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Hello, As a microbiologist and a life-long user of fountain pens, the problem of contaminated or "infected" bottles of fountain pen inks has long been a place where my interest have intersected. I have never experienced this problem (lucky me!), so I am forced to look for reports from other users. I do, however, understand the angst that accompanies the loss of a bottle of well-loved, and expensive ink for any reason. Ouch! A question occured to me the other day: has anyone had a contamination problem with a bottle of iron gall ink? I cannot recall seeing any reports of a bottle of iron gall ink contamination. If so, please give as many details as possible. If not, and you are a ling-time user of iron gall inks, let us know that, too. In this instance, negative and positive results are both important. I welcome any and all comments and observations as well. Thanks! Brian

Coming soon to JustWrite ... Platinum Classic Iron Gall Fountain Pen Inks. 60ml bottle: $AUD35.00 ($USD26.60) Complete Set of 6 colours: $AUD200.00 ($USD152.00) Click the NOTIFY ME button on JustWrite and we'll email you the instant they arrive. http://justwrite.com.au/image/cache/catalog/products/Platinum/platinum-classic-fountain-pen-ink-all-700x393.jpg

The case of Staples Sustainable Earth Copy Paper arrived today, so I thought I'd do a brief review. (Shipment took 3 days, over a weekend.) Weight: 20 lbs. Brightness: 92 Sheet size: 8.5"x11" Fiber: 95% sugarcane -- acid-free (the Staples online product Q&A says the other 5% is FTC certified pine) Package size: 500 sheets Case: contains 10 reams (or 5000 sheets) Origin: Argentina Where to buy: Staples Web-Only (only available by the case. Retails @ $59.99/case; currently on sale @ $36.99 per case) For unlined sugarcane (bagasse) papers, I also have OfficeMax's Sugarmade and CVS's Caliber 100% Tree-Free Multipurpose Paper to compare it to. I find they all behave similarly with fountain pen inks (i.e. excellent) and inkjet cartridges (also excellent), with no feathering or bleed-through. The differences between these papers are tone and texture. The Staples' one is the brightest cool-tone white and is the smoothest of the three. The Sugarmade one has a warm white tone and more tooth to it. The Caliber has a grayish white tone and is the roughest. These differences are only noticable when the three papers are placed side by side. My preference leans towards the Staples paper for its brightness, though I'm apt to go with which ever one is on sale. The Staples paper is produced in Argentina, while the Sugarmade and Caliber papers are made in China. Now, if Staples (and OfficeMax with its Sugarmade) would just make these papers available by the ream in-store! The Caliber one is available by the ream, but seems to only appear during back-to-school sales. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7433/9404100966_6fc81c35bb_b.jpg Back Side of Package: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/9401339475_8da2cbae70_b.jpg Writing Samples with Mostly Homemade Iron Gall Inks: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7301/9401187671_e364cee2fd_b.jpg

Lets get crazy with KWZI - now availabe in Belgium ! The wonderful KWZI Iron Gall inks are now available at the Sakura Fountain Pen Gallery ! Discover the deep and intense colours of Konrads Zurawski "KWZI" inks. Enjoy ! http://www.sakurafountainpengallery.com/nl/boutique/kwzi-new-inkt-amp-vullingen Opening a new "bricks and mortar" soon ! Keep you posted ! Catherine

First Lamy, then Montblanc, stopping their production of IG ink. Why, oh god, why? All I wanted is a blue (ok doesn't really matter, blue-black is ok, but not black, I hated black), waterproof (some running of ink is ok, but it has still to be legible.), dry (no bleed thru on 80gsm paper, but still resonable to write with), safe in celluloid pen ink. So is this really difficult to get? Yes. ESSRI is a weak blue when writing and is very very very dry. And I found that 3:1 v/v ratio of ESSRI to Montblanc (in the midst of testing, try at your own peril) gives reasonable wetness, good colour at starting. Now they are stopping Montblanc iron gall????!!!! Seriously. Why?