[Un]shaken, not stirred
Feeling more ice than fire
Stick with what brings you joy. Together, this week is another collection of cool-toned colors: mellow blues, teals, and earth tones. Half are EF nibs. With so many TWSBIs, these pens should last me a little while. Having more ink in pens is timely considering the increased bookkeeping I process at the interchange of marking periods.
Five pens carried over from last week. I only needed a new grey-inked daily driver. Diamine Sparkling Shadows is bottled with gold shimmer. However, I wasn’t feeling another shimmer ink for this week. Thinking outside the box, I inked my Diplomat with DSS unshaken. It’s a wonderful grey ink on its own, with surprisingly good shading. And it behaves well enough on printer paper, which makes it usable for marking manuscripts, too.
Grey/Black
Diplomat Aero Sunset Orange (EF). Diamine Sparkling Shadows. Having learned my lesson regarding shimmer inks and EF nibs, I set out to ink DSS without shimmer. I inked the Aero without shaking the bottle. This is my daily driver for my week teaching from home. Task lists, quick notes, and the go-to combo for day-to-day writing.
Blue/Teal
TWSBI Vac700R Iris (F Cursive Smooth Italic, ground by Pen Realm). Akkerman Koninginne Nacht-Blauw #7. An absolute rockstar of a pen-ink combination. Kirk’s grind is just playful enough to keep mundane notes fun. The ink color is subdued enough that I feel comfortable making notes in meetings. And a large pen like the Vac700R suits my hand well for longer writing sessions. Reading notes, marking, and a pocket carry; not to mention a lot of journaling.
TWSBI 580-AL Turquoise (EF). Kyo-No-Oto Hisoku. A light and pale ink works well as an accent color. Paired with an EF nib, Hisoku is quite light. My meeting notes, reading notes, and commonplace notes are all legible – if barely. A F nib might have made a more flexible nib-choice.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-tamenuri (B). Diamine Eau de Nil. The more I write with this combo, the more Eau de Nil’s sheen emerges. Since I’m working from home this week, I get to use the Nakaya for work tasks — lesson planning, marking, and meeting notes — in addition to journaling. Wahoo!
Earth Tones
Esterbrook J Copper (2442). Monteverde Gemstone Moonstone. This combo is far wetter than I anticipated. It’s most usable on tasks that take place on great paper: lesson plans, journaling, and my planner. Excellent for headings. The antique threading is prone to uncapping - so this pen will remain on the desk.
Wild Cards
TWSBI 580-ALR Prussian Blue (M/EF Predator Hybrid, ground by Nibgrinder). Monteverde Rose Noir. A well behaved EF is a boon to my work arrangement. I write small and so narrower nibs keep my writing legible. That’s important for notes that need to be referenced days or weeks afterward. The EF on this grind balances wet and behaved well. So this pen will be used for everything. Everything, I tell you.
