TannieSpace

geekery, drawing and then some

Posts about ink

external brain

quiver on leuchtturm

My brain doesn’t really retain much info lately. I get easily overwhelmed and lose track of pretty much everything. A while back I rediscovered the bulletjournal and after some initial try-outs in my Hobonichi Cousin I found that the A5-size currently doesn’t work for me. Too big or too heavy, not sure which one(probably both), but my hands and wrist start hurting a lot when I use it. The Cousin now lives on my desk and I don’t spend time at my desk anymore. I purchased a pocket Leuchtturm1917 notebook (in ‘Berry’, a nice warm pink) and luckily, my previous experience with a (several years old) Leuchtturm notebook proved non-standard. That notebook feathered and bled through like crazy! Several people told me (and showed photos) of their current notebooks, and those didn’t bleed much if at all, and no noticeable feathering. So I took the plunge and it paid off.

The pocket size (close to A6) fits my pocket (any pocket!) and bags easily and feels very light. After using it for a month I added a small Quiver to it, even though I had also stuck a penloop on it already. The penloop proved a bit tight for my favourite pens, I needed something better and I love the Quiver on my A5 notebook. I inked up the Pelikan M205 Amethyst with Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa and the Pelikan M205 transparant blue with Rohrer & Klingner Salix. I love these ink, but, as most iron-gall-inks, they write a bit on the dry side (or should I say, a lot.). At first I had an F-nib on the Amethyst, and that worked great! The transparant blue had an M-nib and Salix gushed out of that one. I don’t know what happened but I found it hard to write with. I swapped the nibs, and Scabiosa still wrote great. Salix, however, decided it did not like the F-nib and decided to go back to non-gusher-very-dry. I swapped nibs with my other Pelikan (never hurts to have more, right?) and this time, it seemed more tame. Not sure if the first M-nib has a slightly bigger feed, or I did something weird with cleaning. Both of them now write very nicely with the M-nibs.

I inked up the Parker Vector with Pelikan Blue Black (vintage, no idea if it contains iron-gall, it behaves like it) a while back because I read somewhere that the vector plays nice with dry/iron-gall inks. It did play nice! After a while I dumped some leftover Shaeffer Turquoise in the cartridge to bring the blue back into blueblack and it turned into a lovely teal and still writes like a dream.

pens and writing


I have a thing for iron-gall inks. I also have a thing for blueblacks, apparently. How many could one person possible need… (let me count: Pelikan, ESSRI, Diamine Registrar’s, Salix, and I still want Platinum Blueblack…)


pens and writing


For extra fun, I inked up the Lamy 2000 BB with J.Herbin Emerald Chivor and even that doesn’t bleed through.

'februari' written with glittery ink


I’ve used the bulletjournal nearly everyday this year. I keep it simply, I write down a few to-do’s for the day (not too many to prevent overwhelmedness) and I keep track of Nano’s food. I need the defrost it in time, and to aid proper timing I keep a list of what I have in the fridge (= ready to eat) and what I have in the freezer. In the evening I glance at the list and I’ll see instantly if I need to transfer something so the poor dog doesn’t starve due to poor planning on my side. I also keep a list of things I want to buy (to prevent mindless (over)spending) and a waiting-for list for whatever should come in the mail (usually dogfood and vitamins). So far it has worked well, I feel less lost and like having something to - sometimes literally - hold on to. I like the A6 a lot, it can go anywhere with me.


Plannerism planner (tests)

Earlier this year I bought the Plannerism Planner because I liked the idea of having a planner that helped me set goals. I used it for a few months and enjoyed it, but found the paper not working quite well with my fountain pens and ink. So I strayed.

I bought a Leuchtturm1917 Academic Week Planner because I got hooked on the columns. And Leuchtturms have paper that works well with fountain pens and inks.

both planners

But that didn't do it for me either. Sure, the paper works great, I get excellent shading, I don't have to look at what pen I grab 'cause they all 'work'. The drying time started to annoy me after the short Saturday / Sunday columns did. I have plans on Saturday and Sunday too, people! Do other people not do anything in the weekend? Of course they do, they make plans too (some even with me). I really don't understand why planner/agenda-makers insist on keeping the weekend short, and tiny.

I figured, because I loved the Plannerism format so much, I should spend some times testing inks and pens and work out a system for me. I don't mind having dedicated planner-pens, and as I colour-code my type of appointments I could do with a fixed set of inks. In fact, that seemed best anyway, just one red, one orange, one blue. Not switching them around every week. Helps me to not have to think about what colour means what. Saving some brain-bandwidth for more important things, yay!

The winners!

The colours/inks that worked best for me:

the winners

All these inks performed well (or well enough ;) ) on the paper, with little to no bleed-through. I like the colours too.I had some issues with the Iroshizuku, which I think has more to do with the pen than the ink. I've tried several Iroshizuku inks and they all flow easily, but this one in this pen just won't write well. It flowed fine in another pen, so I think I'll just take out the ink, thoroughly clean the pen and try again.

The other side:

The other side of the page.

Noodler's Habanero bled more than it did in my earlier tests. The pen did also write a bit wetter than before. I did have it in my bag and tossed it around, which may explain it. I don't mind this level of bleedthrough with one of the colours.The Platinum Preppy Purple shows similar point-bleedthrough, also not a problem for me.

More inks

The Sheaffer Turquoise writes pretty wet. In general I don't notice much difference between the TWSBi 580 and vac700 nib-size-wise, but you can clearly see the differences between the two inks. The Platinum Rose Red writes dry, not unusual in my experience for a pigmented ink. Fox Red also writes pretty wet, similar to the Sheaffer Turquoise.

On the second photo can clearly see the bleedthrough of Sheaffer Turquoise, as expected. I don't feel comfortable with this level of bleedthrough, it makes writing on both sides more difficult. The Fox Red behaves only slightly better. I won't use these pens / inks in my planner. In all fairness, Fox Red also bled through in my Leuchtturm1917 planner, in a similar way, so all in all, not too bad.

More inks.

The entire page, front and back.

Sheaffer Turquoise clearly bleeding through, as does Diamine Aqua Lagoon (in a wet pen). Noodler's BSiAR does surprisingly well for an italic nib, and of course, bleeds through. Some of the others do as well (or as bad) as Habanero, but still a bit too much for me. As expected, Scabiosa performs well. Even though I used F/FA/EF some inks still bled through too much (Navajo Turquoise, Syrah, Ambre de Birmanie, Bouquet d'Antan). R&K Alt-bordeaux in the Studio with M-nib performed better, it would most likely work fine in an F.

Random pens from my inked up set.

Previous page.

Patches

As an extra test, I made little patches of each colour. The Iroshizuku had start issues even though I had used it minutes before (suspected pen-issue, not the ink). The patches did not bleed.

Little patches.

More, more!

Glitter pink gelly rolls have their place too. Also used the Sheaffer Turquoise with the EF-nib I have for the 580. Worked better, but I think the colour looks less cool.

More inks


Colours...

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Doing some tests in my planner. These inks did not bleed through.

Plannerism Planner (2013)

  • cartridge Platinum Preppy Red.

  • Noodler's Habanero.

  • cartridge Platinum Preppy Yellow.

  • mix of Diamine Sunshine Yellow and Noodler's Bad blue heron.

  • Organics Studio Jane Austen.

  • ESSRI.

  • Bad Blue Heron.

  • Sailor Sei-Boku.

  • R&K Salix


Ch-ch-ch-cherry blossom

My preciousssssss!I wanted this pen for a while and decided to treat myself to it. Its arrival experienced some delay (apparently, we have postal strikes) but it did arrive safe and sound eventually.

And it looks absolutely stunning in real life. The photos don't capture the shiny of the flowers very well, and it looks much better in daylight than it does in artificial light. I bought it for the pretty-factor, and much to my delight, it also writes well. I wrote several letters with it so far, and yes, after four pages my hand will hurt, but normally I don't even last four pages.

Some more photos of it, and its writing:

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Using ink-samples to paint.

Using ink-samples to paint. I've used my ink-samples to paint for a while now and I thought I'd share my 'trick'. Not really a trick, but it makes it easy to use them.

Using ink-samples to paint. Before I open the vial, I shake it, so inkdrops stick to the cap.

Using ink-samples to paint. When I take the cap off, I simply add a few drops of water (or more, depending on the dilution I want). I use a temporary cap to keep the vial safe (I speak from experience cough).

Using ink-samples to paint. And then I paint. :D

When I don't need it anymore, I discard the contents of the cap, wipe it clean and screw it back. This way, the ink stays clean and I don't feel I waste much of it. Sometimes when a vial almost completely runs out -- because I have in fact put the ink in a pen shocker -- I'll add water to the vial itself and mark it for 'paint'. This doesn't always prevent me putting it in a pen anyway, but hey.


Needles.

Needle Some time ago I started doing my own injections. The weekly trip to the doctor's office did cost me too much energy, plus, I needed a bit more than just once per week. I asked about self-injection and they explained to me how it worked and immediately let me do it. After a few tries there, they gave me everything I needed to do the shots at home. I've had a few moments, in which I felt pretty light-headed and mostly thought 'Why did I want to do this!', however, mostly it goes pretty good. I feel proud of myself, I have conquered my fear of needles.