet of 100% post-consumer recycled paper. I sourced this paper as a sustainable printing option for my publishing company and was delighted to find it performs wonderfully for fountain pens. It is an almond color but does contain flecks of darker coloring, as all post-consumer recycled papers do. If you like this paper, I am happy to make you booklets or journals in custom sizing – just contact me!
Your pens this month are glass pens. These are excellent pens for trying out inks. Since they have no feed, they’re easy and fast to ink up and clean up. I use glass pens when writing out my ink swatch cards for that reason.
You have two glass-nib pens: one contains a straight nib and one contains an “onion” nib. The straight nib will hold more ink and release it in a regular flow; it will write longer and more consistently. The onion nib releases ink based on your writing speed. A slower stroke will have more ink than a faster stroke. This will lead to some line variation as you’re writing. However, the onion nib doesn’t hold as much ink.
One of your pens has a wooden body with the glass nib inserted at the end. The other has a fully glass body. Glass pens are very fragile, as you can imagine, not just at the nib, but also in the stem. I have laid down a glass pen too strongly and had the stem break in half. This is why I’m sending you the wooden body option – it will be a bit sturdier. I strongly recommend keeping your fully glass pen in its box and using the box or a pen rest every time you set it down. They roll like crazy!
You will also notice the material of the body causes them to handle a bit differently. A large part of my philosophy with sending you different styles of pens every month is that I want you to try things out and see what you like and don’t. If you like the weight and feel of wood, this is an easy way to discover that before investing in a custom-made wooden fountain pen.
I only started using a glass pen last year, and I’ve found I really like it for trying out inks. It removes all the hassle and preparation that would normally go into prepping a pen for a new ink, so I can try them out as soon as I get them. Glass pens really help me have fun right away with my inks. I’m definitely going to start taking them to conventions with me to let people sample inks.