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This year's Atlas Sidewalk Sale is almost upon us, Chicago area friends! I managed to signed up for a couple of seminars and a social, and looking forward to getting to join this year (last year didn't work out). In addition to looking forward to the classes, I hope to get some entry level Platinum pens, and try some new brands of ink. At the Chicago Pen Show I really liked a Platinum 3776 SF (one regular, one with an italic grind), so even though the Preppy isn't my aesthetic, I might see about the new Maki-e ones to dip my toes in. Let me know if they like any of the starters for them better that I can keep an eye out for. I'm still new to this hobby and being careful where I ultimately might want to put larger sums. Atlas also posted shopping rules on Instagram for the venders that will be selling their own wares on the sidewalk. https://www.atlasstationers.com/pages/event-schedule

My bottle of Robert Oster Chicago ink in the ‘Cities of America’ series just came in this morning. The colour makes me think of it as a slightly darker and greener-leaning Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun, of which a 50ml bottle also arrived today in the same parcel; but this ink's flow is rather drier in a properly (converter-)filled pen. Probably not the best ink for a nib that offers a lot of kinaesthetic feedback; but, on the whole, I like it.

Hello everyone, Does anyone have any information about the AB Conklin brand? Though the nib is marked "Chicago," this pen and nib look like they predate the 1938 Chicago acquisition of the Conklin Pen Company of Toledo by quite a few years. I'm quite interested in the story of this pen, because it is in excellent condition, and seems to be a high quality pen with a very flexible nib.

I just received an M800 Fine from Cult Pens that has an awful rough spot. Before I go thru the hassle of sending back to the UK for an exchange, can anyone suggest a shop in the Chicago area that could fix the nib? I'd prefer to pay a nibmeister to smooth it out than trans Atlantic shipping. Thanks, Mark

On August 26, 2019 this pen was pickpocketed out of my bag in a CTA bus. I've never been pickpocketed in Chicago so it comes as a shock to me but the pen was missing when I got home. Such a shame, it was one of the best pens I've handled and I even sold my other pens to fund this relatively big purchase. This particular ST Dupont Olympio L is not common and can be easily identified by the diamondhead textured cap. If you see one going around please let me know. It had blue ink on that day.

The regular monthly meeting of the Chicago Pen Club North Branch will be this coming Sunday, September 9. It's starting at the earlier-than-usual time of 1 pm, and will be at Reprise Coffee Roasters, 950 Green Bay Road, in Winnetka. Show, tell, buy, sell, trade or just chat. I'll have some new inks from San Francisco for people to try: three from Taccia and one from Robert Oster, via the San Francisco Pen Posse. I also picked up some test kits for us, featuring 12 different Japanese papers from Yamamoto Paper. If you've never been to our meetups, feel free to DM or email me, and I'll fill in the deets and put you on the email reminder list. We've got a great, and growing, group, and everyone is welcome to join.

Good news, Chicago: we are starting a North Branch of the Chicago Pen Club, so those of us on the north side and north of the city can meet with fellow pen fans closer to home. Our first meeting of the North Branch of the Chicago Pen Club will be Sunday, February 11 at 1 pm at Reprise Coffee Roaster, 950 Green Bay Road, Winnetka. Here is a link to the Reprise website. Reprise is a small, locally-owned coffee roaster, and the Winnetka store offers coffee drinks, gourmet teas and snacks, as well as beans to take home (a Valentine's gift idea, right there). If you drive, there's free parking. If you prefer public transportation, the Hubbard Woods station of the Union Pacific North Line (Chicago to Milwaukee) is right across the street. If you bike, Reprise is one block west of the Green Bay Trail and probably two miles east of the Forest Preserve Trail. There is a Pace bus, but I think not on Sundays, unfortunately. Bring pens, inks, pen cases, paper — whatever you like. Show, tell, trade, sell, or give away any pay-it-forward items. Or just get a coffee, hang out, and check out everyone else’s pens and inks. If we have enough people, I'll try to bring a giveaway or two. Everyone is welcome. Please tell others who might not see this message. But because this is our first meeting, and it’s not a huge space, I would appreciate a heads-up if you’re coming. That way I can snag enough chairs, and notify you if we have to change anything at the last minute. You can PM me on the forum, but it’s much better to email me (by any email you already have for me, or laura@fountainpenfollies.com), or DM me on Instagram (@fountainpenfollies) or Twitter (@FPfollies). Even if you can’t make this meetup, but would like notice of subsequent meetings, send me your email and I’ll put you on the list. The Chicago Pen Club also meets at 2 pm on the third Sunday of every month in Bartlett, if that's more convenient.

Ink View: Ivy 108 - Papier Plume’s Chicago Pen Show Exclusive! I first came to know about this and the Lake Michigan Summer a couple of weeks ago while conversing with Papier Plume on new upcoming inks. At that point the inks weer already created and I was just at the tail end of it. I was lucky enough to receive a small sample of each. As teh main batch hadn't been done yet, I got what was left from what was sent to other reviewers. Still I was happy to tryout these inks, specially since I dont have an Ink Hookup at the Chicago Show to get me some these ink bottles. Still! Many thanks to Papier Plume for providing the sample. I meant to have this out a few days back but I was tasked with painting our Condo.... and lets say it has been time consuming to say the least. I do hope you enjoy reading this (re)view as much as I enjoyed writing it. A small evident warning: This is a limited ink to 60 Bottles only available at the Chicago Pen Show. I do not know any plans for re-releasing these inks in the future, one can hope Ivy 108 the name, the ink. As noted this (ink) is one of the two exclusive inks for the Chicago pen show , and it is customary , it is inspired in some meaningful aspect of the city or the people, in this case Chicago and what is one of Chicago Passions? The Cubs. I dont claim to be baseball fan , so please bear with me as I go a little bit more into the story of this ink's name The number 108, is number that any a Cubs fan should know, as the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 after 108 years. To quote Fountain Pen Follies from his review: “As for the ivy, the Cubs play in Wrigley Field, an old gem of a ballpark known for its tiny size and its ivy-covered outfield walls.” I later learned that the ivy is called the Wrigley Field Ivy, and was planted in 1937 to make the playing field similar to the Perry Stadium (which had it until 1996). Wrigley field is the 2nd oldest in the United States and the only field that has Ivy in the outfields walls, Every other field has padding as per regulation. Today the Wrigley Field Ivy is part of the Field’s landmark designation and, when in use, ground rules apply to how to handle a ball going in and staying stuck in the ivy. So how does the ivy look? Just like this: http://i.imgur.com/Msi27zG.jpg I couldn’t find a picture of a ball stuck on the Ivy (when is green). I did found a few videos, if you have time here is a link to a recompilation Here is a shot of the bottles for the Ivy 108 ink: http://i.imgur.com/4wFd4Pr.jpg How true is the inkcolor reflecting the actual color of the Ivy? Well .. Pretty, pretty close. This as most of PP’s inks has great shading properties, is medium saturated and with good flow. As for water resistance not the strongest suit for this ink but it looks amazing on paper Let’s see the swab in the Mnemosyne card: http://i.imgur.com/qAq5A23.jpg I found out that the shading does show on medium nibs and broader. I won’t say it can’t work on fine or finer nibs for that matter, but I would recommend a wetter nib in that case. So on to the tools: Pens: Franklin Christoph – Medium Stub and Van Graf FB – Sand – Medium. Paper: Tomoe River, Rhodia, Tomoe River 68 gr, Clairefountaine Thriomphe (CF), traditional copy paper, Velum paper and Oxford Optic 90gsm paper. Tests: Flow, saturation, shading, sheen, bleed-through, see-through/show-through, feathering and pooling. With other tests such as water, bleach and alcohol and dry times. Sometimes it will be a yes/no answer, sometimes 1-5 (1 being poor, 5 being excellent) CrossOver Card As with my other reviews here is the ink behaving across all papers . - PLease note that I poured bleach and alcohol in reverse order http://i.imgur.com/7TgfIuD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/OpwcZdc.jpg You can see that each column is representative of the paper used. Thoughts on the ink-paper behavior Flow: Flow is good, consistent in most papers, some feathering in traditional copy paper I would say this is a wet ink.Saturation: Medium, it will vary on how wet your pen is, but there is not a heavy saturation sometimes it looked more saturated depending on the paper, but it was within my expectations if I was looking for good shading.Sheen: None, Zip, Nada. Even when supersaturated there is no sheen on this ink.Shade: This is where PP’s trade mark all about the shade. with the exception of copy paper,I was able to get shading across the papers used. Bleed-through: Some bleed was observed on the copy paper, under normal writing circumstances. That being said when doing the sketch I was using a really fine nib and some did bleed at that point, but I was also scratching the paper. Extreme pooling will also make this ink bleed.Show-through: There is show through with Tomoe River 52gr and clairefountaine, copy paper and Vellum. in some you wont be able to write both sides .Feathering: The ink was fairly resistant to feathering in all papers but copy paper, and thiss to a point was expected.Pooling: (This is not the shading but more on the pooling on the edges of the letters, I enjoy when the inks provide this). There was none that I could observe in any of the papersWater Resistance: The tests shown on the card were done using an eyedropper, leaving it a few seconds then using a tissue paper to retrieve the excess. with this most of the ink on all papers with the exception of copy paper was almost gone. Alcohol Resistance: Very consistent across. You would be able to recover from this one – almost no effect. (remember that I poured this one where the bleach should have gone )Bleach Resistance: None, Zip , nada. (remember that I poured this one where the alcohol should have gone )Dry Times: As noted this is a wet ink and the drying times were between the 20 and 30 second mark. Cleaning: as with PP's inks fairly easy to clean up from the pens used. Here are some other inks for comparison http://i.imgur.com/yOWt4AG.jpg From the top and then left to right: Ink Name / MakerComparison NotesKingdom Note - Sailorgold like green great shading Jade - Robert Oster an olive ink with good saturation - medium shadingVerde de Rioa lighter green than I was expecting subtly similar to jade, some sheen and medium shadingGreen Bay - Anderson PensOne of the most similar to Ivy 108. has more yellow in it and it is more muted. A very dry ink. Ivy 108 - Papier Plumen/aEmerald - Parker Penmana known ink with shading and red sheen properties more green than Ivy IG Green #3 - KWZIdarker green when dry with good shading even for an IGIG Green #4 - KWZIMore muted than #3 and with a touch more of blackStreet Car Greenanother limited of PP an ash green to better describe it And here is a quick sketch http://i.imgur.com/p2wppXy.jpg and writing samples http://i.imgur.com/SZysHNL.jpg Opinion I Like this ink. it sits on a sweet spot between of all the inks that I have, that I don't have. I always like a big story behind it and this is a nice one, but the ink itself has good things going for it, and it is safe for office use. Availability As noted at the beginning of this view this is an exclusive ink to the Chicago Pen Show and limited to 60 bottles. If you are going to the pen show, or have a friend that can pick up a bottle for you, and you are a fan of greens I strongly recommend it. Thank you again for keeping up with me up to this point ! Papier Plume notifies their ink availability through their newsletter first, then Instagram, then Facebook, and finally twitter (in that order).

Pictures should be ok now Ink View: Lake Michigan Summer - Papier Plumes Chicago Pen Show Exclusive! I first came to know about this and the Ivy 108 a couple of weeks ago while conversing with Papier Plume on new upcoming inks. At that point the inks were already created and I was just at the tail end of it. I was lucky enough to receive a small sample of each. As the main batch hadn't been done yet, I got what was left from what was sent for review. Still I was happy to tryout these inks, especially since I dont have an Ink Hookup at the Chicago Show to get me some these ink bottles. Still! Many thanks to Papier Plume for providing the sample. I meant to have this out a few days back but I was tasked with painting our Condo.... and lets say it has been time consuming to say the least. I do hope you enjoy reading this (re)view as much as I enjoyed writing it. A small evident warning: This is a limited ink to 60 Bottles only available at the Chicago Pen Show. I do not know any plans for re-releasing these inks in the future, one can hope and I asked! Lake Michigan Summer (LMS) The Name and the Ink When I look at an ink I want to know if there is any story behind it, this could be a simple or could be an elaborate story, but in a way it helps me signal out an ink from many others that could be close in terms of color or properties. The Lake Michigan is the third largest of the Great Lakes (when measured by water surface) and the only Great Lake located entirely in the United States. The Lake Michigan Summer ink was meant to represent the colors of Lake Michigan in the Summer! Which when looking at the pictures you can find if the lake it does look like the ink spoilers I think it does. Here is a couple picture of the Lake Michigan in the summer http://i.imgur.com/qaYhBb1.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/D38WRN7.jpg How does the Lake Michigan gets its colors? As per some research : The blue is the color given by the light hitting the water with hues varying as the light hits sediment brought to the surface when strong winds churned the lakes.In the same way the green tint is the light hitting the algae and sea weed, reflecting the green(from the plants, which are filled with clorophile) from the waterHere is where the name meets the ink, the combination of the reflecting lights gives off a blue-green color. You can see that the LMS would probably be a teal color ink and it is. Here is the picture of the bottles http://i.imgur.com/79VVl8c.jpg Lets see the swab in the Mnemosyne card: http://i.imgur.com/WEkUXu4.jpg This ink looks consistent across different nib sizes (from EF to Stub), with main differences from one side to the other on shading and for some papers pooling. So on to the tools: Pens: Sailor Realo Medium, Franklin Christoph Blade Turk (Mark Bacas), Visconti HS Bronze Stub and Nemosyne Broad Waverly (Mark Bacas) Paper Tomoe River, Rhodia, Tomoe River 68 gr, Clairefountaine Thriomphe (CF), traditional copy paper, Velum paper and Oxford Optic 90gsm paper. Tests: Flow, saturation, shading, sheen, bleed-through, see-through/show-through, feathering and pooling. With other tests such as water, bleach and alcohol and dry times. Sometimes it will be a yes/no answer, sometimes 1-5 (1 being poor, 5 being excellent) CrossOver Card As with my other reviews here is the ink behaving across all papers . http://i.imgur.com/qL2dT6v.jpg You can see that each column is representative of the paper used. Thoughts on the ink-paper behavior · Flow: Flow is good, consistent in most papers, tiny feathering in traditional copy paper. · Saturation: Medium/Heavy, which is in part responsible for the ink color to be consistent · Sheen: there is a slight hint of sheen, it is mostly sheen when the ink is laid down heavily on paper i.e Tomoe River Both and Rhodia. · Shade: Shading is between 3 and 4 not bad shading not super shading and you can see it across most papers, vellum and copy paper excluded. · Bleed-through: I saw bleed through on copy paper and Tomoe River Both. This is a wet ink and if the paper is not well coated or thick you might find some bleed through. It was tiny tiny on the Tomoe River , but worth mentioning. · Show-through: Same as Bleed Through, This is a wet ink and if the paper is not well coated or thick you might find some show through. However in TR paper it is not enough (IMHO) to not be able to write on both sides. · Feathering: fairly good on fathering, with some on copy paper and some on Clairefountaine which incidentally I do get feathering on this paper with some inks. · Pooling: woohoo hoo you can have some pooling! TR being the best and Rhodia being the worst. No pooling on Vellum or CopyP · Water Resistance: Tests (eye dropper and smear ) show that the ink is not waterproof, and what is left id very faint making difficult to recover some of the writing if need be. · Alcohol Resistance: Very consistent across. You would be able to recover from this one almost no effect. · Bleach Resistance: None, Zip , nada. Ink was here and now is gone! Magic! · Dry Times: As noted this is a wet ink and the drying times were high with all, but copy paper, ranging from 20-30 secs. Cleaning was fairly quick and straight forward. Comparison Here are some other inks for comparison, http://i.imgur.com/NX7kmtb.jpg?1 From the top and then left to right: The biggest contendent ,in my opinion, is Diamine steel blue. Steel blue is darker and a little bit more saturated. Ink ComparisonSteel Blue - Diaminevery close to Lake MIchigan Summer - with a darker tone a a little more saturatedBlue Steel - Noodlersa lot more blue than green good shadingLake Michigan Summer- Papier Plumen/aIG. Turquoise - KWZIa good ink close to Blue steel Mentol Green - KWZIpictures does not show it but it is a good teal more close to LMS and Steel Blue than anything else Fire & Ice - Rober Osterlighter blue with red sheen And here is a quick sketch using Lake Michigan Summer http://i.imgur.com/RgeEAyR.jpg Here is some Cursive and Block writing for reference. http://i.imgur.com/hAJ6aJa.jpg Opinion I like teals and I dont have many of them, Im still waiting for Zeeblau from Akkermans Dutch Masters, which is currently in the mail. But teals are in that in between place of not being green or not being blue and for those ink lovers there is no in between for these types of colors : you either like it or you dont. I know some Ink lovers that will sit on either side of this opinion J That being said , from an objective perspective, this ink is okish for using on a work environment, I like it and I can find it to have while Im making notes. Everyday use is also not a bad thing, although I dont see this being an everywhere ink. The shading on this ink is great, whats more, the ink does pool giving that nice border effect and when concentrated and with the right paper it can even give you some hints of sheen. Someone said to me that sheen has to do with oxidization, I dont know how much of that is true, but it makes sense. After all sheen happens as the inks dries up. As always Im very grateful that I got this sample, and would be happy to have this ink as part of my collection even if it just as what is left of my sample Availability As noted at the beginning of this view this is an exclusive ink to the Chicago Pen Show and limited to 60 bottles. Which is an issue for me as I really like this ink, and I got a really small sample (only have a couple of ml left!) and Im actually going to Chicago but a month later! If you are going to the pen show, or have a friend that is picking up a bottle for you, and you are a fan of greens I strongly recommend it. Papier Plume notifies their ink availability through their newsletter first, then Instagram, then Facebook, and finally twitter (in that order). Thank you again for keeping up with me up to this point !

Hello there, just a quick note to those that could interested: tomorrow (thursday), Papier Plume will release a new batch of the 2017 Chicago pen show inks: Ivy 108 (a darker green) and Lake Michigan (a Teal). I'm not sure about the time but it will be noted on their newsletter, then facebook page My understanding is that they will have 60 bottles or so of each. Cheers! Jack

Howdy, I have been a member since 2014, but just now read the rules for this site. I am a poet, composer, fiber artist, and former computer security geek. I love to write, and I love to write with fountain pens. I have been using cheap fountain pens since elementary school. But in the 1980's I discovered Waterman and Parker pens. I have a tiny fountain pen collection now. Waterman (set with Rollerball pen, paperwork and cartridges but, alsa, no box ),Parker,Staedtler Calligraphy set, 2 vintage Schaeffer's, a ton of nibs and a few dip pen holders. I aspire to find a vintage 1970's Lamy 25P German fountain pen that works. I like to write and do calligraphy in my art journals and bullet journals with fountain pens. Is anyone here using fountain pens in their bullet journals? Which waterproof (international standard short) ink cartridges do you like? Any inks that don't bleed through? I keep my fountain pens in a vintage Parker Sherman cigarette box that I found in an antique store... So glad I found FPN! Peace, LuLu

Chicago has never been a too-friendly city for fountain pen users. Just this year (I think... I pass in front of it every day and my memory's non too clear), Glibertson & Clybourn sold its last pen and closed down permanently. Now, Paradise Pens in Oak Brook is closing. So any Chicagoans, get there before April 1st, because everything must go!

Hello again folks! Many thanks go to all of you who have taken my flex fountain pen survey. I've got some prototypes made, and some of them are about to go out to the 7 lucky people who took said survey! However, is anyone in Chicago by chance? I'm looking for some people to partake in a flex fountain pen focus group to help me work out some small details in the designs. We'll meet somewhere, I pull out my wares, ask a few questions. We discuss, and then I generously compensate you for your time! If you're in Chicago and open to doing a focus group (you'll be generously compensated for your time), please PM me ASAP and include a contact email address. Put "Focus Group" in the message. Pierre

My friend, an events planner, is about to lose her calligrapher to retirement! She is in need of an EXPERT calligrapher located in Chicago who can approximate several fonts (to match wedding invitations, etc.). She does a LOT of events so this could be a good gig for the right person. Pam Spitzner