Our Spring Ink Challenge

On this week’s podcast we discussed Spring Cleaning.  Clean your pens out, rotate them, sell those you don’t love, and lastly, try new inks.  Well, as it unfolded on the show, we decided to each pick an ink for the other.  Something outside of our normal “comfort” zone, and we would be obligated to use this pen with this ink until it ran out.

Lisa’s first objection was that I would use a pen with a super broad nib so I would go through the ink quicker.  Well, as I have mentioned before, I have a lot of pens with Music, Zoom, Broad and Broader nibs, so this is normal.  To level the playing field I chose a piston filler, so my ink capacity would be greater.

The Rules

The rules are fairly simple.  Each one of us would pick the other person’s ink.  We would pick our own pens and write with only that pen until the cartridge or pen is empty.  To make things more realistic in an office environment, no highlighter, no invisible, and no yellow, it has to be something we’re going to be able to use all day every day.  We’re trying to step outside of our comfort zones here, but not trying to be mean.  Lisa really didn’t want a few certain inks, so I wasn’t trying to pick the most obnoxious color there was.

The Pens

For Lisa, she chose her Champagne Pilot Decimo with Medium 18kt rhodium plated nib that has been in her rotation for a while, pretty much since our Pilot/Namiki Event we had in February.  As I think we both do with Vanishing Points, we refill our cartridges instead of using a converter to get the maximum ink capacity.

Ink Challenge Pens

Ink Challenge Pens

For my pen I chose a Montblanc 149 with a Broad nib that is more like a Double Broad.  It puts down a good amount of ink, but is a piston filler so holds a ton of ink.  I’m sure I’ll be writing this one out for a while, but I figured if I had to write with only one pen until empty, this would be the one.  For me, this 149 had been sitting on my desk at home and was ready to be cleaned anyway, so this took care of one of the other spring cleaning categories.

The Inks

When we got into the office in the morning I went down to the store and dropped both pens into the ultrasonic to make sure they were perfectly clean.  Lisa did a pretty good job of getting her VP nib clean just by running it under water in our sink at home.  For me, cleaning out the Toffee Brown was a more challenging task but after ten minutes in my Crest Ultrasonic it was clean as could be.

Brian: After some debate over Lisa’s color choice I came up with Diamine Shimmertastic Sparkling Shadows for two reasons.  She’s not one to use any form of ink with particles and grey is not her first choice of ink color.

Writing Sample

Writing Sample

Lisa: I know that many customers like the Rohrer & Klingner Alt Gold-Grun color, and it is a lighter shade of green than Brian usually uses. He loves his Montblanc Irish Green, but he teases me about keeping Caran d’Ache Delicate Green in my Platinum 3776, so…. Lighter green it was for Brian!!! And in his Montblanc with the broad nib, he could have some fun with shading

The Result

Lisa: I’m not a grey ink person, and I don’t normally use the inks with shimmer. I usually go for brighter, fun, happy colors, and the Sparkling Shadows is definitely out of my comfort zone. BUT, the ink seems to suit this week, with a spring blizzard looming, and the shimmer lightens up what could be just a somber grey color. This is absolutely not the Shimmertastic color I would have chosen, but it’s growing on me.

Brian: I definitely would not have picked this color, but can see why so many people love it.  It definitely has that effect where you write something on the page and stare at the color that just came out of your pen.  I’m really glad Lisa didn’t choose something orange or purple, that may have driven me crazy for the week.  This I can deal with, and looks pretty nice in that broad nib on the paper.

Final Thoughts

Lisa: I was apprehensive about giving up control of my ink color, but I think I would do it again <maybe>

Brian: We are exposed to so many different colors of inks that is is completely impossible to actually use them all.  This is a fun way to try something I wouldn’t otherwise pick.

So, there you have it, another fun project you can try this spring.  Swap ink samples with a friend and use that pen and ink until it’s completely out.  You never know, you may find a color you absolutely love!

Ink it up!
Brian & Lisa