I’m trying really, really hard to keep to just five pens in rotation. I had six until afternoon but now I’m on target.

As of this morning I had two black inks on the go, which is unheard of for me. I very rarely use black. But I was giving both Aurora Black and Sailor Kiwa Guro a go, and both impressed me a great deal.

This afternoon: no blacks.

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Same pens, different inks.

I thought I’d give the Platinum 3776 Music nib a go with a different ink. I wanted something saturated that might show a bit of shading — the one thing I was missing in this nib so far. The Diamine Imperial Purple is a great fit for the nib, giving a big, bold dark purple line with just a bit of shading and a bit of sheen. It feels wetter than Kiwa Guro.

The Pelikan M205 has Diamine Autumn Oak, one of my most interesting inks. It does not go well with the Aquamarine colour of the barrel, but it’s a wet ink and suits the wet nib, making for a nice smooth writing experience. Not as much shading as I usually get out of this ink, though.

Third up is my ancient Namiki Vanishing Point with Diamine Claret. I bought this magenta/pink ink for my little daughter’s first fountain pen, but I was cataloguing my inks this weekend and thought I’d give it a spin. It’s neither my favourite type of colour nor my favourite pen, but hey, you’ve got to try something new every now and again. And who’d have thought I’d have abandoned Iroshizuku so far as to have three Diamine inks in my rotation at once?!

Fourthly, my trusty 912 FA with Ku Jaku. I’ve really grown to love this colour. It pops. So saturated, great shading, good match for the 912. A reminder of how good Iroshizuku inks are.

Finally, Lamy 2000 with Seitz-Kreuznach Cognac. I confess I bought this ink for its bottle and the fact that SK is a new manufacturer to me. I actually quite like the colour, but it runs really pale in the Lamy 2000 — perhaps it’s a bit dry. But instead of being a rich chestnut brown, it comes out more or less the same colour as Autumn Oak, only with very little shading. Disappointing and won’t get another ink in this pen.

I’m expecting a new pen tomorrow: a TWSBI Vac Mini. My willpower broke, I fancied a demonstrator, and I’ve been lusting after a vac filler. I’ll probably fill it with Iroshizuku Chiku-Rin, which I’m hoping is pale enough to look interesting and bright in the barrel. So expect a green ink in the rotation next time round!.