Still So Much To Be Grateful For

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

This article comes out on Black Friday, when thoughts of shopping, sales and deals are flooding your inbox, feeds, storefronts, mailboxes, and it is difficult not to get sucked into the madness of the holidays. But this is Thanksgiving weekend so I wanted to share some of what I am thankful for this year. A lot of last year’s gratitude article still rings true this year, but here are a few things I wanted to add.

Journaling

Last year, I said I wanted to try journaling. And just a few months ago, I started rambling in a Traveler’s Notebook. And then I stumbled into a stationery meetup just before the San Francisco Pen Show and wow, I am hooked! I’m still trying to figure out what I want to write down, when, in what notebook/system, etc., but I am enjoying the journey, finding some peace as I get thoughts onto paper and loving the community of people that I have met since then.

Ok, how many notebooks does one need at a baseball game? Asking for a friend ;-)

New Friends

I have met some new pen and stationery friends this year that I have really bonded with. The kind you message at stupid hours because you KNOW they need to know about the latest product release. The kind who hands you a beer in the afternoon at a pen show. The kind you want to hang out with even if there are no pens in sight, but let’s be real, there are never no pens in sight, lol. I am a lucky girl for having these new friends in my life.

Old Friends

I continue to be grateful for friends in this community that I’ve known for the past several years. These are the ones who you mule for, who mule for you, who helps you find that elusive pen or the ones you are always penabling. The ones you have inside jokes with or send “pew pew” texts to (you know who you are). The ones you want to visit even if there isn’t a pen show around. Maybe they like the same pens as you do, or maybe they don’t but it doesn’t matter because your friendship started out based on pens and now it’s so much more.

Pen Shows/Pelikan Hubs/Meetups

I know pen shows started coming back last year but this year they came back in force, and not just in the US but around the world. What a joy it has been to attend some of these shows, whether as an attendee or working for a vendor. I love that we are in a better place with respect to the pandemic so that we can have shows and Pelikan Hubs and in-person meetups again.

Yay! Pelikan Hubs are back! And pen shows and meetups too!

Letters

Penpalling isn’t new to me but this year I have been writing to folks that I normally wouldn’t write to. One experienced a loss of a family member, another is a non-pen friend who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer . I never know what to say, for fear of sounding insincere, generic or repetitive (I have been trying to send notes periodically). But I have been told that while they don’t make it all better, it does help to know people care and are thinking of them. And it reminds me that I am grateful for their friendship even if I can’t be there physically to help. Note to self to send notes to friends more often, just ‘cause.

USPS

And while I’m talking about letters, I just want to give a shout out to our postal service. I love our mail carrier and the workers at my local post office. I still don’t know how they can get a letter across the country for 60 cents, though my letters usually cost twice that cuz we all know I can’t write a short letter to save my life, lol.

Twitch

Yes, Twitch existed before 2022 but for me, I didn’t really watch a lot of streams except for the Bossman’s streams when I wake up early enough and Inkdependence Mike’s streams - y’all should follow both of them if you don’t already - but I’ve been discovering more people to follow on Twitch (especially in the journaling community) and have enjoyed “meeting” and interacting with people in a whole new way! And watching as people gift subscriptions to others just brightens my day too. Some of the folks I’ve also enjoyed following are toastytreat, jasminemarieplans, stylusandpen, and ipaintbirbs, but there are so many more to discover!

Too many things to list but here are a few of the things I’m grateful for.

At the heart of it all, I am so very thankful for this community. The pens and things are great, but it’s the people that keep me coming back for more. This community makes me want to spend my hours on Slack, Instagram, Facebook, Discord, Zoom, and travel to pen shows and meetups so I can stay in touch with and be a part of all this. So whether I’ve met you or not, if you’re reading this, you are part of this community and for that I am grateful and my heart is full.

The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 540 - Just Do the Job Brad!

It’s an #ASKTPA fueled episode this week, as Myke and I catch up on all of your questions.

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

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Meet Your Maker – Meg Blackburn, Black Robin Pens

(Caroline Foty's first fountain pen was a 1970s Sheaffer No Nonsense that still writes perfectly. Since she discovered pens by independent makers, she wants "one of each, please" and wants to meet all the makers. Maybe you do, too. She lives in Baltimore with pens, cats, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.)

“All the world’s a page/ And all the men and women merely writers…”

OK, maybe that isn’t what Shakespeare said. But you can do some journaling with Prospero, or write a letter with Juliet (or with Titus if you’re feeling angry,) if you’re using a pen made by Meg Blackburn of Black Robin Pens.

Blackburn wanted an identifiable theme for her pens, and “Den (of @denscustompens) had already taken gods and goddesses.” As a resident of Yorkshire in the UK, she found Shakespeare names to be a natural and evocative choice.

Blackburn’s making journey started with the gift of a hand-me-down wood lathe, and she made bowls and other decorative wood items at first. At a wood turning show she visited with her mother they saw some kit pens, and her mother asked her to make one.

Without the videos made by Bob Blanford, showing how to turn each component of a kit pen, she might not have gotten off the ground. However, the first lathe was quickly upgraded to a better wood lathe, and kit pens quickly began to feel too restrictive in terms of shape and design.

Just as the pandemic began in 2019, she began to make kitless pens, turning to Ashley Lawrence of Rockster Pens and Jason Miller of Jason Neil Penworks for advice on getting started. Her first pens, shared on Instagram, were well received, and soon she realized she could forego returning to the corporate world following her maternity leave and work part time as a pen maker and 'part time' as a mom to her now three year old daughter instead.

Blackburn gives some credit to the pandemic for allowing so many pen makers to get off the ground. “More people were writing letters, and since they couldn’t take holidays or go out, they had more money to spend.” She quickly distinguished herself for her innovative pen shapes. “I wanted to bring something new to the community, to come up with something other people aren’t doing.” Her most popular model, the Ophelia, resulted from working with a customer who asked for “something curvy,” and this led to further inspiration for models with curves. She now has ten or twelve different shapes available.

As more makers take the leap to making their own blanks, Blackburn is attracted by the idea and is looking into it. “It would let me offer a complete custom experience from the material to the pen.” However, upgrading her shop to a metal lathe is higher on the list of things to do.

Perhaps her most surprising pens are those made from recycled skateboards. She spotted a Canadian company making various kinds of things from skateboards, and thought here was something no one was doing with pens. Her first skateboard pens were built around kit components. The first year, she made two pens, ten the second year, sixteen this year, and she has twenty reservations for next year. Because the process is so labor-intensive, she limits the number she will make, and demand exceeds supply. She’s produced a series of Instagram reels showing all the steps. Broken skateboards are much easier to find in the US than the UK but a university skateboard club has helped keep her supplied.

When asked about her favorite pen she didn’t make, Blackburn first refers to pens by Eric Sands of Atelier Lusso – whenever she sees one of his pens she thinks, “I wish I’d made that!” The pen sent to her by Terry Tourngeau of Hogtown Pens in the As The Pen Turns podcast Secret Santa exchange of 2021, made with rosewood and diamondcast material, is a current favorite. A demonstrator version of her Iago model is one of her own that she can’t let go of, partly because of all the polishing work involved in making a clear pen.

While Blackburn would like to be a vendor at a pen show sometime, partly to support the community including the collectors who are not on Instagram, she says she can’t keep enough stock to actually do a show. With sixty percent of her work being commissions, she can make at most three or four stock pens a week, and her pens sell almost the minute they are posted on Instagram. This demand has also led her to decide not to support a website, as there is usually nothing to list as available.

She finds much to like about being a pen maker. “I find it very meditative and stress-relieving. It’s a methodical step by step process that is calming. And my work doesn’t rely on anybody else as it used to in the corporate world.”

In common with other makers, she cites the community spirit that prevails among pen makers, and how much she gains from them. “If I was in the shop and had a problem, there are about ten makers I could ask for help, and I try to pay that forward as well. If everybody is making a better product, that is good for all the makers.”

More than half of Black Robin’s sales are to repeat customers, and owning more than one Black Robin is the rule rather than the exception. “When someone comes back for another pen, I know I must be doing something right!”

Black Robin Pens can be found on Instagram, at Black Robin Pens.