Krishna inks were previously overly expensive to ship from India but are now much cheaper. If ordering from The Pen World in India then a large order is still recommended to get the most out of shipping but after having made a second order just recently the total price of the order has now dropped to what shipping was alone in the first order so there has been a huge improvement. In good news though Krishna inks are now available, in addition to iZods in the UK, at Pen Chalet and Vanness in the US so it should be a lot easier to try out a bottle without committing to several now. Krishna Sakthy is from the RC series of inks which is are all designed to be sheeny (or "sheentastic") and are made in limited batches.
Read MoreInk Review: Pent Ebizome
The Pent inks from the Pen-house store in Japan have been out since the last half of 2017 but they recently expanded their retail presence into the US via Vanness Pens so I thought now would be a good time to show off some one of their inks. The inks are, of course, made by Sailor for the Pen-house store. There are eight total inks with two for each seasoning the year: Himekeshi (a pink, and Aomidori (a teal) for Spring; Gensoukai (a blue), and Matsukaze (a dark green) for Summer; Shukei (an orange), and this Ebizome for Autumn; and Jakujoya (a blue black), Yukizukiyo (a light blue), and Sakura (a pink) for Winter. Pen-house recently released eight new inks from the series in the new square 50ml bottles.
Read MoreInk Review: Colorverse Quasar
Colorverse inks are new to the scene inks from late 2017 and early signs were pretty interesting so I took the plunge and bought three of the inks. I was told by Colorverse (who were very helpful!) that the Season 2 "Astrophysics" inks were the sheenier inks so I naturally gravitated towards them. Quasar is indeed from this second season of inks (Season one was "Spaceward" and the latest, Season 3, is "Multiverse"). I went in with high hopes for these inks and I have been blown away. Granted, I've only inked two different bottles but I'm loving them.
Read MoreInk Review: Krishna Brown Pink
I've wanted to try Krishna inks for quite a while but their shipping prices have, in the past, been very prohibitive. I decided to take the plunge and bought 12 inks from The Pen World and I'm glad I did! Fortunately Krishna have found a way to ship the inks international much, much cheaper than in the past. They still aren't cheap but it's a lot better and the inks themselves are very aggressively priced at between US$2.80 and US$4.30 a bottle. The bottles themselves are small at 20ml bottles but the inks inside them really pack a punch and are certainly very unique.
Read MoreState of the Union 2017: Fountain Pen Ink
The last few years really have been a renaissance for Fountain Pens and this year is no different. Lots of expansions and additions to lineups and several standout inks. Iโm going to be talking about how various brands have performed this year and what I hope for next year. This will be, of course, focused on inks and not pens. I try to keep my posts as objective as possible but this one will probably have a bit more subjectivity than usual.
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