I’m in an oddball mood this morning, so the quote is from Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”. The original is “Kathy,” the spelling liberty just fit my mood. Same for the mixed styles and colors in the text.
- Diamine Pink Ice / Preppy 05M
- Diamine Tropical Glory / Preppy 03F
- Diamine Apple Glory / Safari M
- Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku / Perkeo M
Clairefontaine Triomphe 90gsm lined stationery, which also happens to be stationary within a generic six-ring binder from Amazon that I stripped the cover off, and rigged to a much more solid piece of cardboard cut down to A5-ish.
Slides really nicely that way right into a Travelers Notebook, the original cover was clear flexy plastic and kinda worthless as an insert.
Quickie ink samples are on Midori in A6, weight unknown. It plays pretty well with a lot of things, I thought I’d dig the color, but… Not so much.
Keeb in the background is generic Chinese 80-key from Amazon, to replace the one that was on sale because it was UK layout and my dumb ass didn’t notice. Juuuuuuust different enough to be infuriating when I’m trying to work…
Gotta say, y’all, I enjoy this hobby on a relatively solitary basis, but… I’m having a friggin’ blast doing these - not just because I’m rediscovering stuff I adore that’s been buried too long in my ink drawer, but the sharing as well.
PS my penmanship is almost as potato as my photography skills. But I’m kinda stuck with both skills sucking, at this age. Meh, I still have fun.
I am probably having one of those ADHD moments were words don’t turn into meaning in my head but…
BLANK STARE WITHOUT THE FAINTEST GLIMMER OF COMPREHENSION 😆
Could you restate that in a completely different way in hopes that my poor brain will understand? :)
Sorry. It’s just one of those days.
Maybe I just need a few pictures lol.
All I am getting is somehow Triomphe, a six ring binder (what even is that?), and a Travelers notebook meet a stripper undercover and they get blended together into something can write on? 🤪
It is fun to share with fountain pen buddies!
As to handwriting…for what it’s worth, my cursive handwriting was ass ever since I was a kid but I managed to improve it a little after I got into fountain pens a few years ago by doing drills. I obviously need to do more of that lol…
Anyway. I’m liking your ink colors.
I have put off cleaning some pens until yesterday; I wanted to ink up with something besides black so I could show it off here.
So this is where I’m at with that:
All Parker 45s except second from the left is a Pilot Stargazer. I’ll change the water out and flush each a couple more times and hopefully they will finally be clean.
This is one of my Cherry TKL keebs. I have really fallen in love with these. I hate to be a heretic but I think I like them more than my mechanical. Which is why I got a second one.
Aw, shit, you bribe me with a keeb photo?
Yeah, I’ll restate gladly! Assuming you are American or at least not European, given unfamiliarity w/ the 6-ring?
Clairefontaine half-sheet / A5 (half-sheet for most of the civilized non-US world)
Ripped the rings out of a cheap binder, and duct taped them to a piece o’ cardboard cause they were attached to what may as well have been saran wrap. No idea why A5 requires six rings, when US Letter only needs three. Just is what it is.
Cardboard fits well into a nice, thick leather cover that a) I adore and b) holds the eleventy-seven cards I need to carry daily, and the whole thing makes a crazy neat package that might as well be tied up with a bow, it works that well together.
'cept I’m the “stripper” cause I yanked the totally generic actual binder part out of the crap Amazon cover. (k I feel a lilbit dirty now, but that’s, um, maybe not “new” per se)
<3 Cherry! Do we have a “MechanicalHeadPens” sub here? If not, we should. The “head” part for me is just bog standard bluetooth generic stuff, but it’s the point of it…
Give me a sec, I’ll update w/ some pics - I posted that at maybe 6 AM and my clarity was probs not what it should be…
Loving the brotherhood here. Aw, screw it. Let’s call it the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pens. 🙃
I’m a child of the early 80s, if someone had paid any attention, I’d have been classed an Aspie for sure back when, so… I legit appreciate your blunt “please restate” - within it, I hear “I care, I just don’t know WTF you’re on about!!!”
Much obliged! Ok, that made sense that time. My brain is back to being mostly functional. I’m American so plenty of 3 ring binders. I will go look up 6 ring binders. I swear I’ve seen 5 ring binders here. Anyway…
Sisterhood of the traveling pens lol I like it. :)
Thanks for the understanding. I’ve been a little sluggish upstairs all day. If anyone had paid attention in the 70s in elementary school… I still wouldn’t have been tagged as ADHD, because nobody recognized it beyond “hyper boys” and I was generally a quiet bookish lil guy.
Ironically, I thought that my wife and I were the only folks who remembered Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She (barely, and kindly) tolerated me crushing on A Bledel.
(I’m just the right age it wasn’t totally creepy, but still).
Aspie/Hyper… We went thru much the same thing. Took me until I was 40+ to find an outlet that let me write meaningfully, and also didn’t involve a piece of crap bic that made me want to throw it through a wall.
TBH I’ve never seen the movie or read the book but the name stood out :)
I always hated writing with ball points pens but didn’t realize it fully until I discovered fountain pens. I still think it is insane that ball points became so popular. I guess cost was the main thing. Not everyone could afford a good fp (Parker 51 or 45 or whatever)
Please pardon the couple of beers I’ve had. I sincerely hope that I was respectful and decent, etc.
Been a screwy day, FMLA callout turned into the whole damn day, and a buncha other stuff.
Things got real, etc. At the other site, I’d have halfass begged forgiveness and called it good. Here, I actively want the kind of feedback I’d have blown off there (right or wrong) in the interest of being a good citizen.
I’ve reasons for selecting a relatively solitary hobby, that makes sense to me, and to hell with everyone around me. Aspie etc, or no, I learned somewhere around fourth grade that maybe I should find interest in things that didn’t involve other people.
Obligatory, Asperger was by no means a saint. I see that, and in fact will raise. I just happen to be the guy who turned 30-something, saw something that was mostly parody, and went… “Wait, Wat?” (Thanks, Simon!)
Can’t fathom where I’d be if Travaglia hadn’t grabbed me by the proverbial throat and forced me to do some introspection. Yeah, [BOFH](Vhttps://www.theregister.com/2024/02/23/bofh_2024_episode_4/ checking in…
You’ve been respectful and decent no worries.
I feel like I should know this acronym but my brain is going “…”
Anyway, all good here!
I have been known to goof up socially sometimes and so I try to be laid back about things.
I do pretty good in social situations where people can super nerd out over shared interest. Jeeps. Fountain pens… but I do my good share of solitary stuff too.
Not sure who Travaglia is but BOFH I’ve been familiar with for many years :)
Going to do a second reply here, for simplicity. I legit hope I’m not spewing crazytalk, I have had one (1) beer. OK, perhaps two. Off today, and it’s already been exactly that kind of week. It’s 16:24 here, but also 70 F / 21 C - first day it’s been legit comfy instead of “grumble grumble global warming wtf???”
Please pardon my abs terrible photog skills. Seriously, it’s nearly criminal that I’m even allowed to snap a photo.
Here are the images that might make my blathering less painful to the brain. In order…
PS Y’all - and especially you - I hope like hell to make it to Chicago pen show this year. Planned to last year, and stuff got crazy. If all works out to get there, I’ll gladly buy a round. I’m in IT, in a tax-adjacent area, so May is exactly when I need a shot or three after the crazy wears off as of 16 April.
Open to hearing about drills that worked for you - If I’m being honest, I’ve forgotten at least six or seven of the twenty-six letters, in cursive. I distinctly remember second-grade me asking “Why would I ever need to know this BS?”… While I’ve asked similar questions about e.g., math, and been proven wrong… Cursive is the thing I wish I hadn’t blown off.
Circa 20 years ago, I did a stint installing cable TV. Damned if the Pythagorean theorem (sp?) didn’t come in reaaaaaal handy when trying to get a gut feel for “Should I bother to take the ladder off the truck?” (Protip: Nope, homeowner is a moron and that slope is 30 degrees so it doesn’t matter if I can theoretically reach it, they can get bent regardless)
Ok, got it on the 6-ring.
I went and researched a little and I was right about seeing 5-ring in the US on occasion.
I’ll try to remember to post up about handwriting drills. I will probably make it an actual post to get / keep the sub active. I kind of had to re-learn cursive a little. I had adopted a rather non standard form for several letters.
Never been to Chicago. Probably can’t make this year as I have travel plans in May and barely any vaca time saved up. :/ We have a pen show here in Denver in fall. I missed last year. Also missed the Pelikan hub. Trying to force myself out of the house post COVID is…a challenge.
Some of the math stuff has come in handy for a few hobbies but not much for work.