Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

One of the inks I've been using recently takes inspiration from a work of literature that I'm sure many are familiar with. For me, it was required reading for 9th grade English in school. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was my first exposure to his work, and it's also the inspiration for Wearingeul's ink of the same name. While the source material is about an epic struggle of human versus beast and nature, the ink focuses on the serene but unknown beauty of the sea.

The Old Man and the Sea is a deep teal ink with lots of shading and a heavy dose of red shimmer to mimic the sparkly reflection of the sun off the ocean's surface. I've used many Wearingeul inks at this point, and I've come to expect great performance. This ink is no exception.

I've really enjoyed the color of this ink. The dark teal is a pretty shade and there's enough shading to produce a good amount of color variation in even small nibs. Comparing this ink swatch to others in my collection, I was surprised by how similar it is to Sailor's Yama-dori. The main difference is that the Wearingeul ink has an additional red shimmer component.

While I'm not a huge fan of shimmering inks, it's really well-done with this ink. The ratio of glitter particles to ink is on the lower side to ensure it never overwhelms the beautiful teal color, and the choice of using red glitter is a fantastic complimentary color. There are many blue/green inks that use a red sheen for the same reason — they just go well together.

Writing with this ink is a joy. It feels smooth on the nibs and papers I've tried, and it flows well. Since this is a shimmering ink, you need to remember to shake the bottle well and ink your pen immediately to get a good sampling of red glitter. If you forget to shake the bottle, you will barely notice the red shimmer when you start writing.

The ink also dries in what I'd call an average amount of time. It's not setting any records (on either end of the spectrum), but it falls right in the middle at around 20-30 seconds to become smudge-proof. Not an ideal candidate for anyone that wants a fast-drying ink. That said, I think the color and shimmer is worth the extra hassle of waiting for the ink to properly dry if you know you won't be in a hurry. For left-handed writers, it will be challenging to keep your hand from smudging this ink as you write — even if you're using a really small nib.

It's been so long since I read The Old Man and the Sea, but I'm pretty confident that I can say that I've enjoyed using this ink for the past several week more than I enjoyed reading and writing about the novella. To each their own, right? Wearingeul really did a great job at designing an ink that pays homage to the source material, while also making it a fantastic ink on its own rite.

The Old Man and the Sea is $22 for a 30ml bottle, or you can pick up a small sample vial to try out first for a few bucks. Regardless of what you think about the book or the author, this ink is a great color that looks great on paper. If you like how it looks, you'll really enjoy using it.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Yamamoto Paper A5 Fountain Pen Friendly Collection Vol.2 Giveaway

If you have ever wanted to try out several different types of fountain pen friendly paper all in one notepad, then the Yamamoto Paper Fountain Pen Friendly Collection is exactly what you need. This A5 pad contains 10 sheets of 5 different types of paper, and is a blast to play with. I have one pad to give away this week, so read the rules below and enter away!

Thank You Atlanta, I Think?

(Note: I write a weekly newsletter for Pen Addict Members. This week, I’m sharing my opening few paragraphs to Issue #470, where I recap the Atlanta Pen Show. I think it is important to share, because I think we, as a stationery community, are at an inflection point as to what constitutes a good pen show. If you like what you read and want to see more, this is a tiny fraction of the additional content I create for Members. For $5 a month, you can help support my work. Thank you!)

Like the jelly I get for my toast at Waffle House, my feelings are mixed on the Atlanta Pen Show. On one hand, it was amazing and I had a fantastic time seeing my friends, looking at products from well-known and new vendors alike, plus hanging out during the day, and at night. On the other hand, the event itself has become outdated, and without a change, I worry about the future of my home show.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. As I sit and write this newsletter on Sunday morning, the Atlanta Pen Show website still has most of past year’s information posted. Aside from the dates for the 2025 event, and the hotel info, nothing else is current. That means vendors like Dromgoole’s and Vanness Pens are listed from 2024, but not here for 2025.

That’s only the beginning of the problems.

Despite what was on the Seminars page of the website, there were none. And by none, I mean literally zero classes or seminars were available for attendees. The only events were the Friday cookout for weekend pass holders and vendors - minus the beer and wine drink tickets the show always provided in the past - and the Saturday night pizza party for weekend pass holders and vendors, which I didn’t attend and don’t have any feedback on yet.

This was the most phoned in show I’ve ever been to, with zero attempts to modernize. And y’all know I love Jimmy Dolive, the owner of the Atlanta Pen Show, so it pains me to see a show on the decline like this, especially when us as stationery fans have never been more spoiled with choice.

I expect more, but I’m under no illusion it is going to change any time soon.

On the positive side of the ledger, aside from the opening hour on Friday, the crowd seemed good through Saturday afternoon. And, throughout my conversations with many vendors, it sounded like business was happening as normal. That’s a good sign that the local community will still support this show, even if it is more of a transactional event. Atlanta doesn’t have a traditional fountain pen store, so this show helps out the locals greatly.

And I had a genuinely fun time because these events are always about the people for me. That side of the ledger was 10 out of 10. As per usual, pen people are the best people.