It happened to me once, SO embarrassing, I had to sign a document and the other person offered me a BIC pen, I said that I had one pen, I reached my fancy fountain pen at that moment and when I tried to sign the document the ink just didn’t come out, I disassemble the fountain pen to see if there was ink in it but no, there wasn’t, I had to borrow his BIC pen :(
I was in Rome, Italy walking around and went into a Fountain Pen store. Because I had binged watched your videos I asked the owner for a Pilot Custom 823 in M... He handed me a translucent clear Pilot custom 823 which I paid 280 Euro for, still can't believe he had it available. I loved it so much at the end of the trip I went back and bought the same pen in brown. Thank you so much for the recommendation and videos as per the usual. I never run out of ink keeping these two filled up
You're probably already aware, but the Vac 20A is a special travel bottle for TWSBI's Vac pens. The pen screws into the top for mess-free, on-the-go filling, and being able to invert it means you get a greater fill from one pump. If I was more worried about running out of ink, I'd personally use a Vac Mini and have 20ml available in the bottle. I just wish the Vac Mini was available in more colours! Especially the Iris scheme, like the 700R, or the white+rose theme of the Diamond Mini.
I understand your obsession with avoiding running out of (or even low on) ink or supplies! Fortunately, I don't roam too far from my two desk drawers full of the stuff :). Your visual aid showing select pen capacities and the pens themselves was perfect - well done and thanks!
I agree so much with the wanting to hoard supplies because it may not be available later on, either because of some future apocalypse or just because a product has been discontinued. It’s a real problem, that I’m slowly working through and making sure I use my favourite things.
I loved seeing the visual of the amounts of ink. The amount for the Sailor looks so tiny! I have a bad habit of not checking how much ink is in the pens I “choose for the day” and finding 2 or 3 (out of 4) are empty or almost empty. I’ve never ended up with no pens at all but I’ve cut it too close for comfort!
I think the worst story I heard about this was someone who had a medical emergency with a family member. They ended up sitting in a hospital waiting room for days and had her journal and a pen. Pen started getting low on ink so she just added drops of water to stretch the ink and her writing just got lighter and lighter. Carrying multiple pens is ideal and a good old Nalgene 1oz. bottle with ink is easy and pretty indestructible to throw in a bag.
A tip they taught me in Europe a long time ago. I carry a cartridges/converter pen and two boxes of cartridges on me, and two more boxes in my go bag. Piston fillers and eyedroppers are fine, but the best way to stay in ink is with a cartridge/converter pen and a few boxes of easy to carry cartridges. This is even more true with the new TWSBI Swipe. Very large cartridges that still take up almost no room. No worries about leaks of burps, either. Or a crack that drains all your ink.
Today in the Emergency Department, I used a phone charger for a frantic mother. Probably a more likely scenario than yours, although, it would be a wonderful connection with family to be able to recharge their ink supply!
I always knew (impressionistically and experientially) that my Opus 88's and 823 each hold a lot of ink (more in the Opus) but it's nice to see is measured! BTW, great use of a bib pocket! My fear of running out of ink is more specifically fear of being caught with my pen running dry. so I fill 'em up more often than I need to -- and carry several pens with me at any given time! 😃
I think the carrying capacity obsession is what all fountain pen enthusiasts experience when they first get into fountain pens. When I started, I didn't really comprehend how far 1.6 ml of ink gets you. Took me 2 weeks of somewhat intense notetaking at school to get it down to about a quarter fill. Larger ink capacity is nice... until you want to change inks. At least fountain pen ink bottles are cheaper in the long run than normal gel/rollerball/ballpoint cartridges.
If you wanna go full prepper-mode, you could experiment with making your own inks from water soluble powdered dyes. I only discovered this last week, but I was digging through my leathercrafting drawer and found an old plastic bottle of brown leather dye I'd mixed up years ago. And on a whim I gave it a good shake and tried a few swabs and did a writing sample with a dip pen. It has almost exactly the same consistency as a waterbased fountain pen ink. So I put some in a cheap jinhao pen I had lying around and have been using it on and off since. It works fine, more than fine actually, it works great. No clogging issues or anything like that yet. So I have like... half a litre of this stuff, and the potential to make up to 2 litres more from left-over powder. (And this stuff was super cheap. like $4 cheap, I think). So I suppose I'm good for writing in the apocalypse as long as I don't mind using brown ink! haha
You can mix in some glyceryne as lubricant and to make the ink wetter I usually use food coloring for this since they also have anti mold already added in. And they did not mold, only oxidizes and change color to darker color
@@houghwhite411 technical question: is there anyway to do the opposite of adding glycerine?: I’ve got a lovely ink from Birmingham Pen Co called celestial blue but I can’t use it as it makes my Pilot78g with an EF nib write like a broad nib which is no use if you’ve got small handwriting!; liked this vid, thanks a.d.:)
@@anguswhite8233 Distilled water, but it has unintended effect of washing out the color, alway experiment on sampler bottle rather than the whole bottle
@@houghwhite411 thanks very much for getting back to me: absolutely love blue/black inks and this one is a perfect colour for me but it’s like writing with a firehose!
Hi, Alicia. its nice to see the Pilot 823 again after a while. and to your knowledge, i bought a Twsbi Eco after watching your video and because of that, I don't have to worry about ink when I on vacation for 2 weeks. thanks hun.
Oh My Goodness... I LOVE your home, & beautiful antiques, it's so cozy and warm looking. Looks like a great place to journal. Your video is great, thanks for sharing this great info too.
A pilot pen with a CON-70 (1.1ml) combined with a box(es) of cartridges (~0.8ml official, 1ml refilled) that I resealed with matching ink is the go to for my go bag. The specific model varies by mood. My car pen is a Platinum Preppy eyedroppered (~3ml) with Noodler's Polar Blue so it doesn't freeze. Platinum cartridges are also good for resealing, though it requires sacrificing a cartridge to harvest the ball bearing (and the ball bearing reduces capacity on each reuse). The Platinum carts are between 1.0 and 1.1 factory but the first refill will be about 1ml
1 year ago I made (by myself) a custom leather pen box for my favorite pens set (Kaweco Brass Sport: fountain pen, 0.7 pencil, 5.6 holder and ballpoint pen). And I made a pocket with all refills I need: 9 cartridges, 1 replace nib, 3 ballpoint pen refills, bunch of 0.7 pencil leads in a small brass jar for pills. Anyway, in total I have always 10 cartridges with me (1 in pen and 9 in a pen box pocket). One cartridge contains 0.8ml of ink, so 10 contains 8 ml. The interesting that I'm from the Ukraine and when the war started at 24 Feb 2022 I have no time to get everything I need with me, BUT I was lucky and took this my pen box. Then we (me and my mom) lived a month at western Ukraine and then moved to Poland where we left for now. AND all of this time I'm writing my diary, almost each day 1-2 pages of A4 format and I found that I need to buy more inks after 5-6 months only :) then I just ordered new ones online and there was no problems at all. Of course, I'm not a writer, I'm not writing a lot, but this is about that it is a good idea to have a backup set which you can just take at any time and you'll have writing ability for next 6 months of living wherever life send you ))) I had more pens and inks at home which we left. But I'm happy that I have the best ones still with me. It's kind a small piece of home which I can touch each evening... I will try to film a video to show you my pen box, I think, you'll like it... moreover, you are a Kaweco Brass Sport lover! And want to say you thank you, because I found my loving to Kaweco Brass Sport because I have watched your video about it last year :) so you're a part of my story and my lucky...
I love the ink visual! I had no idea. I have the same rational/irrational fear of running out of ink and also, running out of stamps! I carry multiples of both pens and stamps with me always. And now my next thought is I must get an Opus!😂 Thank you for another enlightening and delightful video, Alicia. 💗
The vac filler trick also applies to piston fillers. I’ve been a bit puzzled that it only seems to be mentioned for vac fillers. A piston filler (or converter!) also tends to leave a fairly big air bubble in the back, and the solution is simply to turn it back to where the ink is just starting to show on the feed, and then refill. (Good practice to release a few drops afterwards so the feed isn’t overflooded.)
Wish you would do more pen videos. Your handwriting is superb. Makes mine look like a puppy's tail dipped in axle grease. Cheers from 'Oztraya (the proper pronunciation of Australia.)
I just got the clear Pilot Custom 823 from Pensachi on Black Friday. He had 20% off and I didn't think I was ever going to get it cheaper than that. The clear body so you can see the ink is the *chef's kiss* on the 823 and I sold my smoke body without a second thought.
Again, life and the rest are graced with your incredible content... thanks so much for your warmth and kindness... just as an added detail... the "complete-fill" technique with the vac filler can also be conducted with piston(s) and piston-like convertor filling systems... I recently tried and confirmed this with my Leonardo MZG Nuda... practically the very same steps... whereby you invert the pen after the initial fill and push out the head of air until the ink level in the pen reaches the section (thus opaque and other lesser transparent materials, this can be confidently verified by allowing a drop or two of ink to flow back out, or just allow a bead of ink to "kiss" the tip of the upturn nib point)... then of course you repeat as you demonstrated herein. Please stay safe. And happy Fall Holiday Season to you and yours.
Running out of ink has always been on my mind the moment I started in the fountain pen hobby. I started with a Twsbi eco and the large ink capacity spoiled me. No converter can top it and therefore I have since never purchased a pen to use it with a converter. If the pen comes with one, I always eyedrop the pen. Pistons, Vacs, and eyedropper pens are the only ones in my collection. Ink wise.. I have several bottles of the same ink for the same reason. I never want to run out of the ink I'm using.
So in love with this! I definitely prefer a large ink capacity as I do write poetry and journal entries in one go without interruption! I use the Lamy 2000 and it's got a decent ink capacity, and I still remember there was once time I was writing for two continuous hours in one go, thanks to how much ink it can hold. Though when I do leave home for an extended time, I still bring my ink bottle with me, as I really do not want to run into a situation where I run out of ink.
You and I couldn't be much more different! I love extinguishing the last little bit of ink in a pen. But I ALWAYS carry multiple pens. And I have so many bottles of ink that it would take ages to fully deplete them all. But I still regularly buy more. Anyway God bless You and I hope that You have a happy Christmas
Have three 823's: two amber and as you mentioned, a "clear" from Pen Sachi which I currently have in my rotation, inked with Diamine "Writer's Blood. I also own a Vac Mini and a piston filler. And, as far as Opus goes: an Omar demonstrator, and two Bellas (red & blue). All fun to use and are great writers!
I love the Opus 88 Omar and the Opus 88 Demonstrator pens... the ink capacity is so amazing and your visual just reinforced why I love them so much... I keep a Pilot Parallel nib 3.8 mm on one of my Opus 88 ... it gobbles ink but that's okay!!!
One of my fears is being without a pen: either because it's not with me or because I run out of ink. I keep ink at work. And I have a small portable bottle of ink. I remember being away from home for a week and a few days for a class and a trip, so I brought a full complement of pens. By the last day, I had one pen remaining that was writing on fumes! I might have been okay if it hadn't been for the pouring rain during a day of the trip (which was supposed to be hiking).
Would that 'hack' be from Brian Goulet? Hey, I'm right with you on the carrying capacity obsession. Most of my pens maximize ink capacity, my favorite being my Conid Bulkfiller @ 2.5ml. I also enjoy the Opus 88 clear demonstrator (w/clear feed) and the Pilot Custom 823.
Yes, I hate that too, running out of ink. I haven't finished even one bottle of ink though from my entire collection, and I've had pens and inks for 6 years. But for me, it's because I don't take my pens anywhere to have long writing sessions. I don't hoard pens and ink because I have a fear that things will change in the world, but just because it's totally annoying to be writing away, finally getting that time in my life to write, and then I run out of ink. Darn! So, I've taken to carrying several pens with me for EDC. I often take a Kaweco Sport as it looks so cute in my Passport Travellers Notebook. I will take a Midori FP because it's a mini and I can use a cartridge ( spares which I carry), and a Twisbi mini with a fun colour as well as a Lamy Safari for drawing sessions. It's a real thing getting the EDC right, and it keeps changing. LOL. I've got notes in this book, that notebook, that journal, those stickies. It's honestly a mess when a girl has to try everything. But I love it. Thanks for the vid. Fun. c
I just picked up one of TWISB's travel ink wells specifically designed for the Vac700R and so far it's been great, but i still have my Pilot, like you. That gold nib is just awesome.
Okay sorry for being so blunt but I am just that and would like to make mention of how adorable you are with your overalls or apron with your pens in the pocket as they are!!!!!!! Your content is also very entertaining and informative and I quite enjoy your content!
I have the clear body pilot 823, fine nib. I love it dearly. Apparently it’s getting a bit difficult to find even in Japan at the moment, so I would suggest biting the bullet sooner rather than later on that one. I can also confirm that Stilo&Stile has some currently. If you have a p.o. box or something (because privacy) I can help out with shipping if needed.
This was endearing to watch, it caused me to smile :) It was a bit nuts (I mean in a good way). Appreciate the passion you dote (sorry if this is bad english) on your interests. Loved the wide shot, at the beggining, of the land, the clouds, or fog, and the lovely dogs whose names I always forget. Thanks.
I wouldn't worry about running out of ink. Even if the world goes to pot, I'm sure we are resourceful enough to find alternatives to commercial fountain pen ink. We could probably learn to make our own. If there's anything to hoard for writing, I'd say hoard dipping nibs. Then you can use inks that are cruder, like homemade india inks from lampblack or boiling walnut shells. I've been learning to make paper too. It's not exactly gonna be Tomoe or Leuchtturm or Clairefontaine but it will do I think. There's so much paper waste out there to reclaim that I'm not sure we'll ever run out of paper at this rate.
If you have a friend in Europe that doesn't mind sending you a pen Stilo e Stile (in Italy) carries the Pilot 823 in clear. You're not alone with worrying about running out of ink! I always carry pens with a larger ink capacity and if I'm away for more than a couple of days a traveling inkwell. I usually like to have at least two pens with different inks one a Japanese fine and the other a Japanese extra fine, problem is all my Japanese extra fine are converter only. So I'm in constant dread of running out of ink. I finishi ink bottles but tend to not buy limited edition inks because if I love them then I can't get another one.
Hoarder here, too. I have 20 unused notebooks, more ink than I can use in my lifetime and a plethora of fountain pens. But at this level I´m at peace and don´t have to get the shiny new thing. So I don´t buy more unless it is special to me. What bothers me though is the fact that I don´t want to use special inks that can´t be repurchased. I really have to get over that. There will always be nice new releases. Plus, often times the regular inks (Diamine, De Atratmentis ...) are my favorites anyway.
Shudder - running out of ink or paper - not good! By the way, the TWSBI Vac 20A ink bottle does a great job of totally filling the pen with a couple of strokes of the piston. There's another benefit as well. I recently finished a bottle of ink, but it's OK. The ink bottle is empty because I transferred the last of the ink from the Diamine bottle into a Vac 20A, which is still full. I've got a half dozen refills left and plenty of time to order more (and I've got other bottles of ink, too).
Those are all great pens, but I have to say that the Noodlers Ahab holds 6ml of ink. I’m sure there is even larger ink capacity than that! But if you run out of ink - well, you’re not paying attention to your pens! 😂. Thanks for sharing! Nothing against Opus, bit I’m a Pilot 823 girl!
I get wanting to hoard for fear of running out. There's an ink I love that was only made a few years in the 1940s. Still readily available for great prices, but the supply is definitely limited. (I have yet to get a bad bottle of vintage ink. Biocides in them were much more aggressive than used today, and unopened I have only encountered fading in Sheaffer Skrip red.) Push comes to shove, in an apocalypse, betting there's still going to be plenty of dyes safe for pens. Just hope I don't ever have to mix my own inks. ('Sides, at my age, with the amount of ink I currently have, probably enough to last the rest of my life. 😁)
Oh my gosh, I actually had a vile filled to show it, but changed my mind and went with the Sailor instead! It’s sooooooooo tiny. I don’t know why they even bothered making one, haha.
I had that kind of creeping anxiety as well about running out of ink or paper and it lead me down a path of mixing my own ink from the most affordable but still nice enough sources and making my own journals by selecting the type of paper and buying it at the art store in large qauantities. maybe a bit too crafty but seems to have fixed that itchy feeling (also running calculations about the most economical way of using up the resources was pretty fun too :D) also I wanted to remark upon the video being 480 and the blur effect together are making for a very nice look for the videos, matches the theme of your channel very well and overall a lovely lofi vibe to it in a way that oddly few channels on yt achieve
Haha! I have a similar way of thinking, for me I just assume one day (probably soon) materials are going to get very expensive and hard to come by and pen manufacturers will just start going out of business or pens will become so expensive that they become out of reach. I’m constantly buying doubles of pens afraid they’ll discontinue my favorites. I think I have enough ink to last the rest of my lifetime though, but it couldn’t hurt to get doubles of a couple favorites… I love the Opus 88 (reminds me that I need to get another one in case Opus goes out of business 😂). Also, if you haven’t checked out the Moonman C4, give it a look. Similar to an Opus 88 but under $30. Definitely not as nice, but eyedropper with shut off, massive ink capacity, and could be a nice alternative to spending $120 for an Opus. Even just as a user/throw in your bag workhorse pen. Also, it has a very cool little clip that reminds me of the Shaeffer tuckaway or military clips.
I got my very own hack for filling my Vac700 Iris I call it "The Syringe" xD No kidding tho, I have a serious issue with dipping my pen into ink cuz not only I feel like I'm wasting ink (even though I know it's negligible) but I also feel like I'll stain the pen or even my hands trying to clean up after the whole procedure. So whenever I need to refill I will use a syringe to suck up ink and inject it directly into the pen/cartridge/converter
Don't you just love the Opus 88? Of course the Pilot is my absolute favo, but the fun thing about the Opus 88 is the massive amount of ink it can carry, but also the replacement nibs are pretty affordable. So i bought a whole bunch of 'm. the fine, broad and the stub are my favourites.
My answer is to fill the pen before taking it out. I don’t travel with my pens for fear of damaging or worse, losing one of my pens. That’s what gel pens are for. I have never depleted an entire charge on any of my pens in a one sitting, if I did, I would just refill the pen. There are some ink vials designed for those on the go. 👍
I do have a few inkwells I travel with actually! They are great! I understand your fear! That would be tragic. I have lost (temporarily some pens) and have damaged one in an outing. I love the Kaweco Brass Sport for that reason, it’s so darn hardy.
After having an occasion of running out of ink during an important exam I switched to demonstrator pens aiming for the ones with the biggest capacity, but anyways I write so much that a twsbi vac700 runs out dry in 4-5 days with the trick...
Love that vac filler tip! Did you take a vac filler on a plane? I know it's recommended that pens are filled all the way or are empty, but wondering if you recall how a completely full vac filler would do. No need to research the answer if you are not sure! Just thinking out loud :)
I can understand that fear of running out of Ink while traveling, but I personally would simply get additional Pens, especially if I had that many of them. When I think of "The world going crazy tomorrow" I think with one or two bottles of Ink and a handful of Pens, I am prepared. My fafourite Inks are Kaweco (Paradise Blue) and Graf von Faber Castell (Gulf Blue) and since I got two of the very beautiful but massive Ink Bottles of Graf von Faber Castell (75ml/bottle) and one of Kaweco (50ml/bottle), It would take at least three years to run out of Ink even if writing several pages a day (every single day!). Id run out of Paper long before I'd have even to take care about how long the ink was going to last... Printing Paper included, I don't have more than 1000 Sheets in House... And I normally don't write on Printing paper. Generally, I think fountain pen users are well prepared for what ever catastrophe may strike, specially if using bottled ink, which is normally not a minimal quantity in a bottle and leads often to collecting more than one can ever use up in a lifetime. But I understand what you mean, because using up the last drop of a favourite ink that is no longer available on the market is indeed a terrible thought. - Maybe I should go and get a second bottle of my favourite ink, just in case I live longer than I expected...! (p.s. I actually like to refill my pens, so a big carrying capacity would rather cut off some of the fun with them...) Thinking about possible desasters is not wrong though, but I would rather think about a gasoline camping cooker for making warm meals or tea, than worry about running out of ink. Don't forget to store an extra gallon of gasoline for cooking in a blackout or whatever... Food itself may be less of a problem, because there is always a package of pasta, rice and lentils and so on in a kitchen to be found. But no one thinks about the fuel for the need of sterilizing water of unknown purity, when gas cardridges cannot be obtained because the store selling them is either closed or sold them out...
You bring up a very good point! Those bottles do hold so much ink, and you’re right - probably more than a lifetimes worth! Hahah I hope I didn’t encourage a hoarding of favorite inks! 😂 (Really I joke, no judgement here!) Low ink capacity pens fill a niche for sure. If you like changing inks, they’re way more fun!
I had the thought of getting a second bottle of the absolute favourite before... But, just in case, it is possible to make ink in every kitchen. A few drops of Alcohol, water, some colour source out of the garden or forest, a stove and a coffee filter at the end.
@@judyanderson1329 I have never done it myself. But the thought behind it may be, that alcohol is a very good solvant to extract what ever gives the colour to the ink. If you are not pleased by the fact that fountain pen ink contains alcohol, you could, after the extraction, heat the solution to 80°C or so, since alcohol evaporates below that. If you keep that temperature for so long that all the alcohol can evaporate, you'd get an alcohol-free ink. If any of the ingredients cannot cope with that heat, you could think of using vacuum extraction, like in wine or beer without alcohol... but do not ask me how to do that in the kitchen. A tiny amount of alcohol could act as a conserving agent, to prevent mold or so, and it can change the flow of the poroduct. Instead of that, you could use some form of accid or basic ingredient, if only a few drops.
Hey!! I remember you mentioning that you put caps on your ink cartridges when you travel on another video, but I can't seem to remember which one. Do you mind telling me where you purchased those caps? TIA!
I was thinking about the twsbi vac mini but feared the EF wouldn’t be fine enough-it looks pretty good here though! Especially compared to that EF nib on your Opus 88 (I also love that pen but use it with Pilot Parallel nibs)
I'm so glad it's not just me that has the 'end of the world' hoarding problem :D I do exactly the same thing with bottles of ink, terrified that there will be some sort of supply chain issue and I'll run out.
Hi! I got the clear pilot custom 823 from still e stile, an italian retailer. Not sure they ship to the US ( I live within EU) but I am pretty sure they do. Maybe worth looking into?
I don't worry at all about ink capacity. I just carry a bunch of extra ink, including cartridges. But I do have a pen that holds six milliliters of ink, and a second that holds a bit more than five, so I'm more than ready for the apocalypse.
I LOVE my TWSBI vac mini and 823, fun video! :D Someone just sold a clear 823 on the Pen Addict slack channel, you might consider joining, there are lots of 1:1 sales and deals to be had.
How about this? When you buy a bottle of your more used ink simply buy two at once thus always having a back up! I know your problem, I am the same way in some aspects of life. With canned or dried foods I always like to have more in the cupboard than I need just in case and always, if those items are on sale I buy multiples even if I have some still left at home, same with cleaning products , soaps, toothpaste and so on, oh, and ink of course! I know though in my case, this is not end of world reasoning, well, not in the global sense. I don’t know your personal circumstances but at a very young age my upbringing became a single parent scenario, suddenly I was left with half the parent quota ( even though that was actually a good thing!) so though my mother worked so hard there was always a lack of money, of make do and mend, of hand-me-down. No matter how hard we tried, there was never quite enough, no “wiggle” room. And then at school, while all the other kids went on two or three holidays a year we had the odd long weekend away with an aunt (lovely though it was!) they had the new pencil cases, the new Parker pens given for birthdays or Christmas every year ( I had one for my entire school and college years). So I grew up with lack, never enough of anything so as an adult though so far removed from even middle class wealth my cupboards are full , 99% on sale items, I rarely if ever buy anything at retail and have no problem at the age of 59 buying from thrift stores and I live strictly according to my means. No debt, no credit cards and have the mentality of not missing what I can’t afford. Having enough in reserve is a good thing, having too much is a bad thing, we stand a far greater chance of no apocalypse if we think that way if that makes sense! I now feel wealthy in so many ways but have no financial wealth but living thrifty and letting go of the need to constantly fill life with fluff but rather, fill it with what I have determined to be the essentials of what makes my life feel substantial and well lived reduces waste, false expectations and the constant feeling of lack that comes from looking at what others have and thinking I need that! Those are the lessons learned from my upbringing and turned into a form of abundance no one can take away as they are inside me. Running out of ink is for you a serious matter, not fluff, so honour yourself by keeping a stock of your regular inks thus the lack will then disappear and you will enjoy your writing even more😊 Oh, and thank you for your enthusiasm for Twsbi. It inspired me to buy my first new pen in decades ( though, being thrifty I bought it second hand and only used once with all the accessories unused for less than half the new price!) the Vac 700R fine nib. It is a beautiful writer and I love that I can easily fully take it apart for cleaning.
I worry about running out of ink on the go as well. I use a lot of stub nibs and flex nibs and those puppies suck up a lot of ink to keep them purring. Luckily for me, I'm still on lockdown so my traveling is on hold for now. That ink struggle is VERY real though.
To avoid your problem there’s no need to carry a large capacity pen . Before leaving home refill you pen with ink whether it be empty or not . There’s no need to carry a second pen. President Lyndon Johnson carried two Parker 51 pens at all times and filled them both with fresh ink first thing each day. .
How do you feel about the vac mini? I am trying to decide between getting a vac mini ef and the twsbi mini classic ef nib... It looks like the grip section of the mini has a larger diameter - is it more comfortable to write with (if only it were prettier) or less convenient to clean or more annoying to post?
The vacfilling trick involves exchanging fluids between the pen and ink bottle. Anyone who has experienced, and fear, mold growing in their inks, should be aware of that.
Question for you about your TWSBI Mini. I'm looking on getting this and simply putting it in my pocket and having it clipped to my pocket edge, do you find the end of the pen would move in day to day? I'm asking cause I don't want the piston to depress while in my pants, and possibly leak. Can it be kind of "over twisted" so that its hard to turn to depress when needed, to help with any accidental depression of the piston? thanks.
Lol, I've heard of hoarding food, guns, ammo, medical supplies, etc for the apocalypse, but this is the first time I've heard of hoarding fountain pen ink. Are you going to be writing harshly worded letters to whom it may concern? haha. I like your way of thinking.
When I was younger I used to collect pencils because I feared to wake up one day in prehistoric times having just a few short pencils with me. I also had an affection for fountain pens, but hey, pencils are way more practical for people who suddenly wake up in 120.000 bc! Am I right??
You might actually enjoy Silverpoint or stuff like the Sun-star Metacil, if you sacrifice writing feel there are essentially inexhaustible implements. I'm this way with firestarters, probably anyone who watches more than one episode of Survivorman will get that way about firestarters lol.
@@Suiseisexy I have a better solution: take a smalk tube, make a hole in the pen, join the tube, put a needle on the other end, insert the needle in your arm, and you'll have an inexhaustible source of Red Dragon! And the magic is not over, as that ink will turn to Oxblood in two minutes! Then you can write till the end of your life, literally!
I did love this video! I have wondered what I would do with an economic collapse. I would hope to have access to my journal if waiting for the fallout or famine to do us in. Heaven forefend. I guess for me, journaling for God to read, I'd want an eyedropper fill. Take a look, assuming you have silicon grease, at the Hardy Penwrights 10-T Traveler! Duras Middle Earth Resin! The Jowo steel nib writes wonderfully! But, I hope I have the 18k nib by the end.
I’m sick and bored in bed and decided to do some 10 minute research to find some of Alicia’s past videos to corroborate my memory that she has always praised this pen nib: ruclips.net/video/mAlOY2j6CRw/видео.html 0:35 “ The only pen that ever made me gasp out loud when I first put it to paper” ruclips.net/video/VCbo7sEz7i4/видео.html 04:40 “…A wonderful nib… It is smooth and wet, while still just enough feedback to say you’re making contact with the paper. It’s just the perfect balance for me” ruclips.net/video/340HnAzDrto/видео.html 3:09 “when I wrote with it the first time, I actually gasped out loud” ruclips.net/video/K9zn2udKKh4/видео.html 06:00 “made me gasp out loud” ruclips.net/video/pvfMjEIOQI8/видео.html 0:58 “took my breath away”
It happened to me once, SO embarrassing, I had to sign a document and the other person offered me a BIC pen, I said that I had one pen, I reached my fancy fountain pen at that moment and when I tried to sign the document the ink just didn’t come out, I disassemble the fountain pen to see if there was ink in it but no, there wasn’t, I had to borrow his BIC pen :(
Oh man! That’s such a bummer. 😨
The visual aid showing the carrying capacities of the different pens was brilliant.
Excellent! I’m glad you appreciated that!
Yeah!! That was really awesome
I was in Rome, Italy walking around and went into a Fountain Pen store. Because I had binged watched your videos I asked the owner for a Pilot Custom 823 in M... He handed me a translucent clear Pilot custom 823 which I paid 280 Euro for, still can't believe he had it available. I loved it so much at the end of the trip I went back and bought the same pen in brown. Thank you so much for the recommendation and videos as per the usual. I never run out of ink keeping these two filled up
You're probably already aware, but the Vac 20A is a special travel bottle for TWSBI's Vac pens. The pen screws into the top for mess-free, on-the-go filling, and being able to invert it means you get a greater fill from one pump. If I was more worried about running out of ink, I'd personally use a Vac Mini and have 20ml available in the bottle.
I just wish the Vac Mini was available in more colours! Especially the Iris scheme, like the 700R, or the white+rose theme of the Diamond Mini.
I understand your obsession with avoiding running out of (or even low on) ink or supplies! Fortunately, I don't roam too far from my two desk drawers full of the stuff :). Your visual aid showing select pen capacities and the pens themselves was perfect - well done and thanks!
I agree so much with the wanting to hoard supplies because it may not be available later on, either because of some future apocalypse or just because a product has been discontinued. It’s a real problem, that I’m slowly working through and making sure I use my favourite things.
I loved seeing the visual of the amounts of ink. The amount for the Sailor looks so tiny! I have a bad habit of not checking how much ink is in the pens I “choose for the day” and finding 2 or 3 (out of 4) are empty or almost empty. I’ve never ended up with no pens at all but I’ve cut it too close for comfort!
I think the worst story I heard about this was someone who had a medical emergency with a family member. They ended up sitting in a hospital waiting room for days and had her journal and a pen. Pen started getting low on ink so she just added drops of water to stretch the ink and her writing just got lighter and lighter. Carrying multiple pens is ideal and a good old Nalgene 1oz. bottle with ink is easy and pretty indestructible to throw in a bag.
A tip they taught me in Europe a long time ago. I carry a cartridges/converter pen and two boxes of cartridges on me, and two more boxes in my go bag. Piston fillers and eyedroppers are fine, but the best way to stay in ink is with a cartridge/converter pen and a few boxes of easy to carry cartridges.
This is even more true with the new TWSBI Swipe. Very large cartridges that still take up almost no room. No worries about leaks of burps, either. Or a crack that drains all your ink.
Today in the Emergency Department, I used a phone charger for a frantic mother. Probably a more likely scenario than yours, although, it would be a wonderful connection with family to be able to recharge their ink supply!
Depending on your ink choice, ordering from Amazon could be an option, but it doesn’t make for nearly as great if a story…!
I always knew (impressionistically and experientially) that my Opus 88's and 823 each hold a lot of ink (more in the Opus) but it's nice to see is measured! BTW, great use of a bib pocket!
My fear of running out of ink is more specifically fear of being caught with my pen running dry. so I fill 'em up more often than I need to -- and carry several pens with me at any given time!
😃
I’m glad that visual was appreciated!
Also, I think that’s a great preventative tactic, just keep filling! 😂
Haha that thumbnail is killing me! 🤣 I feel like that's how people see me when I look at things I love.
Hahaha 🤣
I think the carrying capacity obsession is what all fountain pen enthusiasts experience when they first get into fountain pens. When I started, I didn't really comprehend how far 1.6 ml of ink gets you. Took me 2 weeks of somewhat intense notetaking at school to get it down to about a quarter fill. Larger ink capacity is nice... until you want to change inks. At least fountain pen ink bottles are cheaper in the long run than normal gel/rollerball/ballpoint cartridges.
If you wanna go full prepper-mode, you could experiment with making your own inks from water soluble powdered dyes. I only discovered this last week, but I was digging through my leathercrafting drawer and found an old plastic bottle of brown leather dye I'd mixed up years ago. And on a whim I gave it a good shake and tried a few swabs and did a writing sample with a dip pen. It has almost exactly the same consistency as a waterbased fountain pen ink. So I put some in a cheap jinhao pen I had lying around and have been using it on and off since. It works fine, more than fine actually, it works great. No clogging issues or anything like that yet. So I have like... half a litre of this stuff, and the potential to make up to 2 litres more from left-over powder. (And this stuff was super cheap. like $4 cheap, I think). So I suppose I'm good for writing in the apocalypse as long as I don't mind using brown ink! haha
Wow, that’s so cool! Glad you’re well prepared. 😉
You can mix in some glyceryne as lubricant and to make the ink wetter
I usually use food coloring for this since they also have anti mold already added in. And they did not mold, only oxidizes and change color to darker color
@@houghwhite411 technical question: is there anyway to do the opposite of adding glycerine?: I’ve got a lovely ink from Birmingham Pen Co called celestial blue but I can’t use it as it makes my Pilot78g with an EF nib write like a broad nib which is no use if you’ve got small handwriting!; liked this vid, thanks a.d.:)
@@anguswhite8233 Distilled water, but it has unintended effect of washing out the color,
alway experiment on sampler bottle rather than the whole bottle
@@houghwhite411 thanks very much for getting back to me: absolutely love blue/black inks and this one is a perfect colour for me but it’s like writing with a firehose!
Hi, Alicia. its nice to see the Pilot 823 again after a while. and to your knowledge, i bought a Twsbi Eco after watching your video and because of that, I don't have to worry about ink when I on vacation for 2 weeks. thanks hun.
Oh My Goodness... I LOVE your home, & beautiful antiques, it's so cozy and warm looking. Looks like a great place to journal. Your video is great, thanks for sharing this great info too.
A pilot pen with a CON-70 (1.1ml) combined with a box(es) of cartridges (~0.8ml official, 1ml refilled) that I resealed with matching ink is the go to for my go bag. The specific model varies by mood. My car pen is a Platinum Preppy eyedroppered (~3ml) with Noodler's Polar Blue so it doesn't freeze. Platinum cartridges are also good for resealing, though it requires sacrificing a cartridge to harvest the ball bearing (and the ball bearing reduces capacity on each reuse). The Platinum carts are between 1.0 and 1.1 factory but the first refill will be about 1ml
1 year ago I made (by myself) a custom leather pen box for my favorite pens set (Kaweco Brass Sport: fountain pen, 0.7 pencil, 5.6 holder and ballpoint pen). And I made a pocket with all refills I need: 9 cartridges, 1 replace nib, 3 ballpoint pen refills, bunch of 0.7 pencil leads in a small brass jar for pills. Anyway, in total I have always 10 cartridges with me (1 in pen and 9 in a pen box pocket). One cartridge contains 0.8ml of ink, so 10 contains 8 ml.
The interesting that I'm from the Ukraine and when the war started at 24 Feb 2022 I have no time to get everything I need with me, BUT I was lucky and took this my pen box. Then we (me and my mom) lived a month at western Ukraine and then moved to Poland where we left for now. AND all of this time I'm writing my diary, almost each day 1-2 pages of A4 format and I found that I need to buy more inks after 5-6 months only :) then I just ordered new ones online and there was no problems at all.
Of course, I'm not a writer, I'm not writing a lot, but this is about that it is a good idea to have a backup set which you can just take at any time and you'll have writing ability for next 6 months of living wherever life send you )))
I had more pens and inks at home which we left. But I'm happy that I have the best ones still with me. It's kind a small piece of home which I can touch each evening...
I will try to film a video to show you my pen box, I think, you'll like it... moreover, you are a Kaweco Brass Sport lover!
And want to say you thank you, because I found my loving to Kaweco Brass Sport because I have watched your video about it last year :) so you're a part of my story and my lucky...
Here, as promised I filmed an overview to my hand made leather pen box for Kaweco pens:
ruclips.net/video/npjtKFjesQc/видео.html
@@pandapo7211 wow, interesting solution!
@@maksymp1295 thank you
I love the ink visual! I had no idea. I have the same rational/irrational fear of running out of ink and also, running out of stamps! I carry multiples of both pens and stamps with me always. And now my next thought is I must get an Opus!😂 Thank you for another enlightening and delightful video, Alicia. 💗
The vac filler trick also applies to piston fillers. I’ve been a bit puzzled that it only seems to be mentioned for vac fillers.
A piston filler (or converter!) also tends to leave a fairly big air bubble in the back, and the solution is simply to turn it back to where the ink is just starting to show on the feed, and then refill. (Good practice to release a few drops afterwards so the feed isn’t overflooded.)
Wish you would do more pen videos. Your handwriting is superb. Makes mine look like a puppy's tail dipped in axle grease.
Cheers from 'Oztraya (the proper pronunciation of Australia.)
Hahaha your description of a puppy’s tail dipped in axel grease really had me laughing out loud. Also, thanks for the proper pronunciation 😂
The front pocket of your coveralls is a perfect space to carry pens. Suddenly I need coveralls.
Haha! It’s the perfect pen outfit!
I just got the clear Pilot Custom 823 from Pensachi on Black Friday. He had 20% off and I didn't think I was ever going to get it cheaper than that. The clear body so you can see the ink is the *chef's kiss* on the 823 and I sold my smoke body without a second thought.
Yes! Got mine on a 20% special too. One of the best buys ever!
Wow! That’s so awesome! Congratulations!
@@roxiesossa3210 congratulations!
@@adventuredenali Your turn! 😁
Again, life and the rest are graced with your incredible content... thanks so much for your warmth and kindness... just as an added detail... the "complete-fill" technique with the vac filler can also be conducted with piston(s) and piston-like convertor filling systems... I recently tried and confirmed this with my Leonardo MZG Nuda... practically the very same steps... whereby you invert the pen after the initial fill and push out the head of air until the ink level in the pen reaches the section (thus opaque and other lesser transparent materials, this can be confidently verified by allowing a drop or two of ink to flow back out, or just allow a bead of ink to "kiss" the tip of the upturn nib point)... then of course you repeat as you demonstrated herein. Please stay safe. And happy Fall Holiday Season to you and yours.
Running out of ink has always been on my mind the moment I started in the fountain pen hobby. I started with a Twsbi eco and the large ink capacity spoiled me. No converter can top it and therefore I have since never purchased a pen to use it with a converter. If the pen comes with one, I always eyedrop the pen. Pistons, Vacs, and eyedropper pens are the only ones in my collection.
Ink wise.. I have several bottles of the same ink for the same reason. I never want to run out of the ink I'm using.
Agree with about the TWSBI minis! The regular sized ones seem to big for me. I hope they come out with the black+rose gold in a mini soon!
So in love with this! I definitely prefer a large ink capacity as I do write poetry and journal entries in one go without interruption! I use the Lamy 2000 and it's got a decent ink capacity, and I still remember there was once time I was writing for two continuous hours in one go, thanks to how much ink it can hold. Though when I do leave home for an extended time, I still bring my ink bottle with me, as I really do not want to run into a situation where I run out of ink.
You and I couldn't be much more different! I love extinguishing the last little bit of ink in a pen. But I ALWAYS carry multiple pens. And I have so many bottles of ink that it would take ages to fully deplete them all. But I still regularly buy more. Anyway God bless You and I hope that You have a happy Christmas
Me too. It’s really satisfying when a pen I’ve been using runs dry, and I refill it immediately or reach for a new one.
Have three 823's: two amber and as you mentioned, a "clear" from Pen Sachi which I currently have in my rotation, inked with Diamine "Writer's Blood. I also own a Vac Mini and a piston filler. And, as far as Opus goes: an Omar demonstrator, and two Bellas (red & blue). All fun to use and are great writers!
Ooh what a lovely grouping!
I love the Opus 88 Omar and the Opus 88 Demonstrator pens... the ink capacity is so amazing and your visual just reinforced why I love them so much... I keep a Pilot Parallel nib 3.8 mm on one of my Opus 88 ... it gobbles ink but that's okay!!!
Wow, you can put a parallel nib in an opus? That sounds so cool!!
Great video! I think the TWSBI Vac 700R has a 2.4 ml or so capacity! I'm about to buy one! The Iris is gorgeous!
Thanks for the visual showing the amounts of ink those pens hold. It was quite enlightening. May you never run out of ink!
One of my fears is being without a pen: either because it's not with me or because I run out of ink. I keep ink at work. And I have a small portable bottle of ink.
I remember being away from home for a week and a few days for a class and a trip, so I brought a full complement of pens. By the last day, I had one pen remaining that was writing on fumes! I might have been okay if it hadn't been for the pouring rain during a day of the trip (which was supposed to be hiking).
Cutting it close there! Phew!
I think having multiple pens would be helpful too. Thanks for being here!!
Would that 'hack' be from Brian Goulet? Hey, I'm right with you on the carrying capacity obsession. Most of my pens maximize ink capacity, my favorite being my Conid Bulkfiller @ 2.5ml. I also enjoy the Opus 88 clear demonstrator (w/clear feed) and the Pilot Custom 823.
Yes, I hate that too, running out of ink. I haven't finished even one bottle of ink though from my entire collection, and I've had pens and inks for 6 years. But for me, it's because I don't take my pens anywhere to have long writing sessions. I don't hoard pens and ink because I have a fear that things will change in the world, but just because it's totally annoying to be writing away, finally getting that time in my life to write, and then I run out of ink. Darn! So, I've taken to carrying several pens with me for EDC. I often take a Kaweco Sport as it looks so cute in my Passport Travellers Notebook. I will take a Midori FP because it's a mini and I can use a cartridge ( spares which I carry), and a Twisbi mini with a fun colour as well as a Lamy Safari for drawing sessions. It's a real thing getting the EDC right, and it keeps changing. LOL. I've got notes in this book, that notebook, that journal, those stickies. It's honestly a mess when a girl has to try everything. But I love it. Thanks for the vid. Fun. c
The Kyuseido and Conid carry around 4 ml. Even more! I often take Opus 88s when I travel. Completely safe for airplanes.
I just picked up one of TWISB's travel ink wells specifically designed for the Vac700R and so far it's been great, but i still have my Pilot, like you. That gold nib is just awesome.
Okay sorry for being so blunt but I am just that and would like to make mention of how adorable you are with your overalls or apron with your pens in the pocket as they are!!!!!!! Your content is also very entertaining and informative and I quite enjoy your content!
Thank you so much! Overall pockets can serve many purposes! :D
i love FPs with big ink capacity. my favorites are TSWSBIs, Narwhals/Nahvalur, Custom 823s and MB 146.
I so vibe with all your saying. I love the pens, ink, notebooks and fear running out of ink.
I have the clear body pilot 823, fine nib. I love it dearly. Apparently it’s getting a bit difficult to find even in Japan at the moment, so I would suggest biting the bullet sooner rather than later on that one.
I can also confirm that Stilo&Stile has some currently.
If you have a p.o. box or something (because privacy) I can help out with shipping if needed.
Oh no! That’s a scary thought! Thanks for letting me know, and offering to help!
I loved the clip of the animals on the trail!
This was endearing to watch, it caused me to smile :) It was a bit nuts (I mean in a good way). Appreciate the passion you dote (sorry if this is bad english) on your interests. Loved the wide shot, at the beggining, of the land, the clouds, or fog, and the lovely dogs whose names I always forget. Thanks.
Counseling is available. I wish you a speedy recovery.
Haha thank you! 😂
Thank you for everything you create!
I wouldn't worry about running out of ink. Even if the world goes to pot, I'm sure we are resourceful enough to find alternatives to commercial fountain pen ink. We could probably learn to make our own. If there's anything to hoard for writing, I'd say hoard dipping nibs. Then you can use inks that are cruder, like homemade india inks from lampblack or boiling walnut shells. I've been learning to make paper too. It's not exactly gonna be Tomoe or Leuchtturm or Clairefontaine but it will do I think. There's so much paper waste out there to reclaim that I'm not sure we'll ever run out of paper at this rate.
If you have a friend in Europe that doesn't mind sending you a pen Stilo e Stile (in Italy) carries the Pilot 823 in clear. You're not alone with worrying about running out of ink! I always carry pens with a larger ink capacity and if I'm away for more than a couple of days a traveling inkwell. I usually like to have at least two pens with different inks one a Japanese fine and the other a Japanese extra fine, problem is all my Japanese extra fine are converter only. So I'm in constant dread of running out of ink. I finishi ink bottles but tend to not buy limited edition inks because if I love them then I can't get another one.
Oh thank you for the heads up!
Having a traveling inkwell on hand is so nice.
Nifty trick for increasing fill. Also very terrifying!
Haha yeah, definitely have to be careful 😂
Think the full vacuum filler was described in David Parker's (FigBoots on Pens) RUclips channel
Love that pen tool apron Alicia!!! Imagine wearing that and going out to the public!!! That will be so epic!😅😅😅
Ahaha! I’ve gone out with one pen in it, but not four! 😂
@@adventuredenali try to go out with more than 4!!!!😅😅😅
Hoarder here, too. I have 20 unused notebooks, more ink than I can use in my lifetime and a plethora of fountain pens. But at this level I´m at peace and don´t have to get the shiny new thing. So I don´t buy more unless it is special to me. What bothers me though is the fact that I don´t want to use special inks that can´t be repurchased. I really have to get over that. There will always be nice new releases. Plus, often times the regular inks (Diamine, De Atratmentis ...) are my favorites anyway.
EF nibs use less ink. And if you use Noodlers you can usually dilute up to 30% with no problems.
I am the same and I have every one of those pens. My thing especially
is to have enough ink in the pens when I go on a trip. I draw as well as write.
Shudder - running out of ink or paper - not good! By the way, the TWSBI Vac 20A ink bottle does a great job of totally filling the pen with a couple of strokes of the piston.
There's another benefit as well. I recently finished a bottle of ink, but it's OK. The ink bottle is empty because I transferred the last of the ink from the Diamine bottle into a Vac 20A, which is still full. I've got a half dozen refills left and plenty of time to order more (and I've got other bottles of ink, too).
Those are all great pens, but I have to say that the Noodlers Ahab holds 6ml of ink. I’m sure there is even larger ink capacity than that! But if you run out of ink - well, you’re not paying attention to your pens! 😂. Thanks for sharing! Nothing against Opus, bit I’m a Pilot 823 girl!
I get wanting to hoard for fear of running out. There's an ink I love that was only made a few years in the 1940s. Still readily available for great prices, but the supply is definitely limited. (I have yet to get a bad bottle of vintage ink. Biocides in them were much more aggressive than used today, and unopened I have only encountered fading in Sheaffer Skrip red.)
Push comes to shove, in an apocalypse, betting there's still going to be plenty of dyes safe for pens. Just hope I don't ever have to mix my own inks. ('Sides, at my age, with the amount of ink I currently have, probably enough to last the rest of my life. 😁)
Fabulous video! I wonder how minuscule a Kaweco Sport converter ink amount would have looked!😅
Oh my gosh, I actually had a vile filled to show it, but changed my mind and went with the Sailor instead! It’s sooooooooo tiny. I don’t know why they even bothered making one, haha.
Or a Pilot con 40!!😂😂😂
I had that kind of creeping anxiety as well about running out of ink or paper and it lead me down a path of mixing my own ink from the most affordable but still nice enough sources and making my own journals by selecting the type of paper and buying it at the art store in large qauantities. maybe a bit too crafty but seems to have fixed that itchy feeling (also running calculations about the most economical way of using up the resources was pretty fun too :D)
also I wanted to remark upon the video being 480 and the blur effect together are making for a very nice look for the videos, matches the theme of your channel very well and overall a lovely lofi vibe to it in a way that oddly few channels on yt achieve
Haha! I have a similar way of thinking, for me I just assume one day (probably soon) materials are going to get very expensive and hard to come by and pen manufacturers will just start going out of business or pens will become so expensive that they become out of reach. I’m constantly buying doubles of pens afraid they’ll discontinue my favorites. I think I have enough ink to last the rest of my lifetime though, but it couldn’t hurt to get doubles of a couple favorites…
I love the Opus 88 (reminds me that I need to get another one in case Opus goes out of business 😂). Also, if you haven’t checked out the Moonman C4, give it a look. Similar to an Opus 88 but under $30. Definitely not as nice, but eyedropper with shut off, massive ink capacity, and could be a nice alternative to spending $120 for an Opus. Even just as a user/throw in your bag workhorse pen. Also, it has a very cool little clip that reminds me of the Shaeffer tuckaway or military clips.
The video title should be: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse
Oooh that’s good!
"you're not alone" in collecting 👍
Support group? 😂
I got my very own hack for filling my Vac700 Iris
I call it "The Syringe" xD
No kidding tho, I have a serious issue with dipping my pen into ink cuz not only I feel like I'm wasting ink (even though I know it's negligible) but I also feel like I'll stain the pen or even my hands trying to clean up after the whole procedure.
So whenever I need to refill I will use a syringe to suck up ink and inject it directly into the pen/cartridge/converter
Don't you just love the Opus 88? Of course the Pilot is my absolute favo, but the fun thing about the Opus 88 is the massive amount of ink it can carry, but also the replacement nibs are pretty affordable. So i bought a whole bunch of 'm. the fine, broad and the stub are my favourites.
My answer is to fill the pen before taking it out. I don’t travel with my pens for fear of damaging or worse, losing one of my pens. That’s what gel pens are for. I have never depleted an entire charge on any of my pens in a one sitting, if I did, I would just refill the pen. There are some ink vials designed for those on the go. 👍
I do have a few inkwells I travel with actually! They are great! I understand your fear! That would be tragic. I have lost (temporarily some pens) and have damaged one in an outing. I love the Kaweco Brass Sport for that reason, it’s so darn hardy.
Can I ask - at 01:52 you were showing the ink capacities. Where did you get the 5 year "journal" from.
After having an occasion of running out of ink during an important exam I switched to demonstrator pens aiming for the ones with the biggest capacity, but anyways I write so much that a twsbi vac700 runs out dry in 4-5 days with the trick...
Love that vac filler tip! Did you take a vac filler on a plane? I know it's recommended that pens are filled all the way or are empty, but wondering if you recall how a completely full vac filler would do. No need to research the answer if you are not sure! Just thinking out loud :)
I can understand that fear of running out of Ink while traveling, but I personally would simply get additional Pens, especially if I had that many of them.
When I think of "The world going crazy tomorrow" I think with one or two bottles of Ink and a handful of Pens, I am prepared. My fafourite Inks are Kaweco (Paradise Blue) and Graf von Faber Castell (Gulf Blue) and since I got two of the very beautiful but massive Ink Bottles of Graf von Faber Castell (75ml/bottle) and one of Kaweco (50ml/bottle), It would take at least three years to run out of Ink even if writing several pages a day (every single day!).
Id run out of Paper long before I'd have even to take care about how long the ink was going to last... Printing Paper included, I don't have more than 1000 Sheets in House... And I normally don't write on Printing paper.
Generally, I think fountain pen users are well prepared for what ever catastrophe may strike, specially if using bottled ink, which is normally not a minimal quantity in a bottle and leads often to collecting more than one can ever use up in a lifetime. But I understand what you mean, because using up the last drop of a favourite ink that is no longer available on the market is indeed a terrible thought. - Maybe I should go and get a second bottle of my favourite ink, just in case I live longer than I expected...!
(p.s. I actually like to refill my pens, so a big carrying capacity would rather cut off some of the fun with them...)
Thinking about possible desasters is not wrong though, but I would rather think about a gasoline camping cooker for making warm meals or tea, than worry about running out of ink. Don't forget to store an extra gallon of gasoline for cooking in a blackout or whatever... Food itself may be less of a problem, because there is always a package of pasta, rice and lentils and so on in a kitchen to be found. But no one thinks about the fuel for the need of sterilizing water of unknown purity, when gas cardridges cannot be obtained because the store selling them is either closed or sold them out...
You bring up a very good point! Those bottles do hold so much ink, and you’re right - probably more than a lifetimes worth!
Hahah I hope I didn’t encourage a hoarding of favorite inks! 😂 (Really I joke, no judgement here!)
Low ink capacity pens fill a niche for sure. If you like changing inks, they’re way more fun!
I had the thought of getting a second bottle of the absolute favourite before...
But, just in case, it is possible to make ink in every kitchen. A few drops of Alcohol, water, some colour source out of the garden or forest, a stove and a coffee filter at the end.
Should alcohol be used, is it safe?
@@judyanderson1329 I have never done it myself.
But the thought behind it may be, that alcohol is a very good solvant to extract what ever gives the colour to the ink. If you are not pleased by the fact that fountain pen ink contains alcohol, you could, after the extraction, heat the solution to 80°C or so, since alcohol evaporates below that. If you keep that temperature for so long that all the alcohol can evaporate, you'd get an alcohol-free ink. If any of the ingredients cannot cope with that heat, you could think of using vacuum extraction, like in wine or beer without alcohol... but do not ask me how to do that in the kitchen.
A tiny amount of alcohol could act as a conserving agent, to prevent mold or so, and it can change the flow of the poroduct.
Instead of that, you could use some form of accid or basic ingredient, if only a few drops.
Hey!! I remember you mentioning that you put caps on your ink cartridges when you travel on another video, but I can't seem to remember which one. Do you mind telling me where you purchased those caps? TIA!
I was thinking about the twsbi vac mini but feared the EF wouldn’t be fine enough-it looks pretty good here though! Especially compared to that EF nib on your Opus 88 (I also love that pen but use it with Pilot Parallel nibs)
I'm so glad it's not just me that has the 'end of the world' hoarding problem :D I do exactly the same thing with bottles of ink, terrified that there will be some sort of supply chain issue and I'll run out.
Yay! We should start a support group.
Hi! I got the clear pilot custom 823 from still e stile, an italian retailer. Not sure they ship to the US ( I live within EU) but I am pretty sure they do. Maybe worth looking into?
I don't worry at all about ink capacity. I just carry a bunch of extra ink, including cartridges. But I do have a pen that holds six milliliters of ink, and a second that holds a bit more than five, so I'm more than ready for the apocalypse.
I LOVE my TWSBI vac mini and 823, fun video! :D Someone just sold a clear 823 on the Pen Addict slack channel, you might consider joining, there are lots of 1:1 sales and deals to be had.
How about this? When you buy a bottle of your more used ink simply buy two at once thus always having a back up! I know your problem, I am the same way in some aspects of life.
With canned or dried foods I always like to have more in the cupboard than I need just in case and always, if those items are on sale I buy multiples even if I have some still left at home, same with cleaning products , soaps, toothpaste and so on, oh, and ink of course!
I know though in my case, this is not end of world reasoning, well, not in the global sense.
I don’t know your personal circumstances but at a very young age my upbringing became a single parent scenario, suddenly I was left with half the parent quota ( even though that was actually a good thing!) so though my mother worked so hard there was always a lack of money, of make do and mend, of hand-me-down.
No matter how hard we tried, there was never quite enough, no “wiggle” room.
And then at school, while all the other kids went on two or three holidays a year we had the odd long weekend away with an aunt (lovely though it was!) they had the new pencil cases, the new Parker pens given for birthdays or Christmas every year ( I had one for my entire school and college years).
So I grew up with lack, never enough of anything so as an adult though so far removed from even middle class wealth my cupboards are full , 99% on sale items, I rarely if ever buy anything at retail and have no problem at the age of 59 buying from thrift stores and I live strictly according to my means. No debt, no credit cards and have the mentality of not missing what I can’t afford.
Having enough in reserve is a good thing, having too much is a bad thing, we stand a far greater chance of no apocalypse if we think that way if that makes sense!
I now feel wealthy in so many ways but have no financial wealth but living thrifty and letting go of the need to constantly fill life with fluff but rather, fill it with what I have determined to be the essentials of what makes my life feel substantial and well lived reduces waste, false expectations and the constant feeling of lack that comes from looking at what others have and thinking I need that!
Those are the lessons learned from my upbringing and turned into a form of abundance no one can take away as they are inside me.
Running out of ink is for you a serious matter, not fluff, so honour yourself by keeping a stock of your regular inks thus the lack will then disappear and you will enjoy your writing even more😊
Oh, and thank you for your enthusiasm for Twsbi. It inspired me to buy my first new pen in decades ( though, being thrifty I bought it second hand and only used once with all the accessories unused for less than half the new price!) the Vac 700R fine nib. It is a beautiful writer and I love that I can easily fully take it apart for cleaning.
Great vid - could you put the details of your favourite ink please? Domo & Guyan? I couldn't quite hear! :D
Ah - think I have it ... Kyo no Oto!
I worry about running out of ink on the go as well. I use a lot of stub nibs and flex nibs and those puppies suck up a lot of ink to keep them purring. Luckily for me, I'm still on lockdown so my traveling is on hold for now. That ink struggle is VERY real though.
They do suck up ink for sure! I’m really sorry to hear you’re still in lockdown. Hope you’re doing okay.
It's an "ink-istential" threat I get it
Appropriately named!
To avoid your problem there’s no need to carry a large capacity pen . Before leaving home refill you pen with ink whether it be empty or not . There’s no need to carry a second pen. President Lyndon Johnson carried two Parker 51 pens at all times and filled them both with fresh ink first thing each day. .
Thanks for the ink filling hack. If you find a cure for hoarding please share on your channel 🙂
You’re welcome!
I will let you know about the cure. 😂
How do you feel about the vac mini? I am trying to decide between getting a vac mini ef and the twsbi mini classic ef nib... It looks like the grip section of the mini has a larger diameter - is it more comfortable to write with (if only it were prettier) or less convenient to clean or more annoying to post?
Beautiful >>>>.. thank you
The vacfilling trick involves exchanging fluids between the pen and ink bottle.
Anyone who has experienced, and fear, mold growing in their inks, should be aware of that.
Question for you about your TWSBI Mini. I'm looking on getting this and simply putting it in my pocket and having it clipped to my pocket edge, do you find the end of the pen would move in day to day? I'm asking cause I don't want the piston to depress while in my pants, and possibly leak. Can it be kind of "over twisted" so that its hard to turn to depress when needed, to help with any accidental depression of the piston? thanks.
Running out of ink !!?? I get it , I totally get it. Like when I am driving , I am always afraid of running out of gas.
Lol, I've heard of hoarding food, guns, ammo, medical supplies, etc for the apocalypse, but this is the first time I've heard of hoarding fountain pen ink. Are you going to be writing harshly worded letters to whom it may concern? haha. I like your way of thinking.
When I was younger I used to collect pencils because I feared to wake up one day in prehistoric times having just a few short pencils with me. I also had an affection for fountain pens, but hey, pencils are way more practical for people who suddenly wake up in 120.000 bc! Am I right??
Haha you are correct! Thank you so much for sharing, made my day.
You might actually enjoy Silverpoint or stuff like the Sun-star Metacil, if you sacrifice writing feel there are essentially inexhaustible implements. I'm this way with firestarters, probably anyone who watches more than one episode of Survivorman will get that way about firestarters lol.
@@Suiseisexy I have a better solution: take a smalk tube, make a hole in the pen, join the tube, put a needle on the other end, insert the needle in your arm, and you'll have an inexhaustible source of Red Dragon! And the magic is not over, as that ink will turn to Oxblood in two minutes! Then you can write till the end of your life, literally!
@@dariogiorgiutti9418 Why the elaborate appearance of old money? Must really be a good hustle whatever it is.
Do any of these pens leak when you take them out and about? That’s my biggest fear!! Especially with TWSBI ecos
To feed the fear, Diplomat just came out with their Nexus model that carries a whopping 3.75ml of ink!!!
Holy cow!!
do you think the TWSBI vac mini could be taken with for airline travel?
How much writing do you do? I sketch and rarely run out. Twsbi 580 more than enough.
Great vid, thanks
Fun video, thanks.
😃
With you all the way. Opus 88 and vac fillers all the way 😂
I did love this video! I have wondered what I would do with an economic collapse. I would hope to have access to my journal if waiting for the fallout or famine to do us in. Heaven forefend. I guess for me, journaling for God to read, I'd want an eyedropper fill. Take a look, assuming you have silicon grease, at the Hardy Penwrights 10-T Traveler! Duras Middle Earth Resin! The Jowo steel nib writes wonderfully! But, I hope I have the 18k nib by the end.
I understand your fear of running out of ink. 🙂
Not she wearing Oshkosh B’gosh with the Freddy Krueger sweater 😂😂😂😂
How would you describe writing with the Pilot Custom 823? Reviews are saying it "glides across the page" would you say that's accurate?
I’m sick and bored in bed and decided to do some 10 minute research to find some of Alicia’s past videos to corroborate my memory that she has always praised this pen nib:
ruclips.net/video/mAlOY2j6CRw/видео.html
0:35 “ The only pen that ever made me gasp out loud when I first put it to paper”
ruclips.net/video/VCbo7sEz7i4/видео.html
04:40 “…A wonderful nib… It is smooth and wet, while still just enough feedback to say you’re making contact with the paper. It’s just the perfect balance for me”
ruclips.net/video/340HnAzDrto/видео.html
3:09 “when I wrote with it the first time, I actually gasped out loud”
ruclips.net/video/K9zn2udKKh4/видео.html
06:00 “made me gasp out loud”
ruclips.net/video/pvfMjEIOQI8/видео.html
0:58 “took my breath away”
@@SkySpiral8 Thank you so much for your painstaking research! 🤩Hope you feel better soon! 😊
@@JCWong No problem and thanks!
I carry three pens in an EDC pen pouch just so I don't "run out of ink" during the day. It's worked so far! LOL I get it tho.
That thumbnail!!! LMAO
What's up with those carrying overalls!? That's the real deal.
It’s the perfect pen outfit ;)
You seem completely sane to me! (How are you with phone batteries 😟)
Hahahah! Well, I do have two battery charging packs… one I carry with me most of the time. 😂
I have that same thing. If you use it up, it will be gone.
It’s true! 😱