Ink-choice-by-group-consent … or, the peer pressure palette
Inking pens during a stationery meetup is chaotic. Fun, and chaotic. Pen people are good people.
A net benefit of leaning into the chaos of ink-choice-by-group-consent is that I am guided well outside of my normal combinations of nibs and inks. As is the case this week.
So: how am I going to use the kit below? I anticipate a lot of lists. Lists that will need to be revisited with accent colors. Brainstorming research panels, tracking discussant invitations, logging students’ thoughts on the Stonewall uprisings.
Detailed accent notes are best recorded with bright inks and narrow nibs. My penvelope sports both this week. Five EF nibs. Hello, detailed notetaking. And the addition of 441 provides an easily skimmed pop of color against the week’s otherwise “mnml” color palette. Whee.
Grey/Black
TWSBI 580-ALR Prussian Blue (Predator Hybrid, by Nibgrinder). Troublemaker Petrichor. The week’s daily driver. And an interesting pairing. The EF side of Bacas’ grind presents disciplined light-grey lines. The M side of the grind shows off Petrichor’s personality. Best of both worlds. Excellent for task management, quick notes, and longform notetaking.
Blue/Teal
Monteverde Giant Sequoia Brown (mnml EF). Sailor Ink Studio 441. 441’s bright, searing blue jumps off the page. My custom EF nib lays down a wet, disciplined line — a goldilocks of EF nibs for the way I write. My go-to accent pairing for detailed accent notes. Reading notes, manuscript editing, paper marking, list accents, and some journaling.
Earth Tones
Franklin-Christoph Diamondcast 45 (B SIG, by Franklin-Christoph). Diamine Yuletide. The wide, ribbons of this SIG nib encourage plenty of Yuletide’s sheen. Well-suited for notes I read at odd angles: lecture notes and lesson plan outlines. The 45’s narrow section is comfortable in short and mid-length writing sessions. Reading notes and short journal entries.
Franklin-Christoph 03 Antique Glass (EF). Troublemaker Sea Glass. The narrow EF nib and Sea Glass combine into a fun, wet, true EF line. Novel, reliable, and fun. Trifecta. Sea Glass is whispy enough to accent against Petrichor and dark enough to remain legible. I like a 03 for short and medium-length writing sessions as the threading grows uncomfortable after 10 minutes. Meeting notes, reading notes, margin notes, and some journaling.
Visconti Homo Sapiens Silver Age (F CI, by Nibsmith). Birmingham Lichen Watermark. The wet combination of ink and feed pools ink on the page. A result: Watermark shades darkly — if allowed to dry fully. Slow writing tasks are best. Journaling and teaching reflections. Sticking to a few, targeted kinds of writing.
Loft Pens Highworth Teal Ocean (EF). Straits Pens Slowpoke Green. A crowd-sourced pairing. The Highworth’s large section makes for comfortable writing in both short and long sessions. Slowpoke Green is unsaturated enough to suit writing through meetings — and, as such, is too dark for skimmable accent work. The pen’s colorway poses possible disruption during meetings. Combined, this pairing will live at my desk for personal writing tasks: journaling, letter writing, and some manuscript drafting.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-tamenuri (B). Kyo-iro Higashiyama Moonlight. This Nakaya lives in my Goldilocks zone: wide, comfortable section; subdued and fun tamenuri colorway, and a B nib that performs reliably. This pairing lays down a consistent M line width. The orange is fun for personal writing, too: journaling, letter writing, and manuscript editing.
Wild Cards
Esterbrook J Copper (9128, EF Flex). Sailor Shikiori Yozakura. This combo is the star of the past two weeks. The EF continues on as an excellent marking and editing nib. Manuscript edits, marking papers, brainstorm notes on lists, and lesson plans.
