Its been awhile because sometimes life just gets away on you.....and this will be along post.

Apart from ink and always searching for the next colour I have a things about notebooks, I am always buying them.  I am a sucker for good stationery and despite all this technology that surrounds me I still handwrite most things and so always have a notebook on me, usually A5 sized.  So, about a year ago I went on the hunt for good quality notebooks using Tomoe Rover paper.  I came across Musubi after reading about them on the Gentleman Stationer's blog.  They are absolutely fabulous handmade notebooks but probably a bit expensive for most.  At the same time I discovered the Squishy Ink blog and from that Hippo Noto notebooks.

When I first read that the Fountain pen Hospital (FPH) had a limited release of Mabie Todd pens I was pretty excited as they are very popular collectables and pricey.  At the time I did not know much about Mabie Todd pens but read nothing but great reviews.
To find out that the pens through FPH were not originals but new I was disappointed, but the price point was reasonable, so I thought what the hell let’s give it a go and buy one.

I recently bought two Jinhao pens to add to my collection which now totals nine.  I thought now is as good a time as any to wax lyrical about the properties of these cheap but excellent Chinese made pens.
Jinhao pens are made by the Shanghai Qiangu Stationery Co.,ltd in China. The company was established in 1988 in Jiangxi Province, but relocated to Shanghai in 2003. The company has two manufacturing factories and employs about 300 workers.  And that is about all you can find out about the company as the Jinhao Pens web site no longer exists

I have been thinking about hot pink a lot lately , whoops sorry should be vibrant pink as that is what Lamy call it.    I am not sure what has been driving it but it’s as good a time as any to look at Lamys ink of the year to go with the limited edition vibrant pink al-star.