Creating on Clairefontaine
My little Clairefontaine notebook that I’m utilizing this month went through a little bit of customization earlier this week. I dug out some scrapbook paper with a fun texture and utilized some ribbon tape to give a whole new outside to what, in my opinion, is a pretty modern looking notebook with its glossy cover and bright design. Now it feels a little more “vintage”, and makes me much happier to pick it up. Which is important, because my notebook infidelity is striking again.
I think, ultimately, it’s the size of the notebook and the center-bound wire rings that is making me want to jump to other notebooks. My hand bumps into them if I’m not being careful. If this was a top-bound notebook at this size I think it would be a lot more effective.
Overall, I think Clairefontaine is a great paper. I really enjoy using them when I need a notebook that I don’t want to worry about. It’s abundant, not special edition, not hard to get and if I fill it up with nonsense I can toss it without batting an eye or feeling like I should have kept it (I do this very rarely, so even if it had nonsense it would probably go in one of my past notebook boxes). It’s a great workhorse paper and it’s letting me stretch out some far flung ideas this week. Somehow my story has decided to become slightly post-apopolyptic despite my bright ink choices. Characters gonna do what characters gonna do.
I’m sticking with the notebook for the challenge (we’ll see how next week fares, haha!).
Onto the inks!
The next seven for #30inks30days
Diamine Upon A Star - Inkvent 2022
This is one of the chameleon shimmer inks from the Green Edition of the Inkvent calendar from 2022. The name makes me think of Disney and it is a delightful shade of dark blue with sheen. The chameleon shimmer seems to be green-blue. No shading with this one.
Colorverse First Moon Landing Eagle
I’m a sucker for the Colorverse Limited Editions and when I was able to snag this one on sale I jumped. Apollo 11 (the core color of this set) is one of my favorite blue inks - and Eagle is a very fun green-leaning turquoise that works well in the set or on its own. When I want a burst of color, I’ve found myself reaching for this ink in the past and I’m glad I’ve gotten the reminder of it. This one kept me writing until I finished the first short story of the month!
Colorverse Standard Model Up
The Standard Model Limited Edition set is probably one of my favorite sets because of how ambitious and ridiculous it was. It’s a set of 17 15 mL ink bottles inspired by particle physics and it all comes in a plastic case that looks like something out of one of my old aquatic science lab kits from college. Love the set. And love this color. It’s a bright light blue. One of these days I’ll need to compare it to Colorverse Strelka (another one of my favorites).
Coloverse Voyager I Pale Blue Dot
I was on a roll for a few days with Colorverse Limited Editions. This is from their first ever set that celebrated the launch of the Voyager I probe in 1977. Pale Blue Dot is a nod to earth’s description. This is a teal ink with sheen in a broad enough nib and on the right paper. I seriously need to use this one more often.
Diamine Blue Pearl
I felt like I went into the archives for this one! I got this bottle of ink as a gift the first Christmas I was really into fountain pens… it and De Atrementis Black Rose are probably the oldest bottles in my collection (that have survived multiple purge rounds). I’d completely forgotten how solid of an ink this is. It’s a royal blue with silver shimmer and red sheen when you can lay down enough of it. It’s a contender to stick around (and hopefully used more often than it has been).
Monarca Cielo Cruel
This ink was my favorite surprise from the week. A family member bought it for me off my wishlist for Christmas this past year. I’d admired the swatches I’d seen online and thought it looked like a blue I didn’t already have in my collection. And it certainly fits that bill. This is the color of the sky above North American deserts - this ink is a moody blue with great shading.
Colorverse Kingdom Series Gae Guk
This was probably the least exciting from the week as its a pretty standard deep blue with sheen. It behaves well and I think it fits really well within its set. I just have too many blues in my collection for this one to feel significantly different. But who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind in the future?