Growing passed the iron gall terrors
I own one iron gall ink: Kala Nostalgia Spring Rain. I bought it for the paperwork at my wedding. Spring Rain’s iron gall qualities make it waterproof. Permanence felt appropriate and meaningful. Inked and cleaned within 24 hours. The iron gall terrors, indeed.
I also bought it because the color shifts as the ink dries. I jump at inks with fun characteristics.
The color changing and permanence qualities of iron gall inks are fantastic. But I fear the damage iron gall inks can reportedly do to the metal parts of fountain pens — including nibs.
The online community is awash in anecdotal accountings of iron gall inks damaging nibs. Ken Crooker’s experience shaped my worries. He documents a handful of nibs working with three inks from three iron gall makers: Organics Studio, Rohrer & Klingner, and KWZ. Gold and titanium nibs fared just fine. Steel nibs proved a mish-mosh. Pitting and corrosion were startling.
Disclaimers on many vendors’ websites that acknowledge possible damage add to my worries. I’d like to avoid metal parts of pens and steel nibs corroding.
However, these worrying accounts are mirrored by positive experiences. Fountain Pen Network and even my own local pen group are also replete with iron gall ink love stories. Most recently, my pen friend Mark left his TWSBI inked for weeks without issue. And Mike — another pen friend — has braved months.
Iron gall, it seems, is an ink choice of risk-benefit calculus. I’m so glad I inked up with Spring Rain. How have your experiences been with iron gall inks?
Write on, brave soldier.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. Not a pen and ink combo but my carrying case for my inked pens. The pen show kit as a whole was the star of the week.
In particular, my A5 Rickshaw bag stands out this week. It’s holding six pens, with secure room for two more. It’s holding my A5 Taroko Breeze journal. It’s holding a loupe, washi roll, highlighter tabs, and — during the pen show — my keys. Rock. Star.
TWSBI Vac700R (F CSI) — 1/2. One of my favorite stub nib grinds. The high-sheen November Rain remained surprisingly lubricated throughout the week. Excellent F line for commonplacing, and even some journaling.
Nakaya Neostandard (B) — 1/2. A tale of contrasts. Large but light. Broad nib with disciplined M-esque lines. Muted earth tones, now with shimmer. Love this combo.
Mythic Pens Aeschylus (EF SIG) — 3/4. Developed into my pocket carry. The large size kept the pen lodged in my back pocket sans clip. Summer Rain
Sailor Pro Gear (Z) — 3/4. A personal favorite combo: Zoom and Yozakura. Plenty of grungy-black shading, even while dry. Fun journaling pair given the broad line and shading.
Franklin-Christoph 45 (B SIG) — 4/5. Wet enough to write smoothly. Still offered excellent shading. Tiny, comfortable pen. Middle-toned blue. Worked well for journaling and for commonplacing.
Montblanc 146 (EF) — 4/5. A dry combination. Eliminates much of DC Teal’s sheen. Even dry, the EF nib wrote smoothly. A break-even pen and ink pairing.
Notebooks. Journal. A5 Taroko Breeze. Three more entries spanning eight pages. Two free written reflections and one analytic reflection on how Stanley, Gessen and Arendt overlap. We have fun.
Lately, Wallace Stevens’ poetry has resonated with me. Monday night’s journal entry ends with two stanzas from Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. My favorite is stanza five:
Thoughtful and pretty
Commonplace. A5 Elemental Paper Iodine. I am now one chapter into my commonplace notes on Gessen’s Surviving Autocracy. This amounts to five new pages of notes.
Forward progress, no matter how small, is still progress.
Written dry. Summer survival continues. All six of my currently inked pens remain inked and writing.
Newly inked. No newly inked pens this week. No promises for next week, post-show.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. I ordered two gridded Tomo notebooks from Musubi Thursday night. The two “Cosmo Air Light 83” notebooks will serve as my work bullet journals once the school year starts up again in September.
Musubi’s Tomo system sports a “cross grid pagination.” Printed page numbers, subtle partitions throughout to help keep lesson plans, meeting notes and other spreads well-organized. All without measuring or counting grids.
The 5mm grid is markedly different from last year’s 3.7mm grid. I’m on the hunt for a 5mm stencil as my 3.7mm is a poor match.
The cross grid Musubi has designed offers organizational structure I found myself constantly recreating last year in my Hobonichi Plain notebook.
I’m writing this post before heading to the weekend’s DC Pen Show. So, at present, no new pens or inks. Insert ominous foreshadowing here.
Outgoing / trades or sales. No new trades or sales this week. The six outgoing pens from last week’s inked tines are photographed and ready to be posted. Once I return from the fancy DC Show.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I finished Sanderson’s Rhythm of War this week. The scale of the story has amplified beyond the individual characters.
Providing details without spoiling the story is challenging. I will share that Shallan, Kaladin, and Adolin all grow in fun and rewarding directions.
I’m still feeling around for my next fiction book. Suggestions welcome.
Nonfiction. I started and finished my first read-through of Beverly Tatum’s (2017) Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? 358 pages. Books fly by quickly when they follow traditional academic outlines.
The updated prologue was the most powerful part of the book for me. Dr. Tatum follows threads from her initial findings in 1997 through to 2017. The wealth of evidence she provides suggests to me that she expected strong backlash to her argument that racism persists within the US education system, in part, because racism has been rewarded in the US political system. Powerful — and thoroughly sourced.
Music. Radiohead and Thom Yorke brought the energy for me this week. Intricate musical arrangements and Yorke’s sometimes-falsetto make for excellent reading music.
