Whether you’re an artist, a calligrapher, a snail-mail penpal, a creative bullet-journaler, or another kind of inkthusiast, we want you to feel the weight of centuries, the care of craftsmen, and the vibrancy of a growing garden in your work.
Our Story
Athendale Pen and Ink Company sprouted from the calm and awe of misty walks through the hedgerows of a hometown, the devotional peace of lettering the ancient texts of Christendom, and the delight of uncovering hidden glory in the overlooked abundance around us.
Colleen Franklin began making handcrafted inks as a way to keep a classroom of restless high schoolers engaged in a botany course. The subtle, magical shades that they drew from a simple bucket of walnuts were mesmerizing. Wandering the hedges and creek banks near her home, Colleen found herself noticing colorful plants and wondering “will this make ink?” “What about this?…”
Athendale Pen and Ink Company exists to share that inspiration with you. Whether you’re an artist, a calligrapher, a snail-mail penpal, or a creative bullet-journaler, or another kind of inkthusiast, we want you to feel the weight of centuries, the care of craftsmen, and the vibrancy of a growing garden in your work. The subtle comfort of a hand-turned pen and the shimmering magic of handcrafted colors call us deeper into our art—and maybe our art deeper into us—every time. We think the feeling is worth sharing, and we really hope you’ll love it too.
About Colleen
Starting from a farm and garden apprenticeship at UC Santa Cruz’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, Colleen’s quest to experience God through his spoken creation has led her to garden all over the world, from the dry Mediterranean climate of the central coast of California, to the beautiful and wild west coast of Scotland. She currently lives in an old yellow farm house with shelves full of books and cultivates a shaggy garden full of lightning bugs and summer rain in Middle Tennessee. When not gardening, reading, or making ink, she can usually be found drinking tea in her potting shed, teaching ink making to high schoolers and talking about herself in the third person.
When I garden, earth and earthworm pass between my fingers, and I realize that I am made of the same stuff. When I pinch the cucumber vine and the water drips from capillaries to the soil, I can feel the blood coursing through my body. Man is a microcosm in whose flesh resonates and reverberates the pulse of the whole creation, in whose mind creation comes to consciousness and through whose imagination and will God wants to heal and reconcile everything that sin has wounded and put in disharmony.
–Vigen Guroian, Inheriting Paradise