A Little Background At every pen show I’ve worked, at least one person will ask about a particular ink color. It’s almost always sepia. They ask me to help them pick out a “good sepia”. This is inevitably a loaded question because sepia is a moving target. It’s like asking someone to recommend a good…
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Ink Review: Franklin-Christoph Graphite 4B
By Jessica Coles Franklin-Christoph. New Ink. How on Earth did I miss two of my favorite things intersecting? I was only able to attend the first few hours of the Raleigh Pen Show this year, although it was long enough to see the prototype tray set out and find an amazing 45L pen in a…
Ink Review: Robert Oster Dragon’s Night
By Jessica Coles Today’s post will be light on the words, heavy on photos. Some inks just speak for themselves and this one absolutely shouts. Among the plethora of new inks from Robert Oster are many beautiful colors including the new Dragon’s Night ink. I received a sample from Pen Chalet where you can purchase…
The Desk Set: Searching for the Perfect Tote
I don’t know if I’m the only pen person who is also a bagaholic or not but I am always on the hunt for “the perfect bag?” The perfect bag, like the perfect notebook or the perfect ink or pen seems ever-elusive and different for every person and every occasion. When not not behind The…
Ink Review: Lamy Crystal Obsidian
By Jessica Coles When I first heard about Lamy’s new Crystal ink line I was excited because, hey, new ink! Even when the Lamy showed the colors of the ink line in their advertising, I remained excited. But when I started to see swabs of the colors, my enthusiasm started to wane since the colors…
Notebook Review: Wild Pages
By Jessica Coles The Chicago pen show was a great show in 2019 (not that it isn’t every year!) due to hard work from the organizers, fun people, and new vendors. I always love to see new vendors at shows; they prove that the pen community is growing. Plus they bring new stuff to check…
Giveaway Winner: Post-Pen Show Bonanza (and some stats)
Since I asked folks to list places they would like to see host a pen show, I thought I’d start with a list of recommendations. Texas (specifically Houston and El Paso) Kansas City Minneapolis/St. Paul Seattle PDX Lancaster, PA New York City (proper) Chicago (proper) New Orleans Nashville Louisville Phoenix If you, your local pen…