Back on the Swatch Wagon

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I’ll confess that I haven’t done a whole lot of ink swatching since vacationing at my in-laws over the holidays and getting through Inkvent 2025 (and part of Colorvent 2025). As soon as January hit, it was back to school and the pen show kicks off with the Philly Pen Show, and the ensuing travel/packing/unpacking/mess/exhaustion. Sometimes I feel like swatching inks is less urgent than other topics like show recaps, reviews, reading, exercise, etc, so it often gets put on the back burner. But, as I said in my 2026 goals and intentions article, I’d like to get my swatching percentage from 66% to 75%, and there’s no time like the present, so here we go!

I picked the following inks in a somewhat random order, but there was some rhyme & reason to it. The first six were acquisitions from the Philly and CA Pen Shows and the last four were picked based on (1) being a different brand, and (2) different colors from the first six. The list is largely collaborations but that was not intentional. This isn’t going to be an ink review, but more of a quick look with a few comparisons.

1. Monteverde x Bucks Bespokery Fairmount
2. Monteverde x Bucks Bespokery Wooder
3. Sailor 2026 Pen Show Exclusive
4. Kobe x 2026 CA Pen Show California Teal Blue
5. Diamine x Galen Leather Anatolia
6. Diamine x Galen Leather Zeugma
7. Ink Institute x GourmetPens Ice Fog
8. Wearingeul A Kidnapped Santa Claus
9. Ferris Wheel Press Aurorealis
10. Esterbrook x TheCoffeeMonsterzCo Forgotten Iced Coffee

Top row: Inks 1-6, bottom row: inks 7-10

As usual, my swatching was done with a Kaweco clutch pencil holder with a Kakimori stainless steel dip nib and Col-O-Ring and Wearingeul swatch cards.

Monteverde x Bucks Bespokery Fairmount is an olive green ink with gold shimmer.

Inks similar to Fairmount include Wearingeul Path (a bit too yellow/gold), Diamine 150th Anniversary Safari (without shimmer), and Sailor Manyo Shirakashi (too brown).

Monteverde x Bucks Bespokery Wooder (aka “Water”) is a blue teal (it’s not leaning, it’s definitely blue, but not a true blue.)

Inks similar to Wooder include Iroshizuku Syo-ro (too green), J Herbin Emerald of Chivor (with shimmer, and a bit too blue), and Sailor 50 States California (very close but just a hint more blue).

Sailor 2026 Pen Show Exclusive is a dusty pink chromashader with hints of grey and green.

I don’t have a lot of inks similar to the Sailor 2026 ink but Kobe Strawberry (too pink/red/dark, Ferris Wheel Press Lady Rose (also too pink but getting there), Troublemaker Rodeo (probably the closest, but it’s too warm/brown.)

==kobe== Kobe x 2026 CA Pen Show California Teal Blue is a, uh, teal blue, lol. 🙂

Inks similar to California Teal Blue include Franklin-Christoph Ink ‘23, Ferris Wheel Press Bluegrass Velvet, and Monteverde Sweet Life Iced Cookie (a touch too blue.)

Note: I swatched the next two inks as “Diamine x Galen Leather”, but it’s possible that it was a Turkey exclusive, as opposed to a Galen exclusive. Sorry, too lazy to re-swatch them 🙂

Diamine Anatolia is a rich, deep blue with gold and green-gold shimmers and a not-too over-the-top red/magenta sheen. I had to show the bottle because I love the bottle shape and label.

Inks similar to Diamine Anatolia include Van Dieman’s x Pen Chalet Liberty Blue (no shimmer), Colorverse Stars & Stripes Glistening, Diamine Inkvent 2021 Ruby Blues.

Diamine Zeugma has, according to Galen Leather’s website, red wine tones with a green sheen. I would say that the base color is more of an orange-leaning brown as opposed to red, but that might depend on paper too.

Inks similar to Diamine Zeugma include Vinta Pamana Heritage Brown (one of my favorite browns), Diamine Inkvent 2024 Sleigh Ride (base is more similar to the Vinta than Zeugma), and I put the closest red wine-colored ink that sorta matched the base, Kobe #27 Kounan Maroon, and that doesn’t look like it because of Zeugma’s sheen.

It’s still very sheeny at an angle, but you can almost see the reddish undertones of Zeugma in the bottom left section of the swatch.

Ink Institute x GourmetPens Ice Fog is an enigmatic chromashader because it can be grey, pink, purple, or all of the above, and occasionally, with hints of blue.

An angled closeup so you can see the various shades that Ice Fog has to offer.

I don’t have a lot of inks in this range, but here are some: Tono & Lims Cinderella (too pink), Van Dieman’s Dusk and Colorverse Winter of Mudeung (both of which are too purple, and not enough chromashading).

Wearingeul A Kidnapped Santa Claus deserves dedicated pics for the best ink costume!! The ink comes in this red bag that says “Santa (kidnapped)”.

Santa is printed on the box with actual rope tying him up!

The Santa hat atop the bottle is just chef’s kiss! As one would expect, A Kidnapped Santa Claus is a red ink!

Inks similar to A Kidnapped Santa Claus include Diamine Inkvent 2023 Tinsel (a touch too pink), Robert Oster Red Candy (a touch too dark), and Colorverse 2023 Golden Gate Bridge (a very close match!).

Ferris Wheel Press Aurorealis is a dark blue purple (as opposed to a red purple) with a pink/magenta shimmer.

Inks similar to Aurorealis include Scribo Notturno Viola (no shimmer and a touch too red), DeAtramentis Black Currant (no shimmer and also too red, but more similar IRL), and Diamine Inkvent 2023 Raise a Glass (a bit too dark but similar with different shimmer and sheen).

Esterbrook x TheCoffeeMonsterzCo Forgotten Iced Coffee is a light dusty brown shading ink that is showing up a touch on the yellow side in pictures.

Inks similar to Forgotten Iced Coffee include Colorverse Chesapeake Bay (too light and grey), Sailor x Cult Pens Suiseki (too brown), and Wearingeul The Nightingale and the Rose (this has shimmer and is a bit too yellow in pics but more similar IRL.)

I wasn’t planning on inking any pens up with these inks, but after swatching them, I changed my mind - can you guess what I picked?

I just couldn’t get over the Sailor 2026 Pen Show exclusive ink! I’m not really a pink person, but the dusty pink with a hint of green and brown were just too cool to wait for an inking! The Ink Institute x GourmetPens Ice Fog was another “what the heck is this color” ink that I had to DM Azizah about because I couldn’t figure out what color it was or was supposed to be! She reassured me that my bottle was fine and my eyes aren’t going bad - it can be so many colors depending on paper and nib!

Sailor 2026 Pen Show Exclusive with the Otto Hutt 06 in Seashell Pink with a Medium steel nib, and Ink Institute x GourmetPens Ice Fog with the Montegrappa Fortuna Marshmallow with a Medium steel nib (y’all know that Medium is my fave nib size, right?)

Well, after all that, I’m still very much at 66%, but let’s be real, swatching 10 ink isn’t gonna move the needle much, but it’s a start! And after seeing all these fun colors, I’m excited to be back on this swatch wagon!

(Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me at regular price (or with the occasional store discount code.)

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Octopus Fluids Sheening Ink - Violet Medusa Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Bluesky. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

With a name like Octopus Fluids Violet Medusa, how could I resist giving this a try? Sheen is such an exciting ink feature. It's character and personality without the high-maintenance of shimmer. And the sheen in this ink is bold enough to punch you in the face with all eight tentacles.

The ink comes in a lovely glass bottle with a wide base and wide mouth, so it's easy to fill your pen without worrying about the bottle tipping. The label shows the color and has a fantastic illustration of Medusa on it.

The base color of the ink is a vivid, saturated violet. The sheen, which shows up quite well in regular writing and is downright aggressive in places where the ink pools, is acid green. It calls to mind the venom in Medusa's snakes' fangs. Chromatography shows its true violet roots, with no hint of how it magically transforms into a metallic bright green. Alchemy, I guess.

Chromatography does show a water-resistant grey line, which also is confirmed in the water drip test, where some faint lines are still visible after water is wiped away or left to sit. You might be able to save some of your notes after a tea spill with this ink.

The ink has a fairly slow dry time. It takes nearly a full minute before a line fully stops smearing. I suspect that's because it's during that dry time that the sheen magic develops.

The ink is very fun to write with. It flows well and has great attitude. The bottle is 30ml and costs $21.50 at Vanness Pen Shop, which is an average price for ink, though I would not call this an average ink. It's the first time I've tried Octopus Fluids ink, but they have a number of equally tantalizing sheening inks that I'd now like to try. This ink is perfect for artists as well as writers. It would look fantastic in paintings and illustrations. It will be adding a beautiful, venomous bling to my journal pages for months to come.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Pelikan Edelstein Pyrite Ink Review

When you think about shimmer inks, which brands come to mind? Jacques Herbin makes two of my favorites, Emerald of Chivor and Shogun. Diamine has a few classic mixes, as does Robert Oster. More recently, Colorverse has stepped up their game of quality, usable shimmer inks.

What about Pelikan, especially in their premium Edelstein lineup? Shimmer was an afterthought for them until 2024’s Golden Lapis release (Note: Oops! Golden Beryl came out in 2021 and was erased from my memory. It seems they have a type!) It was a good release, but didn’t change much for the brand in the shimmer game. Did it need to? I’d argue no, as we are not spoiled for choice as it relates to the shiny stuff.

Pelikan was not content to see the shimmer game pass them by, so for their 2026 Edelstein release, they asked and important question to themselves: “Would you like some shimmer in your shimmer ink?”

The answer was yes, and Pelikan Edelstein Pyrite was born.

When I first saw Pelikan’s Instagram post announcing this ink, my jaw dropped. Not because the color was wild and/or interesting, but because it looked like liquid Gold, and possibly 100% shimmer. Ok, maybe 99% shimmer and 1% water to get it to flow. Turns out, I wasn’t far off.

Pyrite is an intense shimmer ink, so my head immediately went to thinking if this would actually be usable in a pen. In general, I don’t worry if that is the case with most shimmer inks. As long as I use a pen with good ink flow, and can be easily cleaned, I’ll load up shimmer in anything and not have many concerns. Most brands deliver an ink that is writeable, and remains writeable throughout a fill of your ink chamber of choice.

A few swatches on different papers, featuring three drops of ink spread by the Kakimori Glass Spoon. Left to Right: Col-o-ring, Sanzen TR 52gsm, Canopus, Iroful.

To test Pyrite, I grabbed a pen that has seen several shimmer inks in its lifetime, the Pen Addict x Benu Euphoria, fit with a Fine Schmidt nib. Most recently, this pen has been my Fire on Fire on Fire pen (shoutout twice to the Pen Addict Shop!) and it has never blinked no matter how long I had it inked, or how many days between uses. I’m not getting that kind of performance with Pyrite.

I inked it last week, wrote a bit, and enjoyed it. It sat for a couple of days, and then I picked it up to write the review on Saturday, and it started up immediately. I scribbled a bit on a scratch page to be sure, and got to writing. I only made it a few lines before the flow was noticeably lighter, and shortly thereafter, completely dry.

Not good enough to write with, at least in my setup. It stopped quickly during my first attempt, but you can see when I started my second attempt how wet it was after sitting for a day. Still, there was only so much writing it would do.

On appearances alone, I’m not surprised with this behavior from Pyrite. I sat the pen back down, came back about 20 hours later, and opened the cap and started writing, with no priming this time. The ink had fully repopulated the feed, and I was able to write twice as long before it stopped once again.

Visually speaking, I didn’t see any reason for the ink flow to get blocked.

What causes this? I could absolutely test with a wider nib, bigger feed, different filling system (piston or eyedropper,) and have a better experience. Maybe. For a converter pen like this, I thought the flow might be getting clogged where the converter attaches to feed, but when I inspected that area, it looked fine. I chose this pen because I had good shimmer experiences with it before, but Pyrite was too much for it to handle, it appears. In comparison, I used a Fine Jowo #6 with the heavy shimmer of Monarca Rey Jaguar, and ran into no flow issues.

No gunk, no funk. Just no flow.

Pelikan Edelstein Pyrite is going to be a superstar Instagram ink, but I’m not sure writing with it is going to why anyone would choose it. It’s gorgeous in swatches, with dip pens, and as a creative medium. For writing, I’d choose a different shimmer ink.

Pyrite sells for $35, and is this year’s Pelikan Edelstein Ink of the Year. That means it will be around for a while, but not forever. I’d recommended it for the uses I mentioned above, and maybe in a Pelikan M1000 fountain pen. That’s the content I want to see from Pelikan next!

(This product was purchased from Dromgoole’s at regular price.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!