Fountain Pen Nib Types

Here’s the thing about fountain pens, and fountain pen people… we like choice, we like there being enough options to cover basically any potential use-case or look that we want. (See also: the number of ways we have to fill our pens. As such, there’s a variety of ways to actually produce the nib on a fountain pen, also giving a variety of different results. And that is what I’m going to lightly explain today.

Continue reading

Fun Fact: Wax Seal Colors and Etiquette

Anyone reading this actually familiar with wax seals? No? Okay, it’s this:

A wax seal

For you young ones, this was how we used to seal envelopes. No lick-and-stick flaps, you took your envelope (or even, the back of your folded letter), and put some wax (not always actually wax) on it, and used the seal (the metal circle there) to make an imprint and press the wax down, sealing the envelope. Common seals would be either a motto or something novelty, a monogram / initial(s), or a family crest, each with slightly different meanings. Additionally, the stereotypical seal color is red, but the color was actually important: the seal was likely the first thing you’d see, so the color of the seal was a hint as to the contents of the letter.

Continue reading