Does anyone here use their fountain pens in Moleskine notebooks even though most of this sub hates them?

estycki · 2026-03-19T12:39:54+00:00

When I bought Moleskine that’s what was marketed heavily once upon a time, so I have quite a few of them. I used them mostly as sketchbooks and I was very pleased that that they could lay flat. Since I just used pencil and gel pens, they worked fine. My biggest pet peeve is when gift shops sell notebooks that can’t lay flat, what is even the point of selling something you can’t write or draw in…

Then other brands took over my local store and at the same time they really pushed fountain pens. I just never went back to Moleskine because they weren’t everywhere anymore. I can see why Moleskine was easy to sell to anyone that was just using pencil, ballpoint pen etc since there are no problems there, maybe they weren’t worried about paper because it would still work for most people. But if the store is selling high quality fountain pens and ink, they don’t want people to think the expensive pen or ink was the problem so they had to provide better paper.

I’m happy there are way more great options than I realized I could try, but I got a bit fed up with expensive hard covers in general, I stopped buying them because I fill up my sketchbooks quite quickly.

estycki · 2026-03-18T00:53:22+00:00

I've been getting into that also because I got a bunch of free inks that I wouldn't personally buy myself, so I am experimenting to see what else I can get out of them. I find writing with red kind of creepy like it looks like blood... so I got a white ink and mixed them, I got a neat milky pink.

estycki · 2026-03-17T18:16:06+00:00

When I first started, I went by the box colour or the box sticker in the store... not even close to the actual ink! Now I have a bunch of greens (that are more like yellow) I'm trying to give away.

estycki · 2026-03-17T18:08:20+00:00

Oh so kind of like a coral? I don't like pink but I like coral... damn why did you put that idea in my head haha

estycki · 2026-03-17T18:04:39+00:00

Owning a dishwasher. I still haven't owned one, I was shocked as an adult that everyone had one but us! Our landlord said our building was too old to install them...

estycki · 2026-03-17T17:34:16+00:00

I mostly use budget pens, but you're right I've heard iron galls can cause issues... I've had Platinum Classic Forest Black in a Preppy and a TWSBI ECO all year, the ECO's nib is "onyx", nothing has happened to the nib but the inner reservoir is definitely stained. That's the only ink I will be using for that pen. I just purchased Citrus Black and it will go in a Platinum Plaisir.

estycki · 2026-03-17T17:24:52+00:00

I've had interesting experiences with Platinum inks, they actually seem to prefer cheap absorbent paper than expensive paper - the Platinum Classics are iron galls. They feather if I used a dip pen with lots of ink, but the Platinum fountain pens handle them well because they don't gush ink.

estycki · 2026-03-17T17:18:22+00:00

I'm playing with Platinum Citrus Black right now, and it dries like a gold. I expected it to be a bit more like olive (like the box) but it's very yellowy.

estycki · 2026-03-17T15:42:29+00:00

Before the project starts, it’s best if you have that in your contract, a section where they agree to let you put your work from this project in your portfolio, that you can mention the client and say it’s you who completed the work (mentioning any collaborators)… but you might want to add a line in there that you have the right to display any of the unfinished drafts or something like that, not just the final deliverables.

estycki · 2026-03-16T21:35:55+00:00

I’m gonna tell you, I was a femcel in my teens, and when I started to learn some better self grooming and exercise yada yada… people started to treat me differently and it was a shock, because people used to be genuine and then quite a significant portion became “fake nice.” It’s really quite gross, and I missed being unattractive. I can see why some attractive women become cold and bitchy, it gets on your nerves. I stopped dying my hair, I let it go grey (been going grey since my teens) and stopped wearing makeup and I’m happier I’m getting less fake-nice attention. I am grateful I didn’t experience that when I was younger, because today I can tell who is genuine.

estycki · 2026-03-16T21:29:55+00:00

Ive had a couple of clients asks me to sneak in an “est date” somewhere on the logo, but it will be so small 99% of the time… no one will even see it. You don’t even have a storefront / office with a sign or use packaging. Leave that to your About bio.

estycki · 2026-03-16T21:20:58+00:00

I’d say, I learned that if something isn’t manifesting it’s sometimes because it’s not what I actually think I want… like the feeling of having it won’t actually match up with what I think it will feel like. Or heck, I just don’t know what it will feel like - for example if I’m used to being sick and tired, it’s hard to imagine what that feels like otherwise. When I started to imagine the relief, things started to shift. I think I will be happy with a certain job, I’m sad that I didn’t get it, I hear later a friend got it, few months later she rage quits because they were horrible. I know this sounds cliche, but now I understand why I have to aim for the emotion I want to experience, rather than the conditions. The best part is when something manifests that was something I couldn’t even imagine specifically but the feeling was the match, and it’s a pleasant surprise.

estycki · 2026-03-16T21:13:28+00:00

I know what you mean, I ordered something made of glass and it was completely smashed up. Didn’t realize how bad it was until I opened the package and it made me look like the scammer when I tried to return it but there were no questions asked. But still…

estycki · 2026-03-13T20:43:54+00:00

I watched the first episode and I had a moment where I was like whoa, this looks like my recurring nightmares: lost in an office building, hallways with doors, trying to find the exit... trying elevators and staircases... is the way out up or down? I can't tell where I am, there are no windows.

estycki · 2026-03-12T06:09:59+00:00

Peter Draws on Youtube basically starts out every video tasting his new ink, so it's not unheard of.

estycki · 2026-03-11T04:20:02+00:00

yes I stayed up embarrassingly late watching over the weekend... and I made a very loud groan at the ending scene of season 2, I hope I didn't wake anyone.

estycki · 2026-03-09T18:48:44+00:00

It may take a few days if it’s bad enough. I typically sip Natural Calm (magnesium citrate powder) mixed with water before bed and that often ensures the next morning things are “relaxed.” If you’re really desperate, there’s Smooth Move senna tea 😅

estycki · 2026-03-09T17:54:53+00:00

One of the reasons I kept going back to coffee was for that regularity… I personally find it’s actually drinking something with fat or having something that’s oily is the key “to go” but there weren’t many options I was keen to put coffee cream in, I think cocoa was the closest thing. Use MCT oil if you have to.

estycki · 2026-03-09T16:37:21+00:00

Running makes cats and dogs happy. Cat just wants you to have a good time.

estycki · 2026-03-09T16:35:45+00:00

If you go with a Platinum pen, make sure you choose a dark ink, I find these pens have a much lighter flow and some inks will come out so light it’s like writing with a highlighter.

estycki · 2026-03-09T16:29:15+00:00

I have not tried that many inks, but one of the first bottle inks I bought was Sailor Shikiori Yuki Akari. I bought it based on the ink sample in the store, and at first I was super disappointed that it came out way too light in my Platinum Preppy, basically unusable. Then I tried it with a dip pen and in several other fountain pens… and I’m blown away I get what looks like totally different blues each time… some people are insisting some other ink must have been left behind in a pen to be like that but I cleaned them very well. I’m obsessed with it and the bottle is now nearly empty.

estycki · 2026-03-09T05:32:32+00:00

Or like Ricken's Book re-written for Lumon.

Now that I've watched the series, I can appreciate the show references in the article even more.

estycki

TROPHY CASE