Journals, planners, and more

I love fountain pen ink. I do! I love that it comes in a literal rainbow of colors, with glitter and sheen and all that fun stuff. But it's so goddamn fussy. Sometimes I miss the days of innocence, when I thought fountain pen ink came in cartridges of blue and black except for some pre-filled, disposable Pilots that had purple and a few other colors (but, you know, purple).

Today, on the other hand, today, I was getting ready to refill my Pilot Decimo (clicky fountain pens, a dangerous habit to get into) and - okay, look, I have a dedicated syringe because otherwise I get a teardrop's worth of ink, because I cry more tears than I actually get ink into that pen, those converters hold nothing. Nothing. (I lie. They hold a little bit. But never enough. Also I don't cry. But you know. Ink problems.)

And then. Then. I went to unscrew the cap of my dedicated ink - Iroshizuku Asa-Gao - and it was stuck shut.

It was an all-new, all-terrible, 100% awful problem that I've encountered before with baking. Vanilla and molasses stick shut all the time. I can cascade a bunch of near-scalding water down those jars and unstick them, but can you imagine doing that in my bathroom sink with a jar filled with dark blue ink? Can you imagine the mess?

I did finally unstick it after a lot of hard (but careful!) twisting, because could you also imagine if I'd spilled? This isn't a cheap ink! I mean, we're not talking like J. Herbin or Montblanc level ink (omg), but it's not like a TWSBI bottle either. (TWSBI is good stuff. I'm not knocking it. I love my TWSBI everything. It's just way less expensive.)

Cartridges are so much easier, but then I'd have so many less pens that take the pretty ink and the bottles are so much more flexible.

Yes! My pen is now filled with Asa-Gao and writing beautifully once again. All that lovely dark blue ink waiting to be used up.

This is also your invitation to tell me all about your fountain pen inks. Woes. Triumphs. Favorites. Anything and everything you'd like. Paper you like to use it on - if you really must relate it back to journals and planners - but I'm not honestly sure that you need to. But if you want to!