Since my trip down the rabbit hole of FPs, pens have become very dear to me.  I decided to combine that passion with my most cherished memory, that of my son.

The backstory:  Almost four years ago my husband and I were expecting a boy.  My stomach got so big that he lovingly called it the Hippopotamus Rex.  Things were progressing fine until one day I went into labor too early and he was stillborn.  Of course nothing would ever be the same again, and hippos started to hold a very special place in my heart.

I reached out to a few pen makers regarding a project to bring the memory of my son, and my love of FPs to life.  I really connected with John Greco of GW Pens (www.gwpens.com).  John is an Artisan Penmaker who has done many great pens.  His works include pieces that were presented to Prince Henry and His Holiness Pope Francis.  He really understood the sentiment I was going for and took the time to get the details that would make my pen a reality.  I feel just honored that he took my project on, and the results were amazing!

It started with a blank:


Then continued with a CAD mockup:



From what I told him about the sentiment I was going for and showed him some photos of hippos that I admired and the above is the mockup he sent.  He collaborated with a few people to get this pen done, including a silversmith and a maker of custom blanks.  I had no idea that so much could go into the making of a pen.

It was amazing watching my dream take shape!  The whole process took around three months, but he kept me in the loop every step of the way.

The pen itself is his alpha style, which I ended up getting in a turquoise/macaroon swirl as well.  He had an awesome Black Friday sale and if you see the color/depth you’ll know why I could not help myself!


The clip itself was created by a silversmith, but then sent out for Rhodium plating.  I wanted something timeless that I would not have to polish all the time.  I am not sure if it is the same with pens, but with my silver Tiffany jewelry a lot of maintenance is required and I wanted to enjoy the pen without having to worry about tarnishing etc.


The results were amazing…



John handles the packaging of his orders seriously, right down to the amazing wax seal!  He generously threw in an amazing shirt as well ^_^.  Now everyone will know about my pen addiction!  This pen is already my favorite, more than any MB, Pelikan, Nakaya, etc.  It has so much meaning, and was created with love.  If you are looking for a custom pen, I highly recommend contacting John @ GW Pens!  I will be using this pen for years to come.

But how does it write?  Extremely well!  I requested a medium nib with a nice juicy flow and that is exactly what I got!  I decided to ink it up with Robert Oster Purple Soul for the first time.  The name, and the color just felt like they fit.  I just noticed that my ipad case/keyboard totally match the pen!

InkJournal Entry:


Line going down on 52GSM Tomoe:

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Ink Blob:


And something I just had to take a photo of because the effect it had was so cool when I wiped off the excess ink, paper towel!


This color is just beautiful, I would describe it as a frosty purple ^_^.  It has many different shades ranging from a dark purple to a lighter bluish purple.  In regular writing the light blue on the towel doesn’t come out, but the range of purple does to create a beautiful shading.  The sheen comes out only in the very wettest areas of the blob, none to speak of on the writing.  I was not disappointed with the first ink I chose to put into my special pen at all.  It has an almost ethereal quality which is exactly what I was going for.

And now for the fun part, the giveaway!  In honor of the receipt of my special pen, I want to share the love with the second edition of “Raid My Ink Cabinet”!

Prize:  5x 4-5ML Samples of any non-unicorn ink in my collection.  1x Unicorn ink Sample.

Unicorn ink is noted with two asterisks (**) on my #Inks page on this blog.

How to Enter!

1.  Comment on this blog about what ink from my collection you’d like to try.

2.  Comment on the FB FPN Post about this giveaway.

3.  Tag two friends on the IG Post about this giveaway.

4.  As always all subscriptions are appreciated and count!  If you’re already a subscriber let me know!  ^_^

Open to USA.

Winner will be drawn on 1/25/17 @7:00PM HST.

This is a great opportunity to try colors you may be unsure of, or broaden your ink horizons!  Good luck!