JulesJones

🔶🇪🇺🇬🇧
I write science fiction, fantasy, and (mostly) lgbt romance. I read *lots* of things.

Started on Usenet and mailing lists, added LJ and IRC, moved from LJ to DW, added Twitter then moved to Mastodon and Bluesky.

Website: https://www.julesjones.com
Blog: https://julesjones.dreamwidth.org
Email: [email protected]

Public Key

npub16n2279saeh3uplmdqlvryvvsp4lf5ylsnyn66djd0xc0f7wvacjqfkxr2q

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdf490zcwumc7qlaks0kpjxxgq6l56z0cfjfadxexhnv85l8xwufqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsynj435

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub16n2279saeh3uplmdqlvryvvsp4lf5ylsnyn66djd0xc0f7wvacjqfkxr2q

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Last Notes

2026-06-25 20:53:54 UTC

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That really is dedication... or masochism. (Or maybe both.)

2026-06-22 16:28:19 UTC

Lovely. I strongly suspect from the state of my file structure in Windows Explorer that for my convenience Microsoft has moved my documents to the cloud and deleted the copies on my hard drive. As if I don't have enough jobs for the next few weekends without putting them back where they belong.

2026-05-31 18:35:26 UTC

Well, I can say that the converter that comes with a Jinhao 20 with EF nib will write at least 14 sides of A5, because this afternoon I filled a brand new pen with a matching colour of ink for today's writing stint, and have covered 12 of the pages with the WiP and another 2 with notes for it. I am pleased to report that neither the pen nor I have run dry yet. However, it is time to stop and make the dinner.
#FountainPen #Writing

2026-05-30 17:24:33 UTC

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Though I've read that the data centre chips are mostly optimised for data centres and aren't really what you want for consumer goods. The problem they're creating is sucking up all the capacity at chip manufacturers.
I may have to bite the bullet and buy a new external hard drive. I ought to anyway for general backup, quite apart from "is the internal hard drive about to die?" Time to go and pester Spousal Unit for a professional opinion on what to buy.
Also seriously considering a Blu-ray drive for "Try and wipe this after moving everything to cloud behind my back, Microsoft" purposes, but it is so long since I read computer mags for fun that I have no idea what the practicalities are.

2026-05-30 16:52:47 UTC

I do not like the noise my computer is making today. I also do not like the price of a replacement. Or even an external hard drive to back it up with just in case. I wonder how long before the AI bubble pops and chip prices drop. 😞

2026-05-30 10:44:59 UTC

Having tried that Majohn flex nib in a Jinhao Century and failed miserably , it occurred to me this morning that I had bought a Jinhao Dadao 9013 to get one of Jinhao's heartbeat nibs... One nib swap and feed prime later, a few test lines and the nib is still drawing ink. Conclusion so far is that it is scratchier than I like (possibly not the nib's fault as I may have damaged it pulling it from the Century's feed), and that to get any line variation from it I have to press harder than I normally would, and harder than is comfortable for me.
This nib is not a daily writer for me. I don't regret dropping six quid on it to try it out, and will use it for a few sheets to report back, but I think it's going to be relegated to "occasional use for a laugh" status. It can stay in the Dadao as that doesn't really suit me as a daily writer either - body's too thick and the barrel's slightly too short without posting the cap. I don't enjoy using pens with the cap posted, so the Dadao's been more of a "this one's run out, grab nearest inked pen on desk" pen for me".
(Also, I thought I'd cleaned the Dadao. Apparently not, because what's coming out of the nib is not the Diamine Sapphire Blue I've just filled the converter with.)
#FountainPen

2026-05-25 17:35:39 UTC

Was looking at the Jinhao Century with a dodgy feed wondering whether to try getting a replacement feed, and realised it can probably be converted to an eye dropper. The barrel seems to be airtight, and there's a (tiny) O-ring between the barrel and section. I wonder if that would help the feed keep up with the nib?
The one with the heartbeat nib is also now having the odd hard start and skip, although far less so than the standard nib. It does make me wonder whether it's worth messing about with one, even if I love the look of the demonstrator and find it comfortable to use (so far).
#FountainPen

2026-05-23 16:38:37 UTC

Hm. Just inked the Jinhao Century #FountainPen that I bought a few months ago because I wanted a heartbeat M nib, and am comparing it with the one with a standard M nib that I bought last month to try with the flex nib. The flex failed miserably, and even the standard nib skips a lot.
The one with the heartbeat writes nicely with no skipping, although slightly scratchier than I would expect for an M. Comparing the two, the feed is flooded on the heartbeat but not on the standard, and I think the standard nib isn't quite sitting on the feed but has a slight gap. I wonder if it's the feed that's the problem?
I don't want to pull the nib on the heartbeat since it's working nicely, but am very tempted to buy another one and try fitting it with a flex.

2026-05-11 21:16:30 UTC

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Plastic by the looks of it (and it being Jinhao and thus cheap).
It's a clear Century demonstrator and a rather pretty pen I don't mind having bought, other than I already have one with an M heartbeat nib and do not need another with a plain M nib to go with it. 😆

2026-05-11 21:03:05 UTC

Well, since I found a website which said that the new Majohn flex nib seemed to fit the feed on a Jinhao Century 100, I went ahead and bought one of each. I'm afraid that while the nib will go onto the feed, it doesn't draw ink. (This is with my standard test ink, Diamine Sapphire Blue.)
The nib is very flexible, though, so I may well try it in one of the Majohn pens it's supposed to fit. The problem is that I know a Century is small enough to be comfortable for me, while pictures of the Majohn pens taking that size of nib look as if they might be on the chunky side.
If anyone has suggestions on tweaking the Century/flex combination I will be glad to hear them.
#FountainPen

2026-05-10 14:34:25 UTC

Currently dithering over whether to spend the rest of the afternoon to a) talk some more about #Blakes7 over on my Dreamwidth, where I have posted more often in the last 10 days than in the previous 10 months courtesy of a "talk about Blake's 7" meme; b) mess about with some new #FountainPenInk and then talk about it on DreamWidth; c) work on getting an agent for the finished manuscript; d) finish finding and typing in the handwritten text for the WiP; e) do the laundry; f) vacuum.
"Tidy my room" is not on that list. I am aiming for the achievable this Sunday. 🤣

2026-05-05 07:08:11 UTC

I was on AliExpress yesterday (bad move), and have an email this morning to say my Majohn flex nib is on the way. I also ordered a Jinhao Century to put it in, since apparently they will fit together. I did manage to make saving throw v shiny regarding the half price Jinhao 20s, though.
#FountainPen

2026-05-04 20:17:47 UTC

Right, I'm admitting defeat on the Van Dieman's Ink Sacagewea, I've tried it in a Wing Sung 3008, and those are pretty good-tempered, but it dries up after three or four words. I've just tried it in a Majohn Wancai, both F nib and fude nib, and it doesn't come out at all unless I prime it under water and then write on paper towel or chromatography paper, neither of which are really practical for actual writing. I tried pulling out the feed on the Wancai, and that's some surface tension the ink's got, because it didn't come out of the hole once the feed was out unless I shook very enthusiastically. I've tried it in a fine and stub nib Sailor Hocoro, and it will grudgingly flow in the stub as long as I only want to write a few words. It did work with the glass dip pen, but I hadn't cleaned the Achilles off it from yesterday's swatching, so it may have got diluted a bit with something with less surface tension.
@npub1hej…qetx has no problem with it, and I've seen a couple of other people like it, so maybe I just got a dud bottle. I love the colour, but since I don't paint it was a waste of nine quid. The entire bottle may be heading in the direction of the meet next year. Time to try a drop of washing up liquid.
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-05-02 12:23:51 UTC

I'd note that by the time shipping and VAT were added the inks from Van Dieman cost almost as much as they would have just buying from a UK stockist, even if they were half price in Australia. However, some of these are colours I wanted to try but which were out of stock in the UK. They're a small family business with tiny batch runs by the standards of the big companies, and a liking for experiments. They have some weird and wonderful inks, some utterly insane inks, they don't always make more of them, and if you snooze you lose.
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-05-02 11:30:19 UTC

The parcel from Van Dieman's Ink arrived yesterday and went away again, because it was sent by a "signed for" tracking service and I was at work at the time. But the postie has just been back and I have 15 new bottles of lovely ink. 😍
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk
https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com/drum/media_attachments/files/116/504/725/007/122/892/original/5cd323ef3bcca4e2.jpg

2026-04-30 21:01:37 UTC

My parcel of inks from Van Dieman's Land has arrived in the UK and is in the tender care of Royal Mail. :-)
With any luck this means it will arrive by Saturday. Hopefully even unbroken.
#FountainPenInk #FountainPen

2026-04-29 17:43:28 UTC

RE: https://ioc.exchange/@peterrenshaw/116487214476308718
My immediate reaction to the robots? "Omg John Carpenter's The Thing."
#note147y…n8vs

2026-04-26 16:36:49 UTC

Taking photos of the mint Wing Sung NOS fountain pens I'm going to put on eBay. Some of them really are lovely looking pens, and I'm having to remind myself that the reason they're mint is that I hate filling/cleaning aerometrics that are fixed in place and would regret trying to use all of them. There are a couple I'm very tempted to keep anyway and just deal with committing them to a single colour family. There's one that I think would look very nice with the Van Dieman Black Truffle that's on its way.
Still debating what to do about that Jinhao 8802 I was trying to identify earlier. I don't normally use pens that hefty, but it's probably one to keep if I do want to start messing about with giant economy size nibs.
Also took some fresh photos of a couple of the ink samples that are heading to eBay. The Van Dieman's Ink Sacagawea is an astonishing polychromatic shimmer, and I have simply not been able to capture it on film^W electrons
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-04-25 13:18:09 UTC

"No more inks until you've got rid of some of the current stuff," I said to myself last weekend while contemplating how to sell sample vials on eBay as part of this plan.
Van Dieman Inks newsletter yesterday: "Hi, we're moving and we need to clear the warehouse, all the old 30 ml bottles now 30-50% off, also stacking discounts for buying manymanylots of our fine bottles whether or not they're already on sale."
And that is why 15 bottles are heading my way and I am wondering just how picky Customs and Royal Mail are going to be about import duty and VAT.

2026-04-19 18:21:43 UTC

Anyone know what the model number of the Jinhao with wooden body and black cap is? The thing is *massive* - that's a Jinhao X750 next to it for scale.
If I remember correctly it arrived in a pack of second hand pens from eBay several years ago. Rather nice converter which I failed to take a photo of but which looks higher quality than the current big standard ones.
#FountainPen
https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com/drum/media_attachments/files/116/432/717/898/836/706/original/f182744162dee831.jpg

2026-04-18 08:45:50 UTC

Finally cleaned out and inked an Ohto Dude pen I was gifted at a con meet a couple of years ago. Um...
Pen body is nice. Nib is *horrible*. I had the same thing with the Ohto Rook I bought some years ago, although that improved after being used for a week or so. Looks like the same nib, so maybe it will improve. If not it is heading for the container with the candidates for "Jules learns how to adjust nibs", along with the Tasche that also has this problem, and the other Rook, and there seems to be a common theme here. Of the four Ohto pens I have, 3 of them have horrible nibs out of the box, and the 4th arrived second hand with a horrible nib. The other thing I see in reviews of the Rook and Tasche is that the starter ink cartridge they come with tends to be horrible. I do not need more pens anyway, but I am certainly not spending money on another Tasche, even if they are otherwise good pens.
(I love my black Rook and do not regret buying it and the silver one, but the silver one is probably getting a nib transplant at some point.)
#FountainPen

2026-04-16 21:28:46 UTC

So the almost-final count on my shiny new spreadsheet is over 200 pens. Not all of those are fountain pens, but still... um. And it's only almost-final, because it doesn't yet include the very oldest purchases on eBay.
I know there are people with many more than that in their collection, but even so, maybe it's time to stop buying cheap Chinese pens just because they are so pretty. (Jinhao, please stop making gorgeous looking pens for silly prices, please.)
#FountainPen

2026-04-11 17:21:35 UTC

I have spent today going through my old email and digging out the Cult Pens orders. Now completed. I've been adding the other pens/pencils as well as the fountain pens. Now up to 200.
Onward to the Pure Pens and digging through my really old eBay emails.
#FountainPen

2026-04-09 22:58:42 UTC

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Given the price of the converters that might well be "buy a converter and we'll throw in a cheap pen for (almost) free".
They've always come with a starter cartridge in the matching colour, which is one of the things that makes them a good "try this and see if you like it". You can get three pre-inked pens in different nib sizes to try out for £15.

2026-04-09 13:39:00 UTC

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"All of them" refers to the standard line. I have a couple of the Wa Modern Maki-e collectable versions, but wouldn't actually go out and collect them, given they're more than double the price to get some pretty screen printing on the barrel.

2026-04-09 13:30:02 UTC

Still chugging through adding my pens to a spreadsheet. Platinum Preppy has been added as a single line with the notation "all of them". 😆
Also separate lines for each of the Crystal Preppies, as they don't come with matching ink and are being/will be used largely with Platinum's pigment ink.
#FountainPen

2026-04-04 10:57:32 UTC

My fountain pen gear is determined to be annoying. The one with the Van Dieman Launceston Fog I particularly wanted to show the meet has run dry.
At least I have just remembered to transfer the two sample vials I did find from suitcase to backpack.

2026-03-29 17:16:26 UTC

Last weekend's pen tat from AliExpress included the Majohn A1 pen disassembly tool. I have now disassembled the Jinhao 20 nib unit involved in The Unfortunate Incident when I tried to fill it for the first time (nib down on a tiled floor). I know a) it works on a Jinhao nib unit, b) more about the internal anatomy of a Jinhao 10/20 nib unit, c) if that one wasn't already toast it is now.
Good thing I effectively got a 20 for free in last week's batch because the silly buggers sent me the wrong colour and have presumably decided they'd rather refund me than have me ship it back. Since it's in the form of bonus aka store credit I'd better go and spend it, hadn't I?
Not sure if I want to get a Majohn nib after all, because the Jinhao nibs are perfectly nice.
#FountainPen

2026-03-29 15:26:43 UTC

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6th picture down on the listing - 24.5 cm x 12.5 cm x 4.7 cm. A quick check on mine is consistent with that, although I haven't measured it accurately. The top of the cap sits a couple of cm about the 4.7 cm for the rack.
The membrane is only on the bottom half of the rack so the vials do move around if you push them, but not if you just shake the rack (again, might change if you've got the weight of 5 ml of ink added).
Only downside is that it isn't designed to self-stack. You'd really need to find a rack or set of drawers to hold multiple trays for that. Or an Ikea Billy bookcase with a pack of extra shelves. :-)

2026-03-29 14:32:03 UTC

It's designed for 18mm tubes so does a nice job of holding the 5ml sample vials ink samples usually come in. The interesting thing is that it has a perforated silicone membrane in the lower half, which grips the tube to hold it steady. So steady that I was able to turn the rack upside down and the two test tubes I'd put in it didn't fall out. :-) Granted, they were empty, but I don't think the weight of ink would be enough to pull them loose. It's a solidly constructed piece of kit, as it should be given that the intended audience is biochemical labs.
Downside for pen people is that you need to take the vial out to read the label, which means pulling it free of the silicone membrane, so a bit slower than just flicking through the traditional shoe box. Putting a little bit of label on the vial lid with a tiny sample of the ink would be a good idea with this one. But if the membrane's grip is good enough to hold the tube even with the rack on its side it'll be easier to find somewhere to stuff it out of the way. I can see myself getting a couple more of these if I do actually manage to do some decluttering in order to store even more hobby stuff (or "junk" as Spousal Unit likes to call it).
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006464390482.html

2026-03-27 20:02:27 UTC

I have decided that I really really like Jinhao 20 pens, which is a good thing because I now have several of them after a binge in the shop that is selling some of the basic colours at half price. I also have the Majohn disassembly tool, which I will use this weekend to practice on the nib unit that had An Unfortunate Accident when I was about to put the converter with its first fill in.
I should probably have bought a spare nib while I was buying the tool, because I couple of places have them on offer and it's probably just the nib itself that's damaged, not the complete unit.
#FountainPen

2026-03-21 19:07:17 UTC

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Oh dear. I hope that's not going to happen to the one I bought last year before I can even get around to using it. (Installing unfamiliar software seemed like a bad idea given how flaky my computer was getting.)

2026-03-15 18:32:49 UTC

Went to AliExpress to order some cheap Jinhao 20 #FountainPens and the tool plus maybe an M nib.
There is a sale starting in 5 hours.
Plus, not in the sale, but back in stock - the rose-gold /transparent Jinhao 20 that I had set my heart on but didn't nab before it was sold out.
Oh dear...
(Yes. yes, the "sale" mostly involves things where the price was put up a few days ago in order to make it look like a massive reduction when they put it back down.)

2026-03-14 22:04:16 UTC

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I did also wonder if it was something to do with having swapped the converter to the Majohn one, but installing a Majohn in the new nib unit didn't affect it, so probably not.
While I was at it, I tried the cartridge-with-stopper that was included in the pack with the Majohn converter and pipette. It would be nice to try the system out, and also check whether you could see the ink when the pen was in use - one of the nice things about demonstrators. Um. It would not feed ink through to the nib, which fair enough, brand new pen. So I tried squeezing it to force some through - except it's a lovely strong thick piece of plastic and wouldn't squeeze...
As usual, it occurred to me too late that what I should have done was put in a converter and use that to force some ink through first. So that's what I've done. The refillable cartridge had has its little rubber bung put in, so I'll get to test how well that seals. I'll use it once the convertor is empty. If it works, the little case with 5 cartridges I also bought will be a good solution to the problem of trying to refill it at work.
One thing that's rapidly becoming clear is that this style of nib is a bit of a pain to clean, so I won't be changing ink colours in it that often. Ah, well. It's an excuse to buy more of them when they're on special offer. 🤣

2026-03-14 22:03:52 UTC

Dug out one of the heavily reduced Jinhao 20 #FountainPens I bought last month, and tried its nib unit in the transparent 20 with the nib alignment problem. *Much* better. When I tried the possibly damaged unit in the other pen it was slightly off alignment, but nowhere near as much. I think it may be a combination of the nib unit and the pen.

2026-03-11 23:20:51 UTC

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Oh, does the Majohn tool work in the Jinhao nib units? You've probably told me before, but I've forgotten.

2026-03-11 23:19:37 UTC

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A quick glance through AliExpress shows some allegedly Jinhao 20 pens at suspiciously cheap prices. If they aren't counterfeit they might do for a nib unit transplant, since it's cheaper than buying a nib unit. 🙂 I need to go to bed now, but might do that tomorrow.

2026-03-11 22:35:47 UTC

Oh dear. Dropped the nib unit on my transparent Jinhao 20 #FountainPen as I was taking it out of the housing for its very first fill a couple of weeks ago. The nib hard starts, which I'd assumed was minor damage to the nib, and I was going to look at changing it when I get around to buying a tool. But it dries out even when the nib is retracted. And having dipped it gently in water and then wiped it on a paper towel to get ink flowing I've now got ink leaking between the clear plastic barrel and the metal bit housing the trapdoor mechanism. Looking at the trapdoor shows the nib well off line as the trap opens and the nib extends, although it's lined up by the time it's fully extended. This is not a happy pen.
I suspect the best use for this pen is to buy another one plus a tool and use this one for dismantling practice. :-(

2026-03-07 19:29:14 UTC

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I'm extremely reluctant to do a fresh install nowadays, because the last time I bought un upgrade of Dragon !!!!"£$ing Nuance was selling a DVD copy for an extra ten quid - which turned out to contain nothing more than a link to the site where you could download the actual software as long as you did it within 30 days of purchase. And I don't have a DVD burner to burn my own copy, which is why I was buying the DVD in the first place. The only way I can transfer it to a new computer is upload to the cloud and back down again, or buy a DVD burner, both of which are fraught with difficulty - especially as I've lost the licence code after losing some of my mailspool when I moved off my ancient email client.

2026-03-07 19:15:51 UTC

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Thanks for those - bookmarking for when I have sufficient spoons.
I know plenty of people who use and like Linux without feeling the need to evangelise, and I'm very glad to know that I'll have useful help and advice if I'm ever in a position to switch. It's the Reply Guys and their smug self-righteousness who get my goat.

2026-03-07 18:51:17 UTC

*Bother.* My laptop has been getting ever more cranky over the last few months, and in particular really dislikes having more than a couple of tabs in Edge open - there's some sort of memory leak there. Eventually I have to reboot it to get memory back because it's slowed to a crawl. Only it's been getting worse, and as of today even rebooting doesn't seem to clear it properly.
I have in the past dealt with this by buying a new laptop, because by the time it starts doing this it's several years old and worth upgrading anyway. But right now AI tulipmania has sent the price of anything powerful enough to run Dragon with all the bells and whistles in use through the roof.
I'd even be tempted to take up the "cheap trial offer!!!" the next time Norton wants me to buy the SuperDuper AllSingingAndDancing that supposedly fixes broken drivers and links and memory leaks and all the rest of it, but I'm not letting that loose without running a full disk backup *and* making sure it can be reinstated. And tulipmania has sent the price of heavy duty backup media through the roof....
I suppose it's time to move over fully to DuckDuckGo and see if that's any better. If nothing else, it won't require as much of my limited cognitive power as trying to kick Edge into behaving, and I can cope with my browser at home being different to the one at work.
(Anyone thinking of saying "You should switch to Linux" -- it's not funny and it's not clever. It's not practical for me, for reasons I have discussed before. And I am sick of cult members telling me I don't *really* need my accessibility software or compatibility with all of the Spawn of Redmond's word processing features because the OS they worship is The One True Way.)

2026-03-07 11:56:46 UTC

Thursday night I got home to two more parcels of "I already have stash beyond life expectancy but it looks so pretty" - some rather nice aran weight linen yarn, and a bottle of Hero ink. Fresh supplies of sample vials arrived earlier in the week, so I can spend a bit of time this weekend decanting the Hero.
I can also spend some time decanting a different hero, since I've found my "writing on the bus" notebooks for the next WiP to finish now I've something vaguely resembling a functioning brain again.

2026-02-28 17:52:06 UTC

Oh dear. One of those days where I am grateful for Mastodon's ability to mute someone for a specific period. Some of my friends scroll through their feed rapidly boosting everything on a particular topic, which means that I get spammed with the world's opinion on Hot Topic Of The Day. And that I have to scroll through several screen's worth of Hot Topic before I find conversation I'm actually interested in; or even not interested in but at least it's not Hot Topic. Someone got muted this morning because they would Not. Shut. Up. about the by-election. My dearly beloved friend, I know you are very pleased that your party won. You do not need to tell us this thirty times in two minutes.

2026-02-28 11:58:13 UTC

It occurs to me that I could try out ink in a variety of nib sizes by getting several nib units for a Wancai and just swapping the nibs without having to empty the pen. One half fill of the barrel of a clear Wancai would give a good look at how the ink behaves in various nibs without having to clean and refill an entire pen in each nib size. I currently have a set of Jinhao 51a in acrylic for daily use testing, but it takes ages to empty them, whether by using or by washing.
I don't actually like Wancais very much for daily use, because they're a bit fatter than I find comfortable to hold, but I may have had a slight shopping accident on AliExpress involving needing something to bring a basket over a minimum spend and there being a sale on a specific colour.
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-02-23 19:13:03 UTC

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Very much so.
on my floor there was an initial 15 seconds of "stunned mullet" reaction while everyone processed that yes that was the fire alarm and it wasn't fire alarm test day, and then an orderly evacuation with people taking a few seconds to grab coats and a few handbags that were conveniently to hand. Only a few handbags, so there was a bit of "how do we get home" and/or "I can't buy anything if we go to the pub to keep warm while we wait". Various people have now decided that their phone is now staying on their person all day even if they have to get a bumbag to keep it in. I noted that not only do I keep mine with me (it's a work phone and I'm supposed to), I have a five pound note stuck in the case so that I have bus fare home if we have to evacuate and aren't allowed back in.

2026-02-23 18:50:40 UTC

Always fun when you have to evacuate the office on a cold damp day. At least most of us were able to grab our coats on our way out the door.
It was a real alarm, and while it turned out to not be a fire the thing that had tripped the alarm was still serious and dangerous, so we got to mill around at the assembly point for half an hour while it was made safe. Fortunately nobody was injured.

2026-02-22 18:30:31 UTC

Well, I've swatched Van Dieman's Launceston Fog and Sacagawea this weekend, and was able to photograph Launceston Fog in not just natural light, but actual sunshine. I didn't manage to finish Sacagawea before it got dark, so I'll just hope there's some sun next weekend, or at least only light cloud.
Sacagawea is stunning when I manage to get it to work, but it does not like the Hocoro dip pens and I keep getting airlocks in the channel in the feed of the WS3008. The shimmer settles so fast you really have to have your wits about you when filling. I may try to find a broader nib for one of the Wancais, and possibly have two so that I can swap a nib unit out to give it a good scrub without having to empty the pen.
#fountainPen #fountainPenInk

2026-02-21 17:03:25 UTC

Just finished swatching Van Dieman's "Launceston Fog". With any luck a) there will be enough natural light tomorrow to take photos, b) I will remember to do so.
I've done a second swatch to do a sun fading test - if there is ever sun in this country again...
#fountainPen #fountainPenInk

2026-02-21 15:41:27 UTC

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I suspect it's probably taking the opportunity to put the prices up a bit after a long run without increasing retail price to match their own increasing cost of materials.
I'm glad I took the opportunity to grab a few of the old style bottles, because I already have a lifetime supply of stash, and do not need actual volume as opposed to getting a few more New!Shiny! colours.
I was feeling slightly guilty about the number of pens I have, and then I saw the toots by @npub1hmu…k6rx logging cleaning out some of his many, many pens. 😆

2026-02-21 10:48:57 UTC

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AU$15.95 for the 30 ml bottles and AU25.95 for the 40 ml bottles, so a significant price rise.
The monthly limited edition inks are AU49.95 for a 100 ml bottle, so good value per ml, but you need to be a heavy user to get through that much. :-) I got January 2025 free, though, because they usually run a special during the month where if you buy 10 bottles you get the ink of the month free.
Annoyingly, the first one of theirs I got and love, Leatherwood honey, is now on clearance. I would actually buy a bottle or two of that and a couple of the other clearance inks if it wouldn't be so expensive to ship them. Though still probably cheaper than waiting until the next time in .au and having to buy the bigger bottle. 🤣

2026-02-20 22:47:52 UTC

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The one I've got is an open nib, so maybe they've changed it.
Just went to Ali to look up buying a couple of things for the meet, including a nice little Majohn glass pen I'd like a second one of , and discovered that Majohn are now doing a fancier glass pen that comes with pen rest and a covered ink well. I do not need it, but will bookmark for a later credit card month...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010565280233.html

2026-02-20 22:41:06 UTC

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I'm actually wondering whether to buy a batch to fill with my new Van Dieman inks to take to the meet at Eastercon. Might be more fun for people than samples with glass pens, and I don't have to worry about a more expensive pen going missing. (I know a 3008 is cheap, but it's still expensive enough that I wouldn't want to hand out a dozen of them.)
The other reason I've been eyeing the box of a dozen colours on AliExpress is that they're cheap enough to try out grinding a couple of nibs to get disposable Jinhao fit stubs without having to hunt for decent third party nibs.

2026-02-20 22:32:04 UTC

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I was gifted a used Shark at a meet, although not had time to clean it out and use it. I've seen a few people say it's enormous fun and very robust for something that cheap.

2026-02-20 21:41:50 UTC

Van Dieman have just re-released the Greek Heroes range in their new design 40 ml bottles, along with several other re-releases. Looks as if they're letting colours go out of stock in the old 30 ml bottles and then re-releasing at least someone of them in the bigger, more expensive bottles. @npub1hej…qetx there may be hope for Sacagawea.
(Annoyingly, one of the ones I wanted that was out of stock during my Big Order is now back, although I'm not sure I want it enough to pay the hefty price rise for the bigger bottle.)
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-02-15 17:27:00 UTC

Finished adding my 2020-2025 pen and ink purchases from Cult Pens to my spreadsheet.
Um. That's a lot of ink, and it's just the ones from Cult Pens (who, to be fair, were my only enablers until a year or so back).
I can stop any time I want.
#fountainPen #fountainpenInk

2026-02-14 22:29:50 UTC

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I got back from my trip with "buy 10, get Ink of the Month free" from Van Dieman in my suitcase to add to the large pile of inks I already have. I definitely need to have some sort of colour display, although with their wacky sheen/shimmer/dichroic combinations it might be difficult assigning a colour. 🙂

2026-02-14 19:25:53 UTC

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Sounds like I should try out the Fountain Pen Companion, then. If I can pull down a CSV then I won't be wasting any time I've put into adding my stuff, because I'll still have something I can use even if I decide I don't get on with it.
(Another factor I always have to take into account is how compatible it would be with Dragon if I have a bout of being dependent on speech recognition, which means CSV is a desirable feature anyway.)

2026-02-14 19:21:10 UTC

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Ah. Notion appears to be genAI. Since one of things I failed to do this week is fill out my form for my share of the Anthropic class action settlement with the authors whose IP Anthropic stole, I am disinclined to use that.

2026-02-14 19:07:46 UTC

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I'd prefer to have something that I don't need an active internet connection to use. I'd also strongly prefer not having my data where a US tech giant can brick it (which reminds me, I need to run an imap backup of my GMail accounts), hence not wanting a Google app. I am not wedded to this, since the one I was using is an iPad app.
A website where I can export my data to have a usable offline backup is fine.

2026-02-14 18:05:03 UTC

Right, the subscription for that pen and ink cataloguing app is getting cancelled. It does not do one of the things I wanted it for, which is to track what's been inked. It *should* do that, and clearly does for most users, but not on my iPad model/build.
This is coming up to six months since I reported it to the developer, and he did say he would look into it, but I've heard nothing back since then. I've had at least one major iOS upgrade, and there are release notes for the latest version of iOS, but even after deleting and reinstalling this afternoon it's not having any of it.
I have a paper log of pens and inks I've already used, but I now have enough Things that I'd like a searchable database that includes things not yet used/opened. A long time ago I would have simply fired up Lotus Approach, but that was a long time ago and I didn't bother to crowbar SmartSuite onto the Windows 11 machine.
I don't have the spoons to deal with installing LibreOffice and learning to use it, so the Spawn of Redmond it is.
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-02-12 10:43:32 UTC

Further thoughts Van Dieman's Sacagawea. It's okay on the Clairefontaine 90gsm vellum in my Evolutive notebook, but on HP Everyday 80gsm copy paper it bleeds horribly and feathers. Yes, it's copy paper, but it's perfectly fine with things like Diamine Green Oasis (also a shimmer) in a WS3008 and whatever it is I've got in the inked Jinhao 20. It just gets light to moderate ghosting with most of the inks I've used with it, and I've hand written most of two novels on that paper with various Diamine and von Graf inks.
It's a beautiful ink that I'd love to use in the right circumstances, but those circumstances do not include everyday carry. Ah, well. There are going to be some pretty page borders in my Log of Atlantis.
#FountainPen #FountainInk

2026-02-09 19:42:05 UTC

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I do have a spare Lamy nib around here somewhere, but I think I have it because I swapped the one a pen came with for a broader nib. 😆
I bought some clones from AliExpress but was less than successful with the one I tried. I need to find them and try another one.

2026-02-09 19:36:24 UTC

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I've quite happily used two of the original Diamine shimmers in one of my 3008s, and do get a bit of shimmer - sometimes more than I really want when using them at work, because it's distracting. :-) I'm tempted to swap the nib on one of mine for an M or B, but am slightly concerned it won't work anyway since it would have to be a third party and not a WS nib. The last third party nib I tried looked very pretty but didn't fit well enough to work.

2026-02-09 17:28:40 UTC

Initial thoughts on Van Dieman's Ink Sacagawea Shimmering. Actual swatch and further thoughts to follow once I've done more than quick notes in my ink logbook.
My, it is indeed a shimmer ink. Lots and lots of shimmer, which settles very rapidly indeed. It was not fun drawing off samples to put in tubes for distribution, and I think I may end up doing tubes just for me, so that I can shake the little tubes and get something vaguely approaching consistent results when filling pens, rather than filling direct from the bottle.
This may be my fault for putting it in what may be a previously unused and unwashed WS3008, but the nib went dry within 5 lines and I had to use the piston to force more ink through. It lasted a bit longer before the second time I had to do this. It is a spectacular looking ink on the page, but I will not be putting it in any pen I can't easily dismantle for a thorough cleaning.
#FountainPen #FountainPenInk

2026-02-07 16:44:43 UTC

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I was saved from buying those my by friendly local enabler being out of stock, so will be interested to see how you get on.

2026-02-02 05:05:54 UTC

Late Wednesday: order ink, Express post, which should take 1-2 business days.
Thursday 8.39 am: emails from ink people and AusPost saying the postage has been prepared.
Friday: crickets.
Monday morning: still crickets.
Monday lunchtime: tracking still claiming they haven't received the parcel from the sender.
Monday 15.37: Email from AusPost saying it's on its way. Tracking says "we've got it" but does not say it's on its way. Both say delivery Tuesday.
Interesting interpretation of 1-2 business days. I hope it does turn up tomorrow, given the local delivery office's interesting interpretation of delivery three days a week.

2026-01-30 00:10:25 UTC

We were discussing storage for #FountainPen swatch cards on a thread by @npub1lx9…kyws and I mentioned that I've just bought some acid free archival storage pockets. As an example, this is one of the things I bought (note, Amazon link). You want ones labelled as archival or acid free, preferably from a company that specialises in archival grade storage. Check that the page size and holes fit whatever binder you want to put it in, and check the size of the individual pockets on the page *carefully* - ones that refer to e.g. 4"x6" photos may be slightly different by a millimetre or two, and some won't take whatever card size you want to put into them.
Even if you don't want to buy from Amazon, they can be a useful directory to find a store and then find that company's own website and buy direct. 😄
#FountainPen
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01LYFZS78

2026-01-29 00:43:31 UTC

I... may have had a slight shopping accident on the Van Dieman's Ink website. This could be fun to explain to customs.
Since I already have Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy in ink as well as yarn, some of this little lot will probably end up in sample vials on eBay, not just in vials for the Eastercon meet. Which means I probably need to go to AliExpress to buy some vials. And we know what visiting AliExpress leads to, don't we?
#FountainPen

2026-01-28 08:49:10 UTC

Need to work out how to quote-boost so I can boost something but add a CW and hashtag. There is stuff I want to boost, but not at the price of forcing it on people who need to just look at cat pictures for a while so they can recharge.

2026-01-14 09:22:23 UTC

My order of #FountainPen ink from Van Dieman Inks has arrived safely. Swatches from gloating over the Preciouses will have to wait until I get home, though.
Not sure if I want to share the Odysseus with the Eastercon meet. :-) It's now out of stock, and I can see myself using a lot of it.

2026-01-14 01:01:02 UTC

AusPost claims my #FountainPen ink purchase will be here today. I hope sealed bottles will make it home safely in my checked baggage, because I am *not* binning it if I put it in my cabin bag and security decide it's suspicious.

2026-01-13 20:41:48 UTC

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sounds good. :-). I've seen several reports that the 20 seems better behaved than the 10 - I wonder if they've improved the design slightly even if it's cheaper, or if so far people have been lucky.
I still haven't used mine much, because I'm away from home much of the month and I don't want to run an experiment on how much time a pen can go at 40,000 feet without leaking. Looking forward to playing with my transparent 20 when I've got time.

2026-01-12 08:24:40 UTC

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been there, done that, learnt to avoid pens where you can't see if the cartridge is empty without taking it out of the pen. Unless, of course, there's a reason for using that pen that outweighs the nuisance factor.

2026-01-11 08:21:34 UTC

Yes! I have just bought the last (in this run, at least) bottle of Van Dieman Greek Heroes Odysseus #FountainPen ink in the company's own shop, after failing to nab it from the UK stockist before they sold out.
Of course, this meant a few other inks fell into the basket while I was there...

2026-01-04 11:40:17 UTC

#writerscoffeeclub 4/1: Share a tool of your trade
#FountainPen - the accumulation of pens and inks isn't *just* because "Ooh, shiny!" A few years ago my mild migraine switched to extremely severe chronic migraine, as in continuously for a year and a half. I couldn't look at a screen for months.
I was stuck at home on sick leave for three months, unable to look at the tv, unable to use any computing device larger than my phone screen, even unable to listen to a lot of audiobooks because higher pitched voices were too painful to listen to. I did have several fountain pens.
I wrote large chunks of two attack novels by hand in those three months. In one of my rare 5 minutes of being able to look at a screen I managed to buy a writing slope. I have severe RSI and wouldn't be able to use a ballpoint for that much writing, but managed with a fountain pen and slope.
Of course, I then recovered enough to return to work, which for several years used up all my capacity to look at any computer screen bigger than a phone. First job when I finally could use a computer at home was the novel I'd almost completed when it first hit. Now onto the handwritten ones.

2026-01-01 19:02:38 UTC

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I did find it intensely irritating to not be able to tell how much ink was left, so appreciate your toot about the differences. 🙂
I thought that nib/feed might be difficult to flush, so am not particularly bothered. I think as long as I stick to plain colours from the same maker it won't be a problem to switch inks as long as I do clean it out occasionally..
I'll stick with the 51a set and the WS 3008 set for testing new inks, as they're much easier to clean. I have had a lot of practice now at dismantling the 3008 for spa day and am perfectly happy to use it for testing even shimmer inks. :-) Need to learn how to dismantle the latest design tweak, though.

2026-01-01 18:37:53 UTC

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Biggest problem I've found is that it's difficult to fully clean an old ink out of the pen before filling with a new, and the capacity is low so you end up with the new tinted by the old one for a long time.

2026-01-01 18:35:27 UTC

6 weeks into using the Jinhao 20 and I still really like it. Not exactly high capacity, at around 6-7 sides of A5, but that's still very usable. I did two fills on the OEM converter, and yesterday switched over to the Majohn A1 converter for the third.
The Majohn convertor definitely has a higher capacity, and it has the great advantage of actually being able to see whether there's any ink left in it without having to detach it from the pen. *Much* better than the Jinhao one.
#FountainPen

2026-01-01 18:29:08 UTC

Why are there suddenly oodles of "glass" nibs for the Jinhao 82? I'm actually seriously tempted to get one plus the cheapest full length 82 I can find, and make myself a capped glass-nibbed pen to take to meets. (I suspect they're actually acrylic, not glass.)
#FountainPen
1/2

2026-01-01 12:28:05 UTC

Not sure if this is visible without being logged into BlueSky, but thread warning that there are signs that LiveJournal could be about to disappear for non-Russian users (and be even more of a panopticon for Russian users than it already is).
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3mbebi2xfxc25
If you have stuff there you want to keep, get a copy downloaded soon. DreamWidth has an import system, but Rahaeli also lists some other options.
Don't forget any comms you're a moderator of.
I imported the LJ version of the Bearing Witness community into the Dreamwidth edition years ago when LJ imposed anti-lgbt T&C. I think ra-log doesn't have anything we need to import (assuming none of the other mods have done it already). There are afp and rasfc comms where I'm not the mod, so may have to check who is.

2025-12-23 17:32:21 UTC

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That was a rhetorical question. I know how many of you will answer "all of them!" :-)
2/2

2025-12-23 17:32:15 UTC

Transparent Jinhao 20 arrived. Alas, it was silver, and I wanted the rose gold. Checked and the fault was mine, not the shop's - must have clicked on the wrong thing when ordering. Now debating whether to get another - I really like my burgundy one, but how many do I really need?
#FountainPen
1/2

2025-12-21 14:14:03 UTC

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The actual reason for the AliExpress binge, namely the transparent/glitter Jinhao 20, is in a different package, which might not get here until after Christmas.
Oh, and the cheap J20s arrived with that protective plastic cap over the click button we were discussing last month.
5/5

2025-12-21 14:13:58 UTC

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And finally a set of ridiculous gel pens trying to look like a glass dip pen, bought purely for the giggle factor. I'll probably take those along to the Eastercon meet for others to point and laugh at. They're less than 50p each, so they'll be reasonable pens for the office.
4/5

2025-12-21 14:13:53 UTC

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A set of Majohn A1 cartridges with stoppers and pipette in a nice plastic carry case. Must try them out once I've got to the end of the current fill of the converter in the J20 I'm currently using. Those could be quite useful if I use one of the click pens at work.
3/5

2025-12-21 14:13:46 UTC

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The transparent Jinhao Century/100 with heartbeat nib is pretty, and again appears to be genuine, but not in a Jinhao box unless they've changed their packaging recently. Might just be the thing with Jinhaos being made all over the place.
2/5

2025-12-21 14:13:40 UTC

First Aliexpress parcel arrived. The £2.50 Jinhao 20s appear to be the real thing, as far as my limited experience can tell, other than arriving in what I think may be a different company's box. At that price I don't care as long as they work. No obvious light leaks.
#FountainPen
1/5

2025-12-14 17:01:12 UTC

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So in the end I got the rose gold clear 20, the heartbeat demonstrator Century, two of the probably fake solid colour 20s, and another cartridge cap plus set of refillable cartridges.
The £2.50 probably-fakes will go with me to the meet at Eastercon, since as long as they actually work they'll be useful for people to play with the mechanism even if they don't seal well enough to be practical to use.
I suppose at some point I'll have to look at getting the A1 disassembly tool. Not clear if it will work on the J20, but I've got two A1s anyway.

2025-12-14 15:19:54 UTC

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Not entirely enamoured of the glitter, but at least it's relatively tasteful and does actually look like glitter. (My Jinhao 3013 in speckled white just looks dirty, rather than colour speckle.) I hadn't picked up on the coloured nib, but now I've gone back and looked at the listing, yes, all three colours have matching nibs. Getting more and more tempted, because you can actually see much of the mechanism - I am entirely too found of demonstrators for that reason, not just displaying the ink.
Someone is selling solid colour 20s for £2.70-£3.50 in the bulk buy section of Ali. I suspect at that price they're counterfeit. Same place is selling Jinhao Centuries for £5, which makes me even more suspicious. I'd be tempted anyway, but a demonstrator Century with the heartbeat M nib is £7.50, which more than I want to pay for a "may as well have a laugh and heartbeats are cute".

2025-12-13 19:46:12 UTC

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Found the nib sets - I'd even favourited them. 🙂
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007167239549.html

2025-12-13 19:39:11 UTC

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Ah, I hadn't noticed the sparkles. Not entirely convinced by that, but I do like the pen, so may indulge anyway. Just hope there's no internal leakage, because I suspect it would be quite difficult to get completely clean again.

2025-12-13 19:33:12 UTC

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And I hadn't realised there was a demonstrator 20. I am suddenly very tempted by the rose gold, even though I have far too many pens already.

2025-12-13 19:16:34 UTC

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Yes, I was surprised by how short the piston travel was on the 10/20. I'm definitely going to swap the converter.

2025-12-13 17:53:22 UTC

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this afternoon's AliExpress delivery included what is allegedly an A1 converter and refillable cartridge. I think the converter is slightly longer, and I find that only half the length of the 10/20 fills anyway, so I will be swapping on the next fill.
The thing I did find annoying is that it's impossible to tell whether the converter is empty, because the barrel is completely covered when installed. The cartridge is probably a better option. even if it's harder to prime the nib.
I thought I'd bought a spare nib and/or unit for the A1 a few months ago, but can't find it so maybe not. I've definitely seen them in more than one shop there, but it seems hard to find them on the search engine when you're actually looking for them, as opposed to stumbling across them when looking for the pen or converter.

2025-12-13 17:36:06 UTC

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Don't flush your pen holding it above a metal sink. It seems to have survived me dropping it nib down, though. Still writing smoothly, and I still like this pen. We'll see how it is after a few months.
3/3

2025-12-13 17:36:00 UTC

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Flushed it and refilled with Diamine Cult Pens Robert, so a different colour and will be able to tell where a fill started and ended on my diary for a better estimate of page capacity. The small capacity suggests that traces of a previous colour will be a lot more obvious for a lot longer.
2/3

2025-12-13 17:35:54 UTC

Hard start on the Jinhao 20 last night and again this morning, which worried me slightly, but checking showed that the converter was empty. I'd done 7-8 A5 sides at most and probably less, so not exactly massive capacity, but I've been spoiled by the WS 3008 piston filler.
#FountainPen
1/3

2025-12-07 18:19:51 UTC

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Some of them have extremely practical uses - the set of Jinhao 51a cracked acrylic I use as standard pens for testing new inks, and the set of Wing Sung 3008s for using at work. A few others were once in regular use for writing fiction. But there are a lot of "ooh, *shiny*", some literally.
3/3

2025-12-07 18:19:46 UTC

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I should probably use some of these inks before buying any more. Although I have achieved the impossible - I looked at AliExpress and resisted the urge to buy more models of cheap Chinese fountain pens. Probably helps that I've been filing the current collection and... um... manymanylots...
2/3

2025-12-07 18:19:40 UTC

More cataloguing of my inks using an iOs app. Unfortunately the thing I specifically bought it for does not work on my iPad, i.e. tracking what ink is currently in a pen. Contacted the developer in August who said he would take a look, but no update yet. :-(
#FountainPen
1/3