Two Carousels, a Conference, and a Rest
Lamy Violet-Blackberry on Midori MD grid paper.
Since my last post it has been a wild ride. I came down with an episode of chronic illness, followed by a work training, a short story deadline, and then followed up by a professional conference. While that didn’t leave me much time to write for my blog, that doesn’t mean my pens and notebooks were taking a break. If anything, they helped me focus and write through the chaos that ensued.
RB over on Gathering of Curiosities wrote a beautiful post back in February about pens as portable sanctuaries. Their words really resonated with me and to quote their post, my pens served as “an emotional touchstone.” They were something to keep me grounded during illness followed by sheer busyness.
Being ill is never fun and I hadn’t been hit as hard as I was two weeks ago in a long time. I powered through work as best as I could and then took two sick days. During those days I was binge-watching some favorite shows while I was awake and decided to ink up my pens with colors that reminded me of the characters. That led me to using Anderillium Luna Moth Green, Sailor x Tinterias Podcast Agave, Wearingeul Romeo, and giving my sample of Lamy Violet-Blackberry a try. My first impressions of that ink is it is a pretty awesome stealth purple-black with a fun golden sheen on some papers. Not sure if I’m going to pick up a bottle yet or not, but enjoying it all the same. Just changing the inks really helped me get the work I needed to do before the conference, especially since my museum was hosting one of the mixers.
Anderillium Luna Moth green looking beautiful on tomoe river paper.
The professional conference was great, albeit tiring, and it became an unintentional proving ground for two of my Ferris Wheel Press Carousel fountain pens. I originally planned on just taking my usual lineup to the conference, but on the first day I remembered that we were going to be in a historic facility maintenance building. I used to live in the historic neighborhood where this was located and let’s just say… everything is made out of concrete. Since I knew I likely wouldn’t have a table, I decided to go with something I wouldn’t cry over. So I inked up my Hearty Harvest (rust orange) Carousel with FWP The Sad Charade and off I went to the field. I paired it with my Good Made Better Penwell Traveler and a Studio Neat Panobook that I had laying around. The combo worked great and negated the need for a clipboard since the Panobook had such stiff covers.
My handwriting on my lap in a cold building leaves much to be desired!
The Carousel did a good job, even though it would dry out occasionally if I was forgetting to put it back in its cap when I was just listening. Not that unusual for a lower end fountain pen. It never had a problem being uncapped and put to work. I worried that the six-sided grip section would get uncomfortable after a while, but I stopped noticing the shape of it after a while. For the second day of the conference I went with my Brilliant Beanstalk (dark green) Carousel inked up with FWP Bayou Berry Mist, a new ink that will be releasing on May 3rd. It is a dark blurple with some pretty good shading, even in the rather narrow Carousel nibs. I think the nib on my Brilliant Beanstalk might be a little out of alignment, but I haven’t sat down to see how easy it is to pull the nib to adjust it yet.
They did give us tables at the conference center though… but the teeny tiniest projector screens.
Some happy mail also came during my busy two weeks and that was my first order from Galen Leather. I couldn’t pass up the Kaweco x Galen Leather Sport in Carmine (demonstrator red). It is a gorgeous pen. I was wondering if the red would be similar to my Ice Sport Red that I’ve had for years and the tones are different I am happy to say. I added on one of the washi tape dispensers in walnut and one of the brass measuring tapes. The washi dispenser I have been eyeing for years, but it was always sold out immediately when US shops would get stock. The brass measuring tape on the other hand was a more recent want. I use measuring tapes quite often at work now and I have a reputation of having fancy tools to uphold, haha. It’s definitely a solid little thing and I look forward to seeing it patina.
So, that’s a bit of what I have been up to stationery adventure wise. I hope to be back to my regular schedule this upcoming week while I get ready to head out to the Chicago Pen Show!