Personal stationery surprises - 2023

Stationery things that I did not expect to end up liking so much.

In no particular order.

• TWSBI ECOs. The first ECO I bought was the Indigo Blue Bronze, because I like the colors. But I wasn’t sure what I was going to use it for. Then I got a clear ECO, to try out permanent ink samples with. And then, I found permanent inks I liked … So I got more ECOs. I especially like that the ECOs don’t dry out so quickly. I can leave one inked for months, pick it up, and it will still write.
• Octopus Fluids Write and Draw inks. Accidentally smearing words I’ve written with fountain pen ink bothers me, but the colors of permanent inks weren’t interesting enough for me to switch over. After The Pen Addict reviewed Octopus Fluid’s Write and Draw Petrol Buffalo, I bought some samples from Vanness. Paired with TWSBI ECOs for memory keeping writing that I don’t need to worry about smearing away.
• Uni Jetstream SXR refills. I bought some Tombow Mono Graph Lite pens after Bushimen recommended them. One was blue, but came with black ink and the blue ink refills were sold out on JetPens. So I bought a Uni Jetstream SXR-38 blue refill for it instead and now I want this refill in all the pens. I like the way my handwriting looks with it. And the refill tip looks nice in the pen barrel.