Hey there, Foutain Pen Friends! Lydia here, bringing you my happy matchup of Diamine Autumn Oak and a Tactile Turn Gist Black Polycarbonate. Despite the Halloween color scheme of this pen and ink combo and the obviously fall inspired name of this ink, I still felt like it captured a very summery essence. If I had to pick a color that reminded me of the month of August, it would be orange.
August is a very family oriented month for me. With multiple sibling and grandparent birthdays, as well as anniversaries, it seems like I spend the whole month celebrating with loved ones. One of my favorite things to do with my family is watch movies. Movie night usually involves piling on the couch with whoever is around, shutting off the lights, and tuning into the alternate reality on the TV. What better way to honor this month than with one of my favorite movie quotes from one of my favorite family movies? It doesn't get much more carefree than that, so hakuna matata was a perfect mantra for this theme!
To begin my piece, I outlined the lion, then created a second line inside of that to make the outline bold. I then went through and filled in the space between the lines. I loved how dark the ink was able to shade in this space. Then I wrote the quote around my drawing. I have always loved writing in cursive so I went with that. I loved the thin lines of the fine nib of the pen in contrast to the bold lines of the drawing. After I wrote the quote in, I felt like the piece still looked a little too plain so I decided to take the brush pen and fill in the drawing. I put a few drops of ink in my brush pen and then filled it with water. I loved the a yellow- orange hue! It was the perfect contrast to the outline. This ink is not at all water resistant so my lines ran like crazy when the water hit. Once it had dried, I went over my outlines again to fill them back in.
I was excited to get my hands on the Tactile Turn Gist because I've been eying up the copper one since we announced we were carrying them. These pens definitely create tactile experience, but not in such a way that it is disruptive to writing. It was very comfortable to write with but the engraved exterior of the pen gave it a little excitement and made it stand out from the experience of using other pens. Autumn Oak is no Noodler's Apache Sunset, but it still gets a pretty good variety of shading, which was awesome. I was skeptical at first when I saw the color of the ink when it goes down on paper (it wasn't a very pretty shade), but I was pleasantly surprised when it dried. It is a very pleasing orange.
This pen is definitely a great pen for writing, whether it's notes, letters, or just jotting things down. The fine nib especially is great for writing. Diamine Autumn Oak is great for writing letters to break out of the ordinary colors. It might be good for writing key important parts of notes, but maybe not for a full page of note-taking as the orange might be hard on the eyes when going back to study. This is a great, versatile pairing of pen and ink though.
If I were to do this piece again, I might try using a different design with more intricate line work to really showcase how well the pen handles for fine lines. The ink is gorgeous and has beautiful shading but I feel like the brilliance of the pen was a little underrepresented in my design. It is such a great pen. Overall, I am very happy with my piece though.
You can find the Tactile Turn Gist black polycarbonate in EF, F, M, and 1.1 at GouletPens.com for $99. Diamine Autumn Oak is available in a 30ml bottle for $7.50, an 80ml bottle for $14.95, or a 2ml sample for $1.25.
Have you ever used an ink that you weren't a fan of when you first saw it on paper, but fell in love with it after it dried?
Write on,
Lydia