For the past two years, I’ve had sub-optimal NaNoWriMo experiences. In both 2021 and 2022, I had a lot of other things to do before, and partly during NaNoWriMo, I wasn’t motivated, I didn’t have time to prepare well enough, and I didn’t have any good ideas for what to write about. This year, I am determined not to have a third NaNoWriMo in a row that turns out like this. For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is: it stands for…
You may be wondering if anyone has actually asked me if there exists a fountain pen that would go particularly well with a Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. Strangely, no one has. What I can say is that if someone were to ask me this question, I have a good answer ready. I would like to share that answer with you. If you are interested in this topic, it might suggest a special interest in Hardanger fiddles or fountain pens. It might also be that you…
Us fountain pen enthusiasts have a small tendency to look down on ballpoint pens, but personally, I’ve found that both pen types have their uses. The fountain pen isn’t always the best tool, and in some situations the ballpoint pen is just better. In any case, there’s no reason to pit the two against each other. On the contrary, they actually complement each other quite well. When the ballpoint pen came on the market after the war, it was quickly able to replace the…
Imagine that once upon a time there was a company you could call by just dialing one digit. I wonder what made them invest in the new phone technology. Not to mention the company with phone number 1. Who were they to call? What motivated them to get a phone? Believe it or not, I actually know the name of one such company. You might be wondering how I know this. It has to do with pencils. I also think it is a bit strange that…
Last Friday (September 22), we had the pen event of the year, Pelikan Hub, and over 30 fountain pen enthusiasts flocked to Tudos’ premises at Frysja in Oslo to share their experiences, try each other’s pens, exchange inks, and talk about this and that. Pelikan Hub was initiated by Pelikan in 2014, and has in relatively few years grown to become an annual event that many pen enthusiasts around the world look forward to. The aim is to bring together people…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…