Category: Personal

Posted on
Feb 24, 2022

J. Herbin Fountain Pen Inks

I’m so in love with several of the J. Herbin inks that I’ve been inking my two JInhao X750 pens with only them the last three or four months 😀 I didn’t expect to love them as much as I do – they’re my favorites along with Pilot Iroshizuku inks.

Image by J. Herbin

I bought six colors in international standard cartridges (they come in cute little tin cans! colors in the regular line shown in above image) instead of bottles just so I could give some of each color to my Mom – who relies on me to give her inks because she goes through ink a lot slower than I do, and doesn’t speak English so can’t order them online herself – and also, just so I would have some cartridges I could just snap in, especially if I’m out and about, instead of having to deal with filling from a bottle. I’ve also found I love using up cartridges – I seem to finish them faster than converters, and feel accomplished every time I do!

I’m totally in love with Violette PensĂ©e and Rouge Caroubier, so much that I used two cartridges of both in row which is unusual for me, I usually want to switch inks when a pen runs out. Also love Corail des Tropiques and Rouge Grenat just may be my favorite dark red. Admittedly, I’ve only used them in the two Jinhao X750s so I don’t know how they behave in other pens, but in these, the these inks flow perfectly 😀 Especially Violette PensĂ©e is delightful – so cheerful yet calm and a pleasure to write with, I always feel happy when I’m writing with it 😀

I’ve been trying to get Rouge OpĂ©ra and Orange Indien cartridges along with a few of the other J. Herbin colors while doing my last few online orders, but they seem to be out-of-stock every time 🙁

I don’t like majority of blue inks because they remind me of those cheap pens you can buy anywhere/work gives you which would dry up on after a couple of weeks of use. So blues even by makers such as Pilot Iroshizuku though they write excellently and might even sheen or shade, I still find boring. The association is just too strong. I seem to be favoring reds, pinks and violet inks along along with some teal ones. I have many reds/pinks and a few violets I love, but only three blues I even like: Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-peki, Organics Studio Copper Turquoise and my newest find Robert Oster Fire & Ice – at the moment I’m very much into this last one. I only have a sample of it, but definitely want a full bottle at some point down the line. Fire & Ice is a pleasure to write with and look at 🙂

Posted on
Feb 21, 2022

Notebooks

So, wickedlittletown over at Dreamwidth had the idea to take photos of favorite notebooks… here’s mine!

My favorite size is A5, I love A4s as well but I don’t need large ones like that very much anymore.

EDIT: added Notebooks 5 because I forgot two important ones!

Notebooks 1

My functional, every day type of notebooks. The top row are all by Nikki Strange; the two A5 ones I use for making quick notes while at doctors, or at the unemployment office etc. The A4 one I use when I need to write a lot – usually assignments given at a rehabilitation program or some such. These do okay with fountain pens (at least the inks I’ve used on them so far) but don’t show sheen/shading, and very wet inks/wet pens might feather on this paper. But I’ve found it acceptable so far.

The bottom row are my most used notebooks. The first one I made myself, inspired by Lotus Blu Book Art‘s watercolor notebooks. I printed an image bought off on Etsy on cotton rag paper, used that as cover and 52gsm Tomoe River paper for the paper. It’s a simple pamphlet stitch, which I learned by following Lotus Blu Book Art‘s video tutorial on how to do it. It takes about 15 minutes so it’s really quick! This one is my inked fountain pens log – whenever I ink a pen, I use that pen to note what pen it is, what nib and which ink. This way I have examples on how the pen/nib/ink combo looks on 52gsm Tomoe River, and can easily reference back if I love or hate some combo.

The green one is a hard cover Rhodia Goalbook, which is for various record keeping and tracking – books read, new books I’ll want to read in the future, online orders I’ve made and am waiting to arrive, ink bottles I have, ink samples I have, vacuuming dates… all sorts of stuff that I can’t rely on my memory for. It’s an okay paper for fountain pens, but doesn’t show sheen/shading as well as Tomoe River or Oxford paper (below).

The last one is my most used notebook – my illness log. I log and track my symptoms here every day. It’s a hard cover Oxford Black n’ Red, it’s thin but surprisingly heavy notebook. It came in a pack of three, and I’ve almost filled the first of them up and I’m very glad I have two more waiting to go. It takes fountain pens beautifully, shows sheen and shading well; it’s my favorite paper right after 52gsm Tomoe River. It is rather boring (just white, lined pages) and because the content which I write is always neutral or bad it started to make me feel bad, which led me to pretty it up with stickers (MU print on stickers) and washi tape. So now it’s looks very nice, with pretty ink, stickers and washi tape. And now I’m happy keeping this particular log.

More behind the cut!

Continue reading Notebooks

Posted on
Feb 19, 2022

The Friday Five for February 18, 2022

Answers to yesterday’s questions at https://thefridayfive.livejournal.com/200499.html

1. Do you have Spring or Fall allergies?

I have some sort of food allergies and an atopic skin condition but nothing that is only seasonal. It’s always been year around thing.

2. Do you have something in particular that you are allergic to or is it just general?

My allergies used to triggered/worsened by certain foods (citrus fruit, chocolate etc.) but even when I avoided them, I always had rashes on my arms and legs year round. The rash would get better during summer as long as I got to swim in the ocean a lot. Then since I reached my 20s, it’s been just general allergy instead of specific foods and very mild and mostly only on my fingers. I still have to treat my skin with hydrocortisone creams fairly regularly when it flares up (only a few times a year instead of daily like when I was under 20), but still daily with emollient cream to keep my skin moisturized.

3. What do you take, if anything, to help?

I don’t need oral supplements for my allergies, luckily. Looking back, as a kid, I could have used something that reduced itching but I was never given anything orally – I don’t if such meds existed then in the 70s/80s? In any case, I’ve never been treated orally for my allergies. Only various creams, and this blue tincture which was used to “paint” the rash bits and which I loved because it eased the itching and made my rash skin feel cool (it always felt hot) 😀

4. Do you seem to be saying, “It’s just allergies” a lot more than usual these days (i.e. because of Covid)?

Nope.

5. What do you hope to get out and do this spring, allergies and pandemic willing?

Not so much “to get out and do something”, but I’d love to not have to wear a mask while grocery shopping/in the library. I hope it’s possible this spring/summer again like last year, and I’m looking forward to it so much! I hate wearing a mask – it fogs up my eye glasses and that messes up my depth vision (a problem going up and down stairs/getting on and out of the bus), makes my face sweat like crazy and my nose run. And if I’m having a bad headache day, it’ll start a migraine attack or makes it worse if I already have one on. So not having to mask up in the spring/summer is one my wish for the near future.

Posted on
Feb 11, 2022

Friday 5 for February 11: Everything possibly worth knowing about a person

Answers to f.riday5.com today’s questions.

1. Have you ever asked someone for their autograph?

In the mid-80s when I was a kid, I asked Anneli Saaristo, a Finnish singer, for her autograph.

2. What do you think happens when we die?

Nothing at all. We just cease to exist.

3. What’s your favorite action movie?

I can’t decide between The Terminator and The Last Of The Mohicans. One of those two!

4. What’s your favorite smell?

Fresh, still hot from the oven home baked bread/rolls/buns.

5. Exercise: worth it?

Not in my experience. Nope.

Posted on
Feb 11, 2022

The Friday Five for 11 February 2022

Image from Pixabay.

I can’t believe it’s Friday already! Where did the week go?! Answers to today’s questions The Friday Five @ Dreamwidth.

1. What’s your favorite candle scent?

Unscented. I don’t burn candles myself so I don’t have much experience with them, but my Mom likes to burn them during December and she likes unscented ones. Sometimes she burns scented ones she was gifted, and I think maybe vanilla or citrus were okay if I remember right (as long as the smell isn’t overpowering). But usually when I’m around she burns unscented ones because many artificial smells are too strong/smelly for me and she’s not a fan either.

2. Do you have an artistic or crafty hobby? What is it?

Yes! Many! I play around in Photoshop making fandom wallpapers but also digital papers and textures. I used to make icons too but haven’t made those in years now. I used to make WinAmp skins, and still make FocusWriter themes. I write fanfic and original fic, I do fluid art with acrylic paints (acrylic pouring) and alcohol inks. I paint with watercolors, both drawings I’ve done myself and color-ins I’ve printed from the internet. I also occasionally do some adult coloring book coloring. I make (simple) notebooks with Tomoe River paper for my fountain pen use, and also do some playing/painting/drawing with fountain pen inks on them. I still bake some, sometimes once a week other times once a month but it’s something I enjoy so I try to do it more often than less. I also keep a log of my illnesses’ symptoms to track them and that’s so boring to do, that I love to pretty every page of that diary with stickers, washi tape and doodles.

3. What’s one weird way you save money on food?

I guess: not eating. I have a lot of trouble with appetite, have been for a decade now… namely I don’t have an appetite, even when I feel hunger. I’m trying to be better about eating (eating regularly, having a proper meal instead of a cookies etc.) but yeah, when I’m even more exhausted than normally and that happens a lot, I tend to skip meals without really noticing it because I just never feel like eating. Everything tastes right, I just never have an appetite. And when I have a proper meal, I usually lose interest in it about halfway through and eating it feels like work. Apparently not having an appetite is a usual feature of Crohn’s Disease, judging from my peer’s experiences. I don’t know that it truly saves money though – the last 14 months I’ve been mainly buying ready-to-heat meals because I’m too exhausted to cook, or don’t feel like cooking. Candies and chocolate, and salty things like potato chips go down easier than proper food and they don’t feel like work because I love the taste, so between those ready meals and the sweets, I propably don’t actually save at all compared to the kind of foods I used to eat before I got sick. Back then I rarely bought ready meals and used to cook my own food. I used to do meal planning and prep for the week ahead, and I miss those times. Now I rarely have spoons enough to that, but when I do I LOVE it that I have something home cooked to eat for the entire week. Because home cooked food so so much better than store-bought ready meals.

4. Do you collect anything weird or unusual?

I’ve always been considered kind of weird since I was a kid just because I have always collected something, although thinking on it I’m not sure if it was actually because what I collected was considered a boy thing. As a kid, it was X-Men, Star Trek and John Carter comics. I also collected sticks and pebbles.

These days I collect fanfic, fountain pens and inks (I actively use them though), and I’m somewhat into paper – I have several notebooks I haven’t yet started using, and several of LotusBluBookArt’s drawing/writing journals that I haven’t started yet. I intend to use them all though! I’m just slow and it might take a decade or two. I also love pretty handmade art journals/books that are for watercoloring and/or mixed media (they’re expensive 50-300 euros or more), but I don’t really own any of those except for one or two thin ones that I’m already using. About a year ago I discevered (MU print-on) stickers and that and washi tape are something I easily could end up buying LOADS of unless I’m careful. I keep pen and stationery things purchases sensible and well within my budget, no matter how much I might want to buy ALL THE THINGS.

5. Do you fear the deep ocean, or does its unknown depths excite you?

I don’t fear the deep ocean itself but when I was a kid, whenever I swam in not!swimming pool and something (a weed under water where I couldn’t see it) would brush against me, I would freak out – as in, fly out of the water to the beach/pier freak out. I haven’t swam in an ocean since I became an adult and I’m 100% sure I would still freak out if a weed touched me under water where I can’t see it. I never thought it was anything other than a seaweed but for some reason it touching me freaks me out, and to tell you the truth, I’d propably freak out even if it was a weed brushing against me in a damn swimming pool. So that’s what I fear, but not the ocean itself. The unknown depths theoretically excite me, in books/movies etc., but in real life I’m not interested in exploring myself.