Ink Flight #23 Reveal + Giveaway

At the close of 2018, and the second year of our Ink Flight journey, we'd first like to thank all our subscribers, especially those who have been in this since the beginning. It is with this fond appreciation for all of you that we happily present this month's ink selection for December's Ink Flight #23.

Back on Ink Flight #7, we introduced you all to Japan's Platinum Mix Free inks. These inks are formulated to be mixed and blended to create your own unique recipes of color. We even held a fun contest where folks posted their own creations online to be voted on. This month, we took it upon ourselves to craft our own batch of ink colors inspired by the holiday season.

Through a process of trial and error, sampling and swabbing, we created a set of 7 "holiday blend" exclusive inks for our subscribers. Here's a rundown of the inks in this month's Flight, along with the recipe so you can create it at home.

Douglas Fir
This deep green is a reminder that the vibrancy of life persists through the changing seasons.  Recipe: 5 parts Leaf Green, 1 part Aqua Blue, 1 part Aurora Blue, 2 parts Smoke Black, 3 parts Sunny Yellow.

Pumpkin Pie
What's sweeter than a dessert shared with friends and loved ones? Don't forget the coffee and the whipped cream topping! Recipe: 2 parts Silky Purple, 3 parts Sunny Yellow, 3 parts Earth Brown, 4 parts dilution solution.

Sugar Plum
Dream sweetly in this velvet purple ink. Use it with a wet nib on Tomoe River paper to get some golden sheen. Recipe: 3 parts Silky Purple, 2 parts Cyclamen Pink, 2 parts Smoke Black, 1 part Flame Red.

Candy Cane
This pinkish-red has a bubbly personality that loves listening to the radio stations that play non-stop holiday music. Recipe: 3 parts Cyclamen Pink, 3 parts Flame Red, 3 parts Sunny Yellow, 1 part Silky Purple, 6 parts dilution solution.

Silver Bells
This lightly-saturated gray has a beautiful shading quality and understated appearance on the page. Recipe: 1 part Smoke Black, 8 parts dilution solution.

Snowmageddon
This icy light blue is like the cold horizon after a massive snowstorm. Recipe: 4 parts Aqua Blue, 1 part Smoke Black, 7 parts dilution solution.

Burnished Gold
Sit by the fire and write with this warm and inviting brownish-amber ink. Recipe: 8 parts Sunny Yellow, 2 parts Earth Brown, 1 part Smoke Black, 5 parts dilution solution.

There have been people asking whether we would release the recipes or have the ink available for sale in pre-mixed containers. With all the craziness that this time of year brings, we did not have the time to mix more ink. However, we do have extra samples of certain colors and spare bottles of Platinum Mix Free ink. While we won't list them individually for sale at this time if you'd like to make a request for a particular color, please do contact us via e-mail or through social media and we'll work something out.

A big "Thank You" goes out to Chris Saenz for this wonderful video unboxing of Ink Flight 23! Please subscribe to her channel and get her to 1,000 subscribers!

Box Extras: JB's Perfect Pen Flush, Chromatography Paper & Microfiber Towel

Fountain pens get dirty. You use ink in them. You may forget one was inked and put it back into the drawer. That ink might have had shimmer particles. Back when he worked for Richard Binder, Jim Baer would see a steady influx of pens coming in for repair that were gummed up with old, dried ink and couldn’t write. Using a formula dating back to the 1930s, Jim experimented to find the best surfactants and came up with the original (and best) pen flush.

Made in the USA, JB’s Flush will help get most stubborn dirty pens clean again. But it isn't just for pens that are gummed up with ink. The flush will help remove traces of the old color from the pen entirely. Lastly, the flush can help revive a pen's flow that has gotten weaker over time. The "Be Kind to your Tines" microfiber cloth keeps pens looking their best with a good polish.

The chromatography paper strips are a fun way to play with your inks. Using the paper, a dab of ink, and water, you can separate and isolate the base dye colors that make up the ink. Here's an example timelapse of how "Douglas Fir" looks like when subjected to a chromatography test.

To find more information on how to use chromatography paper with pen ink, type the link below in your web browser to read the post that inspired us: bit.ly/fp-chroma

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GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY (USA shipping addresses only)

Leave a comment below to let us know what you think about December 2018's Ink Flight, the InkJournal holiday blend inks, or the box extras.  We will pick one random commenter to win an upcoming January 2019's Flight Box on Wednesday, December 26th at 8:00 pm. My sincere apologies to our international friends, we will only ship this giveaway to USA addresses.

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Previous Ink Flights (Ink Flight #1 - Noodler's, Ink Flight #2 - Robert Oster Signature, Ink Flight #3 - KWZ, Ink Flight #4 - J. Herbin, Ink Flight #5 - P.W. Akkerman, Ink Flight #6 - Papier Plume, Ink Flight #7 - Platinum Mix-Free, Ink Flight #8 - Franklin-Christoph, Ink Flight #9 - Organics Studio, Ink Flight #10 - Monteverde, Ink Flight #11 - Krishna, Ink Flight #12 - Caran d'Ache, Ink Flight #13 - Rohrer & Klingner, Ink Flight #14 - Blackstone, Ink Flight #15 - Colorverse, Ink Flight #16 - De Atramentis, Ink Flight #17 - Aurora & Montegrappa, Ink Flight #18 - Krishna, KWZ, Papier Plume, Ink Flight #19 - Diamine, Ink Flight #20 - J. Herbin, Ink Flight #21 - Robert Oster Signature 80's Collection, Ink Flight #22 - 3 Oysters)