My New Obsession

Naomi Kim | Editor

Wolfblur - Pixabay

Recently, I’ve gained a great deal of interest (and some knowledge) in fountain pens and their inks. 

Last Christmas, a close friend had gifted me (and everybody else in our five person friend group) a fountain pen and some ink. I was gifted a white LAMY Safari pen, a black Jinhao 35 pen, a glass bottle of Pilot’s Iroshizuku Ku-jaku ink, and a Mnemosyne notepad. 

Initially, I was not extraordinarily impressed by the gift. Of course, I was incredibly thankful to be receiving anything, but I did not think it would be something I used often, if at all. After all, most of my writing was done on my laptop/computer and not really on paper.

Spoiler alert, I was incredibly wrong.

Initially, I hadn’t used the gift very much. It sat in my cheese sauce jar turned pencil holder for months, collecting dust as it stayed a decoration. But one day, after getting on the topic randomly with my friends, I had been reminded of a video I watched years ago of an artist drawing with a glass dip pen and some ink. Suddenly, I was obsessed with the idea of doing the same.

Whilst spending a good chunk of money (which I’m not going to divulge exactly how much), I had also begun trying out the pens I had been gifted. With all the new inks I had, I was excited to try them out with my pens.

I had found an unexpected, but great joy to see my words come out on paper with glitter, maybe a sheen that changed colors depending on the angle, a scent, or even just as a regular, but colorful ink. It gave me a reason to be excited to write notes in class, or to just jot down my thoughts for what I wanted to do. 

I’ve finally reached a point where I’ve amassed enough bottles of ink to last me quite a while. While I slowly work on my stash, I continue to search for any reason I can to write with those pens and inks. I can confidently say that it’s rekindled my love of writing on paper.