Van Dieman's 2026 - Fairy - 100ml Shimmering Fountain Pen Ink

August 2026: Fairy

There are fairies at the bottom of the garden. But whether you should follow them is another question entirely.

For centuries, fairies have occupied that peculiar place between beauty and danger, familiar enough to inhabit our childhood stories, yet strange enough never to be entirely trusted. Long before the tiny, winged fairies of Victorian illustration and modern fantasy, European folklore told of the fae as mysterious beings belonging to a world that existed alongside our own. They might offer gifts, play tricks, lead travellers astray, protect a particular place, or punish those careless enough to offend them.

Across Celtic, English and broader European traditions, there was never really one definitive kind of fairy. Some were household spirits, some belonged to forests, hills and waterways, and others were powerful supernatural beings whose motives could be difficult for humans to understand. Encounters with them were often governed by peculiar rules. Accepting the wrong gift, entering the wrong circle, revealing a fairy secret or simply failing to show sufficient respect could have consequences.

Over the centuries, that older folklore gradually mingled with literature, art and the Victorian fascination with the supernatural. Fairies became smaller, more delicate and increasingly winged, appearing among flowers and moonlit forests as beautiful little embodiments of the natural world. It is this meeting point between the old and the new that inspired Fairy, our August 2026 Ink of the Month.

At first glance, Fairy is a wonderfully soft dusty pink-lilac, but it refuses to remain quite that simple.

The base is a strong shader, moving from delicate, almost powdery pink-lavender washes into deeper pools of mauve and muted violet. There is a very mild multichromatic quality hiding within it too. It is deliberately subtle rather than dramatic, allowing cooler greyed-purple undertones to emerge around shaded areas and edges, particularly on papers that encourage the ink to separate.

Paper makes an enormous difference to Fairy. On one page it can appear light, rosy and almost ethereal; on another it becomes cooler and more subdued, with dusky mauve and violet gathering through the heavier strokes. Tomoe River allows those variations to spread and mingle beautifully, while more absorbent papers can draw the colour toward a softer and more uniform pink-lilac.

Within our existing range, Moon Jellyfish is perhaps its closest relative, although Moon Jellyfish runs hotter and brighter. Snowy Mountain occupies similar territory too, but leans further into mauve. Fairy settles between them with a softer, dustier character of its own.

And then there is the shimmer.

Fairy contains a carefully balanced mixture of gold, silver and purple shimmer, which together produce something quite different from any one of those colours alone. Across the dried ink, the three combine into a luminous champagne-gold finish. In direct light it can completely transform the page, flashing brightly across broad strokes and pooled areas before retreating again as the angle changes.

The effect is particularly lovely because the shimmer does not simply sit on top of the colour. Against the cool pink and mauve beneath it, the warmer champagne tones create an almost pearlescent contrast. In softer light, Fairy is a delicate dusty lilac shader scattered with fine points of light. Turn the page toward the light and suddenly the same writing glows in champagne gold.

There is no sheen, leaving the shading, subtle colour variation and unusual three-part shimmer to provide all of Fairy's character.

Belinda created the artwork entirely by hand, painting the moonlit forest exclusively in Van Dieman's inks before creating the fairy herself in a combination of Van Dieman's inks and pencil, placing her within a hazy woodland of violet trees, mist and moonlight.

Fairy is delicate without being sugary, pink without being simply pink, and shimmering without sacrificing the character of the ink beneath. Like the creatures that inspired it, its appearance depends very much upon where, and how, you happen to encounter it.

Base Colour: Dusty pink-lilac to soft mauve, with strong shading and very mild multichromatic variation into cooler violet and greyed-purple tones.

Sheen: None.

Shimmer: A blend of gold, silver and purple particles that combine on the page to create a luminous champagne-gold appearance.

Pen Recommendation: Medium, Broad or Stub nibs will best reveal Fairy's shading and champagne shimmer. Wetter-flowing pens are particularly well suited to bringing out the deeper mauve tones and subtle colour variation.

Ink of the Month Special

As always, our Ink of the Month comes with a little extra.

Buy any 10 bottles of ink before the end of August and receive Fairy FREE.

It is our way of saying thank you to those who keep their collections growing month after month. The free bottle will be added automatically when your order qualifies.

Offer valid while stocks last and during August only.