Alchemistress

06/09/2026

Happy Father’s Day to my husband and to all fathers of special needs kids wherever you are.

04/09/2026

Whilst it’s tempting to get every single modern Estie ever manufactured, at some point I recognised my love for 14kt gold nibs means that I’ve slowed down collecting Estie’s. My favourite Estie’s are the Gold Rush “Dreamer” Estie with a Journaler nib and the Green and Gold Accutron Estie Collab, with a standard F nib. Both are good every day writers. I would love if Esterbrook bought out a 14kt gold nib that can be swapped into existing pens. *hint, hint* Esterbrook Pen Company

29/08/2026

I spilled ink everywhere. I soaked it up with cardstock and turned the cardstock into backgrounds for some wax sealing stamps.

23/08/2026

As promised, another photo from the Montblanc High Artistry preview. This is an incredible pen, more art than pen but still a tool that can be used for writing. Its external components are all 18k gold, some are plated over with other precious metals. The mesh overlay is floating over a blue lacquer cylinder, I thought it was glass at first but it’s not. The entire pen is made by craftspeople who are keeping these art skills alive.

The preview centred its importance as a peaceful garden such that a Samurai would revere. The pen features elements of peace and prosperity and direct symbols to Japanese culture, such as the koi, turtle, sakura blossom and the traditional stitching on Samurai warrior leather armour.

22/08/2026

I was determined to get this Esterbrook Scribe Nib to work. It was scratchy and unpleasant to use. I’ve had it for years and put it in the too hard basket. No matter what ink I had in it, it would skip and grind to a halt.
Nicholas Gold gave me the Kyo No Oto ink, he warned me that it was dry, much dryer than their usual dryness. But it matched this Seaglass Estie so well, I was going to brute force it. I would make it work.
Okay, it didn’t, but I like the compromise ink colour I frankensteined.

19/08/2026

The Melbourne Pen & Stationery Show is running this October 24 and 25 at Crown Promenade in Melbourne and has just released tickets for workshops.

They're offering calligraphy classes by Bechori ( on instagram); a renown Japanese calligrapher, author and teacher specialising in monoline and brush script calligraphy.

Tickets are available now through the link.

Pens, ink, notepads and paper at the largest pen show in the Southern hemisphere

23/05/2026

Update 10 - craft room cleanup, the very last clean up update. Thanks to all my followers who joined me on the often desperate journey to cleaning up this room.

21/05/2026

It’s not update 8! It’s update 9! I tackled the desk!

18/05/2026

Craft room aesthetic for the mixed media artist

18/05/2026

I think this is update 8? I haven’t done much this week because I focused on organising the inside of cupboards, drawers and shelves. I focused on grouping like materials together so that I can label the drawers and avoid the temptation to park stuff wherever there’s a gap.