It’s been two and a half months since I last cleaned and refilled some pens, so now it was well overdue now. Some of the pens I filled back then have lasted a long time! It was early February, and I took inspiration from the songs on Sleep Token’s album Take Me Back to Eden in my choice of pens and inks. This time I‘ve made it significantly easier for myself. The pen case I usually bring to work holds six pens, so…
It’s been a while since I last wrote a post where I went through my whole pen collection, and I figured it might be time for a little update. So here are some numbers, and a rough overview of fountain pens, inks and other relevant things in my collection. To do the inks first: I currently have 228 bottles of ink. This includes 100 small bottles (30 ml) of standard Diamine ink. I also have an almost complete collection of…
Grandpa Walther grew up in Eastern Norway. He shaved with a straight razor. For him, being able to sharpen a blade that could cut facial hair was the mark of a man. I often wonder about things that once were common in Norway and suddenly became alien. Many things that were in everyday use for decades, generations and centuries have become obsolete and strange. Many things that were common in my grandpa’s childhood and youth in the 1910s and 1920s are…
Did you know that Norway once had five pencil factories? My colleague Anders wrote a very good article about this in January (link to the article). Their history is unknown for most people even in Norway. Did you know that Norway’s pencil history probably started as early as in 1768? That is remarkably early if you also know that the first wooden pencil in the US was made in 1812. On the website Pencils.com it is stated: “Early settlers depended…
Old handwritten cookbooks can be wonderful treasures. Of course they have recipes, but they also carry history. They often give insight in to the family that used them and the era in which they were written. Cookbooks are tools. They are not intended to be decorative items. They tend to be rough around the edges. If they are not, they are either new or were never very interesting in the first place. Cookbooks can be written with a fountain pen, a pencil, a marker or…
When we were kids, most of us enjoyed drawing. We weren’t necessarily very good at it, but that didn’t matter, because the joy was in the drawing itself, using one’s imagination. We hadn’t yet developed a critical sense that would tell us that what we made wasn’t good. We just had fun with it. This is something that the vast majority of us lose as we grow up. The joy of creating something, instead of the joy (or possibly the frustration) of what you…
Baron Fredrik Wilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg wrote a letter on Christmas Eve 1840. He was sitting in his office on his estate Brunlaug (or Brunla) just ouside the city of Stavern in Larvik municipality. He was looking for a tutor for his sons. His sons were named Oscar, Hermann and Wolfgang. He aimed high and tried to tempt Mr. Candidate Thue to take the job. Thue had just received the best grade in his civil service examination in philology. He was therefore sought after. In…
A while back, the blog Olive Octopus created 17 ink questions, and over the past several weeks, quite a few others have decided to also answer them. I always enjoy doing things like these, and I think it’s a nice way for you the readers to get to know me and my personal preferences, so here goes: 1. What was your first (memorable) ink? The very first inks I got was a few bottles of quick-drying ink from Private Reserve….
On the 10th of August 1784, William Weddell signed a contract. The contract was between him and Sheriff William Danby along with a number of other local government officials with prescribed mandates. William Weddell had been elected to represent the citizens of the district of Malton in the British Parliament. This was the document that confirmed the case. He had been elected to the House of Commons for the third time. By producing this document, with all the correct signatures and the Sheriff’s own wax seal in…
I’ve decided to start drawing again, and I thought I’d kickstart this with a month-long project. I have a Moleskine sketchbook, and will try to fill it with sketches and drawings throughout the month of March. The book is in A5 format and has 192 pages, which gives an average of 6-7 pages per day. It should be manageable, I think, but we’ll see how much else I will also have to do in the coming month. I have a lot of…