My ink bottles stay at home
For the first time in my teaching career, my class was interrupted by a question about fountain pens.
A student - we’ll call him Arush – whose fountain pen had run out of ink during his own class, knocked politely in my doorway. Apparently, Arush asked to leave his own class when his Sailor ran dry. He asked his own teacher for permission to find me for more ink.
Arush asked if I have a bottle of black ink he could use to refill his Sailor Pro Gear Slim. The history of Norway’s “neutral allyship” during World War 2 could wait. Fountain pen drama was afoot.
I realized, for the first time, that I only bring inked pens to work. All of my bottles stay in their boxes at home. So no. I didn’t have ink.
But I did have a Monteverde Giant Sequoia inked with Slag Grey. This pen and ink combo has grown a uniform black in the two weeks since I first inked it. “Close enough” would have to do for a school-day stationery emergency.
Pen-borrowing calculus ensued:
Arush has kept his Sailor in good repair for two years (+1).
Modeling good stewardship and trust (+1)
Hunting for the Pilot Varsity in my bag might prolong the break to my class’ rhythm (-1)
The Monteverde might get dropped or splayed from misuse (-1)
It’s fun to share stationery (+1)
I lent my Monteverde to Arush for the last two class periods of Thursday. Modeling good stewardship trumps safeguarding stationery, apparently.
In the end, the Giant Sequoia was delivered safely back to me after a few short hours. Respect, young Arush.
Brave traveler hath return’d
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. This week’s standout pen and ink combination is, without a doubt, the Pilot Custom Heritage 912 (SF), inked with Monteverde’s Caribbean Blue. I looked for reasons to reach for this pair. Worked well as a narrow F for reading notes, meeting notes, and journaling. Lesson plans, which I take my time pulling together, opened up some broader M lines with gentle flex on the soft nib. Fun all-around.
Tasty nib action
Monteverde Giant Sequoia (EF SIG) — Empty. Slag Grey proved too wet for true EF lines. Reverse writing provided a reliable workaround for last week’s stencil smearing issue. Task management, scratch notes, reading notes.
Kaweco Frosted Sport (F) — Empty. The F nib writes a true EF line. Excellent, reliable writer, even on pocket notebook paper. Grew into a great reading notes and annotating pairing due to the dry feed and mellow blue. Pocket carry. Scratch notes, reading notes (accent), lesson plans.
Sailor Pro Gear (Z Architect) — Feed. Architect grind brings out the best of Sakuranezumi’s shading. Made taking notes during meetings a lot of fun. Multitasker nib allowed for small detailed notes (EF side) and broad quick jottings (Zoom Architect side). Meeting notes, journaling.
Mythic Aeschylus (EF) — Feed. Large size, combined with an EF line width, is comfortable to mark papers with. Copper Noir stands out well against grey ink, making it great for accent reading notes. Meeting notes, task management, reading notes, manuscript marking.
Lamy Safari Petrol (B) — 1/2. Wet B nib and feed pairing. Wet enough to feather on Leuchtturm paper last weekend. Stuck to only CAL and Tomoe River paper since. Journaling, letter to students, some lesson planning.
Franklin-Christoph 45 (B SIG) — 1/2. Sharp grind worked best for slow writing (e.g. journal entries, lesson plans). Broad line opens up some quick writing, so long as I stay disciplined with my writing angle. Settled on mainly journaling.
Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler (M SIG) — ??. I think I filled this pen? The filling button sticks a bit. Raises doubt that the sac inside is full of ink. Writes beautifully. A journaling pen for the week.
Notebooks. Work bujo. A5 Hobonichi Plain Notebook. 12 new pages. Next week will begin on page 123. A two page monthly spread for May. My monthlies see a lot of use during the final two months of teaching. Long projects come to a close. And end-of-year meetings often condense into summer and fall goals.
The remaining ten pages were quite typical. A standard, if smudgy, two-page weekly tracks my tasks, teaching schedule, and meetings schedule. Two pages of lesson plans, a letter outline for the my research classes’ final meetings, and five pages of meeting notes.
Weekly spread, because MK asked
This is my second A5 notebook for the current school year. I made notes on 270 numbered pages in that first book. Taken together, my school year spans 393 pages so far. That is a lot of squiggles on paper.
Journal. Unbranded A5 Cosmo Air Light Notebook. Seven new pages of writing across three entries. I mostly reflected on the goings-on of my work and personal lives.
Monday’s journal entry ended with a poem by the fabulous Nikita Gill.
Written dry. Four pens went down this week. The Monteverde dried up Friday afternoon. Convenient timing.
The Kaweco dried up on Thursday morning. It was in my pocket and had nothing left to give when I wanted to note a meeting change. Passing hallways chats with colleagues often end in new meetings or tasks. I jot them in my pocket notebook so they can eventually migrate into my weekly. My pocket notebook is my short term memory.
Warning: Cleaning imminent
Two more pens are down to only their feeds: the Sailor and Mythic Aeschylus. I’m using the Sailor to prepare this post. It will be empty quite soon. The Mythic may have a few more days left – unless I use it during my D&D session tonight. Our party is in a battle, so detailed and temporary notes abound. Sunday morning may see the Mythic fully drained.
Newly inked. The sweet taste of victory. Generous, inky victory.
I borrowed a Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler from my dad over the weekend. He’s an infrequent handwriter. His fountain pens sit, cleaned and empty, in a Franklin-Christoph penvelope.
My dad will ink one pen for a special writing project or event. Everyone’s joy is different. Rock on, ol’ man.
Dad had swapped the original Conklin F for a Goulet M. I opted for a Franklin-Christoph M-SIG instead. Conklin’s feeds are friction fit, and so are easily pulled out.
This pen gives off an old-timey vibe. A wear-your-waistcoat and pocket-watch feeling. Ferris Wheel Press’ Lady Rose seemed a fitting pairing.
A pen that whispers, “I make a better old fashioned than you”
The collection
Incoming / new orders. No new pen purchases this week.
However, I did send a Vanness gift card to a good friend to celebrate her birthday. She’s been eying a one of the new special issue spring Benu pens. Hopefully my contribution moves her closer to treating herself.
Outgoing / trades or sales. No movement leaving my collection this week. Reflecting on the past month, I anticipate my vintage Parker will sit patiently in its packaging until the summer break.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I spent this week reading non-fiction. Some weeks are fantasy/science-fiction-less. It happens.
Nonfiction. I spent the first half of the week revisiting two books for an upcoming event on the history of sexual identity politics in the United States. I’m on the hunt for individual chapters I can use to introduce students to the origins of LGBTQ activism.
John D’Emilio and Estelle Freedman’s classic Intimate Matters is a tried and true history. I re-read and annotated the tenth chapter, Breaking with the Past. 12 pages.
J.J. Halberstam’s Gaga Feminism is a wilder way to think about gender politics. I re-read all but one chapter of the book this week. Chapter five, Gaga Manifesto, stands out as a creative call to activism, with inspiration for how to constructively push for equity. I dig a solution-focused book. About 100 pages.
Music. I went classic this week. The Smiths and The Cure played all but one night. In fact, The Cure is playing as I write this. They’re moody and thoughtful at the same time.
