Pen roll and pen case storage etiquette
I keep returning to whether there is a correct way to keep pens in a case. Is there a “right” way to put pens inside a case? How would we go about gauging the cost-benefit of different methods? Would the difference be appreciable enough to even matter? Is there an etiquette to pen cases?
One of my favorite parts of sharing my weekly reflections with folks through this blog is that I never know where my mind will be by week’s end. My background in sociology trained me to dig into the “small stuff.” The parts of what we do that folks don’t readily think about.
This week, I’ve been circling the “small stuff” of storage etiquette. It’s not a question of right or wrong. It’s a curiosity about how other people store their pens for travel — and how they came to those preferences. And bringing what my preferences are to the surface.
Clips out. Color order, from left to right. Ignoring maker and size
Clip out or clip in? One variety that strikes me is whether folks clip their pens into a case or a sleeve. Clipping a pen onto the storage sleeve of my penvelope feels more secure than resting the entirety of the pen inside. The clip works to keep the pen in place.
Then again, clipless writers fare just as well without being clipped to a sleeve. In fact, the top flaps of both my penvelope and kimono wraps effectively secure pens in place. No sliding out. No escapees. Secure storage.
Then again, again: what about sleeves which eschew a top flap? Are the rules different for a sleeve like this:
Scandalously topless or minimalistically functional?
In an order? For example: by size, or by color family, or by frequency of use? I store pens by color. Darkest to lightest, from left to right. I tell myself that having an order makes finding the pen I want to use in a given moment easier.
But I keep around six inked pens in the case at a time. Such a small number is easy enough to search. The finials are what I look for when locating a pen to write with. I don’t count from left to right.
Easy pickings
Nibs up, or down, or level, or we don’t care? Kimberly, over at the Pen Addict, did a great job of clearly laying out different options for storing fountain pens during travel.
One — commonly recommended — option is to keep pen nibs pointed up to avoid ink burping up and into the cap. Another is to keep pens level to avoid the same issue.
Some pens are even designed to accommodate this concern, with a clip at the section to ensure the nib points skyward. I’m looking at you, Pilot VP.
I haphazardly orient my penvelope both vertical, while in my messenger bag, and horizontal, while on my desk. I do the same with kimonos and individual pen sleeves — without issue. However, I primarily use modern pens. Perhaps direction is more of an issue with vintage writers?
How do you get your writing friends from one place where you’re sitting to another? Asking for myself.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. The pen and ink combo that stands out this week is easily the Mythic Aeschylus, stocked with a lovely M SIG nib and filled with Arima Amber. I created excuses to grab this combination. The large pen size, fun grind and consistent shading made for an enticing pair. Struggled to write comfortable on quick tasks — the sharp edges of the SIG grind would catch on pages as I rotated my pen. Even so, I used this pen for roundtable notes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — sharp edges be damned. But slow tasks like journaling and lesson plans were glorious. 1/5.
Visconti Homo Sapiens (EF) — ??. The opaque body of this Blizzard makes the ink level a guessing game. I’m all for a little mystery now and again. Pair found its stride by Wednesday. I suspect some oil in the section or feed contributed to inconsistent ink flow. Once sorted, this became a fantastic daily driver. Used for almost every form of writing: task management, scratch notes, reading notes, lesson plans, lecture notes, and meeting notes.
Monteverde Giant Sequoia (EF) — 1/5. This combo would dry out while capped. I had to flood the feed a handful of times during the week. The pair wrote well once flooded, understandably. I dig a large pen with a narrow line width. Jade Noir subtly spiced up meeting notes, task management (tracker accents), journaling, and some reading notes.
TWSBI Vac700R — (F CSI) — 1/2 (from 2/3 fill). Brought this pair to a faculty observation and a string of committee meetings. The italic is just forgiving enough to accommodate quickly-jotted notes. Cranberry (sans Twinkle) is a lovely dark purple with surprising shading. Kept journaling fun, reading notes interesting. Did derail a faculty meeting Wednesday afternoon. Pluses and minuses.
Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — 1/2. Wet, reliable, with strong shading. Moonstone is an excellent muted earth tone. The Zoom nib ensures Moonstone is easily dark enough to read clearly. A mainstay of my roundtable discussion notetaking. Great, wide lines for journaling, too. Wide lines fit fewer words per line, which added to this week’s journaling page total. Fun times.
TWSBI 580-ALR (M Predator Hybrid) — 1/2. Pulled double duty successfully this week. First, this pair was my go-to marking pen. Having both a M and an EF line available make leaving margin notes and overall “emphasized” comments easy as a flip of the pen. Marking (to my students’ mixed reviews), pocket notes, some scratch notes, lesson plans.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83 (A5). Eighteen new pages were added to the work bullet journal this week. The notebook now stands at 186 of 208. 22 pages left. Thankful I bought two of these notebooks last summer. Relieved to have my next work bujo on lock and awaiting. Points for thinking ahead.
Eight of these pages house roundtable notes. I take roundtable notes to model proper respectful notetaking for my students. I rarely reference these records weeks afterwards. As such, they’re a teaching tool more than a record of usable information.
I alternate use of two pens for these discussion sessions. One pen notes the questions students ask of their classmates. I usually tap a bright accent color for this task. The bright color makes for easy skimming.
Easy and good looking
The second color is for where I record the bulk of my notes. These notes capture the class’ responses and attempts to think through the question their classmate raised. I like dark hues, and shimmer inks for this task as students around me can easily see growing blocks of details added to my notebook pages. This sends the message that their classmates are important details — information worth noting themselves.
Two pages are logs. One is a tracker for one-on-one meetings switch my research students. These meetings take place over the course of a week. The log helps me track who has already met with me and who might be flying under the radar.
It’s a simple t-chart. Students’ names run in a column on the left. A procession of check marks fall down the right column. Simple. Easy. Effective.
The second log records grades for the background research sections of my students’ papers. This log is more complicated as I’m tracking three threads of feedback simultaneously: my grade, the students’ grade of their own work, and their writing partner’s grade for their section.
I turn to a matrix for each student pair. To keep the spread simple, I create an open three-column matrix for each pair of student papers. No border lines. Just a list of initials at the top of each column. All with the week’s daily driver pen.
A version of the matrix my students aren’t too young to be familiar with
Also, I color code each pair by class. The highlighting helps me to more easily migrate my notes into the school’s electronic gradebook at the end of the marking period. Pink and blue. With a side of smeared Slag Grey. That ink truly dislikes highlighters.
The remainder of this week’s pages are the usual mixture of lesson plan outlines and meeting notes. I cycled through all six pens for these spreads. Just to spice things up.
Journal. Taroko Breeze (A5). I found my way back into a journaling rhythm this week. The result: four new entries across fourteen old-style Tomoe River pages.
The Mythic found its way into three of this week’s four entries. Twice for recording a poem, on Sunday and Saturday evenings. And once as the main writer for Tuesday night’s entry.
The Monteverde and Sailor were each tapped twice, once for a poem and once for the reflection itself. The TWSBI Vac was the only other pen used for journaling this week. Two round nibs and two ground nibs. Balanced pattern there.
Neither the Visconti nor the 580 saw the inside of my Taroko this week. No insult intended.
Written dry. All six pens survived the week intact, with plenty of ink remaining. This is unsurprising given three of the week’s six writers have massive ink capacity.
Newly inked. This week’s pen and ink pairings were a happy sextet. This is a smile-inducing group of writers. That niggling compulsion to ink a new pen and ink slept soundly all week. Rock on.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. No new arrivals this week.
I did order my first-ever custom pen. And early talks are underway for a custom nib to match. Yep. I’m definitely playing coy about a new purchase. Such suspense — or is that foreshadowing? More to come once the designs settle.
So. Dang. Excited!
Outgoing / trades or sales. The collection is intact. I’ve do have a subset of six pens that sit in their storage trays far more than I reach for them. They’re imaged but still need to be priced out.
Ready to leave for the great pen farm upstate
I’m hopeful that I’ll post them for sale during this calendar year. No dates set. Wishy washy.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I continued my nostalgic trip back to the world of Hogwarts. I’ve arrived at Chapter 24 of Rowling’s fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I’m enjoying the tight storytelling, pointed word choice, and fun characters. This is a thoughtless romp. Totally welcome.
My evenings paired music with tea and reading. Another 30 pages of Dune Messiah this week brings me to page 105. This is my first read-through of the book. Herbert shows Paul as a conscientious leader who is terrified to act for fear of making the wrong move. He’s hyper-aware of his limited influence now that he’s grown into a religious figurehead.
While Messiah is less than riveting, it is contemplative. Makes for solid storytelling while winding down at the end of a long day.
Nonfiction. Plans for my spring class are heating up. The historical framework for the LGBTQ Studies course is coming together. My reading time comprised mostly reviewing old annotations in a search for suitable excerpts I can assign as readings. I’m keeping a log of excerpts, organized by theme, in a Bear note.
The remainder of my nonfiction reading time was spent gathering stories about how gender and orientation play out in students’ and teachers’ high school lives. I’m banking on students finding stories that unpack situations they may be living through interesting. So: no real reading. Scanning and brainstorming for this week.
Next week’s reading on the horizon
Music. My listening veered in a more energetic direction. Modest Mouse’s new album, The Golden Casket, and girl in red dominated Spotify. I’m still getting acquainted with Golden Casket. It’s suitably eccentric.
Between the two, I would more strongly recommend girl in red for a writing or reading soundtrack. It balances fun beats with even-keel earnest vocals. No yelling here.
Quick note: this playlist includes explicit lyrics. Listen responsibly. (Is that a thing people say?)
