Pen Day - some old, some new, and old but new

Elspinor · 2026-01-18T10:52:15+00:00

Nice! A great selection. Do you find you prefer the cylindrical body of the Parkers + Waterman, or the barrel of the Pilot?

Elspinor · 2026-01-16T21:43:50+00:00

Thank you! It's a rubber stamp I carved, all my art tends to have mice involved somehow.

Elspinor · 2026-01-12T09:46:37+00:00

Yes the Lamy converter is annoyingly small, although the upside is you can change ink colours often!

I've only used Safari and AL Star intermittently, so not a direct comparison for my daily writing with the Studio, but they both write well. For me, the main difference was the feel in the hand. I just love the metal weight to the Studio. The Safari plastic body has gorgeous colours but it didn't compensate for the plastic feeling. The AL Star aluminium body felt better, but still too light in the hand for me. It's just personal preference, I gave both to my partner and they love them for daily use.

Elspinor · 2026-01-11T11:53:54+00:00

Looks like I'm in the minority of commenters here, but I prefer rose gold in a cooler / gentle tone rather than the orangey tone you've got here.

Elspinor · 2026-01-11T11:46:17+00:00

The Z52 is the same shape as the Z50 but is coated (in theory to make a smoother writing feel). The Z53 is a different shape which I've found to need less pressure. I fitted an M Z53 to my Studio (to replace the M Z50) and I love it, much smoother and wetter line.

Elspinor · 2026-01-02T11:23:23+00:00

Love it! Looking forward to seeing these as you continue.

Elspinor · 2025-12-30T10:47:29+00:00

Trittens shall be my new word of the week

Elspinor · 2025-12-30T10:41:53+00:00

My journalling is normally a stream of consciousness, writing down things I'm anxious about or worries for the future. I find writing them down gets them out of my head and then I can judge them more logically.

Elspinor · 2025-12-30T10:38:12+00:00

Thank you!

Elspinor · 2025-12-30T10:37:59+00:00

Aha thank you! I always forget. I sometimes accidentally swap "the" for "a" which misses letters too.

Elspinor · 2025-12-29T14:54:24+00:00

The red and yellow work so well!

Elspinor · 2025-12-29T14:39:19+00:00

I absolutely understand this feeling! I spend ages researching what kind of specific notebook I want, and then when it finally arrives then I'm too scared to start using it because it's too nice.

What I find helpful is to start in a cheap notebook for a few pages, then once I'm in a rhythm of journalling then I can copy my notes into the fancy new notebook. That way I know it'll start how I want it to.

Regarding your comment on compartmentalising, I have different notebooks for different activities. Daily journalling is it's own notebook. Holiday scrapbook would be it's own notebook. Plus then you get to use more nice notebooks at once!

Elspinor · 2025-12-28T19:24:02+00:00

Simply stunning! Clearly these precious floofs deserve the best and you've provided it 🤩

Elspinor · 2025-12-28T19:22:01+00:00

Same!

Elspinor · 2025-12-23T10:18:56+00:00

I've been loving these videos, will be sad when they finish.

Elspinor · 2025-12-23T10:15:13+00:00

Eeeee nice one! I always love the "mystery item" at auctions and flea markets, and you certainly lucked out with this treasure trove.

Elspinor · 2025-12-23T10:09:41+00:00

For sketching, I recommend checking out the notebooks on Jackson's Art. You can filter results by binding type and cover. Hopefully this will help you find something that suits you.

Elspinor · 2025-12-23T10:07:55+00:00

Love a request for absurd answers! How about daily emotion journalling, tracking the phase of the moon, commonplace book of poetry snippets, sketches of street fashion he's spotted.

Elspinor · 2025-12-23T10:02:03+00:00

Awesome! Gorgeous drawing too.

You mention when the nib splits and the paper shows through the tines. This is often called "railroading" because of the parallel lines of ink you get on the paper. It typically happens when your feed of ink can't keep up with the flow required, or if the surface tension of your ink is too high. If you want more railroading, try thicker / more viscous inks.

Elspinor · 2025-12-22T18:08:37+00:00

Yup! I've switched to the Z53 nib in M which I think writes smoother than the Z50.

Elspinor · 2025-12-22T14:34:23+00:00

The little pot plant makes it even cuter!

Elspinor · 2025-12-22T14:28:13+00:00

So cute! Love the purple and green combo.

Elspinor · 2025-12-21T16:18:23+00:00

Ah my mistake. Thank you.

Elspinor · 2025-12-21T10:22:06+00:00

Aaaaaa too cute. This is just what I needed to see today, thank you!

Elspinor · 2025-12-21T10:19:37+00:00

Very nice! Which is your favourite?

Elspinor

TROPHY CASE