My mnml inkvent challenge returns, week one
Diamine’s Inkvent Calendar has become tradition in my household. A daily ritual of unveiling new inks.
Last year, I challenged myself to use only Diamine’s inkvent colors for my currently inked loadouts throughout December. My description of the plan was “to craft a workable sextet of pen and ink pairings this week out, using only the first six Inkvent inks. The inks for days 7 to 12 are my challenge for next week; and so on for four weeks. A system which will take me through 24 inks (four weeks of six inks each).”
And I’m doing so on a delay so as to avoid spoiling color reveals for anyone who is following along day-to-day.
A ritual that involves ink swatching
So Diamine, yet again, chooses my ink selections for the next few weeks. Pen and nib choices are my tools for crafting combinations that are still useful — that function for work, for journaling, and for reading.
I dig this uplifting challenge. A challenge the inkvent is not intended for. Humbug. Imma do it anyway.
This week includes Days 1 to 6 of the 2022 Green Edition. I’m relived to see both a grey ink (Ghost) and a dark purple-black (Solar Storm) in the first six inks. If Ghost fails as a usable daily driver ink, then Solar Storm can step in to pick up the driving — the textual driving.
Three of this week’s six inks are also sodden with pretty shimmer. So: broad nibs, wet feeds, and converters that have agitators inside are called for. Pizazz builds on proper planning.
Grey/Black
Franklin-Christoph 03 Antique Glass (EF, mnml). Diamine Ghost, Day 6. A phosphorescent graphite multi-shading grey. Starts out with strong green undertones and dries to a light graphite. Works well for all of the daily driving tasks: task management, meeting notes, reading notes, and lecture outlines. I chose a wet EF nib to encourage darker lines.
Blue/Teal
Platinum 3776 Nice Pur (B). Diamine Bliss, Day 1. Bliss is a bright, cheery turquoise. Excellent haloing lends an added edge to the ink. The brightest ink of the first six, so Bliss is my go-to accent pair. I chose a B nib to bring out more prominent halos. Journaling, lesson plan outlines, lecture notes, and commonplace notes.
Earth Tones
TWSBI 580 Smoke RoseGold II (F). Diamine Spruce, Day 4. A tree-smelling green ink. Green with healthy red sheen. An embarrassed ent. Spruce is a wet writer. The F nib keeps Spruce from flooding my papers with liquid. I’m tapping this pair for meeting notes and for targeted, detail-oriented journaling. And perhaps scratch notes if the feed mellows the ink flow after some time in-feed.
Able Snail Classic Large in Powder Blue (B). Diamine Yule Log, Day 2. A stealthy shimmer: brown-gold glitter in a brown ink. A wet, B nib should ensure a clog-free week. The stealth carries over to meetings. The Snail’s mellow colorway suits parent meetings and student/colleague meetings. Stealthy indeed.
Wild Cards
Mythic Aeschylus Black & Red (M Long Knife, by Kaigelu). Diamine Spiced Apple, Day 5. Spiced Apple is a red with color-shifting gold-green shimmer. Out of my comfort zone considering the red. The Long Knife grind will add whimsy to my writing — to convince me to use the pairing. Accent notes, especially during meetings, journaling, reading notes and accent lecture notes (highlighting parts I want to recall).
Pilot Custom Heritage 912 (SF). Diamine Solar Storm, Day 3. A sleeper all-star combination. Solar Storm is a purple-black with fun color-shifting shimmer. The narrow SF nib keeps Storm dark enough to work as a primary notetaker during meetings, in reading notes. So dark that Storm easily contrasts against Ghost for use in commonplace notes. And the shimmer brightens up marking students’ papers. Versatile.
