The Choirmaster’s Pursuits

Tag: #hobonichi

  • 15 June 2024 – Van Dieman’s Painted Desert

    If yesterday’s Ocotillo as green with red shading, today is red with green shading. These “dual shaders” have come on the scene in the last couple of years, and these two inks pair perfecto with each other to celebrate Pen Chalet’s “Decade in the Desert”. Enjoy!

  • 14 June 2024 – Van Dieman’s Ocotillo

    Man, this is an awesome color. So much going on. Is it red? Is it green? Red with green shading, or green with red shading? And is there some golden hues coming through as well? This is an alluring desert cactus ink right here.

  • 13 June 2024 – Van Dieman’s Liberty Blue

    This ink and the couple that follow are collaborations with the online retailer Pen Chalet to celebrate their 10th anniversary. These “Decade in the Desert” inks are each delightful.

  • 12 June 2024 – TWSBI Forest Green

    TWSBI makes pens. They also happen to make inks, but I’m not sure folks looking for awesome ink experiences gravitate to TWSBI. Nonetheless, adage holds: if a company that makes pens makes inks, the inks will work well in pens. This is no exception, and it’s one of the first bottles of ink I ever…

  • 11 June 2024 – Sheaffer Inferno

    A very old company, Sheaffer. They’ve been making pens and ink for 111 years. Here’s their version of Inferno. If you tell me I have to pick one book besides Scripture to have on a deserted island, it’s Dante’s La Divina Commedia.

  • 10 June 2024 – Sailor 2023 Pen Snow Exclusive

    Sailor has some odd naming conventions. They have an entire line where the ink names are three digit numbers. And there basically is no name for this ink; it’s the one that was available at 2023 pen shows in limited quantity,. It’s a pleasant enough pinkish-orange, and for the only Sailor ink I own, I…

  • 9 June 2024 – Rohrer & Klingner Smaragdgrün

    Say that five times fast. It’s Viridian Green.

  • 8 June 2024 – Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris

    Verdigris is the patina that develops on copper and other surfaces. I’ll let you judge for yourself how well you think today’s ink takes you there,

  • 7 June 2024 – Rohrer & Klingner Solferino

    Like Iroshizuku Tsutsuji, this ink demands attention and urges you to consider smiling in its presence. A bright, super saturated pink-purple, it’s a color you should fill your pen with to spend letter writing on a rainy day.

  • 6 June 2024 – Rohrer & Klingner Sepia

    The name of the color itself evokes nostalgia. Perhaps sepia can be used in very modern applications, but there’s no way to describe something using the word without implying “old”. It makes me think of Civil War tintypes and old family photo albums. And the ink doesn’t disappoint in those evocations.