I often use my Benu broad nibs for shimmer inks.. They work really well. Currently, though, I have KWZ Sheen Machine in a Benu with a broad nib Every month I look forward to these videos. Thanks.
Hi @Calcprof - I'm finding that the Benu B nibs work so much better than any of my other #6 nib/feeds for shimmer that I'm using much more of my shimmer inks - which is a really good thing I think.
Hope your mom is doing better. I know how hard it is to be too far to visit a loved one. Journaling helps me so much. It's great that you have Manuel and the cats to help take your mind off things. Thanks so much for doing the video for us. We all enjoy hearing about what's going on with you. You are a friend! It is Monday here in Tennessee and we have 4 inches of snow by min-afternoon. Used to live in Wisconsin but haven't missed the snow. Now here we go again. Anyway, I love my BENU pens, and I try all sorts of inks in them. They come through.
Hi Cynthia - sometimes I miss the snow so much! Driving on it is the only part I don't miss. :) Tennessee must have been beautiful with your recent snow!!!
I loved seeing this beautiful cool toned palette this month!! So bright and happy.!! I also love hearing you talk to the kitties it makes me smile. Good luck during the upcoming cold!! To you and the boys 😁 and princess 👑 Continuing to think and pray for your mom and your anxiety. It’s hard, I find repeating phrases to myself like “you are safe” or whatever helps a lot
Hi @elselovesjesus - thank you very much for the continued prayers! I had not realized how bad my anxiety had gotten. I have to slow down and remember the ways to calm that down. :)
LOL for a couple of years now I've tried to limit my acquiring of ink so that I could use up what I have ... I have not been good about resisting the Inkvents but I have been MUCH better about samples and bottles in general. :) I most admire WaskiSquirrel he uses up entire bottles one at a time in each color family ... it takes time but he seems persistent. :)
Thanks Chris 👍. Hope that you're managing to stay warm. The cold didn't bother me either when I was younger. I have had the heating on 24/7 for the majority of the days since the beginning of November. We're having another freezing cold spell at the moment at -4C here at the moment, and Wednesday & Thursday down to around -8C.....snow is forecast. Roll on summer, but then I'll be saying it's too hot 😂😂😂😂
Hi Annie --- oh yikes!!! That is SO COLD. I'm not even wanting to shower it's so chilly here. Even keeping the heat at 69 and even though the back wall is now insulated and covered with new plywood, wood siding and painted. The bathroom is MUCH warmer than last year when I had to use a little electric heater to assist the room warming up enough! :) Stay warm Annie and I do feel for Daisy having to do her business outside in this weather! And you taking her out!!!! Eeeeks.
Hi Chris, thanks for the video. Just wanted to let you know that my dear friend, "B" in New Zealand, has (to my knowledge) passed away. I miss her very much. Thank you for bringing her a bit of joy in your pen videos.
Hello Chris, thank you for the video and I am glad that you made it too . I hope you got through the cold weather okay. We have had a week of minus temperatures and snow and now that is over we have a storm coming…. Winter er. I have taken to writing a lot with a Platinum President which I got about 5 years ago and sort of forgot about. What a lovely find it is. I am sorry to hear about your mum’s fall but glad that she is going well. Take care.
Hi Anne - I hope you continue to weather those cold temps and the storms. :) Take good care!!! Yes, Mom is progressing in her physical therapy but it is really challenging for her to be in a nursing home setting ... and this is the first time I've been caught unable to help in person ... with the weather and the financial issues. Being able to call direct to her room has been a relief though and she seems to be bravely dealing with each day!!!!
Always love your report cards. That Benu has a perfect ink in it. Marilyn is made for it. Super news that your mom is progressing. Stay warm. Right now I have 2 Benus, Pilot Decimo, and 3 TWSBIs (Eco, Eco-T, Swipe) inked up. My Eco-T Rosso is inked with Diamine Cardinal, an Inkvent color from 2022. My Eco Transparent Green always has Emerald of Chivor in it.
I'm so glad to hear that all your cats are settling well, and your mother is doing better! I wish best of the luck for all your family members including the cats)) I really love journaling as a way to connect with myself from the past, present, and future. I particularly find it helpful when i can articulate what I am feeling at the time and realize where it's coming from and etc. It doesn't always gives me the solution, but i figured that just knowing why im feeling the way i am feeling helps a lot! I hope your mother will continue to get better))
Hi @kitkat6341 thank you! Uncertainty is hard I think as is distance from a loved one going thru lots of challenge. This is a first for me to not (yet) be able to be on the scene helping in person with one of our parents. I find the phone to be my least effective mode of communication but I'm getting better at it - no choice. It's so true it helps a lot when we can connect the dots as to WHY we're feeling a certain way. One thing I realized this week was I had let way way too many negative thoughts influence me and they are not even true they are "what ifs" and made up! :)
Hi Chris! I'm so glad your mom is doing better! I'm in TX too - so cold right now. Our hot water heater froze today but thankfully no damage and our hot water came back around mid-day. I wonder if my cats knew the cold was coming, too. They're all indoor cats but all four of them were acting up yesterday. At the moment I've got Robert Oster Silent Night in my Lamy Safari; that ink never ceases to delight me. In the notebook I'm using the ink goes down blue when it's wet and then goes more periwinkle when it dries. My Lamy Studio has a dark blue cartridge in it, but just got a converter so I'm trying to write it down fast so I can put something fun in there. I think I have a green cartridge in my Pilot Metropolitan, because I have such issues with the bladder leaking, but hoping to try a different converter on that one soon. Stay warm, best wishes to your mom, and hope you find some peace of mind. Must be something in the air, I've been anxious too. - Anna
Hi Anna -- oh gosh I'm certainly glad your hot water heater wasn't damaged and came back to flowing again quickly! :) Stay warm!!! And take good care .... I think I may not complain about the hot weather for a long time to come!
Hi Chris! I am glad to hear that your mother is progressing and doing much better. That Diamine Early Dust is a perfect match for your Kaweco. I was happy to see your Lamy 2000 in the video. I have one in double-broad, but wish I had bought the medium; it is still a great pen, nonetheless. Those cats are always keeping you on your toes, especially your new cat, Toby. Thank you for posting the video, they are always so much fun to watch. Wishing you and your family a safe and prosperous new year. 🙂
Hi Kurt -- happy New Year! I too sometimes wish I had gotten the Lamy 2000 in M. But, the B makes a really nice letter writing pen because it has the nice stub like line variation so I stick with it! :)
Hi Chris, I really enjoy your videos and look forward to them. I purchased two Jinhao 80 fountain pens after watching one of your videos and I use at least one of them every day. I love them. I also use my X159 and the 9019 almost daily. I wrote a letter to my brother with the X159 using Writer's Blood ink on some old looking air mail stationary today. I try to write him every week and wish I could write more letters because I enjoy it. I just subscribed but I have been subscribed on my kindle fire for a long time now -- I just hadn't subscribed on this laptop because my profile name? is different. I hope you don't mind if I pray for you and your mom; I have been where you are more than once.
Thanks for sharing your "adventures" with us! Yes, I know, things are NOT always easy and we must continue to fight as we learn! I'm sorry to hear of the not good stuff, but it sure sounds like you are making it work! Well done! Cheers!
Hi @SimplyAubs -- thank you -- I'm finding I need more inner strength since Mom's fall and the increased daily challenges ... or maybe the strength is in there and I just have to keep digging deeper! :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 you are SO welcome! Thanks for sharing with us…all of it! I KNOW it’s not easy…BUT, I - myself - am learning from challenges and STILL recovering!!! Fountain Pens HELP!!!
This month... I have 18!!! pens inked! 😳 And today I expect a 7 new inks delivery 😐 Maybe I do this because I'm relatively new to the hobby. I try not to feel too bad because I also draw with the pens, but I think I need to be more reserved. I will send prayers to you and your mom! 🙏
Hi Chris, love that Diamine Aqua Lagoon. It might have to go on my want list. I’m journaling a lot with my relatively new Diplomat Aero Medium nib which I love with Aurora black in it. I might also bring my Lamy 2000 back into rotation soon. We’re at -9° right now here in Chicago…but we’re used to it! All your pens seem to be doing great with your ink choices this month!
Hi @lju5001 oh wow -9 is cold. Almost at my limit for walking back in my Vermont days when I was 50 and younger. LOL Apparently, my blood is too thin now.
Hi Chris, your videos certainly lift my spirits so thank you so much for doing them. Sorry you've had such a tough time lately, our pen hobby does provide welcome some respite doesn't it though. I've been so busy with work and childcare I have hardy done any journalling lately so your video was especially welcome. Still have a bunch of inkvent pens awaiting cleaning too. We've been cycling to school in -2 degrees Celcius last week which has been challenging, and it's suppose to get to -5 later this week. Yikes, I need better gloves. Wondering how cold it gets with you?! Our house are more built for it too I guess. Anyhow, take care and thank you as always.
Hi David -- our South Texas weather usually gets into the 40s or 50s for lows (Fahrenheit) but over the past 3 winters we've seen alarming lows in the freezing (32 degrees and below) with wind chills in the teens which our homes (many on pier and beam foundation) are not really built to withstand ..... it's a real problem with pipes under the house and such. These days we have to plan and improve things with these extremes both HOT and cold in mind. Thankfully we replaced our 20+ year old furnace which needed replacing back in November. Yikes biking always requires layers I think and a bit more face covering! I need to get a better understanding of Celcius temperatures I have none at the moment. :) Stay warm!!!!! I like snowmobiling gloves they are the warmest I've found ... my brother has some for motorcycle riding.
Love all your choices for this month, Chris! A brick and mortar stationary shop in my town is closing and I managed to grab a Visconti van Gogh Irises for a real good price. Also a Visconti travel ink well for half price! So YAYYYY! Now choosing the right ink for the van Gogh .... Any suggestions are very welcome!
Hi Janny - I wonder if TWSBI Emerald Green would look nice in your Visconti Van Gogh Irises? I'm not sure as I have not seen the pen in person. Congratulations for getting that!!! I'm sorry your stationery store is closing ... that is a real bummer and I am seeing more and more businesses here closing leaving us with big box places and the internet only. It's sad.
@@ChrisSaenz13 Hey Chris! TWSBI Emerald Green looks like it would be a great match. In my pen there's also a lot of orange, they're all a bit different I think. I put Diamine Wonderland in it from Inkvent 2021. That looks good also with the orange in the pen. It writes great! Yes, there's a lot of businesses closing over here as well. This was the only stationery store we had left. The owners are retiring, and couldn't find anyone to take over. I will have to go to another town now or just buy on the internet. It's really sad!
So I just had to order a hongdian year of the rabbit with the blade nib. In blue. I had one with a regular medium (I think)nib and loved it but the nib housing broke by the nipple and I couldn’t find a way to replace the part. I looked at an eBay seller while I watched and the price has dropped since I bought the first one so while I don’t need more pens I still ordered it. It comes from China so it might take a month to get here but I was afraid it would disappear as the year of the dragon is so close
Hi Cathie -- Oh I hope yours comes thru quickly! That's a shame the nib housing broke on your other one and is impossible to replace. That's concerning!
I often use my Benu broad nibs for shimmer inks.. They work really well. Currently, though, I have KWZ Sheen Machine in a Benu with a broad nib Every month I look forward to these videos. Thanks.
I do too!
Hi @Calcprof - I'm finding that the Benu B nibs work so much better than any of my other #6 nib/feeds for shimmer that I'm using much more of my shimmer inks - which is a really good thing I think.
Hope your mom is doing better. I know how hard it is to be too far to visit a loved one. Journaling helps me so much. It's great that you have Manuel and the cats to help take your mind off things. Thanks so much for doing the video for us. We all enjoy hearing about what's going on with you. You are a friend! It is Monday here in Tennessee and we have 4 inches of snow by min-afternoon. Used to live in Wisconsin but haven't missed the snow. Now here we go again. Anyway, I love my BENU pens, and I try all sorts of inks in them. They come through.
Hi Cynthia - sometimes I miss the snow so much! Driving on it is the only part I don't miss. :) Tennessee must have been beautiful with your recent snow!!!
I loved seeing this beautiful cool toned palette this month!! So bright and happy.!! I also love hearing you talk to the kitties it makes me smile. Good luck during the upcoming cold!! To you and the boys 😁 and princess 👑
Continuing to think and pray for your mom and your anxiety. It’s hard, I find repeating phrases to myself like “you are safe” or whatever helps a lot
Hi @elselovesjesus - thank you very much for the continued prayers! I had not realized how bad my anxiety had gotten. I have to slow down and remember the ways to calm that down. :)
You are too hard on yourself. Breathe. You will get it all done - you seem to always manage to get things done. You're very organized. Don't sweat it.
Thank you Terri I have been working at getting myself calmed down. It has been a challenging time and I need all the resilience I can muster. :)
thanks for sharing
My eye kept going to your ink shelf. I’m amazed at how much knit you seem to have used from your Robert Oster ink bottles. There is hope for me yet!
LOL for a couple of years now I've tried to limit my acquiring of ink so that I could use up what I have ... I have not been good about resisting the Inkvents but I have been MUCH better about samples and bottles in general. :) I most admire WaskiSquirrel he uses up entire bottles one at a time in each color family ... it takes time but he seems persistent. :)
Hi Chris! I love your wall calendar! The cats looking at chickadees 😊Love your videos so much!
Thank you - oh yes, I saw the calendar in Half Price Bookstore back in November and knew it was perfect for that spot!
Thanks Chris 👍. Hope that you're managing to stay warm. The cold didn't bother me either when I was younger. I have had the heating on 24/7 for the majority of the days since the beginning of November. We're having another freezing cold spell at the moment at -4C here at the moment, and Wednesday & Thursday down to around -8C.....snow is forecast. Roll on summer, but then I'll be saying it's too hot 😂😂😂😂
Hi Annie --- oh yikes!!! That is SO COLD. I'm not even wanting to shower it's so chilly here. Even keeping the heat at 69 and even though the back wall is now insulated and covered with new plywood, wood siding and painted. The bathroom is MUCH warmer than last year when I had to use a little electric heater to assist the room warming up enough! :) Stay warm Annie and I do feel for Daisy having to do her business outside in this weather! And you taking her out!!!! Eeeeks.
Thank you for making the video!
Hi Chris, thanks for the video. Just wanted to let you know that my dear friend, "B" in New Zealand, has (to my knowledge) passed away. I miss her very much. Thank you for bringing her a bit of joy in your pen videos.
Oh I'm very sad to hear this. I know she and I also corresponded in the past too. But I thank you for mentioning this. I had wondered!!!!
Hello Chris, thank you for the video and I am glad that you made it too . I hope you got through the cold weather okay. We have had a week of minus temperatures and snow and now that is over we have a storm coming…. Winter er. I have taken to writing a lot with a Platinum President which I got about 5 years ago and sort of forgot about. What a lovely find it is. I am sorry to hear about your mum’s fall but glad that she is going well. Take care.
Hi Anne - I hope you continue to weather those cold temps and the storms. :) Take good care!!! Yes, Mom is progressing in her physical therapy but it is really challenging for her to be in a nursing home setting ... and this is the first time I've been caught unable to help in person ... with the weather and the financial issues. Being able to call direct to her room has been a relief though and she seems to be bravely dealing with each day!!!!
Always love your report cards. That Benu has a perfect ink in it. Marilyn is made for it.
Super news that your mom is progressing. Stay warm. Right now I have 2 Benus, Pilot Decimo, and 3 TWSBIs (Eco, Eco-T, Swipe) inked up. My Eco-T Rosso is inked with Diamine Cardinal, an Inkvent color from 2022. My Eco Transparent Green always has Emerald of Chivor in it.
Hi Kathy! I was just thinking of trying Emerald of Chivor in a stub nib TWSBI Eco. :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 A good choice. My transparent green is a stub. Emerald of Chivor is always in it.
I'm so glad to hear that all your cats are settling well, and your mother is doing better! I wish best of the luck for all your family members including the cats)) I really love journaling as a way to connect with myself from the past, present, and future. I particularly find it helpful when i can articulate what I am feeling at the time and realize where it's coming from and etc. It doesn't always gives me the solution, but i figured that just knowing why im feeling the way i am feeling helps a lot! I hope your mother will continue to get better))
Hi @kitkat6341 thank you! Uncertainty is hard I think as is distance from a loved one going thru lots of challenge. This is a first for me to not (yet) be able to be on the scene helping in person with one of our parents. I find the phone to be my least effective mode of communication but I'm getting better at it - no choice. It's so true it helps a lot when we can connect the dots as to WHY we're feeling a certain way. One thing I realized this week was I had let way way too many negative thoughts influence me and they are not even true they are "what ifs" and made up! :)
Hi Chris! I'm so glad your mom is doing better! I'm in TX too - so cold right now. Our hot water heater froze today but thankfully no damage and our hot water came back around mid-day. I wonder if my cats knew the cold was coming, too. They're all indoor cats but all four of them were acting up yesterday.
At the moment I've got Robert Oster Silent Night in my Lamy Safari; that ink never ceases to delight me. In the notebook I'm using the ink goes down blue when it's wet and then goes more periwinkle when it dries. My Lamy Studio has a dark blue cartridge in it, but just got a converter so I'm trying to write it down fast so I can put something fun in there. I think I have a green cartridge in my Pilot Metropolitan, because I have such issues with the bladder leaking, but hoping to try a different converter on that one soon.
Stay warm, best wishes to your mom, and hope you find some peace of mind. Must be something in the air, I've been anxious too.
- Anna
Hi Anna -- oh gosh I'm certainly glad your hot water heater wasn't damaged and came back to flowing again quickly! :) Stay warm!!! And take good care .... I think I may not complain about the hot weather for a long time to come!
@@ChrisSaenz13 I am definitely happy to have a little more warmth today!
Hi Chris! I am glad to hear that your mother is progressing and doing much better. That Diamine Early Dust is a perfect match for your Kaweco. I was happy to see your Lamy 2000 in the video. I have one in double-broad, but wish I had bought the medium; it is still a great pen, nonetheless. Those cats are always keeping you on your toes, especially your new cat, Toby. Thank you for posting the video, they are always so much fun to watch. Wishing you and your family a safe and prosperous new year. 🙂
Hi Kurt -- happy New Year! I too sometimes wish I had gotten the Lamy 2000 in M. But, the B makes a really nice letter writing pen because it has the nice stub like line variation so I stick with it! :)
Hi Chris, I really enjoy your videos and look forward to them. I purchased two Jinhao 80 fountain pens after watching one of your videos and I use at least one of them every day. I love them. I also use my X159 and the 9019 almost daily. I wrote a letter to my brother with the X159 using Writer's Blood ink on some old looking air mail stationary today. I try to write him every week and wish I could write more letters because I enjoy it. I just subscribed but I have been subscribed on my kindle fire for a long time now -- I just hadn't subscribed on this laptop because my profile name? is different. I hope you don't mind if I pray for you and your mom; I have been where you are more than once.
Thanks for sharing your "adventures" with us! Yes, I know, things are NOT always easy and we must continue to fight as we learn! I'm sorry to hear of the not good stuff, but it sure sounds like you are making it work! Well done! Cheers!
Hi @SimplyAubs -- thank you -- I'm finding I need more inner strength since Mom's fall and the increased daily challenges ... or maybe the strength is in there and I just have to keep digging deeper! :)
@@ChrisSaenz13 you are SO welcome! Thanks for sharing with us…all of it! I KNOW it’s not easy…BUT, I - myself - am learning from challenges and STILL recovering!!! Fountain Pens HELP!!!
This month... I have 18!!! pens inked! 😳 And today I expect a 7 new inks delivery 😐 Maybe I do this because I'm relatively new to the hobby. I try not to feel too bad because I also draw with the pens, but I think I need to be more reserved.
I will send prayers to you and your mom! 🙏
Hi Muriel - thank you .... Mom can definitely use the prayers ... she's progressing but it's a very hard experience for her!!!!
Hi Chris, love that Diamine Aqua Lagoon. It might have to go on my want list. I’m journaling a lot with my relatively new Diplomat Aero Medium nib which I love with Aurora black in it. I might also bring my Lamy 2000 back into rotation soon. We’re at -9° right now here in Chicago…but we’re used to it! All your pens seem to be doing great with your ink choices this month!
Hi @lju5001 oh wow -9 is cold. Almost at my limit for walking back in my Vermont days when I was 50 and younger. LOL Apparently, my blood is too thin now.
Hi Chris, your videos certainly lift my spirits so thank you so much for doing them. Sorry you've had such a tough time lately, our pen hobby does provide welcome some respite doesn't it though. I've been so busy with work and childcare I have hardy done any journalling lately so your video was especially welcome. Still have a bunch of inkvent pens awaiting cleaning too. We've been cycling to school in -2 degrees Celcius last week which has been challenging, and it's suppose to get to -5 later this week. Yikes, I need better gloves. Wondering how cold it gets with you?! Our house are more built for it too I guess. Anyhow, take care and thank you as always.
Hi David -- our South Texas weather usually gets into the 40s or 50s for lows (Fahrenheit) but over the past 3 winters we've seen alarming lows in the freezing (32 degrees and below) with wind chills in the teens which our homes (many on pier and beam foundation) are not really built to withstand ..... it's a real problem with pipes under the house and such. These days we have to plan and improve things with these extremes both HOT and cold in mind. Thankfully we replaced our 20+ year old furnace which needed replacing back in November. Yikes biking always requires layers I think and a bit more face covering! I need to get a better understanding of Celcius temperatures I have none at the moment. :) Stay warm!!!!! I like snowmobiling gloves they are the warmest I've found ... my brother has some for motorcycle riding.
Love all your choices for this month, Chris! A brick and mortar stationary shop in my town is closing and I managed to grab a Visconti van Gogh Irises for a real good price. Also a Visconti travel ink well for half price! So YAYYYY! Now choosing the right ink for the van Gogh .... Any suggestions are very welcome!
Hi Janny - I wonder if TWSBI Emerald Green would look nice in your Visconti Van Gogh Irises? I'm not sure as I have not seen the pen in person. Congratulations for getting that!!! I'm sorry your stationery store is closing ... that is a real bummer and I am seeing more and more businesses here closing leaving us with big box places and the internet only. It's sad.
@@ChrisSaenz13 Hey Chris! TWSBI Emerald Green looks like it would be a great match. In my pen there's also a lot of orange, they're all a bit different I think. I put Diamine Wonderland in it from Inkvent 2021. That looks good also with the orange in the pen. It writes great!
Yes, there's a lot of businesses closing over here as well. This was the only stationery store we had left. The owners are retiring, and couldn't find anyone to take over. I will have to go to another town now or just buy on the internet. It's really sad!
So I just had to order a hongdian year of the rabbit with the blade nib. In blue. I had one with a regular medium (I think)nib and loved it but the nib housing broke by the nipple and I couldn’t find a way to replace the part. I looked at an eBay seller while I watched and the price has dropped since I bought the first one so while I don’t need more pens I still ordered it. It comes from China so it might take a month to get here but I was afraid it would disappear as the year of the dragon is so close
Hi Cathie -- Oh I hope yours comes thru quickly! That's a shame the nib housing broke on your other one and is impossible to replace. That's concerning!
Why don't you have more subscribers Chris?
I've been overwhelmed with astonishment at how many I do have actually!!! :)