Journal Field Trip

Tags

cadence, earl grey latte, good earth, healing through writing, monteverde prima, paperblanks, parker urban, pierre belvedere, prayer journal, seven seas writer, staples optiflow, stations of the cross, theory of everything, twsbi eco, ventaglio rosso midi

Do you ever have those days, where you are constantly replaying conversations in your mind and carrying around an anxiety about a certain situation? Well that was me on Saturday. And I knew I had to write it out or it would just fester. But I had lots to do outside of the house so I went on a Journal Field Trip.

I packed up my messenger bag with the supplies: journals (Seven Seas Writer, Paperblanks Ventaglio Rosso Midi, Pierre Belvedere Green), pens (Cadence, TWSBI Eco, both Parker Urbans, Monteverde Purple Prima, 4 different colours of Staples Optiflow, pencil case and some markers), glue runner, paper inserts, and scissors. My aim was to figure out why I was carrying this anxiety around but I also had projects to distract me if the words just wouldn’t come.So I ran a few errands, which included returning a movie to the library (The Theory of Everything – great film). I noticed my favourite library carrel was free so I settled in. I didn’t feel ready to confront the issue in my journal so I thought I would play with paper and glue for awhile. I’m going on a spiritual retreat soon and I printed the prayers for the Stations of the Cross for my Prayer Journal (I am using the Ventaglio Rosso Midi for this purpose). I grabbed the journal and the prayers but realized I had forgotten the glue runner and the scissors. That also meant I couldn’t work in the Pierre Belvedere journal either (keeping track of the solicited reviews for the blog). I still really wanted to write so I had no choice but to jump right in to what was bothering me.

Forty-five minutes later I stopped and re-read my journal entry. I felt freer, lighter. I checked in with my anxiety and found peace. This has happened to me before, of course, as I know the power of journalling to clarify thoughts and feelings and to let resentments and upset go. But this was a complicated burden I had been carrying for a while and I wasn’t sure one 45-minute session would do it. But it did. I left the library with new resolve and a much better frame of mind.

I ticked a few more things off my list and then I was finally able to go to my favourite coffee shop, Good Earth, for an Earl Grey Latte. My reward.

This time I found myself writing about the previous evening we spent with a friend, eating spaghetti, watching a movie and laughing. And of our plans to take some vacation in September and how excited we are about a last-minute treat David and I have planned for our birthdays. I spent about an hour an a half writing. By the time I finished the latte my hand and shoulder were cramping.

Two different writing sessions, same journal, same pen even. One intense, short and focused, the other carefree, long and playful. The second wouldn’t have been possible without the therapeutic first. I am just so grateful that I have this outlet and can soothe myself with words when needed.

I hope your journal can do the same for you.

 

 

Journal Writing Wednesday: 4 pages

Tags

bridal shower, drinking tea, green swirl, jinhao 159, monteverde prima, stationery shopping, tiger eye

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 (May 13): 4

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 979

Total pages written in 2015: 239

Monthly Pen for May: ONLINE in Black

Next monthly pen will be chosen on May 27

Purchases:

I wrote a post about my Monteverde Prima Tiger Eye in this post. This Sunday I plan to write about my Jinhao 159, recently purchased on ebay. And earlier this week the second pen I bought from an FP Geeks member arrived.

I bought a new notebook this week: another Winnable Leather Journal. I am very close to finishing my first one and I realize it is unlike any other journal I own currently. Its design is uniquely perfect for ephemera and pictures I like to paste in my journal.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I’m sorry to say I’ve given up on my ONLINE pen. It just won’t behave. Next week I will choose another one, thankfully.
• I finally got my Monteverde Prima in Green Swirl working and I’ve been using it every day. Love that pen.
• I forgot to write about this at the time but I spent an amazing evening with my sister and my niece’s future mother-in-law, organizing a bridal shower. There was a lot of love in the room and we had a ball deciding how we would celebrate our beautiful girl and the fact that she’s getting married. Can’t wait!
• Spent a great afternoon with my sister, stationery shopping and drinking tea. Bliss!
• Had a fantastic long-weekend bbq with friends, which included lots of food, sunshine and a poker game, which I have not played in a very long time. I had no pain and lots of fun. Love you all.

Until next week, happy writing!

Monteverde Prima in Tiger Eye

Tags

de atramentis, fpgeeks forum, goulet pens, j. herbin, monteverde prima, tiger eye, vert pre, william shakespeare, zhivago

Sorry for the lateness in my posting of late; I’ve been having technical difficulties with my laptop. All seems to be working at the moment, so let’s talk about Monteverde Prima in Tiger Eye.

I have been wanting this one to complement my three other Monteverde Primas: Green Swirl, Purple Swirl and Turquoise Swirl. I started collecting these in December 2013 and I would wholeheartedly recommend them. Good writers with smooth lines, no skipping or hard starts, as long as you use the converter that comes with the pen. More on that later.

I saw an ad on FP Geeks posted by Zhivago for this beauty. The advertised price was less than half of what I would pay for a new one. He was wonderful to work with, and actually refunded some of my shipping cost because the postage was less than he had thought. It arrived within a couple of weeks and I am thrilled with it.

I have seen many different examples of the Tiger Eye finish. This is a wonderful blend of orange and brown. It has a fine nib, which is different from the two medium and 1.1 stub nibs of my other Primas.

Here’s a close-up of the nib.

I have it inked with De Atramentis William Shakespeare.

And here are all four! I think they look stunning together.

I find it interesting that the Purple has a white line, the Turquoise has white with a bit of black shading, and the green and Tiger Eye have black.

Here’s a writing sample. This fine nib is super smooth and a pleasure to write with. The line is not dramatically different from the mediums, in contrast with the 1.1 stub. The stub really stands out. According to Goulet Pens website there is a broad nib available, which I may purchase at a later date, as all of the nibs are interchangeable.

While doing this review I was having trouble getting the Green to write. I know I just said what wonderful writers they are, so bear with me. I had switched from Private Reserve Avacado (sic) to a Faber Castell cartridge in Moss Green. No matter what I did I couldn’t get the darn thing to write. So I tossed the cartridge and filled the converter with J. Herbin Vert Pre. My first time using that ink and wow what a colour. Great match for the barrel too. And the pen wrote perfectly, first try. All of my other Primas have converters in them right now too. So that’s why I think this particular model prefers a converter to a cartridge. Just my experience; yours may differ.

My Prima family! Love them all; my collection is complete. (There is another Prima available, simply called Black Swirl, but is not to my taste. I intensely dislike yellow.)

Thank you so much Zhivago, I am so very pleased with the Tiger Eye. 🙂

Journal Writing Wednesday: 24 pages

Tags

gerald taylor, monteverde prima, mycoffeepot.org, online, walmart

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 (Apr 22): 24

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 945

Total pages written in 2015: 205

Monthly Pen for May: ONLINE in Black, currently inked with J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche. I first talked about this pen in November of 2013, and it hasn’t been in my current rotation for a very long time.

Next monthly pen will be chosen on May 27

Purchases:

I reviewed my new Coleto and De Atramentis Aubergine ink in this post.

I am still waiting on my ebay pen and items from Nanami Paper. And just this week I purchased two pens from sellers on FP Geeks. Lots to talk about coming up!

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I really enjoyed using my MV Prima this month. With the 1.1 stub nib my handwriting gets HUGE, so that’s one of the reasons why I wrote 24 pages this week. And now I will be using my old friend, the ONLINE fountain pen. I really don’t think I’ve used it since early 2014. But that’s the spirit of One Month, One Pen; I want to rotate my pens and fall in love with them all over again.
• My niece is getting married this summer and last week I was invited to her wedding dress fitting. My sister and I went for dinner first, which was great, and then met my niece at the bridal store. And when she came out of the dressing room I cried. She looked so strong and beautiful, she took my breath away. The amazing gown she chose makes her so happy, and it shows.
• Had a wonderful evening with my friend on Saturday. We went for dinner and then did some shopping at WalMart. I wasn’t feeling the best but I pushed myself and I was so glad I did because we had a great time.
• One of my pen pals has a YouTube channel: Gerald Taylor. He cautioned to be careful when putting certain inks in pens with internal filling systems. He referred to SBRE Brown’s experience with Noodler’s Liberty Elysium and his own disappointment with Private Reserve ink. Vintage pens can be especially at risk. So I asked Gerald about my vintage Waterman. I explained that I was using only Waterman ink in it, and did he think that was ok. He reassured me that Waterman inks are one of the safest inks, particularly their blues. Zero staining and zero pen damage. Good to know – thanks Gerald! Check out his blog as well, mycoffeepot.org, for more in-depth discussion of the pens he reviews.

Until next week, happy writing!

Journal Writing Wednesday: 14 pages

Tags

de atramentis, goulet pens, monteverde prima, nanami paper, phasha, pilot coleto multipen, tomoe river, waterman

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 (Apr 15): 14

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 921

Total pages written in 2015: 181

Monthly Pen: Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl

Next monthly pen will be announced on April 29

Purchases:

My new Coleto arrived this week and I will review it this Sunday. I am still waiting on another ebay pen, as well as the Goulet ink mentioned last week. And today I ordered a bunch of stuff from Nanami Paper; they finally have their Tomoe River paper notebooks back in stock. Stay tuned.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• I am still using my Purple Prima and the miracle I hoped for has happened: I’m in love with it again. I’m taking it to work everyday and using it as much as possible. I’ve run through the MI6 (De Atramentis Aubergine) ink and now I’m onto Waterman Purple. I used it to write a thank-you note for a co-worker and he admired my handwriting and the beautiful ink colour. 🙂
• I’m getting over a cold (again) and the recovery for my leg is taking forever. With colds comes coughing and sneezing, and it feels like for each cough/sneeze I’ve earned a week of excruciating leg pain. I’m waking up in the middle of the night again, but it’s not so bad that I have to actually get up, which is a plus. One day at a time.
• I spent a few hours working on my Letter Journal; I’m slowly filling up the Phasha journal and I love the look of it! I wrote in my journal how happy it makes me to revisit old letters.

Until next week, happy writing!

Journal Writing Wednesday: 14 pages

Tags

monteverde prima, mystery ink, nyquil

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 (Apr 1): 14

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 902

Total pages written in 2015: 162

Monthly Pen: Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl

Next monthly pen will be announced on April 29

Purchases:

I made a pen purchase on ebay today. Blog post will follow when it arrives. It will take a while as it’s coming from China.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• So I’ve been using my Monteverde Purple Prima in my journal. I tried to write a letter with it but that italic nib is just too wet for most of my notecards/notepaper. It lays down a lot of ink and my handwriting has to get much bigger to compensate. My journal looks … interesting! It may not last the month but we’ll see.
• I worked on my ink review for Mystery Ink #6. So much fun! I can’t wait to see what the ink is. I am seriously considering purchasing a bottle. I’ve continued to use the ink in the pens I inked up for the review.
• I’ve been struggling with a cold which affects my sciatica; living with pain again. Sigh. But I started taking Nyquil almost immediately so I think this cold will have a much shorter life-span than the last. Fingers crossed.

Until next week, happy writing!

 

Mystery Ink #6

Tags

fpgeeks forum, monteverde artista crystal demonstrator, monteverde prima, mystery ink, rhodia, visconti rembrandt

I mentioned MI6 in this post, earlier this week. I was thrilled to be chosen to participate in this round of reviewing a mystery ink. Go to this link to check out the Fountain Pen Geeks forums and read the threads for MI1 through 5.

My sample arrived on April 1 and I couldn’t wait to ink up a few pens with this gorgeous purple ink and get going.

I chose my Visconti Rembrandt with a 0.5 nib, my Monteverde Artista Crystal with a medium nib and my Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl with a 1.1 italic nib. I flushed all of them and put some of the mystery ink in them.

I used a syringe to fill each of the converters, as I didn’t think the nibs would fit into the sample vial. The Rembrandt and Artista took the ink just fine, but the Prima had an air bubble in the top that I could not get rid of. I spilled ink everywhere and didn’t end up getting much ink into the Prima at all. But I got enough to do this review.

I found this Ink Sampler & Review form online; not sure who to accredit it to but it is not my own design. I apologize for the images; I should have scanned the form in but the camera was all I had to hand.

Each pen started up quite quickly with the new ink, which is impressive. I was surprised how each nib delivered quite a different shade. The colour is a rich dark purple that reminds me of blueberries and lupins. The Antarctica quote (yes I just realized I spelled Antarctica with only one c on the form – horror!!) is an homage to the theme of MI6, as chosen by the organizers.

I do not have a lot of purple inks to compare it to, but I put 3 swabs on the form anyway. I probably could have identified them (one of the rules of the mystery ink game is not to guess what the ink is before it is revealed) as none of them would be a serious contender for an exact match to the mystery ink, but I kept their identity a secret too, at least for now. When the ink brand and name is revealed I will do another post, and reveal my comparison inks as well.

I wasn’t sure what “Spread” referred to in relation to ink so I left it blank. Please enlighten me if you know. I messed up the 3 sec dry time so I repeated the exercise. It is a pretty fast drying ink. Not especially waterproof but not too bad either.

It really is a beautiful ink.

The Andrew Denton quote was written using my Monteverde Prima with a 1.1 italic nib. It may be hard to see in the photo but there is some shading.

The Jon Krakauer quote was written with my Visconti Rembrandt with a 0.5 nib. Both of these quotes are written on the same page in the same Rhodia notebook, with the same lighting conditions. I do not know why one looks yellow and the other doesn’t. Thank my camera phone for having an attitude.

This was fun. I will probably do more ink reviews. And I will probably buy a bottle when the identify is revealed. Any guesses?

 

Journal Writing Wednesday: 8 pages

Tags

fountain pen revolution, fpgeeks forum, monteverde prima, one month_one pen, presidents choice cooking school, waamstock

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 25): 8

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 888

Total pages written in 2015: 148

Monthly Pen:

Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl (see my note explaining this at the end of the post)
Next monthly pen will be announced on April 29

Purchases:

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

I wrote about my Fountain Pen Revolution Guru pen in this post.

Some points covered this week in my journals:

• Each year my company holds a fundraising event called Waamstock. The “Waam” refers to our regular Weekend Attitude Adjustment Meetings, where the employees get together at an office common area and drink beer and munch nibblies. “Stock” is an homage to Woodstock. Earlier in the year employees get together, form bands, and perform at the event, in a rented out, local bar. It’s always a great time and this year was no exception. In a year when my company is making cutbacks this event thankfully escaped the chopping block.
• A friend of mine told me about the President’s Choice Cooking School, which is held at our local Superstore on Tuesday nights. I went last night and a professional chef made 20 of us chicken nachos with a fresh tomato salsa. I generally steer clear of spicy foods but this tomato salsa had Serrano peppers and lime juice and I LOVED it! So much fun. I’m going again next week.
• I have been very fortunate to be chosen to participate in a fun game on the FP Geeks forum: MI6. “MI” stands for Mystery Ink and this is the 6th version of the game so far. Participants receive an ink sample whose brand and name remain a mystery until all participants have received and reviewed the sample. Mine arrived today and I can’t wait to clean out a few pens, ink them up and start reviewing. I will post my review on this blog as well as on the forums.
• I’ve been thinking for a while about my pens, and how months can go by in between using each one. Some of course are my favorites and are used more often. But others are forgotten gems that excite me all over again when I remember to use them. So I thought I would introduce the “One Month, One Pen” idea. Each month I will choose one pen which will be my main pen that month, for journaling and letter writing. I may use other pens as well (like for paper and ink reviews) but I have to use it every day until the month ends. I will announce the monthly pen in one of these Journal Writing Wednesday posts. And for April 2015 the pen is: Monteverde Prima in Purple Swirl, which I discuss in this post.

Until next week, happy writing!

Monteverde Prima in Green Swirl

Tags

bleu pervenche, goulet pens, ink treatment formula, jetpens, monteverde ink, monteverde prima, noodler's navy, private reserve, private reserve avacado, world mail panel

In the weeks leading up to my trip to Phoenix I placed an order with Goulet Pens (and also one with JetPens but that is for another post). I had enough credit with World Mail Panel to order the Monteverde Prima in Green Swirl, which is the third in my set of Monteverde Primas (click here for a post on the Turquoise Swirl, and here for the Purple Swirl). And for the months of November and December Goulet Pens is offering a free bottle of Monteverde Ink with a Monteverde pen purchase (or free cartridges if you purchase a Monteverde pen that only takes cartridges). And with my sister’s good grace she let me take advantage of super cheap shipping to her US address.

The box arrived before I did.

And of course there are always extra goodies in a package from the Goulets. Matt signed my invoice in Noodles’s Navy.

Now the background will change from my sister’s kitchen to my desk. There were a couple of Christmas presents from our father in the Goulet package so of course we haven’t opened them yet. I will share that after Christmas.

The opened box.

A close-up of the nib. I got this one in Medium, which is the same as the Turquoise. Look at that green cap!! LOVE the colour.

My first ever bottle of Monteverde ink. I ordered green to match the new pen. And because of the promotion, the ink was free.

I must say I was impressed with the packaging. I don’t know if Goulet put the bottle in a ziploc bag or if that’s how they come from Monteverde, but it’s a great idea. And the pamphlet shows you the other inks that are available and talks about how their ink contains ITF (Ink Treatment Formula), which apparently improves ink flow, extends cap-off time, lubricates the feed and improves ink drying time on paper. Neat.

This ink is more of a blue green, at least it looks that way in the bottle. Not sure it will match the barrel.

Yep not going to work in the green swirl. It’s a beautiful colour but is a bit too blue. It reminds me of the Bleu Pervenche ink I use in the turquoise swirl.

I looked through my Ink Journal and found the Private Reserve Avacado (sic) ink that would probably be a good match.

Oooh perfect.

Love this combination. I had a fair bit of problems with the Private Reserve ink however. My fingers are very, very green right now. There was some sort of skin on top of the ink that I had to dispose of first. Yuk. I have heard that skins can occur with Private Reserve ink but this is the first time it’s happened to me. Ultimately worth the aggravation because I really enjoy this combination.

And here are the three lovelies together. It’s interesting to see how the purple has white swirls, the green has black, and the turquoise has both. I’ve never noticed that before. There are five in the series, and the other two are Tiger Eye Swirl and Black Swirl. Tiger Eye is similar to the Green in that it has black swirls. And the Black Swirl is unique in that it is mostly black with a green swirl. I’m not a big fan of the Black Swirl but in another four months I will have enough credits with World Mail Panel to get the Tiger Eye. And then I think my Prima collection will be complete. I don’t see the point of getting the Black Swirl just to have the complete set, when I don’t really like it.

Until next time, happy writing!

Journal Writing Wednesday: 3 pages

Tags

goulet pens, j. herbin, jay sadow, jetpens, monteverde, monteverde prima, scottsdale pen and knife, world mail panel

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

Total pages written since last JWW post (Nov 19): 3

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 702

Total pages written in 2014: 647

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): 58

• 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
• 1 Leaf Binder from eBay
• 1 Alphabet Journal from Suzi Q
• 1 Dragonfly Journal, 1 Wooden Fountain Pen, and 1 Zebra V-301 Fountain pen in September
• 1 Pilot Metropolitan pen from Amazon on Nov 7 to celebrate Fountain Pen Day
• 1 limited edition purple Pilot Metropolitan in Leopard and 1 Leuchtturm 17 purple Jotbook on Nov 15 at Reid’s Stationers
• 1 Monteverde Prima in green from Goulet Pens on Nov 22
• 16 (gasp!) 10 ml bottles of J. Herbin ink in assorted colours from JetPens on Nov 22
• 1 Monteverde Artista Clear Demonstrator, 1 Pilot Plumix in purple, 2 Platinum Preppies in blue and green and 1 Rhodia leather notebook from Scottsdale Pen and Knife on Nov 25

Being on holiday I’ve written only 3 pages in my journal. So I haven’t had a chance to write about my purchases of late. But I wanted to share them so I’ve included them above. The bold is a reminder to me that I need to photograph and write blog posts about those items.

Yes I’ve taken advantage of my sister’s goodwill and used her US address for two orders to Goulet Pens and JetPens. I used the proceeds from my World Mail Panel efforts to finance the Monteverde Prima in green, and I also purchased two Christmas gifts for my sister and I, from our father. So more on that after Christmas. And I’ve wanted to complete my J. Herbin collection for some time now and with free shipping and a great sale I couldn’t resist getting 16 of the mini bottles of J. Herbin ink. Now there is only one colour I don’t have: Diabolo Menthe. Exciting stuff!

And yesterday my sister and I went to Scottsdale Pen and Knife and boy did we have fun! I bought 4 fountain pens and a notebook. The owner, Jay Sadow, spent a lot of time with us, answering questions and showing us beautiful pens and pencils, and just being wonderful.

All of these new purchases will get full blog posts once I’m home. Until then happy writing!