Currently Inked - August
August 29, 2021
August is quickly coming to a close, alas. I know there are folks who are cheering at this news; good for you! May September bring cooler temps, drier air, and lots of neat school supplies.
Speaking of school supplies - this may be a bit of a stretch - let's take a look at some pens! I currently have nine inked up; I use a different pen each day to do my daily journaling, my work to-do list, and anything else requiring handwriting.
Here they are.
From left to right, we have:
- TWSBI Vac 700 R, Iris
- Narwhal Peter Draws
- Narwhal Schuylkill, Porpita
- Narwhal Key West, Key Largo
- Narwhal Key West, Islamorada
- The Earnest Turner Sugar Maple
- Kaweco AL Sport, Golden Espresso
- Leonardo Momento Magico, Tropical by Stilo & Stile
- Pen18111, Falling Gingko with Bronze Branch
I've talked about the first two before. I love how they write and the ink capacity is enormous, so they're still going strong.
The next three are also by Narwhal. Alas, the wonderful sparkle on the Key West models doesn't really show up properly, but believe me, they are very very sparkly!
Then we have a handmade pen from The Earnest Turner, aka Michel Poissant, which is beautifully made from sugar maple. (You might have already doped that out.) The artisan also just happens to be related to my friend, the lovely and talented Maryan.
That wee pen is a Kaweco AL Sport. It magically turns into a full-size pen when posted. I love that deep chocolatey brown. I added the gold-tone clip and a tiny converter. I have three Kaweco Sports - they're great pocket pens.
The Leonardo was a bit of an impulse buy. I was going to buy a Momento Magico in matte black, but then I saw several reviews of this special edition commissioned by the Italian pen company Stilo & Stile and I am not made of stone. I love the green and blue swirls with bits of yellow! Another bonus - if you create an account on their site and you're outside of the EU, they automatically deduct the VAT. And the shipping was free!
Finally, here's one of my two grail pens, the Falling Gingko by Pen18111, aka Yoshi Nakama. After a few weeks of just admiring it from afar, I finally decided that pens are meant to be used and inked it up. Yoshi tunes and tests all the nibs on his pens before shipping them, so it writes like a dream. Worth every penny.
Here are brief writing samples for each pen.
The Diamine Communication Breakdown, Smoke on the Water, and Skull and Roses are all from their Rock and Roll line. They were only available in Europe (curses!), but I found them on Amazon and snapped them up. The sheen in these inks is really cool - you can't really see it on the Communication Breakdown and Skull and Roses, but you kinda can on the Smoke on the Water.
Can you name the bands that inspired these inks? No googling! First correct answer gets two pats on the head.
Which pen/ink combo do you like best?