I'm not a collector, but an accumulator of writing instruments

After nearly one year as a member of the Fountain Pen Network, Pentrace and assorted other fountain pen homes, I have come to realize I am not a collector.

I don't have a longing for Bexley, Visconti, the new Edison or a Mont Blanc.

I am not yearning for a vintage pen with a lever.

I don't buy fountain pens that are more than about one hundred dollars, although there are and have been exceptions.

I don't have a pen case or display.

I am an accumulator of writing instruments.

Some of these, say five dozen, are fountain pens. Many of these are pencils, gel pens, ballpoint pens, craft pens, brush pens, crayons, markers, or calligraphy tools. I even have two or more ruling pens. Jonathan Talbot introduced me to these.

How to use a ruling pen

I even have one of these:

Bow Pencil

It all started when I was about four years old.

I had a box of seventy-two Crayola crayons and it hasn't stopped. My parents might have done better if they had given me 12. It may have put colour and quantity into a different more conservative perspective.

With 72 crayons I knew the world was ablaze with possibilities and I have spent a lifetime seeking these out.

I have dozens of watercolour tubes; a vast number of acrylics (sold off my oils, but miss them) and nearly down to a manageable number of pastels.

I like to make marks.

I love to see colour floating on paper, fabric, canvas, walls and crevices in the earth.

I have dozens upon dozens of journals, notebooks, coloured office supplies and untold numbers of art supplies so that these marks can be made.

And let's not forget ink.

And now I have time, ample time to play hop-scotch with all these treasures.