Leveling Up with Tea
Olive Octopus8 Mar 2025
I'm not a tea expert but over the past several years I've leveled up my XP enough to be able to try and enjoy a much wider variety of tea.
Olive Octopus
oliveoctopus.inkadded August 2026
top 58%2025 California Pen Show
Olive Octopus22 Feb 2025
As much as I was looking forward to some time away, including attending The California Pen Show, I can't say I wasn't nervous about travel or feeling guilty about wanting to enjoy a trip with...
24 Memorable Inks in 2024
Olive Octopus19 Jan 2025
Ok, hide your wallets (or don't, I'm not your financial advisor)—it's time for me to recount the most memorable inks I encountered in 2024.
Dominant Industry Ink Archiving Book: A Log of Atlantis
Olive Octopus19 Dec 2024
The Dominant Industry Ink Archiving Book: A Log of Atlantis is a hardcover B6 coloring book for fountain pen inks, and hands-down one of the products I have enjoyed most this year.
10 Useful Things
Olive Octopus22 Nov 2024
Several months ago I shared a "pouch dump" post of my to-go kit for pen meetups and shows, but most of those items are sold by pen vendors and likely already familiar to pen people.
You Can Keep Only One?!
Olive Octopus1 Nov 2024
No, this is not a scary spooky season post! It's just a thought experiment, I promise. Back in April, the "you can only keep one from each brand" question was applied to fountain pens by Rachel at...
Layers of Color
Olive Octopus4 Oct 2024
I am fortunate to have a relatively large amount of control over my living environment, and I have chosen to surround myself with color.
St. Jude 2024 Campaign Update and Milestone Stream Recaps
Olive Octopus26 Sept 2024
There's less than a week left to support St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital during the month of September! The 12 hour Relay "Podcastathon" stream from a studio at St.
San Francisco Pen Show 2024 Highlights
Olive Octopus20 Sept 2024
I decided to attend one of the large U.S. pen shows this year. Although the D.C. Pen Show is much closer (even driveable), the mix of vendors, likely attendees, and general vibes of "The Fun Pen...
Relay for St. Jude (2024)
Olive Octopus10 Sept 2024
It's September again, and I'm joining the Relay podcast network (home of the Pen Addict podcast) community to support the life-saving work of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
2024 Atlanta Pen Show Highlights
Olive Octopus16 Apr 2024
This pen show weekend, April 4th - 7th, was a lot of fun and flew by so quickly! Most of these highlights are about the "haul" because I didn't take a lot of pictures at the show and mostly want to...
Ink Swatching Tools
Olive Octopus1 Apr 2024
Since I'm swatching fountain pen inks constantly, I needed to find reusable swatching tools that could be cleaned easily at my desk with a small amount of water and a drying cloth.
Pen Meetup Toolkit
Olive Octopus5 Feb 2024
I've assembled a handy kit of tools and accessories into a small pouch that I can easily throw into the bag for pen meetups. Items get swapped out or added as I refine what I like to have at hand.
23 Memorable Inks in 2023
Olive Octopus3 Jan 2024
To close out a year filled with exploring and collecting inks like Pokémon, I reflected back on 23 inks that stood out most in 2023.
Boo
Olive Octopus14 Oct 2023
On Wednesday, September 13th, we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat, Boo. A big personality in a tiny frame, my housemate and I had the privilege of being her family for nearly all of her 16...
Relay FM for St. Jude
Olive Octopus31 Aug 2023
It is nearly September, Childhood Cancer Awareness month. After raising more than $2.2M since 2019, the Relay FM community is joining together for a fifth year to support the life-saving work of...
120 Col-o-dex Cards
Olive Octopus26 Aug 2023
Earlier this year, after about two years of using fountain pens and surrounded by a growing ink collection, I wanted to refresh my Col-o-ring and explore other ideas for swatching inks—this time...
#17InkQuestions
Olive Octopus6 Aug 2023
Question 1 What was your first (memorable) ink? One of the first bottled inks I used was Ink Institute Jade Vine, a bright teal ink in a frosted glass bottle with a beautiful ink painting of the...
#5MorePenQuestions
Olive Octopus24 Jul 2023
I made it through the #21PenQuestions list, time for #5MorePenQuestions from The Gentleman Stationer.
#21PenQuestions
Olive Octopus16 Jul 2023
Question 1 What is the pen they'll have to pry out of your cold dead hands? The Sailor Pro Gear Slim "Nuts" pen with the colorway based on the Manyo Shirakashi and Yamabuki inks.