I stopped in to Vanness this morning and was poking around behind the counter, looking at inks, and some kids came in with a lady who was exploring the cake side of the store. The kids were exploring the pen case, the girl in green especially, commenting on how pretty the pens were as she went down the row. I turned around from the Diamine selection, and she was drooling over one of the Visconti Van Gogh pens. It was a light blue with bits of red swirled through. I told her that pen was from Italy.
Woooooowwww. She said.
And that one is from Germany. These are also from Italy. These over here are from England.
Woww! She said again. I had no idea that pens came from all over the world!
Then she told the two kids with her that pens came from all over! She was so excited! It was a load of fun watching her reaction. Then I pulled out a pen from my pocket and said THIS one is from Hot Springs. I made it.
Whoooa. Cool. Can I see how you make them? I handed her a business card and told her to have her parents show her my website. I let her write with the pen a bit, which she seemed to enjoy. I showed her the correct way to hold a pen and write with it, shiny side up, no pressure, pen laid back at about 45 degrees. After writing and doodling for a minute, I laid out a color chart for all the Diamine inks and had her help me pick a color. We settled on Kelly Green.
All in all – a fun morning. 🙂