Venetian Glass Pens

I love words. I love lines. I love the stories you can weave into books and drawings with a thousand swishes of a pen. I love typography and calligraphy and making sure that words and pictures get mixed together into a beautiful mess of this thing called Art.

I'm the sort of person who collects pens and art supplies and actually uses them all.

I'm also the sort of person who is inordinately fascinated by ultra cool trinkets, gadgets, and gizmos-- especially historical ones.

Last summer, I was being my usual procratinator self and browsing Etsy even though I had no money to spend. I found something that made me stare at the screen in astonished delight at the pure existence of the thing:

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Guys. GUYS. It's a glass pen-- literally, a pen made out of glass. Including the nib. This beautiful piece of craftsmanship is made by hand by the Thailand artisan J. Nagadhana, and this is her shop.

image via J. Nagadhana's blog

These pens originated in Venice in the 17th century. They were favored not only for their beauty but for their superiority over other dip pens (this was, of course, in the age of quills-- there was no such thing as a ballpoint pen or even a reloadable fountain pen). The nibs are made from twisted ribbed glass rods, and these grooves mean that the pen is capillary fed.

This means that the ink can be loaded up to the handle and the writer only has to dip the pen into the inkwell once every few lines or even pages!

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I'm including a gratuitous picture of Venice. Ahhh, the strange city built on stilts, where the people travel to the grocery store in boats, and see historical beauty in every direction. A city of extravagance and craftsmanship.

I really want to go to Venice someday.

I loved these pens so much and googled (to no avail) for tutorials. I quickly realized that this is not a DIY because I have no access to or knowledge of glassmaking tools. It didn't take me long to decide that this was what I would spend my birthday money on!

My first glass pen purchase was a Pulcinella Teal Glass Calligraphy Set (originally sold by Barnes and Noble) that I bought on eBay. It was a really great price, but arrived with a chipped tip. It barely wrote at all and I had to refill the pen every one or two words; a far cry from the two or three lines that the pen is supposed to last without being dipped into the inkwell.

However, it was such a great price that it totally wasn't worth the postage to return it and get a refund. The penstand, box, inkwell, and powdered ink were so pretty that I almost didn't want to return it anyways.

I'm usually a good hand a fixing things, so I thought "Oh yeah, it's no biggie! I'll just use my magic DIY skillz and make this pen wonderful!"

I rubbed the tip with the smallest sandpaper Dad has, 300 grit (I've since heard that 400 grit is the best for this sort of work). The tip was so chipped that I had to sand quite a lot in order to even everything out. Unfortunately, this also evened out the ribbing.

The pen could now write, but the ink welled up in strange ways (no matter if I filled the pen to the top of the ribbing or only dipped a little bit). The lines, when I could get the ink to flow, varied between ultra thick and wet to barely visible.

This page was the sad result of many attempts to write with the pen. The Jane Austen quote from earlier was also a ridiculously tedious process.

I'm much to stubborn to let a little thing like this let me down, however. After an hour of fiddling with the pen and being very let down that this cool trinket wasn't as cool as it promised to be, I had another brilliant idea.

POWER TOOLS FOR THE WIN.

Glass pens are made from glass rods which are heated and twisted, right? What if I just re-melted the tippy tip and make it pointy again?  I may never have worked with glass before in my life, but I figured that I was totally up to heating a stick with a propane torch, right?

Right?

I didn't realize that glass needs to be heated very, very slowly in order to melt and re-form without cracking.

That's an experiment gone wrong. So heads up for anyone who wants to try repairing a glass pen on their own: Don't, unless someone can teach you proper glassmithing techniques.

is it really bad that I used my Chinese tea cup for washing off ink??? I scrubbed it really, really well afterwards...

I ruined the cheap pen back in August, but the glass pens still haunted my thoughts. I searched until I found the site JetPens.com and purchased the small J. Herbin glass nib pen here. Unfortunately these pens appear to be no longer manufactured (or at least in stock), because when I wrote to the company asking if they had the colorful blue pen in the listing, they said that the only ones they have are the 9 plain ones left. I went for the classy maroon one.

The pen arrived incredibly quickly and I immediately fell in love! I also splurged on a bottle of Terre De Feu ink-- my excuse was that it would get me free shipping but really I wanted to have my first ever bottle of new ink. Everything I've used for calligraphy before is secondhand and a bit stiff. The ink is PWETTY.

The pen is small and writes with a medium-width line. I was afraid at first because the pen made grating noises on the paper, even though I was only brushing the glass across it gently, but after one or two lines it started to flow perfectly.

Glass pens aren't really calligraphy pens, because they only write in one width. However, I absolutely love the feeling of writing a letter with a glass pen, dipping it into a glass inkwell, and trying desperately to write in legible cursive.

(This is the curse of a 21st century artistic teen. I can do fancy calligraphy and can type really fast, but my everyday writing is sloppy manuscript. I even struggle to sign my own name in cursive. Seriously, have you ever tried quickly writing two cursive "n's" in a row? I thought not. I sign my name as Shaylym or Shaylynnn and half the time those "y's" just turn into up-and-down zig-zags instead of letters.)

If you overload the pen and write at an extreme angle, you can get half-controlled smudges. This worked really well in this Hobbiton drawing I recently completed. I've been trying to free up my linework for ink sketching, and not rely on pencil underdrawings. Kinda proud of this sketch. :)

I also drew another Hobbit hole in nearly the same style... only as fast as I could because speed-sketching is another thing I want to work on. And I drew a bird. So I may as well overload this post with yet ANOTHER picture. :)

Next on my list of cool old-fashioned things... pretty stationary paper and a sealing wax set.

And who knows, maybe I'll be able to justify buying another glass pen someday. I keep going back to the Etsy shop I first ran across, thinking how pretty one of those decorative flower pens would be.


(Just so you know, I was not compensated in any way or asked to do a review for these products. I just wanted to share these really cool novelty items that I purchased and my experiences with them!)

Update: I made a video of me playing with the glass pens if you'd like to check it out!

2nd Day of Christmas -- Sarawen Perfume Art Review + Giveaway

Sarawen is an absolutely lovely shop full of perfumes-- but not just any perfumes, my dear! GEEKY perfumes!

As she says in her shop's description: "Unique perfume oils inspired by all things Literary, Magical, Historical, Gothic, and Geeky!"

Sara names each unique blend after characters and places that will make a bibliophile die of happiness. There are scents inspired by Sherlock Holmes, The Lord of the Rings, Greek mythology, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Peter Pan, traditional fairytales like Snow White, Harry Potter, Jane Eyre, and many, many more!

She's even got some Christmas-y perfumes up for a limited time.

The best part is that these perfumes are not only hand-blended, geeky, original, and beautifully scented, but they are affordable, too! Her perfumes are vegan, too(I know a few people who would be really excited to hear this).

A few months ago, I placed an order for several tiny perfumes samples and won a few more in a giveaway shortly thereafter (the first giveaway I'd ever won!). I am thoroughly impressed and thought I'd share a review of Sara's work before telling you more about the giveaway!

The package arrived all the way from Canada-- I'll admit that I was a little excited to see French on the package. I think that international packages are so much fun (even though they cost more... I always love mailing my jewelry internationally because then, even thought I can't travel there, something I've made is being enjoyed in another country!).


The packaging was so pretty that I just had to snap some pictures!

Here's my lovely haul! I simply couldn't pick, so I asked for random samples being sure to include at least one of the Elf inspired scents.

The samples came in miniature glass vials, which are cute (who doesn't love small things?) but I do have to be careful to store them upright because I had one leak a couple of drops when I left it on its side for a couple of days accidentally.

It's also a bit difficult to pop off the cap without risking the contents getting shaken out. Of course, it's just samples (there are very nice containers for regular sizes), but I was excited to see Sara post on facebook that she has new bottles for samples.

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Now, I have to admit that I am not a perfume connoisseur. I've always used my mother's, or just some body spray. But now I'm in love with picking out perfumes to put on each day. Scents are very difficult to describe, but I shall do my best!

This is probably my favorite of them all:

ELF OF THE GOLDEN WOOD
Fresh, lively lemon blossoms blended with the soft, yet woodsy note of vetiver, with a hint of underlying musk. Strolling through the Golden Wood, the scent of honeyed bread wafts by, perfuming the pure air with its sweetness.
This is a Lord of the Rings fragrance inspired by the character of Haldir! This is a balanced unisex blend, perfect for all elven lads and lasses.

I don't know what kind of magic
perfume-making skills Sara has, but she somehow bottled up the smell of the summer woods in my backyard.

Seriously. It's a sweet scent at first (almost like the musk of blossoming honeysuckle bushes, but not as flowery) but underneath it is a faint crispy tang, like honey lemon tea or Pink Lady apples.

I may be the only one crazy enough to think this... but it's a mix of peridot green and midsummer-sun yellow. (Tell me I'm not crazy for sometimes comparing random things to colors).

Elf Princess -- Lavandar and Rose

This one is lovely and a runner-up for favorite scent! It's a girly, floral scent but also a little bit tangy and wild.

And it's inspired by Luthien and Arwen!!!!







Logical Deduction is probably my least favorite, but that doesn't mean I dislike it! It's a unisex scent, but to me it seems very masculine. It definitely has a hint of tobacco lurking in there, which is why I think I don't like it as much even though there is a richer, sophisticated smell above the tobacco. The sense of smell is closely related to memory, I've been told, and the tobacco make me think of the weird texture in the air at my grandparents' house back before Papa stopped smoking.

Elven Prince is another one of my favorites, even though it's supposed to be for guys! It's a fresh and earthly scent, almost like freshly mown grass. Definitely a lot of lemon! (I just love citrus smells).
This one is really hard to describe because I just keep thinking about a really lovely lemon yellow and can't think of words. It just smells yummy yellow, okay peeps???

Oleanna

I seriously can't think of anything but that this reminds me very strongly of my grandma's perfume. It's not the same, but so similar... Very violet-y. I like.

According to the description it is inspired by the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

Elf King is a very nice scent, a little like "Golden Wood" and "Elf Prince"-- an earthy scent. It reminds me of the woods at dusk. Although I can tell it is not as girly I still wear it because I love it. ^_^

Lionheart is one that I enjoy but don't wear much because, like Logical Deduction, it's definitely a more masculine scent. It's a lurking smells that I can't explain, a bit like honey or incense.

(The description says spice and sandalwood!)

Elf QueenGUYS! This is an elixir of petrichor!
For those of you who aren't Doctor Who geeks, "petrichor" is the word for "the smell of dust after rain."

This is an almost fierce, earthy smell that literally smells like our neighbor's hayfield on those gloriously gloomy, purple-gray days of contant rain.

It is "powerful yet sweet" with "notes of vanilla cream, honey, jasmine, and patchouli."

I love the quote that is in the description for this listing:

"... and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold ... but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory." ~ The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien 

The Baker's Boy is a really cool perfume inspired by Peeta from The Hunger Games. It's sweet in a fruity way, and after that initial impression, it smells a lot like cake or pancakes! The foodie in me is happy. :)

Lol, how's that for a very long post? Can you tell I was having fun attempting to describe smells? And yet after all this you're bound to not be able to imagine the scents very well at all. 

Now for the GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Sarawen is giving away a 3-piece Middle Earth Sampler Set to one lucky reader of my blog!

You'll get to choose from:

~ Misty Journeys ~ Elf of the Golden Wood ~ Elf King ~ Elf Princess ~ Elf Queen ~ Elven Prince

How cool is that? Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the giveaway! Happy 2nd Day of Christmas and many thanks to Sarawen for joining in the festivities!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 Recent Amazing Things

(Last day to enter the Elven Flower Jewelry Set Giveaway!)

I normally don't write about books that I read or movies I watch, simply because I go through a spectacular amount of material. I've never had the gumption to tread the waters of book-and-movie-review-blogging, because I know I'll drown under tsunami waves of heavy books and shiny discs.

But this is my blog, and I can write about whatever I want to. I didn't prepare a good artsy post and I feel in the mood to talk about the books and movies I enjoyed the past several days!

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Last week at the library, I was browing the kid's section (because one must always browse the kids section and balance research paper books with fun books) and saw a brick that didn't look like it belonged in the midst of grade-school Scholastic paperbacks. Now, any time a five inch thick book is in the kid's section, my interest is immediately peaked. I pulled the weighty volume off the shelf, recognized it as something a friend had recommended, and gasped as I turned the leaves.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is a real treat. I'd already seen the movie, so the plot was deprived of that new-story magic. However, it's still a sweet little story set in 1937 France, involving train stations, clocks, films, magic, and friendship. Not to mention mechanical automatons, which I had not heard of before. I am now in love with automata-- there's a few cool ones on my Gizmos Pinterest board.

Sidetrack:

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I found this AWESOMESAUCE Lego Pegasus Automaton!

Back to Hugo-- what really caught my eye about this book was the creative fusion of the illustrations and the text. Traditional books tell their story with words only, and the illustrations simply picture-ify short scenes. Graphic novels rely on visual cues for their entire stories. Hugo is neither; the text and images are so closely intertwined that you need both in order to follow the story.

My favorite part? The illustrations read like a storyboard. They are like a flipbook for short scenes of a film. Progressive pages zoom in on important items, just as a video camera does. Brian Selznick did a spectacular job of choosing the perfect moments to illustrate. You know how a film can capture emotion in people's expressions in a way that words simply can't? All the emotional scenes are gorgeously illustrated in this movie-magic manner. (And the movie-magic experience ties right back into the storyline).

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Did I mention gorgeously illustrated? You couldn't have picked a better time period for this style of drawing. The crosshatching and stylized figures creates a dreamy atmosphere. Mechanical pieces of useful art, like clocks and wind-up toys and automata look amazing and slightly steampunk. And the vintage clothing? If I ever have to draw pictures of crowds, I am SO giving them cloches and flatcaps and overcoats and shiny shoes.

I was going to copy some of the pictures from Hugo but haven't had a chance yet. However, the clockwork drawings inspired these little mechanical dragonflies! They're from my imagination, and drawn partially at my brother's baseball game, partially at home while listening to Sherlock Holmes.

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Another recent read was the Letzenstein Chronicles by Meriol Trevor. (Nope, not Lichtenstein, but an imaginary European country). These are a really charming series that I always come back to every year or two. I love them so much, especially The Crystal Snowstorm and The Rose and Crown. It's late and I don't have time for a full review, but suffice it to say that I love these. :) Along with most books published by Bethlehem Books!

They're historical novels that I suppose are designed to teach you about the revolutions of the 1800's. I like the history, but love the characters even more.

There's everything from adventure to intrigue to romance to artists to child-being-forced-to-become-Grand-Duchess to revolutions of the 1800's to acting and languages and friendship and loyalty and narrow escapes and castles filled with orphans and some very memorable characters.

Get them from your library, NOW.

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We went to the theaters to see Brave. It's a tradition to watch all Pixar movies when they come out. Honestly, I was a little disapointed. Brave is a fun movie... but it didn't have the depth that I've come to expect from Pixar. I never truly connected with the characters. The whole "change my mother to change my destiny" thing... Merida was leaving herself WIDE open to all sorts of magical troublemaking. Plot hole!


They really pushed the whole strong-female-lead issue. A bit too hard. It wasn't natural although it was good in theory. (And for goodness sake, that cliche corset scene? <--- link goes to funny commentary on that scene). I also heard all sorts of hype about this being Pixar's first female-lead film, and the first film directed by a woman. Kudos to them for not discriminating, but I honestly... I don't know. The fact that they have to make such a big deal about that is sad. It's also sad that the story is so much about that. It's got a girl-power flavor-- which it not a bad thing, but it overwhelms other flavors that could have made the film so much more while still being totally empowering.

Seriously. Let's just admit the fact that girls are just as good as boys, and get on with it. Write good stories. Don't get hung up on what gender the lead or director is. Just make good art.

One thing that I really liked, though, was the depiction of Merida's mother the queen. She was a very strong woman in her own way, although like all people, she had her own flaws. The scene where the queen calmed an entire banquet hall of fighting warriors, simply by walking? Not all woman have to be kick-butt tomboys to be strong and powerful in their own way!

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(And she made pretty tapestries with insane detail. I can't even imagine... and the animation! You could see every thread!)

I did enjoy Brave, despite my ranting. I've just come to expect more emotional depth from Pixar. However, in one thing there was no disapointment to be found at all. THE ARTISTRY.

Wow.

That film was eye candy. And ear candy. (OK, ignore the ear candy, that sounds disturbing. But believe me when I say the music and accents were delicious!). I am totally renting the DVD, just so that I can press the pause button all I want. So much detail. And so much of my obession with knotwork! There was something amazing in the credits...

Celtic. Knotwork. Snowflakes.

As soon as the movie was over, I went to sit down next to mom. The first words out of my mouth? Celtic knotwork snowflakes. It's a joke in my family now, because I just kept going on about it!

I can't wait until there are pictures of the credits online, or until I can get the DVD. I'd love to copy the designs I saw in the theater. As it is, I had to make them up!

I'm pretty proud of the top right one; I drew it as soon as we got back and didn't even look up designs that are typically used in circular celtic knots.