What were your top 5 (+ honourable mentions) pen related things in 2020?
1 Like
Personally I wouldn’t do a top 5 but just list 5 favourite things in different categories.
-
best hobby related accessory: bone folder
I started bookbinding in the spring and I like using my bone folder. Honourable mention goes to my vintage book press
-
favourite country of origin: Japan
I had almost exclusively German and Italian pens and last year I finally bought Japanese pens (1 Sailor, 1 Wancher with Sailor nib and an Eboya with Bock nib) and I love them all. -
top pen material: ebonite
Though I had one ebonite pen before, this year I’ve acquired 4 new ebonite pens. Along with celluloid, ebonite is the most comfortable pen material for me so far. -
favourite ink: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo
This is not a new ink but something I haven’t used before. I was delighted by its colour and performance. Honourable mention goes to the Taccia Ukiyo-e inks for their beautiful boxes. -
brand of 2020: Santini
This year I’ve bought 2 Santini pens and I have a lot of respect for this company, their fantastic in-house made nibs and their amazing customer care. My most frequently used pen this year was my Santini Libra Jungle having a fantastic Santini Fine 18k nib.
+1 thing that trumps these all: I’m very grateful for all my pen friends with whom I tried to keep in touch during the year in the face of the pandemic restrictions. I really enjoyed all the outdoors meetings, writing to penpals and last but most certainly not the least: all the online pen meets we had.
What were your top 5 pens or top 5 inks or just top pen related things in 2020?
4 Likes
My Top 5
-
Rediscovering my love of fountain pens. And buying my first new fountain pen in over 20yrs. That pen was a TWSBI Diamond 580.
-
Writing with a Vintage Waterman’s 52 & #2 gold flex nib. (This includes buying my first vintage pen).
-
Seeing how much ink had changed in the last 20 years, and what an amazing variety of inks are now available.
-
Developing an ink addiction
-
Spending hrs and hrs each week watching youtube pen & ink reviews, instead of TV.
Hoping in 2021 i can expand my pen & ink collection, and meet some likeminded pen friends.
2 Likes
Hi Petrisz which I gather is Peter in my language. I have not been on here much of late but did like your subject of being grateful for and discussing highlights of 2020.
- Even though we are not in quarantine much here in New Zealand I found my days filled with being online with pen and ink reviews as a relief from the wearisome US Political situation and the real enjoyment of the pen community. A safe harbour in the storm.
- I love all of the many pen podcasts and listen to them all over and over. Especially the earliest ones when I was actively accumulating and there was mention of the pens I was buying. I am still a huge Platinum 3776 fan and the Pilot 74 a close second.
- I finally decided to buy the Platinum 3776 Pink Celluloid Sakura and what a wonderful pen that is in both looks and nib. I am not a fan of specialty grinds and just enjoy the medium and broad nibs and the soft medium that I have on two pens.
3.) Ink is a rabbit hole of so many new ones it came to me at the end of 2020 that I just cannot try them all. I have more blue inks with red sheen then I should have and I have been going back to the old standbys like Waterman and Sheaffer and using the ink and pen of the same company. - My purchase and pairing with the Black Pilot 74 with Soft Medium nib with Sheaffer’s Skrip Red is a pen I reach for all the time. My Platinum Blue President with Diamine 150 Ann Blue Velvet is another favourite with a broad nib.
5.I have decided that my Rhodia Goal Book and my Endless with 68g Tomoe River are two notebooks I use daily. The Rhodia is a diary and the Endless a daily doodler of drawings, ink and whatever flies out of my head.
Probably the last thought overall is that I have enough of everything. Over a hundred pens and inks and at least fourty notebooks. I have been online for five years or more and I write numerous pen pals and it has been wonderful. But it is time to rotate backwards and reuse and enjoy what is hiding in cases from the beginning. Thanks Peter for this subject and hopefully others will reassess their journey. I just found a wine red Platinum Balance and I put Diamine Red Dragon in it and what a joy that little pen is. A steel gold plated nib and very plain body and even though it is out of production…if you see one for sale…especially in a medium nib…don’t let it get away.
Nice to be back…Barbara in New Zealand
2 Likes
Hi everyone! I hope you are all healthy and safe, and I wish you have a great 2021.
2020 was only my 2nd year into fountain pens, but it was great. Here’s my top 5 pen-related highlights of the year:
(for some reason the original numbers are changed when I post, but remain as intended when I try to edit this! It should read 5,4,3,2,1)
-
Nib variety: in 2019 I only had Japanese fine nibs, a western EF, and the Pilot FA nib in my Custom Heritage 912. 2020 was the year to discover other nibs, such as 1.1mm and 1.9mm stubs, italic nibs, Japanese and western mediums, a vintage hard extra fine ground to a very fine architect nib, and now I have a Broad and a Japanese EF on the way. This helps me better tune my preferences for future pens!
-
Pen pals: I’ve started writing snail mail to a few new pen pals. It’s a very nice way to use all the pens, inks and paper, and to get to know someone in a different way to what I’m used to. Unfortunately, deliveries are too slow here, but I’m also working on my patience.
-
Bookbinding: I started bookbinding my own notebooks, since I wanted to use more FP friendly paper at an acceptable cost. Rhodia, Leuchturm, Midori and Mnemosyne notebooks are usually over $20USD in my country, and I’ve bound some very nice notebooks with good quality paper for about $5USD. It’s even therapeutic!
-
Podcasts: I discovered many podcasts in 2020; I’ve really enjoyed listening to them and learning a lot of new things about pen shows, special editions, new launches, and so on. Tinterías (in Spanish) has been great because I can enjoy the conversation in my native language.
-
I got my first Sailor pen, a Promenade with a H-M nib. I really like it and I think it’s my favorite pen so far! It looks great, it writes great.
Honorable mention: it’s honorable because it’s still on its way, but in early December I ordered my first custom pen, from a pen maker in Mexico. I just received pictures of the finished product and it looks amazing! It’s now on its way to me, but it was great to be able to choose a material, shape, clip, nib color and size for a unique hand-made pen.
2 Likes
I’m not able to come up with a top 5 for 2020 for obvious reasons. 
That said, the one thing that was great in 2020 were all the letters I got from everyone. I’ve now slacked off a bit and have a huge reply pile, but I’m definitely going to get there eventually.
2 Likes
Hi,With Covid still imposing restrictions on our lives, were you able to fiddle more with your pens in 2021? Write more often to penpals? Enjoy online pen meets? What were your top pen related things of 2021?
Please let me share my personal list
-
favourite pen makers in 2021: Small scale European pen craftsmen and urushi artists like Penmeester.be / Jan Lesy
Tamenuri Studio / Michał Kulka 
and goldsmith Anabelle Hiller 
- most dizzying New Pen Day: When I managed to acquire my grail pen, an Akkerman Duofold that I’d been looking for for 4 years.
- ink of the year: It has to be Pennonia Méregzöld. It’s a beautiful shading tealish-greenish ink that behaves pretty well. I had a lot of fun with it.
- favourite event: Dutch Pen Show in Utrecht. It was the only real life pen event I attended in 2021, true, but it felt absolutely magical anyway.
- my best move: Bringing a bunch of my pens to nibmeister extraordinaire Anabelle at Appelboom. Now I can truly enjoy pens I’ve bought but had been somehow conflicted about their performance earlier.
Please do share your favourite pen moments and pen stuff of 2021 (can be anything pen related). Last year it was fun and I’m anxious to read them again.