30 Fountain Pen Inks in 30 Days – #30Inks30Days Challenge

Last April 2019, I participated in the 30 Inks 30 Days challenge. It’s an Instagram challenge hosted by Tom from InkJournal.com. He challenges fountain pen enthusiasts (who have an intensive collection of inks) to use a different fountain pen ink each day for 30 days. The objective of this challenge is to encourage fountain pen enthusiasts to use the inks that they already have in their collection – “to expand the horizons of fountain pen ink usage”. This is also a great way for both participants and non-participants to discover new inks for them to try.

Read all about it on Ink Journal!

What? 30 Inks?

I asked the same question when I came across this challenge. I thought that having 30 bottles of inks was too much for a lifetime but then I realized that the inks come with the hobby.

Yes, it’s possible to have a collection of at least 30 inks – mostly through ink samples (1ml-4ml)! Although, there are some who really have more than 30 bottles of ink in their collection.

• Read: Best Fountain Pen Inks for Beginners

How to Participate

1. Fill your pen with ink
2. Use inked pen
3. Take a photo and upload it on Instagram with the hashtag #30Inks30Days and tag @inkjournal.
4. Clean/flush your pen and go back to step 1
5. Bonus: Explore #30Inks30Days and find new people and inks!

Tip: You don’t have to use one pen for the whole month. If you have more, you can ink all of them with different inks and use each one on different days.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means if you use the link(s) to purchase the item(s) below, I will receive commission for advertising on my site (at no additional cost to you!).

Why and How I Participated

I decided to take on this challenge for 2 reasons: to motivate me to update my ink journal and try my ink samples. I use fountain pens daily – I use one for bullet journaling/planning and I also use different ones for morning pages (3 pages of streams of consciousness). Using different inks and pens each day has been part of my routine for months so #30Inks30Days served more as a motivator for me rather than a challenge.

Prior to the challenge, I already had at least 10 pens that were already filled with different inks. I used those 10 inks for the first few days before re-inking them. On the 11th day, I started using pens that were easy to clean and used cartridge converters. I was rotating between 2 Lamy Al-Stars, a Pilot Metropolitan, a Kaweco Perkeo, and the Jinhao x750. I also used the inks that are more difficult to clean (monster sheening inks and shimmering inks) during the last week because I didn’t want to jeopardize the properties or the quality of the ink that will precede it.

For the challenge, I used the Elia Note (a Tomoe River notebook) for morning pages and MD Notebook for the ink swabs.

My 30 Inks for 30 Days

With my fountain pen ink collection, a third of them are bottled inks and the rest are samples. I didn’t use inks that were overrated unless I haven’t really tried it before (like the Noodler’s Apache Sunset or Diamine Ancient Copper). I wanted to share inks that I think needed more attention so that others could discover new inks.

1. Platinum Carbon Black – Lamy Safari
2. Jacques Herbin Amethyste de L’Oural – Noodler’s Ahab
3. Sailor Ink Studio 760 – Jinhao x750
4. Colorverse Miss Baker – TWSBI 580AL
5. Pilot Iroshizuku Tsukushi – Pilot Metropolitan
6. Sailor Ink Studio 670 – Parker 45 Flighter
7. Coloverse Able – Lamy Al-Star
8. Sailor Yukiakari – Lamy Al-Star
9. Lamy Turquoise – TWSBI Eco
10. Sailor Ink Studio 223 – Conklin Duraflex
11. Sailor Ink Studio 830 – TWSBI 580AL
12. Herbin Poussiere de Lune – Jinhao x750
13. Platinum Preppy Pink Cartridge
14. Herbin Vert de Gris – Kaweco Perkeo
15. Sailor Ink Studio 264 – Lamy Al-Star
16. Diamine Ancient Copper – Pilot Metropolitan
17. Robert Oster Aqua – Lamy Al-star
18. Noodler’s Apache Sunset – Pilot Metropolitan
19. Lamy Violet – Jinhao x750
20. Robert Oster Caffe Crema – Speedball dip pen
21. Robert Oster Fire and Ice – Conklin Duraflex
22. Diamine Bilberry – Kaweco Perkeo
23. Diamine Scarlet – Pilot Metropolitan
24. Organics Studio Alkaline Aqua Shimmer – Jinhao x750
25. Diamine Pumpkin – Kaweco Perkeo
26. Organics Studio Copper Turquoise – Lamy Al-star
27. Robert Oster Gold Antiqua – Parker 45
28. Diamine Oxford Blue – TWSBI Eco
29. Noodler’s Lexington – Pilot Metropolitan
30. Organics Studio Ernest Hemingway – Kaweco Perkeo

Interpretations of the Challenge

There are plenty of ways to go about the challenge. I have seen a lot who draw out the calendar on their favorite fountain pen friendly paper and track the inks (like a Habit Tracker) that they each day by using that ink to write on that date. Some do ink splatters and ink swabs. Some use it as their “ink of the day” for journaling. Some do writing samples a page a day (like what I did with my fountain pen ink journal). Some even combine it with other writing challenges like the #RockYourHandWriting prompts!). See some examples below.

Daily Tracker (Calendar view)

Writing Samples

Ink Swabs and Ink Splatters

#30inks30days x #rockyourhandwriting

What I’ve Learned – New Discoveries and My Favorites

What I love most about this challenge is learning new inks that I’ve discovered from others and also inks that I have always wanted to try.

• Because of this challenge, I discovered that Midori MD paper is GREAT for fountain pen ink! The paper is thick enough to resist bleeding from large ink drops/splatters and ink swabs. The paper as good as the Tomoe River. It really brings out the ink’s best characteristics like the sheen, just like the Tomoe River.

• Within my collection, I uncovered new favorites like the Organics Studio Copper Turquoise, Diamine Oxford Blue, Diamine Bilberry. I also was able to try my Platinum Preppy and loved writing with it so much! I even updated my Best Fountain Pens for Bullet Journaling post because of that.

• Noodler’s Apache Sunset is cool but it takes a looooong time to dry!

• I also felt underwhelmed by ink that I have been dying to try (Noodler’s Lexington Gray). I like the color but when I used it on paper, it wrote too thick on a pen that’s supposed to write thin lines (Pilot Metropolitan, Fine nib). Apparently, that’s normal for the “eternal” inks (waterproof/forgery proof) because the ink has to “bond” with the paper so that it would be able to resist water and other chemicals. That is something that I wouldn’t have known had I not posted about this.

Another great thing is that I was able to start conversations with other people in the fountain pen community! I was refreshing to hear their opinions and learn from others who know more about fountain pen inks than I do.

Participating in this challenge also kickstarted my stationery review series on the blog! The very first one was on the Sailor Ink Studio 670 (yellow). Check that out if you’re interested too.

I can’t wait for the next challenge! I might participate in another if there would be one by the end of the year.