I’ve mostly switched to using fountain pens these days.  Mostly because they are fun to make, have a zillion ink options, and fun to write with.  There is just something that seems right about writing with a brown inked fountain pen in my Moleskine notebook.

Over the weekend I made a new one from a “Green Dyed Maple Burl” from LeeValley.  It turned out almost perfect.

My current favourite ink is Private Reserve’s “Copper Burst”.  I buy my ink from Ried’s Stationary downtown.  The bottle cost me about $9 but it is going to last for ages!

Finally here is a photo of all of my current inks and a few of my pens:

I have about 8 fountain pens now that I’ve made from woods like wenge, blood wood, the maple burl and bocote.

The inks I have are (in order pictured):

1. Parker Quink (blue) – I don’t like this ink.  I feels like I’m writing with a normal pen.
2. Waterman Brown – I don’t like this ink either.  It’s too purple.
3. Private Reserve “Black Cherry” – A very dark red.  I kinda like it but it’s not one I use very often
4. Private Reserve “Copper Burst” – My favorite brown ink.
5. Private Reserve “Black Velvet” – I bought this mostly to experiment with darkening my brown inks.  My nibs seem to plug up really fast with this ink.
6. Private Reserve “Ebony Blue” – A very dark blue that I really like for office use.
7. Private Reserve “Lake Placid Blue” – A very rich blue that I love (cartridges)