Monthly Ink Challenge - Season IV

[yazeh]

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

(I haven't given up on writing a little story - I still have today... 

You can use mine  

27 minutes ago, LizEF said:

This month has been absurdly busy, and if I'm blunt, I hate the holidays for that. People you haven't seen or heard from all year suddenly think you should get together and catch up just because it's a big holiday, other people try to cram a zillion events into the final two months of the year.  It's annoying.  I wish the big holidays were evenly distributed throughout the year.)

I feel you. If often time wished I could leave before holidays to a "holiday free" place on the world and avoid the whole drama  

[LizEF]

15 minutes ago, yazeh said:

You can use mine  

Thank you, but I have one in mind, I just haven't had the energy to write it because of everything else going on.

 

16 minutes ago, yazeh said:

I feel you. If often time wished I could leave before holidays to a "holiday free" place on the world and avoid the whole drama  

Thankfully there's been no drama, it's just exhausting for this introvert to have to spend such a large percentage of her time around people.

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, LizEF said:

Thankfully there's been no drama, it's just exhausting for this introvert to have to spend such a large percentage of her time around people.

Then don't  It's easier said than done. The cat eat my homework  

[LizEF]

24 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Then don't  It's easier said than done. The cat eat my homework  

Well, I skip all the non-personal ones (institutional-sponsored events for large groups), but family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and close friends, I kind of feel like I need to.

[yazeh]

34 minutes ago, LizEF said:

Well, I skip all the non-personal ones (institutional-sponsored events for large groups), but family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and close friends, I kind of feel like I need to.

Need or should or want? Send the boys instead  

[LizEF]

49 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Need or should or want?

Some combination of the three.

 

49 minutes ago, yazeh said:

Send the boys instead  

Yeah, that would go over well - not.

[knarflj]

@InesF, your drawing is beautiful.  I would like to take a walk down that street.

[knarflj]

5 hours ago, LizEF said:

This month has been absurdly busy, and if I'm blunt, I hate the holidays for that. People you haven't seen or heard from all year suddenly think you should get together and catch up just because it's a big holiday, other people try to cram a zillion events into the final two months of the year.  It's annoying.  I wish the big holidays were evenly distributed throughout the year.)

 

Heavens, yes!  And Advent seems like the worst.  One is expected to do lots of shopping (which I hate and am bad at), take baked goods everywhere you go (I like baking, but there's no time...!), and go to all kinds of extra parties (which as an introvert I hate).  And if you're also a musician, there are all of the extra rehearsals for the concerts and other performances and services that you have to get through before you can even start the shopping.  I do wish people could at least save some of the parties and things for after the 25th, when one has (in theory) finished preparing for Christmas.

[LizEF]

3 minutes ago, knarflj said:

I do wish people could at least save some of the parties and things for after the 25th, when one has (in theory) finished preparing for Christmas.

Yes!

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, knarflj said:

 

Heavens, yes!  And Advent seems like the worst.  One is expected to do lots of shopping (which I hate and am bad at), take baked goods everywhere you go (I like baking, but there's no time...!), and go to all kinds of extra parties (which as an introvert I hate).  And if you're also a musician, there are all of the extra rehearsals for the concerts and other performances and services that you have to get through before you can even start the shopping.  I do wish people could at least save some of the parties and things for after the 25th, when one has (in theory) finished preparing for Christmas.

I think this is part of being human.  o my eyes, it looks like collective madness which is universal in different cultures at different times of the year.   Maybe we need it in order to endure existence in someway or another, and the need for connection to reassure ourselves that we are not alone. You are right to say, that it's all so concentrated in one moment. Peace on Earth, up to New Year, and then we forget until the next Christmas

I wish you lots of music and moments of peace 🙏

[InesF]

22 hours ago, yazeh said:

@InesF love it. So peaceful and calming

Looking forward to December  

👍 Thank you, you are welcome!

Þū ne scealt bēon ġeswenced 

(Thou shall no be disappointed)

[InesF]

20 hours ago, LizEF said:

Very nice!  I can imaging a nice stroll with the occasional cheep from a bird hidden in the trees, huddling in my nice warm fall jacket.   Thanks, @InesF!

 

(I haven't given up on writing a little story - I still have today...  This month has been absurdly busy, and if I'm blunt, I hate the holidays for that. People you haven't seen or heard from all year suddenly think you should get together and catch up just because it's a big holiday, other people try to cram a zillion events into the final two months of the year.  It's annoying.  I wish the big holidays were evenly distributed throughout the year.)

👍 Thank you, you are welcome!

October to December seem to be the most busy three month everywhere, with November being the peak.

No worry, we are here for joy. We have 🍿, 🌭, 🥦 and 🍰 - we will wait patiently!  

[InesF]

15 hours ago, knarflj said:

@InesF, your drawing is beautiful.  I would like to take a walk down that street.

Thank you! You are welcome!

 

15 hours ago, knarflj said:

 I do wish people could at least save some of the parties and things for after the 25th, when one has (in theory) finished preparing for Christmas.

If you like to found a "The world is still here after XMas season" Club, accept me as your first member!   

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – December 2024

 

The set consists of:

Akkerman Vermeer’s Kobaltblauw – in S.T. Dupont Montparnass slim M

Wearingeul A [modified*] Room of One’s Own – in Montblanc Virginia Woolf F

Robert Oster Bronze – in Aurora Hastil M-stub

fading out: Rohrer & Klingner Sepia – in Lamy Dialog cc F

 

Already at the beginning of Season IV, I noted for December: „anything, but not the standard Red-Green-Gold‟. And so I did this set of muted green-gold and muted red! OK, at least the blue is progressively nonconformistic!

 

*) When I saw the Wearingeul ink, it was an immediate buy intended for use with the MB Virginia Woolf pen, despite the ink containing glitter and the pen being not dismountable! That’s a risk I liked to take for combining THIS ink with THAT pen. The pen wrote well for about 3 days but then started having irregular flow and clogged the feed during writing. I „diluted‟ the ink with small amount of Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz and with a bit more of Dominant Industry Downpour. I liked to keep the hue while reducing the amount of glitter in a predictable way (= different from letting part of the glitter settle in the bottle before filling). As a result, the ink lines look from distance like the original ink but with lower amount of glitter and without clogging the pen since over a week. Mission success!

 

 

Here the short introduction on an A5 sheet of Fritz Schimpf letter pad (the paper is slightly off-white):

 

 

The Ink change report was from day 1 of testing (with original „A Room of One’s Own‟). I uploaded a high resolution photo because the stunning effect of the red Wearingeul glitter is best viewed in 1:1 magnification. The ink colours a bitter better represented in this photo, maybe because of better daylight quality (and because of neutral white paper):

 

 

Some background information to the pens and inks.

 

Besides heavy fountain pens, slim full size pens are my second desire. The S.T. Dupont Montparnass slim is one of those combining the small diameter with remarkable weight. Owning this pen since less than a month, I can already say that it is of high quality with next to zero tolerances, has an elegant appearance and is equipped with a perfectly gliding stiff nib that writes a bit finer than expected. In short: I like it! I ordered the Akkerman Vermeer’s Kobaltblauw together with the Montparnass which turned out to be the perfect match. The ink is of medium-to-high surface tension and well saturated resulting in good overall behaviour and in intense but narrow lines.

 

The Montblanc Virginia Woolf is my most deliberately researched and desired fountain pen – almost a grail. Owning it now for several years, I never get tired of the design and always be wistful when it is time to put it back into the drawer. There is everything just right, the size, the diameter, the weight and the overall design. And, above all, it is a writers edition dedicated to Virginia Woolf. No unfulfilled wish remaining. The fine nib writes more like a broad M, almost like a B and is a bit wet. The pen asks for high surface tension inks to avoid troubles on the paper. The Wearingeul A Room of One’s Own ink was an instant buy and has medium-high surface tension. It worked well in the MB pen with slightly above optimal ink delivery, balanced only by the unsaturated nature of the grey ink. The red glitter makes for stunning appearance of the ink lines, it gathers similar to the pooling of shading inks. Unfortunately, the glitter does exactly what I was afraid of: it clogged the feed after short time of use. A modification was necessary as described above.

 

The Aurora Hastil is also a new acquisition of October, intended to extend my poor woman’s collection of slim pens. It is the later variant with lacquer over cap and body but still the original design. Since only some days in use, not much more to say about it. With similar dimensions as the S.T. Dupont, it weights only ca. the half. I find slim pens comfortable and so are both, the Montparnass slim and the Hastil lovely pens that will see much use in the future. A brown ink would had fitted better to the pen, but didn’t harmonize with the other two ink colours. Robert Oster Bronze is a charming colour by its own and fits well to the red-grey and to the neutral dark blue. It is a comparably low surface tension ink that brings the Hastil to its limit. The ink lines are OK, but not perfectly defined. The ink tends to pool and connect lines that are close to each other. This makes some „e‟ or „r‟ and similar letters a bit bulky and hard to recognize.

 

The Lamy Dialog cc with R&K Sepia faded out with November 28th.

 

 

The inspiration quote for December is:

Unconventional Season Celebration

 

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

Looking forward to your contributions!

See you around December 15^th (or probably a bit later).

[LizEF]

1 hour ago, InesF said:

No worry, we are here for joy. We have 🍿, 🌭, 🥦 and 🍰 - we will wait patiently!  

Thank you!  Obviously, I didn't manage it yesterday.  Smoke's purring lulled me into a 2-hour nap, leaving no extra time.  I fell asleep thinking of Essri and fog...

[knarflj]

On 11/30/2024 at 9:06 PM, yazeh said:

I wish you lots of music and moments of peace 🙏

 

Thank you!  The music is unavoidable; I thank you for reminding me to watch for peace.  Also to make time to listen to other people making music!

 

On 12/1/2024 at 8:16 AM, InesF said:

If you like to found a "The world is still here after XMas season" Club, accept me as your first member!   

[InesF]

On 12/1/2024 at 3:48 PM, LizEF said:

I fell asleep thinking of Essri and fog...

 That's involvement as I like it!    

[Mercian]

On 12/1/2024 at 1:07 PM, InesF said:

Þū ne scealt bēon ġeswenced 

(Thou shall no be disappointed)

 

On 12/1/2024 at 2:48 PM, LizEF said:

 I fell asleep thinking of Essri and fog...

 

The influence of England appears strong in this thread lately

[LizEF]

40 minutes ago, Mercian said:

The influence of England appears strong in this thread lately

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge – Result December

 

I couldn’t resist …

 

 

Unconventional Season Celebration is heavily inspired by threads and postings of @LizEF and @yazeh. I created two greetings cards with the meanwhile four inks and pens to honor the creative and inspiring work you did through 2024! 🎉 👏

 

The Elbwood Pocket Master in bronze and ebonite arrived at begin of December, required a bit adaptation and was newly added to the December set. It is a bespoke and one-of-a-kind fountain pen that requires little space but becomes a full size pen when posted. It is intended and optimized for traveling with perfect weight balance to be used daily at the desk as well. It is filled with Graf von Faber-Castell Deep Sea Green which fits excellently to the maritime ebonite and is a charming cool blue-green with grey undertone, also suitable for every day use. 

 

Here is the current ink swatch sheet:

 

 

So far for December and for 2024. See you January with an introduction of the first monthly pens and inks of 2025.

Please feel welcome to post your creative December pieces, if you have not already. Drawings, paintings, text, ornaments, everything is welcome!

 

A Merry Christmas to all FPN members and best wishes for the New Year! 🎄✨