A cool and collected six pens
Pen shows present me with wonderful opportunities to shake up my currently inked rotation. Considering my during-the-show kit sits me outside of myself — an outer-body experience of my collection. And my after-the-show currently inked typically revolves around newly acquired pens and inks and papers.
I came away from this year’s DC Pen Show with two new pens and five new inks. Plenty of new-to-me pairings to play with.
I chose inks to match the colors in my new pens. The grey buckeye burl Krusac Legend houses my newest grey ink: Wearingeul’s Tin Woodman. I chose a Nagasawa collaboration ink, called Puka Puka, for my new #8 nib home from Relic Pens.
I added two wide and two narrow writing nibs to balance out the week’s writing options. The Able Snail’s B and Sailor 1911L’s Z offer easy writing. The Nakaya’s Mini Naginata-togi and Prera’s Japanese-width M fill out my detailed letterform needs.
Cool and collected.
Grey/Black
Krusac Legend L-15 in Buckeye Burl (EF). Wearingeul The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Tin Woodman. Mr. Krusac’s branded EF nib was finely tuned and wrote a disciplined EF line from the beginning. A fitting offering for a pen body of this caliber. Tin Woodman shades moderately and flows consistently in Krusac’s nib. The pair make for a quick drying writing option that is well-suited to tracking tasks, recording reading notes and marginalia, lesson planning, and detailed meeting notes. A promising daily writer.
Blue/Teal
Able Snail Classic in Powder Blue (B). Taccia Ukiyo-e Ainezu. Ainezu is a wet blue-black in this generous Bock B nib. Strong, persistent haloing surrounds my letters. And subtle gradient shading accents letters at the beginnings and ends of words. Personality with precision. The round B nib suits stream-of-consciousness writing tasks where my mind wanders away from holding a specific writing angle: brainstorms, lesson planning prep, journaling, and letter writing. The thick deep-blue lines also contrast Woodman’s medium grey enough to work for reading notes.
Relic Pens Fire, Earth & Ocean (M). KOBE Onomatopoeia Puka Puka. Puka Puka’s sprightly sky blue leaps from the page. Moderately dry flow in this #8 Jinhao nib ensures I feel healthy feedback while writing. Add that Puka Puka dries quickly, even on coated papers like Tomoe River. The combination opens this pairing to accent notes of all kinds: reading notes, meeting notes, and lesson plans. I do need to be mindful that the Relic’s loud resin may derail serious meetings with advisees and students’ parents. So: informal or creative meetings. Add long writing sessions while letter writing and journaling to the mix.
Earth Tones
Sailor 1911L Tangerine (Z). KOBE Inkcredible Circus “Do you believe in fairies?” Sailor’s Zoom nib is excellent at helping inks show off shading. KOBE’s Fairies special edition ink throws off frequent haloing and prominent shading in this Sailor feed. Fairies’ mint green hue provides a light-hearted writing option while I lesson plan, compose reading notes, write letters to my partner while they’re in basic training, and journal. From work to personal to play, this pair is a reliable and joyful option. Stoked.
Nakaya Neostandard Heki-tamenuri (Mini Naginata-togi, by Tokyo Station Pens). Troublemaker Sea Glass. The lone ground nib of this week’s currently inked. The Neostandard sits comfortably in my hand across long writing sessions. CY’s M Naginata grind also sits in a happy goldilocks place of wide-enough for long journaling and reading session while remaining narrow enough for detailed work preparing lesson plans. The muted earthy colorway also suits modest meetings with colleagues and students. Boom.
Wild Cards
Pilot Prera Slate Gray (M). Diamine Solar Storm. The Prera is a diminutive pen. It is, by far, the smallest of this week’s pen tray sextet. The Prera’s sturdy clip and slippy snap-cap action encourage use as my pocket carry this week. The round M nib is reliable and no-nonsense. Perfect for scratch notes in my pocket notebook while away from my desk. And Solar Storm’s technicolor shimmer lends pizazz to otherwise mundane scrawlings. Pocket notes, meeting notes, D&D notes, and perhaps some journaling.
