Christmas floaty pens

I bought these Christmas pens in Calgary, Alberta, in the summer of 2004. I came upon them in a shop while I was there on a visit from Edmonton where I was working at the time.


I particularly like the one of the girl and Santa Claus carrying the tree.

A penchant for Pez

I have a confession to make. I also collect Pez, the rectangular shaped containers with funny heads which flip back to dispense rectangular candies.

In the summer, Red Gryphon discovered that there is such a thing as Pez-themed floaty pens. Imagine how thrilled I was to receive them just before Christmas.


The designs are fabulous, both front and back.

Undesirable floaty pens

Here is a surreptitious snapshot of a container of pens in a shop on Carnaby Street in London. The pens are exactly the type the world does not need. They are not made in Denmark by the Eskesen company. It is impossible to tell where they are made because it is not stamped anywhere on the pens. They are not well made and the pictures aren't very good. The stuff inside doesn't float very well.

Companies in England apparently do not have to state where a product originates, unlike in Canada where it is obligatory. This same type of pen is sold in most tourist shops. It makes me wonder if all the tourist shops are owned by the same company.


At any rate, it is very odd. I wouldn't buy any of them anywhere. There seem to be precious few good quality floaty pens in London considering the size of the city and the possible range of designs.

Parisian pens

The pen selection in Paris was unique. These are all Eskesen pens made in Denmark, but the styles are quite different.


The clothing seems to disappear when these pens are tilted back and forth. In actual fact, it seems that there's a tube of black floating up and down inside the pen. The places where the clothes appear are cut away and on a different level so the black can slide between. Clear as mud?

The reverse side of these pens show the backs of the subjects.


Note the unique floaty quality of the green pen. It is the background that slides back and forth to create the day and night effect.

Santa Barbara and Los Angeles

Some of the best floaty pens are the ones that come from art galleries and museums. It wasn't surprising that California was a great place to find floaty pens, but it was surprising to find such a unique pen as the one with the pilgrims floating in front of the mission in Santa Barbara. The Huntington pen and the Getty Center pens were great finds.

Seattle sights

Seattle is one of the most pleasant cities I've visited. The pens pictured above represent the Space Needle, Monorail, Pike Place Market and Seattle Art Museum.

The Space Needle and the Monorail are modernist science fiction sites.

Pike Street market proved to be a pen bonanza, although I didn't buy any of these pens there. I got a couple of California floaty pens and a pen filled with volcanic ash from Mount St. Helens.

British Museum pens

I bought these pens last year at the British Museum in London.



Architect Norman Foster designed the Great Court.

As yet unseen

Military machines

I got these pens at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison, Wisconsin.

Righteous pen

The Frank Lloyd Wright pens I ordered arrived today. When I was in Chicago in June I made a trip out to the suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, where I saw the FLW floaty. It was in the gift shop at his home and studio (detail of home pictured below). I went on a tour of the house and I forgot to return to the shop for a pen before I left.



At least, I think I forgot.

I phoned the Shopwright store last week to order a few pens (extras for fellow collectors). When the pens arrived by mail today I noticed the quality of the image is not great and I wondered if I had subconsciously decided not to buy one.



It's got both Robie House (pictured below) and his Home and Studio on it. The Chicago skyline is in the background.



Still, it's great to have an FLW pen to add to the collection.

I think I'll keep the black one and give away the white and red ones.

Wisconsin windfall

It turns out that Wisconsin is a floaty pen haven. The Milwaukee Art Museum (shown above) has a fabulous gift shop, which sells floaties. All the pens in the pictures below are from there, except the "House on the Rock."





The House on the Rock is a house created by a man in Wisconsin. It's full of toys and games, but it's underground.

Floaty pens

These are just a few of the pens in my floaty collection. I'm not sure how many I have because whenever I attempt to count them, I lose track.

The top pen in the picture is based on Edvard Munch's "Scream" and I bought it at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2006. The Michelangelo hands are from the same time and place.

The second one down is based on John Steinbeck's novel "The Red Pony." The green one is representative of Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath." I bought both of them in Salinas, California, at the John Steinbeck Center. I saw the house where he was born too.

The mummy pen I bought at the British Museum in London in 2007.