I have reached a kind of milestone in my fountain pen saga. I had to look it up to verify that just over a year ago, I bought this pen:
This was a day I was testing the ink, not the day I bought the pen.
I wasn't aware of the effect it would have on me.... writing with such beautiful instruments.
Over the course of the year, I have bought samples of lots of different inks to find ones I was willing to commit to buying a whole bottle.
Yesterday, I received the last one [for the foreseeable future] as I feel like I have covered all my ink bases at this time. My goal was only to have inks in my collection that 'sparked joy' as the saying goes. I didn't want to have any ink that I was less than excited about putting into my pens.
Here's the collection:
In my ongoing ink testing, I decided to try something new. I learned about this art concept from my friend C. who has been taking art lessons. I took a picture of my older ink samples and then grayed them out to black and white to find out their 'value'. Here is the wiki definition:
"Color value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color, which is an important aspect in art and design as it helps define form and create spatial illusions. It plays a crucial role in how colors interact and how objects are perceived in a composition."
While I am not making art with my inks, I was interested in their values.
Using the older ink chart as a guide, I ended up with this:
The top two should be reversed, but otherwise this is as close as I could get.
Here is the same list in color:
I know this is totally nerdy stuff, but it's what is fueling my creative self right now.
I'm hoping to focus on using these tools now and not so much on getting new ones. This is enough ink to keep me busy for quite some time!
Now, journals? That's another matter. 🤣
