I'm A Sad, Pathetic Stationery Junkie.

[Mechanical]

While I am a sad and pathetic stationery junkie, I have been recently holding the line against new purchases.  For example:

 

I was following @USG's discussion of Bungubox First Love ink.  It's a nice blue color and comes in a dye and pigment version. Interesting!  And it has one of those nice "shoe" bottles.  But the price is up near $50 for a 30ml bottle.  Surely only a stationery/pen/ink/paper junkie would go for that.  So.  I ordered samples.  That way I can enjoy trying out a new ink... and it won't become yet another ink bottle on my shelf.  Virtuous!

 

I put a couple of 3ml samples in my cart, one for the "First Love" and another of the "4B" blue black ink that looked (very) appealing.  These are just samples, as small and light as a wisp of air.  So, I thought, no problem adding in samples of their "June Bride Something Blue" and their "Ruri Sea" colors.  They're just sample vials, so I also got the "Tears of Alice."  They had a choice of 3ml vs 5ml, and I felt the slightly larger size might be warranted, and WELL DESERVED.  

 

Once you get to a certain size, the postage doesn't change much if you add another item or so.  Patting myself on the back, I decided it would be nice to have one of those glass pens to use in trying out all these sample inks.  I got two. They weren't very expensive, about $24 each, one Teranishi Guitar Glass Pen and one J. Herbin glass pen.  Having two, I'd be able to do some sample writing, easily comparing these blue inks on the same page.  And you know, there are very attractive hand-made glass pens costing hundreds of dollars each.  So, still, I was doing quite well in holding the line.

 

At a mere $6, I thought nothing of ordering a small notebook, for ink testing purposes.  I was just about to double check my cart and submit this happy order when I noticed the (very) economical Platinum Desk fountain pen.  Just the kind of thing I might use with a pigment ink at my desk and... for only $13.  These things are so light, one of them would hardly move the needle on the package's total weight.  There, done! 

 

I was idly purusing some of the other Platinum pens, you know, just checking if prices were going up or if models were getting harder to get.  But the prices looked the same as I expected.  But... I did begin to wonder if maybe the prices would be going up, and I have never owned a Platinum Century 3776 one of the main-line consumer pens from a long standing manufacturer.  Well not like I was just going to jump on one of the Limited Editions or some urushi masterpiece.  Doggone it, I am holding the line, here.  So I got the cheapest 3776, something of an entry model at about $208.  It's a great price, don't you agree?

 

My face feels a bit red at this point, but note that I did hold back on that $50 bottle of ink.  So there!

[inkypete]

3 hours ago, Mechanical said:

While I am a sad and pathetic stationery junkie, I have been recently holding the line against new purchases.  For example:

 

I was following @USG's discussion of Bungubox First Love ink.  It's a nice blue color and comes in a dye and pigment version. Interesting!  And it has one of those nice "shoe" bottles.  But the price is up near $50 for a 30ml bottle.  Surely only a stationery/pen/ink/paper junkie would go for that.  So.  I ordered samples.  That way I can enjoy trying out a new ink... and it won't become yet another ink bottle on my shelf.  Virtuous!

 

I put a couple of 3ml samples in my cart, one for the "First Love" and another of the "4B" blue black ink that looked (very) appealing.  These are just samples, as small and light as a wisp of air.  So, I thought, no problem adding in samples of their "June Bride Something Blue" and their "Ruri Sea" colors.  They're just sample vials, so I also got the "Tears of Alice."  They had a choice of 3ml vs 5ml, and I felt the slightly larger size might be warranted, and WELL DESERVED.  

 

Once you get to a certain size, the postage doesn't change much if you add another item or so.  Patting myself on the back, I decided it would be nice to have one of those glass pens to use in trying out all these sample inks.  I got two. They weren't very expensive, about $24 each, one Teranishi Guitar Glass Pen and one J. Herbin glass pen.  Having two, I'd be able to do some sample writing, easily comparing these blue inks on the same page.  And you know, there are very attractive hand-made glass pens costing hundreds of dollars each.  So, still, I was doing quite well in holding the line.

 

At a mere $6, I thought nothing of ordering a small notebook, for ink testing purposes.  I was just about to double check my cart and submit this happy order when I noticed the (very) economical Platinum Desk fountain pen.  Just the kind of thing I might use with a pigment ink at my desk and... for only $13.  These things are so light, one of them would hardly move the needle on the package's total weight.  There, done! 

 

I was idly purusing some of the other Platinum pens, you know, just checking if prices were going up or if models were getting harder to get.  But the prices looked the same as I expected.  But... I did begin to wonder if maybe the prices would be going up, and I have never owned a Platinum Century 3776 one of the main-line consumer pens from a long standing manufacturer.  Well not like I was just going to jump on one of the Limited Editions or some urushi masterpiece.  Doggone it, I am holding the line, here.  So I got the cheapest 3776, something of an entry model at about $208.  It's a great price, don't you agree?

 

My face feels a bit red at this point, but note that I did hold back on that $50 bottle of ink.  So there!

We are all proud of you.

[Misfit]

@Mechanical yours is one of the best shopping posts I’ve read. I hope you enjoy everything in your haul, and especially the 3776. I got the Chartres Blue used, which was nice. 

[Mechanical]

8 hours ago, Misfit said:

@Mechanical yours is one of the best shopping posts I’ve read. I hope you enjoy everything in your haul, and especially the 3776. I got the Chartres Blue used, which was nice. 

 

Glad you enjoyed it; I did think readers of this thread could relate.

 

Before this, I had done well to hold back.  But sometimes is only takes one or two 3ml sample vials to break the dam.

[inkypete]

4 hours ago, Mechanical said:

 

Glad you enjoyed it; I did think readers of this thread could relate.

 

Before this, I had done well to hold back.  But sometimes is only takes one or two 3ml sample vials to break the dam.

I'm just holding on. $$$s aren't good in our house so all of a sudden I have to be a very conservative shopper. Its killing me!

[Mechanical]

20 minutes ago, inkypete said:

I'm just holding on. $$$s aren't good in our house so all of a sudden I have to be a very conservative shopper. Its killing me!

 

Day by day, I just sit at my desk and write with my pens.  All is good.  On an exciting day, I'll clean out a few pens and maybe change inks. 

 

But then, I'll look FPN and notice I have semi-automatically taken notes on which inks to buy.  Someone will mention a pen THAT I DON"T ALREADY OWN is an exceptionally fine writer.  Or looks nice... or is on sale... or is a nice color. This is when I need to close my computer and go take a walk.  Otherwise... well you know...

[inkypete]

7 minutes ago, Mechanical said:

 

Day by day, I just sit at my desk and write with my pens.  All is good.  On an exciting day, I'll clean out a few pens and maybe change inks. 

 

But then, I'll look FPN and notice I have semi-automatically taken notes on which inks to buy.  Someone will mention a pen THAT I DON"T ALREADY OWN is an exceptionally fine writer.  Or looks nice... or is on sale... or is a nice color. This is when I need to close my computer and go take a walk.  Otherwise... well you know...

Exactly. I just open my wardrobe and look in quiet admiration at the collection of paper and ink I have and realise I have enough until I die and my kids will have enough for another 20 years. Then realise there is somethings I don't have that I sort of need.............

[inkstainedruth]

43 minutes ago, Mechanical said:

But then, I'll look FPN and notice I have semi-automatically taken notes on which inks to buy.  Someone will mention a pen THAT I DON"T ALREADY OWN is an exceptionally fine writer.  Or looks nice... or is on sale... or is a nice color. This is when I need to close my computer and go take a walk.  Otherwise... well you know...

Yup....  

This is why I tend to warn new people that they've found themselves in a den of enablers....

When I started here, I read the Parker Forum.  ALL of it (back then it was 175 pages of threads).  And that took me down the vintage rabbit hole, big time -- but my two most expensive pens were modern Pelikan M405s....

And my husband tells people that the pens were just the "gateway" to the *REAL* collection -- the inks....  I have some inks that I've had for probably over a decade at this point but have never tried.  At one point I was experimenting with black inks that worked well on poor quality printer paper in less than ideal conditions: camping in western PA in August means that you could have anything from heat and humidity to severe thunderstorms (there was even a funnel cloud over the lake on site one year, and all these people were running down into OUR camp -- which is in the woods!  And I kept thinking, "If there's a tornado?  They're running into a glade of shrapnel!  What is WRONG with these people!"  And then one time a number of years before, when we still camped on the main field?  I woke up to frost on the ground one morning!  And what inks didn't feather or spread or show bleed through or ran when they got water spilled on them and which took well to inking over pencil lines which would then be erased.  

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

[Chimera01]

On 4/1/2025 at 4:19 PM, Doug C said:

We are getting a Daiso in town.  Are they worth visiting?

Always! Not as inexpensive as they used to be, but if it's anything like the Daiso in Melbourne [Aus] it's a treasure trove of useful bits and pieces. 

[Doug C]

8 hours ago, Chimera01 said:

Always! Not as inexpensive as they used to be, but if it's anything like the Daiso in Melbourne [Aus] it's a treasure trove of useful bits and pieces. 

I went to it. Pretty neat. 

[Penguincollector]

  Our Daiso is $1.75 for anything not marked at a higher price (or it was the last time I visited). We don’t have sales tax, so even if I go nuts it’s still under $30 for a bazillion notebooks of various sizes and washi tape and stickers. 
 

*I’ve been on a no buy since July, so it very well could be more expensive now.

[Doug C]

5 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

  Our Daiso is $1.75 for anything not marked at a higher price (or it was the last time I visited). We don’t have sales tax, so even if I go nuts it’s still under $30 for a bazillion notebooks of various sizes and washi tape and stickers. 
 

*I’ve been on a no buy since July, so it very well could be more expensive now.

Ours is 2.22.

[Penguincollector]

1 minute ago, Doug C said:

Ours is 2.22.

  Hurrah for easy maths! 

[AmandaW]

Ours is AU$3.30

[A Smug Dill]

I was in need of some retail therapy, but found nothing apparently decent among paper products in TJ Maxx, Marshals, and Ross. Then I came across these in Barnes & Noble nearby:

 

There was one pack of refills of ruled paper, to fit the Mossery covers (most of which come with planner ‘refills’ inside, except for the blue ones in the top right, which comes with undated ruled pages).

 

 

It's an odd size not likely to nearly fit the covers I already have, or are commonly available in Australia. I can't find the paper's country of origin anywhere: not on the retail packaging, and not on the brand's website even though it listed such a question among the FAQs. US$5+tax for that amount of paper, while not being expensive, isn't astoundingly cheap either. The retail SKU is sealed, so I couldn't even gauge the paper quality by touch.

 

Still, I couldn't help myself, and just had to buy one to test the paper for “fountain pen friendliness” when I'm back home, even though buying more packs in or from Australia is probably out of the question.

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill You are visiting the US right now, right? I hope you are having a good time. 

[A Smug Dill]

On 10/16/2025 at 1:51 AM, Misfit said:

@A Smug Dill You are visiting the US right now, right?

 

Yes, thank you. We did have to adjust yesterday's plans to steer clear of the protests.

 

I saw these earlier on the trip, and couldn't resist picking up a few even if it's a lot of weight to carry around. For the price, and with the item being purportedly made in the USA, it's worth it if just for review value.

 

 

[Misfit]

@A Smug Dill those look really cool. 

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, they really do, don't they?

@A Smug Dill -- What's the size of those, and the number of pages in them?  (Not of course that I need any more notebooks any time remotely soon....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

6 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

@A Smug Dill -- What's the size of those, and the number of pages in them?

https://www.papier.com/us/sun-moon-54575