I have written in the past about my fascination with fountain pens. There's something about their essential simplicity coupled with their elegance of form that appeals to me on many levels. The fact that something made 80 years ago as an everyday use item can, with just a little bit of maintenance and TLC, still function as well as the day it was originally sold also gets me going. It also doesn't hurt that they come in a bewildering array of jewel-like colours, and often with a little bit of gold which is both decorative and functional. But, these are not just collectibles as far as I'm concerned - they all get filled with ink and put to work writing from time to time.
I had a little project in mind over the weekend. I pulled out a few of my more attractive pens and set to work arranging them in a variety of ways. It's not as simple or easy as you might think, and I've come away with renewed respect for product photographers. I think I've got the look I was after in the second shot - something dark and moody, The first has all together too much bling. on display., but I'm certainly not going to complain about that. After all, unlike most bling, it's quite useful.
