Monthly Ink Challenge - Season IV

[yazeh]

3 hours ago, InesF said:

What a great contribution! Thank you for posting this drawing - Inktober Challenge meets Monthly Ink Challenge.

And yes, Gods with feline weaknesses are likeable Gods.   

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – May 2025

 

This months Challenge is special, but not in the fact that it has four inks and pens:

Sailor Ink Studio 223 – in Montblanc Princess Grace M-stub

Pelikan Edelstein Jade – in Pineider Arco Desert Beetle EF

Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz Mix* - in Pelikan M600 Violet-White M-stub

Dominant Industry Leaf Green – in Pelikan M605 Green-White EF

 

*) the Rose Quartz Mix is the same as was used in Season 3, April 2024 and consists of 20 mL Rose Quartz, 1 mL Pelikan 4001 Violet, 1 mL P.Edelstein Star Ruby and 0.5 mL Pilot Iroshizuku tsuki-yo. I made this from the residuals after gifting away more than half of the “not useable” original Rose Quartz ink.

 

Here is the inktroduction of the set on F.Schimpf letter pad (slightly off-white paper):

 

And here is the ink status report (again, not exactly white balanced, makes Jade look a bit flat):

 

 

And here some infos about the pens and inks:

The Montblanc Princess Grace is one of my top 5 fountain pens. It has a metal body, feels sturdy, looks extremely nice with all those details Montblanc puts on their pens and has a tiny #5 nib that, nevertheless, seems to have a shock absorber built in. The tactile sensation during writing is uniquely soft in a pleasant way (only topped by the MB Boheme – which has construction flaws, unfortunately). As I didn't like the “fat” line the original M nib laid down, I ground it into a stub which pushed the pen eventually from very good to excellent and made it to one of the top 5. The nib works best with medium-dry to dry inks, therefore Sailor Ink Studio 223 was an obvious choice by theory and turned out to be great in practise. The grey is a bit more intense than expected and has a pale purple undertone. The potential dual shading (some green at the borders of a line) is not visible on any other than the very best paper but a monochromatic shading appears even on paper of average quality. This ink is perfectly business viable.

 

I have mixed emotions about and an ambivalent relation to the Pineider Arco Desert Beetle fountain pen. The built quality is average at best (it arrived with a loose pen body, has a finicky cap magnet and a plastic feed that tends to slide out of position), but the visual appearance is excellent. The “plastic arco” pattern becomes playful in daylight and the Pineider Quill nib looks elegant as always. Furthermore, the nib writes a perfect EF line (almost EEF) and does best with medium-dry inks. Starting with gentle pressure the ink line becomes more wet without gaining much width. It is not a flex nib in the common understanding but it allows to make hairlines and fine lines of different intensity. Obviously it works best with unsaturated inks where this special effect can be exploited to a pleasing result. However, it requires some practise and can easily go wrong when writing in a hurry. You now understand my ambivalence? Since years I try to love Pelikan Edelstein Jade – and failed. Curious and ready for a desperate experiment I filled the Pineider pen with it and … WOW! Dry lines, wrote without pressure, look more like a pale blue-leaning teal (almost turquoise) while saturated lines look more like a cold green with a bit pink sheen. I have exploited this already some years ago by comparing the line colour from two different pens. The ink starts to behave like a dual shader with the Quill nib – that is anything but boring.

 

The Pelikan M60x fountain pens are the perfect size for my hands and for my writing style. That’s the reason I own so many of them. Over time my weight preference changed a bit towards more heavy pens and, only for that reason, the whole Pelikan M60x floc moved some places down in my list. For the May Set two of them are in use: the M600 Violet-White with M-stub nib and the M605 Green-White with EF nib. The iconic celluloid stripes increase the visual attractiveness of the plastic pens quite a lot. The juicy and always too broad writing nibs can make any dry or super-dry ink look good. And so it is with the two May inks: Pelikan Edelstein Rose Quartz Mix and Dominant Industry Leaf Green. Both benefit a lot from the Pelikan nibs in colour saturation and shading. The original Rose Quartz was still too pale for me so that I felt the necessity of improving it by adding some „colour‟. Leaf Green’s hue is not far from R&K Alt-Goldgrün, maybe a touch more intense and more green leaning, with the Pelikan nib making it a true leaf colour of charming brilliance.

 

The May Ink Set harmonises well as a whole. It is only Jade and Leaf Green that do not do so well when positioned next to each other. Diamine Kelly Green may had fit better than Leaf Green, but I liked to avoid using the shiny green each May again and again.

 

The topics for May are „resurrection‟ and „life always finds a way‟.

 

 

And now to the speciality of this Ink Set and to the inspiration:

All four inks are either dual shaders (two faces of life) or have received a second chance (a second life) with surprising outcome. As a set, they symbolise stages of life, more precise: the life cycle of the Phoenix that rises from ashes. The inks by themselves can represent the circle, from ash grey to awakening teal to blooming rosé to aging green and back to ashes. Therefore the Ink Set itself is already part of the Challenge result. I will use these four pens for a total of fife weeks, starting today, April 27^th, in the given order, each one for a full week as a main pen, the other three in support function, respectively. No fade-in and no-fade out for the next 5 weeks.

 

My hope is having inspired you to participate in the Monthly Ink Challenge. Drawings, paintings, writings, calligraphy or ornamental patterns, everything is welcome!

Looking forward to your contribution!

[yazeh]

Looking forward to this months challenge, circle of life, cool

[LizEF]

Great combo!  Looking forward to it, and the end of your 5 weeks.   That Jade is not for me, but I'm glad you finally found a home for it.

[InesF]

16 hours ago, yazeh said:

Looking forward to this months challenge, circle of life, cool

Oh yes, it is a challenge for me, in the best meaning of the word.  

As always, it starts with a vague idea that has to grow - let's see what will happen ...  

[InesF]

16 hours ago, LizEF said:

Great combo!  Looking forward to it, and the end of your 5 weeks.

Thank you, @LizEF, you are welcome!

 

16 hours ago, LizEF said:

That Jade is not for me, but I'm glad you finally found a home for it.

I can fully understand! Jade is, colour-wise, like a slippery fish. My swatch card has 12 entries, each a try to making it look good or acceptable at least. 11 times failed. It was already put into the "I don't know what to do with these"-box. The Pineider with its strange and unique properties brought it back to life.

P.E. Jade doesn't like any pen and the Pineider pen doesn't like any ink. I guess, they found each other ...   

[LizEF]

7 hours ago, InesF said:

P.E. Jade doesn't like any pen and the Pineider pen doesn't like any ink. I guess, they found each other ...   

Miracles still happen!   (Or at least pen-ink romances. )

[yazeh]

I hope this fits the bill. 

Inspired by the myth of Simurgh and its power to regenerate life. However, I did it more in an interior way.

I used a panoply of Tintenlabor inks

Violet Blue, Purple Black 1 (3 gr/ l) and Gold BLack (6 gr/l)

Paper is Taens mixedmedia...

 

[RedPie]

1 hour ago, yazeh said:

Simurgh

A legendary bird. Nice. I love those colors!

[yazeh]

2 hours ago, RedPie said:

A legendary bird. Nice. I love those colors!

Thanks!

 

[InesF]

18 hours ago, yazeh said:

I hope this fits the bill. 

Inspired by the myth of Simurgh and its power to regenerate life. However, I did it more in an interior way.

It does - it does very well! 

Thank you, @yazeh, for bringing one of the relatives of Phoenix back on stage! 🙏

I weakly remembered it as Simorgh and had to look if it is the same - and it is! Simorgh has an even closer connection than Phoenix to "Legends of the Grisha" which I read recently. Inspiration, so it looks like, is not by chance.   

[yazeh]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

It does - it does very well! 

 

5 hours ago, InesF said:

Thank you, @yazeh, for bringing one of the relatives of Phoenix back on stage! 🙏

I weakly remembered it as Simorgh and had to look if it is the same - and it is! Simorgh has an even closer connection than Phoenix to "Legends of the Grisha" which I read recently. Inspiration, so it looks like, is not by chance.   

Thanks. From what I gleaned  fro ChatGPT: 

The Simorgh, nests atop the Tree of All Seeds and when it takes flight, it causes the seeds to scatter across the earth, ensuring the regeneration of plant life. This act symbolizes the bird's role in the cosmic cycle of life, death, and rebirth. One life  

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge – Result May

 

This month’s Challenge is/was surprisingly complex. I’m still in the rotation, using the four pens and inks for fife weeks consecutively. My intention was to do a drawing that reflects and strengthens the resurrection theme compounded by four parts, one per week, each made by using (mainly) one pen.

 

While occupied with other duties, May was among the hardest Ink Challenges I did so far. It required resurrecting my power and my motivation more than once. Here is the result for Season IV, May:

 

It is a mix of fountain pen drawings and ink washes. The outline and segment separators are done with waterproof ink (Rohrer & Klingner Lotte in the Opus 88 mini). The theme drawings are done using the May pens and inks and washing over each with a wet watercolour brush. The biggest surprise was the Sailor Ink Studio 223 ink which made petrol-leaning washes but got pink diffusion borders when the wet area touched the lines from the side without making them wet on top.

 

So far for now, feel resurrected and stay healthy, see you in June!

 

Please feel welcome to post your creative pieces, if you have not already. Drawings, paintings, text, ornaments, everything is welcome!

[LizEF]

Wow!  That's gorgeous, @InesF!  The birds (Phoenix, I assume) are expertly done - well, the whole thing is, but I love the bird drawings!  I'd say your hard work paid off with this one!

 

The bottom quadrant reminds me of this photo I took long ago (and "posterized" with borders and text):

 

(I'll go find the original and confirm, but I'm pretty sure I converted it to grey-scale after scanning.)

 

ETA: Nope, the film itself was black & white. (Yes, this was in the dark ages, when we used film and had to get it developed and have prints made.)

[inkstainedruth]

Oh the REAL "dark ages" was when not only using B&W film but having to process it yourself, like I had to do for a couple of classes in college....

Or should I say "darkroom ages".... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[yazeh]

This is wonderful and detailed, and it belongs in a wizardry manuscript! Bravo! 👏

[LizEF]

2 hours ago, inkstainedruth said:

"darkroom ages"

[InesF]

Thank you @LizEF, @yazeh and @inkstainedruth, you are highly welcome!

Indeed, there had been dark ages and darkroom ages - and some of them overlapped.

 

@LizEF: photos like this from the Yellowstone National Park inspired me. However, the intention of showing them "still smoking" and the ash "still glowing" made the lines a bit soft. All these Monthly Ink drawings are part of the ongoing practice and learning process ....   

[LizEF]

5 hours ago, InesF said:

However, the intention of showing them "still smoking" and the ash "still glowing" made the lines a bit soft.

You succeeded, I recognized what it was immediately!

[InesF]

Monthly Ink Challenge IV – June 2025

 

The June Set consists of the following three inks and fountain pens:

Sailor Ink Studio 280 – in Pineider la Grande Bellezza Tiger Eye F

Diamine Flowers Pansy – in Diplomat Aero M-stub

Dominant Industry Soleil Couchant à Etretat – in Scribo Piuma Impressione EF-flex

 

There are two more inks at standby, ready to become rotated in during the month if I see the need for one of them:

Colorverse Quasar – probably in Waterman Serenité M-goccia

Dominant Industry Downpour – probably in Leonardo MZ Nuvola

 

Here are the three main fountain pens with the ink swatch cards:

 

After the comparably complex May Challenge, I tried to calm down and make June more simple. I guess, I failed miserably. As you can see, there are two inks at standby and the ink finding was a two week long odyssey – the second longest since Season I.

 

The theme of the month June is

FLOW

 

And here is the “ink-finding sheet” which is a combination of screenshots from ink swatches (inkswatch.com and vaness1938.com) and a list of fountain pens that fit the theme of the month:

 

 

Some words about the selected fountain pens and inks:

The Pineider la Grande Bellezza Tiger Eye is the first bought Pineider pen in my collection and is not less controversial than the one I used in May. I'm still impressed about the beautiful pen body and the formerly new to me soft nib it is much softer than the EF from the Arco pen and provides a writing feeling like with no other fountain pen. The downside is the comparably narrow range of ink properties the pen accepts: the surface tension must be in the medium range and the viscosity should preferably be high. Otherwise the ink flow to the paper is either too much (flood like) or the nib skips at every second word. Sailor Ink Studio 280 is a fantastic duo-chrome shader in the optimal Pineider surface tension range but has low viscosity. That means: the extremely wet Pineider nib draws almost saturated ink lines that look golden but the line shapes are anything but controlled and sharp. I decided to keep this combo after doing some first tests, as no other pen can force the Sailor 280 ink to show this special golden impression. High ink FLOW is here combined with almost magical dye FLOW.

 

The properties and dimensions of the Diplomat Aero are within my preferred zones; it is metal, weighty and neither too long nor too girthy. The performance of the original M steel nib was a bit too boring for me, so I ground it into a gentle stub with approx. 1:2 line width relation. That made all the difference to hoover it from good to special. It is only the, to my surprise, slippery grip section that disallowed it to be in the top section of my fountain pen list. The Metal surface is slippery despite not being polished – while others with mirror like surface are less slippery. I didn't expect that. One turn of washi tape cured it and doesn't disturb otherwise. Diamine Flower Pansy is a beautiful and saturated but sparsely lubricated red-leaning purple ink with some sheen on high quality paper. I'm not sure if I like this one or deAtramentis Aubergine more. But they are not in direct concurrency, as their surface tensions are far different with Pansy being the more “dry” of the two. Depending on the pen, there is always a well fitting intense purple ink available! The pen has the air FLOW already in the name while the ink requires some fantasy to imagine the FLOWing wind that shakes the pansies …

 

Going intense in writing, drawing, manual working or any other creative process is often described as “being in the FLOW”. During my high-school time I was a frequent, almost weekly visitor in the local Vienna Museum of Modern Art. Both styles, Impressionists and Surrealists drew my attention and inspired me the most during those years. There was not much to think about when I had the opportunity to buy the Scribo Piuma Impressione – it was an instant buy. The original flex nib was a bit too broad for my preference and required some tweaking. Now it impresses me with its willingness to follow all my hand commands and draws lines with significant variation. The nib is a bit more stiff than vintage flex nibs are, but I can see that as an advantage in having better control of the line variation. The pre-requisites about instant-buy repeated when I saw the Dominant Industry Soleil Couchant á Etretat ink appearing in a review here at FPN. Claude Monet pen meets Claude Monet ink, Impressionism pen meets Impressionism ink, muted blue-green pen meets muted blue-green ink colour and ink-FLOW meets inspiration-FLOW when writing with this combination of pen and ink.

 

I found a quite fascinating oil painting from the artist Frans Thaulow at my first internet search attempt. Unbelievable, how well he could reproduce flowing water in a painting:

Isn't it crazy how the water seems to FLOW and how easy it is to forget this is an oil painting?

 

 

Both standby inks and both standby pens meet the FLOW criteria. I will write a short introduction in case I rotate one of them in during June.

 

The June theme was initially deriving from inspiring thoughts when I reviewed the May theme: Life means change. We change, our society changes, our environment changes, the Universe changes – everything is in FLOW.

 

Be in the FLOW by yourself, progress and prosper and, most important, have fun using your fountain pens. May the ink FLOW never stop!

 

See you later in June with some results.