Looking into new horizons, with Colorverse’s Matter
I went with adventurous pen and ink choices this week. Rarities and wild combinations of pens and nibs and inks. After a week in my penvelope and on my work desk, this week’s seven are traveling with me to the Philly Pen Show. I try to bring pens and inks that folks might not otherwise get a chance to handle in person.
This week’s currently inked is stocked with hits. The Nakaya and Montblanc and Pelikan all have sentimental value — and are hard to find in regular circles. The Visconti is a pen design that blows up social media, and so is exciting to see in person. And the Karas and Able Snail are similar but at lower price points.
Colorverse’s New Horizons set is populated with dark and muted colors. A deep blue, a grass green, an earthy purple, and a blush brown. Matter offers a mid-toned grey with green undertones that highlight the Horizons inks’ earthy bases. And Ume Murasaki is a deep pink-red that accents the Horizons core with a muted pop of red. A careful balance.
Two grey ink pairings. Two different nibs with the same ink: Colorverse’s Matter. The Visconti EF creates light, whispy writing. The Montblanc EF leaves mid-toned grey lines — narrower lines than from my Visconti.
Finding a purpose for both is a fun challenge for myself. The multiple personalities of Matter.
Grey/Black
Visconti Homo Sapiens Blizzard (EF). Colorverse Matter. Colorverse is a light, painted grey with strong shading at the ends of letterforms. The ink darkens after two or more lines of writing. Likely due to an imperfect magnetic seal in the cap. The whispy gradient lines are fun for personal writing (reading notes and journaling). And the subtler colorway suits meetings responsibly.
Montblanc 149 LeGrande Le Petit Prince & Fox (EF). Colorverse Matter. Colorverse is a murky, green-hued grey in this EF nib. Writes consistently and shades moderately. The narrow lines are true to size for European EF. Excellent for task management and detailed notetaking. The Montblanc’s flashy pen design may derail meetings, so this is a desk writer.
Blue/Teal
Pilot Prera Slate Gray (M). Colorverse Kuiper Belt. Kuiper Belt is a deep, dark blue in this Pilot M nib. Consistent, moderate ink flow is tailor-made for quick writing tasks like scratch notes, brainstorms, and fast moving meeting notes. And the disciplined the line this pair writes is suited to the paper marking circus. The diminutive Prera is also my pocket carry fountain pen this week — and during the pen show.
Earth Tones
Karas Kustoms Decograph Winter Wonderland (EF). Taccia Ukiyo-e Ume Murasaki. This week’s palette already has a pale taupe-ish earth tone ink in Arrokoth, so I opted for this wet EF Bock nib to steer Ume Murasaki to a wine dark sea red. A dark, professional hue that works well in meetings, for accent reading notes, and in lesson plan outlines. Boom.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-tamenuri (M Naginata-togi, by Tokyo Station Pens). Colorverse Pluto and Beyond. Pluto and Beyond is a rainforest wet writing partner. We’re in true B territory with the Nakaya’s widest line width. A definite perk given the writing tasks I intend this combo for: journaling, teaching reflections, commonplace notes, and letter writing. All four tasks are slow writing tasks which can accommodate extended drying times.
Able Snail Classic Large in Powder Blue (B). Colorverse Arrokoth. Arrokoth’s light taupe-blush-brown is a functional accent color when paired against mid and dark hues grey inks. The dusty lines are dark enough to remain readable — thank you, B nib. And the ink color creates easily scannable contrast to dark colors. As such, this is an accent combo: meeting notes, reading notes, and some journaling.
Wild Cards
Pelikan m805 Stresemann Anthracite (F CSI, by Custom Nib Studio). Colorverse Pioneer Container. I dig when a pen and ink seem meant for one another. Destined for inking. Pioneer’s purple is muted. The generous Pelikan feed bring a out fun shading and infrequent haloing. Narrow lines bursting with personality are wonderful for lesson plan outlines, meeting notes, reading notes, manuscript drafting and —of course — journaling.
