On a recent perusal of JetPens, one ink in particular caught my eye: Teranishi Guitar Innocent Mauve (40mL for $23). You know I’m a sucker for purples, and this one has all the things I love: deep jewel tones, warm red hues…
I’m not sure if this color is entirely what I think of when I think of Mauve. I mean it does have the red tone I expect, but it’s so much more saturated than what I usually think of. That said, it’s full of deep, dark tones and almost makes me think of blackberries.
The description doesn’t mention any green sheen, but I got a little bit in my darkest drops, and it appears I’m not alone in that. Mostly this ink is just a nice shader.
In terms of comparisons, I think it’s almost a dead ringer for Monteverde Rose Noir. It’s also fairly close to Robert Oster Velvet Crush. I told you I have a thing for purples (and my ink stash has all 3 bottles now!)
Overall, I’m pleased with this one and glad to add it to to the collection!
DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Liisa at Wonderland222 gave me the opportunity to test the new papers that will be used in the Wonderland222 2026 planners. This paper is a conscientious choice not to use the 52gsm Sanzen Tomoe River paper that caused so many issues last year across the planner and stationery community. What they will be using is a undisclosed, Japanese paper that is both 52gsm and fountain pen friendly.
The paper has a crispy hand feel–the delightful crinkle sound of a thin, almost starchy paper. Its a natural white color, not ivory but not eye-searingly bright either. A perfect balance IMHO. The paper has a slight tooth to it making it a little more tactile than ice smooth papers like Rhodia or Clairefontaine. If you prefer a super smooth sheet, this paper may not be for you. When compared to Tomoe River in terms of hand feel, the paper feels a little thicker even though they are both 52gsm.
I tested the paper with an array of fountain pen inks, fountain pens and a variety of other pens I use on a daily basis to annotate and jazz up my daily planner.
All the standard non-fountain pens worked as expected and there was no lag in dry times. None of my fountain pens showed any change in line width from what I expected. Colors all appeared consistent to other papers I’ve used. Shade, sheen and shimmer were all visible on the paper.
I tested my favorite subtle sheener, Sailor Irori and the gold sheen did show up. I also tested swatches of shimmer inks, Ku-Jaku (another sheening ink) and a few shading and multichromatic inks as well just to get a variety. In fountain pens, I tested a variety of nib widths and color intensities from subtle to bright and even a shimmer ink in a 1.1mm stub nib and all showed expected qualities with no increase in expected line widths or any feathering.
From the back side of the sheet, there is a little bleed through with the large, wet swatches. The pen and marker tests showed little showthrough and little-to-no bleedthrough (the exception was my beloved Pentel Sign Bush Pen in Olive) but it was minimal.
Compared to Tomoe River Sanzen & Tomoegawa
I wanted to specifically add comparisons to the ink swatches where it is most easy to see color shifts, sheening and potential for bleed or show through. When compared with the sample note pads of Tomoegawa and Sanzen Tomoe River general writing was similar and while showthrough to the back is slightly more noticeable with the Wonderland222. When photographed, the Wonderland222 paper looks slightly more cream/ivory but in person, the color difference is negligible.
The Diamine Olive Twist appears a little lighter and slightly more yellowy on the Wonderland222 paper. The sheen, while visible on Wonderland222 is not nearly as noticable on the TR papers and again the sheen is more intense on the Sanzen (in the middle above) than the Tomoegawa. The multichromatic Sailor Haha looks like a different ink on all three papers: more blue on the Wonderland222, more noticable shading in dark teal and purple on the Sanzen and more aqua and pink on the Tomoegawa (far right).
The swatches of Van Dieman’s Parrot Fish (a shimmer with shading) looks similar on all three papers but the waffling of the TR papers made the shimmer particles catch the light when photographed making the ink look lighter than it is in person. The darker pooling around the edges of the TR papers make the ink look different but the overall color and shimmer is similar on all three.
Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku shows way more sheen on the TR paper and the most sheen on the Sanzen TR (center swatch).
The Colorverse Morning Star showed no sheen on the Wonderland222 paper but sheen is clearly visible on both TR papers.
The back from left to right: Sanzen TR, Tomoegawa TR and Wonderland222 paper
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think the new Wonderland222 paper is a reasonable substitute. I would say its about 80-90% a good alternative to the Tomoe River of our memories. At this point in time, fountain pen users are such a small subset of an already small subset of people who still use paper planners and journal that we are lucky to have any paper options that meet our needs. We really are spoiled for choice at this time, even if papers have changed or been discontinued over the past few years. And the fact that manufacturers are still trying to capture that lightning-in-a-bottle that is thin, lightweight, opaque AND fountain pen friendly papers for writing is amazing. I believe we should continue to support the efforts of manufacturers and makers who are trying to find new papers and new ways to use them.
The question for you, in the coming year, is are you willing to take another chance on a planner that uses Tomoe River or are you ready to try something new?
(Finally, if I would have to guess what this paper was, I’d guess it was View Corona 52gsm (bright white) but I did not have any samples of that paper here to test. I will order some and see if I’m right.)
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Wonderland222 for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
It’s hot. Let’s go to the pool! Pack some notebooks, pens and inks because its fun to journal poolside (or lakeside, oceanside or kiddie pool-side). Don’t forget your hat, shades and sunscreen!
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Initially, I was attracted to this ink specifically because I used to live in New Mexico and I knew immediately that the color was inspired by the love for turquoise jewelry in New Mexico. I was too poor to purchase any turquoise jewelry while I was living there so I thought buying the ink would be an appropriate tribute to my time in New Mexico.
After waffling a bit before picking up a bottle, I realized how much I love the soft, slightly dusty turquoise color irregardless of the New Mexico connection. Okay, must take home with me. In writing, the color has a wide range of shading to light summer swimming pool turquoise to a deep teal turquoise depending on how much ink is applied to the page (and your nib size and paper characteristics, of course). On workhorse, everyday paper like Rhodia, there is no sheening or multichromatice effects, just a calming turquoise color (ever so slightly more green than blue). I find it to be a fabulous color.
In very fine nibs, it may be slightly too light but I still find it readable. I find it performs better in M and wider.
Compared to other inks:
Okay, I admit it. I have a lot of this particular shade of turquoise ink in my collection. In fact, the colors shown above: Sailor Studio #264, Dominant Industry Log of Atlantis (pearl shimmer) and Pen BBS #507 Lily of the Valley are all almost identical to New Mexico with minor exceptions. Log of Atlantis Atlantis is a shimmer ink so if you don’t like shimmers, choose one of the other options. Pen BBS #507 is no longer available so if it was an ink you coveted, one of these others are perfectly acceptable alternative.
For me, it means I need to STOP buying dusty turquoise inks because I have plenty already. Four bottles is enough, right?
With the previous comment, its safe to assume that I like this ink enough to recommend it. It’s Sailor, a brand I trust to produce good quality inks in a color I love. So, of course I’d recommend it. Go forth and collect all 50 States if you must!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Laura and I have been attempting to fight an onslaught of comment spm. Our good friend Julia was even called in to help. The site was receiving so much spm that we were kicked off of Askiment’s Pro Plan and told they would only support us at the Enterprise level to the tune of $249/mo. This would literally bankrupt us.
As a result of this issue, we had to turn commenting off at the beginning of July just to stop the flow of garbage coming in. One day we received upwards of 50k sp*m attempts. We spent hours deleting all the messages as there was no other way to clear them out.
We are attempting to turn comments back on with some new filtering software in place. If the current filtering system does not work, we may have to turn commenting off again while we attempt to patch in a new system.
If you are tech savvy and have any advice, please let me know. If you are a sp*mmer, I hope you find someone else to bother.
I’ve been home for a little over 36 hours from DC and I am still a zombie. I was one of the many people who had delayed and cancelled flights and didn’t arrive in DC until about midnight Thursday night/Friday morning. I worked at the Vanness tables most of the time and then I taught four workshops in-between. The show is so big now that I could not make it to TWO of the four ballrooms. I was able to see the main ballroom, one additional ballroom and the vendors in the hallways around the main ballroom. I don’t know how attendees manage to make it to all the vendors before they hit overwhelm, exhaustion or financial ruin. Since I am working most of the time at the show, I don’t have the time or the energy to shop. I did make a little time to say hello to some friends.
Me and Sarj from One Man Pen Show
Michael & Larry Dromgoole’s
John at Lemur Pens
Karol from Kanilea Pens
Jon of HelloTello
Ben of Mayfair Pens
Jonathon Brooks of Carolina Pen Co.
Francisco of Hinze Pens
Stationery Universe!
The ladies of Odyssey Books
Me & Ian Schon from SchonDSN
Me and Gena from Custom Nib Studio
Bart from Zodiac Pens
Me & Kim
And of course, things get a little goofy after hours:
Do you recognize these pen fanatics?
I’m going to rest up and get my feet back under me so I’ll be ready for the insanity that will be SF Pen Show. Will I see you there?
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Early last week a knitting friend and fountain pen enthusiast sent me a link to the post below with a note: “I NEED THESE IN INK.”
You know I love a good collab and coming up with ink palettes so here’s my best shot. The USPS x Pantone collaboration boasts 7 new Pantone Colors:
For ease, I put them all in one collage so we’re looking at things together. I sorted through all my inks and I found what I think are the best matches. Your monitor and mileage may vary (and I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!)
USPS Blue: If I’m honest, Diamine Florida Blue is just a shade too aqua for this, but I couldn’t find anything that was that much closer. I should look at more Robert Oster colors (they have monopolies on every shade of blue right?) but this one was pretty close.
USPS Gold Seal: I knew immediately that Robert Oster Honey Bee was a lock! I had thought about Franklin Christoph Honeycomb but it’s definitely too dark. If you don’t have Honey Bee, Robert Oster Aussie Gold is a close second.
USPS Carrier Red: I dithered for a bit over this one but I think Robert Oster Astorquiza Rot is pretty close. Monteverde Mercury Noir was the other one I was debating with.
USPS Airmail Red: When I showed these to Ana, her first comment was maybe a coral would work there? J. Herbin Corail de Tropiques is very close. There may be another red, but I didn’t find it. I also tried Iroshizuku Fuyugaki but that was way too orange.
USPS Mr. Zip Orange: Is there an orange that’s both neon but also a little duller/more matte? I thought Lucky Orange might be good but it’s too dark if that makes sense. J. Herbin Orange Indien sort of worked here.
USPS Pony Express: This reminds of of a milk chocolate but none of the Mocha Mousse colors fit, and many of my browns were either too yellow or red. I finally settled on Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi. There’s also the fun fact that Tsukushi means horse tail. Perfect right?
You may notice that I didn’t find a swatch for USPS Parchment White. While there are white inks out there, I don’t have any in the stash. Ana offered instead a paper suggestion: Midori MD!
