Posts
![Multiple pens, ink bottles, ink samples, notebooks, and accessories laid out across the desk.](images/thumbnails/atl24haul.jpg)
Highlights, including the "haul," from my second pen show weekend! I returned to the Atlanta Pen Show after attending for the first time a year ago.
![Sheet of paper with ink swatches and a selection of 5 different swatching tools.](images/thumbnails/swatchtool.jpg)
I do a lot of fountain pen ink swatching, so finding reusable tools that would produce a good swatch and could be cleaned quickly and easily at my desk was important.
![Small pouch and notebook on a restaurant table.](images/thumbnails/meetupkit.jpg)
Join me for a "bag dump" of the pouch of accessories and tools that I bring when meeting up with pen friends.
![A stack of Col-o-dex cards each showing a small sliver of color.](images/thumbnails/favinks2023.jpg)
A look back at 23 inks used in 2023 that became favorites or otherwise made an impression.
![A beautiful black cat with a sweet face looking straight at the camera with big green eyes.](images/thumbnails/boo.jpg)
Last month I had to say goodbye to my beloved 16 year-old cat, Boo. I reflect on her life and our time together, including her connection to my relatively recent interest in fountain pens and inks.
![Lego instruction booklets for Hokusai - The Great Wave and PAC-MAN Lego kits](images/thumbnails/stjude.jpg)
For the fifth year the Relay FM community is supporting the life-saving work of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Returning this year: Building Hope 2.0, my sub-campaign featuring Lego—now with more fountain pens & inks!
![A small wooden tray with col-o-dex cards of ink swatches sorted by color.](images/thumbnails/colodex120.jpg)
In mid-April I started on a project to re-swatch all my inks on Col-o-dex cards with little sketches inspired by the ink name, packaging, and/or color. Now four months in, I took a look back at the process so far.
![Several Sailor Manyo square glass bottles spread out across a wood desktop.](images/thumbnails/17iq.jpg)
Since I'm obsessed with fountain pen inks, I came up with my own list of questions.
![A top-down view of a desk with a Franklin-Christoph TN-size notebook cover with inserts, a 3 pen holder visible in the front cover pocket, on top of a gray TUL discbound Jr notebook with clear disks, surrounded by fountain pen ink boxes and bottles, several dip pens with metal and glass nibs, a paint brush, water brush and ceramic watercolor palette.](images/thumbnails/5mq.jpg)
![Sailor Pro Gear Slim 'Nuts' pen with a medium gold nib and light gray green translucent body with transparent yellow accents with swatches of the green/brown/blue Sailor Manyo Shirakashi and bright yellow Sailor Manyo Yamabuki inks.](images/thumbnails/21pq.jpg)
Answering the 21 Pen Questions posed by Ana at The Well-Appointed Desk.