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Macchiato Man

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The @madebyendless Cotton Wallet arrived the other day! I’m a sucker for these sorts of practical inserts for notebooks. The cotton fabric suites the simple style of the Explorer. 
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While I love these and always get them whenever I can I never
First test of the Regalia paper in the Endless Explorer than I was sent by @madebyendless. Really impressed by the paper. Very smooth, nice sheen and nice shading! Finger prints or hand oil seem to affect the writing a little but nothing out of the o
New Pen Review: Esterbrook Camden (Premium Edition) - 𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚒𝚘!

I’ve been eager to try the Camden for a while now. I love my flat end pens and the overall shape of this one is subtly unique. While there are some differences between
New friend from @esterbrook_official! Camden Manitoba Blue. 
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Love flat end pens so looking forward to digging into this (so review incoming).
 
Flat or round ends?✑
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#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fountainp
New Ink Review: @birminghampens Antique Sepia (link in bio)
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In line with the recent trend of soft pastel dichromatic inks but Birmingham’s version is an interesting dust grey version with low saturation that I find quite interesting don&rsquo
New Ink Day! Haven’t had one of these for a while but I received these from a friend at the last Perth Pen Meet. 
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All sailor and the first tall bottle in a while (bringing the number of those to 86). 
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Didn’t realise it at the time but
New Ink Review: La Couronne du Comte Vert Sapin (link in bio)
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The final of LCdC’s initial set of four exclusive inks from Diamine. A lovely rich sheeny green-teal.
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#fountainpen #fpgeeks #fountainpenaddict #fpn #fountainpengeeks  #fo
I don’t know if I’ve ever shared this before but my city has a set of five dip nibs as an artwork. 

They are called “Memory Markers” by Anne Neil and represent early-ish colonial stories of the gardens where they are.

We als
⚠️Update: Why I have been so radio silent! 📻🤫 A lot of large personal changes, essentially (read on for details)!

There have been three main reasons for why I haven’t been able to do much here or on my blog. 

1) 🎓 I had to finish of my Mas
Ink Ink Comparison: Discontinued Iroshizuku and New Iroshizuku! Thanks to @penclassics for allowing this to happen. See link in bio!
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The old: Tsuyu-kusa, Tsukushi, and Ina-ho.
The New: Sui-gyoku, Hana-ikada, and Hotaru-bi.
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This is a long review b
NPD: @esterbrook_official LE Estie “Candy” in Oversize with a Kirk Speer Needlepoint nib!
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Thanks to Esterbrook for sending this through to me for review. I’ve reviewed a couple of Esties now and two of the custom nibs (which are a
Out with the old in with the new?

I just received the new Pilot Iroshizuku Inks in the little bottle ink pack from @penclassics for review. I plan on doing an overview review of the three new and the three old ones!

I feel like Ina Ho was quite a u
New Pen Review (see link in bio): Platinum Curidas courtesy of @penclassics (check them out!)
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This is certainly a curiously designed pen with it's quirks but it has bee a delight to write with and a great pen to through in a pocket. I've been using
New Ink Review! @wearingeul_global Kyonghui! See link in bio!

Kyonghui is a vibrant earthy orange from Wearingeul's series on Korean Female Modern Writers. It is also a great performing ink!

Wearingeul's global push is fairly new; has anyone tried
It has been a little while since I posted here so I thought I'd give a little update!

Firstly I think I just needed a little break at the end of the year! It has been a busy year for me. I have been taking my photography more seriously and I also ha

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Sheen vs Shimmer (and some good sheeners)

April 16, 2017 in Ink Discussion

Back in 2015 Brian Goulet made a video and accompanying article about sheening inks. I love sheen, in fact it's a major deciding point on whether I grab an ink or not, so this should be something right up my alley, but it wasn't. The article conflated markedly differing ink characteristics, and made quite curious decisions of which inks were chosen to exemplify the topic. He also left a number of very sheening inks off the list that Goulet Pens carry - ignoring the many sheening inks that they don't carry - such as Diamine Bilberry).

The main issue with the article (I'll just talk about the article) is that in it Brian conflated sheen resulting from the ink and shimmer/glitter resulting from particles or pigments in the ink. Now I concede that there isn't a well established term for these 'shimmering' inks. There is and was, however, an established term for the shine resulting from the ink itself: sheen!

(Moving forward I will call them sheen and shimmer)

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that this might come off a little harsh against Brian. I want to stress three things: firstly that I am only commenting on Brian's Top 10 Sheening Inks article and related Q&A segments. Not any of his other work. Secondly, I have absolutely no issue with Brian's Top 10 featuring only inks from Goulet. This makes complete sense. My point was with when he brought up the definition of sheening vs shimmering in a Q&A I understood this as opening it up to the ink-world at large (as it isn't a topic mutually exclusive to Goulet Pens). Thirdly, and lastly, I want to stress that Brian has done amazing things for the community; I may not have started collecting inks and pens were it not for his 101 series (a staple for new people into fountain pens). The community wouldn't be the same or quite as large without what he's done. but that goes hand in hand with why I see Brian as a major influence on the community (despite what he might say!). Because of this I think when Brian conflates the two terms (sheening and shimmering) it does make a difference and I think that in this single instance it is detrimental.

Ever since this article and video came out I observed a marked increase in people mislabeling shimmer as sheen. In a later Q&A video's segment about sheen and shimmer, Brian questioned how much of an influence he has on people and doubted whether he could influence the creation of a standard. I would say he has already demonstrated that he does have influence and could cement a certain terminology in the lexicon. His approach, however, is not the best.

Like Brian, you may be thinking 'why does it matter?' Well there are two problems with conflating the seperate ink characteristics. Firstly that it's misleading; shimmer shimmers on all paper, and presents in a different way on the paper than sheen does. A subtle amount of sheen on a piece of paper doesn't necessarily make the ink look like Christmas wrapping but the glitter in shimmering inks does offer this more 'fun' approach to the ink. That is, just because Iroshizuku Shin-Kai has some red sheen that doesn't stop it from being a mostly clean-cut straight-laced ink suitable for a business. The shimmering inks, however, look much more fun. I can't imagine anyone suggesting Diamine Golden Oasis or J. Herbin Bleu Ocean To someone asking for business-attire-like inks. That isn't a bad thing, but it highlights that just because both glitter and the crystalline structure of sheen reflect light that doesn't mean that they both look the same. These are different characteristics of ink!

Secondly, and this is a minor point, but shimmering inks need to be shaken prior to being inked for the pen to actually pull up the glitter along with the ink. Sheening inks do not.

And thirdly, and this relates to the first, shimmering inks can be difficult to clean from pens and can clog pens when left in the pen (or otherwise?) and this is not something that sheening inks have issues with (that doesn't mean it isn't mutually exclusive, however). Sure, Diamine Majestic Blue has had clogging issues with people (not myself), but Iroshizuku Syo-Ro doesn't clog pens, and neither does Robert Oster Fire & Ice or Kobe Kitanozaka Night Blue #38. Sheen might become more prominent if you leave the pen for a while and it dries slightly, but shimmering inks have particles that settle and get into crevices that are difficult to get them out from. Unless you do a bang up job cleaning the whole pen, the next ink you use after cleaning out a shimmering ink will likely also have some subtle amounts of glitter in it!

I don't believe that these are minor issues. Conflating the two very different ink characteristics is not beneficial.

As for the curious choices I don't under stand why Brian included Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrün or Diamine Sherwood Green in his list. Sherwood green has only the barest amount of sheen on Tomoe River paper and at best Alt-Goldgrün shades well but it has absolutely no sheen on any paper.

Later in the same Q&A video mentioned above Brian suggested that sheening inks were not on peoples' radar until J.Herbin's Stormy Grey (2014) and then Diamine's Shimmertastic inks but, regardless, this thread on Fountain Pen Network with over 600 replies never mentions (as far as I could see) a shimmering ink and it was started in 2011. All or almost all of them are traditional examples of true sheen.

In the first Q&A video Brian also states that because there are so few inks that sheen and shimmer that differentiating them is unimportant. I've highlighted above why I think differentiating them is important and while I understand why in his 'Top 10 Sheening Inks' Brian only be listed inks that are buyable through Goulet Pens, here, in his answer to a Q&A question, is different. There are hundreds of inks that sheen that Goulet doesn't sell (especially made by Sailor). There are also Taiwanese inks that have glitter and Chinese inks that have glitter. There is far more than a handful of sheening or shimmering inks so that reasoning for not differentiating sheen and shimmer doesn't really hold up.

Brian also seemed to back away from this conflated definition in the later Q&A video, slightly, however the confusion still persists. Perhaps he should have named the article (and video) "Brian's top 10 Sheening and Shimmering inks". Still catchy?

As for what to call the sparkling inks… I'm not sure. I wish there was consensus. Shimmering? Sparkling? Glittering? Artificial Sheen? Shimmering works for me.

I don't like list articles in general but I'm going to finish off this post with selection of my sheenier inks. This is not intended to be considered alongside Brian's list; for one many of the inks in my list are definitely not for sale at Goulet, and also my list has 34 inks, not 7. These inks are presented on White Tomoe River and have been applied rather wetly and are in no order. Worth noting is a possibly conspicuous lack of Robert Oster inks. Rob does make a fair few sheeny inks but they aren't extremely sheeny. What makes them good is a good balance of sheen with the right colour behind it. Take Organics Studio Nitrogen Royal Blue a *truely* unique ink but it is so sheeny that you can hardly see the true base blue colour ever. Robert Oster Fire & Ice, for example, is a good bright red outline of sheen but you can easily so the contrasting and well-matched blue behind it. Rob's inks have good sheen but not a lot of sheen.

View fullsize Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue
Blackstone Barrier Reef Blue
View fullsize Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue
Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue
View fullsize Bungubox L'Amant
Bungubox L'Amant
View fullsize Diamine Bilberry
Diamine Bilberry
View fullsize Diamine Grape
Diamine Grape
View fullsize Diamine Majestic Blue
Diamine Majestic Blue
View fullsize Diamine Sargasso Sea
Diamine Sargasso Sea
View fullsize Iroshizuku Momiji
Iroshizuku Momiji
View fullsize Iroshizuku Yama Budo
Iroshizuku Yama Budo
View fullsize J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor
J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor
View fullsize J. Herbin Rouge Hematite
J. Herbin Rouge Hematite
View fullsize Lamy Dark Lilac
Lamy Dark Lilac
View fullsize Organics Studio Nitrogen Royal Blue
Organics Studio Nitrogen Royal Blue
View fullsize Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue
Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue
View fullsize Private Reserve Electric DC Blue
Private Reserve Electric DC Blue
View fullsize Sailor Apricot
Sailor Apricot
View fullsize Sailor Blue
Sailor Blue
View fullsize Sailor Epinard
Sailor Epinard
View fullsize Sailor Grenade
Sailor Grenade
View fullsize Sailor Oku-Yama
Sailor Oku-Yama
View fullsize Sailor Sky High
Sailor Sky High
View fullsize Sailor Souten
Sailor Souten
View fullsize Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu
Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu
View fullsize Sailor Yama-Dori
Sailor Yama-Dori
View fullsize Bungubox 4B
Bungubox 4B
View fullsize Bungubox Omaezaki Azure Sea
Bungubox Omaezaki Azure Sea
View fullsize Bungubox Sapphire
Bungubox Sapphire
View fullsize Bungubox Sweet Potato Purple
Bungubox Sweet Potato Purple
View fullsize Bungubox Tears of a Clown
Bungubox Tears of a Clown
View fullsize Kingdom Note Dorcus Hopei Binodulosus
Kingdom Note Dorcus Hopei Binodulosus
View fullsize Kobe Kitonozaka Night Blue #38
Kobe Kitonozaka Night Blue #38
View fullsize Kobe Pier Blue #02
Kobe Pier Blue #02
View fullsize Kobe Shioya Blue #17
Kobe Shioya Blue #17
View fullsize Maruzen Athena Blue-Black
Maruzen Athena Blue-Black
View fullsize Usagiya Setouchi Marine Blue
Usagiya Setouchi Marine Blue

I've listed all my inks and all my pens in their respective pages. Please let me know which inks you'd like to compare or review next via the comments, Twitter, Instagram, or contact me directly.

You can follow @macchiato_man on Twitter, via RSS or an email subscription for blog updates.

I was not compensated for this review and everything here is my own honest opinion. There are no affiliate links.

Tags: Diamine, Bilberry, Grape, Majestic Blue, Sargasso Sea, Iroshizuku, Momiji, Yama Budo, Yama-Budo, J. Herbin, Rouge Hematite, Emerald of Chivor, Blackstone, Barrier Reef Blue, Sydney Harbour Blue, Private Reserve, DC Supershow Blue, Electric DC Blue, Lamy, Dark Lilac, Sailor, Apricot, Blue, Sheen, Shimmer, Epinard, Grenade, Oku-Yama, Sky High, Souten, Tokiwa-Matsu, Yama-Dori, Bungubox, Bungbox, 4B, Azure Sea, Omaezaki Sea, Sappire, First Love, Sweet Potato Purple, Tears of a Clown, Dorcus Hopei Binodulosus, Kobe, #38, #02, #2, #37, Maruzen Athena, Blue-Black, Usagiya, Setouchi Marine Blue, organics studio, nitrogen royal blue
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