We back! (From vacation)

Well that was a whirlwind of a week off, but I’m back in the saddle today and catching up on all the things.

June is lining up to be a busy one, with a new collaboration product release, a pen show at the end of the month, and all of the reviews, podcasts, and streams you can handle.

This week’s schedule:

As always, if there is anything you want to share, or want me to cover, drop a comment below and I’ll do my best.

Let’s have a month!

Posted on June 1, 2026 by Brad Dowdy and filed under General.

Misfill, 500 Pens Edition

Each week in Refill, the Pen Addict Members newsletter, I publish Ink Links as part of the additional content you receive for being a member. And each week, after 10 to 15 links, plus my added commentary on each, I'm left with many great items I want to share. Enter Misfill. Here are this weeks links:

Read:

— “Be Here Now”—A Commencement Speech Featuring 500 Pens (From the Pen Cup)

— Keith Haring’s Ordinary, Extraordinary To-Do Lists (Curbed)

— Los Campesinos!’ 20-year archive of silly band T-shirt designs is a sweaty journey through indie rock aesthetics (It’s Nice That)

— End of an Era: Iconic Shibuya Hands to Close After 48 Years (Spoon & Tamago)

— Japan Trip Journal: A Visit to Kakimori, Including Custom Notebooks and the InkStand! (The Gentleman Stationer)

— Paper Review: UglyPads (Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)

— Pen Porn: Den’s Pens Baetylus “Twister” (Rachel’s Reflections)

— Baran's Pens Sleeve (UK Fountain Pens)

— Read on Expiration? (Dime Novel Raven)

— Make all your pens glow in the dark with one neat trick (Extra Fine Writing)

— Retro writing 17 – reMarkable 2 (Mateusz Urbanowicz)

— New New Pen: Black Robin Pens Puck in Copper Collision (Cheryl Lindo Jones)

— From My Submarine Yellow Notebook (Take Note)

— Inky Pursuits: May 2026. (Fountain pen blog)

— Grand Sumo May 2026 Tournament day 1 to 3 (Inkcredible Colours)

— Plotter: getting to where I ordered one (Stationery🍕)

— Logical Prime A6 Slim 2.5mm Grid Notebook (Notebook Stories)

Watch:

— journaling essentials ⊹ a beginner's guide (nookends)

— Michael Schur & Joe Posnanski - Big Fan! (Figboot on Pens)

— I Bought Every Blackwing Pencil So You Don't Have To (DWRDNET)

— I guess I should show you one of my favorite inks... : Sailor Manyo Shirakashi! (Inkdependence)

— Testing Tom’s Studio ORI Refillable Highlighters (From Carola)

Want to catch the rest, plus extra articles, reviews, commentary, discounts, and more? Try out a Pen Addict Membership for only $5 per month!

Posted on May 31, 2026 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Misfill.

9 Years in the Rabbit Hole

(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 noticed this week that my penversary was coming up this weekend! What’s a penversary you ask? Basically, it’s like an anniversary but for when you got into pens. I used to agonize over what I would pick for this occasion but with all the shops and shows that I get to attend as well as all the ongoing sales and deals, I’m practically shopping year-round anyway. So rather than figuring out the 9th penversary pen, I wanted go back to where it started.

So, what were those first fountain pens? Yes, plural, because I couldn’t decide which ones to get, so I ordered a Lamy Safari and Pilot Metropolitan from one vendor and a 7-pack of Platinum Preppies from Amazon ‘cuz I couldn’t pick a color, lol. They all arrived on the same day, May 31, 2017! Oof, that sounds like a long time ago! I did my last triathlon earlier that month and haven’t done one since – coincidence? I think not! 😃

The OG pens that started all this madness: Lamy Safari (top), Pilot Metropolitan and (one of seven) Platinum Preppies.

I will always think fondly of these 3 pens, even if I don’t use them as much as others. I keep saying I should ink these pens up again, so no time like the present!

Even though I really like the Lamy Blue cartridges that come with my Lamy pens, I opted to go for something with a bit more pop for this Blue Safari. One of my favorite bright royal blues is Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet. I can’t think of a more perfect ink for a penversary inking! (It’s not as bright as usual since the Safari tends to run a bit on the dry side.) Paper is Ayush.

Lamy Safari, Blue, Medium, inked with Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet.

While I was at it, I decided to ink up a nicer Lamy, the Studio in Palladium, with a fine 14kt gold nib. While this wasn’t my first Studio (which was the Imperial Blue with a steel nib), the 14kt gold nib is such a great upgrade from the steel nibs and feels nothing like the L2K’s gold nib. This nib is a smooth, wet, and buttery writer with just a hint of bounce and will lay down a broader line than the steel nibs.

Lamy Studio, Palladium, 14kt gold Fine, inked with Colorverse Chesapeake Bay.

I’ve mentioned that I use my Black Pilot Metropolitan almost daily in my bullet journal but it’s been a really long time since I inked up the Turquoise Metro, so I had fun picking an ink for it. I opted for Montegrappa Turquoise, which sounds very bougie but it wasn’t very expensive (I think it was $20/bottle).

Pilot Metropolitan, Retro Pop Turquoise, Medium, inked with Montegrappa Turquoise.

While I was getting the Metro out of the pen binder, I realized I also hadn’t inked up my first Prera in ages, so I swapped in a ==CM== nib (Calligraphy Medium, more of an italic than a stub) and found a great ink match with Inkdepence Mike’s Don’t Trust a Bivalve!

Pilot Prera, Slate Gray, Calligraphy Medium, inked with Inkdependence Don’t Trust a Bivalve (a great match, if I do say so myself!)

I have sold most of the Preppies from the original 7-pen set, but I did keep this one cuz it’s purple (one of my favorite colors)! Apparently, it’s been sitting in my drawer, with the Platinum Violet ink cartridge in it for YEARS because I totally forgot about it. Oops! I added a drop of water to the tip of the nib and it wrote right up! Guess I don’t have to ink it up since there’s already a cartridge in it!

Platinum Preppy, Violet, 03 (EF), inked with Platinum Violet cartridge.

I was in the mood to ink up another Platinum so I picked the Kanazawa Maki-e Goldfish. I was/am unlikely to ever own a real maki-e pen, this is the closest I would ever get. The artwork is screen-printed (instead of hand-painted) onto the pen, which is why it’s much more affordable. The 18kt gold nib is lovely to write with, slightly springy compared to its 3776 sibling.

Platinum Kanazawa Maki-e Goldfish, 18kt gold Medium, inked with Iroshizuku Kosumosu.

Inking up these pens that got me into this rabbit hole has given me a renewed sense of discovery. It’s a great reminder that pens don’t have to be expensive to be enjoyable. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m done buying pens, but I’m so glad that I still get so much out of these pens. What a great way to celebrate my 9th penversary! Can’t wait to see what the next 9 years will bring! Happy writing!

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Posted on May 29, 2026 by Kimberly Lau and filed under Fountain Pens.