A Prelude of Good Things to Come

In preparation of my upcoming ink and notebook reviews, I started cleaning several of my pens last night. More pens were cleaned this morning and all six of them will be filled with fresh inks in the days to come.

Cleaned pens left overnight to dry.

Set on left is the disassembled Parker Rialto that used to be filled with Caran d'Ache Saffron, and soon to be inked with Diamine Burnt Sienna. I love this pen and its medium nib and the fact that its nib section can be taken apart: nib and feed can pulled out of the nib section and rinsed thoroughly with water. No long soaking time or flushing of stubborn ink stuck in the feed and underside of the nib.

The middle set has the parts of the Colibri pen, my first pen with a two-toned nib that writes like heaven. Very smooth, and used to be filled with Aurora Blue, and soon will get a transfusion of Diamine Turquoise. It didn't take long to flush out old ink from its nib section.

Last set on right belongs to Mary-Ann, the Retro 51 Scripmaster II Series pen that I just adore, love, and cherish. Who wouldn't? It was filled only with Waterman South Sea Blue since I got it in April, and now will be inked with J. Herbin Orange Indien.

Of course my ink reviews will include my dabbling into calligraphy, and there is something new that I shall use for that aside from my Schneider Creativ and Lamy Joy pens - an old set of Manuscript calligraphy pens that I got from a thrift store for PhP50 a year ago. The pen was in a blister pack with 2 nibs and a converter, but I only got to use the converter later on. I was disappointed at the nibs when I used them because they were scratchy and hard starting. But I wasn't into calligraphy then. I saw the pen in my office drawer today and tried to do some calligraphy strokes. I was so surprised at how the 2.3 nib wrote. Not smooth, in fact the nib tip is so sharp it can cut through my skin. But the letters I wrote with it were so beautifully impressive! Now I have three sets of calligraphy pens. :) But wait! I also have a Brause set with six nibs! Six! I'll get on them as soon as I finish my final exams on the 19th. After that, it's purely paper, ink, and pen bliss for me. :)

Ink Review: Aurora Blue

I've been getting fountain pens for a while now, and I have several bottles of inks with me, including the two Private Reserve inks I got last year. Despite the variety of inks I got, I have not taken the time to write about them, or post reviews.

Last weekend, I got hold of a bottle of Aurora Blue and immediately filled my white Schneider Base pen with it. I tried it on my Moleskine first, then I tried it on another notebook with a completely different paper type, and the result is awesome!

Aurora Blue is one of only two colors manufactured by the Aurora Pen Company. It's not my first taste of Blue, as I also have Cross Blue and two Watermans, the turquoise South Sea Blue and dark Florida Blue, which is very similar to Aurora Blue.

The blue of Aurora has a very intense and rich dark hue with visible tinges of purple but dries as a beautiful blue. It has excellent flow that will work well with different pens. It's already amazing on my Schneider Base because that pen is such a smooth writer. I'm excited to try it on other pens later.


Feathering and bleed are two things I always worry about because I use a Moleskine for journaling. Of course it's a known fact that these notebooks are not the friendliest to fountain pens and their inks. When I tried it on my Molie, the ink did not feather at all, but there is minor bleeding. I then tried it on a different notebook with a different paperstock (shown on the photos above) and I am so happy with the results: no feathering, minor bleed.

Aurora Blue is a happy color for me. I cannot describe it properly, but when I look at my Moleskine pages written with it, the pages just seem to smile at me. And happy is good. Happy pens, happy inks. Happier? Happiest! *Winks.*