Taking myself out of my pen and ink choices
I am, at long last, back to a regular work schedule. Wahoo. Thanks again for everyone who checked in to see how I’m doing. We’re a warm, comforting bunch. Glad I’ve met you all!
Last week found me with only one pen inked. Uno. Solo. Odd — for me. Clearly the time for a new currently inked has arrived.
Additionally, a full December of using Diamine’s Inkvent left me out of practice with choosing which inks to use. So I took the Gygax route to select this week’s pens and inks. I have a full write-up on the methodology here. It’s fun and well-worth trying out at least once. Dragons not required.
In short: dice rolls randomize my pen and ink selections. Then I pair up each ink, pen, and nib with the coming week’s projects in mind. The results this week are fantastic! It’s great to feel excited about writing.
A full slate of six pen and ink pairings this week. One grey ink in an EF nib. That’s a ‘duh’ for me. One blue in EF and M — have to love a multi-tasker nib. A purple in an EF. And three earth tones — go figure.
Definitely not a “crit-one.”
Grey/Black
Visconti Homo Sapiens Blizzard (EF). Birmingham Slag Grey. This pairing has grown to like one another in the two weeks since inking the Homo Sapiens. Smooth and reliable with a moderate amount of shading. Slag’s green undertones also match well with my Musubi’s cream colored paper. This is my daily driver for the week. Task management, scratch notes, reading notes, lecture notes, and lesson plans. Basically everything.
Blue/Teal
TWSBI 580-ALR Prussian Blue (Predator Hybrid, by Nibgrinder). Jacques Herbin 1798 Kyanite du Népal. The M side of this Predator grind brings out the bright side of Kyanite. The EF side produces a wet, disciplined dark-blue line — which still shows off shimmer and subtle pink sheen. A Zoom and phone meeting pairing. Excellent for lecture notes as the shimmer keeps writing legible while my notebook sits, often steps away, on a lecturn. Lesson plans, lecture notes, journaling, reading notes, thank you notes.
Earth Tones
Lamy Safari Blue Macaron (B). Colorverse Brane, Glistening. The cap’s seal on this particular Lamy is not air-tight. This leads to a small amount of drying out between writing sessions. The result, with a glistening ink, is clogs. The pen cleans easily and so clogs are quickly dispersed. But this pairing is best relegated to longform writing sessions and journaling, during which I can quickly floss tines without hassle.
Visconti Homo Sapiens Silver Age (F CI, by Nibsmith). Ferris Wheel Press Candy Marsala. Early signs point to this pairing as my weekly standout combo. Marsala halos to a deep maroon and shades up to a light terracotta. Writes a healthy F line within the Visconti feed. Marsala covers up the CI grind’s sharp edges. The result: a smooth, if generous pairing. The amount of ink relegates this combo to coated paper, otherwise one risks bleeding. So: lesson plans, journaling, and reading notes.
Pilot Custom 74 Forest Green (EF). Sailor Rikyu-cha. A precise EF line with a healthy amount of tooth. Pilot’s gold nib is soft enough to coax shading out of Rikyu-cha, even in such a narrow line. Perfect for detailed note taking. Rikyu-cha’s green-brown is dark enough to serve as a fitting task list manager, should the Visconti run empty mid-week. Reading notes, pocket notes, lesson plans, meeting notes, backup daily driver.
Wild Cards
Wing Sung 601 Battleship Grey (EF). Monteverde Rose Noir. A pairing born for accenting — meeting notes, reading notes, lecture notes, all of the notes. Smooth, moderately wet. Shades well and dries in a reasonable amount of time. The 601’s snap cap also lends the pair to quick scratch notes and, for a change, marking my progress on tasks. A great send-off for my final fill of Rose Noir.
