And the winner is...

I set you a challenge.

You set your minds straight

Delivered with feeling

and little debate.

The outcome is awesome

I'm truly in Zen

You've shown all-and-sundry

The power of PEN!

Thank you all for a truly wonderful effort in submitting your entries to my Fountain Pen Day Competition.

As I mentioned in my first blog on this competition, the winners are not chosen at random; but are the poems that I was most moved by. Yes, I know this may put me at odds with some who may argue the relative merits of one poem over another; but that is what is so wonderful about literature and art, there is no right and wrong answer!

So thank you again. Especially to the winners who knew just the right pistons to turn to deliver the best outcomes.

Picking the first few, was honestly a difficult task. In the end, I went with my emotions and this is what you delivered:

FIRST:
Eric Aycock for this beautiful piece:

The light dims, as the pen moves

Describing life and places

From humble thoughts to lonely faces.

Observing a life at a passing glance

Processing and distilling each experience to a word

Be it known or new, strange, familiar, or absurd.

An ageless grace of love

Romantic, heartfelt, and pure.

A pen stroke creates at a glance

A look of change so demur,

The Poet creates a world

With each stroke, the meaning grows deeper

And soaks each phrase and word

Like a pot of tea left to steep.

Eric will receive the Jinhao of his colour choice, one of two Field Notes notebooks, the Pressy and Pressy t-shirt and a collection of FPD loot. Well done and thankyou Eric.

SECOND:

Geoffrey Bennett Speer for his imagery and humour:

You can take my fountain pen away

And force me to write all day with a 

Vulture talon dipped in blood,

Or a greenbrier thorn inked up with mud,

Some axle grease on a piece of barbed wire,

Or a red hot poker just drawn from the fire,

Creosote on the end of railroad spike,

Or lipstick on the butt of a Lucky Strike,

I'd crank out verse like Poe, Byron or Donne

With communion wine from an ole tattoo gun,

I'd rather hand copy the phone book

With any of them

Than sign my own name

With a cheap ballpoint pen!

Geoffrey gets the Jinhao of his colour choice too, the other of the Fieldnotes Notebooks, a Pilot notebook and FPD bits. Great effort!

THIRD:
Gerald Taylor for his take on the eternal lament of the Pen acquirer :

I think I have a problem

That is plain to see

Fountain pens keep coming

Through the mail to me

I tell myself "don't worry"

It will be all right

But still I keep on shopping

Especially at night

That's it I've had enough!

I swear I'll buy no more!

I just found three new slips

All waiting on my door

But oh there are those colours

Materials that delight

And all with golden nibs

I cannot win this fight

I give up.

I want all the pens.

Gerald gets a Jinhao (he'll need to tell me his colour preferences incase the first two have taken his preference) FPD bookmark and bits. This is the second time Gerald has done well in an Eclectidbits competition, clearly a skilled communicator! :D

... and FOURTH: 
Aumbrine for this thoughtful work:

The paper in my notebook

Waited with abated breath

As its lover wrote out

the words to MacBeth

The ink flowed out 

Like a melody to a song

As my pen

Stringed the notes along

My pen and I 

Do this dance, you see

This love affair

Is hard to believe

That someone like me 

Who had no sound to this voice

Who now writes words

Like it's even a choice

Give me a pen, a nib

And some ink if you please

My mind, body and heart

Will surrender with ease

This tongue will no longer fold

With stories untold

This voice, it will echo

Words laced with gold

Aumbrine also wins a Jinhao (I will again need to know colour preferences incase the first two have taken your preference), FPD bookmark and paraphernalia. 

Of course there are still more pens and FPD material so there are a few more winners too. Congratulations also to:

• Chris Edwards
• Josiah
• Robin Keys
• Bonnie
• Raschon
• Janet Faught and 
• Sara

All of whom will get a Jinhao plus stuff! Just email me your details so that I can send them. By all means tell me your colour preferences and I'll see what I can do  - but no promises!

For everyone else, thankyou again for participating and let's do it all again next year!

Until next tine...

Eclectidbits

Fairwell Fountain Pen Day

We here in the Southern Hemisphere have now well-and-truly bid Fountain Pen Day goodbye :(

Of course you Northerners still have some time to go and we're happy to let you try to catch up - although we know you never will! 

The day has been glorious!  

My FPD has been marked with two extremely well timed arrivals:

The Wahl-Eversharp Skyline SkyScraper Fountain Pen

Only the box for now; I'll de-cant it once I get it home. More pics to come.

Delta Unica (from Goulet Pens) - ain't she a cutie?

So a productive day indeed!

Full marks to Mr Fountain Pen Day, Cary Yeager, for his outstanding work in growing this day in such a short time (starting in 2012) to the fabulous success of this year.

I will not be announcing the winner of my competition until after the Northerners finally say adieu to FPD; but the standard has been great and people have really produced some marvellous poetry, entering into the competition with verve!

Very few of you have left email addresses, so a direct email with your details would be helpful.

So, until next tine (or at least tomorrow when the winners are announced),


EB

 Here are a few of my FPD instagram pics:

From top: FPGeeks badge; Omas Arco 360 (don't you just love that pattern?); the Wahl-Eversharp Skyline SkyScraper, Omas Alba

The box inside of which lies the goodies for my FPD competition

My Omas Extra Lucens says goodnight to Fountain Pen Day for another year!

Melbourne Pen Show Review

Hello all, and welcome to the week before Fountain Pen Day (November 7) and my review of the Melbourne (Australia) Pen Show for 2014.

While Australia may not boast the fountain pen retail networks of USA and Europe; we more than make up for it in enthusiasm and a delight in sharing our passion.

"Passion" was the theme (not officially, but to my mind at least), that saw a show this year (one day only) that focussed on the collector rather than the retailer - and was better for it.

Yes you could buy (and of course I did - see later); but it was the passion of the collectors showing, talking, selling and explaining their obsessions that gave the show its zing!

As you entered the show in the Malvern Town Hall, the room was a buzz with quillidyllic overtones (my word).

Guido Staltari with his Visconti's, and other Italian beauties

The passion, of course, started before even going to the Show, as Quillidealists (also my word) from all over Australia (well, I know at least two from Sydney who came along) prepared their hauls for show-and-tell on arrival. Here was mine:

From left: Delta Zen, Delta Stantuffo Mocha with Rose Gold, Visconti Homo Sapiens Crystal, Visconti Pininfarina, Montegrappa Extra 1930, Omas 556 GF, Omas Extra Lucens LE, Edison Menlo in Tibaldi Impero celluloid, Montblanc Proust WE, Montblanc Heritage 1912, Omas 360 Arco, and the appropriately themed Aurora Oceania. 

 Here both veterans and the uninitiated was presented with the wares of many stalwarts of the Melbourne Pen world including: 

• Old Post Office Pens (and their Diamine inks, Sheaffer's and Conway Stewarts),
• David Van Cuylenburg of "Pen Collectors of Melbourne", Peter Ford of AusPens.com, 
• Dr Bernard Swift and his eclectic collection, 
• Pam Sutton and her extraordinary Pencil collection, 
• Alan Marrone (who also had an antique or two),
• Mike Allen (antiques, pens, jewellery and general mayhem),
• Guido Staltari of FCI luxury pens (Visconti +), 
• the fabulous folk from the Melbourne Pen Group with their quillomania clearly on display.

and more...

Old Post Office Pens had Pens-a-plenty!

David Van Cuylenburg of "Pen Collectors of Melbourne"

Peter Ford of AusPens - looking trim, taut and terrific!

And the wares we were shown were infinitely ware-able! 

Conway Stewart may be out of business, but not here:

Pam Sutton's pencils were beautifully presented and, well, beautiful!

... and the array of other pens, papers and leather on display was just what every Quillophile (yes, another me-ism) could hope for.

Transehe Design pens [copper my favourite - top, fourth from the left - just a bit on the $$ side :( ]

And so to my purchases (*embarrassed flush).

I'm not used to seeing Omas at these shows, but maybe someone knew I was coming! This pen, based on the Omas S2001, was produced specifically for the Eni Company and includes their logo on the nib:

thank you Alan Marrone

and these two inks: 

Visconti Turquoise (because SBRE Brown keeps instagram-ing how good it is) and Diamine Red Dragon (just because)

The Show done, the Melbourne Pen Group hosted a lovely dinner at the Tower Hotel, Hawthorn where we amiably chatted and constructively de-constructed one another's pen habits and pens (with a heavy emphasis on my own humble offerings of the day):

Next year, another show! So, until next tine (or at least until Fountain Pen Day and the announcement of the winners of my Fountain Pen Day rhyming competition)

Keep writing!

Fountain Pen Day Prizes - read on....

It's been a slow start to my rhyming competition so I thought I'd remind you again about the prizes you can receive if you win on November 7:

It starts with one of these Jinhao 599 Lamy copies. The winner gets choice of colour and so-on down the line. These are a remarkably good workhorse pen and the colours just jump out at you!

 Next, there is one of these latest Field Notes notebooks for the first and second prizes:

For the second prize winner there is this nifty Pilot notepad - no, it will not exterminate (non-Dr Who fans, will not understand this Dalek)

 For the First prize winner, there will be a limited edition Pressy and t-shirt. Pressy is a powerful little button for Android phones that just sticks in your headphone jack and performs little wonders.

and finally there will be a mix of official Fountain Pen Day paraphernalia

Now all you need to do is send a rhyme in to this blog, or my Instagram site (eclectidbits), that is about anything fountain pen related. Simple. I will choose the winner, so my pick will be subjective not random.

I look forward to seeing your efforts (and a big thankyou to the Fountain Pen Day guru for both inventing the day, and providing some of our loot!)

Fountain Pen Day Competition - lots of prizes!

Inktober begins and the month ahead

Will see preparations begin.

For the time of the penfolk, it has been said

Is November 7 herein.

To win a prize, and there's quite a few,

You must rhyme; and the subject must be:

pen or ink, or nib - you choose;

and the winners are picked by me!

You have up to, and including, November 7, International  Fountain Pen Day , to send me your most creative rhymes and you are in the running to win:

One of these Jinhao 599 (Lamy Safari copies) - best rhyme gets first choice of colour etc down the line. [PS there is only one Orange].

One of these new Field Notes (goes to first and second prize only):

This little nifty Pilot pad (2nd prize only):

No, you don't get the Dalek!

A mix of these official Fountain Pen Day goodies (Bookmarks limited to first 4):

AND...

The famous Pressy! Pressy is an Android phone gadget I purchased from Kickstarter but I'm an Apple man so it goes to the grand prize winner. This is in special Kickstarter green, and comes with a medium size Pressy tshirt.

Aint it cute!

So get your rhyming head in place;

There's a bevy of fun to be had.

Even send a pic of your masterpiece

Just try not to joke like a dad!

Fountainpen Day is coming....

Fountain Pen Day

Is not far away

So prepare ink and pen

to compete once again...

Yes, International Fountain pen day is coming (November 7), so I'm also setting up a new competition and this is a little teaser about what some of the prizes will be...

And there will be more!

As has been my tradition, the prize will involve rhyme and pens ... so get your rhyming juices ready. 

This will not be a random drawer; the winners (there will be more than one) will be those who produce the rhymes I like the most. Yes, this will be totally and unashamedly subjective.

Stay tuned...

OmasSunday

Here's another Omas weekend day of Omas-sive pens, punctuated with a minor change to my Blog title and my new favourite word "QUILLIDYLLIC".

I used this in a short poem for "Fountain Pens" Facebook page:

"Fountain Pens"

Is a group of friends

with a common love

and a common end:

To spread the word

in written form

with nib and ink

and thus transform

a world that worships "I" and "T"

into a new serenity

that values celluloid and ink

and people who were born to think.

If you believe in flex and form

in challenging the social norm

then join us here at "Fountain Pens"

and share our quillidyllic ends.

and you should check them out too!

Until next tine, here is a little Omas to end the weekend:

From left: Arte Italiana 80th anniversary grey Paragon, same again but blue; Arco Paragon; Arco green paragon; Saft Green Paragon; Saffron Paragon (80th anniversary version); another 80th anniversary - this time the burkina celluloid; then an Extra in Scarlet; and finally two more greys - an Extra (with the gold clip) and a final 80th anniversary with silver clip.

Latest addition: a 360 in Arco celluloid Tiger eye - just beautiful!  The 360 really allows the celluloid to star!