As promised, some images from this weekend’s “Pen Petting Zoo” at the National Postal Museum!  It was loads of nerdy, postal fun.  I have to say, I think I enjoyed the ink table more than the pens.  Not only were the bottles just beautiful (and I took a lot of photos of the bottles) but it was so much fun to actually see how vibrant the inks were even back in the first part of the 20th century.  For some reason I imagined that the really bright, colored inks were 1960s or so– that before then it was all blue and black.  Little did I know!

By the way, for loads more images and information about vintage ink bottles do take a look at the website “Vintage Inks.”  Its proprietor supplied all these bottles and test pens and inks.

In addition to the old ink bottles, I wrote a letter to “Any Soldier” using the same kind of pen that General MacArthur carried for years during World War II.  Nice, but very heavy.  Definitely a man’s pen I must admit.  The older gentleman who told me all about the pens is a member of the Pen Collectors of America.  We chatted for a while about how pens changed a great deal as plastics technology evolved.

There was also a booth with different kinds of paper for you to feel.  While at that table, a girl (maybe 7-years old?) spilled a bottle of ink.  Her mother was so apologetic and I didn’t know how to say “Look, having ink on my feet is generally a sign I’ve had a good day.  No, really!”

I ended my trip to the “Pen Petting Zoo” by making a collaged card at the crafts’ table.  They had a whole tray of old stamps you could use– obviously that formed the major element of my design.

It was at the crafts’ table that I had to confront the fact that all my hobbies are pretty much only popular with 8-year olds (crafts and cards at a museum) or 70-year old men (stamp collecting).  Almost nobody in-between.  Of course, that’s why I have my fellow mail bloggers… you all get it, don’t you?