Welcome to Issue#43. The monsoon has set in, and we have Tarun’s sketch to remind us of that.

We also have an account of an experience that makes the fountain hobby so fulfilling, and some wondering about the Pelikan Hubs.

We all buy inks. It’s a part of the hobby that we all indulge in way more often than we should. We buy inks in shops, we buy them online, we buy them in pen shows, we buy them off our fellow enthusiasts, we buy them off group buys, we buy them off pen groups - and I’ve pretty much done it all. Recently, I managed to buy a bottle of ink in a way I have never done before.

One of our fellow enthusiasts from Hyderabad, Harsha, was in Osaka, and he texted me from Morita Fountain Pen Store. This place has been in business since 1946 and is run by the very knowledgeable Morita-san, and is on every fountain pen enthusiast’s list of places to visit while in Japan. Harsha asked me if I wanted anything from the store and I jumped at the opportunity to get a bottle of Shaded Green ink - a Sailor shop exclusive that you can buy only at the Morita Fountain Pen Store.

The highlight was when Harsha put me on a video call with Morita-san himself. I was, of course, honoured to be talking to the man himself, and conveyed my thanks for the opportunity to be able to try the ink from his shop.

The ink, as expected is a beautiful muted green that is calming to use. Muted greens are my jam, and Shaded Green is now my current favourite, knocking off Vert Empire from the top position.

Here’s a writing sample and a swatch for your viewing pleasure:

The Pelikan Hub has not been heard from yet, and all we have are unverified rumours.

When I was looking at communications from the 2024 Pelikan Hub, I realized that all of them came from the Pelikan Hubs team that was from Pelikan Vertriebsgesellschaft in Hanover. This was one of the operations that were shut down completely after the Pelikan purchase by Hamelin. You can read the details about the closure here.

This means that all the folks behind the past Pelikan Hubs, with their entire organisation, no longer work for Pelikan. Future Pelikan Hubs, are gong to be orchestrated by a brand new team who will have to figure out the minutiae of pulling off a worldwide fan event. I fervently hope that this actually happens, as the Pelikan Hubs are one of those unique hobby events that make fountain penning so interesting.

Share your take on fountain pens and related things in one (or more!) of our upcoming issues.

Any and all content you share will belong to you and will be credited to your name (or a pen name of your choice) and linked to any of your online profiles. Ideal content would be a write-up between 200 and 400 words with 1 to 5 images.

Here are a few things that can go in the Fountain Pen Weekly:

• Pen / ink / paper ownership experience

• Favorites in FP, ink, paper etc.

• Your social handles with your FP content - Insta, FB, Twitter, Reddit

• Any FP-related content you want to call out - articles, podcasts, videos.

If you have any other ideas as well, do share, and I will be happy to think about it.

That’s all from me this week.

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