sciatrix | (no subject)

Right, that mess posted, which means I'm going to sit down and work out my grading. I'm hoping I can use up huge amounts of my Noodler's Bernanke Red, because I've grown to hate it, but I still have like half a bottle and it really is a decent grading ink especially in a stub nib like the TWSBI Eco stub I've put it in.

I mean, it feathers like hell and bleeds, but it does dry real fast and doesn't stick around long in the presence of water. And for grading you don't need a ton of precision... and I won't feel bad about dumping whatever's in the Eco when I'm done with it. Sooner I use the ink I have, the sooner I can go buy more Diamine Meadow and/or a bunch of other Diamine colors to play with so I know exactly what to buy when I make myself a huge bulk order from Cult Pens. (They sell Diamine for like half the price as anywhere else, which makes sense: they're based in the UK. But they also do free international shipping if you order enough ink, so my plan is to work out which colors I absolutely love via ink samples, and then save up and do a big bulk order of everything I want a bottle of.)

GRADING AHOY, I guess.

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Diamine Meadow and/or a bunch of other Diamine colors to play with

....you DID NOT just do that to me

MAYBE I DID. 30mL bottles go for ~$3 a pop on Cult Pens! 80mL for ~$7.50!

Realistically, I'm going to grab a whole whack of 2mL samples from Goulet Pens first and make sure I really love all the colors I buy larger bottles of. Better to get samples than have a 3oz bottle full of an ink you hate sitting there and making you feel guilty.

30mL bottles go for ~$3 a pop on Cult Pens! 80mL for ~$7.50!

OH MY GOD
SO I SEE

I love small inexpensive samples of things, ohhh Lordy

Realistically, I'm going to grab a whole whack of 2mL samples from Goulet Pens first

....//cries

YOU CAN GET 2mL OF ANY INK YOU LIKE FROM THEM FOR UNDER $2 (well, sometimes under $3 for the really spendy shit).

I believe VanNess pens also does something similar, with slightly more ink per sample and slightly more expensive prices on the samples, and a somewhat different selection of inks.

Goulet Pens will even let you do blind samples where you get whatever they feel like to test-drive. I got one of those sets for my birthday last year, and I'm still poking at all the inks that I never would have considered trying. Part of me wants, cussedly, to use up ALL OF THEM before I purchase anything else; part of me is also going "look, you hated that Stipula from the moment you put it in a dip pen; what do you think is going to change about that hatred if you use up the whole sample?

Goulet Pens will even let you do blind samples

//TURNS INTO GOLLUM

WHY CAn'T I sPEND aLL mY MOnEY oN FANCy iNKS???

*enraged goblin tears*

(Seriously, apparently when I get stressed my impulse to Acquire Things goes through the roof. I am grimly holding myself in check by promising my lizard brain I can order inks when my shit gets back from the flood remediation and hoping it will have forgotten by then.

My lizard brain has a very long memory.)

....man my brain has like two big piles, one that's labelled SHINY and that I get obsessed with and the other is EVERYTHING ELSE. GUESS WHICH PILE THE INK SAMPLES ARE NOW IN

SAME ONE AS MINE I'LL WAGER

Do you ever grade with a dip pen?

(I'm thinking it could be particularly gratifying to accidentally splotch on an egregiously bad paper. But then I'm not a teacher of humans.)

Nah, I grade too fast--my dip pen would be out of ink and need to be refreshed constantly. Also, I'm grading short answer rather than essays, so my level of emotional investment in each answer is I think a little less.

Also, let's be real, I splotch often enough with fountain pens as it is.

At least there's something to enjoy in grading hell?

How did I not know you were a fountain pen person? Thanks for the Cult Pens tip, but I have so much ink. I jus bought 2 bottles of Sailor Jentle Nioi something I can't spell right now b/c I think it's getting taken over by another manufacturer, and it's the closest to the perfect blurple I've found.

Lizard brain is also calmed by a bit of online shopping, even when I just bought expensive new glasses (but that is a Medical expense, does not count). ALL THE COLORS.

Oooooh, a fellow fountain pen user, yay! Good to know that about Bernanke Red, though. I am in the market for a new red ink, after Caran d'Ache discontinued "Sunset" (yes, it has been years but I am still bitter!) and the bleedthrough takes Bernanke Red out of the running so thank you for sharing the info.

Hope the grading goes well!