This was originally sent as a newsletter for Of Pens & Paintbrushes. If you’d like to get this directly in your inbox, you can sign up here, at the Newsletter sign up page.
First off, shop updates:
- This necklace was kinda a big deal.The chain is hand-forged one link at a time, the clasp is my own design – for people with challenges with tiny, commercial clasps or get frustrated with fixed length necklaces – and the stone is gorgeous.
- These earrings are fun, affordable, and available. Space reference? Oh, yes. The centers colorshift as well. I’m working on some other colors in the center, too.
- The Artemis Rollerball in Dreams is on sale – $30 off – this week.
- I released a fast-drying, leftie-friendly fountain pen ink at the end of last month. There’s four colors available right now, with more being worked on. (Translation: my stainless steel mixing tables are a huge mess of colors and ink.) You CAN use it with calligraphy nibs, but it’s meant for fountain pens. It takes some finesse to use with a nib.
- I’ve been posting behind the scenes notes, schematics, and thoughts on my work and newest pen designs over on Patreon. The $1 tier gets you access to those posts.
The ink is actually a bit of a story, so since I’ve not felt like I’ve had much of worth or interest to say lately, I might as well tell that one. (Yeah, the feeling like I don’t have anything in words to offer is a reason I’ve been quiet.) So,let’s talk about why I started making ink in top of everything else I’m doing. Sound good?
And off we go.
Anyone who knows me worth a damn knows I’m something of a rebel. Psychiatrists would probably call it Pathological Demand Avoidance now-a-days, but for anyone dealing with me it manifests mostly as: if you don’t explain why this thing needs to be done this way to my satisfaction, or I can’t figure out why it’s worth doing on my own, I’m not doing it.
With that comes some hard-lines on ethics: when something is wrong, it is Wrong. You’d think I’d have a long, detailed list, right? Wrong.
I’m a stickler for inherent human dignity. I get into my biggest ethical quagmires when it comes to concepts like the greater good and how it relates to individual dignity and human rights. The moral debate on what actions someone has to take or beliefs they must hold in order to rescind their right to the protections of civilization lives rent free in my head every damn day. Where is the line between actions that will strip you of your rights to autonomy and free movement within a society and ones that will have you removed from it in any way possible for the protection of those in it? Who determines that? HOW do we determine that? (I really enjoyed moral philosophy, in case anyone wondered.)
I don’t – nor does anyone I’d trust – have answers for this that can be applied in every circumstance.
That said: If your principles say that another type of person should be eradicated or does not deserve the same human dignity, rights, autonomy, and freedom of choice that you’d claim for yourself, then you, sir, can go fuck yourself. With a large, dry, poison tipped cactus. You are harming civilization. Do not pass go, do not collect a support network, go straight to the nearest desert island and do not come back.
It is not hard, knowing that, to see why I might take a pretty firm stance against Nazis and their modern counterparts. Even if I understand WHY they end up there, they are a direct harm to civilization, and all our safety. Full stop.
So when I found out that two ink manufacturers had public neo-Nazi ties – including one of my favorite brands – I quit using them. I quit recommending them.
And then I started making my own ink.
Anything a Nazi Friend can do, we can do better. Kinder. Smarter. Funnier. More inclusive.
Did it take me a week of obsessive hyperfocus and a lot of experimenting? Yeeeep. Was it worth it? Oh, YES. Y’all, the next inks include an amethyst purple, a blood red, a nearly black-blue, a dusty rose, and a glowing aqua.They also dry so fast on paper that I haven’t managed to smear one while writing yet. Oh, and the names? Wait until you see the names. I started an entirely new brand for the ink, just so I can try to make y’all laugh with the names.
(The super dark black-blue? It’s named ‘Sense of Humor’. You’re welcome.)
So yeah, it may have just looked like I was off chasing Curiosity Butterflies with the ink, but now you know the the real reason:
If given a choice between supporting someone with Nazi ties or doing it myself, I will do it myself and give people better options.
Sometimes rebellion looks like refusing to support and participate in systems that oppress and harm. Sometimes it looks like burning cocktails, die-ins, road blocking, and marches. Sometimes it looks like speaking out and raising awareness. Sometimes it looks like being the safe person. Sometimes it looks like building and creating better alternatives.
All the time it looks like working together to reduce human suffering and growing towards a better understanding of each other.
A.Markov
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This was originally sent as a newsletter for Of Pens & Paintbrushes. If you’d like to get this directly in your inbox, you can sign up here, at the Newsletter sign up page.