The last few years really have been a renaissance for Fountain Pens and this year is no different. Lots of expansions and additions to lineups and several standout inks. Iβm going to be talking about how various brands have performed this year and what I hope for next year. This will be, of course, focused on inks and not pens. I try to keep my posts as objective as possible but this one will probably have a bit more subjectivity than usual.
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Ikea shelving unit
637 Bottles and 33.47 litres of Ink
It took a while but I finally cleaned the space around my ink shelf and and arranged the bottles somewhat to take a photo of the entire collection. The title is a bit untrue because as of these photos, 619 bottles of ink were on the shelf (well, one I forgot was on my desk) but I have 18 bottles of ink that are on the way as well making for a total of 637 bottles (593 if you discount the 44 duplicated). That's around 33.47 litres (8.84 gallons) of ink. I have an additional 99 samples and swatches of 165 inks that I have neither bottles nor samples of. In total I have 858 swatches of unique inks.
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Ink Comparison: Parker Penman Emerald
In November last year I did a comparison of Parker Penman Sapphire an ink that a few other ink makers had either tried to copy or drew inspiration from. Parker Penman Emerald only has Bungubox Norwegian Wood (or Bungubox Emerald) that drew inspiration from it. Penman Emerald is the perfect green for me. I'm not a huge fan of greens in general (and generally avoid greens that lean blue) and this is the perfect, for me, balance of yellow and blue; it's slightly on the yellow side. It's got some sheen and shading which are other characteristics I am drawn to. Like the rest of the Parker Penman ink series, it was discontinued in 2000 which is around 17 years ago as of this comparison.
To avoid confusion, although Bungubox Emerald is probably the inks most well-known name I will be using its alternate name 'Norwegian Wood' to distinguish it from Parker Penman Emerald
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