"Oh! I like it when he uses the fancy pens."

I write to think. Scribbling and doodling helps me pull thoughts together. Sketching sentences helps me find the right words to describe what I’m thinking. Concept maps chart relationships across ideas.

I do the same while teaching. Arrows, concept maps, and scribbling. On boards during lectures. On Rhodia pads while working one-on-one with students.

My ancient world history class is currently working on individual research projects. Class time involves cycling from one student to another, helping each think through their background research and initial findings. Fodder for scribbling.

One student, who is interested in the role of misinformation in democratic elections, followed along as my Franklin-Christoph and I converted his early thinking into a map of related ideas. Circles with keywords inside connected by one-way and two-way arrows. All in icy bold blue.

As we started to wrap up, his friend steps over from the adjacent table to shout, “Oh! I like it when he uses the fancy pens!.” So I of course let them both write with the 03.

Interest in fountain pens is brewing amongst my youngest class of students. The stationery ‘good word’ is spreading. Extrinsic motivation, used pointedly, can be a net win.

This week’s Inked Tines update includes last week’s currently inked writing tools.

Toolset

Pens. The Kaweco held its own against a currently inked that is stacked with far pricier pens. The diminutive Sport wrote reliably and with dry lines that kept Rikyu-cha from smearing. Excellent for pocket notes, task management, teaching notes, lesson plans — simply every task. A standout pairing. 1/2.

• Franklin-Christoph 03 (B) — 1/2. Mild hard starts that quickly resolve into moderate, consistent flow. The bright blue and wide lines make for excellent accent notetaking. Meeting notes, lesson plans, journaling, and creative writing.

• Nakaya Neostandard (M Naginata-togi) — 2/3. Tagged sparingly over the course of the week. Loans controlled line variation to creative and analytic tasks alike. Meeting notes, commonplace notes, reading notes, and some scratch notes.

• Able Snail Classic (EF) — 2/3. A shading powerhouse combo. EF-ish lines kept my letters easily legible on every paper type. Journaling, meeting notes, teaching notes, lesson plans, and reading notes.

• Pelikan m805 (F Architect) — 3/4. A wet combo that makes even this crisp architect grind smooth-feeling on the page. Excellent for longform creative writing as a result. Journaling, creative writing, and scratch notes.

• Cypress Cone Micarta (EF) — 4/5. The Cypress’ size sits squarely in my happy place, and so is comfortable during both short and extended writing sessions. The feed held up to quick writing for 2/3 of an A5 page before needing priming. Journaling, curriculum planning, creative writing, and reading notes.

• Visconti Homo Sapiens (F CI) — ?? Feathered on Tomoe River, Rhodia, and Kokuyo papers. I stopped reaching for it by Wednesday. Separately: Honeycomb and the F CI are great. Together: they overpower my commonly-use paper.

Notebooks. Work bujo. Kokuyo Century Grid (A5). The week added eight new pages to my teaching bulletin journal, starting on page 267. A two-page weekly, two single-page lesson plan outlines, and four pages of meeting notes.

I built my weekly layout as usual last weekend, forgetting that my school had a holiday on Monday. The task list area for Monday stands blank, loudly proclaiming that I focused on family during my off day. A success of sorts.

The wide empty of family successfully prioritized

The Kaweco’s hairline EF lines dominated my meeting notes throughout the week. The pen was conveniently to hand as it rode along in my coat pocket each day. Rikyu-cha dried quickly and kept to a muted tea green.

Shady yet trustworthy

I tapped the Nakaya’s M and the Franklin-Christoph’s B nibs for accenting notes during meetings. The Nakaya’s bright green formed a right-hand column down my test-making scribbles, highlighting the curricular goals for each section of the test as my colleagues and I made the assessment.

Easily seen and thoughtfully organized

The Franklin-Christoph carried out status updates on topics as each was addressed throughout my ancient world history curriculum planning meeting — those checks atop topics I wanted covered.

The 03’s icy blue also recorded suggestions from colleagues. The result is Rikyu-cha records my contributions and Lake Michigan Winter notes what others said. A color scheme that helps me know who to follow up with next week.

A constructive kind of scheming

Journal. Kobeha Graphilo Graph (A5). Last week brought about the end of my Graphilo paper journal. I had just enough pages to house a final three longform reflections. A final six pages of self-reflection and creative writing.

The Able Snail carried Monday evening’s entry — the first of the week. The titanium EF nib collaborated well with Gesztenyebarna to lay down shouty shading. I recounted happy memories from my trip north to see family over the long holiday weekend. Long rambling paragraphs of pure description.

A minimal aesthetic

The Pelikan’s architect grind journeyed with me through a bout of planning out home-life tasks for the coming two weeks. Spanish Blue was a cheery counterpart while I brainstormed tasks for the remainder of the week. A little happy goes a long way.

Friday night was spent alongside my partner, with music playing and my Mr. Cypress to hand. The EF nib allowed me to cram plenty of words into each line, ensuring I could finish my reflection before I ran out of the final pages of notebook.

I used the journal entry to think through the final stages of my D&D group’s campaign. Long winded recollections of major story beats and connections to non-player characters who can show up to help the group in the final culminating battle. Rewards for the party being good people, written in shading-heavy The Blues.

Commonplace. Elemental Paper Iodine (A5). I let Zuboff’s The Art of Surveillance Capitalism sit for three weeks before sitting down to commonplace out passages that spoke powerfully to me. I recorded four passages from her analysis and scrawled out my own reflections on each. Rikyu-cha for the passage quotations and a rotation of three accent writers.

The first two passages are quoted together, as I connect them thematically in my mind. The first quotation is written normally. Then I leave a blank line for padding, followed by an ellipses on its own line, and one more empty line of padding. The next quote follows. And it all ends with a citation so I can use these quotes in my own writing — and can find the passages again months or years in the future.

All concluded with my own thoughts in icy blue

Written dry. Every pen remains inked and eager to caress paper.

Newly inked. I stuck heartily to my originally-arranged septet of pen and ink pairings. Success is gratifying.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. I treated myself to my first hand engraved nib, a swirl pattern on a field of hammered divets. Delicate, detailed work.

The swirls remind me of fluid Yin-yangs akin to the art style in my arm tattoo

All on a Jowo #6 nib, which I can swap across the twelve Jowo-friendly pens in my collection, as I please. Versatile and pretty.

Through it all, Greg over at Able Snail was fabulous and communicative. Just as when I bought a pen from him back in November of 2022.

Outgoing / trades or sales. Nuh-uh.

That said, I am considering narrowing my assortment of five Jinhao 82s down to two favorites. Considerations abound.

Currently reading and listening

Fiction. I’ve fallen into Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire series. Fun and easy science fiction set about five years after the events of Return of the Jedi. I quickly marched three more chapters into the titular first book last week, from Chapter 25 to 28 — 44 pages.

Apple’s Books app continues on as my go-to fiction reading space. The ease with which I can bookmark my place on my phone and pick up from that bookmark on my tablet leaves me focused on the story, wherever I am. I dig when technology integrates well.

Nonfiction. I was scrapped for reading time last week. Little progress here. Balance in all things.

Music. The Hermanos Gutiérrez have become a fixture of my writing, reading, and teaching spaces. A brotherly duo of guitar players who have wonderfully minimal instrumentals. Their percussive timekeeping (done purely on guitar) keeps me focused in on my own thinking. Definitely worth checking out.