My (Incomplete) Year in Fountain Pens and Inks: Journaling
Seeing people's recap posts for 2024, I realize I haven't been good about looking back at my year like that, finding highlights (and lowlights) to note and think on as we move into the next year. I'm still not great at it, considering today's post on the literal last day of the year will be my first rumination on the matter, despite many things I could've written about (and may still in the next couple days) in the past couple weeks. Regardless! I have some interesting data on my fountain pen usage this year.
I used a Hobonichi HON planner, which has a one-page-a-day section in the back that I used for journaling. I thought this might not be enough space, having moved from a date-free Hobonichi notebook, but apparently it was often enough space, or maybe I adjusted what I wrote about to fit one page. A few times I used tip-ins for an additional page of writing.
On each page, I wrote what pen, nib, and ink I used, even though I had a "currently inked" page at the beginning of each month. Sometimes I changed up pens or inks and may have forgotten to update it on the currently inked page, so it was helpful to note the pen-ink combo on the day itself.
I typed all that into a Google Sheet a day or so ago and decided to slice and dice the data. Keep in mind, this didn't take into account which pens and inks I used in the weekly planner section since I didn't note that information (perhaps a good thing to consider for the next planner), or any writing I did outside of the HON (not too much, but it would've been good to add it; I left all that out to keep things simple).
The Stats
I'm pleasantly surprised to note that there were only 15 days where I didn't write anything in my journal. I did go back and fill in some days after the fact, but that still counts! Considering what trouble I had keeping up with a journal many years ago, I'm glad to have a more consistent practice in the recent years since I got into collecting fountain pens.
I apparently used 132 different inks in my journal over the course of the year, many of which I know were ink samples. The linked spreadsheet also has a list of inks I used each month, how many times each ink was used, and top 10 inks and brands which I go over below.
I used 48 different pens, but some I have multiples of with different nibs, like the BENU Euphoria. I have 3 of those with different nibs. The linked sheet also goes into the pen-nib combinations used, how many times, and the top 10 pen-nib combos as listed below.
My top 10 pens according to frequency of use in my journal:
From left to right,
- Radius Prisma, Elastic F
- Lamy Lx, Cursive
- Pilot Capless Fermo, Sallymander Stacked Architect
- Skogsy Pens Cholla, Monty Winnfield Utility
- Namisu Nova Pocket, Ti M
- Jinhao 9019, M
- BENU Euphoria, F Stub
- Waterman Carène, F
- Pilot Elite, SF
- Lamy Safari, M
I'm actually surprised by the Radius Prisma being the most used. I would've thought my BENU Euphoria with the F stub, Pilot Capless Fermo, or Jinhao 9019 with M nib would be one of the top pens, since it felt like I picked those up the most. I might've used those pens more on the weekly pages, but again, I don't have tracking data for that. I think I ended up using the Radius Prisma a lot because I found several inks that I really liked in it. The elastic F nib has a bit of a squarish tip which makes for more interesting lines, and the feed seems to handle shimmer inks pretty well, so I liked using it with different inks. Don't discount how much a good ink pairing can make you feel about using a pen!
As for my top 10 inks:
Top row, left to right
- Sailor Shikiori Rikyucha
- Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun
- Troublemaker Kelp Tea
- Colorverse Coffee Break
- Dominant Industry Lungo
Bottom row, left to right
- Herbin Vert de Gris
- Sailor Yurameku Date Gokoro
- Diamine Celadon Cat
- Sailor Yurameku Kitsune Biyori
- Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo
I knew browns and greens would represent, since I'd become obsessed with them for the last several months. 😅 I am a little surprised that Kelp Tea and Coffee Break aren't higher. Coffee Break has been in my TWSBI ECO since June, IIRC, and I have filled several pens with Kelp Tea over the year. Tsuki-Yo is also a bit of a surprise because even though I really like the color, for some reason I didn't feel compelled to use the pens I inked with it. I need to try out Tsuki-Yo in other pens. Maybe putting it into the Radius Prisma will make a good combo, since it has done that for other inks? 🙂 I'm not surprised about Rikyucha. I love that ink and how it looks in different nibs.
Right now I'm in the mood for these calm pastels that are somewhat odd shades, like Sailor Manyo Uri and Aka-Mai, Sailor Yurameku Kitsune Biyori, Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun and Kiri-Same, Birmingham Pen Company Saltmarsh and Ploughman's Pebble, Herbin Cacao du Brésil, Diamine Inkvent Wishing Well and Tundra and Troublemaker Rodeo. But since a lot of these are more recent acquisitions, they don't show up much in the current data yet.
There are probably many other ways I can package and visualize this data. I may play around with that and post any updates if I find additional trends. But just seeing the basic stats I was able to get from this tracking, it makes me want to track more, so I'll have even more to analyze next year. 😀
Oh, I also have a database of my ink and pen purchases for the year (and am filling in info from previous years). It's...illuminating. 😆😅 I may or may not share tidbits from that. I'll see!
If you have any recommendations on what data I should track, or any comments on the data I gathered this year, let me know! Have you been tracking your pen and ink usage? Let's nerd out on the data here, on Mastodon, or on Bluesky. And happy new year! I wish you all awesome pens, inks, and stationery in the coming year. 🥳
