A stationery yin to work’s yang
The two weeks leading into November break are filled with obligations. The end of a marking period coincides with preparing for a week without classes. Lesson sequences need to wrap up neatly. Late assignments can use grading. Research conferences are scheduled, and often re-scheduled. You get the idea.
Busy days and late working nights temporarily superseded blogging time. But we’re back at it today — my first day of break. And I couldn’t be more excited. Hooray!
This week’s currently inked rolls onward with last week’s large pens. All six remain inked. Plus one: the Visconti Homo Sapiens Silver Age.
The balance of nib sizes is still perfect for the detailed marking, editing, and note taking my days have been filled with of late. Four EF and F nibs alongside two broader nibs, one Zoom and one M SIG.
I have a nib prepared for small and large writing. Round nibs for quick writing. Crisp grinds for flair. Handy.
The palette could use a second accent ink — a pop of color to contrast last week’s unsaturated colors. Only Arima Amber worked well for accenting last week.
I turned to a color that is new to me: Yoseka’s Origin 01. A green with excellent shading. Yoseka is in my smaller Homo Sapiens. The Midi Silver Age offers a fun contrast to the week’s enormous sextet.
My ink palette still heavily favors earth tones: two greens (one dark and now one bright), one brown and one orange.
Smiles abound when I open my penvelope. A stationery yin to work’s yang.
Grey/Black
Visconti Homo Sapiens Blizzard (EF). Birmingham Slag Grey. Weekly daily driver. This pair has grown into its own. It’s smooth, shades a bit ,and dries quickly enough to prevent smearing. Plus, Visconti’s magnetic cap makes for easy and quick uncapping for scratch notes. Tracking tasks during those days I teach. Tracking habits, recipes lists and progress while cooking, and building out next week’s work spreads. Oh, and scratch notes.
Blue/Teal
TWSBI 580-ALR Prussian Blue (EF/M Predator Hybrid, by Nibgrinder). Kyo-no-oto Aonibi. Continuing on as my go-to pocket pen and ink combination. The multitasker Hybrid Predator nib demonstrates Aonibi’s two personalities. The EF side is a dusty cobalt blue. Dries quickly. A wannabe accent color that is just too dark to suit the role. The M is a high shading blue that makes longer writing sessions fun. Pocket notes, scratch notes, meeting notes, lesson plans, and journaling (with the M side of the nib).
Earth Tones
Sailor Pro Gear Graphite Lighthouse (Z). Monteverde Gemstone Moonstone. A meeting notes powerhouse. The Zoom nib accommodates quickly jotted notes. A beastly teaching notes pairing. The broad, wet lines allow me to draw out notes while working one-on-one with students in large letter forms that students three feet away can easily read. And the reverse side lays down a dry EF line that suits accents and clarifying details. Teaching notes, lesson plans, lecture notes, meeting notes, and journaling.
Visconti Homo Sapiens Silver Age (F CI, by Nibsmith). Yoseka Origin No. 01. The newbie this week. Yoseka’s green shades strongly. The sharp CI nib brings out both the dark and light sides of No. 01. The old-style palladium nib works best with a light touch. My default writing pressure is fairly firm. As such, this pair works best (for me) for slow writing tasks: journaling, reflections at the ends of school days, and reading notes.
Monteverde Giant Sequoia Brown (EF). Monteverde Jade Noir. This pair is wet enough to highlight the noir in “Jade Noir.” These two lay down true EF-width lines that dry to a black-adjacent dark green. As such, this pair is well-suited to serve as a daily driver backup. Until then, I’ve turned to this pair for lesson plan outlines, reading notes, discussion notes, and some meeting notes.
Mythic Aeschylus Black & Red (M SIG, by Franklin-Christoph). KOBE Arima Amber. An excellent combination for marking papers and editing manuscripts. Arima Amber is a moderately bright burnt orange. The SIG ensures lines are wide enough to easily stand out against this week’s predominantly unsaturated ink choices. Additionally, this is a solid choice for lecture notes, lesson plans, and reading notes. And journaling.
Wild Cards
TWSBI Vac700R Iris (F CSI, by Pen Realm). Birmingham Cranberry Twinkle. A frequent marking pair. I turned to this pen for all but one of my research students’ review meetings. We mark up their current drafts and collaboratively apply a rubric to their work. Cranberry is all over my students’ manuscripts. The CSI is forgiving and still manages noticeable line variation. Marking papers, meeting notes (accents and to-dos), journaling.
All in the family
For those who celebrate: happy thanksgiving! Grateful you all found your ways here — JP
