Nostalgia Blue
I originally started this post as an ink review of Colorverse Office Blue, but the more I wrote on the subject the more I realized that it was more of a story about where I started with pens a long time ago. Fountain pens are a more recent acquisition in my stationery life, starting in earnest around 2015 and then really taking off in 2017. I wasn’t a big online shopper before then, and I was blissfully unaware of the many excellent pen shops online that provide a world of options for us stationery nerds. Nope, back when I was in college and high school it was what I could find in the local office supply aisles at a department store or maybe the Staples (I practically went to the Staples in Jackson, WY weekly when I lived there - it was also the height of my Moleskine notebook obsession).
And it’s weird to admit this… but I used to be in love with Bic Cristals. The Bic Cristal in blue and then those multi-colored packs that have a turquoise, pink, purple, and light green. This extended to the Bic multipen, both the pastel one and the standard one. These were my high school and college daily drivers. Although, I did also have a soft spot for the Pilot Precise, but that one was a hard sell when I was a kid to my parents because they were “expensive.” I think I once had a refillable Zebra metal-body pen (cannot remember the model) which, to me, was my first “fancy” pen because it cost $12. I always bought the refills in blue.
There are some excellent odes to the Bic Cristal (Pen Addict & Gentleman Stationer each have one), and while these were pens I used up on a regular basis I don’t think it was the writing experience for me.
It was the color.
Drafting some text for a work publication - loving this combo.
Blue makes up the biggest chunk of my fountain pen ink collection and I love all of the different options. There are deep, sheening blue-blacks, airy pastel blues, royal blues, blurples, blues that remind me of lakes and the sky… and the list goes on and on. In fact, this week my writing pens are all filled up with a few different blues. Which brings me to Colorverse Office Blue, the daily driver of the past two weeks currently housed in my Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl with a M CSI nib ground by Mark Bacas. This ink evokes that feeling of scribbling in margins of my school notebooks and spending the weeks leading up to finals making neatly written study-guides (I write things down to remember them). This color brings back getting a 50 cent notebook from Walmart and a $1 pack of pens before going on a road trip with my family where I would scribble portions of stories that would never be finished.
This shade of blue evokes those ballpoints of my past that were just the starting point for a hobby that brings me a ton of joy today. Just a good solid blue. Even better, this ink works in every pen I put it in, has great flow, and is a great price. Are there other blues that look almost exactly the same and are cheaper? Sure, but I'm a sucker for the Colorverse brand. I just love the stories they create with each ink offering (especially the space ones). The Office Series is just solid - I have a sample of the red that I played around with… but it’s that same feeling. When I was a kid I was sometimes a rebel and loved writing with red pens - Colorverse Office Red is that exact shade.
It’s my nostalgia color.
Currently Inked
Ferris Wheel Press The Fluttering Heart - Kaweco Sport Macchiato 1.9 - This ink is a chameleon in different nibs. In my M stub from last week it was a much darker blush pink, but in the wider (and drier) it’s a soft pastel pink. A nice soft option for headers after the boldness of the yellow in February.
Colorverse Office Blue - Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl M CSI - Love this ink. Enjoyed playing with it this week. I have been doing a ton of journaling this week and combined with my Clairfontaine lined A4 notebook it let’s me evoke my inner child.
Colorverse Extreme Deep Field - Kaweco liliput green M stub - You know how I said I was a sucker for the Colorverse brand? It’s the space-themed inks that really do it for me. I spent a year teaching a ton of space related programs and I love how Colorverse evokes science with a lot of their big releases. We would do a program on telescopes and talk about the Extreme Deep Field image and this color captures that looking into deep space with it’s blue-black tone and then a deep red sheen on some papers.
Ferris Wheel Press Storied Blue - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaler’ - I bought this ink charger set about a year ago and haven’t really played with it much. I kept seeing photos of some soft blues and knew I had this one laying around. It’s a really pretty, delicate shade of blue. It has a vintage feel, like it was once another color and faded away to this shade.
Ferris Wheel Press Lapis Lullabies - Kaweco liliput copper 14K B - My sober but sparkly ink for the week. I like the depth of color this one gets, it’s really dark blue with a sheen where ink pools and then when the paper is turned to the light the sparkles come out. One of those ones that no one thinks is a wild color at first glance, but it gets more character the longer you write with it and look at it.
Getting that sheen from Colorverse Extreme Deep Field and that shimmer from Ferris Wheel Press Lapis Lullabies.
Papers
I finished off an A6 notebook I’d made out of Kokuyo Business Paper and printed with French-rule lines. I’d intended this book to be used primarily for getting kick-started back into a vampire story I’d been working on in November and December, but I ended up doing a lot of rambling journal entries instead. I might have to print off and stitch together another one. Kokuyo Business Paper is a really awesome find (thanks Brad Dowdy for mentioning it on the Pen Addict Podcast forever ago), fountain pen friendly and it’s already designed to run through a printer. Now that I think of it, I should print off my character sheet for Pathfinder…
I also spent a lot of time scribbling in an A4 lined Clairefontaine notebook with a red cover. Sometimes the ideas just need a standard lined notebook and this one is a great option.
Before I go… I did publish a new collection of short stories that you can find for sale here. Starting March 5, 2023 through March 11, 2023 all of my books on Smashwords will be 50% off as part of their Read an Ebook Week event!
If you are shopping for some new pens or ink, you can use DIME10 at AtlasStationers.com to save 10% and help support my blog and writing.