My New Pen and Ink Journal

Tags

arc notebooks, de atramentis, delta journal, ink journal, pen journal, pilot plumix, waterman

I was running out of space in my last Ink Journal so I decided to create a new one. And this time it is housed in a binder instead of an ARC Journal. Lots of room to expand!I chose a plain white binder with a clear pocket on the front. I put in some spare scrapbooking paper. I really like how it turned out.

I used the scrapbook paper as dividers inside the binder as well.

My pen list. I add to it as new pens come in, obviously, and make note when I give a pen away.

And I do the same with the ink list. I generally use my Pilot Plumix to write the lists.

A colourful index. I decided to combined the pens and inks in this section, and simply go alphabetical. So Delta pens and De Atramentis ink will be in the same section: D.

I used puffy alphabet stickers to mark each division. The index goes up to 31 so not sure what I will use the extra sections for yet.

I have quite a few empty page protectors so I’ve filled them with pen and ink “stuff”. Here are the paper booklet, serial number and sleeve from my Delta Journal.

And here I’ve put in some flattened Waterman boxes. Alot easier to store this way and I like seeing the colourful boxes.

So that’s a quick tour of my new pen and ink journal. Saying goodbye to the ARC notebook was sad but I’ve simply outgrown it. I will have to find another use for it because it is one of my favorite in the ARC range. Let me know in the comments how you keep track of your pens and inks.

Journal Writing Wednesday: 11 pages

Tags

alan rickman, bullet journal, david bowie, glenn frey, heroes, hobonichi, ink journal, najowrimo, old friends, youtube

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Executive Journal, the Seven Seas Writer, and the Franklin Christoph Notebook.

Total pages written since this post (Jan 13): 11

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 1483

Total pages written in 2016: 40

Still using the Al-Star, bringing it to work with me every day and using it for notes. I will announce the pen for February on January 27.

I finished my Christmas Journal posts and I think this Sunday I will talk about my Boxing Day Pen! I haven’t made any purchases this week.

Giveaways: Check out my post NaJoWriMo and a Giveaway and enter to win my Monteverde Poquito! Giveaway closes on January 30.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I’ve fallen behind in my NaJoWriMo journaling but I will catch up this weekend. Hopefully!
• I created a new ink journal, which is actually a binder. Review coming soon.
• My friend is going through a stressful time right now, and wanted to get herself a journal to write some things down, to focus her energies on getting through. She bought herself one but it ended up in the snow by accident. It was kind of ruined so I have a pile of journals marked for donation and I brought in a few for her to look at and she chose two. She was really excited to use them and that just made me excited for her. She’s already writing up a storm! Love all the different colours Jackie!
• Had lunch with a friend on the weekend. We hadn’t seen in each other in a while but it was just like old times. Isn’t that a wonderful feeling with good friends? We laughed until the tears flowed and then talked about life and feeling our age and our parents and heroes dying and millennials. Can’t wait to do it again Muge!
• My back went out again and I was a big baby about the pain this time. It’s not like this is new for me; I’ve been living with scoliosis since I was 16 (29 years!) and managing back and hip and leg pain is second nature. But I’ve been spoiled with being pain-free for so long that this latest episode hit me hard. Poor David! But it’s better now. I’m starting to feel normal again. 🙂
• I’ve been thinking a lot about bullet journals. Anyone use them? I am very happy with my Hobonichi but the bullet journal system intrigues me. Lots of videos on YouTube and each one is slightly different. Just may have to make one for myself.
• Mourning the loss of Bowie, Rickman and now Glenn Frey. Tough week.

Until next post, happy writing!

Journal Writing Wednesday: 27 pages

Tags

canadian waterman junior, ink journal

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Leather Journal, Winnable Executive Journal and the Believe In Yourself journal

Total pages written since last JWW post (Mar 18): 27

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 880

Total pages written in 2015: 140

Purchases:

I have not purchased anything pen-, ink- or notebook-related this week.

I wrote about my Waterman Junior in this post.

And good news about my Fountain Pen Revolution (FPR) pen: it arrived today! And no huge customs bill! I will probably write about it this Sunday.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I was so excited when my Waterman arrived! I’ve linked the post above. Still loving it.
• I’ve been looking over my ink journal and I feel bad for those pens I do not use very much. So I’ve had a thought about how to change that and I think I’ve come up with a rotation system that I want to start in April. More on that next week.
• Of course there is so much more in the 27 pages written this week. There is a very stressful situation at work that I am involved in and I spent most of the weekend clarifying my thoughts in my journal. And that will probably continue for a while. Wish me luck!

Until next week, happy writing!

Updated Ink Journal

Tags

incowrimo, ink journal

I’ve been writing letters for InCoWriMo and I’ve talked about my current pen and ink collection. 2014 seemed to be the year of buying. I’m hoping that 2015 will be the year of using.

I wanted to take an inventory of my pens and inks. So I added numbered lists to my ink journal.

***

It’s hard to believe my collection has grown to 31 pens! Have I reviewed them all? I will have to double check. Another fact I can record in my ink journal: date of review on the blog.

I also replaced the tabs; they were falling off in places and just didn’t look tidy. These ones look better. Not perfect because I have different-sized paper. But better than before.

And the ink list.

***

***

Now this doesn’t mean 56 bottles of ink; this list is both bottles and cartridges. Each company has its own page, and sometimes each colour has its own page, especially where I have done a large ink swatch. I like everything being organized; when a pen runs dry I can quickly find out what ink had been used.

I’ve seen other ink journals that are organized by colour. The idea appeals to me, so that I would have all the reds together, all the greens, etc. When I was trying to determine which green I wanted in my Monteverde Prima Green Swirl I was flipping all over the place. So maybe I need another section…..cross-referenced colour lists.

This ink journal will never be finished!

And while I was writing this blog post, it occurred to me I do not have a similar inventory of my notebooks. That would be a big project but the idea really appeals to me: a notebook to catalogue my notebooks!! 🙂

Journal Writing Wednesday: 11 pages

Tags

filofax, finsbury, ink journal, leuchtturm

Journals I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree, the Happiness Journal (which is now all filled up) and the Winnable Leather Journal

Total pages written since last JWW post (Sept 3): 11

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 591

Total pages written in 2014: 536

Total number of notebooks/pens/ink bought since self-imposed spending freeze observation experiment (it’s not much of a freeze these days!) (Jan 1/14): 28

• 1 pen + 1 bottle of ink = 2 items in a gift set on Jan 14
  
• 1 bottle of KoninginneNach-Blauw from Akkerman on Feb 5
• 1 Visconti Rembrandt Calligraphy set in Red = 2 items (pen and ink bottle) from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis Heather Violet from Goldspot on May 15
• 5 pens, 4 notebooks, 3 tins of ink cartridges from Reid’s on June 14
• 1 Jinhao X450 from ebay; received on June 19
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis William Shakespeare ink from Goulet Pens; received on June 25
• 1 Winnable Leather Notebook on July 10
• 1 Wreck This Journal on Aug 2
• 2 ink samples from Private Reserve: Avacado (sic) and DC Supershow Blue from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 2 Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, grid and lined from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 1 Kaweco Sport Ink Roller Demonstrator from Wonderpens on Aug 31

Some topics covered this week:

• I mentioned a very special package last week, and that was my A5 Finsbury Filofax in Raspberry. I wrote a blog post about it here. I’m not including it on my list above because it’s not a notebook. Splitting hairs? Maybe. 🙂
• I made a To-Do list about things I have to do for my blog (like a Leuchtturm ink test, suggested in a comment), things I have to do in my journals (like add my new pens and ink to my Ink Journal) and some things I want to do for Christmas presents (no more description than that!)
• I booked our flights and car for a little holiday my husband and I are talking in a couple of weeks. Now just to choose the hotel…..! Exciting.
• I have decided to quit my little dragon breeding game. It was beginning to take up a lot of time and I found I had less time for reading and writing, which of course only made me sad. So the game is gone. But that’s ok – more time for the important stuff!

Until next time, happy writing!

My New Ink Journal in an Old but Loved ARC Notebook

Tags

coleto, fountain pen, goulet pens, ink, ink journal, journal, lamy, slicci

Recently I decided my Ink Journal just wasn’t working for me any more. It was disorganized and messy. And I was missing my brown woven ARC notebook. So I combined the two.

Here she is again. I’ve missed her!

Missed this too. It’s an appropriate beginning to an ink journal, which will also contain all the details of my pens, both fountain and otherwise.

I had a bunch of colorful tabs that I wanted to use so each make of pen has its own page, as well as each ink company.

Here is a typical entry for one of my pens.

And here are the ink tabs. I like this system because I can keep everything in alphabetical order, unlike a bound book which was my former ink journal.

Here is my entry for J. Herbin’s Lierre Sauvage, which I only have in cartridges, at the moment. Where I have a bottle I will indicate that at the top. Not all of the inks have this much detail.

Today I cleaned out my Lamy Safari (which took FOREVER by the way; that nib holds a ton of ink) and inked it up with the new De Atramentis William Shakespeare. Love it!

De Atramentis ink is hand-made; that’s why each bottle can be on backorder for so long, according to Goulet Pens. The labels too I expect. I was very amused to see the typo on this label!

At the back of the book I keep track of my gel pen inventory, along with printed guides to some of the ink companies. Finally found a place to stick those Goulet Pens stickers.

I cut the tops off the Slicci refills and paste them into the book. I do the same with the Coleto refills.

So that’s about it for my new Ink Journal. I find it really handy when I want to write a letter or in my journal with a certain pen or a in a certain color; I can flip through this and find the combo I need.

My Ink Journal and Moving into the Italian Journal

Tags

amarcord, ananda mini, embossed italian journal, ink journal, paperblanks

I’ve talked about the Paperblanks Ananda Mini before, in this post. I mentioned in passing that I was using it as an Ink Journal, and I thought tonight I would go into a bit more detail.

The Ananda Mini cover. I’ve added tabs for inks I want to try and pens I want to try/buy.

My first page. It will probably go beyond 2014. Currently I have 13 pens and I usually keep the same ink in the same pen so I doubt I will fill this up in just one year.

As I change the ink I cross the entry off and add the new ink entry at the end.

So that’s about it for the Ink Journal. Really handy, especially for my Cadence pens because they look exactly alike.

Moving on to a bit of excitement: tonight I finished my Cross journal and officially moved into my Amarcord Embossed Italian Journal. Very exciting!

You’ve seen this journal before, in this post. I had a comment on the original post asking how the paper handles fountain pen ink and so far, beautifully.

I like to start a new journal with a quote. This is not fountain pen ink, it is a rollerball. But I used fountain pen ink on the next page.

I used my Parker Urban for this page and there is no bleed through or feathering. I think the paper will take fountain pen ink really well. I will do an ink test in greater detail on the last page of the book.

I was worried about how I would attach my pen to the notebook, as it does not have a pen loop. I have a spare Leuchtturm pen loop but I can’t use it again once the book is filled. My Parker Urban clips very nicely at the edge of the fold and when it is closed does not affect the pages at all.

So now I’m off to bed and some more writing in my new journal.