Monthly Ink Challenge - Season IV

[yazeh]

@InesFthose drawings are so lovely that I'm at a loss of words. Congrats on your pen and wish you and your loved ones, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

[LizEF]

Oh my!  Those are amazing, @InesF!!  The best so far.  I absolutely adore them.   Whoever receives these greeting cards will be fortunate indeed!

 

Congrats on your new pen.  It looks intriguing.  Please show us what it looks like posted!

 

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to find time to commit my November contribution to paper!   This season is still over-booked for me!  On top of the usual holiday stuff, there were plumbing / drain issues, and then I accidentally over-filled the oil in my car.  Will drain some today to get it to the right level - where's Quin when you need an oleum removum spell!?

 

I hope all of you are having a peaceful and relaxing Christmas season!

[yazeh]

 

Old kitty gifting yo a young mouse. 

This is on a Talens Mixed media sketchbook, pocketbook size.

De Atramentis Document/Artist Cyan (Ink brush)

Octopus Write & Draw, Duck Red

J Herbin Terre de Feu

Kala Nostalgia Gemstone Sillimanite

 

[LizEF]

50 minutes ago, yazeh said:

[yazeh]

1 minute ago, LizEF said:

[yazeh]

 

A quick sketch on Talens Mixed Media paper.

 

Cat and Mouse enjoy hot chocolate /egg nog on Christmas. 

Noodler's Eel Red Rattle Red

Kala Nostalgia Gemstone SILLIMANITE

De Atramentis Document Artist/Document mix in inkbrush

Silver Marker

 

[LizEF]

1 minute ago, yazeh said:

 

  Merry Catmice, @yazeh!

[yazeh]

5 minutes ago, LizEF said:

  Merry Catmice, @yazeh!

🎅

[InesF]

On 12/22/2024 at 3:43 PM, yazeh said:

Old kitty gifting yo a young mouse. 

OMG! 

Legendary Cat & Mouse, becoming friends for life during all the water tests! 

 

15 hours ago, yazeh said:

A quick sketch on Talens Mixed Media paper.

 

Cat and Mouse enjoy hot chocolate /egg nog on Christmas.

... and the story goes on.

Looking forward to 2025! 👍 🎉 👏

[yazeh]

On 12/25/2024 at 4:16 AM, InesF said:

OMG! 

Legendary Cat & Mouse, becoming friends for life during all the water tests! 

 

On 12/25/2024 at 4:16 AM, InesF said:

 

... and the story goes on.

Looking forward to 2025! 👍 🎉 👏

Same here, Professor Eenness. 

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – January 2025

 

The set consists of:

Pelikan Edelstein Topaz/Jade Mix* – in Aurora Optima Antarctica M

Waterman Mysterious Blue – in Gravitas Kyuseido Kakari with FPR flex

Lamy Crystal Rhodonite – in Scribo Piuma Passione CI flex

fading out: Graf v. Faber-Castell Deep Sea Green – in Elbwood Pocket Master F

 

*) The mix consists of 3 parts Topaz plus one part Jade. While Topaz is already a nice blue-leaning turquoise ink, the addition of a small amount of Jade makes it look more fresh and a bit cooler – better fitting the January theme.

 

 

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

 

The January Set is ready since December 28^th (reporting with some delay). As already mentioned before, the Elbwood Pocket Master is a beautiful bespoke pen which I like a lot. Nevertheless, I will fade it out (that may need some two weeks, or so) as it is better suited for travel or for longer writing sessions in general than for daily use in the job. Opening and closing it many times in short order is not so practical. I will do a mini review before the pen leaves the set.

(btw, how did I end up with having four pens inked when my goal was to focus on three?) 🙄

 

 

Some background information about pens and inks.

 

I continue my way of using heavy fountain pens with the Aurora Optima Antarctica which is my first expensive pen I bought as a gift to myself for Christmas 2020. Maybe for the sentimental reason, but more likely because it is an excellent and reliable writer, it is among my top fife pens. Its medium nib is stiff and has no line variation, which doesn’t disturb me, even if I do not prefer such constant and rather broad lines any longer. The 43 gram pen writes almost alone, not more than gently guiding it over the paper is needed. From day One I used Pelikan Edelstein Topaz with the pen and loved it, until I discovered that a mix with Pelikan Edelstein Jade fits even better. While I did some experiments with other inks during the last years, none of those did fit so perfectly to the Aurora Antarctica. Both Pelikan Edelstein inks are nice shaders by their own and this property is not lost in the mixture. The colour is a neutral bright turquoise that can stand for winter as well as for tropical sky.

 

The Gravitas Kyuseido Kakari with FPR flex nib is also a heavy pen which I acquired in 2024 by a bit difficult procedure. While the pen body is of excellent quality and the mechanics is precise, the original nib was more wet than a fire hose, I would call it a flooder. It is absolutely not useable for my style of writing, no matter what I tried to make it less runny. So I exchanged the nib with a steel hyperflex from Fountain Pen Revolution. Still quite wet, the ink flow is now manageable for me and the nib can do extra fine lines as well as flexing into a 1.5 mm line. Pen and nib still require inks with high surface tension to get the required level of control for everyday use. I’m familiar with the colour and behaviour of the Waterman Mysterious Blue ink since many years. In most pens it has more of a boring middle-blue-green hue. I asked myself why this ink is also called blue-black, because it isn’t. Until I tried it in the Kyuseido first time. With the wet flow and the thin lines of the nib and because of the high surface tension, the lines are well defined, have sharp edges and the colour after (a long! drying time) is of a saturated blue-black hue. What a surprise!

 

The Fritz Schimpf special edition Scribo Piuma Passione is the only light weighted fountain pen in the January set. I bought it in 2024 because of the promising CI flex nib that is not offered elsewhere. However, the nib was over-polished and had significant babies bottom when it arrived. Curing it wasn’t so easy because of the flex character, but after four or fife passes through a careful grinding from 3000 grid to 1 µm polishing paper it is now of daily use quality. It is my second Scribo Piuma, both are with flex nibs, and I like them both quite a bit. They would look even better as flat top pens, but this end-capped almost cigar shapes are tolerable. Their primary quality aspects are the soft and reliable flex nibs, EF as well as CI. Wet writer as the Passione is, it asks for inks with high surface tension. The Lamy Crystal Rhodonite is such an ink and fits well to the colour of the pen body. The wet nib turns the pink hue of Rhodonite into a more saturated bright neutral red, again well suitable for daily use.

 

I introduced the Elbwood Pocket Master already in my last posting. There is still not much to add here. I will do a min-review (with some detail photos) during the next two weeks.

 

Three of the currently four January inks (and pens) are cool or cold blue, representing snow, ice, cold water and clear winter skies. The obvious inspiration quote for January therefore is:

Land Under Blue Ice

 

 

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

Looking forward to your contributions!

See you around January 12^th (or probably a bit later).

[yazeh]

Thanks @InesF for showing such lovely pens/ inks and fire hoses 🙏

Land under blue ice... the first thing it reminds me of is ironically frozen lakes and the Arctic Ocean...  

[LizEF]

8 hours ago, InesF said:

I’m familiar with the colour and behaviour of the Waterman Mysterious Blue ink since many years. In most pens it has more of a boring middle-blue-green hue. I asked myself why this ink is also called blue-black, because it isn’t. Until I tried it in the Kyuseido first time. With the wet flow and the thin lines of the nib and because of the high surface tension, the lines are well defined, have sharp edges and the colour after (a long! drying time) is of a saturated blue-black hue. What a surprise!

I wondered how you got Mysterious Blue so dark!

 

8 hours ago, InesF said:

Three of the currently four January inks (and pens) are cool or cold blue, representing snow, ice, cold water and clear winter skies. The obvious inspiration quote for January therefore is:

Land Under Blue Ice

Hmm.  Perhaps Quin and friends will have an adventure up north - after the grey spot one they're now starting...  Hmm. 

Spoiler

Perhaps Professor Eenness is a friend of Wizardess Doctor Heilari and has gone missing in the Ice Fields and since Quin owes Doctor Heilari a favor....

Like my foggy contribution, my contribution to this theme is going to be very late and come in the form of ink reviews!

[InesF]

On 12/31/2024 at 4:19 PM, LizEF said:

I wondered how you got Mysterious Blue so dark!

I expected a bit darker blue-green. What came out is a mystery, indeed. That's why it is called Mysterious Blue, I guess.  

 

On 12/31/2024 at 4:19 PM, LizEF said:

Like my foggy contribution, [...]

That reads promising! Prof. Eennesss resides in a land far, far away. Why not in the icy cold North. Being surrounded by white and blue ice all year, colour, any colour, is the highest desire. I'm looking forward!  

[InesF]

On 12/31/2024 at 1:48 PM, yazeh said:

Thanks @InesF for showing such lovely pens/ inks and fire hoses 🙏

Thank you! You are welcome!

 

On 12/31/2024 at 1:48 PM, yazeh said:

Land under blue ice... the first thing it reminds me of is ironically frozen lakes and the Arctic Ocean...  

Yes, this was my inspiration as well. Plus: those caves under a glacier ..., such as this. 👌👍

 

 

[yazeh]

1 hour ago, InesF said:

Thank you! You are welcome!

1 hour ago, InesF said:

 

Yes, this was my inspiration as well. Plus: those caves under a glacier ..., such as this. 👌👍

 

 

Lovely  

[RedPie]

3 hours ago, InesF said:

those caves under a glacier ..., such as this. 👌👍

 

The air must smell amazing there...👍

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

That reads promising! Prof. Eennesss resides in a land far, far away. Why not in the icy cold North. Being surrounded by white and blue ice all year, colour, any colour, is the highest desire. I'm looking forward!  

  For my purposes, I think she will just be exploring the ice fields for some reason, but yes, could be living in the northernmost city of the Wizardlands.  Perhaps near a dark forest and some mountains.

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

such as this. 👌👍

Wow!  Our planet is thoroughly impressive, is it not?

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge – Result January

 

I took my inspiration for Land Under Blue Ice from a photo I have as seasonal desktop background since years (downloaded from wallpaperswide.com). I love the calm mood and the simplicity. Only recently I found this photo from caves under Islandic glaciers (post from Jan 2^nd, above). Than I combined the two and added something to have a bit contrast while still following the theme.

 

The outcome only somehow expresses my intention. The image lacks some contrast and doesn’t feel cold at all. I’m happy with the clouds but hate the tipping perspective of the glaciers edge. Surprisingly, the two inks Waterman mysterious Blue and Graf v. Faber-Castell Deep Sea Green, which I reserved for water and sky did look almost exactly the same from the diluted paintings. Only the lines drawn with the fountain pens differ.

 

 

That’s all for January from my side. See you February with a more colourful selection of inks.

 

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