The partner purchase: A milestone of pen-enabling
There are milestones and then there are milestones. This week marks a personal milestone with the most emphatic italic. The “partner purchase” is absolutely a laughing matter. A milestone one celebrates while laughing and pumping fists in the air. And — apparently — by sharing out on your blog. As one does.
My partner is not a stationery obsessive. Pens are tools. When we met, their mentality was that whichever pen is closest, and is able to write, will do.
Over the years, my partner has experminted out into three fountain pens: a Benu Talisman, a Platinum Prefounte, and a Kaweco AL Sport. The AL Sport is a purse pen. It travels the world snugly secured in one purse pocket or another. Pocket notes and receipts are the most common uses for her Sport.
An absolute solitude does not allow for pictures
The Prefounte lives a life of solitude. Quietly resting, empty, alongside the rotation of empty pens in my pen tray. We all have a few.
The Benu has grown into a favorite since its purchase last year. My partner uses her Benu for just about every writing task. Writing letters, holiday cards, filling out her Quo Vadis planner, and a flurry of miscellaneous lists. The Benu is our frequent “could you please refill this?” writer.
Yes. Yes I can refill your fountain pen :)
She recently ordered one of Ben Walsh’s Gravitas fountain pens in his Skittles colorway. The pen arrived last week while I was on campus at work.
Write the rainbow
I was greeted with a gallery of new pen day pictures, taken by my partner — of her new pen.
Action shot, taken by my in-laws
The excitement of new pen day has spread, folks. Milestone reached.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. This week’s standout combo was fun, useful, and wrote well together: the Narwhal Schuylkill, inked with Diamine’s Ash. Wet and well-behaved as a pair. Lays down a light green and dries to a medium-graphite grey. This was my daily driver throughout the week. The Narwhal was also in my pocket from Tuesday evening through work Thursday. The round F nib proved a reliable pocket notetaker — working well at odd angles while holding a notebook in my hands. 1/2.
Wet, wild, hybrid
Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — 1/3.
Sailor Pro Gear (Z Architect) — 2/3.
Platinum 3776 (B) — 1/2.
Franklin-Christoph 45 (B SIG) — 5/6.
Monteverde Rodeo Drive (1.1) — 1/3.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83. I started a new work notebook this week. It’s another Musubi as I appreciate the thoughtful grid markings on each page. And because I already had a second in my bookshelf from an order last summer. Forward thinking.
The triangle of Justice. Up there at the top
Work within my bujo spanned a moderate number of pages this week. 10 new pages. These include a two-page December monthly, a two-page weekly, five new lesson plans, and one page of meeting notes.
I spent the week with two notebooks open: my first work bullet journal and this one. Times like these make me happy that I leave such strong searching aids. Locating specific lesson plans from two weeks ago, and November’s monthly, was a straightforward affair.
One of my favorite search-friendly headings are sideways lesson plan titles. I can flip quickly using either the lesson number or the keywords in the title.
Boop.
I used all six colors while sketching out my lessons, rotating each. The Sailor’s Zoom nib was my best friend during meetings. Forgiving at all writing angles, and Tempest is wet enough to accommodate rapid jottings.
Sailed through that meeting. Sorry-not-sorry.
Journal. Taroko Breeze (A5). My journaling routine returned to form. The Taroko housed the great majority of my week’s writing attention. Five entries, which span 11 new pages. I hath arriveth at page 177 — of 181. The hunt for a new journal is on.
Can you hear the end credits music growing louder?
I have been in a reflective rut since early November. November’s entries are all short or medium-length recaps of my days. Recaps skew one A5 page or less. And lean on one ink color per entry.
As of this week, I’ve again found my balance between recounting the events of my days and reflecting analytically on a specific event. Love a healthy balance.
Two colors, because nobody is going to stop me
Tuesday’s entry is my favorite combination of pens and inks. It is three pages and plays Inkvent’s first two purple inks against one another. Harmony is a soft hue, which shades consistently in Monteverde’s 1.1. mm stub. The dusty purple proved easily readable against the moody Seize the Night — which was near-black in my Sailor Zoom Architect nib.
Both are wide nibs, too
Written dry. All six pens survived the week. I rotated use of this week’s six pens evenly. Balance indeed.
Newly inked. I was content to stick with my plan of six pen and ink combinations throughout the week. Surprising given that Diamine picked my currently inked this week.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. It’s here. It’s here! A new pen arrived to me from Britain. A new, bespoke pen with in-house acrylics made by Loft Pens. Loft Pens’ Highworth in Teal Ocean is also the flashiest colorway in my collection to-date.
The asymmetrical striated resin is interesting and fun. The section is rounded — a first for me. And the nib wrote well out of the box. As all pens should. Harumph.
Add to the list of positives that the threaded section accommodates any of my Jowo nib housings. Mixing and matching and swapping nibs ahoy.
Outgoing / trades or sales. Static.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I finished Dune Messiah two weeks ago. The Book of Atrus offers a stark contrast to Messiah’s ominous tone. I’ve arrived at Chapter 14, which is 250 pages into the novel.
The story is set in the world that the Myst video games take place in. Ryan Miller tells a fun story that sticks tightly to Atrus, the main character. It’s reflective, enjoyable, and stationery focused. The trifecta.
Imagine if your writing could create new planets. Your grammar and letterforms shape everything from landmasses to the chemical makeup of the soil. Nerdy-nerdy.
Nonfiction. My nonfiction reading was done in fits and bursts; five minutes or fewer, here or there. Three short essays, all on US election law.
Music. ChillHop’s winter essentials mix dropped on December 1. And wow. The collection of songs balances jazz and hip-hop infused lo-fi well. As with all of their mixes, this playlist makes for a lovely “while I’m working” or “while I’m journaling” soundtrack.
Subjectively, the compilation succeeds at feeling wintry. That might just be me.
Plus: the animation is cute and kid-friendly. I plan to play this video on repeat behind all of next week’s teaching. It’s our last week of classes before my school breaks for the new year.
