So I was at my new job, talking with my new boss and taking notes with my beautiful purple Visconti Rembrandt fountain pen. In the middle of our conversation, she stopped with an excited, “Oh! I have to show you something!” She opens a drawer and pulls out a purple Parker fountain pen, I think an Urban. It was a gift, she said, and she could never get used to writing with it. She had trouble with ink splotches as she wrote. “But wait, look at this!” she said, and pulled out a bottle of fountain pen ink. A full, seemingly brand-new bottle of purple Pilot ink. I agreed it was lovely.

“Here, take it, use it, ” she said. I protested but feebly; I did want the ink. She insisted she would never use it and of course I agreed to take it off her hands. It was as shame to let it live in a drawer and not be used an appreciated, right? Now I have two bottles of ink, both purple, and it was fun to get them both out and play around. I’m so happy that they’re slightly different shades of purple, and I actually like this new one a little better.

I didn’t think I’d ever get into bottled ink for my fountain pens, but it is rather addictive. The pretty glass bottles, the beautiful colors…I think I have something else to collect, I’m afraid!