Monthly Ink Challenge - Season IV

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – November 2024

 

The set consists of:

F.Schimpf Gelassenheit – in Aurora Optima „flex‟

Wearingeul Mad Hatter – in Lamy 200 Black Amber M/B-stub

Rohrer & Klingner Sepia – in Lamy Dialog cc F

fading out: Montblanc Gustav Klimt – in Montblanc Gold Leaf flex

 

My starting point for this ink set is the predictable appearance of fog during many November days. OK, so we are back to seasonal themes. The trees wear still some leafs in muted colours, distant hills and mountains look like partially colour extracted and even people stopped wearing bright coloured clothes. Colours are present everywhere, but dominantly in their muted variants.

 

Here the short introduction on an A5 sheet of Kyome letter pad paper:

 

And a small writing example on Rhodia paper (in direct sunlight):

 

 

Some background information to the pens and inks.

 

Of the three main pens, the Aurora Optima is the lightest in weight, a bit below my preference. Its dimensions are fitting to my hand size as if it was custom made for me. I own three Optima pens and all three give me this feeling. That more than outweighs the missing weight. The piston filler has a comfortable ink window and a huge ink volume with a small reserve built in. The nib can be screwed off without any tool to allow deep cleaning and all nibs are interchangeable between all Optima and 88 models. I can not find anything I do not like about my Optimas. The flex nib is – hmm – not flex. In contrast to the standard Aurora nails, it is a bit soft and forgiving, and has minimal line variation. Not more than that. The ebonite feed guarantees excellent ink flow control, making all inks from medium wet to super dry useable. The unfortunately meanwhile unobtanium Fritz Schimpf Gelassenheit is such a dry ink that lets many other fountain pens struggle. The muted grey-violet colour doesn’t look right from too pale or too intense lines. Gelassenheit requires, in contrast to Mad Hatter, a medium dry writing pen or one, such as the Optima, which has this perfect ink release.

 

The Lamy 2000 Black Amber is another one of these heavy fountain pens I love so much. In my subjective opinion, not much can go wrong using a Lamy 2000 but nothing can go wrong using either the Steel or this Black Amber version. The B nib was completely out of my preference range but I got the pen for halve list price. No way to reject! At home I filled the pen with Waterman Serenity Blue and started grinding the nib before writing the first word.  As a M-stub (yes, I also made it more narrow), the nib is now perfect for my writing style and has excellent ink balance. It is still a bit on the wet side and so it can handle the Wearingeul Mad Hatter like no other fountain pen I have tried so far. Initially, this pale ink made me believe having done a fail buy, although I like its hue. Using a wet writing pen with well defined line width pulls the colour intensity into my preferred zone. As a muted green it fits perfectly to the November theme.

 

The Lamy Dialog cc started to develop mechanical problems during the last use in September (Season III). I sent it to Lamy Heidelberg and got it back repaired within two weeks. The pen is a bit bulky but it is comfortably heavy, not too long and well balanced – in a few words: it’s great! After getting it back I filled it with R&K Sepia for test purposes. As a part of the October set, the bottle stood in front of me. The Dialog cc did handle this ink so well (better than the Lamy Studio) and the colour fits perfectly to the already selected Gelassenheit and Mad Hatter – no chance not using it for November. R&K Sepia grew on me from excellent to „exciting‟ during October use. I can’t believe not having used it daily.  The grey-brown-green (=undefined) muted colour fits better to November than to October and is now the third muted ink to complete the November set.

 

The Montblanc Gold Leaf is a leftover from October. It has a big ink tank which I refilled only some days ago. I like both, the fountain pen and the Gustav Klimt ink too much to clean the pen now. I will use it until it rans out of ink, which may be in about a week. Or maybe I do one more refill afterwards …?

 

The current in status is therefore:

 

 

The inspiration quote for October is:

Fog of Life

 

I asked perplexity.ai for two interpretations of what can be associated with „fog of life‟. Unfortunately, both answers were randomly weird and contained religious phrases. I will not share these results. Combined, there was at least one interesting aspect; perplexity wrote:

»Existential Uncertainty: ... The "fog" symbolizes confusion and lack of clarity, where people grapple with questions about existence, fulfilment, and the transient nature of life. … In this context, the fog represents the obscured view of life's true meaning, urging individuals to seek deeper understanding beyond superficial experiences.«

 

To be honest, I do not know how to translate such a text into a drawing or painting. I had already an idea before asking perplexity and I think it is somehow related. Let’s see.

 

 

Get inspired, choose your pens and inks and start bringing your creative ideas to paper!

Looking forward to your contributions!

See you November 17^th latest.

[LizEF]

Very nice, as always, @InesF!  I do like a good dusky purple.   And I had a new thought as I was reading your prompt - let other folk do the drawing.  I can tell a story...   Hand-written, of course.  A little side-adventure for Quin and his friends.   Brain is processing...  I don't think I have any foggy inks in my pens, nor planned, though...  Maybe Salamander is close enough.

[knarflj]

I like this month's colours very much! 

[InesF]

On 11/1/2024 at 5:55 PM, LizEF said:

Very nice, as always, @InesF!  I do like a good dusky purple.   And I had a new thought as I was reading your prompt - let other folk do the drawing.  I can tell a story...   Hand-written, of course.  A little side-adventure for Quin and his friends.

Thank you, @LizEF, you are welcome!

I'm looking forward to the foggy side story - and especially if it is handwritten in cursive! 👍  

[InesF]

On 11/2/2024 at 9:06 PM, knarflj said:

I like this month's colours very much! 

Thank you! 👍  

During the first few days, November didn't disappoint. It's foggy most of the day, especially in the morning hours.

[yazeh]

I'm not sure if I was supposed to follow your directions: 

Cat on a trip enlists two Canadian super-mouses to use curling inspired brushes to remove fog from his trendy sunglasses. 

Clairefontaine mixed media black paper

Octopus Write and Draw, White Polar Bear (brush/dip pen)

Noodler's Lexington Gray (touch up)

 

While Octopus White ink doesn't work very well in fountain pens (it doesn't leave a trace) with a dip pen and brush it works fine

 

[LizEF]

  Anyone who wears glasses (regular) knows that fogged glasses is one of the annoying fogs of life!  So your sketch definitely fits, @yazeh!  (Stepping outside on some winter days and opening a just-finished dishwasher blinds me until the fog clears...  )

[yazeh]

19 minutes ago, LizEF said:

  Anyone who wears glasses (regular) knows that fogged glasses is one of the annoying fogs of life!  So your sketch definitely fits, @yazeh!  (Stepping outside on some winter days and opening a just-finished dishwasher blinds me until the fog clears...  )

The worst combination was masks and glasses... 

I don't use a dishwasher. But taking a bath with glasses, that's a nightmare or worse going to sauna  

The other day I walked into the metro (subway). My glasses fogged up and I had to go down a flight of stairs. Thankfully, I had to a tissue, otherwise I would've broken my neck

[Mercian]

On 11/1/2024 at 8:02 AM, InesF said:

The inspiration quote for October is:

Fog of Life

 

 

On 11/4/2024 at 7:56 AM, InesF said:

During the first few days, November didn't disappoint. It's foggy most of the day, especially in the morning hours.

 

We had two full weeks of the sky being 100% flat-grey overcast all day (& night) long.
With occasional outbreaks of additional ground-level low cloud/mist/mizzle.

 

This kind of weather - which so often occurs here in Winter - reminds me of the following old concept:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niflheim

 

On the other hand, for me the phrase 'Fog of Life' implies something that one might think of as being a kind of 'opposite' of Niflheim - a happy & sunny place, in which a lot of people/animals/birds/insects are doing a lot of fun things all at the same time - thereby creating so many sense-impressions of activity/colour/sound as to constitute a 'fog' through which it is difficult to keep focus on any one particular thing.

 

As a drawing prompt, one could choose to attempt to depict a dull, grey, shadowy and forlorn Niflheim on one half/side of a piece of paper [which unhappy place might include a sad and lonely Eeyore, or the Groke/Mörkö/Mårran (as depicted in the books, not the TV series)].
The other side/half of the paper could be used to depict a happy, sunny place full of enjoyment. Perhaps with some friendly one inviting Eeyore/the Groke to come over to the light.

 

But I concede that this concept might be rather 'ambitious', or even 'taxing'. Especially for me; I am no artist at all! 😔

[Mercian]

3 hours ago, yazeh said:

Cat on a trip enlists two Canadian super-mouses to use curling inspired brushes to remove fog from his trendy sunglasses. 

 

😊

♥ it!

[LizEF]

44 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The worst combination was masks and glasses... 

Totally!  Anyone with the power to mandate masks be worn should have to wear glasses and a mask outside in winter for a week first.

 

45 minutes ago, yazeh said:

The other day I walked into the metro (subway). My glasses fogged up and I had to go down a flight of stairs. Thankfully, I had to a tissue, otherwise I would've broken my neck

  Glad you had that tissue!

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, Mercian said:

 

😊

♥ it!

Thx!

[InesF]

19 hours ago, yazeh said:

Cat on a trip enlists two Canadian super-mouses to use curling inspired brushes to remove fog from his trendy sunglasses. 

  Great! And, @LizEF mentioned: fog on glasses (especially inside) is among the worst (fog of life) experience, second after having a tick at a position you can't remove it by yourself ... 

 

And as you already mentioned: wearing a mask and glasses was a completely new life challenge. I wished I had know at that time about the possibility to rent two mice ... 

[InesF]

16 hours ago, Mercian said:

On the other hand, for me the phrase 'Fog of Life' implies something that one might think of as being a kind of 'opposite' of Niflheim - a happy & sunny place, in which a lot of people/animals/birds/insects are doing a lot of fun things all at the same time - thereby creating so many sense-impressions of activity/colour/sound as to constitute a 'fog' through which it is difficult to keep focus on any one particular thing.

I like your interpretation!  I didn't think about Norse mythology - but you are right, the imagination starts drawing images...

 

16 hours ago, Mercian said:

As a drawing prompt, one could choose to attempt to depict a dull, grey, shadowy and forlorn Niflheim on one half/side of a piece of paper [which unhappy place might include a sad and lonely Eeyore, or the Groke/Mörkö/Mårran (as depicted in the books, not the TV series)].
The other side/half of the paper could be used to depict a happy, sunny place full of enjoyment. Perhaps with some friendly one inviting Eeyore/the Groke to come over to the light.

 

But I concede that this concept might be rather 'ambitious', or even 'taxing'. Especially for me; I am no artist at all! 😔

No, no, don't worry! What about writing about your inspiration with pen and ink and maybe use two different inks, a colorful one for the happy and a dark one for the shadowy forlorn part?

Co-Razy-Views, to my understanding, never was intended to be a drawing or painting thread.

[InesF]

Dear kind contributors,

please accept my apology: I will be late to the party with my controbution, November 17^th will not be possible.

On top of other craziness, the cap of my Aurora Optima broke. 😭

I'm already in search for Plan B. 🤷‍♀️