Diamine Inkvent 2025 Day 5

Day 5’s ink is Diamine Marie Rose, a standard ink that looks like a thousand island dressing. Apparently Marie Rose is a British seafood or cocktail sauce. I never heard of it before, likely because I don’t eat seafood. In any case the ink colour is unique and beautiful, with plenty of interesting shading.

Although Marie Rose is a light ink, it’s dark enough to be readable, and would work particularly well in thin papered notebooks, as there’s bound to be no ghosting or bleed-through.

Today’s bear comes with very little information, beyond a price tag and an embroidered tag with the name “SHULTZ” on it. He’s tiny (about the size of a Col-o-ring) but full of character, and proper bear.

I like Diamine Marie Rose and I’d see myself using it in the future. It’s a light and optimistic ink that’s well behaved, interesting and unique. It makes up a bit for yesterday’s disaster ink.

What do you think? Do you see yourself buying a bottle of Marie Rose ink?

Diamine Inkvent 2025 Day 4

Day 4’s ink is Diamine Smoky Tobacco. It’s a scented sepia ink and I loathe it with every fiber of my being. I hate that it’s named after tobacco, I hate that it’s a scented ink, I hate that it stinks to high heaven, I don’t like the ink’s flow and I’m not a fan of the colour. I have no idea what Diamine were thinking naming an ink after Tobacco and then having it reek of stale Tobacco but it’s a terrible idea and a terrible ink. It went straight to the trash can after this review, and the pen is about to be thoroughly cleaned out.

The issue is that this ink stinks so much that it actually made my whole notebook smell like it had been in a smokers house for the past few years. I am considering ripping the page out and throwing it to the garbage. If it still smells this badly in a day or two that’s what I’ll do.

Today’s bear is one of the prettiest in my collection. Her name is Zelda and she’s a Charlie Bear. Her body is so, so heavy but her mohair fur is as soft as it looks. It’s like stroking clouds.

I am so angry at Diamine for naming an ink after Tobacco, and then going out of their way to give us the full Tobacco experience. Here’s hoping that tomorrow’s ink is better, and that this is the last of Diamine’s scented inks, at least for this year’s Inkvent. Otherwise we might be getting a “dead rat carcass in the chimney” ink, or a “rotting wreath” one.

Diamine Inkvent 2025 Day 3

Day 3’s ink is Diamine Carousel. It’s a red pigment ink – which should mean that it’s waterproof, something that I will test later on.

Carousel is an orangey/coral red ink that flowed well in my Lamy Safari medium nib. There’s a bit of shading with this ink, which surprised me. I wasn’t expecting any shading because it’s a pigmented ink, and from my experience they tend to be “flatter”. In any case Carousel is a bright and cheerful colour, perfect for the season.

I had to check if Diamine Carousel is waterproof, so I sketched one of the beaches near my apartment. I then waited for the ink to completely dry, and painted over it with watercolours. It worked perfectly, as you can see, and I actually like the effect of sketching with such a peculiar colour of ink.

Today’s bear is Lialu, and he’s a Dean’s bear, and another one of the few blue bears that I own. Look what a serious little fellow he is:

Today’s bear – very dignified and distinguished

Diamine Carousel is a fun ink that’s completely waterproof when dry, and a joy to sketch with. I will certainly enjoy sketching with it, and time will tell if I’ll be adding it to my waterproof ink collection later next year. For scenes with lots of greens I think it would work particularly well, as it makes greens pop.

Do you see yourself sketching with this ink?

Diamine Inkvent 2025 Day 2

Day 2’s ink is Diamine Energy, a purple ink with golden green sheen. I used a Lamy Safari with a medium nib to test this ink out. The ink is very saturated, as I’d expect from a sheening ink, but there’s so much green sheen on it that it makes the ink look dusty.

Energy can be mistaken for a black ink in certain angles and from a distance, which is a bit of a shame as the base purple colour is gorgeous.

The sheen is interesting – there’s a cooler, bluish undertone to it that makes it more dusky and more muted than the standard golden green sheen that usually appears in dark purple inks.

The ink has a generous flow, and it will likely sheen even on relatively absorbent paper. I didn’t test it on Tomoe River Paper but I’m guessing that you’d likely not even see the base purple colour there.

There is an issue with such a dark, saturated and wet ink: ghosting and bleed-through. Both occurred here, to the point where I’m likely to just dump this ink out rather than use it for writing. This is an ink that is either for those willing to use only one side of the page, or those using very thick paper.

Today’s bear is Jayson. He’s literally one-of-a-kind – an artist bear made by Cornfield Cubs. He’s got a bit of a goofy face, which is why I bought him.

Diamine Energy is an interesting ink. I like the original name, though I don’t think it really fits the Christmas/holiday/winter theme of the Inkvent calendar. I wouldn’t buy a bottle of this ink because the sheen is too much for my liking and the ghosting and bleed-through make it impractical. What do you think?

Diamine Inkvent 2025 Day 1

Day 1’s ink is Diamine Celestial Skies. It’s a dark, saturated teal shimmer ink with plenty of red sheen on the proper paper. It’s a festive start for the Teal Edition calendar, and I love how rich and regal this ink looks on the page.

Col-o-Ring swab. I used a Lamy Al Star with a broad nib to test this ink

The ink has a silvery green shimmer that looks golden under certain lighting conditions and in certain angles. It has a generous flow, and I do see myself contemplating purchasing a full bottle of it when Diamine starts selling Teal Edition inks sometime in the middle of next year. With the shimmer, the sheen and a good amount of shading, plus the wonderful base ink colour, this ink will never be boring.

I think I have only three blue bears, and Finn here is one of them. Once I saw the ink colour I decided he’d be a nice bear to start off this year’s Inkvent reviews with. He’s five years old, though he doesn’t look it, and I love his pensive face and outreaching “hug me” paws.

Diamine Inkvent 2025 Spoiler Free Introduction

As the year comes to a close, it’s time for this year’s Diamine Inkvent. This year’s calendar is the Teal Edition – one of my favourite colours. I am guessing that it will include some version of Diamine’s new Forever pigmented inks. It will likely also include shimmer, chameleon, sheening and super sheening inks, scented inks (alas) and likely also a few surprises. I have done as much as possible to not read about the inks in it in advance – the surprise is most of the fun.

My Diamine Teal Edition Inkvent calendar.

I have been reviewing the Diamine Inkvent calendar since it was first issued, and it’s been a huge undertaking, and a fun one. You can find my review of the 2019 Blue edition starting here, the 2021 Red edition starting here, the 2022 Green edition starting here, the 2023 Purple edition starting here, and the 2024 Black edition starting here.

This year I’ve decided to streamline things a bit. I’m very busy, and my calendar arrived very, very late due to shipping issues so I haven’t really had a head start creating the review posts, and they take a LOT of time and effort. To cut down on the overhead I will not be photographing the individual doors or bottles – they aren’t really interesting. I will be creating a writing sample and a teddy bear sketch for each ink – using teddy bears from my collection as models. This year, however, the sketch and the writing sample will be done in a single notebook – the Apica Premium C.D Notebook. It has very fountain pen friendly paper that does a good job of showing off individual ink properties.

Like in previous years, I will be using my trusty Col-o-ring to swatch and sample each ink. I will also be actually filling fountain pens instead of just using dip pens to test the inks. I think that it’s provides more insight into how an ink behaves in a pen, particularly in terms of flow. Unlike in previous years I have a brand new ultrasonic cleaner, so hopefully the pen cleanup won’t be too bad…

Col-o-ring (no 2025 inks are swabbed here yet)

Have a great Inkvent to all who celebrate! I can’t wait to dig into this year’s calendar and see what Diamine came up with.

Weekly Update – Sketches, Film Photography and a 10K Race

A hectic week but an interesting one.

I went to see a local production of Singer, a play by Peter Flannery. It was phenomenal but it kept me up at night, which meant that the following morning I headed straight to my local cafe. I sketched the barista but something didn’t work in terms of getting her face right – she turned out sadder than she is. Sketching tired is rough.

Here’s the rather messy pencil and pen sketch. I can tell just by the line quality that I was very, very tired.

A day later I went to sketch at the nearby park and you can see the difference in the line quality in this sketch:

Initial sketch:

Later that week the film photographs that I’d had developed were returned to me. Here are a few of my favourites:

The local community cat that I feed twice a day coming to say hi

I love the atmosphere that the film gives this simple photo:

All of these photos are unedited. I’ll likely clean them up later on.

Bridge over water at a nature reserve near Haifa

There was a fire on the roof of a nearby hotel. I took this photo a day after the fire, and you can see the damage:

Cat failing to hunt a crow:

A stall at the local farmer’s market:

A stall at the local farmer’s market. You can see the see in the background.

I was supposed to run at a 10k night race on Wednesday, but I wasn’t feeling too good and I was apprehensive about dealing with the crowds so I ran the distance by myself a few hours before the official race start. It was a good decision as I was really struggling during the first 3k – but I did manage to finish, and finish strong.

I finished reading “Helmet for My Pillow” by Robert Leckie (a powerful narrative, but not as punchy as “With the Old Breed”), read “Death of a Nurse” by M.C. Beaton as a palate cleanser, and I’ve now started “The Shattering Peace”, John Scalzi’s long awaited sequel to his Old Man’s War series.

I’ve been overwhelmed with the responses to my Pelikan Hubs post. Thank you all for your kindness and for the thought and effort you put into your comments. I read them all, I just wasn’t able to respond to all of them this week.

Speaking of the Hubs, all of my pre-hubs inked pens have been written dry, which means that I currently have a 100% Pelikan rotation, plus some Platinum Preppy’s that I use for sketching.

Have a great week!

Weekly Update: Mars Yard 3.0

My Tom Sachs Nikecraft Mars Yard 3.0 sneakers arrived! I worked so hard to earn these and they were so expensive that for a moment I wondered if I’d ever wear them. But then I saw the bottom of the box:

The box is so well designed:

There are even hidden ten bullets:

There are two sets of sockliners that come with these shoes, one made of cork and one made of mesh:

And here are the shoes themselves:

Yes, I am wearing them, and yes, they are very comfortable. They aren’t in any way loud or attention grabbing, but that’s part of why I like them so much.

I’m nearing the end of reading “Helmet for My Pillow” by Robert Leckie. It’s a powerful narrative, but I think that “With the Old Breed” packed more punch. I also went to the Pelikan Hubs 2025 and you can read all about that here. I’ve now only got Pelikans inked up (and one Platinum Preppy), which is an interesting experience.

I sketched a new barista at my favourite cafe. The customers kept cutting off the view so I gave up on sketching the rest of the counter at some point. I was using my arttoolkit palette, which is ultra portable and contains a different set of paints than what I’m used to using. The notebook is a Stillman and Birn pocket Beta:

I went to develop film last week, and also went to an artist’s open house and splurged on a new painting. Have good art on your walls. It makes a difference.

Have a great week!

Pelikan Hubs 2025 and On Being A Female Pen Collector

Yesterday was the 2025 Pelikan Hubs event. Pelikan is so wonderful to organize these events, so generous and thoughtful with their gifts, and I love the company and their pens so much that I’m really heartbroken that this isn’t just a glowingly happy post.

This isn’t Pelikan’s fault. Their organization was as usual, impeccable. Their gift was tremendous – a beautiful box, with the Edelstein’s ink of the year Apricot Achat, a postcard and a notepad. Everything was so well designed it was breathtaking to open the box and see it all laid out perfectly.

Here’s the open box and the postcard:

Here’s the notepad. You can see the design on the cover better in the next photo, but the paper is smooth, thick and perfectly fountain pen friendly.

I love the design of the cover of the box, the postcard and the cover of the notepad. It’s playful but elegant, and it works well together and ties in well with the typography and the design of the Edelstein box. That’s a 10/10 for design and quality.

Everything that was in the box: postcard, Edelstein Apricot Achat ink, and notepad

The that we received is the Edelstein Apricot Achat, which is the ink of the year 2025. The bottle is gorgeous, and the ink is non-shimmer this year, so it should be easy to clean out of pens.

The ink itself is indeed an apricot ink, with a hint of shading. It’s bright but light – a tad too light for me if I’m honest. I think that this exact ink just slightly more saturated would have been the perfect orange for people who like their orange right in the middle of the orange spectrum – not too yellow or too red.

I filled a Pelikan M215 Rechteck (rectangle) with this ink, but I chose poorly, forgetting that it has an EF nib. Pelikan EF are on the wide side, but this ink would fare better in a medium or even a broad nib. I will still enjoy it as it works well with the other inks I currently have in rotation, but if you are looking to use this ink I’d suggest wide and generous nibs for it.

I tried it on the Postcard. The paper isn’t coated but is still rather sleek:

The postcard with an ink swab and writing sample

So thank you very much Pelikan for organizing this worldwide event and for your wonderful gift! I am actually considering buying the matching M200 because I like the look of the ink.

Now for the sad and ugly part:

Pen collection has a misogyny problem. I have experienced it during the previous Pelikan Hubs, I have experienced it when I tried to buy pens in brick and mortar shops, in flea markets, from pen makers. I experienced it during this year’s Pelikan Hubs and I’m tired of it, and kind of tired of all the talk about how wonderful and welcoming the pen community is. It’s wonderful and welcoming if you’re a guy, and time and again I have seen it close ranks and snarl if you’re a gal.

Just during yesterday’s event, where I stayed on for less than an hour (and even that was just to be at the edge of the group photo), I was told several times that:

Women don’t collect pens.
Only men collect pens.
I am not a real pen collector.
I can’t possibly be a pen collector.
I can’t possibly have enrolled to the Pelikan hub.
I am there as someone’s plus one.
Women don’t understand pen collecting.
I am a rare bird, the exception to the rule.

They had facts to back it up, they said. Their closed pen collectors group only had three women in it. That proved the point. I eye-rolled so hard. I had met and talked to one of the other female collectors at last year’s event and I fully understand why she didn’t brave this treatment to collect her gift this year. It’s because nobody wants to go out of their way to spend their precious free time with a bunch of *holes.

There are women collectors, they have every right to enjoy this hobby, and if you’re a guy and you don’t see women in your group, it’s not because they don’t collect pens. It’s because you’ve created a group that women don’t want to join.

Do better.

End of rant – and to end on a more positive note, I did manage to do a few 2-3 minute sketches while I was waiting for the group photo:

Sketched with Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl F nib and Montblanc Maya Blue on a Pith Kabosu Sketchbook

Sketched with Pelikan M605 Stresemann M nib and Sailor Ink Studio 123 on a Pith Kabosu Sketchbook

Thank you again Pelikan for the wonderful event. I intend to return next year even if the menfolk find my presence abhorrent. There were a few nice fellows that were willing to talk to me, and I will not let the trolls dissuade me from participating in a hobby that I have been enjoying for close to 20 years.

Currently Inked Fountain Pens – Pelikan Hubs Edition

Tomorrow is the Pelikan Hubs 2025 event, and to prepare I have inked up a whole flock of Pelikan fountain pens.

Here’s my current lineup of fountain pens and ink:

The top four have been inked way back in the beginning of August, but because of my travel schedule I’ve yet to write all of them dry. You can read about the Radius 1934 and the Pelikan M205 here as well.

Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 Galattica Universe – F nib – Montblanc The Beatles Psychedelic Purple – great pen and ink combination. I wrote this pen dry just after writing the sample above.

Parker 51 Plum – F nib – Sailor Jentle Peche – all vintage Parker 51 fountain pens are fabulous and this one is no different. The plum colour is very rare, but I decided to “use the good China”. The ink is a long discontinued Sailor Jentle Peche, a beautiful pink with great shading and outlining. Sailor used to make fantastic inks at great prices – in terrible bottles. It was a struggle to fill this pen, even with their internal ink reservoir dingus.

Pelikan M205 Petrol Marbled – EF nib – Pilot Iroshizuku Sui-gyoku – I was hoping that Sui-gyoku would be the green ink that I was looking for, but it’s more of a teal than a green. The Pelikan M2xx series is a solid workhorse kind of pen, and I highly recommend it.

Radius 1934 Settimo Cielo – F nib – Diamine 150th Anniversary Regency Blue – the ink has grown darker with time, to the point where it’s almost black. This isn’t surprising as it was a very saturated dark blue ink to begin with, and it’s had some time in the pen. I will likely write this pen dry today or tomorrow. The new Radius pens by Leonardo feel very much like Leonardo Momento Zeroes but with a slightly different design. That’s not a bad thing – they are gorgeous pens, and for now they’re slightly cheaper than the Momento Zeroes.

Last week I inked up a new Platinum Preppy 03 nib with De Atramentis Document Ink Black as part of a post that I am working on. It’s the first time I’ve used a Preppy with a converter and not the Platinum cartridge it comes with – and it works well.

I inked these pens today for the Pelikan Hubs event tomorrow:

Pelikan M605 Stresemann – M nib – Sailor Ink Studio 123 – a classic and elegant pen and ink combination. The Sailor 123 is really that good, and the generous medium nib shows off its dual shading properties.

Pelikan M320 Pearl – M nib – Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown – my rarest Pelikan, always a crowd pleaser at the hubs. This tiny pen came with a tiny brilliant brown bottle and so far I’ve filled it only with that. I bought it about a decade ago in Berlin on a whim, and I’m so glad that I did.

Pelikan M800 Blue O Blue – F nib – KWZ Exclusive for epiora.pl Błękit Warty Poznania – this pen was a very expensive birthday gift and my first M800 Pelikan. I bought it at a local pen store that no longer exists. The ink is even more special – it’s my first KWZ ink, gifted to me from the store that it was exclusively made for. I had purchase my M600 Glauco Cambon there just before they were closing for the day on the last day of the USK Symposium in Poznan. The name means Poznan Warta Blue – and it’s tied to the unique blue of the city and the Warta river. It’s a gorgeous blue and it reminds of Poznan, the store, the lovely seller and the nice symposium volunteers that saw me in the store and helped me out with my purchase.

Pelikan M400 White Tortoise – M nib – Sailor Ink Studio 767 – This is the green I was looking for! I purchased this ink last month at Choosing Keeping in London, and it’s the perfect bright and cheerful green that I was looking for, with some great shading to boot. The Pelikan Tortoise pens are gorgeous, and this one is a particularly nice one.

Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl – F nib – Montblanc Maya Blue – I have been priced out of Montblanc inks (there’s only so much I’m willing to pay for ink) but this ink was heavily discounted at the Montblanc boutique in Heathrow. It’s a lovely bright turquoise with great shading, and it works well coupled with this pen.

Pelikan M600 Art Collection Glauco Cambon – F nib – Pilot Iroshizuku Ajisai – this is the pen that I purchased at Epiora in Poznan, and while I saw it online and loved the concept, I never thought that I’d buy it because of the price. Seeing it in person changed my mind because no photos can do this pen justice – the pattern on it glows! It’s beyond vibrant, and the pen body itself feels different than other Pelikans – heavier and cooler to the touch. The ink is also a Choosing Keeping purchase, and I love the colour very much.

Pelikan M620 Place De La Concorde – M nib – Sailor Ink Studio 162 – this is one of my rarer Pelikans, one that I bought a year or two after the series had been complete and no longer for sale. If ever there was a series of pens that I wish that I owned it was the Pelikan M620 City series, and for years I searched for an Athens pen before giving up – it was just too expensive.

The Pelikans left to right – Place de la Concorde, Glauco Cambon, Ocean Swirl, White Tortoise, Blue O Blue, Pearl

Apart from my inked Pelikans, I’m also taking three uninked Pelikans with me – one to fill with the ink that we’ll be getting, and the others just to share.

Pelikan Flock – left to right – Stresemann, M215 Rectangle (uninked), vintage M400 Tortoise (uninked), Stormtrooper (uninked)

Left to right: Parker 61 Plum, M205 Petrol Marbled, Radius 1934 Settimo Cielo, Platinum Preppy

Are you going to a Pelikan Hub? If so, what pens did you bring with you?

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