More about pens and ink

I attended a pen show in Apex, NC earlier this month.  It was a bit of a letdown because I had built it up so much in my mind.  I have a tendency to do this.  When I'm enthusiastic about something (and, especially when there isn't much that I'm enthusiastic about at the time, like now), I tend to obsess about it and put so much weight on it that it can never live up to my expectations.  It might sound strange to feel that way about a pen show, but live and let live, already!


One of the reasons that I was a bit disappointed was because there wasn't much there for someone who knows little about antique pens.  Most of the displays/vendors were antique pen collectors/dealers and, although I have always found antique pen collectors to be more than willing to explain things to me, I was hoping for a few more opportunities to see new pens.  I particularly wanted to see the new Parker Ingenuity line, which uses "Parker 5th technology."  They're not fountain pens.  They're not ballpoints.  They're not roller ball pens.  I'm intrigued.


Anyway, I did find a few things that I am enjoying using these days.  I bought a pen from a company called TWSBI.  

I hadn't heard of them before, but the pen writes very nicely and looks great.  It has a broad nib, which may become my new favorite nib size.  I have always gone with the fine or extra-fine nib on my fountain pens, but I'm really enjoying the way this broad nib writes.  I also got several new inks, which is always delightful.  The J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary ink is a beautiful shade of red.  

I also now have a bottle of J. Herbin ink in Rose Cyclamen, which is a lovely shade of pinky-purple.  It's the ink I am currently using most.  


One of the more interesting shades I have is Pelikan's Edelstein ink in Jade.  

I've never had a bottled green ink before, although I've had many items in the shade of bottle green.  This, however, is not bottle green.  It's a lighter green with some gray or ashy tones to it.  It's kind of liberating.  It's a nice color and I'm impressed by the quality of colors in the Edelstein line.  


Perhaps the best part of the whole pen show weekend, though, was discovering Office Supplies & More in Chapel Hill.  What a treasure this place is!  So many pens!!!  So many notebooks!!!  It is exactly the kind of store I could spend a lot of time and money in.  Why aren't there more of them?