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…
I think many of you will recognize todays story. It is partly fiction and partly true. This is often the case with family history. We remember a little bit here and a little bit there. The stories change and develop as time goes by. The history of my family is similar. I have family both in North America and in Norway. Many of my ancestors left Norway with a dream of a better life in the US. Keeping track of…
This post was originally published in Norwegian at pennenermektigere.no on April 19, 2020. Fountain pen, reservoir pen, stylo plume, stilografica, self-filling pen. Fountain pens are called many things in different languages, and etymologically some of these terms have very different origins. In this post, we take a closer look at the different words used for fountain pens around the world. The Italians call fountain pens “penna stilografica“. Elsewhere in the world, however, a stylograph is often described as a pen where the tip is a…
Look closely at the first picture in today’s story. The letter is addressed to Fredrik Huth & Co. in London. The envelope is stamped in Christiania. The letter is written the 27th of March 1846. It is from a business partner and friend. It is signed by a famous banker in Norway in the 19th century. His name was Andreas Grüning. I will get back to him shortly. The letter is clear evidence that the worlds first global bank had…
This post is about a beautiful handwritten maths book. The first time I saw it, it was as if it was calling out to me. I think we were meant to get to know each other better. I can’t say that other maths books have had the same effect on me. You will soon get to know what enchanted me. The post you are about to read is based on the lovely maths book of a young lady. She wrote the book over 180 years ago. I’ve…
So you have bought your first fountain pen? In this post, I share my tips for (re)discovering the joy of writing by hand. With your newly acquired fountain pen, the stage is set for you to find this joy. Whereas in the past you may have primarily written by hand because you had to, and with a bad ballpoint pen or pencil, with a fountain pen you may find that you actually want to write. The pen itself inspires to put nib to paper. Why…
Today there will be scrutiny and debate. The big question is whether the longnosed earmouse, first found in the fishing village of Langesund, is a relative of the vusvole, native to an area in Norway called Sunnmøre. The pronunciation of vusvole is a combination of the sounds similar to the words juice (in the first part of the word) and mole (in the second part). The animals were recently put in connection with each other for the first time. For new readers it is strongly recommended to…
Although I probably have 50 fountain pens in my collection that per definition is in “use rotation”, and probably at least 250 bottles of ink (I’ve lost count a long time ago), I have a tendency to go for the same pens and inks time and time again. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can spice up my pen and ink choices, and force myself to use more than just the 10-15 go-to pens and inks. In…
In the past, people drew wisdom from myths and stories. It was often all they had. It was a way to create meaning in what they didn’t understand. Contrary to what we might like to believe, it is still the case that science and rationality are far from able to explain everything. We still need the stories. I have a weak spot for those who are able to tell these stories with creativity and color. There has always been a rich heritage of…
Over the years, there have been several attempts to start up pencil production here in Norway. The most famous examples are Den Norske Blyantfabrikk and Oslo Blyantfabrikk, which I wrote a comprehensive article about in May 2022 (published in English in August 2023). In my research about the two Senja brothers who each started a pencil factory, I also found references to several other Norwegian pencil factories. In this article, I will share what I’ve been able to find about these lesser-known factories. Several…