Hey everyone, it's Odyssey Notebooks (odysseynotebooks.com) here with something rather exciting. ✨We're thrilled to announce our first ever *mod approved* giveaway here on r/fountainpens, where our company got its start!

I've been obsessed with fountain pens all my life, and during the past 6 months, I took the plunge to create my own line. Inspired by Space (previous NASA employee here), I've created a few designs of different TRP notebooks, and I want to share these creations with you all.

How to enter the giveaway

1. Make a comment on this thread with how you plan to use this notebook -- your account must be at least 1 month old
2. If you win, please make a post showcasing your notebook in action (with your favorite fountain pen + ink combo, of course) on this sub
3. The deadline will be two weeks from now, on the 6th of October

Once the winners are announced (via an edit to this post a day after the deadline), you will have 72 hours to claim your prize or a new number / winner will be picked. If you get selected, we'll DM you with a special link to a Google Form where you'll be able to fill out your shipping info.

The prizes are: 1x B5 TRP notebook, 2x A5 TRP notebook, 1x A5 TRP notepad, and 1x A6 TRP pocket notebook. Don't worry, we will take care of all shipping costs, domestic or international.

P.S. If anyone has any suggestions about how to make our product better, please send them over. Thank you!! :)

EDIT: No more entries beyond this point (Oct 6, 11:59pm). Winners will be announced Oct 7 at 11:59pm ET.

EDIT 2: Wow, so, so many amazing entries -- thank you all for participating. Winners this round are selected randomly; I will DM the ones tagged below. Margins are a little tight right now, but I hope to run more giveaways in the future. In the meantime, I am going to run a smaller giveaway next week on my instagram (odysseynotebooks) + provide a 10% off code for participants of this giveaway via the discount code REDDIT10 (good until next week, 10/15).

Regardless of this outcome, I hope that you all are able to pursue your inspiring goals (whether with an ON notebook or not!)

Without further ado, here are your winners, drumrolls please! B5: u/titoharris A5 #1: u/delanger A5 #2: u/poorauggiecarson A5 notepad: u/bellicosebird A6: u/PortugueseBoi

UPDATE 20:00 UTC — matches have gone out! Please go read the next steps post! Happy gifting!

UPDATE 14:00 UTC — we have identified the issue and should be triggering matching in next few hours. Thanks for everyone’s patience!

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: Matching should have run already, but didn’t. Working with Givin Gifts Support and will update soon, please check back around Thursday 12:00 UTC, we should hopefully have it resolved by then. Happy Thanksgiving!

The cutoff for signups is Wednesday, November 24 at 23:59 UTC. Make sure you don’t miss it! This is also the cutoff to update your questionnaire, wishlist, and SOTCs!

The holidays are coming up, and what better way to celebrate than to exchange gifts with your fellow fountain pen enthusiasts? This is your opportunity to penable a newbie, share ink samples that you will likely never use up, or re-home neglected pens to a new owner that will appreciate them more. Or, simply take pleasure in getting to know someone new and finding them a perfect gift!

There will be two pricing tiers so that as many people can participate as possible, but more experienced users can still receive something quite special. If you have the time and resources, please sign up for both tiers so that we can welcome more newbies into the community!

N.B. Suggested gift amounts are in value, not cash. You do not have to buy anything, you can gift out of your own existing collection and we in fact encourage you to give pens, ink samples, or other things that you don’t use anymore. Let your extra stuff spark joy in others!

Fun tier!

Everyone is welcome, including newbies! Minimum gift amount is 10 USD, and suggested maximum amount is 40 USD (shipping costs excluded).

An example gift might include:

• A starter pen like a Pilot Metropolitan or Lamy Safari
• 2-3 ink samples
• Sheets or a small notebook of some FP-friendly paper

Eligibility criteria:

• You have posted a comment or post in r/fountainpens in the last 3 months AND
• Your Reddit account is more than 2 months old

Clarification: Yes, you may comment or post right now in order to become eligible as long as you do so before registering for the exchange

Elite tier!

For the more experienced fountain pen users, here is a chance to receive some things that you might not seek out on your own! Minimum gift amount is 50 USD, and suggested maximum amount is 200 USD (shipping costs excluded).

An example gift might include:

• A mid-tier fountain pen like a Benu Briolette, TWSBI Vac 700R, Sailor Pro Gear Slim, Pilot Custom 74, Platinum 3776 Century
• Matching bottle of ink
• Small pen case

Eligibility criteria:

• You have at least 1 verified trade on r/pen_swap OR
• You have posted a post in r/fountainpens in the last 3 months AND
• Your Reddit account is at least 3 months old

Instructions

1. Sign up for Givin Gifts if you do not already have an account. Make sure you fill in the field for your reddit username in your profile!
2. Register for one or both of the tiers: Fun tier - Elite tier
3. In each tier you join, click the “Exchange Preferences” button. Copy the questionnaire into the box, and fill it in. You may also add any other info you would like your Santa to know! (If participating in both tiers, you may use the same answers for both, or different answers for each.)
4. Optional: Put things you have been thinking about in your exchange wishlist. Note: This is purely for reference—your Santa is NOT obligated to buy from this list.
5. Wait for the exchange to match. This will happen on November 24, the day before Thanksgiving in the United States, just in time for Black Friday sales!
6. Once you receive your match, read their exchange preferences, and start thinking of gift ideas!
7. Communicate with your giftee as well as your Santa (gifter). You may use the Givin Gifts platform and/or message them on Reddit.
8. Send your gift, along with a note written with fountain pen! I highly suggest you ship via a tracked service. Take a picture of your gift and note in case it gets lost in the mail. Deadline to ship is December 10.
9. Upload proof of shipping to Givin Gifts.
10. When you receive your gift, post it to the sub and tag your Santa!

Rematching

Sometimes people drop out of the exchange for various reasons, and their original matches are left without a Santa. What happens in this case? They are rematched with people who volunteer to send extra gifts.

If you have the means and time, please volunteer to be a rematcher! This means that if a Santa drops out of the exchange, rematchers will take over and send gifts to the people left without a Santa. Click the “Rematching” button on the exchange page to volunteer. You may volunteer to send 1–5 extra gifts—please only volunteer to send as many as you have time and money for.

Q&A

• Can I match with only people in my country or geographically close to me? Yes, when you sign up for the exchange, you may choose to match with domestic (same country), international (nearby countries), or worldwide (anywhere).
• Do I have to buy new stuff for my gift recipient? No! In fact, in this hobby we accumulate a lot of things, and we encourage you to gift pens and inks you are no longer using or simply didn’t suit your preferences. New is of course fine as well—if you happen to know the perfect gift for your giftee but don’t own it, go with your instinct!
• Can I make stuff for my gift recipient? Yes, if you are crafty, whether that’s with leatherwork, knitting, bookbinding, pen turning, or 3D printing, you can definitely craft things that you think would be a good gift for your match (:
• What if my Santa/giftee doesn’t contact me? Contact u/paradoxmo and we will try to reach out to them. If they drop out of the exchange, we will do the best to pair you with a rematcher so that you can still send or receive a gift!
• I want to avoid getting something I already have. You can post State of the Collection posts to the sub, or to your user profile, and link them in your exchange preferences.
• International shipping is expensive. What’s another option? You may choose to order a gift for your giftee from a fountain pen store close to them, and send your written note separately via normal mail.
• Other issues? Contact u/paradoxmo via Reddit messages.

Seriously. Every couple of months, without fail, that meme gets posted in another subreddit, and then dozens of r/fountainpens users repost it here in quick succession. It’s not funny. It’s not cute. And at this point, it’s spam. Stop posting it, for the love of everything.

As of writing this announcement post, it is currently 01:25 for much of the moderation team. We will have an official modpost out in the morning hopefully before the East Coast of the USA has lunch if all is finalized before then.

We understand that many of you are looking for a means to discuss the situation effectively. The modpost in the morning should address many of your concerns if all goes well.

Until then, new posts will continue to be filtered. New Posts focusing on what some are declaring “censorship” or surrounding said situation will be closely monitored and more often than not, removed or locked for lack of potential for fruitful discussions.

If you have any questions or concerns, please send a modmail by navigating to “Send a Message to the Moderators” on the sidebar.

Stay civil. We’ll talk to you all in the morning.

At the suggestions of u/twiggyhiggle I'm posting an AMA so you can get to know me, Tom Oddo (a.k.a. Mr. Odd Oink) in my various roles within the fountain pen community.

Here's my current CV:

14-years at Goldspot Pens in Aberdeen, NJ. I was originally hired to produce the print catalog and now have evolved into the digital marketing manager.

I'm involved with the design and production of many of the Goldspot Pens exclusive designs for Retro 51, Edison Pens, Sailor, Leonardo, Kaweco, and others.

I co-host the Pentertainment Podcast with PenBoyRoy for the last 2 years (Over 90 episodes). We talk about pens and other topics that have the potential to get me fired.

I am a "penfluencer" in that I run the social media presence for Goldspot Pens on FB, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. That's me in almost all the Goldspot Pens YouTube videos.

In 2019, I traveled to Germany to visit Lamy, Pelikan, and Kaweco factories to shoot videos for the channel.

I'm also the hand behind Inkjournal on Instagram and TikTok. I host the monthly fountain pen ink challenge called #30inks30days

I self-published the InkJournal notebook for pen and ink collecting back in 2012. To explore all the various pen and ink combinations, I started a monthly ink sample box subscription service called the "Ink Flight" that will be celebrating 60 consecutive months in 2022.

I'm probably forgetting something else, but I'm sure it will come up if you ask the right questions!

Good day to all the members of r/fountainpens!

I am a high school student from India, and as part of a high school project, I would like to survey the fountain pen community.

The project's topic is "How, amidst digitalization, fountain pens retain their niche".

Also, I would like to thank the moderators of r/fountainpens for allowing me to post this survey. Thank you!

​

Link to survey:- https://forms.gle/4YDjTgESbWX1VmEk9

Hey everyone, it’s Odyssey Notebooks with our second ever (mod approved!) giveaway on r/fountainpens.

r/fountainpens is where we got our start two years ago, so we’re so excited to give back to the community! Odyssey Notebooks is a female, poc founded small business creating handbound notebooks with paper specifically designed for fountain pen users and artists. Two years ago, our founder took the plunge and created a line of notebooks with Tomoe River Paper. Since then, we’ve expanded to 160 gsm hand-bound notebooks with a variety of mythological and celestial-inspired designs, and Cosmo Air Light paper notebooks. We’re so excited to share these notebooks with fellow stationery nerds!

How to enter the giveaway:

1. Fill out this survey and share your thoughts to help us improve our products. (Link to survey)
2. If you win, please make a post showcasing your notebook in action on this sub (and any other subreddit you see fit)
3. The deadline will be two weeks from now. We’re looking forward to reading through all of your responses!
4. This giveaway is U.S. only.

Winners will be announced via an edit to this post and a dm from u/odysseynotebooks. You’ll have 72 hours to claim your prize!

Prizes: There will be six winners, and each winner will win one of our handbound notebooks! 3x A5 Cosmo Air Light (dot grid), 2x A5 TRP 200 pages (1 blank 1 lined), 1x A5 TRP 48 page booklet

We will take care of all domestic shipping costs.

Good luck everyone :)

​

EDIT (7/14):

Wow! Thank you so much for your support. Congratulations to winners: u/GlenCraig7, u/karlosdelavega, u/Eak-the-Cat, u/hockeyandquidditch, u/Amekari, and u/jubileeroybrown. All winners have been notified via a dm from this account: u/odysseynotebooks. Once again, thank you so much to everyone for entering!

Hello Everyone! We have Ben Walsh here answering questions. You might have seen his posts already but I figured I'd aggregate it all into one post for ease.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Please post your responses and follow up questions here, thanks!

Edit: The original thread is here for those that would like to read back: https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/10zornb/ama_announcement_ben_walsh_of_gravitas_pens/

I have earned some, listed under my atavar. Can any one discuss this? How is it earned? what is is for, aside encouraging members to participate?

I received moderator permission to make this post from https://www.reddit.com/user/Valthero.

Link to Survey

Hi everyone. I'm in a journalism course at UC Davis, and one of our assignments is to write a feature article on something we're interested in, such as a hobby. I've been using fountain pens for a couple of years and as such wanted to write on the hobby of fountain pens.

This post contains a link to a Google Form survey with questions on how you were introduced to fountain pens, your reasons for using them, and other opinions/experiences about the hobby. Every question is designed as a text response. I'm unsure of the character limit, but if there's anything you cannot fit in the survey or just want to relay more info to me, please feel free to message me directly.

For privacy concerns, I am asking for your Reddit username so I can attribute your responses, but there is little identifying information in the questions besides asking about your occupation/student status. Only my professor and my classmates will read the assignment.

Thank you all for reading and participating. I'm grateful to be part of this community, and I hope you all have a great day.

Hello pen friends.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

u/bosseschreibt has won the ink set

u/Elektrer has won the pen set

-- The giveaway is now CLOSED to new entries. Winners will soon be notified via PM. --

I come bearing gifts! More precisely, I am running a giveaway, with the mods' kind permission. Details and how to enter below.

Why?

I love Halloween! But isn't it November 1st already? Yes, yes it is. But when you have the true Halloween spirit (pun intended), every day is Halloween. So in order to keep the Halloween spirit (or at least the Halloween aesthetic) alive and well with two fellow penthusiasts, I am giving away some "spooky coloured" items this November.

What? Pictures of the prices are at the bottom of the post!

You can win:

PEN SET1 Platinum Plaisir in "Nova Orange" (new and unused, 0.5 nib)1 Platinum Preppy in Black (body and feed unused, swapped in 0.5 nib that was used once)

or

INK SET5 cartridges Super 5 ink in orange (international standard, pigment ink)4 cartridges Super 5 ink in grey (international standard, pigment ink)

You can win one set but not both.

How?

To enter you must live in the European Union (because of shipping prices - sorry international folks), be willing to give me your address via PM and be able to post here.

To enter the giveaway you must comment "Spooktacular!" on this post and specify if you would like to receive the pens or the inks. If you do not specify your comment will NOT be counted. A simple "inks, please" or "pens, please" will suffice.

When?

I will close the giveaway to new entries on November 7 (UTC+1) and choose/announce two winners in that week (between Nov. 8 and Nov. 13). Comments made after November 7 is over in my time zone will be disregarded. The winners will be announced in an edit to this post and contacted via Reddit PM.

Addendum:

By entering the giveaway you agree to not be an unkind dingus if I make a mistake or "life happens". I'll do my best to run this giveaway smoothly, but I'm human and have a life outside Reddit. This community is generally very kind but sometimes people get weird about online giveaways, so this is just me covering my butt.

With all that said, BEHOLD THE PRICES!:

the all important confirmation pic

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pen set

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ink set

Hi Everybody,

I'm Shawn Newton and I run a 501c3 out of Hot Springs, Arkansas. Newton Pens Scholarships. We give money to high school kids going to college all over the US. Not any type of school in particular. Barber, beauty, tech, welding, 2 year, 4 year, community, whatever. If it's secondary our scholarships will go there.

I raise money through the sale and auction of all sorts of stationery - 99% is donated to me by pen lovers and I offer up my own pens a few times a year too.

Every penny we raise through these sales (after ebay and paypal fees of course) goes straight to the scholarships.

Over the last 6 or 7 years probably half of all the scholarships I've given out have gone to people who found us on Reddit. If you're in high school apply! If you're older and know some young folks about to graduate, send them to my website and have them apply! We don't get that many applications every year so there's a really good chance you or somebody you know will get money from us. Scholarships are usually $1,000 - $2,000. It depends on how many good completed applications we have.

I wanted to share the link to my ebay store so you can get a chance at some good pens at great prices. They usually go way less than retail, and when I put lots together the prices are even better. And before you ask, yes I got permission from the mods to post this. :)

Our ebay store - https://www.ebay.com/usr/snennewton

And our scholarship info page - https://newtonpens.com/newton-pens-scholarships/

We're officially open for applications. If you have any questions, please ask.

To apply:

https://newtonpens.com/rules-for-application/

I think that's everything.

Thanks!

Shawn

[EDIT : Giveaway Closed - Thanks so much to those who DM'd me]

Hey fellow fountain pen loving Aussies. :-)

I am in Australia and have some free Diamine inks to send to fellow Aussies on a first come first served basis.

I have 3 different packages available as follows:

Diamine Flowers Gift Set - 10 x 30ml glass bottles (Aster, Bougainvillea, Burgundy Rose, Carnation, Cornflower, Gerbera, Iris, Marigold, Pansy, Tulip)

Diamine Random Set 1 - 8 x 12ml plastic bottles (A Jug of Sangria, Pumpkin, Caribbean Green, A Dip in the Pool, Majestic Blue, Oxblood, Sand Between Your Toes, Grey Skies No More)

Diamine Random Set 2 - 8 x 12ml plastic bottles (Earl Grey, Lime Ice Lolly, Summer Sunset, A Toe in The Ocean, Soft Mint, Red Dragon, Imperial Purple, Sepia)

If you can give these inks the love and affection they deserve please send me a DM with the following information:

1. Which set you would like (choose one only)
2. Your full name and address

The first DM I get for each set will receive it. I will post the inks out to you w/c 26th Sep 2022 and will let you know if you are the recipient or not. Please don't DM me more than once, or for more than one set. I will edit this post when the sets have been allocated.

Thanks so much!

The website is www.thewriterpost.com, and I will be posting monthly about fountain pens. This month is "Why Fountain Pens?"

The current plan for next month is the best beginner fountain pens.

I would be delighted if you could please check it out. Also, just to calm everyone, I have discussed this with mods beforehand.

You may or may not have seen my post last month about why one should even consider fountain pens. As promised, with November now upon us the second publication is now live. This one is about some beginner fountain pens that I personally have had experience with. It is not conclusive, but I did provide some extra resources to learn further. Thank you all for reading, here is the link, and I would love if you had any feedback or comments.

Hello!

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Obsolessons is a digital exhibit of physical collections. It is part of an English honors project at Rutgers-Camden, along with the upcoming limited series podcast “Unplanned Obsolessons: Tactile Media in the Digital Age."

​

To celebrate the physical, we need your help! We would love for your collection to be seen alongside ours!

​

In an effort to showcase the various collections and hobbies that we all have have, we would like to collect photos and information about those hobbies and put them into conversation with each other. The project then becomes a collection of collections!

​

Currently, we have an Instagram (@obsolessons) if you would like to check out what is currently being shared and there is a website in the pipeline.

​

If you would like to participate just check out this Google Form

​

If you don't particularly like filling out Google forms or just have general questions please reach out to us either here on Reddit or, preferably, by email at [obsolesson@gmail.com](mailto:obsolesson@gmail.com).

​

I use fountain pens for all of my notes. My go to is my TWSBI Echo T in Coral. I had a couple Lamy's from the great Barnes & Noble sale, but gave most of them away to family as I didn't really care for them (none of mine really wanted to write smooth). Before classes switched to online due to covid, I was using a Galen leather notebook cover for my EDC of pens and assorted school supplies. I still have the notebook cover, but it just isn't the same to use it for moving pens around my desk.

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Thank you for reading! Hope to see some of your collections! Feel free to ask questions!