Inkmas Day 5: Birmingham Pen Co. Winter Garden Snowflake

Inkmas Day 5: Birmingham Pen Co. Winter Garden Snowflake

How holiday-centric is an ink with a name like (Winter Garden) Snowflake by Birmingham Pen Co. ($17 for 60ml bottle)? Pretty dang holiday, I say!

It is currently being bottled as just “Snowflake” so don’t be confused by the label on my bottle. Snowflake has a lovely reddish sheen over a cool blue aqua/turquoise. When wet with a little water or in a finer nib, the color becomes a lighter, cooler aqua and in a wider nib or brush, it looks darker and richer.

How can you resist this ink? It just makes me think of sparkly holiday balls — either on your tree or a fancy dance, you decide, inky angels!

There are a few inks in my collection that are close in color. Robert Oster Fire & Ice is pretty close but, in person, its a little less saturated. Callifolio Omi Osun is close in color but doesn’t have the sheen. Robert Oster Blue Water Ice is much brighter.

Do you get excited about finding a seasonally specific ink? I feel like I’ll be using Snowflake into the icy months of January and February of 2024.

Tools:

Inkmas #4: Kobe City Museum Gray

Inkmas #4: Kobe City Museum Gray

Welcome to Inkmas Day 4!

I recently found a gorgeous new color from Kobe – City Museum Gray. The ink looks like  a warm mug of hot chocolate – not just in the swatch, but in writing as well. Depending on your paper, your nib, and the lighting, this ink can appear anywhere from a warm gray to an unsaturated light brown.

The color reminds me of Montblanc Swan Illusion, but City Museum has less yellow in the undertones – very close to a lighter version of Wearingeul Stonecutter’s Song (or Mason’s Song, depending on the translation).

Tomoe River paper (TR7,52gsm) brings out more of the unsaturated nature of the ink and enhances the shading.

Cosmo Air Light (83gsm) paper shows the ink as closer to a brown with gray undertones and maybe a hint of pink as well.

Midori MD paper presents City Museum in—between the colors of the other two paper types — a warm gray with hints of pink, lots of shading possible, and a warm chocolate in the writing.

I love this color for a wintery day – hopefully it will bring a bit of warmth to yours as well!

Inkmas Day 3: Callifolio Heure Dorée

Inkmas Day 3: Callifolio Heure Dorée

When I think of the holidays, I think of the sparkly golds of holiday decorations and the golden glow of candlelight and shimmery cocktails. These golden hues made me think immediately of Callifolio Heure D’orée ($13 for a 35ml bottle). Heure D’orée is not a shimmery ink which I prefer for regular writing but it still has the warm quality of a metallic gold with easy clean up!

As the name describes, the color captures the feeling of the “golden hour” and it is probably my favorite non-metallic gold ink.

Sure, sure, sure, I know most people would reach for KWZ Honey as their favorite golden ink but not me. I find the consistency of Callifolio inks to be great (not to mention the price point!) and works with lots of pens and nibs. Heure D’orée may look too light in a very fine nib pen but will have such a great variety of shading in a wider nib.

Do you ever experiment with golden inks? What’s your favorite?


Tools:

Inkmas #2 – Ferris Wheel Press Wondrous Winterberry

Each year I approach Inkmas with a single goal in mind: find the ink to address this year’s holiday cards. While I don’t write messages to each person on my list, I do sit down and hand address each envelope, so each year I try to find the perfect ink for the job.

This year I started by ordering some samples, and Ferris Wheel Press’s Wondrous Winterberry (38mL for $22) was the first on the list.

Wondrous Winterberry is an orangey-red with fabulous gold shimmer. Yes, that’s the gold shimmer in the upper corner of the swatch. When I laid down lots of ink, there was lots to look at!

In writing with finer nibs, not much of the shimmer came across but it was still a nicely shading red ink.

The first thing I thought of when I ordered it was that it would be a little bit like Papier Plume’s Heart of Gold, but it was much darker red (whereas Heart of Gold was a lighter and more orange red). I really have nothing comparable in my stash. Mont Blanc William Shakespeare was closer to the red shade, but of course no shimmer. Sailor Shikiori Yodaki leaned slightly more orange. And Birmingham Pen Co Mt. Washington Sunset was in the right intensity, but a bluer red. So basically this one is in a class of its own!

Inkmas Day 1: Sailor Irori

Inkmas Day 1: Sailor Irori

Long before there was Inkvent, there was Inkmas and we are delighted to dash through your internet with a little splash of holiday inky cheer.

I decided to do some quick reviews of some of my favorite inks this year. They aren’t the newest inks or the most popular brands of ink right now but these are inks that are tried-and-true favorites. Jesi and Laura will take there own approaches to Inkmas so stayed tuned as we countdown to Inkmas Eve.

For the first day of Inkmas, I wanted to pull back the curtain on an ink I’ve used to test every paper that has passed through the door. It’s Sailor Irori.

Originally, it was sold as Sailor Jentle Irori in the low, short pots but can now be purchased as Sailor Shikiori Irori (Hearth Red) ($18 for 20 ml bottle).

When I say every paper has been tested with this ink, I mean that when we were selecting paper stock for the Col-o-ring every paper I tried was tested with Irori. I did this because of the unique sheening properties of this ink. The sheen is a subtle gold but it’s there and the red is a little electric, a little warm and I wanted whatever paper we chose for the Col-o-ring to capture these subtle qualities. Since that time, every new paper that I test, I do a little swatch of Irori to see how different the ink looks. It’s not a bad thing to have an ink look different depending on the paper. Some warmer, ivory stocks will make Irori look more orange while brighter whites will make it look almost fire engine red. The width or softness of the nib used will also affect the overall look but, in the end, Irori is my inky litmus test.

SHEEN!

There are a few similar inks available but may not as easy to acquire: Bungubox Lycoris Red which is slightly pinkier and Taccia Aka Red which is a pretty close match. I added a swatch of Diamine Ho Ho Ho just to keep in the spirit of the holidays even though its a bit cooler red.

What’s your litmus test ink?


Tools:


DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Fashionable Friday: A Little Yuletide Cheer

As I continue to convalesce with bronchitis and laryngitis, I don’t have the energy or stamina to go out shopping or decorate for the holidays so I am doing it digitally. I want to bundle up in a tartan plaid scarf and wear sparkly holiday polish while sitting in a local coffee shop sipping peppermint mochas and writing with a glittery pen filled with holiday cheery ink. Now if I could just get my mocha in one of those cute vintage Santa Head mugs!

How are you sharing the joy of the holidays?


Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.

Link Love: Inkvent is Upon Us!

Link Love: Inkvent is Upon Us!

With the turn of the calendar to the month of December, I heard a cacophony of paperperforations being torn the world over as folks cracked open the first days of their Inkvent calendars. Some might be making up their own countdown calendars. Other are opening chocolate calendars, coffee or tea calendars or even yarn mini skein calendars in preparation for little bits of holiday cheer. Take joys in the little moments this December.

Gift Guides:

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors, affiliates or join our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!