Estonia recap, stationery edition
Tartu University :) Loved being here.
I was going to write a stationery recap of my Estonia trip, but travel back was eventful (no thanks to American Airlines) and I’ve been trying to recover and playing catchup ever since.
I haven’t been to an international conference since the start of the pandemic. Also since the start of the pandemic, we officially became an academic dual-career couple once Bogi finished their PhD and we both began publishing in the same field. (We’re already a dual career author couple). Science fiction studies is newish for me - the bulk of my academic work has been in sociolinguistics until recently - but it’s been a joy to write about SFF as a scholar. I’m working mostly on translations, gender, and disability studies. Bogi moved over from the health sciences :) We are having a lot of fun.
That said, travel is HARD. We can’t leave our teen, and all of us are neurodivergent and/or disabled, so the prospect of international travel is daunting.
The trip was awesome - but not the transatlantic travel part, especially not the travel back part. No more about this.
Of course I brought my pens :-) I brought 5 fountain pens this time: Scribo Feel Maddalena, Scribo Piuma Impressione, Onoto Scholar in Mandarin Yellow, Onoto Keats, and Leonardo Momento Magico Brooks Bohemian Twilight.
The hero of the trip was the Scribo Feel Maddalena with the M 18k nib, which I inked with Scribo Notturno Viola. I wrote it dry on the trip. It is a large capacity pen, but I subjected it to endless notetaking and journaling. This is the newest pen in the Gathering, and the pen I originally wanted to take with me to Oregon - but I did not yet have it in hand. It proved to be a wonderful travel companion. 10/10, will travel again.
The second hero of the trip was my Onoto Scholar, inked with the newly acquired Montblanc Klimt. I did not expect much from Klimt when I got it, but it rapidly became my favorite blue ink of 2024. Thanks to the generous stub nib and the relatively modest cartridge converter ink capacity, this pen also ran out of ink. once I returned home, I immediately reinked it with the same ink.
Leonardo Momento Magico Brooks Bohemian Twilight: a tried and true shimmer solution. I inked it with FWP Land of Shangri-La before leaving. I’m over FWP in every way, but I love Land of Shangri-La. And once my two other pens ran dry, I wrote with this one. It’s a great pen and a wonderful pen-ink combo. However, this pen has been in rotation non-stop since September 2022, when I got it, and I am approaching overdose. It needs to take a break.*
*I’ve been saying this for a long time. The pen has not gotten a break. It’s not a great thing.
Onoto Magna Keats with a F 18k nib, inked with Montblanc Stevenson. This is a terrific combo, and this pen has been a good traveler. Almost written dry :) but I keep refilling it. No notes.
Scribo Piuma Impressione 18k F. This is a beloved pen. I really wanted to take my Aurora Internazionale, but I can’t stand the thought of losing that pen, so it stays home. The Internazionale is inked with Montblanc Maya Blue, so I inked the Piuma with the same ink, hoping that it would remind me of the Internazionale while I traveled. I did not like the combo though - it felt dry, and I did not touch it. Once I came home, I tried it again — and now it’s perfect. I’m writing with it nonstop. No idea what happened.
Paper: I took my Plotter Bible and my Hobonichi Day-free with a new insert; endlessly used the Day-free while pining for a Plotter A5. I’ll write about the Plotter A5 pining separately.
What I saw and what I bought:
No big ticket items. No pens, no inks, but I did have stationery adventures. I went to TYPA, a wonderful letterpress studio in Tartu, and got a box and letterpress cards, as well as a tour of the studio.
An art book at TYPA
Wrought iron bulls in Tallinn’s old town
Then, in Tallinn Old Town, I went to another print/art store, Labora, and got some more postcards and an art book. I bought a Moomin bookmark, a screen-printed pen case, and a small leather box. For the Menagerie, I bought a crocodile at the oldest pharmacy in Europe, whose mascot is the crocodile. It cost 6 Euros, was alone there, and seems to be thrown together by a crocodile enthusiast. I love it. Overall this was not a buying trip, but the small stuff made me happy.
I loved Estonia so much. It is beautiful, quiet, lovely, full of wonderful people, and quite queer friendly (they just passed marriage equality). It’s also really good to be back home. I don’t want to see another plane in a while.
(I am likely to see another plane sooner rather than later).
an assortment of goodies, with the new Menagerie friend, the Crocodile