As we round the corner into autumn in the northern hemisphere, the air is a little crisper, the days are shorter, and the leaves are changing… and looking for some new inks to try out. Do you have favorite inks for the season?
My most recent ink purchase was Dominant Industry's Earl Grey Tea, and it's a beautiful orange shade that is well-behaved (albeit not quite as red as I was expecting when I ordered it). Absolutely no complaints - I even love the bottle, however I will probably get through it slowly because I don't often use colours that are bright and eye-catching.
By contrast, one of the inks that is in my permanent rotation and I plan to continue purchasing over and over is Diamine Saddle Brown. It's a more subtle, darker brown that can pass for 'serious' writing but still has a personality that I prefer over many other browns. If the orange of Earl Grey is a cozy Autumn fire, Saddle Brown is the tree branches holding on to their last leaves and the damp earth underfoot on a cold, foggy morning - both enticing in different ways.
I do expect that you would need a medium or wider nib in order to get a real sense of shading out of the ink.
To your other concern, though, if anything I've found that Saddle Brown goes much darker when used in an F/EF nib. Certainly not to the point of being black, but dark enough that unless you were actually paying attention to the shade it doesn't immediately grab attention as being non-standard; to some people that defeats the point, but I find that sometimes (e.g. at work) I want to fly under the radar a bit while also knowing that I'm using 'my' colour.
It also looks amazing in notebooks that have a slightly ivory/off-white cast to the pages, where the overall sepia effect is something I really enjoy.
Unlined A5 Clairefontaine for journals, Kokuyo B5 Campus Notebooks for study, and whatever is available for loose-leaf or temporary notes (I do have a lined A4 Rhodia pad in case I need to write something good on a single sheet, but I never do).
Perhaps if I got into letter-writing I might be more interested in exotic papers, but I'm quite content with using things that are pretty easy to find and shouldn't be disappearing from sale anytime soon. I also don't use anything larger than a western M, so I don't need super amazing paper for a lot of my general notes.
Wanting to move away from blacks is how I eventually came to the first of my three main inks, which is also from Diamine: Saddle Brown. I found that I still wanted something that wasn't too attention grabbing and was still dark enough to provide good contrast on nearly anything, but at the same time it's still far more interesting than the range of "permanent marker black" to "washed out black" that I was trying to enjoy before.
I saw this community and got inspired to buy a fountain pen as well. I bought a Monami Olika blue fountain pen. I’m still getting used to writing with a fountain pen but it’s been a nice experience.
There are two possible reasons (probably more) that the pen may actually be helping your handwriting here:
You're probably putting less pressure onto the page, which means that you're not fighting against that friction every time you need to change direction.
Your pen seems to lay down a pretty thick line - that's something that can often make the imperfections in one's handwriting less visible. (That's not intended as a dig at your handwriting, in fact it can be a useful thing to keep in mind if you're writing something like a birthday card where you get one shot at making it look good).
Seeing stuff about reddit being posted to 10 different technology boards, plus reddit-themed ones, then reposted further just makes this whole idea a mess. Reposts have to be consolidated into a single comment thread.
Essentially this - just (as much as anything is 'just' in software dev) have any posts pointing to the same link from any community in a collapsible list under the top instance, perhaps prioritizing ones that the user is subscribed to for convenience. Users could then expand the list to see where it is being discussed if desired.
Favorite autumn inks?
As we round the corner into autumn in the northern hemisphere, the air is a little crisper, the days are shorter, and the leaves are changing… and looking for some new inks to try out. Do you have favorite inks for the season?
What paper is everyone else using?
Currently, I use the old Tomoe, but someday that will run out, and it’s hard to know what shows off ink the best.
NID, A small collection of Diamine inks. Looking to move away from pure jet black. (beehaw.org)
Finally took the plunge in buying my first fountain pen (beehaw.org)
I saw this community and got inspired to buy a fountain pen as well. I bought a Monami Olika blue fountain pen. I’m still getting used to writing with a fountain pen but it’s been a nice experience.
The fediverse isn't going to work if top pages consist of the same link 10x reposted. (kbin.social)
Seeing stuff about reddit being posted to 10 different technology boards, plus reddit-themed ones, then reposted further just makes this whole idea a mess. Reposts have to be consolidated into a single comment thread.