Colors by numbers … by partner
Novelty is key. Feeling out a new pen or ink or combination draws me back into writing. Returning to the same colors or nibs diminishes the novelty in my penvelope.
It’s easy to fall into cycles wherein I turn to the same ink colors time and again. This week, I escaped the cycle through a tried-and-true method for picking inks: asking my partner to pick ink numbers. Hooray sharing.
Searchable database for the win
I first filtered by color family. Earth tones and then accent colors. I shared the number range with my partner. They then picked a number within each range. All that remained was to scroll to the number in my ink database.
And that’s my ink choice. Easy. And fun. And resulted in a murky, moody palette for the coming week.
I franksteined a Conklin Mark Twain with a lovely F cursive italic ground by the legendary Mike Masuyama. Adds a fourth ground nib to the week’s currently inked. 66.6%. Not that I’m counting.
Not a monster
All is well as I anticipate a slower paced week — more reading notes and lecture notes than meetings.
Lastly, I rounded out the week’s six writers with a factory B nib. Just in case the week doesn’t go to plan. It’ll be convenient to have two quick-writing friendly nibs: an EF and a B.
Grey/Black
Montblanc 146 Le Petit Prince and Fox (EF). Sailor Chushu. The Montblanc makes its return as my daily driver. Chushu likes this feed: wet, reliable EF lines. And quick drying. Everyone digs a working sequel. My everything pair: task management, detailed rewarding notes, lesson plans, scratch notes, and some outlining.
Blue/Teal
TWSBI 580-ALR Prussian Blue (Predator Hybrid, by Nibgrinder). Jacques Herbin 1798 Kyanite du Népal. The absolute best performing shimmer ink and pen combination. Smooth, reliable writing with plenty of shimmer on show. My brightest ink this week, which makes this pair the go-to for accent notes and lecture notes. In addition to journaling.
Franklin-Christoph 31 Smoke & Ice (M SIG, by Franklin-Christoph). Taccia Ukiyo-e Hokusai Sabimidori. Sabimidori rapidly grew into one of my favorite inks. Wet enough to take the edges off of the sharp SIG grind. Behaved enough to dry well on both coated papers and on sticky notes. The most forgiving of my currently inked italic pairings. As such, this is my alternate choice for quick writing tasks: meeting notes, discussion notes, and lecture notes. Oh, and there will most definitely be journaling. Sweet, Sabimidori-tinted journaling.
Earth Tones
Visconti Homo Sapiens Silver Age (F CI, by Nibsmith). Ferris Wheel Press Candy Marsala. This pair sat sidelined last week. The wet combination limits the pair to coated papers and writing tasks that can accommodate longer dry times. Marsala shades to fun, dark halos. The crisp CI grind ensures plenty of ribboning, even with the F-width lines. Journaling, reflective writing, and manuscript drafting for these two.
Platinum 3776 Laurel Green (B). Robert Oster Muddy Sand. Sand is what I think of as a “soft shader.” The ink shows both its light and dark sides as a gentle gradient. No hard cuts or haloing. The B nib lends a forgiving wide line to my otherwise narrow lineup — my quick-writing combo for the week. Meeting notes, discussion notes, journaling.
Wild Cards
Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Rose Gold (F CI, by Mike Masuyama). Papier Plume Bootlegger’s Sacrament. A science fiction of a writer. This pen arrived to me with a Goulet F in the section. I replaced the Goulet (a branded black Jowo nib) with a Franklin-Christoph branded F CI. Deliberate writing will be best: lecture notes, reading notes, sketching out meeting agendas for the faculty I support. Perhaps some journaling.
