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Author: Rachel

Best Pen Show Bag

Posted in Pen Shows, and Storage

Our “niche” hobby seems to be hitting a much larger audience in recent years. All of the larger U.S. shows are getting crowded and overcrowded. While there was a time when you could manage larger bags, now they are roadblocks at best and dangerous weapons at worst. Even messenger bags like the Rickshaw Bonzai/Bento bag can cause issues, especially when stuffed full.

Unfortunately, hotels that meet show requirements are — so I’ve been told — few and far between, which means many of the overcrowded shows don’t have other venue options. So, it falls upon the attendees to moderate how much extra space we take up with items that aren’t strictly necessary.

Is this how it should be? No. But this is the reality, at least for now.

2026 DC Pen Show

Posted in Pen Shows

It is, of course, that time of year again. With the DC Pen Show (sadly) in our rearview mirror, I want to reminisce on the experience.

To start, I think this may have been my best pen show experience in years. I had an absolute blast!

Rather than my typical, highly — or overly, depending on your point of view — detailed rundown, I’m going to do my best to provide overall impressions and general feelings and experiences since there’s so much to cover. To make it easier on you, I’m breaking this into sections. Feel free to jump to what you’re interested in.

Pen Show Prep, Differently

Posted in Ink, and Pen Shows

While social media abounds with tantalizing Stationery Fest details, I’m diligently preparing for the DC Pen Show. I’ve signed up for the classes I’m taking, I’ve book my nibmeister appointments, I’ve started my shopping list, and I’m making progress on the presentations for the classes I’m teaching. But this year, my pen show prep started in June with a push to finally use more ink samples and make some sellables.

Since my June 7 pen rotation, I’ve only filled pens with ink samples — rather than bottles — my long-fill pens excluded. My goal has been to test samples I’ve had for a while to decide if I want to pick up a full bottle at the DC show.

Ink Battle: Wearingeul and Anderillium

Posted in Ink

This ink battle is between Wearingeul Pinocchio and Anderillium Luna Moth Green. Both inks are in a Pilot Kakuno fitted with a medium nib. The paper is Maruman Giuris with grid ruling.

Today’s ink battle was another bout of bottle versus sample. It determined if my sample of Pinocchio got to stay in use, or got relegated to the “for dupes” baskets. Were I to keep it in use and go through the whole sample, then I’d likely buy a bottle.

For those unfamiliar with these inks, Pinocchio contains gold shimmer. While Wearingeul shimmers typically settle completely, I shook the sample before inking my pen.

Ink Battles Explained

Between myself and Jim buying inks, we own far too many. This means I have some inks that are incredibly similar in color. And, because of that, I need to figure out which inks to keep and which to dispose of. Sometimes, I have samples of two or more similar inks that I’m trying to decide which to buy, or if I should buy one ink when I already own a bottle of a similar one.

Enter ink battles. I put the similar inks into pens with the same nibs (two Jowo #6 M, two TWSBI F, etc.) — or I create ink splats and doodles — to test them out to see which I like better. Or, I may find out that they’re sufficiently different to keep or buy a bottle of the sample.

You can assume I have no problems with any ink that appears in an ink battle. I may find, when using the inks side-by-side, that there are performance differences, but the point of the battle is to choose a favorite ink, a “winner,” based on the color properties, not the way the ink functions. These choices are often subjective, and you may disagree with me.

An ink battle — unlike ink dupes — is between inks I like. I enjoy using them enough to have them in my “for use” ink collection — as opposed to my repository of inks for testing dupes. If an ink performed poorly or caused problems, I wouldn’t keep it. And, if that were the case, an ink battle would be unnecessary.

Reminder: You can find all of the ink battle posts on the tag page, and I have a page dedicated to my ink comparisons.

If I Could Only Keep Ten

Posted in Fountain Pens

When I saw Inky Imaginings’ post in my email, I knew I wanted to come up with my list before reading anyone else’s. So, I waited until I’d determined my ten pens to read Laura’s list or Ana’s or Laura C’s on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I tried to track down an “original” post for this challenge, but I didn’t have any luck. I found random, semi-related posts and videos shared in the past 5 years, but no clear thread like is developing from Laura’s. So, without any parameters to guide me in this, I’ve come up with my own.

Athena: 3 Years Cured

Posted in Cat

Today, we get to celebrate another anniversary of a momentous occasion. Three years ago, Athena was declared cured of FIP. There isn’t too much to say this year for Athena’s cureaversary. Not much has changed since her last post, which is mostly good.

Health

As always, I’ve also updated her FIP Bloodwork Google Sheets file, which includes all of the blood work values that could be related to FIP and her blood work history dashboard.

30 Inks, 30 Days, 15 Comparisons

Posted in Ink

In an effort to continue reducing my ink collection and to better “learn” the inks I have, I decided to tackle Ink Journal’s 30 Inks 30 Days challenge as ink comparisons. And, in a happy nod to Pride Month, I went for a rainbow of inks. I made an effort to create doodles that have both standard lines (to show how writing might look) and larger, filled-in areas.

Like any human, I made mistakes as I worked through the 15 skirmishes. Since I want the focus to be on the inks, I’ve edited out the mistakes using Photoshop for the “final” image. However, for transparency, I’ve also included the “original” version without those edits. I’ve done my best to edit the ink colors to be true-to-life, but some of them were exceptionally difficult.

Soolla: Not Quite What We Need

Posted in Storage

Unpopular opinion incoming: The Soolla bag and pouch aren’t well-suited to the fountain pen world.

Now, set aside your pitchforks and torches. I do like Soolla products. I own the 80’s Windbreaker version of both the studio bag and studio pouch, and they’re fabulous. Both are sturdy and well-made, and the range of colors, already large, keeps expanding. I also 100% acknowledge that the Soolla bags weren’t created for the pen world, so I don’t hold it against the creators or the bags that they aren’t perfect for us.

Ginny: The Little Force of Nature

Posted in Cat

I meant to write about the newest member of our clowder at her 6-month gotchaversary. But, for some reason, I had in mind that her gotcha day was at the end of November, when it was actually the third. So, I’m a month late, but I don’t think she’d mind. If you want to keep up with our clowder, check out their Instagram account.

Before we start

Jim originally named our girl Jane, since he felt she seemed no-nonsense, rather like Jane Austen. However, I kept thinking of Jane Bennet — from Pride and Prejudice — and our little girl is most definitely NOT calm and serene. She seemed to agree with me, because she showed no sign of responding to her name after about a month.

After considering her personality, I tried Ginevra — Ginny — from Harry Potter. Our Ginny is small, athletic, smart, and temperamental, so I thought it suited her well. And she must agree, because she was responding to her new name within a day.

So, to make things easier, I’m going to refer to her as Ginny throughout this post, but know that she was Jane until late November.

Fountain Pen Rainbow 2026

Posted in Fountain Pens

Happy Pride Month! I love creating my yearly pen rainbow. This year, I chose the progress flag designed by Daniel Quasar to match. I didn’t choose the newer, intersex pride flag because I couldn’t figure out how to represent the purple circle on a yellow background with a pen. This also means I get to choose some additional pens for the colors in the arrow.

You can also check out my 2024 rainbow, 2025 rainbow, and 2025 bi flag matches.

Proud pen addict button/pin

Matching the progress flag means I have two “sections” to match. Following the left-to-right, top-to-bottom reading order, let’s start with the “progress arrow.”

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