All I Want For Christmas

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

All I Want for Christmas is my two front teeth (check), yoooouuuuuuu (a la Mariah Carey, check), and ….? They are in no particular order, though it’ll be obvious which ones are more important:

• A respite from FOMO - Maybe it’s just me but there continues to be a never-ending stream of new products coming out. Whether it’s new pens, inks, paper, washi tape, rubber stamps, you name it, chances are I want it. And I have to ask myself “do I really LOVE those things or am I getting caught up in FOMO (fear of missing out)?” This is especially difficult for those limited editions that are only sold in stores or in certain countries, etc. Buy now, regret & sell later! Nope, not gonna do it … at least I’m going to try to resist.

• Succumbing to FOMO for the right things - I know, I just said no more FOMO, but we’ve all been there before. We’re trying to be good, on a self-imposed spending ban, already blew the budget and then we’re staring at something that hits all our buttons. Sometimes, you just gotta pull the trigger because you KNOW you’re going to love it and it’ll drive you nuts when you’re unable to get one down the road.

• New products and not just new colors - It’s easy for companies to stick with the tried-and-true and produce new colors of the same product (some of my favorites fall into this bucket (TWSBI Eco/580, Leonardo, Pelikan, etc.), but we want to see new products too. And not just at increasingly higher price points either! The TWSBI Swipe that came out earlier this year is a great example. Ditto the piston-filling Leonardo Momento Magico. Keep them coming!

• More time to swatch my inks - Not gonna lie, swatching inks isn’t my absolute favorite thing to do. It’s not because it’s difficult or anything; I just always want to do something else instead. But having less than 60% of my inks swatched means I might be missing out on using an awesome ink just because I don’t know what color it is or buying something that ends up being way too similar. adding to my “to be swatched” pile. And buying more ink when I don’t have all my inks swatches just makes me feel guilty. More swatching = less guilt AND a growing catalog of ink swatches = win!

• Courage to try something new, like journaling - Of all the bajillion projects that I use fountain pens for, journaling isn’t one of them. I don’t mean bullet journaling, but rather jotting down thoughts, happenings, etc. I’m intimidated by the gorgeous journaling spreads on Instagram and I know they never have to see the light of day, but I’m still afraid that they’ll look “boring”, “ugly” and “lame”. Hoping to find some courage and creativity that’ll push me past that fear to try something new.

• Continued enjoyment of this rabbit hole - I know that there are times when picking up pen and paper is the last thing I want or have time to do, but every time I do, I never regret it. Even “bad” ink/pen pairings or shaky handwriting practice leaves me in a better mood than when I started. And when Brad asked me about writing for TPA, I was worried that having a “pen job” would make me like my pens less and knock on wood, that hasn’t happened yet and I hope it never does.

• Rediscovering currently owned but not currently used items - In a hobby where it’s easy to get caught up with the latest and greatest, it’s equally easy to forget all about the other items you already have. Maybe it’s your first pens (I still use a Metro nearly every day) or some ink samples that you remembered enjoyed using but never bought a bottle of. Or maybe it’s the stack of pocket notebooks that sit there collecting dust when it can be repurposed - they make great notebooks for workouts, gas/mileage logs, even using as scratch paper. The point is that I know I have a lot of stuff that I haven’t used for whatever reasons and I really should because they’re probably pretty awesome.

• Overcoming the anxiety around items that aren’t currently used and giving them a new home - Maybe you’ve “outgrown” an item or maybe it never “sparked joy” from the get-go, but I know there are things in my stash that I have no interest in using but haven’t gotten rid of. One reason it is difficult for me to let things go is that I’m often thinking “but I spent $$ on it, I can’t just give it away or lose lots of money on it.” But having it sit there unused and taking up space doesn’t do me any good either. So whether it’s giving things away or selling them, I’m hoping I can find the determination and discipline to go through my unused items.

• Stick-to-it-iveness for seeing my projects through to the finish - This one is a toughie! I have the attention span of a gnat and it makes it difficult to…..SQUIRREL!….what was I saying? Yeah, it’s super easy for me to come up with new projects and ideas for using my pens and papers but much harder for me to finish said projects. I may still add some new projects in the new year but I will also keep plugging away at the current ones. Wish me luck!

• Being a part of a community - I am so grateful to be a part of the pen community whether it is on Facebook, Instagram, Pen Addict Slack, SF Pen Posse, pen club zooms, pen shows, etc. These communities were a godsend for me during the past 18+ months and many of these folks are more like family than friends. I wish for you all that you have a community, online or otherwise, where you can geek out about pens and no one looks at you funny :-).

• Health and wellness - Now, more than ever, I wish us all good health and wellness, including mental health. Get vaccinated/boostered, mask up, and take care of yourself. Reach out if you’re struggling, get help from friends, family, professionals. Take that hike, pamper yourself, meditate, stretch, hydrate, etc. I’m going to work on my push-ups, running pace/distance, doing a little more yoga/stretching, hydrating more and more healthy eating.

• Gratitude - As someone who naturally finds flaws, bugs, errors, mistakes (my career was in Software Quality Assurance), it’s harder for me to notice things that are going well. I want to work on having a gratitude mindset and finding things to be thankful for. It may be small, like finding out that there’s still hot coffee in the pot when you wake up, or bigger, like getting through a surgery, having a new baby or buying your first house. Whatever it is, I hope we all find things to be grateful for (take a look at this gratitude article if you need ideas).

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and I wish everyone a happy holiday season and wonderful 2022. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay inky!

So Much to be Grateful For

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

Knowing that this post is going up on Black Friday meant that I could devote an entire article to a bunch of places that are vying for your post-turkey dollars. Instead, I decided to reflect on and share some of the little (and not so little) things that I’m grateful for this season, and really all year long. These aren’t in any particular order because it’s kind of impossible to rank them so here goes:

Pen Stores - Whether brick and mortar or online only, there are so many wonderful pen stores all around the world that we can shop from. It used to be much harder to buy from other countries and even with the pandemic, many shops still ship worldwide, making it easier than ever to get things that may not be offered in your country.

Ink Miser - Do you know how hard it is to get the last little bit of an ink sample from a vial? Especially when the ink level is below where the nib can get any ink and where the converter is likely to get dropped into the vial? I love that this little Ink Miser makes it easier for me to get the most out of ink samples. And even if there’s plenty of ink in the vial, I put the vial in the Ink Miser, which in turns goes into a holder made from my son’s LEGO pieces (sssh, don’t tell him) and it prevents me from knocking it over even though it’s pretty stable on its own.

Ink Miser with a couple ml of Van Dieman’s Hastings Cave (a really fun shimmer ink).

A sample vial in my Ink Miser inside my LEGO holder.

Fountain Pen Companion - I already waxed poetic (or not so poetic) about how much I love FPC but it really deserves another mention because I use it pretty much every day and often, multiple times a day. Tracking my pen/ink usage as well as my inventory gives this inkophile and pen addict a little more sanity.

Col-O-Ring ink swatch cards - You know what else saves my sanity? Having swatch cards for my inks. II started swatching my inks on these Col-O-Ring Ink Testing Cards shortly after getting my first ink samples 4+ years ago and umpteen rings later, I’m still not done. They’ve held up great (though I did upgrade all my rings to 2” ones so I can put 200 cards per ring) and are super useful at pen meetups and pen shows, and yes, also at my desk, while I figure out what the perfect matchy match ink is going to be.

I make two swatches for each color so I can sort them by brand (which makes them easy to find) and by color (which is great for matching inks to pens).

The top ones are sorted by brand and the bottom are sorted by color. I told you I have a lot of these! Ana, I’m going to need to place another order soon!

I love looking at all these different colors!

Instagram - I know it can be a time sink and who can figure out their algorithm, but I love scrolling through my IG feed, seeing people’s pens/inks/stationery and how they use them. Sometimes I get inspired by posts to do something similar, other times, I just marvel at people’s creativity, humor, handwriting, photography, or collections. The IG pen community has also been very encouraging, helpful and supportive regardless of what pens you write with or how much they cost. I am so grateful to have pen friends scattered all over the world that I hope to meet some day.

Scientists/Medical Professionals/Vaccines/Boosters - Without them, things would be so much worse and it would be longer before I got to see pen friends again. Because of all their efforts, meetups and pen shows are happening again. If you haven’t yet gotten vaccinated/boosted, please do so we can all get this pandemic behind us. And if you have, thank you! ❤️

Pen Shows - I was so lucky to find out that the SF Pen Show was happening just a couple months after I got my first fountain pen. Little did I know that I would get the opportunity to go to more shows after that and even get to work behind the table too. But it’s the pen shows after dark, where folks are gathered around playing with pens, hanging out with pen friends and just enjoying each other’s company, that really make me love pen shows. And being able to go to 3 shows this year after the last 18+ months and seeing my pen friends was really special and truly lifted my spirits.

Zoom - Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Zoom (and others) are the worst and we’re all tired of Zoom meetings. But, they’ve really been a saving grace during this pandemic. I was able to join and meet folks from pen groups in DC, Indiana, Missouri, Colorado, Southern California and yes, even my own local pen posse. Being able to connect with pen people and see their faces and hear their voices was something I really needed. So, while I’d much rather see people in person, I’m so glad this technology exists to keep us connected.

Pilot Metropolitan/Lamy Safari/Platinum Preppy - I will forever be grateful that these were my first fountain pens (yes, they all arrived on the same day) because they were all wonderful pens that I enjoyed from day one and still often have at least one inked up. If I didn’t have such good experiences with them, I might not have fallen down the rabbit hole and only my wallet would be happier for that.

I still use a Metro nearly every day and there is always a Preppy (or Plaisir) inked up and often a Safari too (even though I’m on Team #AlStarAlways).

Ink Samples - I am so glad ink samples are a thing because while I do have a stupid number of bottles, it would be even stupider if ink samples didn’t exist and I had to buy full bottles. I love having samples to try new inks and also making samples for friends too.

Rock Your Handwriting - I had discovered fountain pens after joining a Facebook group called Rock Your Handwriting, where people posted pictures of their handwritten responses to daily prompts. I saw these pretty pens and inks and promptly spent the next two nights reading everything I could and starting my first (of many) order for fountain pens. I probably spent the next two years following the RYH prompts and posting them on Instagram and Facebook. If it wasn’t for RYH, I don’t know if I would have ever discovered FPs and by extension, everything else on this list.

Rock Your Handwriting, Day 1

Yes, your handwriting can change with lots of regular practice! And I have 3 years of doing RYH prompts to thank for that!

Bullet Journaling - Wait a second, what does this have to with pens? Prior to 2017, I had been on a quest to find a planner that had a layout I liked and stumbled upon bullet journaling, which led to a random post about improving your handwriting and as you just read, the rest is history. And yes, I still bullet journal on a regular basis and am extremely unproductive whenever I’ve fallen off the wagon.

Good paper - I am so thankful that there is a plethora of good stationery that is fountain pen-friendly! From Tomoe River to Midori, to Cosmo Air Light, Black n Red/Optik paper, Clairefontaine, Ayush Paper and more, there’s just so much variety out there that one can take advantage of.

The beginnings of a notebook fort (don’t worry, there were many more notebooks after I unpacked more boxes, lol).

Pen Friends - I’ve mentioned them several times throughout this post but this hobby wouldn’t be the same without pen friends. Whether real-life friends or online friends from another state or halfway around the world, I couldn’t imagine feeling the same sense of community without them. Thank you for sharing my excitement of pens/inks/all things stationery, being helpful and supportive, sharing of your knowledge and of yourself in your posts and being a part of this community.

Brad - Without him, I wouldn’t be writing for the Pen Addict, nor would I have ever discovered the Pen Addict Slack and by extension, many of the pen friends I call family. Ok, this one might be one of the bigger things that I’m grateful for. ;-)

Thanks for taking a chance on me, Bossman. Can’t wait to see you at a pen show soon and give you a proper hug to thank you! <3

There’s so much more to be thankful for, not just during this time of year, but all year long when I look around at this amazing community and how lucky I am to have found my way into this rabbit hole. Thank you for being there with me.

(Disclaimer: All products pictured were purchased by my own funds. No compensation was given for including product links or pictures.)

Saying Goodbye to The Pen Addict

(Susan M. Pigott is a fountain pen collector, pen and paperholic, photographer, and professor. You can find more from Susan on her blog Scribalishess.)

Back in April, I emailed Brad to let him know about a major life change. As many of you know, I was a professor at a university for 28 years. In February 2020, I was issued a terminal contract, and I finished teaching my final class in May 2021.

As a consequence of my termination, I embarked on an unexpected journey. I've attended an Episcopal church for fifteen years, and during those years I always felt a tugging towards something--the diaconate, the priesthood--I wasn't sure. Three years ago, I started asking serious questions about the priesthood, and last fall, I began the process of discernment. In April I was admitted as a postulant for Holy Orders.

This means I will enter the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, as a full-time student in the Anglican Studies program this fall. When I say "full-time" I really mean it. I'll be taking 12 graduate hours per semester, working 8-10 hours a week on campus, and doing 10 hours a week of field education.

When I realized how intensive this academic year will be, I decided I needed to give up some things. One of those things is writing weekly reviews for The Pen Addict. This was a difficult decision to make. I love writing here. It has been a weekly respite from the many toxic things I endured at my university over the past six years. I'm crazy about fountain pens, inks, and paper, so being a writer for The Pen Addict was a dream come true.

My first review (on the Zebra Sharbo X LT3) was published on March 20, 2015. I remember how utterly nervous I was writing that review. Would it be good enough? Did I know enough about pens to write weekly for the blog? Could I keep up with the schedule while working full time? How often could I slip in pictures of my cats? (Turns out, not very often!)

Writing for The Pen Addict has been a complete joy. I've learned so much as a writer and as a pen addict. I had the pleasure of trying out new products--things I might never have considered using. I developed better clarity about what I love about fountain pens and what I don't. I gained exposure to the wonderful, world-wide pen community. I learned how to test inks and do chromatography. I discovered how much I adore different kinds of paper.

One of my favorite things about writing for The Pen Addict was when Brad would send a Box o' Review Stuff to each of the writers. I got such a kick out of opening those boxes, not knowing what I would find inside. It was a little Pen Addict Christmas every other month or so.

For this, my last post, I decided to reflect on some of my favorite reviews and what made them special to me.

Favorite Fountain Pen Review

Hands down, my all-time favorite review of a fountain pen was the Pelikan M600 Pink Special Edition. I purchased the Pink Pelikan on a whim after maligning the ridiculous "ladies Pelikan" marketing. What made this review special was (a) having to eat crow because it turned out that I loved this pen and (b) taking boudoir pictures of the pen. I think this was my best pen portraiture ever, and I had a blast using lingerie as the background for some of the pictures.

My biggest regret? I sold my Pink Pelikan for a song before I knew it would be one of those Pelikans that are in high demand and command ridiculous prices now. I wish I'd never sold it. I still miss that glorious "Victoria's Secret" pen in a color I thought I hated.

Favorite Fountain Pen Ink Review

My favorite ink review was the Diamine Inkvent Calendarin December 2019. What made this review so much fun is that I started working on it in October and produced twenty-five reviews that Brad posted each day in December until the final big reveal on December 25th. This was one of the most difficult reviews I worked on, because I had to find unique things to say about each of the inks.

I saw a post on Instagram that there will be another Inkvent Calendar this year!

Favorite Notebook Review

I reviewed so many notebooks over the years. I probably have enough notebooks on my shelves to last me the rest of my life. But my favorite notebook of all time has to be the William Hannah A5 Leather Notebook. The William Hannah notebook was my first experience with a disc notebook. The leather was luscious and beautiful and the range of notebook inserts on thick, gorgeous paper was impressive. All the special details indicate a product made with love and the best craftsmanship. I still own this notebook and it remains my favorite.

Favorite Paper Review

Brad sent me the Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection in one of those boxes I mentioned earlier. I didn't realize what that pad of paper was, glancing at it only briefly as I put things in my queue. But when I took it out of the plastic and discovered a bunch of different papers with unique textures and characteristics I was giddy. I wound up writing two full posts (second part here) on the collection, detailing each style of paper as thoroughly as possible. I doubt anyone actually read those ridiculously long posts, but I discovered my inner-paper geek and this is partly what led me into bookbinding and paper making. Plus, I heaped praise on Cosmo Air Light paper before it became a thing!

I reviewed many other things over the past six years--pen cases and other accessories, desk supplies, a zillion notebooks, and all sorts of writing instruments. But the posts I enjoyed the most were the ones that diverged from the usual: My interview with Shawn Newton (I sure wish I had done more of these like I intended);

the Penventory post;

and posts discussing my forays into bookbinding and paper making.

I want to thank Brad Dowdy for giving me this wonderful opportunity to be a Pen Addict writer. Brad, you are absolutely the best person to work with. Thanks to my fellow Pen Addict writers, Jeff and Sarah. Although we've never met in person, I think of you as colleagues and friends. Thanks also to you, the readers of Pen Addict. You are gracious and helpful (often adding to the posts with your comments) and supportive. You are the reason we research and write!

I hope to contribute occasional reviews in the future, because, duh! I'm not giving up fountain pens or ink or paper! But this will be my last weekly post. Goodbye for now!