Pen: Pilot Petit 1
Ink: Private Reserve Naples Blue
Paper: Muji Plantation Notebook
Coffee: Starbucks Verona brewed via Aeropress
One year ago – on a whim – I tossed a Pilot Petit 1 fountain pen into an order of pen I refills. I had been leery of fountain pens. They seemed expensive and messy, and I knew nothing about them. But the Petit 1 only cost $3 – the perfect price for an impulse buy.
So I bought my first fountain pen – and loved it.

Pilot Petit1 – My first fountain pen, 1 year later
The Petit 1 is cute, inexpensive, not messy or hard to use, and – most important – writes well. I was smitten. I loved my Petit 1 and quickly began to wonder what else I was missing. I fell headlong into the fountain pen hole.
I had a lot to learn about fountain pens and I dove in. Of course, my fascination with pens soon turned toward ink. My growing collection of pens wouldn’t work without ink.
I found the options for ink to be even more confusing than pens: waterproof, water resistance, pigmented, permanent, lubricated, freeze resistant, fast drying, fluorescent. Some inks are some combination of these qualities; other inks are none of them.
How is a newbie to figure this out?
Ron at Pen Chalet has put together a helpful infographic that groups fountain pen inks by key qualities. Check it out.

Infographic by Pen Chalet
I wish I had this infographic a year ago. I’m glad to have it now.
Analog Blog
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