Anderson Pens Grand Re-Opening!

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

The Andersons are, as usual, moving and shaking, but more literally this time. They've closed their Chicago store and, after nearly a decade in downtown Appleton Wisconsin, moved their main store across a vast mile to a different location. The new shop is bigger, brighter, has spacious and FREE parking--and last weekend, they decided to party about it.

The grand re-opening event took place July 21-23 and it was hopping! It was essentially a mini pen show, with visiting reps from Pilot, ST Dupont, LAMY, Visconti, Kenro, and Mike and Linda of Indy-Pen-Dance there to do repair and nib work. And just like a pen show, there were times when the space was standing room only, and when you'd have to wait a while for your turn to browse a table. People came from all over for the event, and one visitor even drove over four hours to be the first person through the door at 10am on Friday. The Anderson fans turned out and it was a wonderful reunion.

Those who made the trek were treated to some amazing sales and deals, and there were some great treasures to be found (yes, I found some). And every hour there were two giveaways for those visitors who'd put their name in for the drawing. One memorable moment occurred when a husband and wife both won during the same hour. And the giveaways were shockingly good, with items like rare Retro 51s and a Visconti pen worth $1500. There were obviously some ecstatic winners, sadly not yours truly.

But I didn't leave empty handed. That would have been silly. Friday I picked up a pack of the Monster Encounter (unofficial D&D) Field Notes books (for my teen, who will provide feedback for a future review), some Exacompta grid notecards (an essential), and a LAMY leather pen case. No pens? Are you surprised? Don't be, because I went back Saturday, too--for the vibes, the camaraderie, a few more photos, and a LAMY 2000 4-color multipen, and an irresistible Paperblanks notebook I hadn't noticed there before. And another shot at the giveaways, of course (no dice).

The event was just the dose of pen family I needed. I found a few of my old Appleton Pen Club friends (watch for news regarding a rebirth of the club now that there's so much more room for activities), made some new pen friends, and I got to sit back and watch the pen community celebrate a special moment for some special people.

Brian, Lisa, Dave, and Lindsay, along with all the visiting reps, stayed busy all weekend. Between customers, I got to chat with them, and Lisa said that this amazing event is going to become an annual party. Everyone who came wants to come back, and we all hope you'll join us next year. Mark mid-July off your calendars and stay tuned for updates!

Congratulations to Anderson Pens and their hard-working staff. I'll be haunting the new location just like I did the old one. Probably more, because parking!

(PS: That new girl Lindsay deserves a raise.)

(PPS: I was not paid, bribed, or threatened to say that. Although I was under the influence of cookies.)

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Posted on July 27, 2023 by Sarah Read and filed under Pen Store Visits.

July Sponsor Spotlight

*TWSBI Diamond 580ALR Sunset Yellow, via Vanness Pens.*

Sponsor support is very important to me here at The Pen Addict. My sidebar advertisers put their faith in me to deliver good value for them month in and month out, and I want to shine the light on the best of the best for you. If you are shopping for pens, paper, inks, and more, please check out these great companies and see what they have to offer. Some recent highlights:

Goldspot celebrates a blockbuster summer with the Retro 51 Goldspot Exclusive Tornado Rollerball Movie Night.

Vanness Pens has the shiny new TWSBI Diamond 580ALR Sunset Yellow in stock in all nib sizes.

JetPens loaded up on new Blackwing pencils with the latest Basquiat-influenced Volumes edition, plus the new Pearlescent Blue and Pink Pearl releases.

Pen Chalet launched the Nahvalur Decade in the Desert Fountain Pen to celebrate their 10th Anniversary in business.

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Sponsors.

Troublemaker Inks Autumn Rain Gray Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

It's been quite a while since I've tried a new shimmer ink. For whatever reason, they just don't interest me as much as inks that shade beautifully or feature vibrant colors. In some cases, a little shimmer effect really makes an ink look like more than the sum of its parts. With Autumn Rain Gray from Troublemaker Inks, this is definitely the goal.

For the uninitiated, a shimmer ink is a fountain pen ink that features a reflective glitter material suspended in the ink. The glitter material is usually silver or gold colored, but can be other colors as well. When writing with a shimmer ink, little glitter particulates end up on the page while you write, and start to sparkle as the ink dries. It's a magical effect that took the fountain pen ink world by storm a few years ago.

In the case of Autumn Rain, the base ink color is a dark green or green-black and the shimmer effect is achieved with a silver glitter material. There isn't much in the way of shading with this ink, but there is a ton of shimmer. After inking the pen, there was so much glitter on the grip section that I was worried that I hadn't shaken the bottle enough to evenly disperse all the glitter. Nope; in this case, there is more than enough shimmer to go around in the ink while also wasting some when filling a pen.

Based on the name of the ink, I was expecting a medium gray ink with some moderate shading to imitate a dreary autumn sky full of thick clouds and streaky rain. Instead, this is much, much darker to the point that I don't think the name fits at all. When looking at the swatches, it makes me think of a star-filled night — absolutely nothing to do with autumn or rain. When writing with this ink, it looks like a really dark gray or gray-black on the page. When swatching this ink, you can tell that the main color under all the darkness is actually a beautiful forest green. The green is so much more prominent than any gray that I once again find the name of this ink to be such a bad choice. The forest green color under the dark clouds is so pretty with silver glitter on top of it. I absolutely love the color I see on my swatches. I just wish I saw more of that when writing with this ink! If it were up to me, I might name this ink something like Dewey Forest or Deep Lagoon.

Name choices aside, I really enjoy this ink. The dark color and minor shading paired with the bright sparkle is a great combination. It's a smooth flowing ink and has no issues starting or bleeding. I tend not to worry or treat inks any differently whether they're shimmering or not, but I haven't noticed any downsides to using this ink with all the glitter material floating around in the pen. Aside from behaving well when writing, it also dries pretty quickly. In my tests, normal writing normally dries between 20 and 30 seconds to the point that it is smudge resistant. Not bad, but certainly not a fast drying ink.

Troublemaker is a new brand to me (based out of the Philippines), and I'm definitely interested in trying more of their inks. I think this ink is fun, pretty, and interesting, though the name is a complete miss. If you can get past the name (and also be aware that it's a misnomer for the actual ink color), I'd definitely recommend trying it. A large 60ml bottle is just $24, though Vanness also have a small 4ml sample vial if you're not ready to commit to such a large amount of shimmer ink.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Jeff Abbott and filed under Troublemaker Inks, Ink Reviews.