The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 390 - Why Do We Have This Question

It’s the last episode of 2019, and what better way to wrap up the year than clearing out the #ASKTPA queue. Thanks for an amazing year, and get ready for another great one in 2020!

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code PENADDICT at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

Pen Chalet: Click the ‘podcast’ link at the top of the website and enter the password ‘penaddict’ for this week’s special offer, and to get your code for 10% off.

Diamine Inkvent Calendar Day 20

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

When I was growing up, my older sister, Karen, and I shared a room. On Christmas Eve, she would get so excited she couldn’t sleep. So, she’d wake me up in the giddy hours after midnight, and we’d giggle and whisper and try to make the time pass by going through her jewelry box trinkets and telling stories. Sometimes we’d stare out our windows at the luminarias still burning on the sidewalks beneath the cold winter sky.

Today’s ink is called Midnight Hour. It’s a vivid blue that has purple tones and copper sheen. It makes me think of dark, frigid nights gazing at the darkening sky with the Milky Way splashed across it.

On white Rhodia paper, the color changes depending on the angle and the amount of sheen. Sometimes it looks like cobalt blue. When the copper sheen predominates, it looks more like purple. It’s a fantastic color, and I love that it has some color-shift properties.

I don’t think my sister ever actually slept on Christmas Eve. I would fall back to sleep and be awakened by her around 5:00 a.m. We’d get our brother, Stan, and go wake up our parents. Christmas was always a magical, crazy, exciting day at our house. I think of my sister every Christmas Eve because now I’m the one who wakes up every hour excited about opening presents even though I’m 55 and my kids are both in college!

(Cult Pens provided the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

Diamine Inkvent Calendar Day 19

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Starting near the end of November, my mom would start making Christmas cookies. She liked to make spritz cookies, carefully squeezing them through her cookie press, creating wreaths, Christmas trees, poinsettias, and candy canes. She’d decorate them with colored sugars, sprinkles, and bits of cherry. She made hundreds of cookies, and I inhaled the buttery treats with abandon. But one cookie I never remember her making was Gingerbread.

Gingerbread is the color for today. It is a tan-brown that evokes the ginger in Gingerbread cookies. Obviously it’s a darker brown than ginger itself. It definitely looks like the cinnamon-y color of Gingerbread men. This is a standard ink with nice shading properties.

On white Rhodia paper, the color is much more yellow-ish. It works well in all three nib sizes, but if you want to enjoy the shading, I recommend a flex nib and/or a broad nib.

Although my mom never made Gingerbread cookies, I’m a big fan of their flavor--the more gingery the better. I’m not as big a fan of this particular color in the Inkvent calendar. I think it’s a bit too light and yellow-leaning for me.

(Cult Pens provided the Diamine Inkvent Calendar to Pen Addict free of charge for review purposes.)

---

Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!