Just a quick update: I was up early and packed and on the road to go to NYC for a long awaited family vacation…. only to arrive at the airport and have Southwest cancel our flight one hour beforehand and tell us there were no openings on any other flights, direct or indirect, for the next three days. Oh well! I didn’t have any fresh review content prepared, but I CAN show you all what I was playing around with last night as I was getting ready for some time off.
Shading Inks from Pennonia, Courtesy of Vanness Pens
I’m not typically a crazy ink enthusiast, but after spending a fun weekend at the Chicago Pen Show experimenting with all sorts of flexible nibs and shading inks, I decided to break into my ink sample stash and play around with several inks from Pennonia that I’ve been admiring online. Pennonia is a Romanian/Hugarian ink company that hand-mixes an enormous line of fountain pen inks, ranging from vibrant blues to more subdued super shaders and double-shaders. You can even purchase shimmer powder in various colors to customize your inks! I’ve been testing out four different Pennonia inks in a wide variety of pens, ranging from standard broad and stub nibs to Pilot Parallels to folded and flex calligraphy nibs. These inks have all behaved wonderfully, even if the specific colors work best for different types of writing.
Pennonia “Danuvius Danube” on mixed-media art paper, writing sample done with a folded nib (top) and a Zebra G dip nib (bottom). The ink shades grey-blue with purple and pink tones, and reminds me somewhat of Vinta Armada, though lighter.
Pennonia Zuzmo Lichen is one of the more interesting inks of the four. Originally, I thought it was far too light but it’s grown on me, especially when I started deploying it in flex nibs and really wet stubs. It’s a light green ink that shades beautifully with yellow and pink tones.
Pennonia Orgona Lilac is a gorgeous ink, but probably the least practical because it’s not very legible without a very broad or wet nib. Even then, the ink is rather light, though it shows dark lavender and blue shading. Writing sample shown here is on bright white Write Notepads dot grid paper.
Pennonia Balaton Blue is a Best-Seller for a reason: It shades with a hit of purple/pink but is also legible enough for easy reading. So what’s that nib? See below:
Yes, that’s a Platinum 3776 14k Medium Nib retrofitted into an Opus 88 Jazz, using a Platinum-compatible JoWo Nib Housing from Flexible Nib Factory. I’m playing around with several “Frankenpens,” so stay tuned!
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