Push/Pull | Secret Moss Fountain Pen Ink | 20ml Vial

A bright moss green for the bleakest days of winter.

Secret Moss is named for the small, stubborn plants that grow in the crevices of trees and keep going through the worst of winter. It's a bright green with yellow in it, a greener relative of Push/Pull's Slime, and the maker suggests it as a highlighting ink as much as a writing one.

Push/Pull is an artist co-operative in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood: an art supply shop, gallery, and small press that started in a basement studio in 2013. They mix their own watercolors, gouache, and fountain pen inks in the store, a batch at a time. That's the appeal and the caveat in one: these are small-batch, hand-made inks, so the color can drift slightly from one batch to the next.

Push/Pull formulates it to dry fast, which is a real help for left-handed writers whose hand follows the line across the page, and it is water resistant: a splash won't wipe out the page, but it isn't a waterproof ink.

20 ml vial. Works in fountain pens, dip pens, and with a brush. Hand-mixed in Seattle.

• Color — A bright moss green for the bleakest days of winter
• Fast drying — formulated by the maker to dry quickly, which helps left-handed writers
• Water resistant — survives a splash; not waterproof
• Fountain pen, dip pen, or brush — one vial covers writing, lettering, and illustration
• 20 ml vial — roughly twenty converter fills
• Small-batch and hand-mixed — made in Push/Pull's shop in Ballard, Seattle; color can vary slightly between batches

How to fill a pen from the vial

1. Fit a converter to your pen and twist or press it all the way down to push the air out.
2. Dip the nib into the vial until the whole nib and a little of the section are under the ink. The vial is slim, so tilt it slightly as it gets low, or use a blunt-tip syringe to draw ink straight into the converter.
3. Draw the ink up slowly, then hold the pen nib-up and turn the converter back a touch to push out any air bubble.
4. Wipe the nib and section with a paper towel, cap the vial tightly, and write.

How to clean your pen

1. Flush whenever you change colors, and always before a pen goes in a drawer.
2. Empty the converter back into the vial or the sink, then draw up cool water and expel it until it runs clear.
3. Let the pen dry nib-down on a paper towel before refilling. Cool water only: no hot water, alcohol, or solvents.