Creating Project Chaos
A sub-project of Project Enjoy Collection. An organization of the paper chaos and ink decision from my last post.
It’s probably cliche right now, but I’ve been thinking a lot about George Orwell’s 1984 and have started a reread. This book has stuck with me ever since I read it in high school for English Literature. I’ve only read through the first few chapters again so far and its crazy to me that there hasn’t been a TV studio doing a miniseries similar to The Handmaid’s Tale. Maybe it’s just too on the nose.
The thing that I remembered most about that book all of those years ago was how central keeping a diary was to Winston’s resistance of his overbearing and controlling world. Since my beaten and highlighted school copy has been lost to the wind and probably a storage box in an unknown locale, I grabbed a copy from the library and began the search for Winston’s diary keeping in a world where having the journal wasn’t illegal, but what he wrote in it certainly was. In that opening chapter he describes picking out a proper pen to write in it, because it seemed more important than writing with a pencil.
This stirred up some thoughts regarding my notebooks and how challenging I was finding it to even write down anything so far this year (even despite trying to mix it up with different notebooks in my stash). I found myself falling into the following habit of hoping that the next notebook will get my life together. We all know that’s not true, but the hope is always there.
At the moment, I am waiting for that new yellow Kaweco to be up for sale before I order from any stationery stores. Therefore I needed to soothe the absolutely restless feeling that has been with me for the past several weeks in another way. I’m currently working a retail job part-time while I decide my next career move and decided I needed to go back to basics. My boss lets me stock the stationery aisles most shifts, but its a big box store so the usual suspects are there - Papermate, Pilot, Bic, Sharpie, etc. Pens that are so ubiquitous we rarely talk about them in the stationery community. When I was younger I was absolutely obsessed with the Pilot Precise. I thought they were so crazy fancy because they cost more than $5 for a pack of the pens (oh, how times have changed, haha). I seriously considered picking up a pack of them, or even the Bic Xtra Bolds (which are awesome for a cheap ballpoint, I used them when I worked a front desk a lot and there was a risk of customers stealing pens). I ultimately decided that I didn’t want to - I have inks that are more fun than those colors at home.
I did, however, decide that I would grab a few on-clearance Mead Five-Star Composition notebooks. In high school and college I would always have their mini chunky notebooks in my backpack for doodling and writing snippets of stories. I originally debated grabbing one of those, but based on the touch-test I doubted they would hold up to liquid ink of any sort. I grabbed the composition books because they had a smooth, coated texture to the page and I figured if they were awful I would be out less than $1 if I had to just recycle the used one and give the unused ones to a friend’s school-age kid. I am absolutely shocked to report that the paper is fountain pen friendly and even manages to show off shading and some sheen with the (admittedly few) inks that I have tried on it.
Shading from Diamine Celadon Cat
Some sheen from Colorverse Black Hole on the left side of the picture.
The reason so few inks have been tried on it was that I decided to really shrink how many pens I have inked. I currently only have three: my Kaweco x Galen Leather Carmine (for headings still), my Kaweco liliput copper, and my Kaweco liliput fireblue. The latter two have had their nibs swapped to a steel M and F respectively. No muss, no fuss.
While it hasn’t helped with getting my life in order, it has certainly made it easier to just write nonsense. I don’t care about the paper and I don’t have to worry about where I am using the pens because the nibs aren’t as prone to bending if I drop them. Not to mention if they do get bent completely out of shape I can get a replacement.
And thus Project Chaos: Subproject of Project Enjoy Collection was born (blame the fact that I was an NPS bureaucrat for most of my 20’s on titling things this way, haha). The goal is to use up samples that have been on the Dusty Ink List and to make notebooks out of this Mead Five Star paper as needed. In quick succession I have a notebook that I’m not too worried about, favorite pens that are offering a new experience with nibs I haven’t used in a while, and a chance to get everything out of my head and onto the page.
To go back to my thoughts about 1984, that’s how Winston’s writing starts. He didn’t want to write for fear of the consequences and that the diary seemed to have a weight that he was afraid to tarnish. However, that choice to write changed everything.
What gets you to the page during times of uncertainty and change?
Currently Inked
On the Mead Five-Star Composition Notebook paper.
Colorverse Black Hole - Kaweco liliput fireblue F - I’m actually surprised that I never picked up a full bottle of this ink. It’s been around for years now and on its surface it appears to be just another black. It has a complex black-purple undertone with black sheen which just really makes it stand out. It’s moody and sharp and something I needed to do some writing over the past weekend.
Diamine Celadon Cat - Kaweco liliput copper M - I’m probably going to swap out a new ink in this pen soon, but, man, is this color nice. This one is a winner of a blue-gray. It has wonderful shading on most papers. It has a delicate quality that makes it feel sophisticated. This was a journalling ink for me most of the past week.