Kass Speerly
Owner of Gingko Tree Enterprise

My name is Kass Speerly.  I live in the Heart of Illinois city of Peoria and  have been at my current location for 19 year.  I was born and raise in a small farming community just south east of my current location.

After high school I worked odd jobs for a few years and then joined the US Navy near the end of the Vietnam Conflict.  I saw a good portion of the world during my time in the military and am proud to have served my country.

Upon returning to Illinois in the late 80's I worked in the printing and photographic arts for a few years before getting a job at the local electric and gas utility.  After 15 years and a corporate take over my job was eliminated at the end of 2005.  Fortunately, I was at the age to qualify for an early retirement.  This situation went from total devastation at the loss of my job to complete freedom to pursue the artistic passions of my life.

I became involved with writing instruments at a very early age.  My fountain pen habit began in my teens with the inexpensive school type fountain pens I was able to pick up at the local Ben Franklin store.  I spent my high school years covered in Sheaffer blue ink that leaked and puddled with every use.

My first decent pen was a Parker 51 I picked up at an antique shop in the early 70's for about three dollars.  In those early years I used a Koh-i-nor Art Pen and Rapidographs.  Then in 1974 upon arrival at my first duty station in Norfolk, VA  I found the Parker 75 Cicle pen in the Base Exchange Store.  It was priced at $35 for the sterling silver fountain pen.  I actually had to save for a couple paydays to buy it.  Once in my possession I was hooked on Parkers.  For years Parker was the only pen I would buy.  Antique pens would come my way and they were mostly 51's that came from trips to antique stores and flee markets.  I those days the cost was rarely ever over five dollars and most of the time they all worked perfectly.  Later my sister would find pens and give them to me.  Some were Sheaffer Snorkel's and a few older lever fill pens.  Later I purchased a few newer Sheaffer's.

As time past my passion grew as did my collection of various pens.  But it wasn't until 1996 that I found my first fountain pen friend.  She was the person who got me out of my shallow rut of Black, Blue, and Blue/Black inks.  She introduced me to J. Herbin, Waterman, Omas and many other brands with a wide range of  colors.  I became  hooked on colored inks for holidays.  Red or Green for Christmas Cards, Brown's and Oranges for autumn, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  Pastels in the spring.  Then came the great hunt for my signature ink.  I still haven't found that one that is just right and screams out "that's me!" 

By that time I found I was not the only person in the world suffering from the obsessive/compulsive draw of fountain pens, inks and accoutrement's when I found my first exclusively fountain pen shop in Chicago.  After a couple of years of frequenting the shop and leave my disposable income and take home new pens, I took a weekend job there, driving up from Peoria just to take advantage of the employee discount.  I spent way more money doing this than I made, but it was fun and I met so many wonderful pen people.  It was while working with them that the Chicago Pen Show came into my life and changed me forever.

At the 2001 show I saw and bought  my first copy of "Fountain Pen Inks - A Sampler" by Greg Clark.  I was so thrilled to have the sampler for selecting colors that excited me.  Every few years I would purchase a new issue.  I was introduced to the wide range of ink colors and manufacturer's.

The Sampler introduced me to a much wider range of ink brands and colors that I would not have been aware of had it not been for this one publication.  My budget cursed Greg, but I was in heaven and the inks started coming into my life.  I am most grateful to have found such inks as Noodler's, Private Reserve, Diamine, and many others I had not been aware of.  Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, and J. Herbin were the only brands I knew besides from India Ink and technical drawing inks. 

In January 2008 I was looking to buy a new issue and discovered Greg had retired and there wouldn't be any more samplers.  My immediate thought was "No, this can't happen."  By March I had made up my mind to contact Greg and inquire about the possibility of acquiring the copyrights to continue the publication.  Negotions were completed in late April and by May 1, 2008 the Sampler was mine.

The journey is just beginning.

I have so many hopes and plans for the new book.  I am working diligently on obtaining all the inks necessary to produce my first issue by the end of this year.  November 2008 is my goal publication date.

I am busily working on getting the inks, creating databases,  contact list, and customer list.  Testing  the inks will come  as the inks arrive.  I am new to pH testing and am having some interesting situations while learning to use my new meter.  Thankfully, there are several people who have been guiding me through these processes.

I invite all of you who are interested in the Ink Sampler to check the website frequently as thing progress toward my goal production date.