Ferris Wheel Press Inks

Last week we launched a surprise new line of inks: Ferris Wheel Press inks.

Some of you may have already heard of them from their Kickstarter campaign they ran last year, a massive success. Pretty exciting for us and our shop, though, is that Ferris Wheel Press is based out of just north of Toronto, in Markham - in fact, Raymond from Ferris Wheel Press dropped off the inks in person.

The packaging is gorgeous. I admit to being easily swayed by good bottle design, and this one is outstanding. Each spherical bottle comes in a velvet pouch, which is inside a cylindrical cardboard container. The designs are elegant and vintage inspired - a beautiful bottle to keep on your desk or shelf.

But of course, what's a good bottle without a good ink inside?

There are three inks: the teal is Bluegrass Velvet, the rusty red is Candy Marsala and the dark purple is Tanzanite Sky.

There's a very small amount of sheen to the inks if you look especially closely, but it's really only in swabs or at the edges if you've got an exceptionally wet pen and good paper. The writing samples here were all done in a Taroko pocket notebook, with Tomoe River paper.

The inks are great - smooth and wet. Bluegrass Velvet and Candy Marsala have a bit more shading than Tanzanite Sky, a darker ink, maybe good for the office or work. I thought my favourite was going to be Tanzanite Sky, but Candy Marsala came out of left field with this dusky, shading, almost brownish red tone that's surprised me with how much I like it. I've had these three inks in pens for almost a week now, and they've been a delight.

On a personal level, we're particularly excited to be carrying these inks knowing that we're partnering with another small business, one that is local to boot. In this chaotic world where sometimes it can seem like we're rushing and being crushed in the race to staying afloat and solvent as a small business, it's always a lovely thing when you find a connection you weren't expecting.

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In other news, progress is continuing with the training of our tribe of pen clerks. Before you know it, some little bug who was just yesterday messing up all the price tags and eating bananas under the shop tables will be at the check out, asking for your credit card and if you'd like a bag.

Caleb has been learning to how to fill pens for a little while now, and now even Naomi is starting to get in on the action. She is an astonishing copycat, and while likely I'm just not paying as much attention with trying to keep track of two babies, she seems to be picking up things faster than I can keep up with, both figuratively and literally.

Caleb got his first Traveler's Notebook (a passport Camel) the other day, Naomi is trying to steal everyone's stationery supplies, thrusting pens nib first into people's faces: the babies are growing up.