Introduction
When I decided on a journal to collect my thoughts for six months, I wanted the mediums used to be consistent. I’m a little weird about things like that. I decided I’d make the journal but wanted the paper to be more special than the paper I fill the journals with that I sell. I had not written by hand in years but I knew I wanted to return to using a fountain pen as I had in my teens and early twenties when I regularly kept a journal myself. I wanted the pen to be special too, as I hope to gift it to the subject of this journal some day. It ended up being iconic in it’s own way as you’ll read. Finally, I wanted the ink to be consistent throughout the pages and from the same bottle. (See, I’m weird!). Things came together nicely and I believe at the end of this project, it will be something that lasts a lifetime.
The Journal
The journal was made by hand, by me. I’m somewhat of a leather-smith. It is 7/8 oz vegetable tanned leather which is hand bound with 25# parchment paper. Instead of binding the entire journal at once, I added a signature when I ran out of the previous. In the end, it should only have a few blank pages left. The cover is embossed on one corner with a small octopus which always reminds me of the subject of this journal.
The Pen
The pen is a Lamy 2000 fountain pen with a fine nib which is piston filled. It had been awhile since I’d hand-written but when I did, it was always with a fountain pen. I did some research and gave it a try. It is the smoothest writing pen I’ve ever used. Ironically, I found out a few months after I started using it that it is part of the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is a place the namesake here always talked about. It was originally released in 1966 and the design has not changed. The nib is 14k gold and platinum plated. If you’d like to read more about it, this is a good write up.
The Ink
Yes, even the ink gets it’s own mention. The ink used in the journal is Montblanc “Permanent Black”. I wanted something the wrote wet but dried fairly quickly. After reviewing way too many inks, I settled with this one and I haven’t been disappointed. It doesn’t dry quite as quickly as I’d like hence a few smears on the pages but it is a gorgeous ink.