Search the Community

Hello Everyone, I've been looking through this site for many years but only gained the courage to join today I went to a school from ages 9-13 where use of a fountain pen was compulsory. The pen of the day was Parker - but I don't remember owning one at that age. Biros were banned from the school. I quite liked that we had to use a fountain pen. Back then, it was one of the things that set us apart from other local state schools along with having to wear a uniform and learn a musical instrument. I've been fussy about stationery ever since, but only linked my nerdy relationship to pens and paper back to my middle school very recently. I like to have the perfect pens, the perfect inks and the perfect writing pads - perfect for me that is! I don't mind others using different stationery and I don't dictate. I don't need to own an expensive pen to enjoy writing with a fountain pen. Currently, I have some fantastic Chinese pens (Duke Ruby & Jinhao Bookworm Celluloid fountain pens), a lovely Cross Beverley White and a decadent Grifos Cappuccino. I like highly pigmented inks, so my blacks would be Aurora or Lamy. However, I prefer purples/violets though and I'm currently enjoying Diamine Shimmer Purple Pazazz in my Cross & Grifos pens and Private Reserve Tanzanite in my Duke Ruby. When I'm unable to write with a fountain pen (I often have to write on self duplicating paper) I revert to gel ink pens because of the depth of colour of the ink. My writing pads for home and work are A4 Black n Red Wirebound 90gsm notebooks. I don't really have a problem with the ink seeping through to the other side of the page. Now that I've exposed the true extent of my nerdiness, I'll sign off. Many thanks!

Following on from my thread announcing the launch of Diamine Shimmertastic inks I am happy to post my reviews of them. This one is Purple Pazzazz. This ink is a dark purple with a great gold sheen My reviews show you my experiences with these inks in several of my pens. I’ve experimented by having these inks in my pens for weeks, and have intermittently written with them to see how they start, and how they write. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve experienced no feathering with any of them, and they have all behaved really well for me. Diamine recommend that you gently agitate the bottle to mix the particles through the ink before filling your pen. They also recommend that you gently agitate your pen to mix the particles with the ink in your pen when starting a new writing session. I recommend good FP maintenance when using ink that contains particles. I suggest you clean your pens out a little more frequently than you might do with normal ink. These inks will come in 50ml glass bottles, and they have either gold or silver particles in them.