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Apparently, today is Embrace Your Geekness day… there really is a day for everything!

I am highly keen on geekery – in fact, you could say I was a geek about geeking! Both Annastasia and I have some interests we’re unashamedly enthusiastic about, and one of those is, of course, stationery.

Since we started Ink Drops, we’ve found a definite split in responses when we tell people what we do – either a “HELL YES WHERE DO I SIGN UP?”, or a “but why? Why would anyone buy stationery every month?”

Obviously we leave the why people to their own devices, but it’s always wonderful to meet fellow stationery addicts 🙂

So I thought today I’d introduce you to some of my favourite stationery items ever – they really do make my heart sing in a very geeky fashion!

Fountain pen love

First up is fountain pens. Here are mine:

L-R: L’Plume from the early 90s, my first proper fountain pen – I had a navy one too which is lost in the passage of time / Cross Townsend, my graduation present / two of Dad’s italic Sheaffers / Cultpens Mini / Kaweco custom BB nib / Lamy broad nib / Kaweco Sport custom BB nib / Manuscript calligraphy pen / two L’Plume eBay purchases when I lost my first one and was desperately trying to replace it.

Picking a favourite is something I couldn’t possibly do. They all have different things about them which I love.

I didn’t actually think I was particularly attached to them until I lost one, found it again weeks later, bought a cheaper one to avoid this situation happening, and then shortly afterwards inherited my Dad’s Sheaffers, and then suddenly I had a collection!

I love the unexpected variety in colour, shape, material, size. You can choose a small, robust, chunky one for your handbag, or an elegant and sophisticated one for special thank you letters. At both ends of the price spectrum, you can customise your nib width. I’m fond of as broad as humanly possible, and my current favourite is a Kaweco BB.

Inky things

And the ink! Of course, you can buy little blue or black cartridges like we used to have in school. But out there is a whole range of different inks to experiment with – from colours to shimmer. I have a stash of Diamine’s shimmering inks (you can find one in our Harry Potter selection), and my everyday signature colour is Marine (no shimmer, but a beautiful deep teal).

Rubber stamps, which I feel are much overlooked, seem to be having a bit of a comeback. I used to spend hours in Blade in London years ago, choosing which set I’d buy next. I now have a ludicrous size box full of them, and a stamp for literally every occasion. My most-used live in a box on my desk. This provides a wonderful contrast to the immense amount of tech which also lives on my desk.

So many notebooks

And of course, notebooks. Notebooks are one of the reasons Ink Drops came into being, back in 2012. I had, and still have, a habit of buying new ones long before I’ve actually filled an old one. Or buying a new one because I love the look of it, the feel of the paper, the design on the cover, the size… And then one day you realise you have 29 empty notebooks on a shelf. The thought occurs that perhaps this has got a little out of hand?

But of course, all true stationery fans know you can never have too many notebooks, right? If I had to pick a favourite, it would be the emerald green Leuchtturm with dotted pages which we based our Get Bulleting: Bold Edition on. It was my very first bullet journal. I love that it copes with fountain pen ink and also has numbered pages. In the years I have been bullet journalling, this is the colour that sneaks its way back into my life most often.

What’s your geeky thing? We’d love to know – tell us in the comments 🙂