Pam Alison Knits

I wish I was writing about a fresh batch of pen and ink combinations to suit the lovely spring days, yet somehow I’ve started the month with a surfeit of pens already inked. Although I’m ready for a change of direction I want to keep on using what I’ve got to hand and so April needs to be a use-it-up month. That means I can start May with a clear deck.

So how are my currently-inked pens stacking up? And how am I going to use up that ink during this month?

Cross Beverly, Medium Nib, Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake, 1/5 full

This should be an easy win so I’m going to focus on getting it out of rotation first. Whilst I’ve been leaning towards using this tangerine ink to write headings, I’m equally happy to use it for longer form writing. For example, I was recently away for a few days and used it to complete a couple of creative writing exercises. With the medium nib on the Cross Beverly laying down a reasonable amount of ink, I should be within two or three pages of writing this one dry so I’ll try to pick it up when I want to jot notes or to highlight particular thoughts.

Parker 51, F Nib, Waterman Inspired Blue, unknown quantity.

Bit of a difficult one this, as it’s impossible to judge (a) how much of a fill you achieved when you inked up the pen, and (b) how much ink you have left. It always comes as a bit of a surprise when you run out of ink. That said, the fine nib is quite stingy without being scratchily dry and I find each fill lasts longer than I’d expect. I’ve been writing my journal entries with this for the past couple of weeks, so it feels as if I should be getting through the fill. I’ll keep using it for my daily journal and hope it will be relatively quick to write dry. Time will tell.

Waterman Hemisphere/Purple, EF nib, Diamine Imperial Purple, 4/5 full.

I inked this one up quite a way into March and I’m using it primarily in my planner. At this rate the fill is going to last pretty much forever so I’m going to widen the scope as other pens empty through the month. I’d be happy to bring this one into rotation for journal entries and general notes so I can start to speed my way through the fill.

Onoto Christmas Carol, F Nib, Diamine Kensington Blue, almost full.

As soon as the Parker 51 and Cross Beverly are empty, this will step in as my main journal-writing pen. It, too, has a fine nib, but the ink flow is generous and I estimate what I’ve got will probably work for a week writing a couple of pages a day. There’s a lot to recommend with this blue ink: it’s strong, but still a mid-blue shade; a bit more interesting than your run-of-the-mill royal blues whilst being brighter than blue-blacks.

Inspiration/forward thinking

I have a few thoughts about inks I want to get into rotation. I’m definitely feeling the pull towards a softer grey, particularly with one of my wetter nibs. The candidates here are Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu Syogun and Herbin Cacao du Brésil. The Herbin ink sits between a brown and a grey whilst the Iroshizuku is more of a pencil-lead shade. I love the combination of grey and purple, so it’s highly likely I’ll revert to Scribo Notturno Viola in one pen next month. That said, I have recently been feeling the pull towards a basic deep blue like Montblanc’s Midnight Blue… food for thought. I also fancy something a little softer for my contrast colour – possibly some kind of mild grey-green – a sector where my current ink collection falls short. I feel there may be scope for some experimentation/exploration over the coming weeks.

Writing on

I definitely got into the groove of using my two William Hannah notebooks in March. The A6 experiment has been very successful, with the notebook fitting comfortably into my everyday essentials when I’m out and about. I’ve even been using it when jotting down random notes as I’m ambling about the internet or doing my knitting. This is very much how I’ve always envisaged my “planner” working – part diary, part jottings – but it isn’t easy to combine those two things. The A5 version is accompanying my creative writing exploits. For the first few days of April I used William Hannah’s Daily Intention Pages as my main daily focus, using the prompts on the front of the sheet and then writing a shorter than usual morning journal entry on the back. This didn’t work so well, and now I’m going to revert to using the Silvine exercise books for my daily journal entries then focus the “intention” pages on my creative writing alone.

Both the Silvine and the William Hannah papers are my favourites with fountain pen inks so this combination is keeping me pretty happy, though I still miss a good ivory-toned paper every so often. With me working through my William Hannah supplies, paper is an area ripe for exploration later in the year. For now, my real aim is to gently increase the amount of times I set pen to paper every day so I can enjoy exploring the wonderful combinations that I put together.