My ideal pen is large with a good amount of girth and medium weight, has a gold nib with a line between .7-.8mm, and has an integral filling system (lever fillers, piston fillers, vacuum fillers, and various others like snorkels and touchdown fillers).
I am slowly but surely rearranging my accumulation to conform to the above preferences.
My Pens:
Conklin Mark Twain Crescent, Steel Medium
Edison Glenmont, .8mm Stub and Medium
Esterbrook J 9556, 9284, 2668, 9461
Lamy Al-Star, Steel Fine
Lamy Studio (LE Violet), 14k Medium and Steel Fine
Lamy Vista, Steel Fine
Levenger Plumpster, Fine
Pilot Custom 823 (smoke), 14k Broad
Pilot Custom 823 (amber), 14k Medium
Pilot Prera, Fine
Pilot Vanishing Point, 18k Medium
Sheaffer’s Admiral, 14k Medium
Sheaffer’s Desk Pen, 14k Medium
Sheaffer’s OS Flat-Top, 14k Fine medium
Sheaffer’s Balance, 14k Fine
Stipula Vedo, .5mm Stub
Twsbi Diamond 530, Medium
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I love inks. If you take a look at my blog it is made up of mostly ink reviews. My three favorite ink color categories are blue, blue-green, and purple. The vast majority of my inks fall into these category.
When I first started with this FP addiction I was purchasing inks at an alarming rate. I have since slowed way way down. My current ink philosophy is to purchase inks that I am absolutely sure I want and will use frequently. No more impulse ink purchases (at least that’s what I tell myself).
My Inks:
Cross: Black (same as Pelikan Brilliant Black)
Diamine: Umber, Steel Blue, Damson, Monaco Red, Prussian Blue, Amazing Amethyst, Marine, Oxblood, Red Dragon, Evergreen, Green/Black, Asa Blue, Twilight, Syrah, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Sepia, Golden Brown, Saddle Brown, Rustic Brown, Chocolate Brown, Havasu Turquoise, Turquoise, Mediterranean Blue, Imperial Purple, Violet, Sapphire, Midnight, Majestic Blue, Delamere Green, Amaranth, Ruby, Registrar’s Blue
Iroshizuku: Ku-Jaku, Kon-Peki
J. Herbin: Éclat de Saphir, Poussière de Lune x2, Cacao du Bresil, 1670 Rouge Hematite, Rouge Caroubier, Café des Iles, Rouge Fushia, Rouge Opera, Larme de Cassis
Levenger: Cobalt Blue, Pinkly, True Teal, Empyrean
Mont Blanc: Violet x2, Toffee Brown
Noodlers: Polar Blue, Fox Red, Turquoise, Bad Blue Heron, #41 Brown, North African Violet, Eel Blue, Dragon’s Napalm, Navy, La Reine Mauve, Hunter Green, Dark Purple (Swisher), Black Swan in Australian Roses, FPN Starry Night
Parker: Penman Ruby
Pelikan: Brilliant Red
Pilot: Blue
Private Reserve: Arabian Rose, Orange Crush, Ebony Purple, Burgundy Mist, DC Supershow Blue, DC Super Violet
Rohrer & Klingner: Sepia, Salix, Scaboisa, Magenta, Alt-Bordeaux
Sheaffer’s: Vintage Skrip Washable Blue
Thistle: Blue-Black (mixed from vintage powder)
Visconti: Bordeaux, Blue
and 100+ ink samples
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Mostly, these are pens that are out of my reach financially, but one can still dream. Right?
My Wish List:
Aurora Optima
Delta Dolce Vita Piston
Edison Morgan
Mont Blanc 146
OMAS Paragon
Pelikan Niagra Falls, M805, M1000
Sailor 1911 Realo, Professional Gear
Sheaffer’s OS Balance
Visconti Divina, Opera Master
The Dizzy Pen 
Hi Dizzy Pen
I like your stuff – it is nice and informative. One remark though: Many ink reviews overlook the issue of durability or light resistance of an ink. People want what they put on paper to stay there. I alsop started bying inks from different brands to get a variety of nice colors, sometimes being seduced by nice ink reviews. Then I learned that most of these inks fade – see the fading ink test at FPN. That was a nasty surprise. Only the quality noodler inks – and most black inks – seem to be reliable. Thus I changed my ink collection to almost exclusively noodlers (however: one must be ware that the baystate inks can cause problems in some pens).
I would really like to have more knowledge about what inks can be trusted – until that I have to stick to the great Noodlers.
Thank you for your comment.
Like most ink reviewers, I write my reviews according to my personal needs for any given ink. My reviews are as much for my own information as they are for others.
Fading is not a concern for me. I use Noodler’s bulletproof inks for writing that needs to be 100% durable. For everything else, color rules the day.
I always suggest that people check multiple reviews for information on a given ink. If you can’t find what is important to you, I’d encourage you to run your own tests and post the results online. The more data points the better.
Again, thanks for your comment and thanks for reading my blog. Take care.
DP
found your blog on aol and was just what i was looking for, keep it up 🙂
Thank you for your page. I find it vety useful.
I’m glad to see we have in common a lot of inks (the Diamine inks in particular). That’s why I’m surprised not to find J. Herbin Lie de The, one of my favourites (but also the Diamine Sepia). I like the colour very much and the shading is really amazing. Have you ever tried it?
Thanks again. Take care.
I have tried Lie de The and Sepia, I am not a fan of yellowish or greenish brown inks. Glad to know we have other ink loves in common though. 🙂
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