Colorvent/Inkvent Recap, The First Five Days!

Last year was the first year with two ink Advent calendars, and I chose to do weekly “five day” updates and pushed daily updates to Instagram stories for those interested in following along in real time. I plan to do the same for 2025! As with last year’s calendars, the Diamine Inkvent Calendar and Colorverse Colorvent calendars are both very different. The Inkvent Calendar is definitely more festive, with colors inspired by the holiday season and named accordingly. The Colorvent Calendar sticks to Colorverse’s general “universe” and “space” themes, so it’s not exactly festive but fans of Colorverse Ink will get exactly what they love about the brand: new colors with a consistent theme in their signature comet-shaped bottle. Each year, Diamine releases ALL of the Inkvent inks as a special line, so you can purchase them later, and last year Colorverse selected the Top 3 and added them to the standard lineup. If you missed out on these and still want to play along, we have one or two remaining Diamine Inkvent Calendars available, but Colorvent has been sold out for some time.

This Year’s Ink Swatching Kit: Glass Pen and Iroful swatch cards

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This year’s Colorvent and Inkvent Swatch Kit: I’m using my Hanabi Glass Studio Glass Dip Pen that I picked up in D.C., along with Iroful Swatch Cards since I love how this paper shows off the ink.

Day One: Colorverse Colorvent Martian Dust and Diamine Inkvent Celestial Skies

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So far, I think Day 1 is my favorite: Diamine Celestial Sky with sheen, shade, and shimmer, and Colorverse Martian Dust, which is a deep burgundy with some gold sheen.

Day Two: Colorverse Colorvent Apollon and Diamine Inkvent “Energy”

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Day 2 featured the first “Super Sheener” as well as a really unique Colorverse Ink, “Apollon”.

Day 3: Diamine Inkvent Carousel (Pigmented) and Colorverse Colorvent Erebus Crater

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One thing I do appreciate about the Diamine Inkvent Calendar is that it allows you to experience all of their inks across the line, including the new pigment inks. This one feels a bit too “paint like” for my taste, and was somewhat hard to clean off my glass pen. Erebus Crater is a gorgeous multi-shader.

Day 4: Colorverse Colorvent Milky Sea Glistening and Diamine Inkvent Smoky Tobacco (Scented)

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Smoky Tobacco is not terrible as far as scented inks go, as those have traditionally been my least favorite. They’re just far too pungent for my taste. Milky Sea is an excellent Colorverse Glistening (Shimmer) ink.

Day 5: Colorverse Colorvent “Void” and Diamine Inkvent Marie Rose

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Ok, so neither one of these would necessarily be considered a holiday ink to me (and certainly not “Void,” but as some have pointed out, it may not be entirely off-topic). :)

I will be adding to this series of posts throughout “Inkvent” season as I unbox more of the calendars. Stay tuned!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. You can also come visit us and see any products we sell directly at our physical stationery store in Nashville, Tennessee! Also, please visit our Holiday Gift Guide page if you would like guidance on stationery-related gifting, and we’re also happy to discuss in-person.

The Pilot Iro-Utsushi Dip Pen (and in General, Simple vs. Fancy Dip Pens)

This past weekend I did a post on ink swatching, and walked through how I create the ink swatches that I use both for the shop and to organize my own personal ink collection. Like most people with a lot of ink to organize, a key component of my ink swatching kit is a dip pen. Because I’m a writing enthusiast with an interest in the calligraphy and art sides of things as well, many of the pens that I personally use are on the more expensive side - particularly my glass pens and Drillog metal dip pen.

But what if I told you that an $8 alternative exists, and that in many ways this other pen is just as good and will serve you well for basic ink swatching and even some writing and journaling where you might want to switch up your inks mid-session and don’t want to fiddle with emptying or refilling fountain pens? That solution is the Pilot Iro-Utsushi Dip Pen.

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I chose the fine since most of my other dip pens range from medium to double-broad.

The Pilot Iro-Utsushi is a very basic product: a standard dip pen with a stainless steel fountain pen nib (fine or medium) attached to it. This pen differs from a calligraphy dip pen in that the nib is tipped for writing, and it can’t be swapped out of the holder. While some might find this “limiting,” I think that’s the point and what makes this product special: it’s intended for one thing, which is writing with fountain pen ink.

While I’m not sure I’ll ever make the Iro-Utsushi a “core tool” in my repertoire - I have way too many fun glass pens to reach for - I see no reason not to have one, since it’s an excellent option to have within reach for travel, meetups, and quick writing samples.

As I mentioned above, you can use the Iro-Utsushi for both ink swatching and standard writing. In my last post, I mentioned how I like to keep small sheets of “micro swatches” that are more portable than full-size swatch cards. This dip pen would be perfect for that, especially in the fine nib. And it offers a nice experience for standard writing too. Despite the lack of a feed, the underside of the nib holds a fair bit of ink and I regularly get 3-4 full lines of writing with the fine nib version. While the holder is a bit narrow for my hand and therefore may not be especially comfortable for longer writing sessions of a page or more, that’s not something I’d typically do with a dip pen anyway.

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Testing out some Nagasawa Kobe Ink #69 (Kikusui Biotope Green).

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I don’t have any problem saying that the Pilot Iro-Utsushi is one of the best basic dip pen options on the market to use with fountain pen inks. Whether you’re a glass pen enthusiast looking for a less-fragile option to take to meetups or away from the security of your desk, or just someone looking for an inexpensive option to finally finish swatching and categorizing all of your ink samples, it’s hard to do better than the Iro-Utsushi, especially at the price point.

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And, yes, I know that some of you have probably heard the internet rumors from the Japanese market that the Iro-Utsushi is being discontinued, but other intel has suggested that Pilot is merely releasing new colors and the pen will continue to be offered, at least in the U.S. market. Pilot is a bit different than many Japanese pen companies in that they continue to offer certain products in the U.S. (i.e., the E95s fountain pen) even after they are discontinued in Japan. Stay tuned, but I’m not panicked on this one yet as I can still get them here.

You can pick up a Pilot Iro-Utsushi dip pen in our own shop, starting at $8, in a range of clear acrylic and wood finishes. Nibs come in fine or medium, but note that not every color available in both nib options.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop (an authorized retailer of Pilot pens) and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. Our brick-and-mortar store is open Thursdays and Fridays from 1pm-6pm, and on Saturdays from 10am-6pm. Please check our main store page for up-to-date hours and announcements regarding special events.

My Favorite Ink Swatching Tools and Techniques (Yes, I'm Becoming a Glass Pen Person)

With the dozens of different colors we stock in the shop and the 100+ bottles in my personal collection, ink swatching and indexing becomes critical because you quickly forget what colors look like, and the color swatch on a bottle label can be inaccurate. Since I found myself working on new shop swatches this morning, I thought it might be fun to talk about my personal swatching process and some of the tools I use.

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I had to add ink swatches of the recently released Colorverse Colorvent “Top 3” inks from last year’s Colorverse Colorvent Calendar, and thought it might be fun to document the different techniques used.

Each ink swatch that I do (for both the shop and personal collection) has two components: (1) a darker “swab” that showcases different tones in the ink as it pools on the paper, and (2) a writing sample. My format hasn’t really changed much since the early days, but my tools have evolved. I currently have three main setups and techniques that I use, depending on my mood and the type of ink that I’m working with.

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Colorverse Christmas Star, a glistening gold orange, shown here with a Kakimori brass dip nib.

Primary Setup: Glass Cocktail Stir + Dip Pen (Glass or Metal)

For most inks, I use a glass cocktail stir to create an ink swatch, and then a medium-to-broad nib dip pen for the writing sample. The actual writing sample is the most important for me, since I generally use pens for work or personal journaling and I like to see what the ink will look like on the written page with my everyday fines and mediums. As discussed above, the ink swatch is used more to see the underlying tones, which will come out in wetter nibs like broads and stubs.

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Many thanks to Lisa at Olive Octopus, who tipped me off to the glass stir technique! She also recently did a post on her own ink swatching tools and techniques, and comes at things from a different perspective as she sketches a lot and also uses brushes and water to bring out the different ink properties.

I have a couple different dip pens that I love, but my current favorite is this broad glass pen by Glass Studio Aun that I picked up at this year’s San Francisco Pen Show. Up until recently my tool of choice was the Kakimori brass nib - which is still a great option that allows for plenty of line variation - but that was before I had written with a really nice glass pen, and to be honest this broad glass nib makes everything else feel like writing with a nail on a chalkboard.

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Colorverse Milky Way Glistening, shown here with my broad Glass Studio Aun Glass Pen.

Alternative Setup No. 1: Folded Nib Pen

If you have an ink that benefits from having a LOT of ink on the page, you can choose to do an ink swatch or writing sample with a folded metal nib. These can be a lot of fun to play with if you enjoy highly stylized writing that will not necessarily result in clean lines. (The “splatter effect” is a feature, not a bug!) I enjoy using folded nib pens when I’m doing a full-on ink review, not just a simple swatch, and I’ll do a full page of writing on multimedia paper and really get a sense of how the ink looks when it’s REALLY wet, especially those inks with heavy shimmer and sheen.

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Colorverse “Pulsar Pulse,” a super sheener. You can do an ink swatch card with a folded brass nib, but it’s much harder to write smaller text. That said, folded nibs can really bring out the sheen in super sheening inks simply because they apply a LOT of ink in one stroke.

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A folded metal nib in action. You can also really see the color shift that occurs in high-sheening inks like Pulsar Pulse. Here the ink is fresh, but the red/purple really comes out once the ink dries.

Alternative Setup No. 2: Plotter + Drillog

While larger card-sized swatches are often the most practical, especially for comparing colors under washed-out fluorescent lighting in pen shops and pen show hotel ballrooms, I also like to keep a second set of swatches for personal use in one of my Bible-sized Plotter binders. Most of these are what I internally think of as my “micro swatches”: small color swatches followed by a writing sample that are portable enough to carry with me for quick comparisons. For these, I’ve been using my recently acquired Drillog .5mm dip pen. As I mentioned in an earlier post-San Francisco Pen Show Post, the Drillog 2.0 fixes many of the issues with the original Drillog, including issues with consistency of ink flow and smoothness. I’ve found this to be an excellent ink swatching tool and can see myself using it for most of my personal ink samples going forward.

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My micro swatches. Eventually this will be a full page of Colorverse.

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My micro swatch sheet of Taccia standard inks, done with the Kakimori brass nib. This would have been much easier with the Drillog, as the Kakimori pen can sometimes drip and it can be difficult to write consistent thin lines.

A Note on the Ink Swatching Paper

For my ink swatches, I use two papers. The first is Col-o-ring Paper made by the Well-Appointed Desk, which is sold in a wide array of convenient formats that can also be trimmed down or adjusted to however you would like to store them. The cards shown here are sold as part of a set with card holder pages and a Bible-sized Binder, which is what I use in the shop because without the plastic sleeves the swatches tend to smear from so many different people handling them. For my personal ink swatches, I typically use Midori MD Cotton Paper, since it’s my preferred paper for personal writing and I like to see my ink samples on paper I use on an almost daily basis.

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The TGS in-store ink swatch album. Yes, we sell these. They are made by Papier Plume. The ink cards included with the album set are Col-o-Ring, though you can also use the Iroful paper cards.

Fountain pen ink preferences are highly personal, and swatching is no exception. I tend to be a lot less strict in terms of things like format and technique than some people. For example, I have hundreds of ink swatches that I’ve accumulated over the years, many of which were not even done by me as they were gifts from friends, and none of them look the same and are on different-sized paper or even in a Rolodex. For my purposes, this is perfectly fine, but many prefer to have a uniform format that they can easily search. If you feel like sharing your technique, please do drop a comment or send a message.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you’re interested in shopping fountain pens, inks, and more in person, come see us at our brick-and-mortar shop located in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ink Review: An EPIC Anderillium Inks Swatch Session with the New Ichthyoformes Series

Join me for a long swatch session on our YouTube Channel, where I sit down and walk through the entire series of Anderillium Ichthyoformes Inks! These eight inks are all inspired by fish, and best of all, there are three quite dark red inks (I’m counting Anglerfish Deep as a very dark red, even though there are brown tones as well). As you will see from the photos below, these colors will look darker with wetter swatches on Col-o-Ring paper than they will in everyday writing. In the video, I tried to get shots of the original ink colors as they go onto paper, and then again after they soak into the Col-o-Ring and dry.

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My three favorites from this line, from top: Piranha Red, Lionfish Maroon, and Anglerfish Deep.

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The ink will be less sheeny on non-swatch paper. As you will see in the video, I’ve inked up several pens with the reds and will be using them in the coming weeks.

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I saw Piranha Red in person at this year’s Atlanta Pen Show and immediately knew that I’d want the rest of the set.

This was a fun video to make! The “Currently Inked” series is my equivalent of a “Live” or “Stream”, since it’s rare that I have uninterrupted time to sit for an hour. It’s much easier for me to swatch inks and talk in bits and pieces and then edit together a video later.

UPDATE: I’ve added the Papier Plume Ink Swatch Books featured in the video to the shop this morning.

If you’re interested in purchasing these inks, we sell them in our own shop. Better yet, if you’d like to see swatches in person, I will have them in the physical store this weekend, which will be open Thursday and Friday from 1-6pm, and Saturday from 10am-6pm. No Sunday hours this weekend, as I need a day off!

Ink Review: Taccia Utamaro Aomurasaki Is The Deepest of Purple-Blacks

It’s no secret that I enjoy darker, black-infused inks, ranging from my signature red-blacks to more conservative green-black and blue-black shades. If you’re looking for something a bit more adventurous than standard business-friendly blue-black, but which still won’t look out of place in everyday school or office use, why not consider a purple-black? The ink I’m reviewing today, Taccia Utamaro Aomurasaki from Taccia’s Ukiyo-e line, has been on the market for a while but is a relatively recent new discovery for me personally.

What Are the Taccia Ukiyo-e Inks?

Taccia is a brand that was created in the U.S. and sources its inks from Japan. It’s been all but confirmed that Taccia inks are made by Teranishi, which alongside Taccia is a member of the Nakabayashi group of companies. In recent years, Taccia has expanded their ink offerings from their original standard line to include the “Ukiyo-e” inks, the “Jeans” series, and the new “Roughna Sketch” series. The Ukiyo-e has probably received the most attention, due to both the intricate box artwork and the fact that this line includes some amazing and unusual colors. The inks are inspired by artwork from four different artists from Japan’s Edo period (17th Century), reflected on the packaging. “Aomurasaki”, shown here, is from the collection of four inks inspired by the work of Kitagawa Utamaro.

Aomurasaki is a deep purple-black. The purple will come out with broader, wetter nibs, while the ink will appear more black in finer nibs. (Fine nib writing sample shown here alongside a swatch.)

Aomurasaki: One of Three Takes on Dark Purple

Within the Ukiyo-e line, Taccia has included multiple takes on one color. For example, there are three different shades of purple (Nakamurasaki, Aomurasaki, and Umemurasaki), with the Aomurasaki shown here being the darkest. I was looking for the darkest of purple inks to pair with my Hinze Taschenstift in the “Violet Tendencies CrazyFibre, as I wanted the darker ink to offset the lighter barrel and lilac nib. I rarely find permanent pairings, but this might be one, and if I had enough ink to sell with the pen, I’d even consider packaging them together. Anyone have any other candidates for me to try?

The tone is EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Like their sibling brand Teranishi Guitar, Taccia inks offer solid performance across the entire line. They flow well while still drying in a reasonable amount of time, with Aomurasaki perfectly balanced in this regard - it’s a great ink to use for everyday writing and it’s worked quite well on multiple types of paper. The Itoya Profolio Oasis paper used here handled it without issue, of course, but I’ve also had great luck on ordinary office paper. The pen shown here has been inked with Aomurasaki for several weeks, without any clogging, skipping, or drying.

By the way, Itoya’s Profolio paper handles ink incredibly well. It dries relatively quickly, even with a q-tip swab like this one, and there was absolutely zero bleed-through.

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Taccia Aomurasaki

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Taccia Nakamurasaki

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Taccia Umemurasaki

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Taccia inks, in my opinion, have been unfairly overlooked, mainly because Taccia doesn’t do as much marketing as other major ink-focused Japanese brands like Sailor. I personally think these Taccia inks perform just as well as, if not better than, any other Japanese brand. While the standard Taccia lineup is excellent, I tend to lean towards the Ukiyo-e inks simply because the colors have so much depth. Other favorites of mine include Hokusai Sabimidori, as well as most of the other deep green, blue, and purple shades.

All of the Taccia Ukiyo-e inks are currently available in our shop, and if you enjoy the Taccia inks, you will also want to check out the Teranishi Guitar inks since they behave similarly, but the colors are distinct with very little overlap.