fountain-pen, My Creations, My Life in Watercolor, reviews, Shopping

Tramol Candy Inks Review: An Affordable Waterproof Ink for Watercolor Artists

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist If youโ€™ve been following my website for a while, youโ€™ll know that I love painting with watercolors. Every now and then, I also bring out my fountain pens to sketch outlines for my line-and-wash artworks. Thereโ€™s something wonderfully satisfying about combining the precision of ink with the unpredictable, fluid… Continue reading Tramol Candy Inks Review: An Affordable Waterproof Ink for Watercolor Artists

PENBBS 498 fountain pen
Shopping, fountain-pen, reviews

PENBBS 498 Hehe Cat Fountain Pen Review: A Chatoyant Beauty

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist It Started With a Friend's Dilemma The story began when a friend asked me for my opinion on which colorway of the PENBBS 498 Hehe Cat he should get. He was torn between two options: a dark blue pen with gold accents, a gold-colored nib, and a gold cat… Continue reading PENBBS 498 Hehe Cat Fountain Pen Review: A Chatoyant Beauty

Tied bundle of handwritten letters with stamps, fountain pen, ink, and stationery
Coping with Depression, fountain-pen, Health, Homeschooling, Life, Wellness Journey

Snail Mail in the Digital Age: Why Writing Letters Still Matters

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist We live in a time when communicating with someone halfway around the world takes only a few seconds. An email can be sent before your coffee gets cold, and a message through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or any other messaging app can reach its recipient almost instantly. Social media has… Continue reading Snail Mail in the Digital Age: Why Writing Letters Still Matters

Stack of handmade watercolor cards beside a paint palette, brush, and rinse jar
My Creations, Homeschooling, My Life in Watercolor, research, photography

How I Finally Started Selling My Watercolor Art Prints as Postcards

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist It took me more than two years to finally decide to sell my artwork as prints. It's not that I had never sold art before. I have sold a few originals and accepted commissioned work over the years. But if I were to count all the artworks I've made,… Continue reading How I Finally Started Selling My Watercolor Art Prints as Postcards

Amber fountain pen on open journal labeled "JOURNAL & OBSERVATIONS," with handwritten reflections and a book and ink bottle nearby
Life, Shopping, Homeschooling, fountain-pen, reviews

Fountain Pen Review: Hongdian N1 with Long Blade Nib (A Happy Orange Surprise)

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist A few days ago, I ordered several fountain pens from abroad. Some were the latest colorways of the Jinhao 82, which I plan to include in a few โ€œpenablingโ€ kits. I also ordered one pen for myselfโ€”the Hongdian N1โ€”because its unusual nib had piqued my curiosity. If you havenโ€™t… Continue reading Fountain Pen Review: Hongdian N1 with Long Blade Nib (A Happy Orange Surprise)

ink swatches
fountain-pen, Homeschooling, Life, reviews

Musings While on A Sick Day – Also the Best Time to Swatch New Inks

I have a sore throat and a mild fever today. I also have body aches that only a massage from my personal therapist would have been able to fix, if only I were in Quezon City, near her. I usually get a massage twice a month, but the weather has been really bad over the… Continue reading Musings While on A Sick Day – Also the Best Time to Swatch New Inks

Boys in shirts on a gritty Philippine street
Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: The Children on the Jeepney

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is where geology meets commuting, and this week the commute does the heavier lifting.Mara: fabulousgrass wrote one piece this episode โ€” a jeepney ride through Muntinlupa that opens into a meditation on poverty, childhood, and what it means to grow up too fast. Let's start with the children on the jeepney.The… Continue reading Podcast Episode: The Children on the Jeepney

Boys in shirts on a gritty Philippine street
Life

The Children on the Jeepney

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist I normally take a jeepney to work. Partly because it is the cheapest way to get around, and partly because I genuinely enjoy riding with the locals of Muntinlupa. There is something about traveling with people from here that I find comforting. They seem more laid-back, more easygoing, and… Continue reading The Children on the Jeepney

Geology, Health, Homeschooling, Life, Local Travel, photography, research, reviews, Shopping, travel blog, Wellness Journey

The Camera I Almost Bought: How ChatGPT Saved Me โ‚ฑ12,000

Grass Padrique | The Fabulous Scientist I almost bought another camera. There. I said it. For someone who already owns a Fujifilm X-T20 and an Insta360 GO Ultra, not to mention two smartphones (never mind that one of them is old), this probably sounds like the beginning of a very familiar story among photographers: "I… Continue reading The Camera I Almost Bought: How ChatGPT Saved Me โ‚ฑ12,000

Homeschooling

Podcast Episode: Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World

Pip: The Fabulous Scientist is a site run by someone who spends their days wrangling machine learning models and subsurface data โ€” and also, apparently, a growing collection of fountain pens.Mara: That's fabulousgrass, and today we're looking at a post that asks why analog tools are making a comeback in a world that has already… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Why Fountain Pens Matter in a Digital World