u/pattycular

I thought I had my mind made up. But now I’m finally at the verge of buying my first gold nib fountain pen, hesitation strikes. Luckily this subreddit is full of experts on the topic, so I turn to you. Which pen would be your pick and why?

I’ve had my eye on this ink for a while but it’s seemingly impossible to find a full sized bottle without paying import fees higher than half the worth of the actual ink. (sorry Americans, I know I am not allowed to complain in the EU) I managed to get a sample, and new month, new ink for my journal. This ink is absolutely phenomenal.

Pen: TWSBI Eco Bronze/Caffe <ef>
Ink: Birmingham Pen Company - Burlywood
Paper: Hobonichi Techo a6 (Tomoe River)

My favorite part of journaling in my Techo is that each months basically begs for a new ink color. I ordered a sample of this ink two months ago and I couldn’t wait to use it!

It’s also funny how I started my journal with stickers and drawings, but the longer I keep it, the more I keep my pages text only. And I’m completely content with it :)

Pen: TWSBI Eco Bronze/Caffe <EF>
Ink: Birmingham pen company - Burlywood

I started my Hobonichi Weeks nearly 5 months ago (back in December), and… I’m happy and oddly proud to report that absolutely nothing has changed since then.

Same small drawer pouch, same essentials.

Same layout. No tweaks, no redesigns, no “this time it’ll be perfect” updates. Not because I couldn’t think of improvements—but because it worked exactly the way I set it up from the start.

Somehow, I accidentally skipped the entire trial-and-error phase and landed straight on a system that fits my life. Turns out the real planner success story (for me, at least) is not constantly reinventing it… but having no reason to. This feels like a huge win and I really wanted to share this with you ❤️