The ink’s only been in the pen a few hours, but I can already tell this relationship isn’t going to last.

One of the fun parts of having a fountain pen addiction is that you get to develop, on the side, an ink habit. (Which is totally not an addiction.)

Thanks to Massdrop (note: that link requires free registration; if you register and make a subsequent purchase, you help this site produce more blather) and occasional sales here and there, I’ve managed to acquire a decent supply of ink. The trouble is, with fountain pens, changing ink is a hobby by itself.

With a ballpoint pens–in their various paste, gel ink, roller ball forms–changing inks involves a little twisting, a little inserting, and a little more twisting. If you don’t like an ink, you repeat the process and get something you like with little trouble. You then throw away the refill you don’t like.

With fountain pens changing inks involves twisting, disassembling, rinsing, flushing, draining, soap and ammonia, soaking and a long period of drying. Then you get to load the ink and start using it. If you want to use a new ink tomorrow, you have to start preparing today. If you don’t like an ink, you have to dump it out (probably wasting what’s in the pen) and then you’re stuck with a bottle that would last a long time under normal use but seems to precious to just dump out and throw away.

The more inks you have, and the more you want to try them, the more you have to go through this process.

I personally haven’t gone as deeply down the ink rabbit hole as others because, luckily, I’m fairly picky about how I want my pens to work. I want the ink to go down smoothly and evenly and to dry quickly. If an ink doesn’t feel right, I might try it in another pen and then abandon it. it’s a bit like when TV shows keep the same character but change actors. Yeah, everything is still the same, but something is not quite right.

Today and yesterday, though, as part of a plan to use things or “loose” them, I cleaned several pens and filled them with inks I’ve acquired and have been meaning to try. I kept six of them the same because I either like the ink/pen combinations too much to mess with right now or they were recently changed or I don’t have a suitable replacement.

My current pen and ink load out. Some have changed, some have not.

Most of the inks and pens work together well, but one pairing doesn’t seem to be working out. The Diamine Amber and the Nexus Aluminum don’t seem to be playing nicely together. The Amber looks great once it dries but it feels dry as I write. I have a feeling this relationship isn’t going to last and Amber will be moving on to someone else.

The trouble is, that means I have to clean two pens, so maybe I’ll see if I can keep this couple together for a while.