November 2020 #30inks30days challenge recap

Another successful #30inks30days writing challenge is in the books! In this post, I'll go over some of the strategies, pens, and ink choices I made throughout the month to create this beauty of a journal spread.

30 inks 30 days challenge monthly spread - november 2020

Notebook: GLP Author with Tomoe River Paper (dotted).

These are the results of my own journey through this writing challenge. For those who are stumbling across the post and have no idea what I'm talking about, read the #30inks30days post to find out more.

Pens Used:
Sailor Professional Gear Kure Azur, medium point - 6 days
Leonardo Momento Zero Celluloid, 1.3mm stub - 4 days
Sailor 1911 Realo, Music nib - 4 days
Platinum 3776 Century Kumpoo, soft medium nib - 4 days
Lamy 2000, medium nib - 2 days
Lamy Safari, 1.1mm stub nib - 2 days
Nemosine Singularity, 0.6mm stub nib - 2 days
Omas Ogiva Cocktail Blue Angel, extra fine extra flessibile nib - 2 days
Edison Menlo, 1.1mm stub nib - 1 day
Edison Herald, fine nib - 1 day
Parker Vacumatic, fine nib - 1 day
Kaweco Sport, medium nib - 1 day

Nibs Used:
Medium point - 13 days
Stub / music nib - 13 days
Extra fine, flex nib - 2 days
Fine point - 1 day

Pen filling mechanisms:
Converter - 16 days
Piston filler - 12 days
Vacumatic - 1 day
Draw filler - 1 day

Ink Brands:
Sailor - 8 days
Colorverse - 7 days
Robert Oster - 3 days
Kiwi Inks - 2 days
Taccia - 2 days
Akkerman - 2 days
Pure Pens - 1 day
KWZ - 1 day
Troublemaker - 1 day
Diamine - 1 day
Straits Pen Honest Ink - 1 day
Monteverde - 1 day

Ink Color Properties:
Sheen - 9 inks
Shimmer - 3 inks
Dual Shading - 2 inks

As you might have noticed by looking at the tallies above, I decided to write with each of the November Ink Flight inks during the week leading up to the Flight reveal. The very first week was dedicated to the Sailor inks shipped in October's Flight. I love doing this as it gives me the opportunity to experience each color in depth by writing with only that particular ink for a day.

The newest pen in my collection got the most love in November. The Sailor Pro Gear Kure Azure also makes for a great 30 Inks pen, as it uses a converter that is easy to clean out. The 21kt gold medium nib has a great balance of smoothness and precision. And the pen itself is so colorful and bubbly.

My favorite ink used this month - 

This was a close one, but KWZ El Dorado hit the spot and it didn't feel out of place in my Kure Azur since the finials are a bright, citrus yellow. I also loved writing with Taccia's Saibimidori, and Straits Pen Bougainvillea. There was such a wide range of color this month. Usually, I lean more toward blues. But, for the second week of November, I opted for an all-autumn palette of warm colors.

You might have noticed on the top right of the spread I wrote copyright, InkJournal trademark, registered, all rights reserved - it's an ironic reference to the Inktober episode of the Pentertainment Podcast where I share my icky feeling over the idea of social media community contest "ownership."

It should also be noted that it was more difficult than ever to keep track of all the people posting to the #30inks30days hashtag on instagram. Thanks to the rampant spread of misinformation online, Instagram disabled the ability to look through the most recent posts of any given hashtag. I tried to share as many people posting to the InkJournal instagram stories, but there was no way for me to find everyone. So, if I didn't give your daily posts love, I'm sorry. Maybe when we start back up again with the next 30 Inks challenge in April, they'll reinstate that feature of Instagram.

Which inks did you find that snuck onto your wish list? Let us know in the comments. If you're up for another daily writing challenge in January, what would you suggest that we could do as a community?