Dr. Terri<p><strong>April 2025 ink palette & journal supplies</strong></p><p>Let’s try getting this posted before the end of the month this time! Here’s what I’m using for journal/calendar stuff this month, with some mini reviews of the supplies I’ve used already.</p><p><strong>Notebook</strong></p><p>As I mentioned last month, I’m starting a new notebook for April even though my iroful one isn’t quite full, because I wasn’t loving the slower dry time for day to day journalling and decided to use the last pages for playing with new inks instead. The new notebook is a Clairefontaine Triomphe, which is blank inside. I used to prefer blank notebooks because I liked them better for doodling, but I’ve spent a few years using dot grid ones now so we’ll see how this goes. So far, the paper is nice and I like that I can use very differently sized pens and write in different sizes easily (in dot grid, my stub nib writing feels a bit cramped), and the dry times are short enough that I’m not constantly smearing my todo lists when I flip back and forth. I would like a slightly stiffer cover, but I’ve got a couple of pencil boards stuck in there the same way I did with the Iroful notebook, and it’s working well enough. I wish the Hobonichi one had a darker set of guide lines on it so I could use them (they’re too pale to show through this paper) but I can always print out my own guide lines if I decide I want them. For now I’m just letting my writing be what it is.</p><p><strong>Fountain Pens & Inks</strong></p><p>I impulse bought an “Ooly Writer’s Duo” set for US $13 from Powell’s when I was getting the new Seanen McGuire InCryptid book. These are fountain pens on one side and highlighters on the other. The fountain pen side uses a cartridge, I don’t think the highligher side is as easily refillable. I don’t know if they’re a standard size and I haven’t bothered to look it up since it’ll take me a few months to use each cartridge. I’m currently only using the pink/orange one since I don’t want to have too many cartridges open at once and I already have a few pens in rotation that have them. It’s approximately a fine nib, but thankfully not too scratchy. The fountain pen colour is less bright than the pen and the highlighter is more bright, but both are nice enough. Maybe I’ll remember to take more photos later, but so far I’d say they’re a nice deal for $13 and will likely find a niche as todo list or calendar pens, though I think they’re smooth enough that they’ll be ok for longer journal entries too if I want.</p><p>The other pen ink combos are repeats from last month:</p><ul><li>TWSBI Eco <medium> – Diamine Noble Fir (bright green with shimmer)</li><li>Nahvalur Original+ <stub> – Diamine Aurora Borealis (dark teal with red sheen)</li><li>Pilot E95S <medium> – Pilot Iroshizuku ama iro (sky blue)</li></ul><p>We’re a week in to the month and I’ve already had to pull the Nahvalur out of rotation for cleaning because it went from “occasional hard start” to “annoying to use” pretty quickly. I’ve replaced it with a new pen:</p><ul><li>Hongdian M1 <fine> – Jaques Herbin Violette Pensée</li></ul><p>This is my first time using this M1 and I don’t love it. It’s got a scratchy nib that feels like writing with a mechanical pencil, which isn’t great for me ergonomically so it makes my hand ache after a while. I’ll give it at least a few more tries but it may get pulled from the rotation before the end of the month too. The ink is lovely as always, though! </p><p><strong>Stickers</strong></p><p>All from stickii again! Flower party dogs, snail stamps, and cute little critter icons. The last one I’m using for calendar tracking. I need more sources of tiny stickers for that!</p><p><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://curiousity.ca/tag/fountainpens/" target="_blank">#FountainPens</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://curiousity.ca/tag/review/" target="_blank">#review</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://curiousity.ca/tag/stationery/" target="_blank">#stationery</a></p>