With a simple canvas tote and a some thread, you can easily make a notebook-style tote bag. Stitch the blue lines with a sewing machine, a little wonky gives it character and then use embroidery thread to create the vertical red margin line using a simple embroidery stitch like backstitch, running stitch or stem stitch. How charming!
(via Say Yes To Hoboken. For stitching tips, check out Sublime Stitching)
I’ve been unable to reach two giveaway winners to send them their goodies. If you are Maggie B. winner of the Poppin 18-month Planner or Suzanne winner of the Floral Bomb assortment giveaway. Please contact me at the Ask The Desk contact form. Tell me the email address you used to enter the drawing and your shipping address. I’m assuming my emails got lost in your junk mail filter.
If I do not hear from either winner by the last day of September, I will draw new names from the original entries and have to give the goodies to a new winner.
As a result, in the future, I will add a 30-day reply window for giveaway winners so please use your regular email address when entering the giveaways here. I promise, they are hidden in my WordPress contact form. I am the only one who sees them unless the giveaway is specifically sponsored by a second-party and I do not keep email addresses.
More Giveaways: And just to sweeten the pot, for those souls who read this whole post, I’m going to give away a Jet Pens gift certificate for $25 just because I can. (Thank you very much, Jet Pens!)
To enter: Leave a comment and tell me what currently on your Jet Pens wishlist to be officially entered.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Saturday, September 21, 2013. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Sunday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). ONE entry per person, please. Please include your email address in the comment form (not in your comment) so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. Gift certificate will sent digitally via JetPens. Winner has 30 days to reply to my email. If I can’t reach you within 30 days, a new winner will be drawn from the original entries.
Handmade plastic Pencil Badges (and paper too!) by Joely Brammer/Good Empire are available from the Zombie Collective for £12 each. Would definitely make a point, right?
Wooden desks wear beautifully and look great. Here’s a few for your “new desk” file. (The last desk with classic early 60s and built-in shelving is my favorite for sure. You?)
(Click on each photo to go to the source website)
One of the questions on the docket for the Pen Addict podcast this week was from Anthony Sculimbrene (@everydaycomment) regarding a pocket-sized calendar agenda with good quality paper for fountain pens and 18-month or an autumn start was preferable. This is a seriously specific request and, sadly, not many options are available. But I was able to find a few options.
First, I went to Quo Vadis whose reputation for fountain pen friendly paper is universally acknowledged. I was able to find three options, of a diminutive size, all with 64g paper and using an academic calendar (starting in August or September):
I love my current Paperblanks planner but its a larger size. Paperblanks does offer an array of sizes and configurations but are no longer listing their 18-month planners on their site. A few can still be found on Amazon with a couple different cover options.
And finally, you can always take matters into your own hands and use the DIY Planner site and print out the Hipster PDA onto your favorite paper stock.
I hope this will help you on your way. There are definitely more options available if you are willing to wait for the new calendar year.
If you, like me, are trapped in daily beige cubicle hell at work, desk accessories are a great way to bring some color and personality into a workspace you might not have a lot of aethetic control over otherwise. The easiest items to add to your space are a personally chosen pencil cup(s), stapler and/or tape dispenser, a paper tray, file folders and items for decor like photographs, artwork or a desk calendar.
I believe in collecting desk items that are both functional and appeal to you aesthetically. For pen cups, you could purchase an assortment of drinking glasses or coffee mugs that appeal to you.
If you are a fan of vintage products, scour your local antique malls and thrift shops (or check out The Desk shop) for classic tape dispensers, staplers and desk trays. Estate sales and yard sales are also great opportunities to find old office supplies. Many retirees bring home their box of old drafting tools and desk items that languish for years. I’ve scored great metal rulers, staplers and bags of old pencils this way. I found a set of vintage coffee mugs that, while being slender, are perfect for sorting out my various pens and pencils: gel pens in one cup, pencils in another, etc.
If you are looking for something clean and modern, Poppin’s coordinated desk items may be just the ticket for you. Container Store also sells lots of clear acrylic and colored plastic containers that might be just right for your desk.
There are also lots of options to use found objects and apply some DIY craftiness to them. I posted about a shoebox converted to a large pen holder when filled with cut paper tubes of various sizes.
I think its important to make your workspace appealing to you whether its a small desk tucked in the corner of an industrial warehouse or a vintage Herman Miller AO2 cubicle. In the same way that its worth it to spend a few extra dollars on a pen or a notebook you like, finding desk items you like will make your work surroundings feel more appealing and conducive to those big ideas.
Good places to look for desk accessories:
(for inspiration, visit my Pinterest board Desk Accessories or skim through previous posts tagged Desk Accessory)
Andy Welfle best known for his pencil blog, Woodclinched, recently asked about my camera set-up. Its not something I normally talk about here but a lot of jobs require capturing images so I thought this was as good time to cover my hardware.
I actually use four different cameras depending on my circumstances. These have been accumulated over several years so don’t ever think you need to go out and buy four set-ups to get decent shots. Any one of these is a good place to start.
My largest rig is kept mostly in my home office and is used for a good deal of the posts on the blog and for the shop. It is made up of:
Canon is up to a T5i version of the camera body, adding more, bigger, faster, and perks like built-in filters. Prior to inheriting the T1i from a friend (its on long-term loan) I’d been using a Canon Rebel XTi that I’d used for over 100K images before the light meter went out on it. It could probably be repaired, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
If you are considering the purchase of a dSLR, spend more money on the lens than the camera. And skip the kit lens. The Sigma lens I use almost exclusively. It works great is low light and built-in macro was just what I wanted. Its not the fastest auto focus lens in the world but my pens and inks don’t tend to run off that often. Sadly, its no longer in production, the closest alternative would probably be this 17-70mm f/2.8-4. If it ever came to it, I’d probably end up replacing it with two different lenses — one macro lens and then a good quality standard zoom. I also use a stock Canon EF 50mm lens f1.8 (that used to be sold with film cameras) as a great low light portrait lens and those can be snagged for about $125 new but can easily be found secondhand for less.
My travel kit is a smaller, less obtrusive set-up. This is a good quality camera for getting shots at antique shops, fairs, and general life stuff:
The only downside of the Olympus Pen is that I do not currently have a macro lens for it. There is currently only one macro lens available for the micro 4/3s mount and its quite expensive. Its hard to get good pictures of pens and other small items without one. I almost exclusively use the pancake lens because it will basically let me shoot in the dark. The image quality is excellent and great for everyday photography. There are of course some digital dirt at higher ISOs but what I lose in image quality, I make up for in portability and low profile handling. This camera is far less intrusive for people than a long lens dSLR.
I also keep a camera stashed at work for quick shots. It’s a Canon Powershot S90 (the newest version of this camera is now the S100). It also gets called into service when traveling or is just kept at the bottom of my bag. Its a great camera for its size and includes a macro feature for capturing close-up shots of pen nibs.
And the last camera is the one I always have with me, my iPhone. The lens quality on mobile phone cameras continue to improve so this is often a perfectly acceptable option. My iPhone 4s has an 8MP camera which is just slightly below the 10MP in my S90 though without the option for white balance adjustment, exposure compensation or shooting in RAW format. But still.. and there are some great, reasonably priced photo editing apps that can get me from shooting the photo to posting on Twitter, Flickr, Instagram or even the blog without ever having to sit down in front of my computer.
I use Aperture for the Mac for image processing and post full sized image to Flickr. I ted to shoot in RAW most often.
Please let me know if you have any other questions about my photos or camera equipment. I am, by no means, a pro but I can certainly give you any advice I have gleaned over many years of trial and error.
