Deciding what I want in a new gel or ballpoint pen
One of my favorite aspects of analog thinking is that the tools that work for me change over time. There is no singularly perfect pen or ink or paper. My needs change from project to project. And my tastes change year over year.
My ballpoint pen of choice has long been the Baron Fig Squire. It’s compact and machined well. The twist mechanism is smooth and satisfying to click.
The color-matched and the complimentary
There are generally three options when matching inks to pens. Find an ink that matches to your pen’s color, choose an ink that compliments your pen’s color, or go wild.
The many faces of shading inks, or my love affair with dry inks
There are many ink properties to explore down here at the bottom of the fountain pen ink rabbit hole. Sheen, shimmer, shading, viscosity, permanence, saturation. The list goes on. But shading is, far and away, my favorite ink quality.
Fearlessly downsizing to two pens with grey inks, for the week
How does one whittle down a set of 12 inked pens to six? Turns out that I couldn’t. But seven was feasible.
Focusing on my needs for the week did the trick. I am scheduled for desk work (comments and grading projects from two separate classes) and plenty of floating meetings.