Pen collecting and the power of rediscovery

My thinking last week was that the proper size of a collection — for me — may sit somewhere between accumulating complete assortments of pens and between having “one of each type” of writer represented within your collection. How one might tell when they’ve achieved full pen-ness?  Is representation my goalpost?

What if I, instead, measure success based on how interested in writing my collection keeps me — and not on accumulation/curation?

Finding that pen that I find excuses to write with. Playing with a pen I forgot I own and just rediscovered. Bringing fresh eyes — and a fresh hand — to an old pen is exciting and fun. Ditto for inks (but that is a different series of posts).

Novelty is a resource in itself. A productivity resource. Exploring one’s pen trays to notice a forgotten purchase that now feels new again. The newness makes me want to write — if only to try out the pen and remember what it is like. And once I’ve started working I can more easily keep going.

So more than novelty, it’s having a large-enough collection that you can rediscover pens you already own. A broad selection of pens that feel like new pen days — over and again. The good kind of Groundhog Day.

My collection should change over time. No single set of ten or forty pens will keep surprising me. New pens. New nibs. New combinations. But never so large that I can’t rediscover each pen often. Balance.

So perhaps my goal is to capture enough pens that my collection ensures rediscovery. And remains small enough to avoid the storage abyss.

I think I’m getting closer to guidelines for how large a reasonable pen collection should be. Quite a different measure than curation and accumulation.

This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.

Toolset

Pens. There is no question about this week’s standout combo. The TWSBI 580-AL (Predator Hybrid), inked with Jacques Herbin’s Kyanite du Népal. The wonder pair ended in a glorious Saturday ink swap. This combo worked for everything. Detailed accent notes — thank you hybrid predator grind. Readable lecture notes — thank you shimmery Kyanite. Headings and long form journaling — gracias reverse side of this nib. Most excellent. Feed.

All about that multitasker nib

• Monteverde Giant Sequoia (EF) — Feed. Large and in charge. Excellent task manager. Comfortable, exciting nib. Dig this combo. Task management, scratch notes, some poetry, lesson plans, lecture notes.

• Franklin-Christoph 31 (M SIG) — Feed. Sabimidori is a fantastic writer: wet, well-behaved, and fun. The sheen lends readability to lessons and lecture notes, which I often scan from odd angles. The crisp italic grind worked well for reflective writing: primarily journaling and lesson plans.

• Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — 1/6. A solid, reliable pocket carry by week’s end. The broad, generous Zoom nib made for legible and enjoyable teaching notes in my Rhodia pad. Lists and diagrams are how I problem solve with my research students.

• Faber-Castell Ondoro (M) — 1/5. Comfortable to hold through short and long writing sessions. Cap pops off while inside my penvelope. Dried out after an A5 page of writing. Might be on the “outward” list. Lesson plans, paper marking, journaling, some teaching notes.

• Pelikan m805 (F CI) — 4/5. My primary meeting pen. The business-first look of the Stresemann Anthracite was perfect for administrative and planning meetings. Used for headings and detailed notes during those meetings. Journaling, lesson plans, lecture notes.

• Conklin Mark Twain (F CI) — ?? Sacrament is too dark for accent notes. However, This combo made for excellent journaling, reading notes, and work reflections. The crisp CI grind lent fun to slower, deliberative, exploratory writing.

Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83 (A5). Ten new pages in my work bullet journal. Next week will begin on page 122.

The standard two-page weekly was adorned, this week, with mildliner accents across the top. I hosted two kinds of workshops. Project workshops, in pink, for my history students. Writing workshops — which are collaborative — in blue for my research students.

Organized and good looking .. well, decent.

Two pages of lesson plans. I tapped Sabimidori and Leaves of Grass. The remainder of this week’s pages are meeting notes and reading notes.

Journal. Stalogy Editor 1/2 Year (A6). A lopsided week for journaling. Heavy through Wednesday evening. Nothing again until Saturday. Roll with the weekly tide.

Fourteen new pages, spread across three entries. All three are longform reflections. I returned to selecting one event from the day to unpack. Analysis leaves me feeling accomplished. Ha.

The Conklin and Franklin-Christoph teamed up for my first entry. The crisp italic lines drew me into writing five pages. Successful nib choices. The following entry tapped my Pelikan and Ondoro.

Sabimidori would be my starting pokémon

The final entry brought in my Sailor. I returned to the Conklin to record a short Emerson poem.

Written dry. All seven pens survived the week with enough ink to write. However, three are down to only their feeds. Too little ink to trust for another work week. Victory.

Triforce of victory

The Monteverde Giant Sequoia arrived at its feed on Friday afternoon.

The Franklin-Christoph 31 — the sweet Omnis — hit its feed during a small ink swap on Saturday. Sabimidori has quickly earned a place in my ink hall of fame. Well, it would if I had an ink hall of fame.

The TWSBI sits next to me as I write this. My partner is using what remains of the pairing for a birthday card. Hands-down the best pen and shimmer ink pairing I’ve experienced. Those who appreciate analog writing salute you.

Newly inked. A well behaved scholar is a scholar with the same number of inked pens on Saturday as they started the week with.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. I’m still running high on having my own branded Jowo nib. No additions this week. The grass is quite green on my side.

Outgoing / trades or sales. At long last, I gave away two Faber-Castell Looms and a Pilot Prera. I’m happy knowing they’re in homes where all three will see loving use.

Currently reading and listening 

Fiction. I’ve trekked into Chapter 19 of Mossflower over the course of the week. 142 (iPhone size) pages. Plenty of progress.

The jailbreak was a success. Now Martin has involved himself in an incipient rebellion against the tyrant Queen Tsarmina. He wears a broken sword around his neck. Visceral.

This second book found a dark angle on “high fantasy with animals” and is making its home there. Wild.

Nonfiction. Two more chapters from Nell Irvin Painter’s The History of White People this week. A short 18 pages. 18 pages that are now chock full of margin notes. My Blackwing 602 was a great help.

Explorations into how Theodore Roosevelt and Edward Ross add notions of temperament and military history to early ideas of race.

And how Yerkes’ early attempts at quantifying these new ideas of race categories eventually morph into the SAT. After the US military concluded the tests were inaccurate for sorting people by ability. Yep, that SAT.

Music. Chillhop released a new compilation that they call Field Studies 1. It’s a collection of lo-fi and lo-fi with mellow vocals. Two friends and I had a listening party on Wednesday evening.

I returned to this playlist over and again throughout the rest of the week. If you like vocals in your background soundtrack, this 30-minute playlist may be for you.

My view right now …