My top 3 recommendations for fountain pen ink!

[@davidsilva8695]

Love your choices! Mine are: Noodler’s “Heart of Darkness”; Organics Studio “Nitrogen”; and Noodler’s “Southwest Sunset.” I am also quite sure this will change every week or so!

[@wittwittwer1043]

I recommend: Black, blue-black, and blue. The rest are "gimmicky". I do have other colors, but rarely use them. I DO NOT have shimmer or glitter inks. The brands I prefer: Parker Quink, Diamine, Pelikan, Iroshizuku, and Eidelstein. I sign documents with blue ink so that if copies are made on B&W copiers I can always tell the original.

[@karlgozo]

I love the Diamine Inks... They are cheap and plenty to choose from

[@LANCSKID]

Absolutely!

[@bluejchou4404]

It's fun to see the top three people would pick. I Would recommend Diamine Oxblood, Diamine Blaze Orange, and Sailor Manyo Nekoyanagi which looks a whole lot like Trouble Maker Abalone. It's just so beautiful in wet broad nibs and lovely in medium as well as the nib writes wet. I feel for you on sleep. I hate when your body just wakes and refuses to sleep and you know it's going to cause tiredness the next day. 😵‍💫

[@charis_explores]

I really enjoy Troublemaker inks too! Kelp Tea is my current favorite, but I really enjoy Copper Patina as well. ❤

[@psa7211]

I like your 3 although will probably settle with Ancient Copper. I have it inked in An Orange Diplomat Aero. Ancient Copper writes beautifully. Only crusted once when it sat inked for at least 4 months without use. I have 2 Dominant Industry Inks one November Leaves looked so beautiful on the swatch. MY SWATCH WAS NOTHING LIKE IT EVEN on Tomoa and very dry. Winter Night was deep blue with shading and a fine shimmer. They didn't knock my socks off and with postage and 25 mil don't make them my first choice. I like your Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo choice, most tout Kon Peki but it's not for me. I prefer Shin Kai but may tryTsuki-Yo. Good review!

[@themisterchristie]

No surprise that Ginger Chicken was on this list. I swear you single-handed lead Wonder Pens to sell out of it. It is a great ink and well worth waiting for it if you have to. Of my inks, it's my favourite, especially for non-work purposes. Right now my top three inks are, in no particular order: Platinum Carbon Black Ginger Chicken Platinum Pigment Blue.

[@archivist17]

Interesting take. I might recommend some of these as 'follow on' inks. But for a first three, I'd tend towards something enjoyable to use, but still office friendly. In short, that means a black, a blue and a red. These are easy to define: Diamine Onyx, or Namiki, Black; Waterman Serenity Blue, and Diamine Ruby. No heavy sheen, shimmer or shading. For going beyond that, I'd recommend a large number of samples till you find your groove.

[@basta.dotto_]

Waterman Serenity Blue sheens a lot out of my wet riding pens and the papers I use. I can even see the red sheen on the bottle's neck and inner cap 💙.

[@arupian666]

Nice choices. I'm a TOTAL sucker for Diamine Ancient Copper, so I'm glad there's a reasonable alternative. My 3, although not really my "Top 3", just inks I'm loving and have in heavy rotation right now are: 1. Graf Von Faber-Castell - "Garnet Red". Writes richer than a swab would indicate. Gorgeous red. 2. Mont Blanc "Enzo Ferrari - Purple" - I love purple inks and this is the deepest, richest purple I own. Never thought anything would topple Diamine's "Monboddo's Hat" for me, but this ink has. Stunning. And (relatively) expensive ! 3. Pilot Iroshizuko - "Yama-Giri" - never liked brown ink, till I tried this.

[@deniseplasse5126]

These are all solid choices! I too have all these on my top inks ❤

[@drananth]

Tsu-Kiyo is a smooth criminal! Just love how is slides, spins, swirls and loops!

[@BEYSeamaster1]

The Tsuki-Yo is very beautiful. I’ll get one . Ancient Copper caused nib creep in every single one of my pens except the Moonman M800. Diamine Syrah is a beautiful burgundy ink but was very problematic in every one of my pens flow wise. I replaced it with Private Reserve’s Burgundy Mist. Best burgundy ever (no brown, no maroon) and best flow ever. Thanks for all your videos. They’re awesome. And entertaining too. 😂 Cheers, Omar from the USA.

[@KendallW]

I do love Ancient Copper, so pretty likely that I would enjoy the Ginger Chicken. I like the idea of recommending something blue that can be somewhat "office friendly" but also a little fun. For me it's been Diamine Sargasso Sea. I feel like it checks those boxes. I have several Diamine 80 ml bottles, and yeah, they last forever.. lol

[@basta.dotto_]

Do you find that your Sargasso Sea smells a bit like a fungicide or an antibacterial agent? Both my Midnight and Sargasso Sea have a chemical-like "fumes" odour, and it takes forever to get rid of it from the writing section and converters. 👎But these two colours are soooo beautiful💙💙💙

[@KendallW]

@@basta.dotto_ I haven't ever noticed a scent or smell of any kind. This is the first I've heard of that about Sargasso Sea.

[@KendallW]

@@basta.dotto_ Actually, I took a second sniff from the bottle directly, and there IS a smell like that. But, I must not be sensitive to it, since I've never noticed it before. It isn't something I smell from just writing with it.

[@apostateant]

Great choices, I've been enjoying Ancient Copper lately a lot as I really enjoy brown inks. The three I'd probably recommend would be Herbin Lie de The, Herbin Poussiere de Lune, and Noodler's 54th Massachusetts. All three are fairly toned-down colors but I guess that's also my jam. 54th Mass has been very wet in the most recent batch so, as much as I love it, I'd have to give an honorable mention to Robert Oster Blue Water Ice for an alternate blue that's worked well in any pen I've tried it in. Not at all muted, reminds be of a lighter, more well-behaved, Baystate Blue it's it's eye-popping presentation.

[@fen3184]

I get jealous of a lot of your colours, as almost everything I write needs a good degree of water resistance! At the moment, my favourites for general use are: KWZ Iron Gall Turquoise (in a gold nib). Sailor Sei-Boku Pigment Ink (in slip & seal capped pens). Noodler's Bad Blue Heron (in any pen).

[@joebaker5421]

What I always have inked up is Mont Blanc Irish Green and Pilot Iro. Yama-budo. I don’t have as many inks as you, not even close, but I love these. Don’t make me explain my love of Yama-budo, I just do.

[@sueadams1499]

I like the idea of 2 safe inks and one for fun. Large bottles and expensive brands risk spending too much and being put off further exploration. So, I would go with Diamine Oxford Blue instead of the Pilot Iroshizuku, Diamine Ancient Copper, and one of the 10ml Herbin inks. Love Rouille d'Ancre from Herbin.

[@sueadams1499]

I'm considering trying Iroshizuku by buying a small box of cartridges and syringe filling non-pilot pens.

[@paulherman5822]

With you about black, but I'd add the generic washable blue shades. They're why my first bottle was Sheaffer Skrip blue-black. Not really either. About Iroshizoku... Richard Binder says they're death on certain pens. Seems like the high alkalinity inks melt (especially vintage, but can still show up in some modern pens) certain components of a pen over an actually short time. Generally safe in most modern pens, however.😉 Like other brands, there's a caveat. My recommendations are generally pretty prosaic. Tried and true, generally old brands that have weathered the test of time. Waterman, the few Parker inks still made. Sheaffer Skrip. Diamine in their standard ranges (like Ancient Copper. 😉) No specific color I tend to recommend. I ask them what they would like, to select one. (And I do tend to mention they have about 2500 options available today. 😂) So far it's been Diamine Turquoise, Parker Quink blue and Sheaffer Skrip purple. 😁

[@paulherman5822]

Forgot. I just gave a bottle of Robert Oster Tokyo Blue Denim to my pastor a few weeks ago. They've used fountain pens since they were more standard. Gave it with a Parker 45 double pen desk set. 😁

[@amyalphabet722]

Tsuki-yo is my favourite ink, I always have it in one of my pens! I wish everyone could have some Ginger Chicken in their life, it is really lovely and for us Torontonians, we love to support Wonder Pens. My other go to inks are the saturated Sailor Manyo inks, they are just so reliable.

[@paulday550]

Sailor Yama-dori (teal w/red sheen), Robert Oster Caffe Crema (brown-amber shader), and literally any Diamine (well behaved).

[@ImCFoxx]

I think it’s really important to have a solid bulletproof black ink if you only use thumb pens. Especially for addressing envelopes labels and packages. I love them and that I think your choices are pretty cool. I am fond of Iroshizuku inks in general . Basic writing I love saturated, dark blues. Diamine Oxford blue, Tsuki-yo-lately I’ve been favoring some greens quite a lot. Edelstein Oliveine. Lately Ferris wheel presses. Been coming out with some beautiful colors. Many of them have sparkle. Just too many choices these days.

[@kris.1095]

Fun video! I think I’d go affordable for a first three inks, and in bottles that are way to fill from (live Diamine but not their 30 ml bottles). I’d choose Monteverde Fire Opal with its multi-color shading, R&K Alt-Goldgrun for the unique color, and Herbin Eclat de Saphir for rich blue that behaves well and doesn’t look like a ballpoint. If they want to dive in and get fancy ink in artistic bottles that are still beginner friendly (sheen but not supersheeners, for example), I’d go with Edelstein Aquamarine, Iroshizuku Yama-budo and Jacques Herbin Bleu de minuit.

[@karenbroussard2641]

Oh how I love writer’s blood! Im intrigued by the Tsuki yo and abalone. May have to check those out next time I order ink!

[@miheervaidya]

Love the phrase "singing like a bird".

[@adamzappia2213]

Good work narrowing it down to three! I know you’ve used a lot more inks than I have and I can only pick two based on how much use they get, but can’t pick a third. Tsuki-yo was I think the second bottle of ink I bought - it is definitely a nice ink and is technically still in my top two. I think I’ll be replacing it as my go to blue-black with Pelikan 4001 Blue Black for two reasons - it sounds like it will have better longevity on paper based on what I’ve looked into, and I plan on putting it in a Pelikan M1000 EF which is meant be both wet and a lot broader than most EF nibs, and, since I tend to prefer Japanese fines I am hoping the drier ink will get me as close to the line I like as possible. I guess I’ll see how that goes when I get my hands on that pen! Since I use black a lot I’ve currently got two pens inked up with Pilot black (Pilot 743 EF and 845 F) because it behaves so well and looks like an actual black. I use black a lot - boring maybe to some, but for my purposes (personal use, drawing and writing) it gets more use than any of my other inks. Not sure what I’d pick as a third ink. I really like Iroshizuku Syo-Ro in a Brass Sport with 1.1 but I don’t use it all that much. I think I need to use my Diamine Oxblood more - I really do like it when I’ve used it in a 1.1 Lamy Safari, and then there’s Iroshizuku Yama-Guri which is a great alternative to blues or blacks and works well for both drawing and writing. I also really like Diamine Autumn Oak! I need to try that in something other than a Kaweco Sport with M nib! Then there’s the currently unopened bottle of Robert Oster Aussie Gold that I bought after trying it in a Rotring Isograph and figured I’ve got to try it in a fountain pen... but which pen?

[@Calcprof]

I'll add a black: Aurora Black. 3 Inks: Diamine Majestic Blue, Pilot Iroshizuku Yama Budo, Bermingham Pen Co Herron. Honorable mentions: Iroshizuku Ku-jaku, Sailor yuramaki Kokoro Gumo and Sailor Shikiori Miruai. Ask me tomorrow and there will be different answers., I might even add an Iron Gall ink, like the Platinum classic inks. All your choices are good, and I would put them in my top 10 or 20. I think my favorite Pilot blue is Asa Gao.

[@BlushnBlue]

So hard to just choose 3....LOL. My top 3: Ancient Copper, Montblanc Brothers Grimm and J Herbin Lie de the.

[@juicylouisey]

Diamine is a wonderful brand. Good quality, great range, value and a range of sizes.

[@zathrasnotzathras9435]

My favorite blue is Asa-Gao. I should get Ginger Chicken just for the name 😂

[@zeroseas]

Nice choices! Thanks for sharinf

[@SarahBaileyArts]

I wonder if Monteverde's fire opal is closer to ginger chicken? Just a thought, it's super cheap and easy to find and doesn't seem to have the problems some of the other Monteverde inks have sometimes, at least for me.

[@karidru5272]

With complete noobness in mind, I think I would rec three colors, all of which will write on garbage paper. One which is office friendly, one which MIGHT BE, and one that's just fun. OFFICE FRIENDLY: Tsuki-Yo. For when you want one ink that will NOT screw up your pen or piss off your bank/boss. MAYBE: Sailor Shigure. Pop of sheen on good paper, no problems on bad paper, is violet but kinda looks blue enough to pass. NOPE: R+K Alt Goldgrun. It doesn't LOVE copy paper but this is a fun choice if you want to really see what different pens and different papers can do.

[@corysoxydiaries]

yey! At least I got one of your top 3 :) Tsuki-yo 💙 and Ancient copper 🧡❤

[@ichirofakename]

Platinum Carbon Black, Noodler's Fox Red, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.

[@sajjadhusain4146]

Aurora Black Aurora Blue/Visconti Blue/Sailor Seiboku (any one of these three). Diamine Oxblood/Sailor Shikiori Yama-dori/Sailor Tokiwa Matsu (any one of them)

[@sunduj]

I love your style of presenting and analysis! I was curious about what are the drying times of ginger chicken compared to ancient copper?

[@benkempermagic]

Love these choices. My three could change without notice, that said: 1) Robert Oster Tranquility (dark teal blue), J. Herbin 1798 Kyanite du Népal (lighter blue with silver shimmer), and Sailor Manyo Ume (red/brown with a green sheen). I have to shout out two more though: Troublemaker Simoun and Copper Patina. (And Diamond Oxblood, and …” 😂

[@criscavi19]

HEY KERRY! Have you tried the "Oxford Blue" by Diamine? It's just gorgeous!

[@NikSawyer]

Noodler’s “Southwest Sunset”, Sailor Manyo Haha, Iroshizuku Yama-budo.

[@nordlyselsker]

Tsuki-yo is a nice ink, but it has been discontinued and is already sold out in many places. I got a small (15 ml) bottle shortly after it was discontinued. If you want something somewhat similar that is still available, I would recommend Iroshizuku Shin-kai. Personally, if I had to cut it down to three inks, I would probably go for Diamine Oxford Blue instead. It's my go-to colour if I need something that looks serious without being boring. I love its sheen. My Troublemaker Abalone has lived up to its name, it has given me so much trouble! I know I am not the only one. I wonder if these inks aren't very consistent, and I have been unlucky with my bottle. Or maybe you have been lucky with your pen/ink combinations. I had big hopes for Abalone in my Scribo with a B flex nib (which works perfectly with Iroshizuku Kon-peki - no hard starts, no railroading, it just keeps going), the chroma-shading would be so nice in a broad flex nib, but it keeps stopping completely after a few words and is almost impossible to get going again. So, Abalone would definitely not be in my top three inks. I might put Sailor Manyo Haha or Nekoyanagi in there instead. Ancient Copper is a good one, but I think I would choose Sailor Manyo Ume instead for my three inks. I am enjoying that a lot at the moment.

[@PensandTea]

I hadn’t heard that Tsuki-yo is discontinued. Goulet pens still has it if you want?

[@nordlyselsker]

@@PensandTea Hmm, I was sure I had read that it was discontinued, but I tried googling it now, and I seem to be wrong. Maybe I mixed it up with Tsuyu-kusa. Anyway, as I said, I got a small bottle of it, and I doubt I'll ever need more. I have so many blues and blue-blacks that they will last me several life times...

[@llanbull]

What's the wettest ink you tried? I am using diamine writer's blood and am looking for another one. More wet. It helps my hard start/troublesome pens.

[@jaygoodwin8833]

Anything Iroshizuku is must try IMO

[@LANCSKID]

Take out a second mortgage first …

[@kattz753]

I'm very behind in my videos. Waterman Serenity Blue is kind of boring but very good for new people. A pen that is acting up will often work with this ink, after a flush and fill.

[@dostagirl9551]

Only three? 😱 Hmmmm…my choices are: Diamine Marine, Robert Oster’s Brandy, and Private Reserve Black Cherry.

[@organfinatic04]

Pilot BlueBlack, is my number one. Diamine Oxblood for my red. Noodler's Blue Eel for my blue. Top three for now. Lol

[@bravery2047]

I really love Tsuki-yo of Iroshizuku as well!

[@LANCSKID]

At £35.00 for 50ml? No, thanks.👎

[@bravery2047]

@@LANCSKID actually it's much cheaper when I bought it, I bought three 15ml bottles of pilot iroshizuku ink in a nice package and it cost me about 23 USD. I bought it in a stationary shop in Hong Kong. Actually I checked Goulet pens and it now cost 24 USD for the 50ml bottle, so it's not as expensive as you may have experienced before. Anyway I just checked on a UK site too and it's listed as 34 pounds.

[@bravery2047]

@@LANCSKID so it's probably something to do with the import price at UK?

[@LANCSKID]

@@bravery2047 Thanks for the information. I’ll stick with Diamine, actually manufactured in the U.K. and relatively inexpensive especially if you shop around.

[@LANCSKID]

@@bravery2047 Undoubtedly, punitive import pricing.

[@cathiescott7382]

I really want Ginger Chicken so I hope sometime it’s more available especially outside Cañada

[@bokusimondesu]

I’d recommend a blue-black instead of black. It is such a full color. PS. The Diamine ancient copper in my clear majohn q1 which I eye dropped, is really “maturing”. Slowly evaporating and getting quite concentrated without clogging up and just getting patina like. Almost like a walnut extract would behave. BTW. Isn’t Loopy the new Polar Glow? Or is it just me who would take loopy over “normal” (blaaahhhh bland) any time. 😅

[@NikeaTiber]

"Expensive ink" I just want to offer an alternate viewpoint on ink pricing. I do a lot of writing, pretty much always manually. For a long time my pen of choice was a pilot G2 gel rollerball and that was all I used. They hold about a mL or so of ink from my eyeball judgement. What I'm getting at is @~1.50/pen you are spending $82.50 for 55 mL of ink. I realize that it isn't an apples:apples comparison, total amount written/mL of ink is going to vary widely just between fountain pens, so i don't think that adding a gel rollerball to the mix is unfair for comparison. After I saw it this way, a bottle of iroshizuku didn't seem quite so expensive anymore. If you are a real miserly skinflint you can use a drier fine or extra fine and pick an intense ink that you can water down a bit if you still feel that ink costs too much money.

[@BoulderJR]

I have landed on Noodler’s Black Eel and Noodler’s xfeather blue. I write letters to my kids and grandkids and hope they last for generations. I gave up on Waterman inks because even dampness destroys writing.

[@davidmathews2124]

I went ahead a ordered the Troublemaker Abalone. Your descriptions are always well informed and our tastes are very similar. It will likely be dedicated to a new Franklin - Christoph Model 50 desk pen…in Polar Ice…so quite blueish…and completely gorgeous. So thanks.

[@PensandTea]

I hope you love it!

[@impish22]

how fun.. thanks for posting

[@lead-dog]

Iroshizuku "yama budo". excellent!

[@Mizoshi]

Hi, congratulations for the videos you make, have you tried the inks with the Sailor profit too? Thanks again for your videos and have a good week.

[@PensandTea]

Yeah, sailor 123 and 224 I have, and sailor teatime oh and I love manyo kiku

[@SuryaFriends]

i have 2 out of 3.... great inks

[@rileycone4939]

Hey Kerry. Since you didn't get the email I sent you a while ago, I've decided to post it here. "A while ago I asked you whether you could show us how you start and end your journal entries. I know that making those videos may take some time and also that you have an upload schedule, so I'm not trying to rush you. However if you haven't already recorded that video, I have some additional questions that I would be grateful for if you were to answer them. Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to as I understand that you may feel some answers are too personal, but I will greatly appreciate any answer you may want to give. What's your journaling routine? Do you do it daily, weekly or whenever you feel like it? What setup do you have for journaling? Do you have one dedicated place where you journal, or do you just start journaling wherever, ,when you feel like it? Do you use both sides of the page, or just the front of it? Also, how do you keep motivated to write your journal? I've started writing my 1st one after your video where you reviewed all of the notebooks you've used for journaling over the years, and so far I have a grand total of 2 entries, one over 3 months after my 1st one. Granted they're quite long (at least if I were to judge), each taking around 3 A5 pages of line under line of text, but still. I just can't seem to get myself motivated to write in it. And it's not like I've never wanted to write a journal. The idea appeals to me and it was bouncing around in my head for quite some time prior to me starting it. I just can't seem to muster enough motivation to actually sit down and write. On a similar topic, how long are your journal entries? Just 1-2 sentences, or do you write some more? Also, and this will probably be the most personal question and I'm perfectly fine with you not answering it if you don't want to, what types of entries do you make. It's kinda tied, I feel, to the 'how often do you journal' question. Do you make daily entries with just a few words of what happened over the day, or rarer, but longer entries with more in depth thoughts on one, or more topics (a route that so far I've undertaken)? Once again, you don't have to answer if you don't want to." Keep up the great work. Even though I rarely leave comments, I love watching your content.

[@PensandTea]

I definitely did not get an email about any of that! I’ll put together something soon 👍🏻

[@rileycone4939]

@@PensandTea

[@LANCSKID]

My top three? Diamine, Diamine and, er … Diamine.

[@basicdose.9872]

I love trouble maker ink.

[@craig2100]

What was the name of the pen so in Toronto?

[@arlenealennox3136]

Wonder Pens

[@PensandTea]

Wonderpens

[@craig2100]

@@arlenealennox3136 thank you Arlene

[@fossilimprint2954]

Nice

[@Lowkster]

Recommendation starts at 2:18