Love it: WonderPens

A few days ago I stumbled across WonderPens online and let out a little squeal of delight – a fountain pen shop for everyday people, right here in Toronto! I feel uncomfortable when I visit most pen shops, underdressed and just not rich enough – but reading Jon and Liz Chan's blog (it's their store, a labour of love by the sound of it) I could tell that wouldn't be the case here.

They just opened their store on Dundas West here in Toronto at the beginning of the month. I decided this weekend I would make a little trip…

It's a tiny little shop, just the right size, a short walk or a streetcar stop West of Bathurst. Inside it's bright and welcoming, with cabinets of pens and ink, a collection of pencils, nice notepads and an area to test everything. Very inviting, nothing overly precious.

Liz and I chatted a bit while I tried out various pens – all of which wrote beautifully (despite my serial-killer scrawl). There was a nice selection laid out and I was pondering what I might want, when Liz showed me a Lamy Safari, suggesting it as a good everyday pen. For me, though, it looked a bit too much like an average ballpoint – I wanted something with a fountain pen feel, so she suggested a Jinhao 126, slender, sleek, piston-filled, wrote like a dream, and then I saw the price tag: $7. Seriously?! SOLD!

Picked a couple of those (one to give to a coworker), a couple of Rhodia dot pads (vellum paper, nicer for water-based ink) and a bottle of J Herbin ink, all very reasonable.

Later I saw that Liz had slipped a Fortune Teller Miracle Fish into my bag too, remember those? All told, it was an excellent visit, and I'll definitely be back.

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