Today is Christmas Eve, and our family celebrates this day as much as the next.
So, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, today let me wish you the best of the season. I wish you love and joy, peace and goodwill. May those who are sad or dealing with loss or sorrow find comfort and warmth.
I’ll celebrate how lucky we are to have one more family Christmas dinner together, and fondly remember those who shared our past celebrations.
Oh dear. I was feeling so proud of my restraint this year. I hardly bought any pens. Until yesterday. Whoops.
I’ll have to confess in a few days when the package arrives. Until then, imagine me hanging my head in shame. (Or imagine me doing a happy dance, when no one’s looking. And then hanging my head when people see me.)
That’s a lovely lithograph from the Brooklyn Museum of a Brown Pelican by John James Audubon. Seems appropriate, somehow.
Michael Cunningham wrote The Hours, which is a book I very much enjoyed. But that’s not the only reason I want to get my hands on his newest book, A Wild Swan. I’m going to read A Wild Swan at least partly because of its illustrations, including that captivating cover by Yuko Shimizu.
I love it when publishers take the extra step to make a physical book into a beautiful object.
Shimizu is a well-known illustrator, and she’s started posting a look at the design process for A Wild Swan on her website, here. Seeing how she drew and inked the cover illustration is fascinating.
Information about, and excerpts from, A Wild Swan can be found on Cunningham’s website here. The US publisher’s website is here, which is where I got the cover art used above.
Dan Smith, the Nibsmith, loaned me some of his custom ground nibs to play with. I adore his fine point Architect’s nib, which I talked about here. Lately I’ve been gorging on a modern Pelikan oblique double broad that Dan customized to increase the line variation. It’s super fun, and super broad.
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Sailor Professional Gear Kanreki with fine nib. This is another favorite. The Kanreki was designed to celebrate the 60th birthday of one Sailor’s nib designers. It features three different red colors — cherry red for the pen body, a plummy red for the cap and deep burgundy at the ends.
As a special edition, the Kanreki come with a 21k nib. Mine features Sailor’s precise, ultra-thin fine nib.
Diamine Red Dragon ink works so well in the Kanreki that I almost always pair the two. I like variety, generally. But it’s hard to pass up such a perfect pair.
On this twelfth and last day of Holiday Ink, it’s time for silver and gold together, and a little grown-up shimmer
Diamine Shimmertastic Night Sky is a black with silver particles that looks sleek and sophisticated.
Sparkling Shadows is softer and warmer, a gray with gold particles.
Together, they’ll round out the holiday season and bring us into what I hope is a sparkling New Year for everyone.
On the eleventh day of Holiday Ink, it’s time for some sun and shimmer, I think. So today’s ink is Diamine Shimmertastic Golden Sands. Warm and wonderful, it’s like liquid gold. I should have asked for a bottle from Santa.
I was writing the other day about my Sailor Professional Gear Kanreki, and the word that kept coming up was “perfect.” But I’m not sure that’s necessarily the best thing for me. I know that probably sounds nuts, but I’ll try to explain, if only to myself.
Fountain Pen Follies 