2025 Colorverse Colorvent Calendars are here!

Yes, it’s that time of year already! The 2025 Colorverse Colorvent Calendars have arrived, with 24 new inks ready for you to open starting December 1 (or immediately). Note that the colors pictured below are last year’s colors, and are solely to give you a sample look at what you can expect from this year’s calendar, which is a mystery…. No spoilers!

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We also have the “Top 3” Inks from the 2024 Colorvent calendar that Colorverse chose to add to the permanent lineup. Two of them are “Glistening” (shimmer) inks while another is a sheener. All are available in full-sized bottles.

Don’t sleep on the Colorvent Calendars because retailers are given a limited allocation and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Colorvent Calendars are currently available for purchase online and any that remain will be made available in the brick-and-mortar store this week, Thursday and Friday 1-6pm and Saturday from 10-6pm.

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The Colorvent Calendars contain 24 individual 15ml bottles of new Colorverse inks. It’s almost like an instant ink collection!

Ask TGS: Do I Have to Use Fountain Pen Ink from the Same Manufacturer as My Pen?

I’ve always wanted to directly address this question because it’s one I get a lot (including multiple times today in-shop). Many pen companies - especially luxury purveyors such as Montblanc - make a point of emphasizing in their warranty materials that you should only use their in-house brands of ink. For example, only use Montblanc ink in a Montblanc pen, Pelikan ink in a Pelikan pen, etc. The reason for these disclaimers are straightforward: If you damage your pen by using another brand’s ink, they shouldn’t be held responsible for you using a product over which they have no control. But how likely is it that you will actually harm your pen by mixing pens and inks of different brands, or from using any given ink in general? In my experience, not very likely, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen someone do truly irreparable harm to a fountain pen by using the “wrong” ink.

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I have no issue using boutique inks (like the Wet Pen inks shown here) in any of my pens. With any fountain pen ink, typically the worst thing that can happen is that the pen clogs, which a flush with water will fix. If you have any doubts, test with a glass pen or steel dip pen first.

Most Standard Fountain Pen Inks Are Perfectly Safe to Use in Any Pen

Fountain pen inks are generally water-based, so unless you are using calligraphy ink or ink with some sort of special chemical property (discussed further below), you are unlikely to cause permanent harm to your pen. Note that when I say that an ink is “safe,” I mean that it will not destroy the nib, feed, or filling system to the point where you will need to send it in for any sort of warranty repair. The pen will continue to write. HOWEVER, if you are using any color other than black or standard blue - and especially brighter colors like red or purple - you do run the risk of staining clear acrylics or lighter-color materials. My personal recommendation is that if you have a pen you are extremely concerned about staining, use only standard blacks and blues made by companies like Pelikan, Waterman, Herbin, etc. These inks tend to be on the less saturated side, and I have found them less likely to stain.

Exercise Caution When Using Inks with Special Properties

By “Special Properties,” I mean things like permanence, heavy shimmer, no-freeze, super-sheen, and other attributes that you increasingly see advertised in today’s market. While most of these inks will not cause issues in modern fountain pens, if an ink clogs or otherwise causes an issue with your very expensive piston filler, the original manufacturer may decline to cover the pen under the warranty if they didn’t make the ink themselves. Again, while issues with these inks aren’t common, and the worst that usually happens is a clog that can be flushed out with water at home, you do proceed at your own somewhat low, but not zero, risk.

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Don’t get me wrong, I also have a selection of calligraphy inks and other non-fountain pen safe supplies. I just keep a selection of dip pens close at hand.

The MOST IMPORTANT RULE IS TO Only Use Fountain Pen Inks in Fountain Pens

By far, most of the stories I hear about inks damaging pens involve people attempting to use calligraphy and India ink in a fountain pen, which is a big no-no. Not only do these inks stain, but some contain glue-like substances such as shellac. For obvious reasons, introducing these inks into a fountain pen is a bad idea because you will literally never get them out, and any integrated filling system will likely be ruined. (It’s basically the equivalent of using paint.)

So, the short-form, TLDR version of this answer is “Don’t worry too much and enjoy your pens, as long as you are using inks by a reputable company advertised for use in fountain pens.” Clean your pens semi-regularly and don’t allow the ink to evaporate. If you have a very expensive or sentimental pen that you are concerned about damaging (especially staining), consider only using standard blues or blacks, and never, ever, use India ink in any fountain pen!

I periodically take a day to answer reader questions, some of which you can find archived in the FAQ section of the site. If you’re in the Nashville area, we’re always happy to answer your questions in person at our Nashville shop.

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: Three Dark Purples from Tom's Studio (Juniper, Iris, and Constellation)

This post started out as an experiment in which I attempted to find the perfect dark purple ink to pair with my Bokumondoh-enhanced Montblanc 149, but I ended up experimenting with and extensively testing the three darkest purple inks from the Tom’s Studio ink lineup. I figured I would go ahead and write up my thoughts on each one of them. Read on to the bottom to see my final verdict on the best match for the 149!

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You can really see the variation in tone between the top writing sample (made with the 149’s stub nib and a glass swizzle stick), the bottom left (.8mm Drillog dip pen), and a Kakimori dip nib, the latter of which is still wet.

No. 12: Juniper (“The Sheening Dark Purple”)

Tom’s Studio Juniper was the first ink that I tried, because I thought the combination of the dark purple and the gold sheen would pair quite well with the gold trim and raden finish on the 149. I wasn’t wrong, and have really enjoyed this pairing. It helps that, despite being a super sheener that finishes with a thick gold sheen over the dark purple, Juniper doesn’t smear once it’s dry. Those who love sheening inks - especially those inks that sheen in multiple colors - understand how rare that can be. In recent years, however, I’ve noticed that inkmakers have improved the overall performance of “sheeners,” and nowadays you don’t experience as often the situation where you open a journal entry from weeks/months/years ago and the ink still hasn’t dried. :(

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I took a pass at Juniper with a couple of different ink swatching tools to see if I could capture the different appearances of the ink. In a fine or extra-fine nib, it will look almost black (which I love), but the gold sheen takes over. The Kakimori writing sample (at right) has not completely dried yet, so this is how the ink looks when it’s still wet.

No. 9: Constellation (“The Purple Black”)

I would call Constellation the “non-sheening Purple Black” in this line. Well, there is some sheen, but it’s more of a glisten, roughly the same color as the ink itself (with maybe a hint of red?) so you’d still call this a purple once it dries. Constellation might also be the least “interesting” of these three inks, because it’s a fairly conservative, solid color. That said, it’s an excellent work ink that won’t look out of place on official correspondence or around the office. I would add that Constellation works great in the Tom’s Studio Lumos pens because it’s so saturated, and I’ve had this one loaded into my Lumos mini for several months without issue.

Constellation dries to a mostly dark purple-black. The tones are subtle.

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No. 11: Iris (“The Classic Purple”)

Iris might be one of my new favorite purple inks. It’s bright without being “nuclear”, with neither too much red nor too much pink, and it’s definitely not blue. It hits that “Waterman Violet” vibe, maybe slightly toned down and a bit darker? I enjoy using purples, but in order for me to be able to use them consistently at home and at work, the tone can’t be too crazy. This particular ink dries quickly, and I’ve had no issues with bleedthrough or staining (another potential issue to watch with brighter purples).

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Takeaways and Where to Buy

The Tom’s Studio ink line has turned into one of my everyday favorites (and not just because it’s what I’ve had hanging around the shop - though that’s an added benefit). As someone who appreciates darker colors and more subdued versions of pastels, most of these inks match my personal taste, and the fact that they’re relatively saturated makes them work well in the Lumos fineliners as well as fountain pens. If you’re interested in reading further about other colors, you can check out this previous post. I’ve found all of these inks low-maintenance and very well-behaved in the pens I’ve used them in, and have enjoyed the purples and the greens/green-blues the most.

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Tom’s Studio Inks are made in the U.K., possibly by Diamine, though it’s unconfirmed, and that would be consistent with the quality.

If I had to pick a favorite from the three I reviewed in this post, it would be a toss-up between Iris and Constellation. Iris offers that pop of bright purple/violet while not being eye-searing or too pink, while Constellation is the purple-black that I would use every day. Juniper will occasionally make it into the rotation, but I’m REALLY wanting to load the Iris into the Bokumondoh pen and get a bit of contrast between the black pen body and the ink!

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I do kind of wish the Juniper would stay that pure purple black color once it dried!

Tom’s Studio fountain pen inks currently come in 19 different colors and are priced at $16 for a 50ml bottle of ink. We also carry most of the Tom’s Studio Pens in our shop, and are freshly restocked with new arrivals.

The Gentleman Stationer is supported by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. If you enjoy our content, please consider supporting us directly. If you’re in the Nashville, Tennessee area, please visit us at our physical store!

Introducing the T.G.S. Fountain Pen Ink Review Archive!

Last year, I compiled and launched an archive containing all of the T.G.S. fountain pen reviews organized by brand. This morning, I finished updating an addition: a full archive of ink reviews, organized by color family and brand. I was surprised to learn that the current total is 114 ink reviews going back to 2014! There are also some editorial “best inks for ____ purpose” posts which are organized elsewhere in the informational resources section.

A note on this archive: One of the fun things about fountain pen inks is that some of them defy categorization. An ink that might appear green to me might lean more brown or grey to others, so please don’t take any of my “labels” as definitive. I hope you enjoy, and this will be regularly updated as more reviews are completed!

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. We greatly appreciate your support!