(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!.)
Another trip around the sun for me (my birthday was yesterday) and while I don’t have a birthday pen picked out (yet), I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on past birthday pens.
2017 - This was the first birthday I had after discovering fountain pens just a few months prior. I wanted to celebrate with something special but I didn’t know what. I had seen some pens by Mike Allen of Woodshed Pen Company I and messaged him to see if he could make something with blue and purple, my two favorite colors. He recently announced that he is no longer making fountain pens, which bums me out, but it also makes me extra thankful for the ones I own, including this one.
First birthday pen in Purplue Borealis by Woodshed Pen Company.
2018 - In the spring of 2018, I had put myself on the waiting list at Tokyo Pen Shop Quill for a Pilot Custom 823 in Clear with the FA nib. (Sadly they aren’t allowed to sell that outside of Japan anymore). It ended up being available right before my birthday, so this became my birthday pen. I really enjoyed working on my penmanship with that semiflex pen while watching the ink slosh around.
I love looking at the ink in my Pilot Custom 823, Clear!
Look how awesome Colorverse Chesapeake Bay looks from a flex nib!
2019 - By this point, I was a pretty big Pilot Vanishing Point fan. And when the Tropical Turquoise was launched in September that year, it was a no-brainer. Birthday pen! I still wish Pilot would make more of these cool colors/patterns and not so many black VPs, but that’s another story. I just used this one recently and yup, it still gives me all the feels.
Pilot, pretty please make more pretties like this, Pilot Tropic Turquoise Vanishing Point!
2020 - What can I say about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? For many, it was a crappy year, filled with fear, anxiety, sickness, death, lockdowns, masks, isolation, Zoom meetings/classes, etc. For me and my family, we had an additional upheaval due to a planned home renovation, which resulted in us moving to a small apartment (packing/moving sucks) and when birthday time came around, I needed something to lift my spirits. I ended up splurging on a pen that I had been in love with from the first moment I saw it at Pen Posse several years prior - the Platinum 3776 Chinkin Karakusa Blue. It wasn’t a “big birthday” or anything that “deserved” a significant purchase like this, but 2020 was a big kick in the rear reminder that life is short and not to wait for “some day” because who knows if or when that day will come.
The Platinum 3776 Chinkin Karakusa Blue is a stunning pen that I absolutely love looking at and writing with.
The detailed scrollwork is just amazing!
2021 - What roller coaster year! Things got better, got worse, then vaccines (yay!) and pen shows were back! I was so relieved (and also a bit nervous) to be able to go to the DC pen show and then a few weeks later to the SF show which is always a couple weeks before my birthday. I definitely bought #allthethings because I was so happy to see vendor friends again and wanted to support them. I didn’t know what I was going to get but I knew I was going to get something as a birthday pen. I didn’t really know about the Waldmann Grandeur, but when I saw it in person at the show, the decision was made for me. And because it’s always birthday season for me at the SF Pen Show, I upgraded to the gold nib. No regrets!
I love the classic styling and beautiful guilloche of the Waldmann Grandeur, even if it is red ;-)
2022 - This has been a crazy year for me, but in a good way! Lots of pen shows, traveling, seeing family and friends again, kid’s team won their Little League division, so many good things! Heading into the SF show, I was on the lookout for something special (Pen? Pen box? Musubi notebook?) but nothing screamed “birthday present”. If you saw my SF Pen Show haul, that didn’t stop me from buying #allthethings, but I knew that I’d eventually find something. As of this writing, I haven’t found it yet, but I trust that the universe will help me find the right present. Until then, I’ll be sitting over here eating some cake, playing with my birthday pens and refreshing my emails hoping for good pen news (if you know, you know, wink).
What will the birthday pen be this year?
The best part of birthday pens isn’t just the pens, but being able to share them with you! So thank you for indulging me in a little trip down the birthday memory lane! Happy Birthday to me and to all the other September babies out there!
