Tag: Writing

Three Habits Worth Keeping

Happy New Year!

This is the time of year when people set resolutions, themes, goals, intentions, words of the year, etc. Ambitions are high, intentions are good, but well before March most of these efforts will be abandoned and forgotten. I’ll be writing about my quarterly plan and my 2025 planner later on, but for now here are three habits that worth keeping in 2025 and in general, and a few tips on how to get into them and persist:

Exercise

Any amount and any kind that you can do is excellent. Let’s repeat that: ANY amount of exercise and ANY kind of exercise is a tremendous win. Start with walking if nothing else speaks to you, but try to make sure it’s a brisk walk and not a shuffle if you can. It doesn’t need to take an hour, and it doesn’t need to be 10,000 steps. Remember, anything you can do is good. Local gyms and community centres usually have classes you can try out if you want to give yoga, pilates, kickboxing or jiujitsu a try.

Running offers the best “bang for your buck” in terms of time and money invested per health and fitness gains, but not everyone can run, and not everyone enjoys running. If you want to give running a start, I recommend using any “couch to 5k” app, and then transitioning to the excellent guided runs and training plans in the free NRC app to keep you going. If you need someone to keep you accountable, either join a group of some sort or find a friend or family member to work out with.

The NTC app offers a huge variety of training options – from yoga to full equipment gym workouts, with some excellent body-weight workouts in between. Swimming is a great low impact way to build up cardio and a bit of strength, and weight-lifting isn’t as intimidating as you think – a pair of dumbbells at home is a great way to start exploring it. Yoga with Adriene is great way to get into yoga if you don’t or can’t take a class and the NTC app seems too intimidating.

Soccer, basketball, baseball and other group sports are great ways to expand your social circle, and tennis, pickleball, badminton are great ways for couples to work out together.

The easiest way of getting into the habit is doing a little something every day, and doing it as soon after you wake up as possible. That way you start the day with a win and some endorphins, which is always a nice way to start your day.

If you think you don’t have time to work out, be honest with yourself and track your time for a day or two. How much time is spent on social media? Binge watching TV? Mindless scrolling? Could you cut some of that out? Could you go to sleep a little earlier and wake up a little earlier so you can have some alone time to exercise and clear your mind?

If you already have a solid exercise routine in place, take the time to diversify it if you can. This goes particularly to us runners: strength train. Swim. Cycle. Do things that aren’t just running, because just running is one of the main causes of such relatively high injury rates amongst runners compared to other athletes.

Reading

Most people don’t read, which is their loss because reading is a superpower. Train your brain off the social media dopamine hamster wheel and teach it how to focus for significant stretches of time by picking up a reading habit. You’re standing in line bored? Open your Kindle app and pick up that detective novel or space opera from where you left off. Replace TikTok, social media and YouTube with books, and make sure that they’re books that you want to read. Don’t go off bestseller lists or influencer recommendations or whatever one this or that award, or is considered a classic. When you’re getting back into reading you need to gradually train your mind to get used to this activity. Start with a book that really interests you (not one that’s impressive), and start with a physical copy because they’re easier to read. Reading will do to your brain what exercise does for all of your body: make you better, stronger, faster, healthier and happier.

If you’re already a reader, then mix things up a bit: if you only read non-fiction, read fiction for a change and vice versa. Try something new, because you may just end up liking it. If you’ve only done light reading so far, pick a challenging book and work your way through it. Treat your brain like a muscle you are training, where you gradually progress to bigger and bigger weights. Challenging books are often the most rewarding, but you probably should start with them.

Journaling

Digital or analog, it doesn’t matter, journaling is worth doing. Gain insight to yourself, unleash your creativity, and let loose to your thoughts in a safe environment. This is the path to self improvement, learning to be kind to yourself, and having a positive mental attitude towards life.

If you’ve never journaled before, start small and simple: pick a notebook that you will enjoy writing in (whatever speaks to you, no matter what other people think), use whatever pen or pencil you fancy, and write 3-5 things you are grateful for each day. Add more sections to your daily journal as you go along: a “story of the day”, an account of what you did or what you consumed and what you thought about it, a nightly summary, etc.

Make it a ritual of sorts: write in your journal every morning and evening, every time you switch between major tasks during the day, or when you feel the need to respond to something (don’t post online, post in your journal instead).

Don’t be intimidated by gorgeous and elaborate works of art in various journaling forums, blogs and on Instagram. These are journals as craft projects, and while they are nice, they aren’t what we’re trying to get to here. It’s OK to add stickers and bits and bobs to your journal, but its purpose shouldn’t be to be photographed and posted. It’s there to work for you, so treat it like a workhorse, not a circus pony. Also, remind yourself that many of these journal photos are there to sell: stickers, washi tape, pens, notebooks, ink, the poster’s journaling course, etc. People rarely show off their “real” journals because if you’re honestly journaling only for yourself, that’s just not something that you’ll want to share.

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 24

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 24 door:

The door

Day 24’s ink is Diamine Salted Caramel, a caramel brown ink with bronze shimmer. I used a Diplomat Elox fountain pen with an extra fine nib to test out this ink.

Col-O-Ring swab

Diamine Salted Caramel is a raw sienna brown ink with a good amount of shading and a good amount of shimmer that shows through even with an extra fine nib. The bronze shimmer gives it a festive, golden sparkle.

Close up of Col-O-Ring swab

Here’s a closer look at the shimmer effect in this ink:

Different angle of Col-O-Ring swab

On original Tomoe River paper you can see both the shading and the shimmer quite significantly:

Writing sample on original Tomoe River paper

However, even on more absorbent Rhodia paper and with an extra fine nib the shimmer and shading are evident. As only the day before yesterday featured a brown ink with shimmer (Diamine Nutmeg), it was a bit surprising to see another brown ink with shimmer make its appearance. I like Salted Caramel more than Nutmeg, though, because it’s a warmer shade of brown.

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

Here’s another look at the Rhodia paper writing sample, where both shading and shimmering are apparent:

Different angle of writing sample on Rhodia paper

And here’s a comparison of Diamine Nutmeg to Diamine Salted Caramel:

Col-O-Ring swab comparison of Diamine Nutmeg to Diamine Salted Caramel

I enjoy sketching with brown inks, and Diamine Salted Caramel was no different. I did have some weird flow issues at start, but they passed so maybe it was a one time thing. Salted Caramel shades beautifully, and so it’s nice to loosely sketch with it.

Bear sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

You can see where I had flow issues on the top right corner of Pumpkin’s head (the faded brown lines beneath the more prominent ones):

Close up of bear sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

This tiny, tiny bear is called Pumpkin and she’s 3 of 4, made by Maddy Aldis, and is very, very heavy as she’s filled with lead shot. I love her wild look and her pastel rainbow colours, which is why I got her.

The bear

I would have liked to have seen a different shade of ink, one that isn’t brown, but having Salted Caramel make its appearance on day 24 isn’t the end of the world. It’s a nice, warm brown with lovely shading and shimmer, and it’s not its fault that Diamine Nutmeg was there two days before it. It’s a great festive ink to write greeting cards with, and I had fun sketching with it.

What do you think of Diamine Salted Caramel? Do you prefer it to Diamine Nutmeg?

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 23

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 23 door:

The door

Day 23’s ink is Diamine Pine Needle, a sap green with chameleon shimmer in green and blue. I used a Lamy AL Star with a broad nib to test out this ink.

Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Pine Needle

Here’s a close up of Diamine Pine Needle’s Col-O-Ring swab. There’s a bit of shading with this ink, and the chameleon shimmer adds interest to what otherwise would be not the most interesting shade of green.

Close up of Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Pine Needle

Here’s the Col-O-Ring swab from a different angle, where you can better see the chameleon shimmer:

Different angle of Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Pine Needle

Diamine Pine Needle is definitely one of the more festive inks in this year’s calendar, and it’s delightfully neither grey nor brown, which is an added bonus. I use sap green as the base green of my watercolour palette so it was nice to get to see it in a different context and with a bit of chameleon pizzazz added.

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

Here’s the chameleon effect on the Rhodia paper. You can also see that Diamine Pine Needle shades quite nicely:

Different angle of writing sample on Rhodia paper

You can see the shading more clearly on original Tomoe River paper:

Writing sample on original Tomoe River paper

Even without the chameleon shimmer Pine Needle would have been a nice ink, but with it it’s one of the best inks in this year’s Inkvent. Here’s today’s bear sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper:

Sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

A different angle to show off the chameleon shimmer of Diamine Pine Needle:

Different angle of sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Today’s tiny bear is Oliver, a one of a kind handmade bear by June Kendall for Hardy Bears, a small English maker. His mohair is two toned and gorgeous and I love his classic teddy bear look in minuscule size.

The bear

Diamine Pine Needle isn’t really the blue green shade of pine needles, but I don’t care much. It’s a nice, festive ink with a good amount of shading and lovely chameleon shimmer, and it’s one of the brightest inks in this year’s Inkvent. It’s like a breath of fresh air after all of the drab and muted colours we’ve seen this year.

What do you think of Diamine Pine Needle? Do you like this shade of green?

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 21

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 21 door:

The door

Day 21’s ink is Diamine Cosmic Glow, and Extreme Sheen ink that has a royal blue base colour and extreme pink sheen. I used a Lamy Safari fountain pen with a medium nib to test out this ink.

Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Cosmic Glow

Diamine Cosmic Glow utterly earns its name and its Extreme Sheen designation. The base colour is a very rich, deep, saturated purplish blue, and the pink-purple sheen overlays much of it, literally making it glow.

Close up of Col-O-Ring swab

Here’s an angled view of the Col-O-Ring swab, where you can better see the extent of the sheen on this ink:

Different angle of the Col-O-Ring swab

Diamine Cosmic Glow sheens less than Diamine Vibe but it still shows a lot of sheen on every letter, even with fine nibs, even on relatively absorbent Rhodia paper:

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

Here’s an angled view of the writing sample where you can see the sheen:

Different angle of writing sample on Rhodia paper

On original Tomoe River paper the sheen is even more clear:

Writing sample on original Tomoe River paper

And you can see it well on Midori MD Cotton paper in today’s bear sketch:

Sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

A closer look at the sheen on Midori MD Cotton paper (you’ll notice that since Diamine Cosmic Glow is a very saturated ink, there’s no shading visible with this ink):

Different angle of sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Today’s bear is very special and precious to me. I bought it a long time ago in a beautiful store in Greenwich, London that no longer exists. It was in the Greenwich market, part of an array of wonderful and unique shops that no longer exist in the market, and it sold doll houses and doll house things for collectors, and collector’s teddy bears. People who were trying to create doll houses that were period specific would go there and could find everything, from the house to the wallpaper, furniture, dolls, cutlery, stoves, etc. You could build a Victorian house, including servants and servant quarters, or a ’60s flat, all to the highest level of precision. Apart from that they had a stunning, large and wide selection of collectors’ teddy bears, and the patience to explain the ins and outs of hand made, limited edition teddy bears to a new collector like me. I purchased Midnight Micky (this bear’s name) because he was a black bear, and the only black bear in a store with hundreds of bears on display. The couple that ran the store explained that black bears are difficult to make, and so there’s very few of them. Midnight Micky is one of two bears made by hand by a small English maker, and I cherish him very much both because I love his looks and because he’s one of the few bears I have from that lovely shop, Greenwich Bears.

The bear

Diamine Cosmic Glow is likely going to be one of this Inkvent’s stars, and not only because so many of this year’s inks are on the darker or more muted side of things. Its rich and beautiful base royal blue colour in itself would make it pop, but with the added glow of extreme purple-pink sheen it really becomes a super-star. I wouldn’t trust this ink with a vintage fountain pen, and it takes a good long while to dry, but it’s a fabulous ink and one that I would consider buying a full bottle of.

What do you think of Diamine Cosmic Glow? How do you think it compares to Diamine Vibe?

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 20

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 20 door:

The door

Day 20’s ink is Diamine Potpourri a standard mauve ink with plenty of shading. I used a Lamy AL Star fountain pen with a fine nib to test out this ink.

Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Potpourri

There is an insane amount of shading with this ink, even with a fine nib. It’s a very dusky pink, not the most attractive or bright of colours but the shading makes it much more interesting.

Close up of Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Potpourri

Even on Rhodia paper with a fine nib you can see the amount of shading you can get with Diamine Potpourri. Thankfully, despite the name, Diamine didn’t make this one a scented ink. As it is it’s an unusual colour with unusual shading, so it’s worth a second glance even though there have been other inks in similar shades in the past and even in this calendar (Diamine Masquerade, Diamine Wilted Rose, Diamine Harmony, Diamine Memory Lane come to mind).

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

Here’s a close up on the shading you get with this ink. It’s pretty significant even on Rhodia paper:

Close up of writing sample on Rhodia paper

Diamine Potpourri’s shading gets even more pronounced on original Tomoe River paper:

Writing sample on original Tomoe River paper

As I expected, Diamine Potpourri shades even better on Midori MD Cotton paper, and it’s a nice ink to sketch with. Beyond that there’s not much to say about it – it’s a standard, well behaved ink.

Bear sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Today’s bear is a Dean’s Rag Book company. He’s unusual in that he’s doesn’t have the regular Dean’s bear look. I bought him second hand in York, and he looks as good as new, and very classically “teddy bear” (apart from the blue mohair).

The bear

Diamine Potpourri isn’t a very holiday themed ink, but it is on the more practical side of the inks in this year’s Inkvent. It’s a standard ink, that’s clearly readable, has an unusual colour and an unusually prominent amount of shading. It is, however, a bit drab, so I do expect it to be somewhat divisive. At least it isn’t a scented ink…

Do you like Diamine Potpourri or is it too washed out and drab for you?

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 18

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 18 door:

The door

Day 18’s ink is Diamine Vibe, a dark turquoise ink with a pink “Extreme Sheen”. This is in fact the most extreme of all the Extreme Sheen inks so far – there’s so much sheen that you can barely see the base ink colour, even with the Lamy AL Star fine nibbed fountain pen that I used to test this ink.

Col-O-Ring swatch of Diamine Vibe

Tilting the Col-O-Ring swab just a little bit shows just how much magenta sheen there is: you can see the base in colour of Diamine Vibe in just the tips of certain letters and the edge of the ink swab. The rest is just glowing sheen.

Different angle of Col-O-Ring swatch of Diamine Vibe

Even in my Rhodia writing sample, on paper that’s relatively absorbent and with a fine nib you can see the deep magenta sheen. It’s wild to write with this ink: you put down words on the page in a gorgeous dark turquoise and watch them dry into a vibrant pink. It’s like a magic trick.

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

Unsurprisingly the sheen is even more extreme on original Tomoe River paper. You have to tilt the page away from the light source to even get a hint of the base ink colour of Diamine Vibe. You can see it here compared to another extreme sheen ink, Diamine Grotto.

Writing sample on Tomoe River paper

And here’s a closer look at these two extreme sheen inks on Tomoe River paper:

Close up of writing sample on Tomoe River paper

I tried to get a none sheening angle of today’s bear sketch, but U was only partially successful – you don’t get the sheen but the base ink looks much darker and almost black from the view I did get. The sketch was done on Midori MD Cotton paper, and as to be expected, Diamine Vibe was a sheen machine, and it took ages for it to dry.

Sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Here’s a look at the amount of sheen I got in this sketch:

Sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Here’s today’s bear, Finn from Charlie Bears. I bought him in York, and he’s cute but unnumbered.

The bear

I love the base colour of Diamine Vibe and the extreme sheen on it is WILD. I may find myself buying a full bottle of this ink just for the magical colour changing effect when the ink dries and sheen emerges. Is it practical? No. It takes forever to dry and I wouldn’t let it anywhere near my vintage pens. Is it holiday themed? Not really. But in the end, who cares – Diamine Vibe is a seriously cool ink with a big wow effect that is really fun.

Isn’t that something to celebrate?

Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 15

This is the Diamine Inkvent 2024 Day 15 door:

The door

Day 15’s ink is Diamine Sleigh Ride, a burnt sienna (i.e. reddish brown) “Extreme Sheen” ink. In this case the sheen is more pronounced than the last “Extreme Sheen” ink, Diamine Grotto. You can see in the Col-O-Ring swab just how prominent the green sheen on this ink is, at times completely obscuring the reddish-brown ink beneath it. I used a Diplomat Aero with an extra fine nib to test out this ink.

Col-O-Ring swab of Diamine Sleigh Ride

Here’s a closeup of the Diamine Sleigh Ride Col-O-Ring swab. It’s a testament to the amount of sheen in this ink that you can see the green sheen on every letter even though I used an extra fine nib with this ink.

Close up of Col-O-Ring swab

On original Tomoe River Paper the sheening is even more pronounced:

Writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper

Depending on your viewing angle you can see the sheen as shading (as it appears in the word “Diamine” in the photo below) or as sheening (as you can see the same word in the photo above). Drying time, as is to be expected, was also “extreme”.

Different angle of writing sample on original Tomoe River Paper

On Rhodia paper you see less sheen and more of the shading, as it’s more absorbent:

Writing sample on Rhodia paper

But on Kokuyo paper you can see the sheening very well (the camera had issues focusing here, I suspect because of the high reflection from the sheen).

Writing sample on Kokuyo paper

Here’s a close up of the writing sample on Kokuyo paper:

Close up of writing sample on Kokuyo paper

On Midori MD Cotton paper the sheening is also extremely visible. You can see it clearly in the writing sample on this paper and in the closeup of the bear sketch later on:

Bear sketch on Midori MD Cotton paper

Here’s a close up of the bear sketch. It looks like I was sketching with a green-brown ink at points because the ink sheens at every opportunity:

Closeup of the sheen on Midori MD Cotton paper

Today’s bear is another Dean’s Rag Book Company bear (they’re my favourite bear maker). Franz is a small bear that I bought second hand recently in York. He’s a delightful little fellow with the classic Dean’s look:

The bear

If you don’t like sheen on your ink, then Diamine Sleigh Ride is definitely not for you. Personally I think the effect here is striking, even though I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen a brown-green combination for a Christmas themed ink, and I most certainly wouldn’t have thought to call it “Sleigh Ride”. I don’t see myself adding this ink to my collection, but if you’re looking for unusual brown inks, this may be the ink for you.

What do you think of Diamine Sleigh Ride? How do you think it compares to Diamine Grotto, the other “Extreme Sheen” ink?

Weekly Update: Catch Up Edition

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a weekly update, but as part of my effort to get back to a regular blogging schedule I want to start posting these.

Here are some cute kittens cuddling together to cheer you up

Reading

I’ve recently finished Ben Aaronovich’s “The Masquerades of Spring” (nice enough, I’m hoping to review it later) and John McPhee’s “Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process” which was fascinating and very well written. Then I started reading “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. It’s this year’s Booker winner and yet I’m struggling to read it because it’s so dull and lifeless. I’m a quarter of the way through but I may just give up on it in favour of more interesting things on my list.

Running

After participating in a 5k and 10k at Disney World last month, I’ve been struggling to get back to my training plan. The solution, as always, is a combination of patience, perseverance and enrolling to another race. I have a 10k at the end of February and I want to be in good shape for it as the running conditions will likely be less than ideal (i.e. too hot).

Other things

  • At the Gentleman Stationer there’s some very good advice on which stationery items make for bad gift ideas. I will add to this: don’t buy the artist in your life art supplies unless they gave you very specific information on what to get them. Good art supplies are usually not inexpensive and you’re very likely to go wrong if you just try to muddle your way through an art supply store. Either get them a gift card to their favourite art supply store (a brick and mortar one, preferably), or ask them to tell what they want. If you insists on going on this route then sketchbooks from Stillman and Birn (go for the softcover ones and never buy coloured paper), or a set of Faber Castel 9000 sketching pencils will likely be welcome.
  • If you haven’t gone to see the movie “Wicked,” then go and see it. It’s a great adaptation to a very good musical and I promise you’ll enjoy it.
  • I went to a pre-auction exhibition today and got to see this original cover for a pre-war Pelikan catalog created in gauche and bronze powder by El Lissitzky:
Not a great photo for a pretty great design

The sky was melting into the sea this evening:

I hope you have a great week!

Diamine Inkvent 2024: Spoiler Free Introduction

It’s Inkvent time again!

As I have done every year since Diamine started issuing their Inkvent calendars, I will be reviewing each of the inks in the calendar, publishing one post per day for 25 days, and then a summary post looking back at the calendar as a whole. As a reminder, there are 24 doors with 12ml bottles of fountain pen ink behind them, and one 30ml bottle of ink behind door 25. All of the inks in the Inkvent calendar are new for the calendar, and they will all likely be issued in full “black edition” glass bottles sometime mid 2025.

The Diamine Black Edition 2024 Inkvent Calendar

This year’s calendar is the Black edition. You can find my review of the 2019 Blue edition starting here, the 2021 Red edition starting here, the 2022 Green edition starting here, and the 2023 Purple edition starting here.

This year I will be using a Rhodia lined notebook for my writing samples (it’s a fairly standard fountain pen friendly paper that should be a good baseline for the ink), a Midori MD Cotton notebook for the bear sketches that I will be doing (the MD Cotton is a more expensive alternative to the Rhodia, but features better paper), and a Col-O-Ring for the ink swabs. I tried to use dip pens at the start of the first sample, to save me needing to fill and clean up 25 fountain pens, but as I didn’t like the ink flow with my dip nibs, I will be filling up 25 fountain pens again this year. It’s a mammoth undertaking, and as I have taken a break from posting for a while, I’m a bit daunted by the prospect.

But we do hard things because they’re worth doing, and in this case they will help me get back to a regular posting schedule and a regular sketching schedule.

My Flock of Fountain Pens for the Pelikan Hubs 2024

We just had the 2024 Pelikan Hubs event and I wanted to talk about which Pelikan fountain pens I brought with me to the event, and to note a few things that may be useful for those looking to get into Pelikan fountain pens.

This was my flock:

From left to right they are:

  • Pelikan M800 Blue O Blue – one of the most expensive pens in my collection, and one that I (partially) got as a gift for my birthday. This pen has an 18 Karat fine nib that is soft and springy. Note: Some of Pelikan’s gold nibs are softer than others, so it’s worth testing the pen out before you buy it, especially if you’re not used to Pelikan nibs. This pen has a semi transparent blue swirly body and a typical Pelikan wide and juicy nib.
  • Pelikan M805 Ocean Swirl – gorgeous, gorgeous pen that draws attention every time I use it. The depth and shade of the material is something else, and the palladium trim and rhodium plated 18k nib work very well with the turquoise and black shades of this pen’s body. This pen also has a fine 18k nib but this one is much firmer than the one in the Blue O Blue.
  • Pelikan M620 Place De La Concorde – so, so glad I got this pen though it was expensive for me at the time. This was part of Pelikan’s city series and the only Pelikan I have in the M600 size, which is just a shade longer than the M400. There’s marbling in this pen’s stripes, as is befitting its name, and the 18K M nib is wide and juicy and of a standard Pelikan nib firmness.
  • Pelikan M400 W. Germany vintage black and brown tortoise shell – I brought this pen so that people could compare the old tortoise shell design to its modern counterpart. There’s just one band on the cap, the bottom and top finials are more rounded and there’s the old Pelikan logo engraved (not screen printed) onto the finial. The nib design is also completely different, though it still feels like a standard fine 14k Pelikan nib (wide and on the firm side).
  • Pelikan M400 white tortoise shell – this is the modern counterpart of the previous pen, and it has a 14k medium nib that is on the soft side. Both the black and white tortoise shell pens have semi transparent pen bodies so you can easily see the pen level through them.
  • Pelikan M100 storm trooper – on the rarer side of Pelikans, this steel nibbed fountain pen has a medium nib that feels just as good as Pelikan’s gold nibs. While I understand why Pelikan didn’t want to continue making M100 still nibbed fountain pens, I kind of wish they would have. These could have been slightly higher end alternatives to Lamy’s Al Stars and Safaris – a step down from the M200.
  • Pelikan M320 Pearl – the rarest Pelikan in my flock, and always a crowd pleaser. This fountain pen is tiny, and came as part of a set with Pelikan brown ink and a nice presentation box. I bought it more than 10 years ago in Berlin, and nobody was interested in them because of the pen’s size. It’s a piston filler, a fantastically well made pen and it has a very soft 14k medium nib.

Here’s a writing sample for all these pens:

Writing sample on a Pelikan Hub 2022 notepad

Did you go to a Pelikan Hub this year? If so, which pens did you bring with you?