My mom has been restoring an eighty-year-old house. She has come across a variety of interesting things that were left there over the years–books, a safe (from a Cincinnati safe manufacturer), and other things. She found a bottle of ink and a fountain pen, which she gave to me while we were on Spring Break. [...]

I’ve had a string of good luck with online drawings the last few weeks. You may remember the Rhodia journal from a few weeks ago. This extended into a streak. On Monday afternoons, Cooking with Caitlin hosts the Foodies Night In Chat. It is on twitter, and definitely worth checking out. During their beef topic, [...]

I got my first bottle of ink in 1994, along with my first fountain pen. It was Parker Penman Ebony, which was produced from 1993 to 2000. Over the years, I tried the Penman Ruby and Saphire. It came in a great bottle, which in my mind became the quintessential ink bottle. The Saphire was [...]

On Valentine’s Day, the Rhodia Drive blog had a contest to win a Rhodia Unlimited notebook. Turns out, I was one of the lucky winners! Quite exciting! I received my notebook today. It is 9x14cm (3.5×5.5 inches). With only 120 pages, it hardly seems unlimited. Of course, they probably meant what you could do with [...]

On a visit to IKEA a few months ago, I came across a selection of A4 and A5 notebooks called Anständig. These ran $2 and $1, respectively, and as of my last visit (maybe a month ago), there was still a stack in their West Chester, Ohio store. I bought an A4 notebook to see [...]

Jet Pens, an online pen retailer I’ve been following, recently started carrying my favorite rollerball, the Retro 1951 Tornado. Three Tornados, including a fountain pen and a limited edition “Hula” version (both gifts), are in my collection. Many have been given as gifts. The Tornado is what I describe as a “business casual” pen. It [...]

I was having a discussion on Twitter with other fountain pen users. There was a general sense that fountain pens don’t work well with Moleskine notebooks. Note the bleed-through. A fountain page was used on the pack of the page scanned (where you see pencil). I tend to think of it the other way around–that [...]

After wondering what blue ink I had loaded in my pen yesterday, I created a chart of the blue (and blue-adjacent) inks I have. The paper is a Rhodia 5×5 pad.

Last year was the first ever fun ink day. I now invite one and all to participate in FUN INK DAY 2011!!! On this day, I encourage everyone–whether you have an interest in pens or not–to use a fun ink. Too often, we fall to the standard, business-ready inks: blue or black ink. I’m saying [...]

Every so often, I’ll have a pen with some issue that takes me a bit to resolve. Sometimes, it’s finding a tool or a part. With some pens, it can be tricky to identify what is needed and a supplier who can provide it. Other times, it’s deciding what the best course of action is. [...]