Papier Plume Oyster Grey. Another Papier Plume ink that bowled me over, Oyster Grey is just a great color and a well-behaved ink.
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Tag: Chicago Pen Show
Ink Snippet: Robert Oster Emerald
Ink Snippet: Papier Plume Moss Green
Ink Snippet: Papier Plume Pecan
Papier Plume Pecan. Okay, let me announce a total ink crush. Papier Plume Pecan arrived Saturday. The same day, I put it in a Pelikan Toledo with fine nib, and Holy Toledo! I’ve been writing with Papier Plume Pecan constantly since. It’s a perfect sepia color.
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Fountain Pen Favorites for April 2016
April was indeed the cruellest month around here. The weather was drear, everyone caught and recaught colds, and friends had stuff to deal with. But it’s all over now, baby blue. So we’ll scratch our metaphorical match and start anew.
The good news is that I’ve finally shaken off my post-pen show cold. And the other good news is that, at least in terms of fountain pens and inks, April actually had some nice highlights.
1. Chicago Pen Show. Four full days. Lots of fun. I bought some great things. And I have a lot of pens on the wishlist now. One pen actually made the buy list. I just have to wait for it to be released. Patience is one of the virtues I really need to work on.
2. Venvstas Carbon T. I do like my new pen.
3. Box o’ Stuff. In the midst of cruel April, a box of pens and ink landed on my doorstop. The only thing I’ve taken out that box, so far, is the Dark Lilac Lamy Safari and ink. But there’s much better inside. I’ll look forward to those.
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Photo by Dafne Cholet, Flickr, used under Creative Commons license.
Wrapping up the 2016 Chicago Pen Show: Part 2
It’s not a pen show without pens, of course. So when I confessed in Part 1 of the 2016 Chicago Pen Show Wrap-Up that I hardly had any time to look at pens, I meant “look at” in the serious-buyer sense. I saw a lot of gorgeous pens this year. The lights were bright, as you can see, but that’s not the only reason I was dazzled.
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Wrapping Up the 2016 Chicago Pen Show: Part 1
As you know if you follow the blog, last weekend was the 2016 Chicago Pen Show. Above is a photo from Thursday, before the show was set up for the public, and before most of the vendors had even arrived. What a carpet, huh?
This year the pen show went from Thursday, April 28 through Sunday, May 1. I was helping out, so I was there every day. On the good news/bad news front, I hardly had any time to shop for myself. But that’s okay. If you aren’t a serious collector, a pen show can be kind of a reconnoitering mission. You see things, and you mull.
But the show was amazing. I’d like to give a briefer overview in this part, and then in the next part go more in depth about some of the pens and people.
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Things That Are Fun: Chicago Pen Show
That’s the first day of the Chicago Pen Show up there. It started yesterday, and I’m helping out with it, which explains why I’ve been absent so much from here in the past few weeks. And I’ll be “there” instead of “here” for the next three days. I’ll be posting mostly on Instagram (fountainpenfollies) and Twitter (@FPfollies), because no wifi.
I’ve got a lot of photos on Instagram, but I wanted to put a few here, too.
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Pen Show Prep: Inky Stuff
I’m helping out at the Chicago Pen Show this year, and we’re only two weeks away from opening day. So I’ve spent the last few days filling dozens and dozens of pens for the ink sample table. We’ll have a total of 300 pens for people to try different inks.
I’ve been using syringes or disposable pipettes to put the ink in a sample tube, then I fill the pens from that. Here was some interim progress, with filled pens on the left, and some used pipettes on the right.
It’s been messy. I wiped off each pen after filling, but a fair amount of ink still ended up on my fingers. However, miraculously, I didn’t spill any ink, and the kitchen table survived unstained, so I’ll take the inky fingers and stained paper towel.
I’m done now, thankfully. I need a manicure, a massage and probably a night on the town. I think I may stay away from ink and pens for a few days, too.
But, on the bright side, the ink towel makes a nice piece of modern art.
Fountain Pen Follies 