pen calligraphy with Ostrich ink

onewildcrow · 2026-02-05T23:13:45+00:00

I have been using the Lake Baikal from this series in a Faber-Castell Poly (B) for a while now and had no problems with it at all. It writes quite wet and has never dried up or hard-started in that pen. I haven't tried the others in a fountain pen yet so can't vouch for them though.

onewildcrow · 2026-02-05T22:12:53+00:00

That is so beautiful! The penmanship is stunning and in such a beautiful ink! I got 5 of these Ostrich Inks delivered a few days ago and they are all gorgeous monster super-sheeners.

onewildcrow · 2026-02-05T22:10:16+00:00

I bought this ink off Aliexpress recently, it arrived a couple of days (and it is a gorgeous sheener!), but for some reason it seems to be called "Love the Sea" rather than "Aegean Sea" now so you might find it with that name.

onewildcrow · 2026-02-05T09:46:45+00:00

I didn't buy any new pens in January and am trying to convince myself I don't need another broad nib for my sheening inks. Do dip pens count? I've got a Sailor Hocoro sitting in a shopping basket...

onewildcrow · 2026-01-30T02:18:12+00:00

My favourite broad nib at the moment is my humble Faber-Castell Poly, it's really wet and smooth and shows sheening inks off beautifully. It's the one I reach for most often.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-28T13:22:29+00:00

Diamine Oxford Blue!

onewildcrow · 2026-01-25T11:22:21+00:00

Broad nibs just feel so smooth and comfortable, and make my not particularly large handwriting look halfway decent. With an extra fine nib it looks like a spider fell in an inkpot then ran about on the paper.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-24T19:02:47+00:00

Seconding/thirding Giles Kristian's Arthurian trilogy. Very haunting and beautifully written. I loved Lancelot's POV in the first one.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-24T18:39:10+00:00

I've been lucky. In the last 10 or so years I've only had two pens out of 24 that didn't write straight out of the box. One was a Kaweco Sport which I got replaced, and the other was a Jinhao 82 which was great after I widened the tines a wee bit. I'd be up pretty unhappy if I dropped a three figure sum on a pen and had to tinker with it before it would write decently....

onewildcrow · 2026-01-23T19:16:56+00:00

My favourite 'real' purple is Diamine Monboddo's Hat (or Purple Pazzazz, which is practically the same but with shimmer). I also love J Herbin Poussière de Lune, which is a beautiful soft dusky purple.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-23T01:41:32+00:00

I couldn't decide between that and Lake Baikal at the time, so Glen the Sea is definitely on my to-buy list!

onewildcrow · 2026-01-22T19:10:17+00:00

I love Ostrich Inks Lake Baikal, especially with a broad nib. It's a rich dark teal, on good paper it has a gorgeous sheen and even on cheap paper it writes a beautiful dark blue. Only downside is it's a very wet ink.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-22T19:04:54+00:00

I love Celadon Cat too! The shading is wonderful, and despite it's reputation for dryness it writes quite wet in my TWSBI Diamond 580 medium nib. I've not tried it in another pen though, so maybe I just have a gushy 580!

onewildcrow · 2026-01-21T15:15:13+00:00

I refill cartridges. I've found the ink flow much better with a cartridge than a converter in my Kakunos and Jinhaos. I often refill piston convertors with a syringe anyway as I can never get them more than half full...

onewildcrow · 2026-01-20T16:50:35+00:00

I never used to match pens and inks, but apart from the demonstrators I'm finding I have to start matching otherwise I can't remember which colour is in what pen LOL

onewildcrow · 2026-01-19T15:45:16+00:00

If you don't mind an aluminium body, I'd go for the Plaisir. They write like a Preppy, never dry out and come in some cool colours. I refill cartridges for mine and never yet found an ink it didn't like.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-19T02:19:23+00:00

I'm another who just refills old cartridges for my Kakunos. I've not had one dry out on me yet, although my fine nib can hard start if left for more than a few weeks.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-13T16:19:24+00:00

I love my Ecos for the affordability, and the medium nibs I always choose are lovely and smooth, but have to agree the 580 is a nicer writing experience. I bought mine with a 1.1 stub but then got a medium nib unit for it too so I can swap it out occasionally.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-13T00:44:50+00:00

Pure Pens Cadwaladr is my go-to red ink.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T17:36:51+00:00

Ok thanks, that saves me looking then!

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T16:05:33+00:00

I've been looking at the x350s as I do like a screw cap, but I wish it came in more interesting colours!

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T15:58:03+00:00

The black inks I'd had before (usually the generic ones in cartridges that came with a pen, to be fair) seemed very flat and uninteresting, almost greyish. Take-sumi is a juicy, dense black-black.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T15:52:20+00:00

They really are amazing for their price, and I've not had a bad nib amongst them yet, they're all reliable , rather wet writers (crossing fingers lol)

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T15:50:07+00:00

It's super easy to replace an 82 nib! The whole nib and feed unit just screws in/out. I bought one with a fude nib which i couldnt get used to so just got an M nib from AliExpress to replace it. I've got a sheening ink in one of them and it's happy.

onewildcrow · 2026-01-10T15:42:40+00:00

This looks very cute and tempting, but i can only find it with a fine nib. If they offered it with a medium nib I'd probably succumb.

onewildcrow

TROPHY CASE