Jim P.resents

Filled up the new Jinhao 20 pens and so far, so good. They both write just as smoothly as the first one. I put T+L Fomalhaut in the silver one, and Diamine Honey Burst in the gold one. Also, Fomalhaut greatly benefits from being in an EF nib. It glows so much better under UV light with less coverage. #FountainPen #FountainPens

FP Secret Santa (green tier) gift arrived today, lots of great stuff! A Faber-Castell Essentio (EF), a Moleskine notebook (lined), a Faber-Castell notebook (grid), and a bunch of new-to-me ink samples. Some from brands or series I haven't tried yet. If i wasn't neck-deep in a huge Lego build, I'd swatch the inks. For now, I loaded the pen with Taccia Murasaki. #FountainPens #SecretSanta

Comparing the cross-compatible Pilot CON-40, Majohn A1, and Jinhao 10 converters extended and retracted. The Jinhao has the shortest travel distance, around 13mm. Majohn is about 17mm. Both confirmed with a micrometer. CON-40 is about 16mm, but couldn't measure directly. Explains why the J10/20 converters run out of ink faster, but doesn't explain why CON-40 never seems to fill as much as either of the other two. The agitator parts interfering, perhaps? #FountainPen #FountainPens

The two transparent Jinhao 20 pens I ordered arrived today. Not too fond of the glitter in the plastic, but it's not overdone or distracting. It was in the listing, so not unexpected. I didn't notice the "gold" trim one had a gold tinted nib, though, that's a nice touch. I have a 10 with gold trim and it had a silver nib. I immediately swapped in Majohn A1 converters so I can actually see the ink level at last. Still pondering which inks to fill them with. #FountainPen #FountainPens

Another cold and snowy day, so have more Shel Silverstein. This one is just Fomalhaut and Regulus in the same pens as last time, on the same Tomoe River paper, under UV again. #FountainPens #FountainPenInk #Poetry

Since it's a cold and snowy day, and I'm still playing with T+L inks, here's some Shel Silverstein to show how they look in writing on Tomoe River paper. Every one is a stub or flex nib. From the top down: - Fomalhaut in FPR Jaipur v2 w/EF UltraFlex - Aldebaran in the same type, but reversed - Regulus in TWSBI ECO 1.1 Stub - Antares in TWSBI ECO 1.1 Stub - Aldebaran again, but not reverse - E=mc² in Prera CM - Quantum in Parker Vector FI #FountainPens #FountainPenInk #Poetry #ShelSilverstein

The Jinhao 20 made it another month before I had to refill it, but this time I remembered to swap the converter out for a Majohn A1 style converter. Now I can actually see the ink level with some backlight, though only when the nib is extended. When retracted, it's blocked by the seam/ring. Still better than not seeing it at all with the Jinhao converter, and this way I don't have to drill/dremel anything. I also swapped my Decimo CON-40 for a Majohn A1 converter. #FountainPen #FountainPens

Now that I've posted them all, here's a side-by-side of the Tono + Lims Star Light series fluorescent inks. There are more non-fluorescent inks in the series (one for each Astrological sign, IIRC) but those didn't interest me as much. Unless they put out more fluorescent ones this may be enough for me for now. I liked all of these for different reasons, no bad one in the bunch. They are all very usable and glow brightly, which is exactly what I was looking for. #FountainPens #FountainPenInk

Last ink in the Tono + Lims Star Light Series: Aldebaran There is a lot going on, and it's wild! Base is coral but it also chromashades closer to orange and pink. On Iroful & Midori the writing is coral and light, but legible. Col-o-ring is more pink. The swatches have gradients and areas of coral, pink, & orange. Not sheen! UV is even wilder. It glows differently on each paper depending on coverage, blue/orange/purple/green. It's so weird, I love it! 1/3 #FountainPens #FountainPenInk

Oh nice, JetPens announced they've started carrying Tono + Lims ink. Though it doesn't look like they have any of the Star Light series (yet?), just Baby Color which is all pastels and light tints, not my cup o' tea. #FountainPens #FountainPenInk