New Ink Journal!

I designed, printed and handstitched a new ink journal because one didn’t exist for the paper I use to write my novels and stories, Southworth.

Fun fact about the covers: they were supposed to go on a journal I stitched for Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance … but I lost them. Thus, he got different covers, gothic purple with little bats. I like these covers I made, they’re very bloody looking and have music all over it. Very Victorian and demented looking to me, I like it.

These are the inks I currently own. The newest additions are Monarcha’s Cielo Cruel (Cruel Sky) and Birmingham Ink’s Tesla Coil.

Also, my starting handwriting is craptacular because I am learning how to write with a glass pen. It really is great for ink swatching! It improves over time.

I use a tweezer to make the line and a cotton swab to fill in the box and make the dot. For me, the purpose of this journal is to help me create an effective one-stop-shop visual library of inks I own so I can pick one quickly for an upcoming work at a glance. The handbound journal can hold up to 60 swatches. I show all my ink pages on my instagram (@MultiMindPublishing) but here’s what I have:

Monarcha – Cielo Cruel

Ferris Wheel Press – Jelly Bean Blue

Ferris Wheel Press – Dusk in Bloom

Diamine – Midnight Hour

Dominant Industry – Periwinkle Blue

Diamine – Writer’s Blood

Kaweco – Midnight Blue

Kiwi Inks – Custom Ink

Ferris Wheel Press – Lady Rose

Ferris Wheel Press – Stroke of Midnight

Birmingham Pen Ink – Tesla Coil

Some inks are missing from the last journal and time I wrote about this. I gave those inks away, usually because I didn’t like the color but it would suit someone else better. I somewhat am missing my Colorverse’s Sirus (CMa) Star ink, though.

I may seem to own a lot of ink but I write a lot so it balances out. I’ve written about my ink in the past, where I also talk about how much I write. I personally think my works are getting longer, handwritten, because I write with a fountain pen for the simple fact that I have an extraordinarily abundant amount of ink. I don’t have to count my pens like I did with the Bic Atlantis and measure a story based on how many disposable pens I had. When my TWSBI fountain pen runs out, I just fill it up again in less than a minute and keep writing. I literally almost cannot run out of ink completely in the middle of a novel. If I maxed out a bottle – something I have yet to do – I would just pick up a different bottle of ink and keep writing. I’m not at all unfamiliar with having a work have two inks in it, something I do if I’m super eager to try several inks but don’t want to wait to produce several works.

This means I can create a steady stream of work. Plus, seeing an air gap in my bottles makes me happy because it shows me how much I wrote. I like the fact I am depleting my bottles via writing so much. My current game plan is to not re-buy bottles of exhausted ink. Some, I simply can’t because they aren’t sold anymore, such as the vast majority of my Ferris Wheel Press inks. Others because I plain don’t want to. I rather have one of each ink instead of a steady pile of bottles of the same exact color. Besides, by the time that bottle is fully depleted, the brand will have most likely made new colors that I will ooh and ahh over and eventually buy so it works out.

As I usually say at this point, I’ll eventually make a “Inks I Have Written Works In” page because I think it would be neat. Thing to do.

I haven’t bought as much ink this year in comparison to last year. That’s a good thing. Ink can be pricy when bought en masse. I already have a payload of inks for if I need to make a few novels so if no new colors or bottles really catch my eye, that’s fine. I know I do want to eventually:

• Get more Colorverse, particularly Butterfly Nebula, CMa star and my zodiac, Cancer
• Get a scented ink (in all honesty, only two brands really does scented, Herbin and DeAtramentis)
• Get a “see-through” ink, an ink that I can see through in my pen (but still shows up well on paper)
• Get a non-shimmer golden ink, for my work The Golden Boys

But for the most part, I’m mostly past my ink-buying kick. I casually check ink sites like Ferris Wheel Press and Jet Pens but for the most part, I’m a bit done because I’m fairly satisfied with the colors I have gotten. I would eventually like to venture more outside of blue but that’s for then, not now.