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Month: September 2023

Point to Paper – The watchmaker, the linendraper, the poet, the calf and an abundance of people named John

Point to Paper – The watchmaker, the linendraper, the poet, the calf and an abundance of people named John

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In the summer of 1827, John Williamson decided to take a bold leap into the future. He wanted to establish his own business. Williamson was a linendraper. He had found a great property. It was in an ideal location for what he was planning. Another John, the watchmaker John Budgen, had inherited an estate from his recently deceased father. The property was located in Croydon just south of London. The buildings were located on High Street. High Street was central and busy. It was important to maintain good…

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Nibby Sunday – 10 Thing You Shouldn’t Do With Your Fountain Pen

Nibby Sunday – 10 Thing You Shouldn’t Do With Your Fountain Pen

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Fountain pens are amazing writing instruments, and as pen enthusiasts, we know that a good pen can be a powerful tool. But with great power comes great responsibility. You have to take good care of your pen, be kind to it, treat it well. If you do, it will in return give you years of writing joy. But if you’re mean to it, the retaliation can be swift and merciless: ink leaks, scratchy nibs, bad ink flow and much more….

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Point to Paper – The mysterious letter from 1528

Point to Paper – The mysterious letter from 1528

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It was a lovely summer morning in Umbria. At least that’s what I imagine. The date was the 5th of August 1528. A man was out walking and had a deep wrinkle on his forehead. He had no time to think about the fine weather or the fact that the olive harvest seemed to be good that year. It didn’t even help that the grapes were nearly ripe and were soon to be transformed into good wine. The man was thinking about something completely different. He…

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Inktrapment – from the archives: Colorverse String and Brane

Inktrapment – from the archives: Colorverse String and Brane

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This ink review was the first one I published on this blog (at the time called Fyllepenna) in May 2020. Here is a newly translated version: I’ve long wanted to learn more about ink, and I recently also purchased different notepads to test my inks more thoroughly. More fun in every ink drop! When “Fyllepenna” requested ink reviews, I expressed my interest, and this is my first attempt! I’ve looked at the only two Colorverse inks I have (because you…

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Nibby Sunday – Milestone Pens

Nibby Sunday – Milestone Pens

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In my own collecting, I’ve had several pens that I like to call “milestone pens”; that represent a shift, or the transition into a new stage of my fountain pen hobby. These are the pens with special significance in my fountain pen journey; the pens that changed me, or changed my perception of fountain pens, or the way I approach pens as a hobby. I think it’s good to be aware of these milestone pens, to sort of mark out…

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Inktrapment – Robert Oster Maroon 1798

Inktrapment – Robert Oster Maroon 1798

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If you, like me, have wondered why this ink is called Maroon 1789 you will find the answer down below. The reason this ink is called “maroon” comes as no surprise. The color is a dark brownish-red — or reddish-brown — i.e. maroon in English. On some types of paper the color leans a bit toward burgundy red. The ink has some nice, not too dramatic shading. On fountain pen-friendly paper it also develops a black halo or a hint…

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Nibby Sunday – How to have fountain pens as a hobby without emptying your bank account

Nibby Sunday – How to have fountain pens as a hobby without emptying your bank account

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It’s bothered me a little in recent years how the focus in the pen hobby is very often on constantly acquiring new pens and inks. This can make the hobby unsustainable over time, both for the wallet and for the environment. The eagerness to test new things can quickly lead to losing control over your spending. I have definitely experienced that myself. Many of the most famous and popular blogs, YouTube channels, and others within the pen community probably also contribute to reinforcing…

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Why you should write by hand

Why you should write by hand

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Many people see handwriting as old fashioned, impractical and unnecessary. You can sometimes wonder why it’s still important to be able to write by hand, to be able to communicate and make yourself understood with handwriting, and to use handwriting to note things down for yourself. Why is this necessary in a society where we have smartphones and computers, Siri and Google Assistant? For many, handwriting may seem cumbersome and slow, but part of the reason for that is precisely that they…

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Nibby Sunday – Tolkien and the Fëanorian Letterforms

Nibby Sunday – Tolkien and the Fëanorian Letterforms

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Yesterday, September 2nd, marked the fifty year anniversary since the death of my absolute favorite author, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. I thought this would be a good time to dedicate a blog post to Tolkien, and write a little about my own relationship with him and his stories. In the second half of this article, I will look more closely at Tengwar, which was a set of letterforms, a script ​​he developed for his mythology. My interest and fascination with Tolkien’s writings…

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Point to Paper – Why did the Parish Priest Lund send a letter from Tangen on Tuesday the 18th of October 1808 to the County Physicist Arbo and City Surgeon Lundt at Bragernes?

Point to Paper – Why did the Parish Priest Lund send a letter from Tangen on Tuesday the 18th of October 1808 to the County Physicist Arbo and City Surgeon Lundt at Bragernes?

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Written by Kjartan Skogly Kversøy and translation of Norwegian Gothic handwriting by Gina Dahl I recently bought a stack of old Norwegian handwritten letters from a collector in Sweden. All are from the early 19th century. In this pile, there was one letter that caught mye eye. It just cried out to be investigated further. The letter is from 1808 and is written with a quill pen. Quill pens were usually cut by hand by the person writing. They were cut with a small knife,…

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