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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
The end of summer, the cusp of autumn. Back to mundane tasks and familiar everyday life. Lamy Petrol is, in my opinion, the perfect everyday ink. Not because it’s boring – it’s not! – but it is convenient and simple to use, can withstand some wear and tear and has just enough distinctiveness and uniqueness not to become bland. The colour is, unsurprisingly, a muted, rather dark teal (i.e., petrol). There is not a lot of colour variations, but still…
Exploring vintage fountain pens from the first half of the 20th century is often an important part of the pen hobby, and there can be a lot of exciting things to find from the golden age of the fountain pen. I have quite a few old pens in my own collection, and have also spent a lot of time learning how to restore them, but for everyday writing I almost always prefer modern fountain pens. There’s a lot of cool stuff…
Written by Kjartan Skogly Kversøy and translation of Norwegian Gothic handwriting by Gina Dahl The 16-year-old Johan found himself in a predicament. On the 10th of October 1858 he wrote a letter to his father to discuss the matter. Many years later, the writer of the letter became the vicar of Vikør (now Vikøy) church in Hardanger. The letter was addressed to Toldcasserer Christie. Mr. Christie, who was a customs treasurer (Toldcasserer), was Johan’s father. The father lived in Bergen. Johan was stranded in the wilderness of…
This blog post was originally published in Norwegian at Pennen er mektigere, on March 14, 2021. FOMO – The Fear of Missing Out, is a term that’s used in many contexts, including by many in the fountain pen community. But what is FOMO? Why do we feel FOMO, and how is this fear exploited by the market? We will take a closer look at that in this blog post. This phenomenon was first described by Dr. Dan Herman in a scientific article titled…
This article was originally published in Norwegian at Pennen er mektigere, on May 8, 2022. In this article you will read about fish theft, arson, tax and insurance fraud. It’s about the demolition of a district in the capital, and about being on the wrong side in a war. We will meet a non-commissioned officer, teacher, organist, writer, merchant and factory owner. Yes, and an opera singer! And we will hear about a couple of brothers from Senja who moved to Oslo and each…