Four Years: A Reflection
Around this time of year four years ago (late February or early March 2017), I picked up my first fountain pen. I had no idea that that pen, a TWSBI Eco in clear from Goulet Pens, would lead me to this incredible community, wonderful lifelong friends, and a very deep passion for fountain pens.
In previous years, when I neared my anniversary of pen collecting, I took photos of my entire pen collection, ephemera and all. If I did that today, I would probably panic from seeing it all together and not have a camera wide enough to capture it. Especially as I’ve taken a dive deep into paper and ink over the last year or so. So instead, I took this photo (below) which has some highlights of pens from the years I’ve collecting. It’s hard to believe I’m at the four year mark. It feels both like I just started and like there’s no way I packed all of these incredible memories and pens into four years.
2017 was the start for me. I had a medical student working on my team, my now good friend Stephanie, who used fountain pens (and she still does). I was intrigued and they reminded me of the “calligraphy pens” my mom had when I was a kid (which turns out were cartridge fountain pens with various widths of stub nibs!). I ordered my first TWSBI Eco from Goulet along with a few bottles of ink, I believe Emerald of Chivor and Noodlers 54th Massachusetts, and quickly fell in love. My early pen collecting was marked by a focus on vintage pens, particularly Wahl Eversharp Skylines from the 40s. While I collected a few other vintage pens, this was my main focus. I fell in love with the design (by Henry Dreyfuss!) and the variety of body colors, materials, and nibs. I attended my first ever pen show in May of 2017, Chicago, for a day and was astounded to find others so passionate about the hobby, and picked up two or three Skylines. The year was characterized, too, by collecting other entry-level pens including a number of other TWSBIs.
The state of my collection in May 2017, around 3mo into collecting.
2018 was marked by a shift towards collecting more “collectible” pens, starting with my Pilot Vanishing Point in Water Surface, my first of many raden pens. I also acquired a Montblanc Beatles that I fell madly in love with (and still adore!). I continued to collect vintage pens, including this Wahl Doric with a lovely flexible nib, and started to take note of more limited-release pens, like the Platinum Kumpoo. I attended the Chicago Pen Show again in 2018 and met Jonathon Brooks, spending a lot of time chatting with him. I became more involved in the community through Reddit and fell more in love with the hobby as a whole.
A photo I posted to Reddit in early 2019 of my ‘two year’ mark of collecting. I own only about h alf of these today.
2019 was the year I truly fell down the rabbit hole. Early in the year, I met John Phelan of Lemur Ink after realizing we were local to each other via Reddit. I also became involved in our local Hoosier Pen Club and connected with more pen people in person. I got my first LE Sailor, the Apres Ski I’d been lusting over for some time, which somewhat coincided with me starting my instagram @inkykatwrites. And I attended the Atlanta Pen Show in 2019. It was the first show I attended for multiple days and I made fast friends with so many wonderful people, many of whom I knew from online. In 2019, I started my podcast the Leaky Nib (RIP) with John and delved deeper into my love of pens. I became close friends with many in the community and discovered more brands, like Tactile Turn and Franklin Christoph (whose factory I visited late in the year). I purchased my first Nakaya, a Naka-ai in Milky Way, as well as my Platinum Galaxy (after Bittner “twisted my arm” in Dallas). I found more bespoke brands, too, like Kasama. I continued collecting limited edition Sailors and found myself leaning towards more niche and unique pens. And, 2019 was the year I met my now partner in all things pens Matthew Morse. 2019 was a special year full of some wonderful pen collecting as well as new friendships and the year this passion really became my dominant hobby!
The Atlanta Pen Show “haul” - not pictured: incredible friendships forged!
2020 was the year of Sailor for me. Well, and Nakaya. Where in prior years, I was learning about new brands and trying and expanding my collection, in 2020 I really delved deep into limited edition Sailors and picked up quite a few. The quarantine forced my friendships online and strengthened them with many people not local to me, hence the heavy Japan collecting. I really felt my love for urushi and raden and purchased many pens in this realm, including sending my first pens to Japan for urushi work by Hiroko of Bokumondoh Studio. The year also saw the dissolution of the Leaky Nib and emergence of The Bent Tines, my podcast and partnership with Matthew. The Bent Tines has been a further way for me to connect with the community I’ve come to love so much and afforded both of us a platform to release our first Retro51 pen, Bump in the Night. I added many unique and rare pens to my collection last year and continued to focus on honing the collection. Despite the obvious challenges of isolation and lack of pen shows, I collected and connected through the power of the World Wide Web.
And now, here we are in 2021. I’m still on my raden and urushi kick, and still loving limited edition Sailors. The Bent Tines is still going strong and I am looking forward to the rest of the year as more of our country becomes vaccinated and we look towards seeing each other in person again. I feel like my trajectory in pen collecting has been quite accelerated by virtue of meeting many wonderful enablers (or “penablers” so to speak). My collection has changed a lot over the years and many of my early pens no longer live with me, but instead have found new homes where they’re more beloved. While I truly love my pens, what I love even more about the hobby is the people and the friendships I have because of pens. And for that I am truly thankful, every single day! I don’t think I would have made it through the dumpster fire of 2020 without all of you!
Enjoy some photos below of humans I miss seeing in person as well as my first ever fountain pen, my Eco, how it looks now 4 years later after some very heavy abuse in the hospital.
