# 3 last week’s pens: week 8 of 2026
Lately, a three-pen rotation has been keeping me plenty happy. There’s enough variation to pick and choose, but I can realistically use up most of the ink in a week too. Last week turned out to be the week of green pens and cool-toned inks. This made it quite pleasant to use the pens as a part of a palette as well, not only as individual pens. It has also been a fountain-pen heavy week, and I did not find myself reaching for anything else of note.
The best part of the whole situation was that I managed to finish the ink in all three pens within the week! All three pens being cartridge-converters helped a lot with this, despite the fine-nib heavy assembly. Let’s get into it!
Jinhao 80 -EF- Diamine Majestic Blue
I love saturated inks in thin nibs, it’s a love that has been carried over from using gel pens, and this pair really offers the best of it. The rich dark blue base of the ink flows well, and is easily legible, which made it indispensable for quick notes during class. Unexpectedly from a very thin nib, this ink even manages to show some red sheen where the ink pools in letters. Overall, I enjoyed this, even though I have to add that a drop of water did destroy a chunk of my notes in class. I never learn...
Pilot Custom 742 -SF- Diamine Earl Grey
It’s also a Diamine-heavy week, with the unexpected grey ink making an appearance. For years now, my eye has been on mnmnlscholar’s appreciation of grey inks, and sometimes I dip my toes in it too. Diamine Earl Grey is a safe bet for greys, hitting the middle of the road in saturation level, and leaning a little purple. The Pilot’s soft-fine nib lets it shade gently, without putting pressure on to show massive gradients or huge tonal shifts. The only downside of the soft-fine nib is that it confines my use of this pen to my desk, where I am most comfortable, as you trade in control for the soft writing experience.
Kaweco AL-Sport Olivine -M- Taccia Uguisu Olive
This was my least used pen this week, despite loving the ink and the pen separately. I’m in the mood for fine nibs and saturated inks, which makes this pen & ink pairing not particularly appealing to my mood. It still got use, especially when I was journalling and just wanted to enjoy the old Tomoe River paper I use to see all the shading and a tiny bit of rusty sheen. The muted green ink and the medium nib are going back to the shelf for a rest, once my mood changes, they’ll see a lot more use once again.
Thank you for reading!
