This was the first ink bottle I bought.

It was great. The black was decent, and it dried fast. Something I cared a lot about when I started with fountain pens. The bottle was kind of cheap, but it worked well. And it was unexpensive.

Since then I have been made aware of Noodlers politics, and have sinced refused to consider any of his inks.

If you make a product, it is important to make sure it works for as many people as possible.

When I say works this may be because it doesn’t work physically or there may be something about the design that is offensive. The typical example of the latter is all of the pink “for her” products. And a typical example of the former are products that isn’t very compatible with lefties or are too big or thick for people with smaller hands. Great examples of this is the Pilot Vanishing Point or the most of the Lamy pens.

I think all products should be accommodating for different people. Either by having different versions of it if it isn’t possible to have one version that works for all. And I think it is a really bad look for in 2022 (or 2015 or 2010 for that matter) to have a product that excludes lefties or women. This is especially important if it is a kind of unique product like the Vanishing Point.

This is without a doubt the worst ink I have ever used. If I remember correctly I got it for free with my first Lamy 2000.

A pen I lost when my winter coat was stolen in a pub. Funny thing is that I was more upset about the pen than having to walk in 20 minutes in a snow storm without a coat to get home.

This ink was just terrible. The color is black but looks more like you have mixed it with 20% water. Not really greay. It felt very dry to write with it. And the bottle was really cheap, with this weird blot paper roll under it.

I really hated this ink, and ended up throwing it out during a cleanup before a move. And it has kept me from trying any other Lamy inks.

In this Volume Blackwing are honoring Bruce Lee.

I really like this design, a lot of people do not like it. Or critizing it for being very similar to the Staedler Noris. I get their point, but I don’t think of it as a rip off of that design and more like a more premium version of it.

When it comes to execution of their theme I get what they are going for, but it doesn’t really work for me.

Overall I think this is a 2/3 release from them. It is the first time I’m aware of that they do this kinds of stripes in any of their designs. And I’d love to see them do this kind of thing more. With some more unique colors.

It may not be that unique among all pencils, but you don’t see a lot of pencils like this.

I was going to just write about having passed three years of some lines a day. But then I realised I haven’t reviewed it at all.

It is a standard Leuchtturm1917 hardcover A5 notebook. With one page per day, divided into five. One section for each year. And you just fill in the year you want.

I love it, and I fill it every day, or sometimes I go back to fill dates when I forget. I just write a few lines, usually the first thing that come to mind.

I’m certain I’ll get another one of these or something similar when I’m done with it. This will also be one of the few notebooks I won’t throw out.

I have this on going project about trying more different pencils than I have done in the past. So I ordered two of three different firmnesses of the Hi-uni: 2B, B and HB.

Let’s start with the pencil itself. It is a very good pencil and I don’t have any issues with it at all. But I don’t love how it looks. The brown color is just ugly and I don’t like the gold and there is SO MUCH TEXT on it.

Why can’t we have classy pencils without it being littered with text on it?!

For the pencil itself I’d be happy with all the firmnesses I tried. The 2B was the one I liked the most, but probably the least practical. And I could not for the life of me notice the difference between the B and HB. So I guess, if I order more of them I’m going with the HB.

Paper for pencil is a interesting subject, and far less complex than fountain pens.

What I look for in a good paper for a pencil is neither too slick or too gritty. The former means the graphite won’t stick well to the paper and you just smear graphite all over, while the latter means that you’ll be grinding down the pencil much faster than you should.

My two go to papers in general is LT1917 and Rhodia.

I try not to get too into the hype of new products and colors and all of that bullshit.

Here is my process:

• When I see something interesting I collect it and add it to a list
• Once a month I look over it and delete stuff I no longer have any interest in
• Then I try to look for stuff on that list that would sove something for me right now
• When I see a fit I add a due date to it. Typically 2 or 3 weeks. If I still feel like a want it after that time I buy it

This system is in place to solve multiple problems for me. It makes it easy to collect all kinds of cool crap. And I can just get rid of all the stuff that looked interesting but isn’t. And then I can follow my principle of only buying stuff that I have a use for. The 2-3 weeks between deciding to get it and doing it is just to keep myself from buying stuff that I thought was a really awesome idea this week but had moved away from in 10 days.

Pencils are not the most practical writing instruments. You need to sharpen them, and most likely on the go if you bring them anywhere. This is probably a running theme with the kind of writing instruments I like. If I’m not using a pencil it is most likely a fountain pen.

What I like about pencils is how many different options there are. Most of what I use are the top end or “premium” market. They are very different in every single way from the stuff I learned to hate in school.

They look different, feel different., perform different and sharpen cleaner than the stuff I used.

My preference is smooth and dark lines. But I also like pencils I don’t have to sharpen that much. What kind I usually end up picking depends a little on what I’m doing. Usually softer for taking notes. While harder if I’m writing long form.

No matter what you are looking for there are many different aspects you can use to pick pencils. Price, colors / looks, how the “core” feels etc.

I don’t like scratchy pencils (or pens for that matter) so that excludes a lot of the market from the kind of stuff I’m going to check out. That doesn’t mean they are bad, and there are probably a lot of cool stuff there if you are into that kind of stuff.