Top 7 Must-Have Fountain Pen Accessories

As a budding fountain pen addict, I’m always looking for new ways to elevate my writing, but… I don’t always have the budget for new pens & ink. Luckily, there’s a whole universe of fountain pen accessories that can do just that, without breaking the bank.

In this post, we’re going to be diving deeper down the rabbit hole, and sharing some of our most loved and most underrated fountain pen accessories that we think every stationery lover deserves to try.

Midori Paintable Pre-Inked Stamp

These Paintable Pre-Inked Stamps by Midori are both sooo cute, and so functional. If you’re someone who’s into journaling, and loves to make aesthetic and personalized spreads, but you don’t have the time to go full-Pinterest mode every day, these are absolutely perfect. Since I struggle drawing a straight line so much that I’ll chuck my pens at the wall… I’d say these are for me.

I love that there are so many different varieties to choose from. Some of them are super practical - like this “To Do List” and “Calendar” stamp. And some of them… are less practical - but still super adorable and fun. And they all give you lots of room to be creative.

The “paintable” part of these stamps comes from the fact that they’re all designed with plenty of negative space, so you can channel your inner five-year-old and turn your journal into a coloring book! And since these are “pre-inked”, you don’t need a separate ink pad to be able to use this. Midori says that these stamps last for up to 1000 impressions - so even if you use this every single day, it’ll be awhile before you have to restock.

Esterbrook Blotter Paper

Here’s a riddle - what’s black and white and red all over? … That’s right! It’s your notebook smeared with fountain pen ink because it took wayyyy too long to dry. Sometimes, you just don’t have the patience for your more watery inks to settle on the page, and that’s ok - our fountain pen forefathers already invented a solution for this.

If you aren’t already familiar, blotting paper is a specialized type of paper that is super absorptive, and specially designed to pick up excess ink. Just lay it on top of your writing, give it a quick dab - without moving the paper - lift it up, and voila! Your page is now totally dry.

I especially love Esterbrook’s take on blotting paper, because not only is it super effective, but it’s also super gorgeous and fun. They collaborate with brands and artists like Bungubox and Sakuradragon to make these stunning prints. You almost don’t even want to use them - maybe they’re better up framed on your wall.

Wearingeul Swan Elixir Fountain Pen Ink Flow Additive & Restorer

Moving on to something a little bit more inky, and perhaps unexpected - Wearingeul’s Swan Elixir. If you’ve never heard of this before, this is essentially a magic potion to help cure your stale, dry inks.

Fountain pen inks are kind of like living things - they can change gradually overtime. Since they’re water based, small amount of water will evaporate off of your ink over time, even if you keep it properly sealed. And there is also a natural settling of the dye components, especially in shimmer inks. This all causes ink to become gradually thicker & more viscous, which can hamper the flow mechanism of a fountain pen.

The Swan Elixir counteracts this aging effect on your ink, by slightly chemically modifying the ink’s components to make it wetter, which ultimately improves the ink flow once you load it in your fountain pen. You only need to add a few drops, more than that will make the ink too runny. So one bottle can go a long way.

Endless Leather Folio A5

If you’re someone who likes to take your notebooks on the go, and especially if you tend to travel with an army’s worth of pens, then a compact folio system is a must have. And Endless has designed the folio to end all folios. Let’s unpack all the features:

The first thing we notice is the gorgeous, soft leather finish on the outside. To open up our folio, we first have to get past this double zipper closure. I haven’t seen something like this on many notebook covers, which is why I love this one so much. Many many times, I have fallen victim to chucking too many things in my bag and my notebook accidentally gets opened and the pages get crushed, so I think this would solve a lot of problems for me.

Now that we’re inside - there’s a lot going on here. On the left side, we have five pen loops, that all appear to be slightly different sizes, and have a bit of stretch to them. There’s also a few little slots on here, where you could keep business cards, stationery notions, notes from your lover lost at sea. And this piece flips over, for a larger loose items storage space on the left.

In the middle, we have a bonus pen loop, bringing us to a grand total of six pens that can be stored in here. And on the right, there are these two massive stacked pockets, great for storing loose paper, or securing your notebook by its back page.

Esterbrook New York Botanical Garden x Moomin Brass Bookmark

You’re really going to want to bookmark this next accessory. I think it’s really a legen-DAIRY one. It really MOOVEs me.

Esterbrook just came out with this limited edition collaboration piece between The New York Botanical Garden and everyone’s favorite Finnish cartoon character, Moomin. Created for the New York Botanical Garden’s “Summer of Moomin” exhibition, it’s shaped like a jumbo-sized fountain pen nib, and features an etched print of Moomintroll writing in his journal.

With its shiny brass finish, this is an UDDER-ly adorable addition to your writing or reading.

Dominant Industry x Goldspot Ink Muddler

These last two accessories go hand in hand. First up, we have the mini (but mighty) Dominant Industry x Goldspot Ink Muddler.

Anyone who has an ink obsession absolutely needs one of these. It’s a dual ended tool - on one side, we have this flat, rounded disk - that’s the ink muddler. Pigmented or shimmer ink particles tend to settle, which is why you’ll often see people give it a quick shake before loading up a pen. However, this method often causes air bubbles to form, which can make their way into the ink well. Instead, you can use the ink muddler to stir your inks, which blends the formula without overly agitating it. This is especially useful for shimmer inks, and it can also doubly be used as a swatching tool, which is my personal favorite function for it.

On the other side, we have this funky little spiral section with a pointed tip - that’s a glass dip pen. You can dip this side into a bottle of ink, and the ink will catch in the little spiral grooves. As you write with the pen, the ink slowly flows down the ridges, to the point of the pen, and onto the paper. This is a great tool if you want to test out an ink, without actually having to ink up your pen. Or - if you like using shimmer inks, but don’t like clogging & cleaning your nib feed, a glass dip pen gives you the best of both worlds.

Wearingul Ink Color Swatch Book

And last - but certainly not least - we have one of my personal favorites: The Wearingeul Ink Color Swatch Book.

I mentioned before that you can use an ink muddler to swatch your inks… but where exactly are you swatching them? Wearingul specially designed this notebook for exactly that. Each page has 9 empty ink bottles that you can fill ink with your ink of choice. There are also lined sections underneath each bottle, so you can label your swatches. The notebook has 40 sheets, so you can test up to 360 different inks here.

One thing to note with swatching is that every ink will look and behave a little bit different depending on the paper. The paper used in this notebook is Wearingul’s signature Impression Paper, which is notable because it’s 200gsm (grams per square meter), and SUPER thick. It’s specifically crafted to showcase all of the character of your inks. So your ink might not look like this on all paper, but it gives you an even playing field for comparison.

Don't feel limited by our top picks for fountain pen accessories. The beautiful thing about the fountain pen hobby is that there are so many ways to make the act of writing personal to your workflow, taste, and aspirations. We hope this post opened your eyes to the wide variety of accessories to help enhance your daily creative practice.

Honorable Mentions

 

We’ll wrap it up with few honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut for our top 7 - but really hold their own in terms of style and function - so we just had to include them:

Rhodia Pen Loop

The Rhodia Self-Adhesive Pen Loop sticks onto your notebook, refrigerator, your neighbor’s dog - basically wherever you want to put it (but I’d recommend a notebook). If you’re prone to losing your favorite pen when it’s time to journal, this is the perfect way to keep the two together. You just peel the backing off of the adhesive section, and stick it on. And it comes in 24 different colorways, perfect for that extra layer of personalization.

Tom's Studio Butterfly Pen Rest

This brass pen rest by Tom’s Studio is not only super practical, but has a sleek, mid-century modern feel. It’s got a lovely satisfying weight to it, and can hold up to 3 pens at once. Overall a great and beautiful piece to add to your desk setup.

Dominant Industry Measure My Pen MM Pad

The Dominant Industry Measure My Pen MM Pad is essentially a ruler for fountain pens. designed to make it easy to measure nib sizes and line widths. If you’re looking for precision in your penmanship, or if you want a standardized way to compare your nibs, this is a uniquely clever way to do it.

Author Priya Mehra

Priya has always been surrounded by fine pens and stationery—a consequence of growing up at the Goldspot Pens office. But, it was only until after she graduated from college that she found an appreciation for journaling, planning, and putting pen to paper. She now writes blog articles to support a growing stationery addiction.

Back to blog