In feature, news

The Colorado Pen Show 2023

Author Jessica ColesPosted on 4 Comments
The Colorado Pen Show 2023

Pen shows are an amazing opportunity to meet up with like-minded pen users, pen friends, and pen vendors. Most attendees visit one or two shows in a year, many times due to the distance that must be traveled to the show venue. But with the newest shows added to the pen show circuit, there are more choices than ever.

The Colorado pen show is one of a few pen shows that take place in a state that doesn’t touch an ocean. Chicago, Ohio, St. Louis, Detroit, and Colorado are all important shows to provide the experience to pen users in land locked states.

While the Colorado pen show is smaller than others, that doesn’t reflect the variety of items and events available at the event. I mean, look at the incredible variety of ink available at a single table! (Just to be transparent, I was the one selling this ink for the Dromgooles…)

The downside of working with a retailer at a show is that I have a limited amount of time to wander around and take great photos. But I’ve taken several photos from a single spot (my ink station) to try to give a feeling of the Colorado show.

One amazing point of the Colorado show is the help from the local pen club – the Colorado Pen Posse. In these photos, look for people in red shirts with white writing. They were always asking if they could help with anything, bring water, or if we had any issues. A hot lunch was delivered both Saturday and Sunday which helped us keep the table fully staffed through lunch.

Most of the tables in this show were in a single large conference room with surprisingly good lighting.

Pen Realm had specific show nibs that were only available during the show engraved with a great looking raven.

These photos were taken Friday evening before the busy time began.

This product — Bibliofile – was a new product sighting during the show – offered by Good Made Better. It’s an eye-catching way to carry all of your notebooks at once!

The Penwell is the other popular offer from Good Made Better.

 

Laughs were something that were never in short supply in Colorado!

Plenty of laughs!

My pen show purchases were not huge this time, but there was definitely a Traveler’s theme.

But the Color Changing Ink from Monteverde was the most exciting item in my opinion! I can’t wait to show these soon in a review!

I caught a few casual photos after the show was done on Saturday – good friends and plenty of drinks. The hotel offered a happy hour each evening, complete with free drinks, soda, juice, and snacks. It was a good time to relax for a few minutes and figure out what to do for dinner.

I’ve attended the Colorado pen show since it first started ten years ago and I do believe this was the best year I’ve seen so far. The show was well run, the hotel was helpful, the pen club was friendly, and the attendance was high.

Thank you to everyone who attended, sold, and purchased at the show this year.

I can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store!

In Link Love

Link Love: The One Where I Keep Losing My Pens

Author AnaPosted on 9 Comments
Link Love: The One Where I Keep Losing My Pens

If you’ve been a pen collector long enough, eventually you lose or misplace a pen. Part of owning fountain pens is that we make a much more concerted effort to keep track of my writing tools. However, sometimes, one goes astray. When you are really unlucky, you discover that you’ve misplaced TWO in the course of two weeks. That’s what happened to me. In my case, neither pen was inexpensive. One was a limited edition color of a readily available pen design and the other was a bog standard fountain pen with a VERY SPECIAL nib. Sigh.

I have been panicked, sad, angry, annoyed and an array of other emotions since discovering that my pens were gone. But as the days have passed and they have not returned, my hope is that wherever they went, someone is truly appreciating their beauty and functionality.

Maybe, if my luck reverses, they will return to me. Can you all say a little prayer to the pen gods for me? I miss my pens.

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In Tools

Home Sweet Money Pit

Author Laura CameronPosted on 10 Comments

Today’s regular review has been pre-empted by a plumbing emergency that started on Sunday afternoon and still isn’t resolved. However, in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, “Make it work.”

While I tossed and turned in my hotel bed on Sunday night, I realized that the answer to the question “When was the last time you had your septic tank cleaned?” and my blank puzzling for a date/time could be resolved by none other than pen and paper. This morning, when we stopped back at the house, I grabbed a trusty Leuchtturm 1917 Hardcover A5 Metallic Edition. I also approached the file cabinet of doom, and grabbed the extra thick “House” file and took it with me. Today I have been busy building a journal of my house’s greatest and shittiest events (see what I did there?) so that I have dates and repair companies and what type of work was done.

I’ll see you again when indoor plumbing has been restored.

via GIPHY

In Ink Review

Finding a Ink “Dupe” in My Collection

Author AnaPosted on 18 Comments
Finding a Ink “Dupe” in My Collection

This year, I found my favorite ink color and have proceeded to use it in my daily writers all year. It’s not a particularly rare or coveted ink but, for me, it is exactly what works for me. I am almost to the bottom of the bottle and so I wondered if, in the 100s of bottles of in that I own, I might have a close match.

In the make-up and cosmetics world its referred to as a “dupe”. This term is often used when trying to find a. cheaper version of an expensive item or one that might have only been available in a limited edition kit. While the ink I want to dupe is neither expensive nor rare necessarily, I was hoping that I could use an ink I already own rather than buying yet another bottle of ink.

As you may have already guessed from the photos or if you have been following my daily writing journey this year, the ink I have been using is Monteverde Birthday Cake. The 30ml bottle I had cost about $12 at the time of purchase. So, there’s a bit of irony as I try to dupe it with inks that range in price from $12 – $40+ per bottle.

This was not an exhaustive search across every purple/violet ink currently available. Rather, this was a search through my personal collection. We all do it, right? We often buy colors we love over and over again. I like dark smokier purple/violets and so I tend to buy similar hues from different brands.

The Inks

In the end, I found about 27 or so bottles of purple/violet or purple-adjacent inks in my collection. There may have been a couple more but this seemed like a good range. Using a sheet of Col-o-ring paper in my FOLIO pad, I was able to swatch each bottle, one after the other, to get a bird’s eye view of the color range.

Several bottles were much too reddish purple. And several colors were too sheeny for everyday use (for me) like Troublemaker Grapevine and Lamy Azurite (see below).

The Short List

 

In the end, I found three close matches for me. The closest was Monteverde Mulberry Noir but it is a bit darker. Sydney Lavender has a similar smoky quality but it is much more reddish. Waterman Tender Purple was also a close dupe and probably closest in color but its a bit more saturated and the color sheens a bit.

So, what do you think I decided to do?

Off-Topic!

In the process of doing this experiment, I discovered that one of the inks I had dramatically changed colors. What was once “Canterbury Raisin” from Birmingham Pen Company had turned turquoise. this was from their earlier ink batches and the bottle was labelled “made in Germany” so it is at least four or five years old. My inks are stored in drawers to keep them out of the sun so this was quite a surprise. I have a swatch on the lid of the bottle showing the color to be closer to Sailor Manyo Fuji — a bit of a shifting color but definitely a purple color. I talked with some of our Patrons about it and they each had a similar tale of an ink in their collection shifting colors. Has this happened to you?

In Closing

If you decide to attempt a similar experiment with a favorite ink color, remember that the pen nib size and the paper you use may alter the experience. In my case, I am using Stalogy paper and a Fine nib in my Sailor Pro Gear Slim as my daily carry. I discovered when I switched nib to an EF, the ink color altered slightly with more shading range making my experience less consistent. This is definitely something to consider when deciding if you like an ink: try it in a couple nib sizes and on a few papers. This is a prime example of YMMV.

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In Ink Review

Ink Review: Colorverse Golden Gate Bridge

Author Laura CameronPosted on

Guest post by Julia van der Wyk

Colorverse “Golden Gate Bridge” is the “Show ink” for SF pen show 2023. I was excited to see how Colorverse would interpret such an iconic color,  which can be hard to pin down. Is it orange? Red? Red-orange?

As a Bay Area native, I learned early that the paint color is called “International Orange” (only do an image search on that if you are wearing sunglasses), but as it appears on the bridge itself, it is a deep and rich vermillion. This color is not-red, not-orange, not-pink, an elusive beauty much like the deeper shades of coral.

In this review, I compare the ink with others in my collection, write on a few different papers with a fountain pen, and paint with the ink using a brush in my Art Test.

What is the color like?

The ink is a saturated, non-shading color. I found it to really resemble the bridge color when the ink is wet, but dry to a more magenta-leaning shade.

Some Col-o-ring comparisons

Here it is compared to the colors I have in this general range. You can see it struggling to fit in!

The closest “red” shade I have is Kyo-pro “Flaming red of Fushimi”. This comparison shows how much more saturated, GGB is, and how it has leans away from the yellow-orange tones.

I thought KWZ Grapefruit would be a good match. In this comparison, more shading is evident in Grapefruit, as well as the yellow-orange tones.

Possibly the closest match from the inks in my collection is Pelikan Edelstein “Star Ruby”. This ink to my eye is straight-up magenta. GGB next to it appears just a bit more a true red, but matches the saturation level really well.

To further illustrate this point, I have an entry from my Hobonichi Techo, which shows lines in a Fine nib of GGB to the left, a short sentence written with Star Ruby in a Fine nib to the right of that. For extra credit, the rubber stamps were inked with the Ranger Archival Ink stamp pad in the color Vermillion! In a Fine fountain pen nib, there is very little difference in perceived shade of the two inks.

Note: The owl rubber stamp is part of a collection I bought from the Hobonichi  store, and the lovely ink bottle stamp is of course from the Well-Appointed Desk! One of my favorites in there. But I digress.

Standard Paper tests

So far we have seen the ink with Col-o-ring paper, and Tomoe River paper. What if all we have are a standard Field Notes book, or some copy paper?

In the Field Notes, I detect a little bit of feathering, if I look closely. Slight show-through on the back, but usable on both sides for sure.

As for the copy paper, I have HP 24lb bright white inkjet paper for my own printer. I found the ink to behave pretty nicely on this paper, with a little bit of feathering visible and minimal show-through.

The Art Test ™

If we have met before, you knew this was coming! The best way I know to discover the true range of an ink, is to paint with it. I use the ink direct from the bottle, as well as dilutions with water. The paper is cold-press watercolor paper. For this piece, I started out with pencil, then used various dilutions of ink and water for the light wash effect. I built depth and shading with straight ink, and when dry, drew fine details with the ink in my fountain pen.

From the lightest light that I could get with dilutions of water, to the darkest dark with fully saturated ink, there are not too many middle shades in this one. This tracks for me in how saturated a color it is in the pen.  I also see clearly in the painting, how magenta the lighter shades are. The darkest areas looked more vermillion and had more orange tones when wet. With the detail lines in place, I can see there is a bit of sheen on this paper, which shows more of the warmer hues. I have posted a VoiceOver narration video  of my process YouTube while painting this piece over on YouTube, for those curious to see the painting unfold in real time.

TL;DR

Colorverse Golden Gate Bridge is a bright, saturated color. It writes well on a variety of papers. The wet shade is an orangey vermillion, which dries to a magenta-leaning red color. There is no shading, but a bit of sheen can be detected with more intense applications.

Julia van der Wyk is an artist, classical musician, knitter, and professional web developer (The Web Atrium). She teaches an Ink Painting class at the SF Pen Show, and resides in Santa Cruz, California, where she can draw Pelicans with Pelikans, and brag about the weather. Follow her adventures on Instagram @juliavdw and Juliavanderwyk.com. Also check out her Ink Wash Painting Class!

In Link Love

Link Love: COLORPIK Pen — it’s back!

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Link Love: COLORPIK Pen — it’s back!

Buyer Beware! The “This Innovative Artist Pen Can Draw in 16 Million Colors” (via My Modern Met) is back! This is a product under a different name than previous tools but its another in a long list of products that tries to make it possible to have all the colors of the rainbow in one pen.

I am not going to link it anywhere except here in my intro because, honestly, I still don’t believe this can work and is there really a need for this? How are the colors cleared out or do you get gooey griege/poop brown/etc while the pen shifts from orange to green? I shake my head. Please, if you know of a real world need for this, let me know in the comments. In the meantime, I am just going to ponder a world where this is the kind of product development people are clamoring for.

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In feature, Paper Review

Notebook Review: Esterbrook “Write Your Story” Journal

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

One of the presents that Ana brought me from the San Francisco Pen Show was one of the new Esterbrook “Write Your Story” Journals ($39.99 at Esterbrook). This looks like the perfect journal for me so I’m eager to dig in!

The Esterbrook “Write Your Story” journals are a collaboration between Esterbrook and lettering artist Betty Soldi. The A5 journal comes in three colors: burgundy, teal and camel. The cover has a faux leather feel and is adorned with foil and etched embossing in Betty’s “Alphabetty” font. The journal is hard cover, with a sewn binding.

The inside of the journal is also fun! The first spread shares a bit of history about the Esterbook brand as well as a few facts and tips about writing with different nibs. The next page provides a place to trace the “Alphabetty” font if you wish, and encourages you to have fun with your own lettering. What follows are 2 pages set up for recording the contents of your journal.

The bulk of the journal is made of up numbered pages (190) of 80 lb fountain pen friendly paper in a cream color with 5mm gray dot grid. To the touch it feels smooth and almost a little luxurious. The final details include an envelope at the back, and a ribbon bookmark with an Esterbrook charm.

Now we get to delve into the paper! I found the paper enjoyable to write on. It was super smooth, and the ink dried fairly quickly. There was no feathering or bleeding, and on the plain writing sample (the first one below) there was very little show through.

I then tested wider nibs, different kinds of pens (brush, gel, etc) and even a silver writer which I believe is alcohol based. Even with those there was show through, but no other issues.

Ultimately my opinion on this notebook is that it’s pretty darn nice. I am definitely a tactile person, and just holding the cover and feeling the paper in my hands is a pleasure. It’s not an inexpensive investment and I surely wouldn’t use it for to do lists and the like, but if I’m thinking about keeping it as a journal and re-reading it over and over, then I would definitely consider buying another!

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Esterbrook for providing this journal free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.