My ADHD brain in blog form.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Yep, it’s another adaptation from YouTube; is anyone surprised? Honestly, the YouTube makeup world has some great year-end round-up ideas. This one comes from Angelica Nyqvist‘s video 10 Palettes I ALMOST Bought Recently (but then DIDN’T). But, back to this post. The idea is pretty self-explanatory.
So, what pens did I almost buy, and what kept me from purchasing them?
Posted in Fountain Pens
I’ve had a few questions, over the past year, about my pen statuses. Most commonly, I’ve been asked about “decommissioned” pens. Since that status appears to confuse people, I’d like to explain what the various statuses I use mean.
In Rotation: A pen I own that is in active rotation use.
On Break: A pen I own that is not in active rotation. Typically, these are pens I’m trying to decide if I want to sell.
Well, it’s time to revisit my wish list. I’ve bought some pens, decided against others, and found new pens I want. My wish list still isn’t the longest it’s ever been, so I suppose that’s a good thing.
I’ve split my list into two: the “Tier One” that I’m actively looking to acquire, and “Tier Two” that I’d pick up if there’s a good deal, or if the stars align perfectly.
Another year, another overview of my collection. Last year, I used Adobe Illustrator and created vector images for each table — accuracy was a pain in the butt. This time, I went with Google Data Studio. I don’t have as many shape and display options as I do with Illustrator, but I can more easily separate and display data this way. I have so much fun playing with data that I went a little overboard with this, so you can click through the four pages at the bottom of the frame. Or, if it’s easier for you, you can view directly in Data Studio.
Posted in Fountain Pens
This is another adaptation from Theresa is Dead, this time, her OH 2021… | BEAUTY RESOLUTIONS TAG video. The Beauty Resolutions Tag originated with Mel Thompson. At first glance, I thought this one wouldn’t require much adaptation. It seemed as though most questions could easily apply to the pen hobby simply by changing one or two words. However, when I sat down to really answer each question, I realized that a lot more work was required. But I digress
I’ll have to revisit this in 2023 and see how I did with these resolutions.
I need to get better about putting off pen cleaning. I used to clean my previous week’s pens when filling the new week’s pens. But that turned a 10-minute activity into a 20+ minute activity, which annoyed me. So, I started cleaning my pens on Mondays, then Tuesdays, and, well, you get the picture. I usually get them cleaned by Wednesday, but a couple of weeks ago, I never got to them and had to clean 10 pens at once.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Surprisingly, I actually have a short post for you today. As I’ve discussed previously, I’m trying hard to ensure that I think through my pen purchases. I seem to have done fairly well with that in 2021. I sold 14 pens last year, and not one of them was purchased in 2021. That put me ahead of the same-year sales I had in 2020 (2), 2019 (3), and 2018 (4).
I disposed of less pens in 2021 than 2020 (17), 2019 (15), and 2018 (26). However, I only bought two more pens (42) in 2021 than 2020 (40) despite a significant positive change in our financial situation. I’m pretty proud of myself for that.
Posted in Fountain Pens, and Non-Fountain Pens
DISCLAIMER UPDATE (6/24/22): TWSBI and Narwhal have released a joint statement which I cover in my most recent TWSBIgate post. While not completely satisfied with TWSBI’s response to the situation, I no longer feel the need to dissuade people from purchasing their products.
DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.
Both last year and in 2019 I wrote about my biggest pen wins and regrets. It was fun to look back on my pens, so I decided to do the same thing this year. However, with my 2021 Top Pens post, I basically already did that. So, I decided to do something I’ve seen in the YouTube makeup world — surprise, surprise — and rank all of my pen purchases.
Note: Some of the pens have already been discussed in recent posts. If a description looks familiar, that’s likely why. Also, where possible, I linked to an Instagram photo from the pen maker or store they collaborated with. When that wasn’t possible, I linked to a good photo on Instagram (consider following those fine folks). And, when all else failed, I linked to my own photos on Instagram.
Welcome to 2022! Once again, my first post of the year is about pens. And there are several more this month.
Early in 2021, I commissioned a Día de Muertos pen from Mr. Cypress. I wrote a 3-part series about that experience (part 1 | part 2 | part 3). At the end of the year, I purchased a second pen from Mr. Cypress, which also has a skull-based design. This puts me in the unique position to compare the two.
Posted in Fountain Pens, and Ink
DISCLAIMER UPDATE (6/24/22): TWSBI and Narwhal have released a joint statement which I cover in my most recent TWSBIgate post. While not completely satisfied with TWSBI’s response to the situation, I no longer feel the need to dissuade people from purchasing their products.
DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.
This post is based on the “New Makeup Releases | THE TAG” video from Angelica Nyqvist. She’s done this tag for several years, and I thought it would be fun to adapt it to the fountain pen world.
This tag is about evaluating the releases — in this case pens & inks — from the past year.
Posted in Fountain Pens
DISCLAIMER UPDATE (6/24/22): TWSBI and Narwhal have released a joint statement which I cover in my most recent TWSBIgate post. While not completely satisfied with TWSBI’s response to the situation, I no longer feel the need to dissuade people from purchasing their products.
DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.
My planning from last year has paid off. This year, I’m revisiting my 2020 Top Pens and seeing what differences there are in comparison to my 2021 top pens.
As I said last year, I tend to sell or trade pens that don’t make me happy to own. I’m getting closer to all of my pens being favorites, but I made myself narrow them down to a top 10 and top 20. I kind of cheated with the Always Inked section, but don’t judge me too harshly.
This was so much harder than I expected it to be. I slightly adjusted my judging criteria this year. I did my best to put these pens in order of which ones I’m most disappointed to un-ink (clean out). And so, I give you my top pens as of the end of 2021.
Posted in Fountain Pens, and Storage
When I sat down to start writing this post, I thought it would be rather short. Then, I looked through my Airtable database and found that I’d purchased pens from 15 new-to-me brands this year! Wow! Now, when I say new-to-me, I don’t mean I’d never heard of them, just that I’d never before purchased a pen made by that brand.
I bought from a decent mix of indie and mainstream brands, which makes me happy. I like supporting indie brands. And I’ve found, especially recently, that my interest is piqued by indie brands more than mainstream brands.
Anyway, let’s start with mainstream brands to get that out of the way, then jump into the indie brands. FYI: The lists are in alphabetical order.
Posted in Fountain Pens, and Ink
DISCLAIMER UPDATE (6/24/22): TWSBI and Narwhal have released a joint statement which I cover in my most recent TWSBIgate post. While not completely satisfied with TWSBI’s response to the situation, I no longer feel the need to dissuade people from purchasing their products.
DISCLAIMER (5/1/22): Since writing this post, TWSBI has been involved in some unsavory actions, and I am currently boycotting them. For more information, refer to the #twsbigate tag page.
This post is based on the 21 QUESTIONS: Makeup Edition video from Theresa is Dead. According to her video the 21 Questions Makeup Edition idea originated from Allie Glines.
This time, there’s no evaluating yourself. You’re just answering 21 Questions. I’m assuming, based on the description under Allie’s video, that there have been other editions of the 21 Questions tag.
Posted in Fountain Pens
I first saw Loft Pens in May of this year. They posted a neat stacked ombre pen. I instantly knew I wanted one, but I needed to figure out the color scheme.
It didn’t take me too long to decide I wanted a rainbow. But, since I was trying to pay off some pens, I didn’t reach out to them right away. However, permies.world didn’t waste any time. They posted the rainbow pen they’d commissioned, and it was very pretty. Unfortunately, my contrary nature meant I no longer wanted one like that because it had already been done. I luv ya, PW, really, I do, and your collection! But I digress. I petulantly removed the rainbow pen from my wishlist and didn’t give it much thought.
Posted in Fountain Pens
My last ARTUS post. If you didn’t see my previous posts about the Water, Fire , and Earth, you may want to go back and take a look at them. This is the Air, the true “sister” pen to the Water, done by the same artist. Since I covered how I came to own the Earth and Air yesterday, I’m not going over it again. You can read the story in the Earth post. Note: You can view any of the images below a little larger — much larger if you’re on mobile — by clicking on them.
Enjoy all of the delicious pen porn contained within this post. I take no responsibility for purchases resulting from them.
Posted in Fountain Pens
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my story about doing “something big” with relation to pens. Well, that something big was completing my ARTUS Four Elements set. I already shared the new pens there, and even took a week where my “rotation” was just the set. Like the Water and Fire, the two new ones, Earth and Air, are beautiful. Air will get its own post tomorrow. Today, I’m focusing on Earth. The leaves and swirls are beyond stunning. And the flowers are masterpieces in their own rights. Note: You can view the images a little larger — much larger if you’re on mobile — by clicking on them.
Enjoy all of the delicious pen porn contained within this post. I take no responsibility for purchases resulting from them.
Posted in Fountain Pens
As you know from my 2020 wish list post, I fell in love with Den’s Pens‘ Baetylus model the first time I saw it. I thought it would look amazing in the right colors to make it an “amethyst” crystal. I wasn’t wrong.
Dennis was kind enough to reach out to me after the wish list post to let me know that he can make custom blanks. So, I got to bypass the material search and jumped on his waitlist. He’s got a great order form that takes you through all the options, step-by-step.
Before I get very far into this post, I want to acknowledge how much I appreciate Dennis’s communicativeness. He kept me updated on the entire process and sent me photos along the way. I don’t mind if the process gets delayed or takes longer than expected, as long as I’m kept informed. So, major kudos there.
OK, second month of New Releases Round Up. If you don’t know the history, I really enjoy new makeup releases posts and videos, so I’m doing the same thing for pens. I plan to try this for the rest of this year. Depending on how I like the posts, and their reception, I may keep going after that.
There are, of course, way too many releases per month to realistically share. So this is not a round up of every release. Instead, this will be a round up of new releases from major brands that really caught my eye, or that I have strong feelings about. Click on a brand name to jump down to that section.
Aurora | Benu | Esterbrook | Leonardo Officina Italiana | Montegrappa | Narwhal | Opus 88 | Retro 51 | Sailor | Tibaldi | TWSBI | Visconti
Posted in Fountain Pens, Ink, Paper, Pen Shows, Storage, and Stores
Since I finished my last Fountain Pen 301 post in October of 2018, I’ve written several updates to the different installments. To make life easier for those looking for a “one-stop-shop” I’m collecting all of the posts here. I’m also including some informational posts I’ve since written that aren’t updates to the original series. I hope it serves as a good resource for many.
I plan to keep this page updated if/when I write future updates or related posts. You can also access this page from the Fountain Pen Series link on my Tags by Category page.
My blog is not monetized, nor do I currently have any intention of monetizing it. So, point people here for information. To make it easier for you, I’ve shortened the page link for better sharing: https://bit.ly/fp-series-update. In the various installments, I link to resources from all over, including Goulet Pen Co, Jet Pens, Pentorium, Nibs.com, Vintage Pen, and quite a few more.
Now, enough preamble, time for the round up.
Posted in Fountain Pens, and Ink
Surprisingly, I’ve got a short post for you today. I’ve written about my ink cataloging methods before. I’ve swabbed far too many inks at this point to change my system. That said, if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t choose my current system.
Having seen many methods, my favorite is the one used by many pen stores: pocket sleeves in a binder. Vanness Pens has a post on Instagram that shows one of their binders of swabs (take a look around the 4:38 mark). The biggest pro to that method — for me — is being able to reorganize the swabs. Beyond that, you can use any paper you want to. And the swabs are more easily portable/storable than the col-o-ring. You can easily use sticky notes or washi tape to note which inks you own, or want to buy.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Three and a quarter years ago, I wrote about inventories as part of my fountain pen series. Bac then, I was using Google Sheets to keep track of my pen and ink collections. Of course, at the time, I only had 50 total pen records.
As my collection grew, I found that I needed something with more features than Google Sheets. After some searching, I found Airtable. It’s basically a WYSIWYG database. You can customize your databases quite a bit, if you’d like, or you can work with very basic features. You can use most of the features with a free account, but there are additional features and reporting abilities available with a paid account.
