Rules for Pens

Stephanie over at Rhodia Drive recently asked how we chose which ink to use. I am the kind of person who spends way too much time thinking about these things and funnily enough a few days before Stephanie wrote about this I had written down some rules, for myself, in an attempt to stop myself from constantly obsessing about the next ink rather than enjoying the current one.

I realise this ought to be a cause for concern.

So here are my rules:

1. Keep using a pen until the ink runs out.
2. When a pen runs out of ink, replace it with a different pen and also a different ink.

I have allowed myself some exceptions.

Exceptions to rule number 1 are: if I get a new pen or a new ink, I graciously allow myself to try them out straight away, which usually means swapping the new pen or ink for something I’m currently using.

Exceptions to rule number 2 are: I have four pens I always want to have with me (my three modern Faber-Castells and my Pilot Prera) and one ink I always want to have available (Diamine Midnight).

As far as colours go… I always want to have an earthy kind of green, a black (in the Prera) and then a selection of blues. I find that if I fill a pen with any other colour it doesn’t get used unless for a specific task (such as writing a birthday card).

If having read this you think I’m mad, you are correct and you are a perfectly sane and well adjusted individual.

If while reading this you have been nodding your head and thinking about how you would do it differently, you are a a pen addict.