Author Archives: twiggmatheney

Fall and D&D

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Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful Fountain Pen Day this past Friday November 3rd!  

Unfortunately I was unable to fully celebrate.  I was visiting Connecticut to escape to the cold weather and enjoy the Fall change of season.  The leaves were sorely missed!  However, I was able to make a quick visit to The Fountain Pen Hospital’s brick and mortar store located in New York, NY.  It was a lovely little place and I found a fancy dot grid notebook from Germany.  Apparently it was newly released!  I love how it reminds me of the 90’s with it’s hologram page edges and I’ve always wanted to try a dot grid system.  It was a wonderful time; a week spent in much needed cold weather surrounded by loved ones, fire pits and cider – of course!

This past week I’ve been blessed with delving back into a game of D&D, this time specifically the 5e version.  I’ve played several campaigns of Pathfinder over the years and greatly missed the experience as a whole.  Teaming up with my significant other, a good friend of ours and a few random folks at our local game store, we had our first successful run through.  

As is always the case with me, I’ve full invested myself in my character and have decided to find a way to tie in their relationship (family or otherwise) to my original creation.  The family of Mohan shall have a long lived legacy!  Thus far, there have been a total of 4 incarnations and two additionals are currently being flushed out.

Written with TWSBI mini 1.5 mm nib; ink: Diamine Oxblood

And, of course, I will be utilizing my trusty fountain pens and my schfancy “invisible” black light reactive Noodler’s ink!  It’s a work in progress but I will modifying my original character’s journal with sigils and a spell/riddle.  I hope that this inspires others to take their character creation to the next level and also find creative ways to put those fountain pens to good use.

Be well and Long Live Paint! (and fountain pens)

~*Twigg*~

Florida has two seasons…

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Florida has two seasons: Sweltering and Hurricane.

You never realize how unprepared and blasé you’ve become until the threat of a honest to goodness hurricane is bounding toward your doorstep. I’ve lived in FL for 27 years. I’ve been through my fair share of “no-name” storms and didn’t think anything of Irma. That is until mid week Sep 6th.

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We narrowly escaped but not without our fair share of stress, downed trees and loss of power for a week straight. It was miserable however I’m thankful for our luck and I’ve learned some interesting things:

Fountain pens are the best collectible to have in this situation.

They can easily be thrown into a safe or bag and quickly brought along during an evacuation. Best of all they take up little to no space and don’t rely on electricity!

It’s just stuff.

When given little time to prepare you quickly learn that family – pets especially! – are the only things that matter. The rest is just stuff. Sure there are the essential documents that are always safely stowed away however the first out of the home were our cats. I remember staring at my uranium glass curio thinking – well, worse case scenario: I’ll just start over. It’s very humbling.

Always be prepared. Always have a backup plan.

Life has a way of throwing a curve-ball your way when you’re least expecting it, forcing you into some intense reality checks.

P.S. If you ever need a reason to clean out your home, the threat of a hurricane is an excellent excuse!

Be safe and …“Long live paint!”
~*Twigg*~

Social media

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Hello my dear friends, followers and fans.

It’s a curious thing, this age group that has grown up with one foot firmly planted within the old school (handwritten correspondence, no internet, etc.) and the other foot precariously treading in the vast ocean of technology that we seemingly can’t live without.  Lately I’ve felt that I’ve been drowning in it.  So what do I do? Hide from it, of course!

It’s been a week since I’ve temporarily disabled my Facebook account and it’s been wonderful.  The ability to focus on the present has increased dramatically.  My thoughts aren’t as scattered and divided.  My focus has improved and I feel more content and at peace.

I should preface all of this with the fact that I have not shunned all technology and social media entirely.  Instagram and Snapchat (I have yet to master this elusive app) are some of the forms of communication still on my radar.  Several years ago while traveling overseas I was without any internet for an entire month!  It was glorious.

Perhaps another week of sans Facebook is in order.  We shall see.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  Have our lives become so hopelessly entwined within social media outlets that there’s little hope of disentangling ourselves?  How many of you write letters and/or have pen pals?  (FYI – I love my fountain pens and handwritten letters and will continue to hold onto these traditions with all of my soul.)

Be well and…”Long Live Paint!”
~*Twigg*~

Inspiration aka The Muse

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Good afternoon everyone!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful Friday and have some great things lined up for the weekend.  It’s that time of year and the evenings have been filled with some spectacular storms.  The thunder rolling through the night air is a most welcome balm to my always racing soul.  That combined with the show of lightening and sunsets have produced some mind-blowing photo opportunities!

Check out these three photos taking around the same time from different locations in the city by different individuals (good friends of mine).  Isn’t it amazing how wonderfully unique yet tied together they are?

Photo credit: Twigg
Photo credit: Eileen S.
Photo credit: Camielle C.

It’s moments like these that really humble and inspire me.

I hope that you enjoy what the world has to offer.  Hold onto the good things; while they may seem few and far between, they are the fuel that keeps our souls going through the darkest of times.

Long live paint!

~*Twigg*~

New items for sale!

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Hey everyone,

I hope your week is going well.

I’ve just added a “For Sale” page so please check it out!:  https://buerstudio.com/for-sale/  I’ll try and keep it updated as best to my ability.  As always, I am fairly open time-wise for commissions; don’t hesitate to email me:  buerstudio@yahoo.com.

I also have a few promotional armbands available! Please contact me or, best of all…commission/purchase a work and I’ll send some your way.

Thanks and be well!
~*Twigg*~

BWI Pen Show

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The Baltimore Pen Show Mar 3-5, 2017

My very first pen show!

I did my research, wore my comfortable shoes, managed my budget and kept a list.  I also worked up the courage to speak to many folks and was happy to find so many smiling and friendly faces.  It was a little overwhelming; the crowd, a plethora of pens and a tons of helpful information!  I am definitely going to make this, at minimum, a yearly goal. If not this location, perhaps a different one.

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Finds include:
TWSBI Mini with stub nib
Airmail eyedropper, fine nib in amber
Two Sheaffer Snorkel pen adverts from the 1950’s
A lovely RK handmade pen (metal, cocobolo wood w/ magnetic cap) for my significant other
Organics ink in “Edgar Allan Poe”
Two Rodha vellum notepads
Official membership to the Pen Collectors of America

Martin from Martin’s pens who specializes in Snorkels even took the time to let me pick his brain about my finicky peacock blue set. Thank you Martin!

Even though it would have taken the entirety of my budget (and it was a steal!), I managed to lay my eyes on a pristine periwinkle Snorkel set complete with “chalk marks” (aka original price stickers), box, instructions and even the little plastic covers for the pen/pencil.  It was never inked!  Deep down in my heart I knew that it had to go to an avid collector.  I wouldn’t be able to resist to urge to use it.

Write on my friends!

~*Twigg*~

 

Fountain Pen Sales Are Surging, Despite Flat Luxury Global Sales

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Here’s a wonderful fountain pen article that everyone should read.  

Fountain Pen Sales Are Surging, Despite Flat Luxury Global Sales

Informative, entertaining and inspiring.  Here are some take-aways:

“The overall market for personal luxury goods was flat over the same period, and the contrast suggests that good pens have sturdier value, culturally and otherwise, than the fancy handbags and cashmere overcoats in which they’re stowed.”

“…senior Wiederlight (of the Fountain Pen Hospital store) told the New York Times that sales had more than tripled over the most recent two years: “You know why? Because everyone has their hands on the computer. People want to write.”

“Any doodad can be a status symbol, and any old objet d’art can be eyeballed, but from a beautiful pen flows great self-expression.“

-Write on! Twigg

 

Happy National Handwriting Day!

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happy-national-handwriting-day

Happy #NationalHandwritingDay everyone!

As you might be aware, I have a slight obsession with fountain pens. As a young teenager I used to compose fantastic adventures in notebooks (instead of paying attention to my math class) and recount all of the strange dreams I had.  This led to the procurement of my first fountain pen; a cheap craft store Manuscript brand in classic black plastic with gold colored accents.  I still have it to this day and it writes like butter from almost 20 years of use.

In this last year my interests were renewed when I strolled past a Montblanc ad for the Heritage Rouge et Noir.  The image of a man in a fine suit, pen in hand towered over me and I was in awe.  I mean, who couldn’t resist a pen with a snake on it!

Editor’s note (Feb 2): That’s Hugh Jackman, folks.  (link to original ad – imagine this on the side of a storefront!)

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A week later I was deep in the rabbit hole of technical specifications.  There seemed to be an endless supply of designs and filling systems but none were as complex and infamously complicated as the Sheaffer Snorkel.  Needless to say, I had to have one.  Fun fact: The Snorkel pen was the inspiration behind the fascination of cartoon characters using them as Super Soakers filled with ink.  Snorkel pens are the only fountain pens capable of this.

For more information about the Sheaffer Snorkel pen visit: Vacumania’s page.

You don’t have to have a schfancy fountain pen to participate in the snail mail revolution.  You ‘re not required to have white linen stationary or perfect penmanship (although I can attest that writing regularly will help with this!).  I still compose letters to my friends, send birthday and thank you cards.  Disconnect from the rush of this technologically driven society and pen a simple note or the next novel.

Write on friends!

~*Twigg*~