My ADHD brain in blog form.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Once again, I’m sharing my current top pens. Last year’s approach to my top tens worked well, making me actually stick to lists of 10. I swear, this post gets harder every year. The nibs aren’t too hard, but the pens! It takes me more and more time to narrow down to ten, and then actually figure out the order.
Since I’m keeping to the same format as last year, I’ll compare my lists
But without further preamble, enjoy my top tens of 2023.
Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know that I adore my StyloSuite nibs. In fact, I named the Spencerian nib my 2022 favorite nib and my all-time favorite.
A little bit ago, I got a new nib from Les at StyloSuite, a XXXF X-Wing Harpoon. I don’t know all of the differences between this nib and the previous X-Wing Harpoons, and I don’t want to ask Les to reveal his secret. I’m assuming it’s at least been narrowed further.
I don’t consider this post a review; it’s a comparison.
Posted in Fountain Pens
Once again, I’m sharing my current top pens. I took a somewhat different approach this year, so that I actually choose a top 10. I’m judging my pens based on appearance and the way they write. So I have two different top ten lists. Because of this, I won’t be comparing to last year’s top pens, which ended up being a top 28.
This was just as hard as I expected it to be. I’m fortunate enough to have an absolutely fabulous pen collection, so narrowing it down to my favorites grows increasingly difficult each year.
But without further preamble, enjoy my top 10 pens of 2022 by appearance and by nibs.
Posted in Pen Shows
Buckle up, folks, this is a long one. I did my best to summarize what I did and saw at Baltimore, but there’s a lot to say. You’ll notice a dearth of photos of the show itself. I was so focused on enjoying myself that I didn’t take a single photo while in the show room. Oops. But, you can get your fill of BWIPS imagery on Instagram by looking up #bwips2022 or #baltimorepenshow2022, visiting the BWIPS website, or watching Mike Matteson’s — AKA Inkdependence — video on YouTube.
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.
After the fun I had with The Fountain Pens Tag post, I decided to jump on the round 2 version that’s been going around. Except this time I’m just focusing on nibs.
This post is inspired by Heather Austin‘s video THE PALETTE TAG ROUND 2 | ALL ABOUT EYESHADOWS! In that video, she credits Samantha March and Allie Glines with coming up with the idea.
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.
This post is inspired by Angelica Nyqvist‘s video One Wasn’t Enough… | Products So Good I Went Back and Bought More!!. In that video, she credits Lauren Mae Beauty with coming up with the idea.
While the idea is pretty straightforward, I’m taking a specific facet of it. I’m not examining all pens I had to have more than one of. Instead, I’m only taking a look at those pens that I purchased more than one of the same model because I loved the way it writes. Maybe later I can share pens I bought more than one of because of the way they look. Would you be interested in that?
Anyway, that’s enough blathering, let’s get to the fun stuff.
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
I picked up five nibs at the 2021 DC Pen Show. Of those, one was a standard Jowo #6 with a horned skull engraved on it from Carolina Pen Co. While it’s a fun nib, since it doesn’t have any modifications beyond the engraving, I’m not including it in this review. But here’s a fun picture. 🙂
Posted in Pen Shows
You all know how much I’ve been missing pen shows. I can’t say how great it was to go to the Washington DC Fountain Pen Supershow (AKA DC Pen Show). I intend to write a few posts related to the DC Pen Show, this one covers my general experience at the show. Still to come are my review of the show, and some reviews of what I bought. It was so lovely to see pen friends and chat with everyone throughout the show.
This was the first time I’ve attended the DC Pen Show on a Friday, so I can’t say how different it was to normal, non-COVID years. However, in comparison to what I’m used to from the DC Pen Show, this year felt rather empty. There were additional vendors arriving throughout the day, though.
I was at the show from about 9:30am to about 1:15pm; leaving early after accomplishing my main missions. I needed to pick up Jim to go back for the unofficial Pen Show After Dark hangout, and I didn’t want to be stuck in traffic. And anyway, there were still two more days.
My first stop upon arrival was the registration table. I’d heard a rumor amongst the DC Pen Crew that a Weekend Trader Pass allowed you to bring a spouse. Turned out it was true!! So I picked up my badge and a badge for Jim (we were very thankful for that later). Then, because it was still so early (only about 9:38), I sat in the lobby for a bit. But by 9:52, I couldn’t contain my excitement anymore and snuck into the smaller room.
