Work in Progress

In retrospect, whether from a sense of nostalgia, or from the desire to have a hardbound copy, I decided a while back to transfer to journal my record of the final days that closed out the many years in Japan. Sure, it’s all recorded in the daily posts on this blog, but somehow I have more faith in the preservation of a handwritten copy. I also believe, as I’ve said before, that handwriting is a supremely individual mark, and in many ways more resonant than Lucida Grande, or Times New Roman. And so, for the past three weeks I have been slowly copying those blogged thoughts and preparations into a linen covered Faber-Castell journal (here) using a different fountain pen and different ink for each entry.

The nineteen-day span begins on March 31 and runs until April 18, the last day I had the iMac and Internet access before shipping. In total, there are twenty-two blogged pages. A good workout for my pens and ink.

Up to now I have copied eleven of the nineteen days, which runs to about forty handwritten pages, written with eleven fountain pens and eleven colors of ink. The Faber-Castell paper is a dream to write on, better even than Clairefontaine. Problem is, I don’t have an idea of what the paper is, or if it is Faber-Castell paper.

In these first days of transcribing, I have used the following pens and inks:

Sailor Naginata — J. Herbin Rouge Hematite

Lamy 2000 — Sailor O-cha green

Sailor Professional Gear — Waterman Florida Blue

Pelikan Souverän 1000 — Pelikan Violet

Pilot Custom 823 — Pilot Iroshizuku, Fuyu-syogun

Pelikano Junior — Pilot Iroshizuku, Tsutsuji

Pelikan Souverän 600 — Athena Sepia

Aurora (details a question mark) — Montblanc Turquoise

Montblanc 146 — Sailor Blue Black

Pelikan 100N — Montblanc Violet

Sailor Realo — Sailor Blood Orange

For now, it is a work in progress, and one that brings me a measure of satisfaction with each entry, each fountain pen, each ink.