“Wild spring, raging in my street
April, please, lower your gun
Cold wind, nude branches on the trees
April, please, help me to run”

Caravan Palace, April 

Happy April! Spring is in full swing and with a new month comes a new blog entry on what I’ve been loving this month! Additionally, I get to include a snippet from an appropriately titled song for the month from one of my all-time favourite bands, Caravan Palace! Without further ado, here is April’s list!

KWZ inks

I love handmade watercolours as much as the next calligrapher, but sometimes, you just want to switch things up! I purchased the line of KWZ Calligraphy Inks last month, and have been playing with it ever since! These 25ml pots of calligraphy ink are handmade in Poland and come in 10 amazing colours. My favourites so far have been the black and pearl white, but they are all beautiful. What I really love about these is how waterproof they are, making them perfect for envelope work. When wedding work is back on, I have a feeling I’ll be going through the black one pretty quickly!

L. Cornelissen Walnut ink

Category is: Turn of the century meets modern calligraphy!

In February I wrote about loving the Daniel Smith Walnut ink. But because I love trying new things, and I’m a sucker for great packaging, I picked up a bottle of L. Cornelissen’s own walnut ink. This bottle is serving Ye Olde Shakespearean Apothecary realness and I love it based on that alone. Additionally, it’s not listed on their website yet, so you have to call and ask for it. I feel like I’m in an exclusive member’s club or something!

Just look at it!

The packaging, while it checks all my stylistic boxes, does not lend itself to dip pen calligraphy, so the contents must be decanted into another container to be used. I love how dark it is and I’m looking forward to using it in more projects!

Baignol and Farjon 803 nib

If you’ve read my monthly faves blogs, it would not take you very long to get the feeling that I…collect…lots of paints. I even sell handmade watercolours, just because I love them so much. But this month, I’ve stepped into the world of vintage nibs, and discovered the Baignol and Farjon 803. This nib has rapidly become a favourite of mine, capable of fine hairlines and juicy swells. I’ve also enjoyed using it on textured paper.

Holbein Gouache

So remember how I said I collect lots of paints? This month I dipped my toe in the land of gouache for the first time and I love it, to the surprise of no one! My first foray led me to the Holbein Artist’s Gouache, and I got a few to play with. At first, I thought I would hate diluting and mixing the paint, but I’m having a great time with them so far. Current faves out of the batch I got include Allizarin Crimson, a deep red, Permanent Yellow Orange, a bright egg yolk colour, and emerald green. My first love is still shimmery handmade paints, but I can already tell that adding gouache to my collection will open a whole new world of colour!

That wraps it up for this month’s favourite things! Stay tuned for May’s list, because I have already purchased a few new items and expect they will be making an appearance! Have something you’d like me to try or review? Leave your comments below!