Inked Tines — November 21

The week ran lopsided from the get-go. I spent far more time writing for work than for myself. I intend for this coming week to flip the script since I’m on holiday break.

My Delike New Moon 2 arrived. It’s fun to meet a new pen. The Delike came with a misaligned nib. It’s less fun needing to tune your new pen out of the box. But I will say:

it’s a sexy pastel color.

Toolset

Pens. The Pelikan and Sailor are tied for this week’s standout pen-ink combination. The Architect/EF grinds, both by Gena at Custom Nib Studio, give me the ability to make easily-scannable headings and tiny detailed notes with the same pen. Big fan.

• Mythic Aeschylus Black & Red — Full. Writes smoothly, with a pencil-like feedback. Simply didn’t reach for this combo during the week. I’m a sucker for mellow pastel colors over this mid-bright pink-purple. Too pink to use for grading.

• Delike New Moon 2 Green — 1/6 used. Smooth, well-behaved, and reliable. This pen punches above its weight class. (I don’t follow boxing: is that comparison accurate?) My new daily driver. The Slag is wet and dries quickly. It’s one-dimensional though without shading.

• Franklin-Christoph 31 Smoke & Ice — 1/3 used. Great for slower writing. Wrote out a poem once but didn’t reach for this pen much otherwise. And the spouse used it to write holiday cards. We are proactive over here.

• TWSBI 580-AL Emerald — 1/2 used. What. A. Lovely. Combo. The EF nib and feed run wet. Hisoku runs dry. The combo results in lovely shading and a true EF line. A lot of my lesson planning was done with this pen.

• TWSBI Vac700-R Iris — 1/4 used. I have few reservations about this combo. Lesson plans? Check. Smooth and fun journaling? Check. I do worry that it would be a colorful distraction during a meeting. Perhaps next week.

• Sailor Pro Gear Slate — Empty. Lasted quite a long time once I used the EF side heavily during meetings. Excellent pairing for Tomoe River paper.

• Pelikan m805 Stresemann Anthracite — Empty. A versatile daily driver. Weekly task lists, quick notes at my desk, and a couple of meetings. Chushu dried quickly, even on the A side of the nib. Sign me up for another go-around.

Notebooks. 14 new pages this week brings me to page 157 in the work bullet journal. Two for the weekly spread, eight lesson plans, a handful of meetings, and some grading notes.

This year is my first using the bujo system for teaching. It’s flexible enough to track in-person teaching, remote teaching, administrative duties, and large lesson plan overhauls, all in the same notebook. I’m quite happy with how it’s coming together.

This week was light on journaling. I wrote nine pages of entries. Two of these are poems by Walt Whitman and Jim Harrison. I call them “the boys.” (I definitely do NOT call them “the boys.”).

Written dry. Two pens ran dry this week, both on Friday. The Pelikan emptied Friday afternoon in the middle of a meeting. I was glad to have the Delike sitting in my pocket. Grey ink for grey ink seemed a fitting swap.

The Sailor completed its marathon three-week run on Friday evening. The feed alone wrote two full pages in my journal before it finally ran empty. The EF side of this Architect bought me pages more than I would have expected. It was a fall miracle.

Newly inked. No new pens inked. Two weeks of discipline. In a row. Victory.

Collection

Incoming / new orders. I ordered a Delike New Moon 2 from an eBay shop back in October. The pen arrived in a nicely appointed box. A quick check under a loupe showed me the pen arrived with a misaligned EF nib. A quick tune-up had it writing smoothly. It lays down a generous line, somewhere between a European F and an EF.

Solid box. Solid pen – after a little tlc.

The Delike is now my second recent EF nib to put down a F or M line. The pen itself is pretty. It takes four turns to uncap. That’s a comfort for a pen I intend to use as a pocket carry. I am comfortable knowing the pen is unlikely to come uncapped and leak in a jacket or pant pocket. Overall, the Delike is a fun, inexpensive pen.

Outgoing / trades or sales. My Franklin-Christoph 45L took its first overnight trip this week. I told it to mind its pleases and thank yous.

The F-C is on its way to North Carolina for a repair to the interior threading of the section.

Inside here.

The nib collar (that plastic piece that holds the feed and nib together) free-spins instead of screwing in and seating. The nib, with converter attached, slides into the pen itself after a page or so of writing. F-C’s customer service is barre-non, so I have no worries it’ll return to me in tip-top shape.

Currently listening

Akira Kosemura. It was a chill week.