Because geek is cool and clever

In search of Neil Gaiman’s brown ink February 21, 2009

A few of my notes. I've got boxes of these

As an almost maniacal note taker, I love it whenever anyone mentions Moleskine notebooks (a particular indulgent passion of mine) and really good quality fountain pens.

One of the first few lines of the book 1984 by George Orwell describes the main character, Winston Smith, fetching out his forbidden diary and running his hand over the smooth, white paper. That’s the excitement that paper has always given me, despite being a staunch technologist and gadget guru.

There’s nothing quite as beautiful as elegant script scratched onto sepia paper. One of the most beautiful things I think I’ve ever seen are Leonardo Di Vinci’s notes. Even after 500 years you can feel the soul and deep passion of the man just by looking at what he almost literally scribbled down (backwards, usually).

So I was very taken with a recent tweet by fave author Neil Gaiman who talks about writing in a notebook in brown ink. How is it I’ve never heard of such an invention before? Brown ink would instantly age my notes and doodles giving them a Di Vinci-esque look and feel instantly (sadly, can’t do the same for the actual content, but I think I’m finally able to cope with that realisation).

So where do I find such a thing and can I get cartridges for my existing Parker pen (yes, I have a cartridge pen – sacrilege it may be, but self-contained plastic tube replacements are considerably safer to carry in a laptop bag than a glass bottle of liquid wanton destruction).

My new mission in life is to seek out brown ink. It’s a daredevil venture that is likely to take me to the very heart of the Prime section of Amazon UK.

Wish me well. I may be gone for minutes.