Pairings Party: Nahvalur Original Plus Powder Blue, Wearingeul Undine

Even if I’ve reviewed a product before, I like to return to it every few years if the company keeps it in the lineup. It doesn’t have to be changed much, if at all, but I do want to see if anything is different as the product matures. And let’s be clear, I’m a simple man. I see fun colors, I’m interested.

That’s the case with the Nahvalur Original Plus in Powder Blue. It caught me by surprise in 2023 with how nice it was, and it has continued to be one of the best mid-range, bang-for-your-buck, pens going.

In testing the Powder Blue Original Plus, it performs exactly as my first one in Matria White. That’s a good thing. The only difference is that I chose the 1.1 mm nib for the new model, as opposed to the Fine nib in the … original.

Outside of color and nib, the Original Plus is known for using a vacuum filling mechanism. That’s not something often seen at this price point, and it works great. Filling is easy, it seals off well when not in use, and cleaning is a breeze because you can unscrew the grip section and run water through the barrel.

Nahvalur releases new colors of the Original (Piston-filler,) and Original Plus two or three times a year, including the just launched full color Original in translucent and opaque barrel models at the Washington D.C. Fountain Pen SUPERSHOW this past weekend. I still prefer the clear barrel/color cap and finial style, but all of them look great.

When choosing an ink for Powder Blue, my default choice would normally be Pink, but I went more matchy-matchy with Wearingeul Undine. I’m not sure of the story behind the ink, and reading the product description I’m not sure I want to, but wow is this a nice color. It’s a bit of a dual shader, with a colorful Turquoise/Teal combo (is that a thing?) with a lot of Pink/Purple shading. It flows great from the 1.1 mm nib.

Recommending both of these products is easy. In thinking about the Original Plus, it is a $63 pen (with some sale options at $47,) and I think that is fair for what you get in this market. As I was thinking about it in the context of other pens in this price range, would I choose the Original Plus, or the Pilot Prera?

As a bonafide Pilot stan, I think it’s a coin flip. The Prera has a better nib, and the Original Plus has a better filling system. Both come in fun colors, and should hold up as well as plastic barrel pens can.

Where would you rank the Original Plus versus the Prera, or the TWSBI ECO or 580? It’s right there in the mix for me, and I’m glad to have another solid option in this range.

(These products were purchased from Dromgoole’s and Goldspot, respectively, at a discounted price.)

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Papier Plume x Stationery Universe First Blossom Ink Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

At the 2026 Chicago Pen Show, Tori Woods of Stationery Universe released her First Blossom collection. Inspired by the blooms in her neighborhood, she collaborated with Papier Plume to make these inks a reality. And like a dingbat, I kept forgetting to buy the First Blossom inks. Thankfully, she was at the St Louis Pen Show, and so was the Bossman, which means free ink for me! That also means I gotta earn my keep, so let’s get to it!

Papier Plume x Stationery Universe First Blossom and First Blossom Shimmering.

I love that Papier Plume dips the caps in wax and uses a wax seal on top! The one on the right is the Shimmering one - even with a rapid flip, the shimmer dispersed pretty quickly.

As usual, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring cards and also Wearingeul Instant Film Color Swatch cards, using a Kakimori steel dip nib and writing samples were done primarily with a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib and a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib. The notebooks used for writing samples are from an Odyssey Notebook, with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be shown below that with a “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or faster on more absorbent papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light, or with drier or finer nibs.

Side note: Photographing inks is not easy. My photo editing skills are mediocre at best, so I prioritize swatch/writing sample accuracy over paper or background color accuracy. Even then, it doesn’t always work out – it could look great in the Lightroom app, and then less great when I export to my phone, or great on phone, and less great when I upload to the Bossman’s Dropbox, etc.

First Blossom and swatches.

First Blossom is an ink that is difficult to describe: pinkish purple, or purplish pink, or purple leaning muted hot pink, maybe muted magenta? Either way, it is a lovely color. In the TWSBI Go, the line is more saturated while the drier Vista shows off a bit of the shading. There was no sheen from either pen. It had average to fast dry times in both pens.

First Blossom writing sample.

You can see the First Blossom’s shading from the Vista (top) versus a slightly more saturated writing sample from the Go.

You get more shading when printing due to the pooling of ink at the bottom/end of the stroke. As you can see, there is shading from both pens, with more showing from the Vista than the Go.

Pretty fast dry time for First Blossom. I was surprised that the ink dried a little faster from the Go initially, but both were dry in around 30 seconds.

Chromatography from First Blossom - a colorful spread of magenta/purple at the base, to blue, then to a peachy pink up top.

I will save the comparison photos for later since the two inks have the same base, the only difference being shimmer vs none.

First Blossom Shimmering and swatches.

First Blossom Shimmering has the same base color ink as the above First Blossom, but with the addition of rose gold shimmer particles. Lamy Safari-based pens, like the Vista, can be a bit ink-stingy with their nib/feeds (one of the reasons why they tend to lean drier compared to other pens) - this has the added effect of making shimmers less obvious in the Vista writing sample. Friction-fit TWSBIs like the Go, Eco, Swipe, have a more generous flow, resulting in more shimmer flowing onto the paper. The rose gold shimmer, while lovely, is subtle and difficult to see against the pink-toned ink, and was very difficult to photograph. You need more heavy-handed swatching to get the shimmer to show through.

The parts that look like white specks in the upper middle section are actually the shimmer particles. There are a few random specks throughout this swatch.

Some more impossible-to-photograph flecks of shimmer.

First Blossom Shimmering writing sample.

First Blossom Shimmering doesn’t shimmer much from the Vista (top) and is occasionally there from the wetter Go. As with the non-shimmering version, the shading is more noticeable from the drier Vista.

Printing with the First Blossom Shimmering. Same difference in shading as above.

Shimmer PSA: As with any shimmer in any pen, periodically “rotate” the pen nib up and down, so the shimmer particles have a chance to disperse. If your feed looks saturated with shimmer, or seems to be clogging the feed, you can try to gently flood the feed with ink (either by gently twisting the converter or piston, or lightly pressing the spring or button, if applicable) and then retracting the converter/piston/spring/button to “suck up” the shimmer particles back into the converter/barrel. Always do this over a sink or paper towel, not over your precious writing or art 🙂

This time the TWSBI’s dry times took longer than the Vista, no idea why.

Chromatography from First Blossom Shimmering - Same chromatography as above - magenta to blue to peachy pink.

When I said that I didn’t know what color First Blossom is, I wasn’t joking. I looked through the Pinks in my Col-O-Rings and my Purples (where the Magenta swatches typically are) and neither really fit the bill. Robert Oster Cherry Blossom (representing dusty pinks) and Wearingeul Cheshire Cat (on team magenta) were close but no cigar.

Here are some inks from both the pink and magenta/purple parts of the spectrum that kinda look similar to First Blossom (top middle) and First Blossom Shimmering (top middle): KWZ Meet Me in St. Louis 2026 MOBOT (Missouri Botanical Garden) (fairly close match but a bit too dusty pink), Inkebara Pale Violet (too purple, but I do love this color), Ink Institute x GourmetPens’ Saskatoon Berry Pie (too purple and too bright, but probably the closest otherwise), and Robert Oster Violet Dreams (too purple).

Both of the inks generally behaved well, though they are a touch on the dry side, so I recommend using them with wetter pens if you want a more saturated line and especially if you want to see more of the shimmer. Both inks also cleaned out easily. I like seeing how different pens can produce similar but different results with the same ink.

Some pens I’d match with these inks (clockwise from upper left): TWSBI Fluorite, Pelikan M600 Pink, Lamy AL-Star Lilac, Platinum 3776 Nice Lilas. (I’m currently leaning towards inking Shimmering in the TWSBI since I have a juicy Broad nib in it.)

The 30 ml ink bottles of the Stationery Universe First Blossom ink cost $13/bottle for non-shimmer and $15 with shimmer. Definitely worth checking out if you like this unique color!

(Disclaimer: These inks were purchased at the 2026 St. Louis Pen Show from Stationery Universe at regular price.)

Piper Trading Company Ink Review

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I was excited to pick up the Piper Trading Company inks at the Philly Pen Show earlier this year and I’m finally getting around to reviewing them. Thank you to Scott Franklin of Franklin-Christoph and Piper Trading Company for providing these inks for review.

Piper Trading Company (PTC) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin-Christoph and had its first show debut at the St. Louis show last year. Full disclosure: I have worked behind the Franklin-Christoph tables for many years and also for PTC’s first show last year and will again be doing so at this year’s St. Louis show. As with all of my reviews, my views are my own and I was not compensated by F-C or PTC for this review.

This is PTC’s first foray into inks; there are 4 inks so far: Fickle Pickle, Firefox, Kissin’ Cousin, Mysteria Wisteria. They are sold in 30ml/1ounce bottles and cost $10 per bottle. The four bottle set is currently unavailable.

Piper Trading Co Inks: Fickle Pickle, Firefox, Kissin’ Cousin, and Mysteria Wisteria.

I like to do a label swatch on the top so I know what color it is in my ink drawer without pulling out the bottle.

As usual, all swatches were done on Col-O-Ring and Wearingeul Instant Film Color swatch cards using a Kakimori steel dip nib and writing samples were done primarily with a Lamy Vista with a steel Medium nib and a TWSBI Go with a Medium nib. The notebooks used for writing samples are from an Endless Recorder and Odyssey Notebooks, both with 68 gsm Tomoe River paper. Dry times for the Vista are shown with “(V)” and the Go will be shown below that with a “(T)”. Dry times may be a bit slower on 52gsm TR or wetter nibs or faster on more absorbent papers like Rhodia, copy paper, Cosmo Air Light, or with drier or finer nibs.

Fickle Pickle is a medium olive green that is neither too light, nor too dark. It is a nice shading ink that is almost a chromashader with hints of brown in heavier swatches. Flow was average.

Fickle Pickle on Wearingeul (top) and Col-O-Ring cards.

Fickle Pickle writing sample.

The shading is more prominent from the Vista (top), while the Go is a bit more saturated. I think it is more noticeable in the cursive writing samples.

Look at that neon green pop of color atop the turquoise and pinks below!

Inks similar to Fickle Pickle - Diamine Sugar Snap, Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun (a bit too yellow), KWZ Green Gold #2, Montblanc Daniel Defoe Palm Green (too dark and yellow), Rohrer & Klingner Emma (the closest match), Colorverse Brane (too yellow), and Papier Plume Honey Island Swamp Monster (slightly too dark).

Firefox is a slightly orange-leaning red that can show up as an almost pastel coral pink with drier nibs. Flow felt slightly dry in the Vista but not in the Go.

Firefox swatches as a red with a hint of orange.

Firefox writing sample.

I was surprised at how light the ink was from the Vista (top). I even dipped the nib and scribbled on some scratch paper and it was still this light. Compare that to the Go’s writing sample (bottom) which more closely matches the swatches.

Firefox’s chroma has an electric pop of yellow at the very top which gives this that hint of orange. The rest of the chroma is red, pink, and some magenta near the bottom.

Inks similar to Firefox: Kyo-iro 03 Flamin Red of Fushime (closest match), Pelikan Edelstein Garnet and Monteverde Sweet Life Strawberry Shortcake (both a bit too dark). I thought I’d have more ink matches but my inks are either much darker, more red, or more orange.

Kissin’ Cousin is a bright magenta that also has a bit of lightness/softness to it. It had average flow despite it being a shader (which can sometimes feel dry). Dry time was pretty fast too.

Kissin’ Cousin swatches are almost hot pink, but not quite.

Kissin’ Cousin writing sample.

While both pens show off shading, it is more prominent from the Vista (top) and moreso with print than cursive (which is usually the case with shaders).

Kissin’ Cousin’s chromatography starts off at the bottom with magenta, then separates into a peachy pink, lavender, and finally purple.

Inks similar to Kissin’ Cousin: J Herbin Rose Tendresse (too bright, too purple), Wearingeul Cheshire Cat (closest match), Organics Studio Unicorn Blood Shimmer (too dark), Diamine Jingle Berry (too dark, too red), Pennonia x Amarillo Stationery Rosa Mexicano and Pineider Cyclamen (both too bright), and Sailor 50 States Louisiana (too dark, too purple).

Mysteria Wisteria is a vivid blue-purple with good flow and very fast dry times.

Mysteria Wisteria swatches.

Mysteria Wisteria writing sample.

It’s very subtle but there is a wee bit more shading in the Vista (top) than the go, but as usual, it’s more noticeable with print than cursive.

Mysteria Wisteria’s chromatography starts pink, then separates out before showing off its lavender to bright purple colors.

Inks similar to Mysteria Wisteria: Sailor Ultramarine (touch too purple), Diamine 160th Athol Violet and Diamine Rainbow’s End (both are a bit too muted and purple), Kobe 56 Rokko Shichidanka and Pennonia Arvacska are both good matches (the Kobe is a touch too dusty).

All of the inks had average flow, with the exception of Firefox in the Vista, which I’m going to chalk up to the pen, since it was fine in the Go. Can’t decide between Fickle Pickle and Mysteria Wisteria as my favorites of the bunch. At $10 for a 30ml bottle, they are a good value especially if you don’t already have similar colors. You can buy Piper Trading Company inks online or at the St Louis Pen Show next weekend. Please stop by and say hi if you’re going to the show!

(Disclaimer: Thank you to Scott Franklin for providing these inks for review. All other products are my own.)

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