Raji

Astronomy! And more astronomy! I love telescopes (I have three and one on order), the stars, the universe, the planets, sci-fi and space movies, the Voyager missions, Apollo and landing on the moon, the Smithsonian Air and Space museum, SpaceX, rocket ships, astronauts, anything space related — I am not a scientist, but I am fascinated by it, and our universe.

Fountain pens! I have a collection of about 140 pens and the majority of them are Japanese pens. I'm a big Pilot/Namiki fan and have several dozen pens of that brand. I've also got a LOT of ink... probably way more than I had last year and I'm kind of in ink overload, with the exception of Wearingeul ink, which I'm currently working my way through. I have maybe 7-8 bottles of Wearingeul already and love their inks. My ink collection also includes all the Iroshizuku, a lot of Diamine, and a lot of Colorverse. I do NOT like Noodler's ink though. It's probably the only ink I've ever thrown out without actually finishing it—non-political reasons; just didn't like the full bottles, weird packaging, and the way the ink behaves.

My favorite color is red. My house is decorated in red accents, my favorite fountain pens are red, I have red notebooks, a red purse, a red phone... well, you get the picture. (And I have a personality to match!) But as an artist, I am a color person, and I like all colors for different reasons.

I'm an artist and craftsperson, so I like paper, pens, paint, inks, brushes, art supplies, notebooks, journals, fabric, embroidery thread, or anything that you can use to create something else. I've recently taken up crocheting and have made a lot of amigurumi—I quite enjoy it; it's a very relaxing hobby. I spend a lot of time on historical sewing, mostly elegant gowns from the Victorian period, and custom hat-making. I also write pysanky—Ukrainian-style egg decorating—which is basically done by applying beeswax through a special tool called a "kistka" on real eggs. The beeswax lines are resistant to egg dye. So you can dye, apply wax, dye another color over that, apply wax, and so on. Then the multiple layers of wax are removed by gently heating and wiping off melted wax. Removing the wax is the real magic of this art: although you know what you drew and what colors you applied, seeing the final combined result is always wonderful and unexpected.

I'm a sport-shooter; I've participated in competitive trap-shooting and currently do cowboy-action shooting. I like to embroider from time to time, both by hand and on one of two embroidery machines I own. I like to camp, hunt, ice skate, and travel. I'm interested in history; WWII, the space race, the Russian revolution, and similar have been common themes in the movies I watch and books I read. I like fresh flowers, rain, lightning, sunsets, cats, Halloween, fall leaves, the first snow of winter, walks outdoors, time with friends, good wine, and a properly balanced cocktail. I'm a decent amateur mixologist and I like coming up with new and creative cocktails at home.