The demise of a Delike
Woe is me. Fie and bah and humbug. The pastel light of my pen case has dimmed. The nib collar of my pastel green Delike New Moon cracked.
The pen, all-told, survived three inkings. The New Moon was a fun writing option while it lasted.
Coincidental timing given the stationery-world’s escalating drama regarding Jowo’s own nib housings. Jowo’s cracking seems to be vertical, down one side.
In contrast, the nib-side rim of my Delike’s collar tore off. Brittle. Like paper.
I also attempted to cannibalize an unused Kaweco nib, feed and collar. Each in turn. The Delike and Kaweco nib units are, unsurprisingly, too different to exchange. Worth a shot.
Interestingly, removing the Delike’s nib and feed unveiled another development: purple staining within the pen’s section and on the nib itself. The stains were left by Troublemaker’s Doña Victorina — a known stainer. Learning all the time.
Evidence of ink explorations
This week’s Inked Tines update includes my most recent currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. No single pen and ink combo stood out this week. As a collective, my currently inked worked well together. Synergy?
Franklin-Christoph 45 (B SIG) — Empty. Generous, consistent B line. Mysterious Blue shaded well from the SIG nib. Used for my partner’s anniversary letter — slow, deliberately-paced writing. Commonplace notes (accent), journaling, letter writing.
Diplomat Aero (EF) — 1/3. My best experience with this nib to date. Slag Grey is wet, but controlled well by the Aero’s EF nib. Dark grey. Pocket carried in jeans and chinos. Round nib wrote well on odd angles in my pocket notebook. Pocket notes, journaling, meeting notes, work bullet journal setup.
Narwhal Schuylkill (M) — 1/3. M nib is over polished. Pumpkin Cake is dry in this feed. The result: hard starts and inconsistent lines. Writing with pressure alleviates the issue. Commonplace notes (accent), journaling (half of an entry).
Pelikan m805 (F Architect) — 1/4. Superstar combination: quick-drying, strong shading, and wet enough to smooth out the crisp grind. Too dry for comfortable reverse writing. Fun enough pair to encourage my longest journal entry of the week. Commonplace notes (accent), journaling.
Visconti Homo Sapiens (EF) — ??. Beastly shading on CAL paper. Reverse writing worked well with an unbeveled stencil. Smooth and consistent. Daily driver, task management, work bullet journal setup, commonplace notes (quotes).
Visconti Homo Sapiens (F CI) — ??. CI grind snags pages when I write quickly. The Visconti firehose encouraged loud shading and haloing. Great combo. Slow tasks worked best: journaling, letter writing, and commonplace notes.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Musubi Cosmo Air Light 83 (A5). I started building out my core reference spreads this week. The structure of my index pages run from pages two to seven.
A two-page summer prep spread follows. These pages offer a “weekly” timeline of projects I want to finish before classes start. All told, the first nine pages are inhabited.
A handful of useful tools supplement my work bullet journal. The reusable Midori Clipband keeps the notebook securely closed.
The band also serves as a convenient place marker while flipping between two spreads.
Band is strong like bull
I also resurrected my old INKBYJENG stencil. The checkboxes sit in a 5mm grid. Identical to the Musubi’s grid.
Flexible unlike bull
The stencil also supports a flap at the top. The flap allows me to hang the stencil on a page to serve as a handy “today” bookmark. Together, I can use Ink by Jeng’s stencil for both task management and for easily opening right to my current weekly spread. I dig a multitasker.
Handy
Journal. Taroko Breeze (A5). Four new entries this week, spanning six pages. I journaled more frequently than last week. And each entry was short. The longest runs two pages.
The week’s brevity was due, in large part, to my personal reflections taking on targeted foci. Each entry broke down and thought through specific topics.
One entry, for example, nails down how I am setting up my classroom for the coming year. Changes to our physical distancing policy, coupled with requiring all students to school from campus, mean I need to ruthlessly use every square inch of my room’s footage.
Commonplace. Elemental Paper Iodine (A5). Slow progress this week. Mostly as breaks between work on larger projects. Two more pages of quotes and reflections added.
Written dry. The Franklin-Christoph croaked on Friday afternoon. Luckily, the pen dried up in between commonplace notes. It’s lovely to see a pen run dry mid-week once again.
Newly inked. None. I have been a perfect gentleman.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. I ordered a set of ten magnetic bookmarks from a shop called Chinco on Amazon. Thin, textured paper folded to hide thin magnets. They work well.
And in calming colors
The intention is to mark current lesson plans and important notes. Magnetic bookmarks can move and be reused throughout the school year. Paper-thin bookmarks ensure I will still be able to write comfortably after each is placed.
Nearly 2D
Outgoing / trades or sales. No movement on the outgoing front this week.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I finished Wells’ All Systems Red on Tuesday. The novella is brief, but powerful.
She ends begging a question: is agency defined by a person or is it afforded through a government’s laws? Excellent science fiction.
My couple’s read-through of A Wise Man’s Fear continued, too. We read two more chapters — six and seven — while staycationing for our anniversary.
We found an outdoor restaurant with a fire pit. They were kind enough to give us our own corner. Lovely night. And a great way to experience Kvothe’s ongoing musicianship and shenanigans.
Nonfiction. My close-read of Tatum (2017) stalled this week.
Music. I rediscovered Sia’s older catalogue this week. Some People Have REAL Problems and Colour the Small One played on loop while I built out my work bullet journal.
Folk storytelling with Sia’s knack for nailing a catchy melody. Excellent tea and productivity accompaniment.
Fast note: while the language is kid friendly, many songs include adult themes. Slow note: Breathe Me was my entree into Sia’s work.
