u/Mudsharkbites

I’ve started adding music to my journal because I want it to include more than just text and drawings so I bought an “automatic 5-line pen” that draws five line staffs and a Mitchell #0268 music writing nib, both from John Neal Books, and I think the finished product looks way better than anything I’ve gotten with any of my fountain pens that have music nib, including my sailor 1911.

This will go on my blog tonight at midnight.

Having to compose music daily for my blog often the biggest problem is putting a title on the piece. That wasn’t the problem today. I had the title in mind before I started and composed to it.

That rarely happens. I thought it turned out nice.

Does anyone else do their composition work in ink?

Elephant’s In The Bag

I purchased a five line pen from John Neal books for drawing musical staves. I wanted to use it so I can occasionally add musical cues to my journal.

Though messy, I drew some lines in my Leuchtturm1817 120 journal with Akkerman’s Shocking Blue then with some with Black Sumi ink, filling a page with staffs. Since I had a page ready I took out the Colorverse shuttle nib and dipped it in some Hebron Rouge Hematite and got to writing.

Despite the occasional smears & blobs of ink on the page it’s kind of startling to look at. The Ackerman ink sheens in pink nicely, The sumi ink reflects off the surface of the page, and all the notes and beams are full of gold glitter from the Rouge Hematite

I used this piece, slightly edited, for today’s blog post. Check it out if you like.

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/denis-wouldve-loved-it

I have this nib that will draw a five line music staff as long as you can keep your hand steady. I haven’t used it for a while.

Just started journaling and since I’m a composer I thought it would be fun to once in a while toss in a musical motif or two, so found the nib and tried it.

It was never all that dependable, but now the 2nd line from the bottom is dead. No amount of cajoling can get it to produce a line. I’ve tried cleaning the nib in our untrasonic cleaner but it made no difference.

Is there anything I can do that might help? I don’t want to buy another one, they’re ridiculously expensive now and you can only buy them in multiple packs, more than I even need.

I found this holder in a $4.99 bag of stuff at the local Savers. It’s quite hefty. It inspired me to go ahead and get a brass Colorverse shuttle nib for it.

It’s perfectly balanced and writes like a dream.

I absolutely love using this - it’s taken over from all the fountain pens I used to use in my journal. I can fill a page with one dip and that’s about all I ever write at a time anyway.

Glad I didn’t have to buy a Colorverse holder, I can’t imagine it would be an improvement over this anyway.

Would love to know where the holder came from.

Hope this doesn’t get me banned here - something along these lines DID get me banned from r/silverbugs

The Rigged Election Shuffle

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/rigged-election-shuffle

I tried to crosspost here from r/fountainpens but apparently that’s not possible.

When I first started composing, which pre-dates music setting software such as Finale, the standard method for finished scores was to use a fountain pen with a music nib, which was a kind of slanted stub, on velum, then it was sent in for processing and you’d get a score back that looked somewhat like a blueprint. I still have a few of them. I’m glad those days are gone.

However, I’ve taken a hankering for fountain pens and since they still make them with music nibs, I bought one a while back, a Sailor 1911 with a 14k gold music nib. I used to use it for my daily composition blog but once I got an Apple Pencil I abandoned the practice favoring my iPad and ZoomNotes which automatically backs my work up in my Dropbox.

Recently, however, I read an article the premise being future historians are going to have a real problem finding out what we’ve been up to in this time period since very little information is being preserved in analog / printed format, and they further stated handwritten accounts such as journals are going to be invaluable resources, which led me to realize - my blog and everything I’ve posted will disappear the instant Substack shuts down, and all the backups in my Dropbox are useless unless I have them all printed.

Do I really care if people in the future look at my music? I don’t know, but do I want it all lost, no, so I purchased an exceptionally good hardbound music book with 120g archive paper, loaded my pen up with Akkerman “Shocking Blue” ink and resumed composing by hand using ink. Unless it’s destroyed, centuries from now my book will still be readable.

Having just inked my first entry I’d post a picture here but there is no way to add it, just links, so here’s the finished score on my blog:

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/shocking-blue

The inked page isn’t there - to see it go to the r/fountainpens subreddit - it’s still near the top.

FYI, I compose these scores in one sitting with virtually no editing. It’s part of the aesthetic of composing with ink.

I see a lot of interest in music nibs but almost nothing in the way of people using them to write music. Thought some of you might be interested in seeing how good of a job music nibs with music.

I recently got a really nice Beechmore music book and decided to switch back from using my iPad and Apple Pencil to composing my daily sheet music directly with pen and ink. I’m not interested in creating a nice finished page, more I’m using pen and ink as part of the process, it’s more dangerous and you have to be more careful when you know it’ll be messy if you make a mistake or have to make changes.

I use a Sailor 1911 with a 14k music nib for this. I’ve loaded the pen with Akkerman Shocking Blue (which isn’t all that much of a shocking blue actually) for started back in. This sample was composed directly into the book in one sitting in about 12 minutes, no piano or other instrument used, no editing to speak of either. Then I transcribed using easyABC and posted it to my blog.

When transcribing I sometimes make small changes and I almost always add a 2nd voice, added at the time of transcription.

The piece is literally titled “Shocking Blue” after the ink. You can see and listen to the post with the transcribed music here:

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/shocking-blue

Having to post a composition daily causes one to take inspiration from wherever you can find it, like your tomato plants needing some help.

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/blossom-rot

My blog is a vaguely sarcastic diary in the form of sheet music, typically lead sheets. Today’s post:

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/the-golden-dawn

A composition about a concrete head using a lot of 6ths.

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/odd-rodney

Schaefer desk set with 14k lifetime nib. I’m guessing it probably is.

I just realized that of all my pens this is the one I reach for most often. It’s smooth, always delivers a nice wet line, feels great in my hand, and never fails to elicit comments from people when I pull it out.

I only bring this up because I’ve yet to see these pens mentioned.

I know it’s not a fancy, collectible item, but it sure is a pleasure to write with.

Since I’m composing and posting these daily on my blog I see no reason not to share them here, especially since I enjoy using somewhat odd / non traditional chord progressions.

https://philipdewalt.substack.com/p/wont-be-long-now