Mitchell and I collected them before I knew how much fun they are to sketch.
We like big cups, and they have to feel good in the hand.
They have to be colorful or hand-painted.
There has to be one for each of us.
We’ve been doing this almost since we met, and we are picky about our cups!
Sometimes they are named.  “Happy Cups” or Rooster, as in,
“Let’s have Rooster today.”  or, “I think we NEED Happy Cups.”
We know what we mean.
We haven’t named these yet.  Too new.

Let’s talk about why I don’t buy Noodler’s inks anymore.  Period.
They are not reliably waterproof even when Noodler’s-man says they are.
You have to test them on EVERY paper.

Above, the cup lines were drawn with Diamine Grey, not waterproof, because
I wanted little touches of grey to move into the bright  orange paint.

But I did not want the words to run, so I switched to Noodler’s Lexington Grey ink.
I had not tested it in this book.  You can see how it ran, and I had intended to do something fun with the base but as it was running at the very touch of the brush,
I decided NOT.  This is why I only use De Atramentis Document (not Archival)
or Super5 inks (and I love their Frankfurt, but was too lazy to refill my pen, ouch).
They are both reliably waterproof, in that I’ve only had them move a bit if I just kept saturated with many layers of wash — and not as much as this!

Loving this Hahnemühle Watercolour Book paper,
and will start my new proper-sized journal soon!

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