Inkophile Is Two Years Old!

Yes, this week Inkophile rolled into its third year. It’s been a fun ride and I am grateful for those who have returned from time to time to read about my inky adventures.

Last year An Inkophile’s Blog was slanted towards reviews thanks mostly to the generosity of Karen Doherty of Exaclair. Not that there weren’t reviews of other products but Karen gave me the opportunity to try all of the J. Herbin inks. In addition Ryan of Pear Tree Pens sent a number of Rohrer & Klingner samples all of which turned out to be worthy of recommendation. Rumor has it some Diamine ink will be headed this way in the coming months and there are a couple of samples of Sailor on my desk that deserve some remarks. So there are lots of inky posts headed your way.

Waiting for the spotlight are a variety of paper products including items from Clairefontaine, Quattro, Myndology, teNeues, Daycraft, and four G.Lalo pads from Jean Elie at Pen and Co. Paper reviews take the longest time while I test a variety of inks and pens but a few should be completed soon.

Fountain pens certainly rank first in my arsenal but there are other writing instruments worthy of inclusion in paper tests. To help things along Pentel sent a couple of pens and I’ve picked up a few others for variety. Karen sent some Brause dip nibs that deserve a post though for now they are getting more attention as convenient ink testers than true writing tools.

It may seem like there is a constant turnover here and indeed there are often new items to test. As certain as there will be new things to try each month, you can count on my discovering new favorites or even rediscovering old ones.  So look for more posts about Inkophile Raves and Faves.

Lastly watch for more links to relevant articles and websites along with the occasional Inkophile post about writing, doodling, and drawing. After all isn’t that what ink, paper, and pens are all about?

Ink and Pens for an Inkophile

Pictured are bottles of Rohrer & Klingner Solferino, J. Herbin Vert Olive, and Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku, pads of G. Lalo and Rhodia paper, a 1970’s Montblanc 220 fountain pen with an OB nib, an Ebonite Dipless Dip Pen from AllWriteNow.com, and a pen wrap from HisNibs.com.