Creep.

Today’s pen has nib creep.

That’s NOT one of my pseudonyms– I may be, as mentioned yesterday, unhealthily fixated, but that doesn’t make me a creep (and I’m not alone). It’s a recognized… dysfunction is as strong a word as I wish to use… of fountain pens, in which the ink climbs out of the slit of the point and plays around out where it can be seen.

Usually, the cause lies in the ink rather than the pen. The various components of the ink amend its surface tension, and it can wander. Some inks seem to act like a superconducting fluid, flowing against gravity and in counter-intuitive directions. In this case, the ink is a well-behaved one not given to antics, and I assume that it’s something to do with the nature of the pen itself.

This specific pen, since I’ve got other Sheaffer vacuum-fill pens that don’t blow bubbles. It’s a bit of a mystery. It’s not the seals, since that should lead to me with a pocket full of ink rather than it slowly working its way upwards. Perhaps the fiery heat of my bosom is expanding the air in the reservoir, but that should happen in any similar pen. A case for a cryptostylologist, I suppose.

Some people have a horror of nib creep, and any time they see it happening it’s time for a frenzy of wiping. I’m not a great fan of it, to be honest, but it’s not something to get too upset about. It’s not a slug in your ginger beer, it’s more of a lady-bug marching along your pie-crust; decorative, essentially harmless, but not quite where it belongs or where you’d prefer it to be.

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Sentinel
Today’s ink: Herbin’s Vert Empire