Happy Friday! As always, we’ve been bustling here, and a few new products have been trickling through onto the website and in the shop. Caleb has learned how to climb onto chairs and then onto the kitchen table, so Jon has been hiding all of our chairs during the day. He’s basically smarter than the dog, now. I read that really intelligent dogs are a match for 2-3 year olds, but I think it’s official that our dog is not the sharpest extra fine point in the pen roll. He’s like a broad/double-broad.

I wanted to share a few snaps of some beautiful Diamine inks. This is all because:

1. We’re looking ahead to the next few weeks as potentially halting the shipping of Diamine because of cold weather.
2. We got a new shipment of Diamine and there’s lots of great stuff in it.

We’ve not only restocked our entire line, we’ve also received just a few bottles of some inks we don’t normally carry to try out – we’ve got a small number of inks like Steel Blue and Bilberry, and also just a few of each of the 150th Anniversary Inks. The Anniversary Inks are in 40mL bottles, and are triangular, so if you get the whole set, it forms a delicious and inky pie.

These 150th Anniversary inks were actually released last year, and we’ve been ordering them as special order by request. I hadn’t had a chance to try them, and we figured since we won’t be ordering new Diamine in over the winter, we might as well bring in a few. I’ve heard good things about the Regency Blue, especially. These inks we won’t have on the website, but you can e-mail us if you are interested in ordering online and we can help set you up! Of course they’re on the shop shelves as well.

So, to celebrate all this, I thought I would share two beautiful browns in the Diamine line. I chose these two because they’re actually quite similar, with just a hint of a difference – the difference is enough to make both interesting, but it’s nice to be able to compare them together.

The first is Ancient Copper, one of our most popular Diamine inks in the shop. I must admit it took a while to grow on me, despite rave reviews from customers. I remember a customer once coming in and telling me that Ancient Copper was the ultimate ink, and then I think he bought two bottles. At that time, I thought I was more of the Ochre brown type, not the reddish copper brown type, but it turns out I am both. I am as surprised as you ;)

Diamine Ancient Copper, Platinum Balance Medium Nib, Rhodia 90gsm “R” Premium Paper

Diamine Ancient Copper

Diamine Ancient Copper

The second is one of the 150th Anniversary inks – Terracotta.

Diamine Ancient Copper on the left, with a bit more red to it, and Diamine 150th Anniversary Terracotta on the right, a bit more brown on the orange side. Both of these were done off the back of a fountain pen, rather than a q-tip. 

Diamine 150th Anniversary Terracotta, TWSBI 580 Broad, Rhodia 90gsm “R” Premium Paper

Diamine 150th Anniversary Terracotta, TWSBI 580 Broad, Rhodia 90gsm Premium “R” Paper

Diamine 150th Anniversary Terracotta, TWSBI 580 Broad, Rhodia 90gsm “R” Premium Paper

These are two very, very similar inks! I love brown inks, so I’m all about the slight differences in shades, but these two are gorgeous browns. Both are amazing shaders, which is probably one of the most important qualities for me, along with both having good flow.

Neither of them are waterproof, and I do find that Ancient Copper gets a bit unfriendly if you leave it in your pen for too long. I haven’t had any problems with that long-term, as it cleans out pretty well, but I wouldn’t leave Ancient Copper in a pen that you think you might not be using for a while.

I must say though, if you’re not a real brown person, I highly suspect just one of these two may do for you. If it came down to a desert island, I waffle back and forth, and sometimes I think I might go with the Ancient Copper because it’s that rich, warm, sultry kind of ink, but then Terracotta has that really earthy brown thing going. I also really like J. Herbin Lie de the, which is a bit more of the grey brown, also very nice.

If you’ve followed along with our shop here in Canada in the past, you’ll know that we’ve run into some problems shipping Diamine in the winter. With other bottles, depending on the weather, we can siphon out a bit of the ink, and include it in a sample vial with your bottle, so in case of freezing temperatures, any expansion has room to go without breaking the cap or the bottle. However, we’ve found that Diamine just doesn’t do as well shipping in the winter, and we’ve had a larger number of broken Diamine bottles than all of our other brands combined.

We’re hoping to get another shipment of Diamine before winter comes. Our distributor will definitely be holding off, as they have to ship much larger and heavier boxes filled with ink that have a reduced chance of survival, but I mentioned before that it seems like Diamine has changed its bottles, so they may be stronger when we can pack them up singly. We typically wait until we get a few broken ones before we stop shipping them, so who knows – maybe we’ll end up shipping all winter!

As well if you’ve been following us for any length of time, you know we don’t normally do this, but to celebrate the coming of winter and Christmas and eggnog and the hibernation of Diamine inks, we’re having a sale! 10% off all Diamine bottled inks & samples.

From now until midnight, Friday, November 20th, EST, receive 10% off with the code DANCINGDIAMINE online, and you can also get 10% off in the shop. We’re in stock of all inks now, but if we do run out, unfortunately there are no rain checks.

(The 150th Anniversary inks are $15, and also eligible for the 10% sale. Unfortunately, since we ordered so few bottles of these, we don’t have samples available for them.)

It’s Jessica W.! Jessica got six of the answers correct, although a few of you were also close with five. I can appreciate that it’s harder than it looks! I mostly only know inks that we sell, so I love looking at other inks that customers bring in.

Jessica – (I hope without sounding too creepy), I think we have your info on file! However, just be on the safe side, could you send me an e-mail – wonderliz@wonderpens.ca? I hope you’re excited for some surprise treats heading your way :)

In case you were curious, here are the correct answers:

1. Diamine Oxblood
2. Noodler’s Squeteague
3. Noodler’s Antietam
4. Rohrer & Klingner Verdigris
5. Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu
6. J. Herbin Cacao de bresil
7. Waterman Mysterious Blue
8. J. Herbin Ambre de birmanie
9. Sailor Sei-Boku
10. Diamine Autumn Oak
11. Diamine Ochre
12. Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun

Thanks to everyone who participated! :)

***

And I also wanted to share a great video made by Mairead Shaw. Mairead is now a university student, but she started interviewing Jon and filming material when she was in high school! I think it took so long because Mairead was mostly working around her school schedule and when she was in the city and had time to visit the shop – actually both the 906 Dundas West shop, and now here on the east end.

She recently put everything together into a short documentary called “Write On” about writing and the shop and she’s got Jon’s handsome mug in it, too.

I’ve watched it three or four times already! I think it’s amazing that someone like Mairead would not only take so much interest in handwriting and a tiny independent shop like ours, but also put it together in such a great short documentary. I think Jon looks just a bit cranky, but really, she’s captured the essence of why we write!

We get asked quite a bit about how we got into this business of selling ‘old-fashioned’ writing tools, and whether or not handwriting is dying, but Mairead’s film shows that there is interest – serious, or fun, or growing, or just there – from younger generations, kids in school now, or folks Jon and my age, or older. I think writing is something profound to who we are as humans, and its ‘comeback’ is pretty amazing.

I loved especially seeing glimpses of the old 906 Dundas West shop (and Jon’s face pre-beard). Sometimes people come into the new shop and they say, oh this shop is so much better! Bigger and more space and you can run calligraphy classes! And of course this is all true, but the old space will always be special. We stopped by not so long ago, and Studio 348 has turned it into this beautiful and elegant space, but I think fondly of the cluttered shelves and boxes of stock.

As always, there are big and small plans for blog posts percolating away. My vintage pen from the Scriptus Toronto Pen Show may be turning up sometime soon. My blog post about it will basically be links to other articles that know more about vintage pens than I do. Shop updates for the holidays. New pens from Pilot have been turning up and more are to come – some pretty exciting ones you all have been asking about since forever. Jon keeps joking that I always have to add on an extra unit for myself. One of each! He’s mostly kidding. Stay tuned.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself, because the dreamiest thing of all is that part of my job is writing about stationery.

A few weeks ago, we paid a visit to our Kaweco distributors out in Burlington (more on that to come soon! including photos!), and it was great to see and hold and feel some of Kaweco pens we don’t regularly carry. We saw some real beauties, including the Kaweco 1910 Eyedropper ($550 CAD), which I am hoping Jon may one day get me for Christmas.

We did, however, pick up the last eight of the Kaweco Sport Luxe Fountain Pens!

The bad news is that they are literally the last eight units because the pen has been discontinued. And actually, as of writing this post, we only have three left. And coincidentally, one of our favourite customers picked one up earlier today! Great minds think alike :)

Jon is always a bit reluctant to bring in pens that have such limited stock, since you do all this work taking pictures and promoting it, but you only have a handful of pens, but I knew as soon as I held it in my hand that I had to have one – and of course I need to blog about all my new acquisitions. Jon figured if I was going to blog about it, we might as well bring in the remaining stock.

I am a big fan of the Kaweco Sport, even with the slightly-difficult-to-use squeeze converter. In fact, the Sport was one of the first pens we ever carried. The size and the design and the weight of it is just right for me. I love converting my pens into eyedroppers, but I also use cartridges every once in a while. I have more than a few Sports, but I use my clear one the most, because I can eyedropper it, and because the fact that it’s eyedropper-ed means I have a ton of ink it in so it’s always “in use” (i.e. it takes so long to run out of ink that it’s months before I clean it out).

The Kaweco Sport Luxe fountain pen is basically what the name implies – the luxury version of the Sport fountain pen. It’s identical in shape and size to the Sport, but it’s got a few nice upgrades for the true Kaweco  Sport fans (like me). If you know the Sport pen design is definitely for you, this higher end version would be perfect for you.

It has the same length as the Sport, that is a bit more manageable, especially if you have larger hands, if you post the cap on the back when you’re writing.

Jon Chan, hand model.

The first big difference is that the Luxe is made out of acrylic rather than the ABS plastic on the regular sport, and the finishes and trim are gold-plated brass. The second big difference is that the clip is integrated into the cap, so you won’t be able to remove it, and it also won’t slide around on you. Additionally, it has a band around the end of the barrel.

The etching on the side of the barrel is also a bit nicer – it’s a grey, clean etching, that’s a bit subtle and harder to see unless you look just right. I feel like the integrated clip and the etching make the pen look a bit more vintage in style than the Sport, although the Sport also does have a vintage flair to it.

The brass ring in the barrel and the brass in the integrated clip also make the Luxe just a touch heavier in the hand, although not so much so that it’s really noticeable unless you’re thinking about it.

Kaweco Sport Demonstrator on top, and the Kaweco Sport Luxe on the bottom

Unfortunately, this pen only comes in a medium nib. The nib is a steel nib that’s gold plated, but it seems to have a slightly darker hue to it, I think maybe to match the clip and the trim, which is just the slightest bit deeper than the standard gold clip that’s removable for the regular Sport.  However, it’s the same 060 size nib so you can exchange nibs with other Sports or Students or Al-Sports, etc.

Kaweco Medium Steel Nib, Sailor Jentle Blue

For me, the biggest downside to this pen is that I don’t think you can convert it into an eyedropper. I used a flashlight to get a closer look inside the barrel, and I think the trim that goes on the end of the barrel is metal and visible from the inside. Ink can sometimes react with metal with direct contact, so converting to an eyedropper is probably not a good idea.

As someone who has long loved the design and shape of the Kaweco Sport, I couldn’t resist getting the higher quality version of the Kaweco Luxe. Jon sometimes says I can scammed too easily – “it’s about to be discontinued”  has been the final nail in the coffin of many, many purchases – but I really couldn’t resist. A pen I already love, but in a suped up and now discontinued version??

That’s not to say I’ll stop using my other Sports, since I have a 2.4 mm nib in my eyedropper Demonstrator for “practising calligraphy”/doodling and different nibs and inks in different Sports, but I’m certainly enjoying this one. I’ve actually mostly been using the Luxe for letter writing just to feel a bit more elegant…and also grocery lists and phone messages ;)

Crazy things are happening around here!

1. Caleb has learned to walk backwards, and now he’s doing this crazy moonwalking/shuffling backwards thing all the time. He hasn’t fallen over yet because he takes very, very tiny steps, but it’s just a matter of time.
2. Some folks from Pilot Corporation in Japan came and visited our shop.

Crazy! I know!!

You may remember last year we were thrilled to have VP of Crestar, Pilot’s Canadian distributor, come and visit our shop. Robert laughed at Caleb and told us some funny stories and we were all warmed through and through.

Looking back on it, I had titled the blog post “A Visit From Pilot,” even though it was really Robert from Crestar visiting, because Crestar and Pilot are one. However, now it makes this blog post seem a bit less exciting, even though this time, we actually had people from Pilot Corp in Japan walk through our doors!

(Not that it wasn’t exciting have Robert come and visit… but having some folks from Pilot Japan is pretty crazy for us.)

L-R Brad Pirie (President of Pirie Mckie & Associates), Yoshio Wada (Deputy General Manager of International Sales, Pilot Corp), Hitoshi Takiushi (International Sales, Pilot Corp), Linda Hamelin (VP of Sales & Marketing, Crestar), Jon (Head Pen Clerk, Wonder Pens)

Yoshio Wada and Hitoshi Takiushi came in from Japan to tour and visit the Jacksonville, Florida Pilot USA facility last week, and this week are in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to visit with Crestar.

I was a bit shocked when I got a call from Crestar letting me know that they would be coming down to Toronto and saying hello here at our shop!

Caleb was napping when the group stopped by early afternoon, and I was kind of hoping he would stay asleep for the entire visit, but I don’t think he’s going to be the kind of kid that likes to miss out on things. He woke up early and cranky in time to say hello and good-bye. Someone joked and called Caleb a “trouble-maker,” not knowing that Caleb is more of a “catastrophe-maker.”

The heir to the Wonder Pens throne, in a purple onesie, crying as Hitoshi says hello to him. 

It was great! We said hello, we talked a bit about what’s all happening and what’s to come. We already have some pretty big plans coming up with Pilot early next year, and I can’t wait to share everything with you.

Hitoshi took some photos of the shop, including some of Pilot gel and sign pens in our mismatched beakers and tea mugs and recycled coconut milk cans… Linda from Crestar suggested we look into the Pilot presentation displays :)

As a very, very fortunate coincidence, we had just gotten our signs installed last week!

Tagged: Pilot

In our new shop, we inherited a floor to ceiling section of wall that’s covered in chalkboard. The teacher in me is all over the idea of bringing up “students” to the board to have them practise their cursive writing, but we’ve actually placed our counter in front of it, since it’s the centre of the shop. Ironically, while Caleb is a bit fan of marker and crayon on the walls, he has yet to really show any interest in chalking up the chalkboard wall.

Because it’s in the centre of the shop, and because of the transient nature of chalkboards, we thought it would be fun to have quotations or artwork or anything there that might be a spark of inspiration or humour in someone’s day.

For our opening day, and for a while after, we wrote up one of my all-time favourite quotations about stationery: “There was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery” from Dickens’ Great Expectations. The longer version of it is absolutely delightful:

Dinner over, we produced a bundle of pens, a copious supply of ink, and a goodly show of writing and blotting paper. For there was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.

-Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

I feel like I could live in that passage forever, especially after having just been fed dinner ;) Imagine what a truly wonderful evening that might be, dinner over, maybe warmly lit in Dickens’ Victorian era candlelight, and pulling out pens and supplies of ink and a ‘goodly show’ of writing papers.

Just this past week, we updated it again, this time with a quote from Harry Potter’s famous wand shop Ollivanders: “The wand chooses the wizard.”

When I was up and down the ladder trying to sketch out Hogwarts, I thought maybe I would do a time lapse thing on putting it up on the wall. However, while one of the greatest advantages of living behind the shop is that I get to do a lot of my ‘work’ in my pyjamas, I’m pretty sure me in my pyjamas is more than you bargained for.

We see it all the time here: someone comes in to try out a few pens, and all of a sudden, they just know that this one is the one for them. The wand chooses the wizard, and we’re all wizards at heart.

I love this idea that the wand, this inanimate tool of casting magic and spells, has a life and mind of its own and is the one doing the choosing, because the pen is just as powerful, if not more so. A pen is an extension of the hand. Stories and poetry and letters and messages and even spells written down and passed along through generations and time.

But what better way to share our space than to offer our chalkboard up for students and new artists to create their masterpieces!

While no one should work for free, unfortunately, we are not in a position to offer anything extravagant: $100 and publicity on our social media and for all who come to visit our shop. Your artwork will stay on our shop wall for at least a month, and maybe longer.

So if you know any art or calligraphy students or emerging artists who might like some just a little bit of help getting their name out there, or someone with a creative soul looking for a way to share some good vibes, send them our way!

We’re looking for artwork: calligraphic, typographic, lettering or without words at all. Unfortunately, this might not be the right space to create artwork that explicitly promotes a company or brand – we’re rather looking for artwork for the sake of artwork, and something that will fit in with the philosophy and vision of our shop.

We’re hoping for something that encourages creativity, a more thoughtful or slower life, analogue tools or writing stuff. While it would be great if it had to do with writing or pens & paper, it doesn’t have to be.

If you are interested, please send an e-mail our way! You can reach me at wonderliz@wonderpens.ca. We’re hoping to start setting up some new art on the walls in the new year.

Please include your name, your occupation, any ideas or sketches you may have. I can’t wait to hear from you! :)

The holidays are coming! I feel a bit jittery and excited just thinking about eggnog and hot chocolate and staying inside with some tea and fountain pens as I look out at the snow falling along with the temperatures.

We are hustling here already, with boxes and boxes coming through the doors, and stacked up everywhere as we unpack, count and organize. We’ve been making ink samples like crazy at night, and have already gone through an entire season of House (answer: it’s a blood clot, and the patient needs some epi and maybe a dose of Heparin).

With the holidays we’ve got a few bits and pieces of news for you.

Winter Ink Shipping
We are very close to starting to send packages to the post office, depending on your location. It’s something we request on our end, to make sure your ink gets to you as safely as possible. We will also start siphoning off some ink into a sample vial (which we will include with your order) so in case of freezing, there is room for expansion.

We understand that in your situation, your home may be still be receiving door to door delivery and someone will be home, but your package may not come straight from a warm & toasty post office directly to your home – it may have to pit stop on an unheated truck outside all day or be left in a pick-up box for longer than anticipated. Please see our winter shipping post for more details.

Brick & Mortar Extended Hours
Our bricks & mortar will have extended hours, if you’re local to us and want to come and visit. You can always check our shop calendar to see if we’re open late on a date you’re planning on coming down.

If you’re doing holiday shopping, earlier is better! We are already getting visits from people stocking up for the holidays, and we do our very best to make sure everything is in stock, there are inevitably always a few items that run out.

Online Ordering Shipping timelines

*Please remember that there is always, always a small chance that your order will experience unexpected delays, even if you place your order with plenty of time to spare – mistakes happen, packages fall off trucks or get misrouted or get sent to the wrong province. With the increased volume during the holidays, Canada Post also increases its capacity, but earlier is better!

Earlier is better. We are pumped! We are ready to go! And we hope to hit the ground running as the holidays come. But earlier is better so there’s no danger of what you’re looking for being out of stock, so we can process it and get it out the door as quickly as possible, and to avoid any bottlenecking at Canada Post as the holiday orders start crunching through.

Based on our experience, placing your online orders with our shop by the following guidelines leaves a safe amount of time for your orders to arrive through Canada Post. Canada Post does provide service over the weekends through the holidays.

Within Toronto & GTA: Friday, December 18th
Within Ontario & Quebec: Wednesday, December 16th
All other provinces: Friday, December 11th
Any rural address, Northern provinces or territories: Friday, December 4th

If you are in an emergency situation and you need something faster, you can e-mail us for a quote on Express shipping. However, because we ourselves experience a higher volume than normal, and each Express shipping quote needs to be manually calculated based on size & weight of package and destination, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide the quote and process your order as quickly as we normally would during the non-holiday season. We will try our best! But it is safest to order early. We don’t like disappointment at Christmas anymore than you do :)

***

If your package is a gift, you can leave us a note in the order comments. We do not provide gift wrapping at this time, but we can certainly hand write a short message on a gift tag, and include a packing slip with no prices.

At long last! We have online gift certificates. For those particularly difficult to shop for, consider a gift certificate!

That’s about it from us for holiday logistics! I apologize if this was a bit of a dry read, but I hope that as we get the logistics out of the way, we can get right back into celebrating the holidays with good cheer.

This is a magical time of year, and particularly for us – even though this will be Caleb’s second Christmas, it kind of seems like his first where he’s not just a crying blob (although sometimes still crying and sometimes still just a blob). Snow and Christmas trees and Christmas cookies and twinkle lights. And holiday sweaters. And candy canes. The most wonderful time of the year :)

As someone who loves everything about sending out snail mail (writing letters, finding stamps, addressing envelopes,going to the post office or mailbox…), Christmas is like… well, Christmas.

I’ve been getting myself mentally prepared for this marathon of snail mailing excitement. I’ve loaded up on Santa Claus washi tape, and this is it! Show time :)

Whether you’ve got custom cards with a family photo, or you’re picking up a few cards designed by local artists, or if you’re crafty enough to make your own, this is the time of year to be sending out good wishes through the post. We’ve got a few festive cards from Gotamago in our shop (Note: I added these to the website with my very own tapping fingers, which is why they’re formatted a bit funny, but I’m assuming Jon is going to fix that lickety-split).

As I’m getting ready to send our season’s greetings, I thought I would share a few tips and tricks on getting everything safely and on time through the post, and with good cheer.

Ahead of time, make a list of everyone you’re sending a card to, and ensure you have all of their addresses. This will really speed things up, and prevent any frustration so some cards won’t be put ‘on hold’ and possibly lost until you can find the address. It also makes the whole card writing and preparing for mailing process a lot faster.

Clear off the table, get some eggnog, and gather all of your supplies together – your cards, pens, stamps, envelopes, and anything else you’re using to make your cards beautiful. Play some Christmas jingles. If your kids are involved, let them select a few fun markers or colours to use as they sign the cards themselves, or draw a small picture.

Typically you want to send your cards out to family, friends or close work colleagues around the second week of December. You don’t want to leave it too late, both because you want your recipient to have enough time enjoy the cards, and also because they might want to send one back. If you’re sending cards to businesses, consider sending them even a bit earlier, as some businesses close early, and you’ll want them to receive the card before they leave for the holidays.

Adoration of the Magi stamps plus a Holiday Moose in action, from Canada Post

Christmas stamps are out at Canada Post! I’m sure your local post office will also have some. While I don’t know that I can say no to a Christmas moose, I’m really liking the “Adoration of the Magi” stamps. If you have the inclination, you can also consider using vintage Christmas stamps – these can be a bit of a hunt, but you can look on places like eBay or at stamp fairs for a good deal on them.

Sometimes I like to do a bit of extra in addressing envelopes – it doesn’t always have to be super fancy, but I like to break out my flex pens and doodle for fun, so I might as well put it to good use ;)

Remember to use a permanent or semi-permanent ink if you’re addressing envelopes with fountain pen ink. I myself don’t always use permanent fountain pen ink because even if a few drops of rain get on, there’s usually just a bit of ink that loosens from the envelope. However, it’s Canada and it’s winter and there might be snow and wet hands shuffling envelopes around.

You can also rub a bit of candle wax or clear nail polish over the address to make sure it gets there safely.

Remember to put a return address! Especially if you may have moved recently, this is a good way for the recipient to make sure they have the correct address, and they may even want to send you a card or a letter back!

If there’s one time of year for an added touch, it’s Christmas. I love wax seals, so if I have time I put them on envelopes year round, but at Christmas a little extra formality and expense is just perfect.

Most important of all: take the time to write something special! Christmas is the time of year that gives us an opportunity to connect and re-connect with people in our lives, and there is nothing more heart-warming than receiving a card from someone that includes a handwritten message inside. Warm wishes for a happy holiday of course, but isn’t it kind of something else to read something personal and meaningful in a card?

And lastly, in case you forgot, this is my absolute favourite thing about Canada Post: your kids can send a letter to Santa, at the North Pole, and he’ll write back!

SANTA CLAUS
NORTH POLE H0H 0H0
CANADA

Letters need to be sent by December 16th, and remember to include your full return address :)

I’m a bit heart-broken to say that our Letter Writing Club is canceled for December, possibly the worst month for it, other than February (Valentine’s Day). It’s because we’ve extended our shop hours, but we’re also preparing ourselves to make sure all of your holiday orders get out the door as fast as possible.

By the second Sunday, it may be a touch on the late side to get your cards out in the mail, but it would have been delicious to celebrate the season with you all, and some egg tarts. I’ll be thinking of all of you as I write my Christmas cards late into the night!

…Who knew I wasn’t thinking about you all the time ;)

A special treat today!

I don’t normally share too much about vintage pens, mainly because I don’t have too many and really because I don’t know too much about the ones I have. However, I picked up a vintage pen at 2015 Scriptus Toronto Pen Show, and it’s a beauty. You can bet no sticky hands are grabbing this one to wave around and drop behind the couch.

Parker Lucky Curve – the photo from my blog post on the pen show, when I had to leave this behind!

I picked up a Parker from the Scriptus Pen Show that ran a few weeks ago. I left it at the show with Jeffry Fridfinnson and his wife Erin, who had a table at the show selling restored vintage pens. Jeffry fixed it up to return to us, which is why there’s been such a gap between the show and this post.

Here’s the only picture I have of Jeffry, blurry and in the background. This is the Parker Parkette that Jon picked up from him at our Vintage Pen Market this past summer. 

We’re pretty happy to recommend Jeffry when people stop by our shop with vintage pens to get repaired. Jeffry & Erin live in Cabbagetown, which is a stone’s throw from us in Leslieville, his prices and work are reliable, and plus, we kind of just like him and Erin both :) Plus, Jon is always admiring Jeffry’s moustache.

Jeffry has a YouTube channel where he talks about vintage and modern pens and other pen stuff, which is well worth a night with some snacks and your pen roll.

Actually, we first met Jeffry through his father-in-law, Erin’s dad, back when we were at 906 Dundas West. Glenn has to be one of my favourite customers, even though he lives out in Winnipeg, so we only see him once in a blue moon. Glenn kind of has a gruff exterior, so when he first said he was getting some pens to send to his son-in-law, I was more than thrilled to participate in what I thought was one of those rites-of-passage-trials-by-fire for a son-in-law attempting to meet the approval of the new dad. “Son-in-law must now pretend to use fountain pens all the time in order to ‘share’ hobby” type thing.

But actually, Glenn is really a big softie at heart, a pile of mush. In fact, he once pulled out a pen for me to write with that had Iroshizuku Kosu-Mosu, a pink ink, in it.

And it turns out, Jeffry is actually a real pen guy!

Which is perfect, because it meant he could take a good look at this Parker Lucky Curve for me.

My vintage Parker Lucky Curve from the Pen Show!

At the pen show, Jon and I had been making the rounds, but it was busy and crowded in the best possible way, and we had yet to find a pen that was calling out to me. Finally, in a desperate attempt to find a pen so I wouldn’t have to leave the pen show empty-handed and broken-hearted, we managed to find a table of vintage pens in a corner that wasn’t too crowded, and we took a look around.

Of all the pens, this was the only pen that I really liked the look of, but knowing nothing about the vintage Parkers, I was mainly buying it because I liked how it looked. I have always liked the shape of the Parker Duofold, but I’m not really one for big pens, so this was a nice, smaller-version of it, with some great blue-cream-grey striations along the barrel and cap.

It’s a button filler, which means you unscrew the back of the pen to remove the cap, and you press on the “button” to compress and release the sac inside, filling the sac with ink. Rather than a Vacumatic, where you pull out the compressor and push it back in, for this pen when you press down on the button, it pushes on a side bar that compresses the sac along the length of the barrel. The sac actually holds a fairly substantial amount of ink.

Top to bottom: Parker Sonnet, vintage Parker Lucky Curve, vintage Parker 51, TWSBI 580AL

The best part of the pen is that it’s made in Toronto! I think after I saw the inscription on the pen, I just had to have it. I didn’t grow up in Toronto, but it’s my home now, and having a pen made here is just perfect. I have since learned that the Lucky Curve was made in the 1920s, off the success of the Duofold, although it itself was not nearly so successful.

Made in Toronto!

Jon did some half-hearted haggling and got the price lowered a notch, but of course, we still didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into. Jon gave me his patent eyeball-to-eyeball look and said, “I hope you really like this one, Liz…”

We left the pen with Jeffry, and I think I meant to say something like “take your time with it, no rush!” but it may have come out like “I need this pen urgently, please bump off everyone else on your list.”

Jeffry said he would take a look at the insides, buff up the body, tune up the nib, etc. I wasn’t sure what was or wasn’t wrong with the pen, so Jeffry basically said he would take a good look and just fix it all up for us.

I finally got the pen back last week, and I was expecting my beautiful pen to write with a simple fine-medium line, maybe just a bit smoother than when we had tried it out at the pen show. At the show, it was a bit rough, and I could see the tines were misaligned, but I wasn’t thinking too much more than that.

To my thrill and delight, take a look at what Jeffry has coaxed this nib into!

Vintage Parker Lucky Curve with Sailor Jentle Blue-Black on Midori TN paper

A beautiful, vintage pen! With a flex nib! It’s flexy, however, it’s not super flexy. I don’t know that I would describe this as a wet noodle. I think the term ‘wet noodle’ is a pretty subjective term in any case, but it’s definitely not the softest or the widest flex nib among vintage flex, and of course with too much pressure there is a risk of springing the nib (when the tines are permanently flexed out and don’t come back to the centre again).

It’s a very wet pen, so the flow keeps up with the flexing no problem.

Here’s a few shots without flexing.

The ink is Sailor Jentle Blue Black. This ink doesn’t get too much attention, but it really gives Iroshizuku Shin Kai a run for its money. The sheen! This ink also shades really well, although this pen is on the wet side, so you don’t see as much shading.

Jeffry also shot a video on the pen! With much more information on then pen and its specs :)

When Jeffry dropped off the pen, he had told Jon that he had “unsprung” the nib. I wasn’t too sure what that meant until I tried the pen, and felt just how soft the nib was, which was definitely not how the pen was writing at the show. I think I had to laugh as Jeffry described the nib during the writing sample, saying that he didn’t want to push it too far, since he didn’t want to spring the nib, and there I was, very likely pushing it, uhm, a bit farther than recommended by the person who just repaired the nib.

Jeffry did an incredible job with this pen, I can still hardly believe what I basically lucked into getting, having no idea that the nib was capable of such softness when I purchased it. Jeffry also cleaned up the body, so it’s shiny and smooth. I couldn’t be happier :)

It’s that time of year! I feel like I know enough super organized people in my life, the sorts of people who buy their Christmas gifts in September when something goes on sale, that some of it should have rubbed off on me. I’m working on it. It’s still early December.

But for those of you that may be starting to look around, here are a few ideas related to stationery and fountain pens for someone in your life who loves writing.

A fountain is a great idea for someone who writes a lot in their job or is a student, or just someone who might something on the analogue side of things – and for these folks, generally a good quality, entry level, fine or medium nib pen, such as the Lamy Safari or the Pilot Metropolitan, is perfect. They are good enough quality that the new user won’t be turned off by mysterious leaks, they are reliable and easy to use, and a way to learn about fountain pens without spending a lot of money. If they want to spend more later, they’ll have learned a bit about what they like or don’t like in a fountain pen.

Sometimes, though, it’s hard to know what to get someone who already has a lot of pens, because chances are good that this person already has very specific tastes or nib sizes or pen brands that they like. This is especially difficult if you don’t know very much about fountain pens yourself. Fountain pen people are not really known for being ‘easy-going’ about their pens and preferences.

This blog post is for people shopping for a fountain pen nut, but who are not fountain pen crazy themselves.

As someone who works in a bricks & mortar fountain pen shop, we’ve had our share of visitors who have husbands or friends or co-workers who just love fountain pens! But they just need a bit of guidance on what exactly to get, since it’s hard to know where to start if you are not a fountain pen user yourself.

Here are some good ideas:

1. I know this is a bit crazy, but you should try to take a picture of their pens altogether. Fountain pen users who have more than one may have them on their desk or in a pen case or in their briefcase, but try to take a picture of a bunch so you can show it to your local shop. This will help narrow down firstly what pens they already have, and as well give an idea to the types of pens or brands that they like.
2. Take a really good look at the nib or tip of a few of their pens. If you can see markings that say “EF” for extra fine, “F” for fine, “M” for medium, “B” for Broad, or have a number like “1.1” or “1.5” for an italic nib. If you like to be ultra prepared, do a few writing samples to bring in to the shop!

Armed with this information (knowledge is power!), come and visit the shop, and take a look at the pens available. Use your gut! Sometimes if someone has all black pens, maybe they would like another black pen, but maybe that’s your opportunity to help them spread their wings – say, a dark burgundy – or maybe they might break out in hives because their pens don’t all match. You know them best.

Don’t be discouraged if it seems like all the pens they have are very expensive, or out of your price range. Often times, it really is the thought that counts. And, you might not need to get them a pen after all.

Additionally, people can be surprised by how well a less expensive pen actually writes, or maybe can be surprised by how much they like a pen that they haven’t heard of before. We’ve had folks come by who have in many expensive pens, but then end up loving the look and performance of a newer brand like TWSBI.

Final Gift Ideas for the Really Stuck:

1. Consider getting two matching sets of correspondence stationery, some stamps, and give them the gift a year long snail mail correspondence. Bonus points if you pre-address some of their envelopes to kick start the letter writing. No excuses! Some folks may love it right off the bat, and other may feel like they don’t have time for it, but I’m betting by year’s end, those letters will be something treasured for a long time.
   1. b) If you live together and it seems a bit awkward to write letters to each other (even though it’s totally not), consider pairing up some correspondence stationery with signing them up for a pen pal matching service, such as International Pen Friends.

2. Contact a nib repairman and arrange a visit so the pen user can get their pens professionally cleaned and tuned up, and maybe a bit of nib tweaking as well. This might be something you arrange for after the new year, as a fountain pen nut may lose it a bit if they discover their pens mysteriously gone, and they can also give the repairman some information about their writing preferences.
3. A nice stack of paper, like Rhodia pads, is always a great gift. It seems a bit boring to give someone pads of paper, but this is a gift that they’ll definitely use, and probably really thank you for, especially if they are a practical person by nature, since office or copy paper is sometimes too low quality for fountain pen ink. There’s nothing like having a good supply of quality, fountain-pen friendly paper and not having to worry about running out. I think I could honestly hug a big stack of fresh paper.
4. Also on the paper side, another idea are a few of these Tomoe River paper notebooks. Tomoe River paper is imported from Japan, and is ultra thin paper that is amazing for fountain pens, so there won’t be bleeding or feathering on the page, which is important for people who like to use fountain pens.
5. Ink is also a great consumable. You can’t go wrong with something like Pilot Iroshizuku or any of the J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary inks – both are beautiful bottles with beautiful shades ink that are a little on the pricey side. If it happens to be a shade of ink they already use all the time, it’s always nice to have a back-up; if it’s something that’s more of a treat for them, all the better since sometimes people won’t splurge on themselves. There are also these little Iroshizuku Minis that are just too cute. And are also good for travellers.

Please let us know if you have any questions! You can always leave a question on the blog, or stop by the shop! But I think for many fountain pen lovers, who maybe sometimes don’t get a chance to chat and share about fountain pen stuff with the people in their immediate life, anything to go along with this magnificent and glorious hobby is often perfect.

I wish you best of luck as you embark on your holiday shopping :) And let us know how it goes!

When we found out we were expecting a baby (Caleb), we were most concerned about how the dog would handle it all. Not necessarily that the dog would be jealous, since he’s never really been jealous of anything, but that he’d be too crazy around a new baby.

The dog (Super) is a lab, a breed that is usually noted for being really great around kids, but Super is a bit of a maniac in general, and anything to do with him usually involves some barking and jumping and running around, unless he’s in his other mode, which is lying on the floor in a mass of fur.

Sometimes I joke that if it had to come down to choosing between the baby and the dog, it would be a tough choice, but I think sometimes jokes are funny because there’s a grain of truth. It really would have been tough to say good bye to Super, because (I also joke), he was my first love – I had Super before I had Jon.

When we first brought Caleb home, Super had this thing where he would bark every time the baby cried, which was terrible. A crying newborn and Super going nuts. I had visions of myself with the dog locked away in the basement, barking pathetically, and my future as a zombie, unable to get either the dog or the baby to stop making noise.

I guess we should give Super a bit more credit, since he stopped the barking after about a day. And he was also pretty good with the pet hamster I used to have to bring home on the weekends from my classroom, back when I was a teacher.

As much as I say I like the idea that Caleb is going to grow up hiding under tables in the shop, and making a mess with all the “Do Not Freeze” stickers in the packing area, I have to say I’m also glad that Caleb has this old pup to grow up with. Every kid needs some fur-beast to teach him the important things in life, like how to take the most comfortable spot in the bed, and how to zero in on food dropped on the floor.

I’ve been taking pictures of the two of them with our Instax camera, and I’ve been popping them like they’re candy. Jon keeps complaining about how much film he has to keep buying.

The real problem is that Super looks like a dark blob in most of them.

Caleb sitting beside wooden xylophone that he never plays with, in front of dark mass of fur.

Caleb lying on couch, in front of dark mass of fur.

Caleb getting involved and seriously focused in cleaning the dog’s ears..

The only time the dark mass of fur looks alive: when there’s watermelon being eaten.

So, we went hunting for our Christmas tree!

I tell anyone who will listen that one day, after analogue and new technologies have finally battled it out and declared a winner, I dream of retiring and buying some land up north of the city and foraging for wild mushrooms and growing eggplants and kale and letting the dog out to mark our territory, scaring off all the natural predators. I’ll bake bread and write my memoirs of running a stationery shop and can tomatoes and collect fresh eggs from my chickens which I’ll have named to prevent any chicken dinners.

In reality, I am, however, not really a bug or spider person, nor do I fare very well in cold weather, so it’s a bit of a dream that I dream of when I’m dragging the baby on the TTC across the city to his doctor’s appointments, or there are fragrant smells wafting in from the courtyard next to the office unit.

However, this past Monday, on our last day off until Christmas Day itself, we went to a Christmas Tree Farm. I’m not sure if there’s anything both more or less romantic than that. I mean, on the one hand, it’s a farm where there are Christmas trees, young and old, as far as the eye can see! On the other hand, it’s a farm where all the trees are doomed. I mean, “doomed” unless you’re the tree in e.e. cummings’ poem.

I’m on the romantic side. When we pulled into the farm, it didn’t look too great, probably not helped by the very grey weather and skies, but as soon as you stepped out, you can literally smell Christmas in the air.

We went to Prestonvale Tree Farms, which is out past Ajax. I highly recommend it! They’re very nice, and they have everything you need, which is great for folks like us, since we don’t know what we’re doing. They even gave Caleb a candy cane, which we had to accept to be polite, and since Caleb isn’t eating candy yet, someone else had to eat it on the car ride home.

Caleb listening to the wisdom coming from our Christmas tree guide, in his farmer overalls. When I am a farmer, I too will be wearing overalls.

Saw selection – safety first!

The prince, dubious, yet uncomplaining of his new chariot.

A Caleb-sized tree.

Having located our perfect tree, I call the troops. Jon has to momentarily abandon the wagon to come and take a look at the chosen one.

I could have sworn I took a picture of the tree pre-chopping, but I just have a bunch of pictures of a bunch of trees that, pre-chopping, looked very different, but now all look exactly the same. I’m pretty sure that our tree is actually neither of the trees in this photo because the one on the left looks pretty small, and the one on the right looks a bit lopsided, but who knows.

Jon: “Stand back, Caleb, there’s some dangerous stuff going on here. You wouldn’t want the tree to fall on you now, would you.”

Jon: “This would be easier if they gave me a real axe. Plus, I bet I would look manlier in the photos.”

Jon: “My manly hands are so sticky with tree sap.”

After a snack, rinse-down + nap.

The tree is up! There are some lights on it, but nothing else! Actually, we didn’t even have a Christmas tree last year, either in our home or in the 906 shop, but this year we’re a bit more organized, and the baby is a bit older. We don’t have too many ornaments, but we’re hoping to slowly begin collecting them over the years. Our tree will look a bit empty for now, but stick with us :)

It’s been a busy couple of days, and it’s been a bit quiet here on the blog! We have lots, and lots going on, I can hardly keep up. I’ve been working on our Christmas cards, we’ve been packing up orders into the late night, we had my in-laws over so there were a few dangerously full closets. We’ve still got boxes and boxes coming into the shop as the holiday season comes into full swing. Restocking and new things, I’ve been rubbing my hands in anticipation of the TWSBI Vac-mini, which I think will be around the end of December. More and more to come!

December is mostly about the holidays, but of course as the 2015 comes barreling to a close, I’m thinking about what notebooks and planning system I’m going to be using in 2016. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, mainly because I want to start the year off right. I think it must be my OCD that says pressure’s on if I’ve got the opportunity to start on January 1st and do the whole year off.

I’m mainly going to be using four things:
1. Midori Traveler’s Notebook Regular Size
2. Hobonichi Techo
3. Quo Vadis Habana (+possibly others) for journaling
4. Midori MD Notebook A4

“This is a lot…” you say. I can only agree. What can I say. It’s what got me into this hot mess to begin with. You know, opening a stationery shop. And then moving in behind it.

Here’s the breakdown:

My Midori Traveler’s Regular Size Notebook (happens to be the Pan Am Blue, which was a special edition run that’s now out of stock) 

– 019 Calendar Refill for everyday planning, to-do lists, appointments, and what’s happening in the shop. I like this diary insert that has the week on one side and a grid page on the facing side, so I can make a “weekly” to-do list that conveniently follows along with the path of time as it gets longer, so it sort of matches up with the general day of the week.
– Grid Refill for organizing larger scale projects, or planning out blog ideas: this is great when I have a blog idea, but it needs a week or a month to really percolate, and I can write notes that occur to me on the page as I go about my day.*
– Plain Refill for messing around with (doodling, random notes, testing out pens and inks customers bring in, ripping out sheets for notes)

*Actually, this is what I tell myself is happening, but what really happens is I have a blog idea, and I write some notes about it, and then I forget about it completely, and in a month I come back to the page and think, hmm, maybe I’ll write about this blog idea.

My Hobonichi Techo in a Midori A6 Goatskin Leather Cover
I think I’m going to use this as a bit of a reflection or gratitude journal. I’m still going to have my regular journal (see below), but I’m going to use this to pause and think about what’s great in the day. It might be quotations or an interesting thought that I’ve come across in my day, or just a few things to be thankful for. I told Jon about this plan, and he asked if he was going to be number one. We’ll see.

The format of having just one A6 size page a day will be good (I think/hope) for reflecting on just the highlight of the day, just the one or two or maybe three thoughts that I really want to think about. Maybe I’ll break out one of my flex nibs.

I would love to be able to (washi-)tape in some photos, but I’m worried that the thin paper, which already wrinkles and thickens up the notebook as you write in it, will become uncontrollable with the addition of photos. We’ll see.

The leather is new and a bit stiff, but I’m excited to work it in. There are covers made by Hobonichi, which are also nice and come in a few different colours, but I figured I want to try the Hobonichi out long-term, so I’m investing in something a bit more durable and also natural. It’s hard to resist leather.

My Quo Vadis Habana “Daily” Journal
I don’t think I’ve ever really shared what I use for my own personal journal! Many moons ago, I started a series On Journal Writing, but it’s been a bit busy in the shop, and unfortunately I’ve let it go by the wayside. The series looked at other people’s journals, and I have a list of journals and diaries I want to explore in 2016, so stay tuned and excited!

However, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my own journaling supplies. I’m currently using a Quo Vadis Habana. I used a Rhodia Webnotebook in the past, but switched to the Habana for a slightly larger page size (Webnotebook is truer to A5, Habana is between A5 and B5). I think next I’m going to try a Life B5 notebook (possibly the Noble Note, or possibly the KB4), as it’s softcover, so it’s lighter to carry.

This I’m using to continue on with my daily grumblings and aspirations and discoveries. I say daily a bit euphemistically because it’s not always daily, although I wish it was.

Traveler’s Notebook on top, Midori A4 MD Notebook on bottom

Midori MD A4 Notebook with a Midori A4 Goatskin Leather Cover
I’m using this to make note of funny and interesting memories of Caleb, along with a few photos. I’m definitely no scrapbooker, although not for lack of trying. I’ve seen YouTube videos where they show you how, but I think I’m missing a few of the crafting genes.

The thicker MD paper is great for being able to hold up Instax photos as well as actual photos we’ve had developed. I also occasionally tape mementos in, but I don’t really have any! Or I guess I should say I’m not identifying them appropriately as items to be taped in.

***

So these are my notebooks for 2016! While this is all subject to changing over the year, this is what I’m going to start 2016 with.

I wouldn’t say that I’m necessarily terrible or not terrible at keeping New Years’ Resolutions, but this isn’t so much a resolution as it is just what I’m going to be using next year. I’m actually already using the Traveler’s Notebook, my journal, and my notebook for Caleb, but I’m going to try to be a bit more organized about it all. And I’m hoping my life will get itself organized, too.

It’s always great to see what others are doing with their paper and analogue systems, and I would love to hear if you’ve got plans for how you’re going to organize 2016, whether it’s on paper or in something tech-y!

If you read my previous post, you’ll know that I have spent some time contemplating how exactly I was going to organize myself next year.

With 2016’s Hobonichi Techo starting out with some half-page days on this Wednesday, December 16th, I figure now might be a good time to share a few ideas on how you might consider using your page-a-day planner, aside from using it to legitimately plan out your appointments and daily life.

I decided to use my Hobonichi, in a very broad way, as a gratitude journal. This is perfect because I can take my time to use my inkiest or flex pens, and just focus on a few positives.

The idea is to take the time to reflect and think about things you’re grateful for, allowing you to become more mindful about all the things and people and opportunities of your life. Supposedly this makes you a happier person (I’ll let you know how this goes next December…). I liked this idea the most because I wanted to use this notebook for something a bit more meaningful and enjoyable, especially because I can also have some with my fountain pens – the Hobonichi has that great Tomoe River paper.

You might like how I also opened it up to making quick note of interesting or meaningful quotations or things to remember from the day. Basically, I am planning to use my Techo as a record of the positive and true things of 2016. Small and large and surprising and beautiful, but rather than a hash-out of all the details and things I did in a day, which I am planning on doing in my regular journal, I want to use my Hobonichi to record a few bright moments or ideas.

Here are some other ways you can use your Hobonichi:

• Daily to-do lists. Especially if you have a routine, like first thing in the morning when you wake up, or first thing when you get to the office or your workspace.
• Recording what inks are in what pens.
  • I am vaguely planning on using the monthly calendar to write in when I ink up a pen with what ink, so I will be able to look back and see how long that ink has been in there for.

• Recording anything something that’s on-going, specific to you: if you’re keeping track of your diets or health, your work-outs, your run training. You can also record your progress as you set and meet goals or milestones.
• New recipes to try (this was a runner-up idea for me, which lost out mainly because I can’t really guarantee that I’m going to try more than one or two new recipes a week, much less everyday).
• If you’ve got kids, a record of their day, interactions you have, observations, something funny they said.
• Budgeting.
• Learning a new word a day; using that word in a few interesting sentences.
  • Learning a new word in a new language every day.
• If you’re a serious letter-writing, making notes on the letters you’ve received and sent out.
• Keeping track of books you’re reading.
• Gardening: temperatures, when seeds have gone in, when things are sprouting, harvests (I’m re-reading Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” right now, and continuing to imaginary-plan my future farm).
• Practising or experienced calligraphers could select interesting quotations and practise new hands.

Or, you could just use it for regular journaling. I also seriously considered this option, especially because I’d like to but don’t always manage to write in my journal everyday. Having a page for each day might give me enough structure to write each day. However, I ended up not going for this option because some days I might like to write more than one page, and also because I feel like there might just be one or two or more pages that will end up guilting me with their white emptiness.

These ideas are mostly “non-essential” type of uses, which may be because it’s the mindset I had when brainstorming ideas.

Of course, you could also use this for your business or workplace, organizing short and long term projects, planning daily social media posts, recording shipments and inventory, cash details, etc. Jon and I considered one for daily tasks around the shop, but we already use a larger board so it’s easy to see from across the room.

***

It’s the holidays, and things have been crazy here. For some reason I decided to book Caleb’s 15 month doctor’s appointment during this holiday rush, and so today I had to lug him across to the west end of the city to the paediatrician to get a few shots, and have the doctor make sure all his body parts are jiggling the way they’re supposed to jiggle. I should say that I actually really like Caleb’s doctor, which is why I’m willing to trek all the way west what seems like every other month. I was going to pick up a few tasty treats on the way home, but I think Caleb officially weighs a million pounds, so it was bringing home Caleb or doughnuts.

In other news, the TWSBI Vac Mini is coming in! Soon! I am hoping by the end of the week. I think I might get a medium. Or a fine. Why not one of each? Who knows!!

The Vac Mini’s are here!! ! !  ! !

So, it’s basically Christmas, already.

I have been looking forward to these Vac Minis for as long as I can remember. I get excited now and then for new pen arrivals, but I have to say this is the most exciting thing we’ve ever received from TWSBI. And that is including the Minis with white & rose gold, one of which I have and love dearly.

New products are always being released and re-stocked from distributors, and it’s always nice to get new stuff in. True to how we do things here at the shop, I don’t usually know the specifics of what’s going on in the pen world until someone actually sends us tracking information.

However: I’ve had a tab open on my laptop with the tracking for these bad boys since I got the e-mail.

TWSBI 580 AL in Blue with the TWSBI Vac-Mini below

I’ve inked mine with Diamine Autumn Oak. I thought I was going to do something Christmassy, but I wasn’t organized enough when the pens came in, and the pen needed to be (vacuum-)filled, you know, immediately.

TWSBI Vac-20 Bottles

We also have the new Vac-20 bottles, which will also fit the standard size Vac-700. The parts are not compatible with the old Vac-20 bottles. I thought I would keep a black, but I am liking the orange. Who knows.

I’d like to do a comparison with the Vac-700, but not having used the Vac-700 too extensively, maybe I will just do a post with a few more details of the Vac-Mini. The bricks & mortar is closed from December 25th to January 1st, so I’ve got a list of blog posts and reviews I’d like to do. Stay tuned!

Other shop updates:

New Tomoe River Paper
I know it’s been a bit frustrating as our stock has gone in and out with this paper, but I think we’re now a bit more organized in having it available regularly.

The big news on the Tomoe River paper is that we now have it in White in addition to Cream, and we have it cut to both the European A4 size (like before, or like in Rhodia A4 pads) as well as to the American Letter size.

Lamy Boxed Gift Sets
We now have Lamy gift sets! Perfect for Christmas giving, or other gifting events, since they come in a nice box. These are really a great deal, even if you’re not boxing them up to give away, since you save some money by purchasing it in the set.

We have them available with a Charcoal Safari or a Graphite Al-Star. We’ve brought these in as a one time thing for Christmas, and I don’t think we’ll be ordering more of them. Our distributor offered them as a great deal for the holidays, and of course we took him up on it. If you’re thinking that this might make a good present for a birthday or graduation in the new year, now’s the time!

Christmas Shipping
Our guideline dates have come and gone, but actually, I would venture to say that we still have a bit of leeway if you still need something for under the tree. If you’re close by (within Ontario or Quebec), and especially if you’re in a major city, packages are expected to arrive within one business day. With Canada Post shipping through the weekend, you may still have some time.

If you’re a bit farther than that, we might still make it, or you can also give us a call or e-mail for an Xpresspost quote. We normally ship Expedited through Canada Post.

***

So we’re singing Christmas jingles while Jon is pulling out his hair with people’s Christmas orders, and now I’ve got my Vac-mini. It’s like the world is at peace, and my pen roll is finally complete.

Who am I joking, it’s not really complete, because I am expecting a few more pretty delicious things to arrive in the new year. And even then, is a pen roll really ever complete??

We just received in our shipment of TWSBI Vac-Mini pens and the newly re-released and re-designed Vac-20 inkwells, so I figured now would be a good time to introduce both!

I have never actually done a blog on the Vac-700 or the previous Vac-20 bottle. But of course, give me something in miniature form, and I’m all over that…

My ink of choice is Diamine Autumn Oak. If I had been planning this properly, I might have chosen a more festive colour, but Autumn Oak has some hints of red.

While the pen looks a bit like a syringe, where you dip the nib into a bottle of ink, pull back on the plunger and the ink gets sucked up with it, it’s actually a vacuum filler.

When you’re filling the pen, you start out with the plunger pulled all the way out. A vacuum is created when the plunger gets pushed down, and when the plunger pushes past the bottom of the barrel with a slightly wider diameter, the vacuum is released, drawing up ink very quickly.

You do not need the Vac-20 bottle to fill either your Vac-700 or Vac-mini pen. Here’s a quick photo demonstration from a regular bottle of ink.

Step 1: Pull the plunger out.

Step 2: Submerge nib & feed into inkwell.

Step 3: Push down on the plunger all the way down. Ink shoots up, and fills your pen! Success!

You’ll feel some good pressure when you’re pushing down, but when you get past the wider part of the barrel at the bottom, you’ll feel an immediate release, and a good volume of ink will shoot up into the barrel.

The large ink capacity is one of the biggest advantages of the pen. However, it’s pretty hard to get a 100% fill without the Vac-20 inkwell (although it still holds quite a bit of ink).

Also you can bring it onto a plane, and with the back plunger twisted all the way shut, you will experience a smooth and ink-spill-free flight. I cannot wait to try this out. Or maybe I’ll let Jon do the trying out ;) Just kidding.

This new inkwell can be used with either the Vac-700 or the new Vac-mini. Because the Vac-mini is smaller, you will need to keep the grey lip insert in to use it.

Orange cap comes off, grey lip insert stays in if you’re filling the Vac-Mini, grey lip insert comes out if you’re filling the Vac-700

Step 1: Make sure the grey insert is in (if you’re using a Vac-mini). Insert the nib & section directly into the grey sleeve or mouth of the inkwell.

Step 2: Screw in the barrel of the pen (with the nib section on). Don’t over tighten! But make sure it’s on good :)

Step 3: Turn the inkwell upside down.

Step 4: Push the plunger in, and watch the ink fill the barrel. Success!

Step 5: Unscrew. Cap inkwell.

The best thing about these inkwells is how great they are for travelling. They hold a total of 20 mL of ink, which should make it past most airplane’s carry-on restrictions. You can even use these as just a regular inkwell, without a Vac fountain pen.

We hardly have any Vac-20 bottles left, but we’re hoping for more soon! We still have some Vac-mini pens, but those are going fast. We are also expecting to continue to re-stock these pens.

I’m not sure if TWSBI will be releasing nib units for the Vac-mini. They are the same nib as the Mini, but the sections are not interchangeable. I found it very easy to remove the nib and feed from the housing of the Vac-mini, but the nib & feed are pretty tight in the Mini, and I don’t think it’s recommended to try and remove those.

TWSBI Vac-Mini Medium nib on left, Mini (Piston-filler) Broad on right.

I wanted to do this blog post earlier, but it’s been so busy both in the shop and online. In particular, I needed to corner my hand-model (Jon) and find time when the shop was empty but light was still good so we could take some photos.

It was a bit hairy even getting these few photos done, because we had Caleb running around loose. He’s like a very small but very active bull in a china shop. At the very least, the dog was just lying next to us – who would’ve thought we’d ever say Super is the good one.

And we have a small splash of Autumn Oak on our concrete floors. The blessings of a family business.

We’re coming onto the final stretch of this holiday season! Our extended hours are on, right up until Christmas Eve, and would you believe we’re still getting shipments of stuff in. I hear about all these wonderful family traditions like baking Christmas cookies and sitting around fireplaces, but Caleb’s Christmas traditions are going to be more along the lines of eating dinner late and climbing over boxes of merchandise that are all half-opened and half-counted.

It hardly seems like it since we only had that tiny sprinkling of snow yesterday, and also I have not yet had any holiday eggnog, but Christmas is just a few days away.

I love looking at other people’s pen and ink choices because it’s so interesting to think about why they’ve picked which pen and which ink. It’s like sneaking a peek into someone’s medicine cabinet. Aren’t you all curious about what ink Nathan Tardiff has in his pens right now?? Or Philip Wang? Or your favourite local pen clerks??

One day I’m going to do a guide on what your fountain pen ink choice says about you, which will be completely made up, but will shock you with its accuracy and truth (or be completely wrong, as I’m just making it up).

For now, I’m just sharing what’s in my pen roll.

The paper is the Midori TN insert, so great for fountain pen ink.

Left Page:
Noodler’s Army Green – Lamy 2000 OBB
Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu – Sailor 1911S Medium
J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage – Lamy Safari Broad
J. Herbin Vert Olive – Parker Sonnet Fine

Right Page:
Diamine Autumn Oak – TWSBI Vac Mini Medium
Diamine Terracotta – TWSBI 580 AL-Orange – Fine
Noodler’s Burgundy – Platinum Balance Medium
KWZ Maple Red (Scriptus Ink) – Kaweco Luxe Fine

Read on for my usual “delightful” commentary (on the inks).

An old favourite! Noodler’s Army Green, a rich and warm and earthy green. Good for fall and spring, too.

I just got a new Sailor 1911S in Transparent with Gold Trim, and I love it! It is just a wonderful nib. And with it, I’ve put Sailor Tokiwa-Matsu from their Four Season’s Line. I held back a bit on the new line for the sake of now discontinued Epinard & Grenade & Sky High, but I’ve finally relented. And it’s a great dark green. With sheen (although not in this photo).

J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage – not a green I use a lot, but a very solid Christmas Green. The pen is a Lamy Safari (my now favourite Neon-Lime) Broad.

I had a customer who told me she used J.Herbin Vert Olive for years (!) and got so many compliments on the ink she didn’t want to switch. So of course I had to try it. It’s a bit light, which I think may have to do with the residual water in my Parker Sonnet from cleaning, especially since my Sonnet is a bit of a wet writer. I think I may have to do a proper trying-out of this ink to really see how it is.

Diamine Autumn Oak in my Vac-Mini, which I also used in my blog post yesterday on using the Vac-20 bottle. I know, not only is it orange and not red, it actually says “Autumn” in it. What can I say…I was too excited for the pen.

Diamine Terracotta in my 580 AL – This one is cheating a bit because I still have it in my pen from that blog post comparing Terracotta with Ancient Copper. But it’s what’s in my pen roll! :)

Noodler’s Burgundy, a bit on the purple side of red, as it is “burgundy,” but still a bit festive. In my Platinum Balance, also nice and wet.

The KWZ Maple Red ink from the Scriptus Toronto Pen Show! I finally had a chance to try it out in a pen. Just a slight tinge of brown, which is nice since I’m not a big fan of bright reds. In my Kaweco Luxe with a fine nib.

I’d like to do a “What’s in My Pen Roll” post more often, as I change up inks and pens all the time, but the real problem is that I usually change inks when I’ve written a pen dry, and so I don’t typically have a bunch of pens to clean out and refill in an organized way once a week or once a month. Or I should say that the real problem is that as a result of filling my pens haphazardly whenever I feel like it, I don’t always remember what ink is in which pen.

For Christmas, however, I had to do something at least a little festive, so there was some good pen cleaning and re-organization in the pen roll. It’s always nice to give your pens a good cleaning and fresh fill all at once.

We’re counting down the days! If you’re off work already, I hope you’re enjoying your time with family and friends, and maybe a few inky pens too. If you’re like us, working right up until Santa comes, I hope you have your inky pens to keep you company :)

I would love to hear if you have any Christmas or holiday or festive inks going on in your pens!

Merry Christmas!

I had hoped to pop onto here in a more timely fashion (i.e. before Christmas had actually happened) to wish you all a happy Christmas or else just an extra happy Friday, but things got away from me a bit. We had started the holiday season ready to go! Pumped! Everything organized! Shipments coming in and counted! And we’ve ended it with half-empty boxes everywhere and scraps of recycling covering tables and Jon looking a bit scragglier than usual. Or, maybe about the same level of scraggli-ness. Tough to tell with the beard.

But we’re still full of holiday cheer.

I’m sitting at my desk watching as Jon snoozes and Caleb snoozes, and I think Super is snoozing, but he’s been relegated to the packing area for his snooze because he keeps barking and waking up the baby, so I can only assume.

I hope you all had a great holiday. I hope your presents all arrived in time if you ordered them online. I hope your turkeys turned out moist and delicious. Or else, maybe you ordered some take-out, and I hope that was good, too. Jon has promised me one night of Indian take-out and Netflix this break.

Christmas was wonderful here! The actual Christmas celebration, not just the “holiday season,” although that was pretty great, too.

We’ve decided we’re going to try to get Caleb one gift for Christmas, and we hope it’s one he’ll like and use for a while. We’re pretty lucky to have lots of relatives and friends who give Caleb more than enough so we don’t really have to worry about Caleb being deprived, but from us, rather than maybe too much for his little brain to handle, just one gift that we think he’ll like.

Caleb is a very, very physical and coordinated kid – he is a climber and runner and explorer non-stop, and so this Christmas, we got him a pedal-less tricycle that turns into a bicycle, called a balance or a push bike, where the rider just uses his feet against the ground. I actually saw a kid on the sidewalk with one a while ago, and thought to myself that is exactly what Caleb needs. Something to make him crash even faster into boxes of merchandise.

We closed up the shop the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and we had a family dinner at Jon’s parents on Christmas Eve. We came home late to put the baby to bed, and then moved the tree from the shop to our apartment (Jon), assembled Caleb’s gift (Jon) and wrapped it (me!). Clearly we are not plan-aheaders here, and I had to unwrap one of Caleb’s gifts from his grandma to use the wrapping paper to make a bow for his bicycle. (Sorry, Lola! We wrapped it again in our boring brown paper).

Jon, fixing the lights. Caleb, watching, unaware that his gift is in front of him. This kid is going to get some fast ones pulled over on him.

Interested…

The gang, momentarily distracted.

It looks a bit like he might be excited to learn that he’s getting a new tricycle, but actually he’s excited to see that the wheel turns when he spins it with his hand.

It got a bit boring after a while, because while Caleb normally seems to go after things with quite a bit of vigour, unwrapping does not seem to be something he really gets into. In fact, he is truly a mama’s boy, because I think he was more interested in the washi-tape.

With some assistance, the tricycle was unveiled, and Caleb has been scooting around on it ever since.

Caleb surprised me with how fast he picked up on this! He’s already had a few accidents, but I think he’s loving it. He keeps trying to bump into Super, which he thinks is hilarious, but Super is faster than him. I think Caleb’s actually moving a bit slower on the tricycle than when he’s running at full tilt, but we’ll see how he goes.

“These tight corners! How can you turn with all this furniture in the way, mama??”

“Get out of the way, you hairy beast! I’m trying to get out of here!”

“I need some help getting back on this thing. Immediately.”

Jon got a Pilot Murex! This is a now discontinued pen that he’s been thinking about for a long time. Jon is also starting his Instagram back up! He says he’s going to mostly have pen stuff, but he’s also going to try to work in some embarrassing pictures of me and the baby ;)

(He’s just kidding, because he and I both know full well that he doesn’t know how to cook or do laundry.)

However, I’m pretty sure I got the best gift of all!

An actual Polaroid camera!! I feel a bit like a fraud since there are all these real photographer type people who have multiple cameras for different purposes, and I now have multiple cameras, mainly for fooling around and taking pictures of the baby and the dog. Jon said he got this one because it’s supposed to the best one for taking pictures in low-light, which is clearly some sort of back-handed comment on my lighting skills, but one I’ll overlook because now I have this crazy new camera!

The film is insanely expensive for this (obviously I didn’t know what I was talking about before with my Fujifilm Instax camera), so the pressure is on. When I’m taking a photo with this bad boy, everyone better be smiling and looking happy. And be perfectly centered. And have natural light shining on them.

***

We’ve been seeing extended family and Caleb’s grandparents over the last few days, but we’re mostly done with the driving and fancy dinners, which means we’re in our pyjamas all day, and joining Caleb for his afternoon naps.

So while the online shop is still open, and we’re packing up orders to ship out, our bricks & mortar will be closed until Saturday, January 2nd. We’ll be packing up orders and doing a bit of business-y things, although a lot of our vendors are also closed between Christmas and New Year’s, but we’ll also be doing some major cleaning & re-organizing, counting some inventory, and trying to jumpstart a few projects that have been kicking around. I have a few things planned for the blog, too!

We’re also planning on taking a trip to Ikea (Caleb’s first! Swedish meatballs or Ikea breakfast, who can decide?!), buying a soup pot so I can learn the ancient art of making Chinese soup (just add ginger), and possibly giving the dog a bath. Probably not on that last one – Jon and I have gotten really good at procrastinating unpleasant tasks, and plus I’m pretty sure the dog’s fragrant aroma is coming from his breath in any case.

The best part about my mom’s Christmas dinners is that we take home enough food to feed us for a week. Pyjamas! Tasty food that I didn’t cook! Naps any time of the day!! This is going to be one amazing Christmas break ;)

Caleb’s second Christmas (the first where he’s not a blob).

We have been “needing” a trip to Ikea for a long time, and with the bricks & mortar closed this week, we piled into our trusty/rusty two-door Civic, looking forward to the drive home, cramped into seats pushed all the way forward by long and flat cardboard boxes. I have been dreaming of Swedish meatballs and vinyl arrows on the floor for weeks.

We were almost going to go on a Sunday afternoon, but figured it would be less busy on a Monday mid-morning. Let me tell you, as we were leaving we overheard an Ikea employee talking to another co-worker, pushing a long row of shopping carts back into the building, “This isn’t even close, it’s going to be a stampede.”

And he was not kidding. It was nuts even as we were just leaving. I think it’s those meatballs.

While we shopped for some shop things and some home things, Caleb, of course, had the best time of all.

According to me, this was the first couch Jon and I ever had. According to Jon, “it doesn’t look familiar.”

We had a list of a few things we needed to get for the shop, and also a kitchen cabinet for the apartment. When we moved into our apartment, there was literally nothing for a living situation: no stove, no fridge, no bathtub. We put in the essentials while the costs of renovation were giving Jon grey hairs, but I think we both agreed it was time for some cabinetry, mainly because Caleb grabs everything like he’s had never had any discipline in his life.

After it all, it was lunch time. I graciously offered to find a table while Jon lined up for our meatballs, and he came back to us like he had just been attacked by wolves. But it was totally worth it.

Best of all, as we were leaving we bumped into a few of our favourite customers! And they thought they could get away from us…we are like the mafia! Or high fructose corn syrup! Everywhere!

Just kidding. But we did seriously bump into two pen nuts and the dad of one of the pen nuts. I was almost going to take a picture of them, but I’m pretty sure they were there to admire the Swedish design and not to be ambushed by their local pen clerks.

In any case, it was an adventure. We returned home for a long nap, one of us pooped from running around and getting into everything, and another from chasing someone running around and getting into everything. I was just taking pictures.

***

Now, at this very moment, I’m watching my manly man assemble our new kitchen cabinet, while listening to such salty commentary as:

“How come I need all these other tools – this is Ikea, I’m supposed to be able to put it all together with an allen key.”
“There’s like 56 steps in this one, it’s going to take forever.”
“Ugh, I can’t find this piece, I think they forgot to include it.”
“This piece is left-over, I think they must have included extras.”
“Liz, I need your help. Don’t put that on the blog.”

It’s the end of 2015, and wud’ja believe it, we’re still here. And I’m still rambling.

Here are my top five craziest moments of this past year:

1. When we’d moved all of our stuff from the old shop, and our contractor stood there trying to stick a piece of rebar between units, and told us that the units don’t connect. (They do, he was just sawing in the wrong spot. Thanks for that heart attack, Nick.)
2. When Caleb totalled my Parker Lucky Curve nib. There were tears, and they were all mine as Caleb gleefully ran off to destroy something else. The pen is now back with patron saint of pens, Jeffry.
3. My first day with the Hobonichi (December 16), and Caleb dropping a glob of butter on my leather cover.
4. Caleb dropping & breaking a bottle of Noodler’s Shah’s Rose (pre-plastic bottle era), and flinging it across the packing area.
5. That first night here in the new shop and apartment, with pizza and cracking open one of the last bottles of champagne from our wedding.

In actual fact, these are just five crazy moments that I pulled out from no where, because this has been an insane year of crazy moments, so many I can’t even believe everything that’s happened.

We survived another bustling and busy and blessed holiday season, with queue-ups of online orders and people at the cash and family holiday dinners, and now it’s dark outside and warm inside and we’re holiday-ed out. A time for reflection if there ever was one.

I can hardly believe what a difference a year makes. Just like for babies when the first days and months and years bring the most changes and growth, for new and small businesses like us, it seems like each month has brought new and exciting and massive events, and each bump in the road has been number crunching and shop talk over dinner. But we’re still here, and it’s been a big year for us.

We said good-bye to the shop where we first started, and to the landlord that took a risk on a brand-new business selling “old-fashioned trinkets” and pens and inks, and to the house we brought Caleb home to.

We renovated a few industrial units and piled our worldly goods into vans and trucks to move across the city. We opened up shop down a laneway, praying with fingers and toes crossed and a rabbit’s foot in some box some where (if Super hasn’t already found it and eaten it) that it was the right decision for the shop and the family to take this new place and call it home.

We held our first Letter Writing Club and Vintage Pen Market and Children’s Handwriting Classes and hired our first (paid) helping hands. We had our first exclusive ink colours – Noodler’s Plains of Abraham and Raven Black, and we watched nervously as they flew off the shelves. Blue Midoris and Emerald of Chivor and Lamy Copper Oranges and TWSBI ECOs and Hobonichis. I’ve written blog posts about this and that and nothing at all and sometimes a pen or two, and discovered washi tape and baked my first loaf of bread, after having bread books collect dust on my shelves for years (ironically, the recipe was found on the internet).

We’ve made friends with a new coffee shop and new neighbours and new local treats. New dog friends at the dog park. New baby friends at the playground. New pen friends. But still some old ones.

After two Christmases in business, we had our first Christmas tree for the shop, which we went out and hunted, killed and dragged home ourselves.

We made it through the first year of Caleb’s life (all four of us, if you’re including the dog), and Caleb has morphed into this bizarre little hoo-man, with his own ideas and inside jokes and opinions about everything, pattering around in circles and climbing over boxes and under tables. He’s started walking, and talking, and grabbing the dog’s tail, and doing hilarious things like imitating Jon on the phone or putting rolls of toilet paper into the toilet and – what! – riding a tricycle.

I blinked, and I’m in Oz.

So here are my dreams for the new year:

1. Making soup. Bone broth in the winter and cool soups for the summer. Getting a soup pot.
2. Swimming lessons for the little fish. Apparently it’s hard to get into city classes, so we might have to go old-school, with Jon in his trunks.
3. Write more. Write more slowly.

It’s hard to believe how lucky I am, that these are it. No crazy new year’s resolutions or 12-step programs. Sure, we have some big and small and exciting projects planned for the shop over the next four seasons, but when it comes to the big picture, those are all small fry, just the icing of keeping this ship afloat.

Because the real cake is that I get to spend my days talking to people – to vendors, customers, people online – about pens and stationery and inks. I get to take pictures of pens for Instagram or ramble on this blog about pens, and say to Jon, “I’m working, so can you please take care of that diaper I think the baby smells and thank you so much you’re amazing love you.”

I get both – to work in the shop and be part of the business, but also to see Caleb grow up and learn everyday, that we don’t have to put him into daycare. And it’s not so bad either that when “we” need a nap, I get to just step through a door and snuggle into bed.

And I couldn’t be more thankful for all these crazy pen nuts we also get to meet and grow with. Pen nuts who drop off Christmas ornaments for our tree, or send Caleb letters, pick up vintage inkwells or old notebooks for us when they’re strolling through flea markets, or ship us a box of pears in the middle of winter, or bring tools to sharpen Jon’s Japanese knife in the shop while other customers look on (with fear? curiosity? admiration?), or share samples of exclusive inks they picked up on their travels, or mail us Christmas decorations and good luck cranes from the other end of the country.

Or really, just stop by for a chat. These pen nuts who give us the opportunity and honour of their time and trust every time they read a blog post, or let us help them pick out an ink, or stop by the shop and tell us what’s going on in their lives.

Another year, and it’s been unbelievable and amazing and a roller coaster and just fabulous. Thank you for keeping us here for another year, with our pens full of ink, and our baby in diapers. I can’t wait to do it again :)

And tonight! My Indian take-out and Netflix night. I will let you know how it goes. Probably something along the lines of eating Indian take-out and watching Netflix :)

There are a few really great things about working in a stationery shop, most of which are fairly straightforward: I get to play around with new pens and inks as soon as they arrive, I get to roam the shop at night in the dark, running my fingers over notebooks, I get to talk about pens all day and call it work.

But one of the things I didn’t really expect is the mail! Every once in a while, we get some pretty great mail from our customers – the occasional thank you note, or a letter with a story – or sometimes I even get letters from people who have stumbled across the blog, which of course totally makes my day.

Incredibly, Caleb has already received a few letters of his own, which I think is just amazing. What better way for a kid to learn to read and write, and also to appreciate something slow and analogue and meaningful – you can write something on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope with a stamp, and send it anywhere in the world! A miracle!

This is a special favourite, Caleb-sized mail, from Silvie in Montreal. Jon grumbles when Caleb gets more mail than he does, but Jon secretly can’t wait to see what’s inside, too.

Mini-sealing wax! How perfect!!

I’m sharing this both because it’s lovely, but also because our first Letter Writing Club of 2016 is coming up this Sunday, January 10th, and I couldn’t be more excited, and not just because I’m, you know, just a bit backed up on my own letters – it’ll be nice to see everyone again, and catch up about the holidays and everything else that’s happening! We didn’t have a Letter Writing Club in December for the big holiday rush, which I definitely missed.

It’s certainly frosty out these days, time to bust out the big winter jackets, so I hope you can make it! Bundle up and maybe get a hot chocolate for the trip over. Otherwise, we’ll be enjoying the tea and egg tarts on your behalf, and thinking of you :)

Over the last few days, we’ve been busy, both wrapping up the holiday stuff and also preparing to start the new year in the shop. We’ve been catching up on online orders, and I’m really sorry if yours is late! With the bricks & mortar shop closed, we had to change our Canada Post pick-up schedule. Going forward, we’re planning on things getting back into good order.

I had a whole list of things I wanted to get done over the break, and we really only got two or three of the big ones done, including ordering and assembling some big shelving for the back. It was a bit nuts over the holidays with the extra inventory and everything everywhere, but we spent our New Years Eve putting it all together, celebrating both a new year, and a business that’s grown enough to need new shelves.

As much as I loved the bustling holiday season, and the slightly quieter busy-ness of the break, it’s nice to get back into things. We had to go to Yorkdale Mall (I think maybe one of the biggest malls in Toronto, although I really have no idea) to exchange something, and I couldn’t believe how busy it was even though the holidays are over! It was a bit surreal, like we were in a theme park, which I guess was appropriate since it was Caleb’s first trip. We even got some popcorn! …which we ate on the very long car ride back. It took us I think 20 minutes to exit the parking lot because of construction and traffic.

In any case, it’s been a bit of a longer than expected break from me on the blog, even though I had a few things I wanted to post a bit more about. They are still on the list though, and I also got a new calendar which is supposed to help me stay more organized (haha.).

Not only that, we’ve got something big in the works! One of the most exciting things we’ve done as a pen shop!! Stay tuned!!