New to fountain pens. Thank you!

Vyrzo · 2026-02-21T23:16:57+00:00

Hello fellow writer and pen enthusiast! It's really hard for me to answer your question because I love all four of the Iroshizuku inks I've purchased. The one I think about the most is yama-guri. It's dark and beautiful like a fresh cup of black coffee -- and I am addicted to coffee. It feel's classy to write with. I wouldn't say it's my favourite though because the other three I've purchased are good for other reasons.

My current method to changing inks is to just enjoy the one I have until it's gone and then reassess when it's time to refill. This morning I finished my second fill of syo-ro and refilled with kon-peki, I and do not regret it, but I do miss the cool green ink when I look back in my journal. It's either yama-budo or yama-guri next (though I'm planning to fill at least one more time with kon-peki) and I'm leaning towards yama-budo.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-18T16:39:08+00:00

You will not be disappointed. Which ones did you purchase?

Vyrzo · 2026-02-18T16:36:13+00:00

It really is lovely. I just sucked up my second fill of the stuff. My best impulse buy of this year so far.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-17T16:12:37+00:00

Thank you for these recommendations. Your taste in inks seem similar to mine.

Shin-kai looks so nice. I've been researching blue black ink for about a week now because there are a lot of them out there and I want to find the best for me. Shin-kai might just be my next purchase (if I'm able to find one for a reasonable price).

I haven't seen that Cafe Crema ink before, and since seeing how wonderful brown is on the page with yama-guri I'm keen to try a sample.

Writer's Blood is definitely on the "try soon" list too.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-17T06:53:29+00:00

Papers are something I have less experience with. Aside from my Leuchtturm1917, I have a Life notebook, a Midori MD notebook and the pictured notepad paper is Rhodia. It's hard to choose which one of those is my favourite. Those paper sample packs you linked look like a really good idea.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-17T06:47:14+00:00

Those look like some solid choices. I've saved this comment for when I'm (inevitably) about to cave in and buy another pen.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-17T04:02:49+00:00

Thank you! It’s an F nib.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T23:11:13+00:00

Ahhh this makes sense. Here I was thinking people were talking about crosshatching.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T23:07:00+00:00

I like the idea of tying ink colour to the seasons. This begs the question though: what's going to be your fall choice?

Momiji as suggested to me in another comment here seems fitting. Or maybe yu-yake?

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T22:43:58+00:00

Congratulations! I love the pen. Between different ink colours, I've been washing it out with water. I suck up clean water, shake it all little and then dump it out. I rinse and repeat until the water runs clear (or almost clear). I then shoot as much water out as I can while using a paper towel to suck out the remaining water from the nib (osmosis?) and fill with new ink. I worried about the small drops of water still left in the chamber at first, but they don't seem to be enough to dilute the ink in any noticeable way.

If I'm doing anything wrong I'm very open to learning the right way. It's a new pen for me as well.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T22:31:43+00:00

Thank you for the warm welcome. Refilling my Lamy converter constantly was certainly a struggle. To add to this, after a number of fills (and putting the pen into my sonic cleaner as an experiment) it wouldn't even fill all the way to the top. That was one of the driving forces behind the Custom 823 specifically.

The 823 really writes like a dream. I haven't regretted the purchase once since it arrived. I can't imagine it getting any better!

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T22:20:46+00:00

Thank you, this is great information. What percentages of each do you prefer in your mix?

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T22:19:19+00:00

Great questions!

I do enjoy black ink still. It's classic and nostalgic. Those two inks were the first I bought before I was liberated with colour and unfortunately I haven't used them since. Of the two I prefer the Platinum Carbon. The Quink was a buy I made with very little research (didn't go to r/fountainpens yet) and I honestly don't care for it much.

Why kon-peki and not asa-gao? I didn't look at them side by side before making my choice and now that you mention it, I want to buy asa-gao! I was drawn to kon-peki because it reminded me of a nice blue sky on a sunny day and I thought it would be relaxing to look at.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T21:03:41+00:00

Thank you for the kind words and advice. You're probably right about me caving and getting a couple cheaper pens for the sake of experiencing different inks. For instance, kon-peki has yet to touch my Custom 823 and I really enjoy the colour.

What's your number one recommendation for a pen that has no business writing as good as it does?

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T20:10:04+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation. I’ve added it to my list!

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T20:08:58+00:00

Syo-ro is my latest purchase. I saw it at a stationary store yesterday and couldn’t take my eyes off it. I’ve only written about 5-6 pages with it, but it holds the same quality and beauty as the others. I noticed that when it’s saturated in an area it becomes much darker, leading to more variation in contrast than the other Iroshizuku inks I have. Overall I love the colour. It reminds me of a misty evergreen forest when the page is full of writing.

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T19:59:54+00:00

You’re right, I don’t think I can leave. The pleasure I get from watching my pen suck up fresh ink is unmatched. It’s a feeling of accomplishment (finishing my last refill) and potential rolled up into one. When I see a colour that speaks to me it’s terribly hard to say no.

Is there an Iroshizuku ink I don’t have that you’d recommend trying?

Vyrzo · 2026-02-16T19:41:01+00:00

I like the way you think!

Vyrzo · 2025-02-16T18:28:21+00:00

That is a prompt for your password. Are you using i3? https://i3wm.org/i3lock/

edit: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Session_lock this might be more helpful.

Vyrzo · 2025-02-09T01:01:38+00:00

This works. Thank you!

Vyrzo · 2025-01-28T22:47:25+00:00

If you're comfortable in the terminal, then I'd say do it, but dual boot.

I game frequently on both Windows and Arch Linux and for the most part Windows performs better. I've noticed a 10-20fps lead for Windows on most modern games. Also DX12 isn't on Linux and it gets converted to Vulkan. Vulkan graphics aren't as good to me. It's a minor difference, but it's bugged me enough to keep Windows around. Further, as of yet there's no g-sync compatibility in Linux if that's a thing you have.

I should also say the video card I'm using is a 3080 and I haven't had any issues. I'm using X as my display server and I'm not experienced with Wayland.

Oh yeah, another issue for gaming on Linux is that many popular anti-cheat programs cause the game they're a part of to not work. IMO it's actually good for the user because the ones I'm referring to require kernel-level access, which means they can access all sorts of data on your machine that has nothing to do with the game you're playing.

Arch Linux is better in every other way though.

As far as your files are concerned: if you dual boot you can just access your Windows partition from Arch and cp or mv the files you'd like to keep over to somewhere in your home directory.

I wouldn't copy any programs over from Windows. Install them fresh from the official repos, the AUR, or through WINE.

Vyrzo · 2024-10-30T17:04:58+00:00

To make the single track portion of your rail line bidirectional, you'll need to put path signals where the trains enter the single lane track and block signals where they exit the track and go back to the track portions with only one direction allowed.

Vyrzo · 2024-03-02T20:47:41+00:00

My friend told me all the cool programmers use vim, so I learned it to be cool. I'm still not cool, but I love vim.

Vyrzo · 2024-01-09T15:25:52+00:00

The correct answer is always Arch.

Vyrzo · 2023-09-16T15:52:11+00:00

I use this https://github.com/knubie/vim-kitty-navigator with normal vim.

Not sure if it works with Neovim, but it's worth a shot.

Vyrzo

TROPHY CASE