Winding Down
I usually start my wind down and reflection for the year in November. Winters are long here in northern Minnesota so there’s plenty of time to buckle in and get cozy with books and writing in the winter. It was a pretty good year - my first year of being a homeowner, first year of being editor of my museum’s magazine, and the first year in quite a few where I started releasing my stories to the public again. My goals for next year are pretty simple - keep working on making my little house my own unique space, getting active again (the pandemic really set me back on that front), and creating more stories. I suppose they are more themes than concrete goals - the concrete goals come month to month or week to week in some cases.
And through all of it is playing with my pens and inks.
Current notebook stack. Some for scribbling, some for reflecting.
Some fun stats from 2022 from my collection:
Most used ink color: Brown (just surpassing blue in the last month)
Most used brown ink: Ferris Wheel Press Writing Desk
Most used inks overall: Tie between Ferris Wheel Press Queen Allium and Diamine Peach Punch (hilariously neither of which are brown)
While I didn’t get a lot of pages added to the Vampire Story Project (it was crazy busy at work - museums are a very popular post-Christmas activity) so I was letting it rest. However, I did do a lot of personal journalling, adding sixteen new pages to my little Cafe Notes A6.
I did a big pen cleanup this week as I find when I have more than 5 or 6 pens inked up I end up never finishing any fills… which means that I don’t get to play with more inks!
Currently Inked:
KWZ Thief’s Red - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M “journaller” nib - This is one of the older bottles in my collection and the only KWZ ink that I’ve kept around after trying quite a few (I also like Warsaw Dreaming, but my bottle got funky). I’ve been craving a red ink in a pen and I did a partial fill to see if this one fits the bill for a bright one or if I’m craving a more moody red. This ink is a great option for a “true red” as it doesn’t lean pink or orange to my eyes.
Birmingham Pen Co. Locomotive - Kaweco liliput copper 14K B nib - This is an ink that I’ve had but never really tried. When I was getting a stash of Birmingham inks to try I just had to have one called Locomotive… I work in a train museum after all. First impressions is that it’s black-blue and does kind of remind me of the boiler color on a steam locomotive.
Colorverse Mariner 4 - Kaweco liliput green B premium nib - This is a first try for this one too. I’ve tried almost all of the Colorverse brand blues (I really love that brand) and I picked up one of the mini bottles from the Wet Paint store in St. Paul. Looks to be a solid navy blue and I look forward to putting it through its paces.
Sailor Ink Studio 273 - Kaweco Sport Iridescent Pearl M CSI nib - This ink is still hanging out as I’ve mostly been using it for headers in my journal and in brainstorming sessions. It did also see some action during the Pathfinder session I played this week.
Ferris Wheel Press Lapis Lullabies - Kaweco Sport Burgundy B nib - This was sent to me by Ferris Wheel Press as part of their creative ambassadors program. Out of the two I was sent (Purple Jade Rabbit can be seen on my Instagram), this one is my favorite. It’s a nice dark blue with red sheen and a light gold-ish shimmer. I was a little worried it was too similar to FWP’s Midnight Hour, but they have very different base colors. Going to be putting this one through its paces a lot over the next month.
Diamine Ghost - Kaweco Sport x Elite Royalty Crown Blue B nib - Still playing with this one on its second fill. Honestly, I’m drawn to this one a lot because of its name (ghost story writer here… and going to be taking a ghost story writing class in January & February). I also do like the way it shades on certain papers - it’s really different than a lot of the other grays in my collection.
Notebooks:
Still journalling in a Cafe Notes A6 with grid paper (seen in the currently inked page above). I also added a few new handmade inserts - one with Glassine paper (a ream of which I received for Christmas) and one each of the two Kokuyo perpanep notebooks (I tore some pages out of the back). Paper experimenting abounds!