A defense of the partial ink fill

A controversial statement: I rarely fill my pens fully. Ink capacity is not a selling point for me. Surviving long periods without needing to re-ink isn’t a factor in how I use my stationery. I regularly fill converters and pens about halfway. Gasps and pitchforks.

I primarily work at or near my desk. Exchanging pens is easy for someone with my kind of job. Cleaning pens is fun, even meditative for me. And so, I offer this humble defense of partially filling pens with ink. Tongue firmly in cheek.

Defense One: Rotate the rotation. Novelty is the foundation of my productivity system. New and exciting pen and ink pairings keep me at my desk — keep me writing. Changing pens often keeps the novelty alive. 

A half-filled converter spurs me on to new pen and ink pairings quickly. Quickly enough to keep me writing. Alternatively, one sign that it’s time to clean a pen is that I’m no longer excited by the pairing. Victory either way.

Defense Two: Lower the stakes. I feel pangs of guilt when I dump unused ink. Even when an ink isn’t to my liking. And often, I need to write with half a converter before I know how I feel about a pen and ink combo. 

Filling a converter halfway makes for less wasted colorful liquid; so: lower stakes and lessened ‘dumping guilt.’ And, importantly, a half-fill saves more of that ink for the friend you would like to bequeath your sample or bottle to. I’m a fan of spreading the ink love.

Defense Three: Keep on the level. I mix and match nib widths based on the kinds of writing I plan to undertake. Each week’s currently inked provides a variety of writing experiences: from needlepoints to BB. A broad nib will lay more ink onto your pages more quickly than an EF nib will. 

Only filling a pen I’ve kitted out with a narrow nib halfway increases the likelihood I’ll empty that pen when my fully inked B nibs run dry. Synergy on the level.

Defense Four: Safety schmafety. I routinely half-fill my wilder ink choices. Inks loaded with shimmery glitter that may clog nibs or feeds if left too long. Iron gall inks which may misbehave with the internals of my pens over time. Inks with pH levels that may eat away at silicone sacs. 

Troublesome inks have less time to cause trouble when only filled halfway. Cozy safety.

All this to end with a clear, deeply-felt assertion: longevity is a core requirement for many people. Diversity is part of what makes our community fun. Power to the power fillers out there. My joy simply grows in other, smaller-volume forests.

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

Toolset

Pens. The Esterbrook J, inked with Sailor’s Yozakura, was simply fun. A writing experience that brought smiles to my face. I reached for this pair often throughout the week — and for writing tasks it’s not tailor-made for. Longform reflections, check. Detailed running lists, check. Accent reading notes, double check. Strong writing from an experienced writer. No idea how much ink remains.

Aged out of matchy-matchy

• Platinum 3776 (F) — Feed. Master class pairing. Smooth, reliable narrow F lines. Quick drying for unsmeared task management. Dark side vibes. All wins.  Task management, reading notes (quotes), and some scratch notes.

• Kaweco Sport (BB) — 3/5. This pair sat unused this week. An excellent, strong-shading combo.

• Lamy Safari (B) — 1/2. Generous B nib ensured 13 shaded and flowed reliably. Performed well now that I write on only Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light papers. Journaling, reading notes (reflections), and D&D notes.

• Nakaya Neostandard (B) — 5/6. The B feed increases Higashiyama’s dry flow into a middling flow. Strong shading with tooth. Excellent size for longform writing. Journaling, reading notes (reflections). 

• Monteverde Rodeo Drive (1.1 Stub) — Empty. Already. Wrote well through a journal entry, a commonplace reading reflection, and some scratch notes. A bright pop of accent color. Wide 1.1 mm lines. So much ink that it feathered, even on Tomoe River. How did it empty so quickly? My guess: the metal threads allowed for ink to evaporate. Journaling, reading notes (reflections), a letter.

• Get Lathed Moonwood (F) — 5/6. Only reached for this pairing twice this week. The disciplined F nib sported a middling yet reliable flow. The narrow metal section grew uncomfortable during long bouts of writing. Well-suited for short bursts and jottings. Lists, reading notes (reflections), manuscript marking. 

• Visconti Homo Sapiens (F CI) — ??. The wet Visconti feed keeps Lichen Watermark a murky near-black green-brown. The feed grew drier after an A5 page, which brought out Watermark’s green side. Slow, plodding writing suited this pair: journaling, manuscript drafting.

Notebooks. Work bujo. I am still on break — until next week. 

Journal. The first week in a new journal is an exciting prospect. However, I stuck with my usual heading style. Out of habit. Because I hadn’t thought to change it up for this notebook until sitting down and reflecting for this post.

Simplicity keeps me focused

I leave the topmost third of the first page blank. The white space eases skimming. The emptiness stands out clearly against pages full of ink colors and scrawlings.

Each heading comprises the date over two ruled lines. One line scored normally. The second, a bit narrower, scored with reverse writing. Because I think the contrasting line widths looks cool. Joy is important.

13 new pages this week. 13 A5 pages across five entries. I dig a reflective break. There’s time and energy for writing.

11 pages house longform entries. The topics are all over the place. Simply whatever ideas come into my head. A bit like “morning pages.” 

I tapped the Esterbrook for poems twice this week. The other pairings all offered broad lines. This notebook’s Tomoe River paper carried the Papier Plume ink in my Lamy far better than Stalogy paper did. The Monteverde’s 1.1 stub, Nakaya’s B, and Visconti’s firehose of a F CI rounded out the week. A fun journaling crew.

The other two pages are brainstorm lists. Narrower nibs felt appropriate. One is a running list from planning this week’s currently inked, written with the Platinum’s narrow F. The second was for a meeting, using the Get Lathed’s F. Grey and orange. A stationery tiger.

Commonplace. Elemental Paper Iodine (A5). Five new pages of commonplace notes brings my notebook to page 105. These pages are crammed with writing.

Whoo-ee that’s a lot of ink

These are commonplace passages from Snyder’s excellent history of Russia and Ukraine. Grey writing highlight specific passages. Direct replications of Snyder’s own words.

The colored ink records my understanding of what the passage means. And my reflections on how the passage connects to other writers’ ideas. The connections are where the value lives. Fun times in nerd city. 

Written dry. I wrote two pens empty this week. The Platinum is down to only the Earl Grey in its feed. The Monteverde is also empty. Which I find surprising. I did not write much with the pairing. Completely dry as of Friday morning. Fun pairing while it lasted.

Kylo Ren’s ink level is low enough that it requires replacing. Especially as my daily drivers are used heavily during working weeks. It seems that recording and tracking tasks in my Hobonichi planner takes a lot out of a Sith. 

So long and thanks for all the fish

Newly inked. I stuck to the pens I entered this week with. And happily.

The collection

Incoming / new orders. My good friend MJ (not that one) kindly lent his Karas Kustoms with a G2 refill. Good on you, friend!

The pen fulfills a majority of my pocket-carry wishlist. It has a cap — and so no knock to be accidentally pressed while in a pants pocket. It fits a refill that comes in a wealth of colors and line widths. And the sturdy clip holds securely onto fabric.

And it’s shiny. Shiny is a perk more than a requirement.

I also have a Jetstream incoming as a handful of readers suggested it as a great option. Thanks, y’all.

Beyond the great gel/ballpoint exploration of 2022, Robert Oster’s new exclusive series with Endless Pens is tempting. I’m drawn to mellow ink colors. A set of six? Sign me up.

However, the 50 ml bottle size kept me from ordering. I’ve steered toward smaller bottles recently. I enjoy telling myself that I may feasibly use all of a new bottle. I tell myself I am a completer of ink bottles. Hegemony can be a good thing, too, right?

Outgoing / trades or sales. My collection remains intact and whole. Changes, though, are on the horizon.

Currently reading and listening 

Fiction. I charted my way well into the third act of Jacques’ Mattimeo. 20 chapters this week. I sit at the beginning of Chapter 30. Love a week off from work.

Children were abducted from Redwall. They are en route to a slave market in the far south. A rescue party is trying its best to catch up. Dark happenings for a teen-aged fantasy world.

Nonfiction. History and philosophy were the waters I swam in this week. A total of 267 pages across two books. I laid a gray mildliner to rest in the process. And used half a Blackwing Natural.

Work: meet horse.

I finished Snyder’s The Road to Unfreedom on Wednesday. 61 pages read and annotated in the first half of the week. Academic books are quick reads when they follow a traditional outline. Thank you, Dr. Snyder.

Snyder offers two forms of politics through which we should understand Russian, Ukrainian and US history: the politics of inevitability and the politics of eternity. I’ve enjoyed trying both lenses on this week. 3D glasses of political nerdery to help make sense of ongoing events.

I wrote yet another mild gray Mildliner dry, too. A quick Amazon search revealed that Zebra sells the mild gray color in a package of 12 now. Huzzah and take my money.

I started Gessen’s engrossing history of Russia’s post-empire formation, The Future is History, later on Wednesday. The idea that a primary challenge to building a state has been the absence of sociological and philosophical concepts to describe citizenship and government is fascinating. 

Makes me want to re-read Gessen’s more recent book, Surviving Autocracy. Which would be an excuse to try a new pencil.

Music. Tash Sultana is a favorite of mine. Clever orchestration, fun guitar solos, and mellow vocal pairings all sit right in my happy place. I was one cheery reader this week.

Their newest record, Terra Firma was on repeat most days. Pretty Lady and Coma are standouts for me.

Listener beware: five tracks are listed as “explicit” for lyrics.

My editor seems … pleased? content? nonplussed?