There’s been a lot of moving and paper shaking at Desk HQ this week. Lots of orders get processed through our home studio. I spent some time this week building more Col-o-rings, making sample Col-o-ring Dippers with our Sample Vial Stamp to include in orders and rearranging the space to make room for my new standing desk and more ergonomic chair from IKEA. Big thanks to my pal over at Tag Team Tompkins for providing the getaway vehicle. She drives a larger MINI Cooper Countryman than my MINI Cooper Classic so we had more than enough room in her boot for all the parts to build my new office set-up. The new desk required that I disassemble the ginormous Callax bookcase in order to move it from one wall to another yesterday before setting it up today.
As a result of lifting a metric ton of books yesterday, I am moving very slowly today. I will finish assembling the desk today and getting the studio back in working order with the help of caffeine and ibuprofen.
What have you been doing this week?
Pens:
- Noodlers Ahab Flex Nib Fountain Pen (via The Pencilcase Blog)
- Esterbrook “The Journaler” Nib Review (via The Pen Addict)
- Little Big Pen: The New Monteverde Mega (via Penquisition)
- French Platinum (via Crónicas Estilográficas)
- Is a Sailor Special Nib worth it? Hands on with the Naginata Cross Concord (via UK fountain pens)
- Pen Review: Montegrappa Elmo “Fantasy Blooms” Fountain Pen in Iris Yellow (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Ink:
- Monteverde Brown Sugar (via Mountain of Ink)
- Montblanc Writer’s Edition Homage to R. Kipling Jungle Green Ink (via Gourmet Pens)
Pencils:
- White Party, Part 2: Water-Soluble Colored Pencils (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
- My Top 10 Blackwing Volumes Pencils (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Notebooks & Paper:
- Carlo Stanga collaborates with Moleskine, encouraging us all to rediscover a world of colour post-lockdown (via It’s Nice That)
- Heavy Duty by Field Notes (via Nero’s Notes)
- No stationery permitted (via Bleistift)
- Ugmonk “Analog” Productivity System [Kickstarter] (via Tools and Toys)
- One Book July: Are You Participating? (via Planner Fun)
- What Is a Book Dart? An Explanation. (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Art & Creativity:
- Obituary: Milton Glaser, pioneering graphic designer and creator of the I ❤ NY logo (via It’s Nice That)
- What do you do with fabric scraps?! Shawna’s Answer. (via Fancy Tiger Crafts)
- Socks, Plus S’Mores: A Warning (via Modern Daily Knitting)
- Organic, Sunrise Gradients Mask Front Pages of The New York Times by Artist Sho Shibuya (via Colossal)
- Colours in My Palette: My extra colours (via Liz Steel)
- Northern Highlight – Emmeline Pidgen (via Children’s Books North)
- Working with Ink Washes on Toned Paper (via RozWoundUp)
- Review: Schmincke Horadam Aquarell (Artist Grade Watercolour) (via Parka Blogs)
- Review: Art Toolkit with the new Pocket Palette (via Parka Blogs)
- Viviva Colorsheets with Wooden Case (via Parka Blogs)
- Pandemic Sketch Kit Update: More Colors! (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
- Stone lettering and variable fonts: What can the future of typography learn from the past? (via It’s Nice That)
Other Interesting Things:
- Barry Butler’s Photography Book is a Love Letter to the City of Chicago (via My Modern Met)
- Experimenting with online events (via Austin Kleon)
- Craftsman Makes Outdoor Fire Pit Inspired by a ‘Star Wars’ TIE Fighter (via My Modern Met)
- Electric Vespa Concept Merges Old and New for an Unforgettable Design (via My Modern Met)
- 5 things you can do with old books (via Flow Magazine)
- 1947 Film That Eerily Predicted How People Would Use Smartphones (via Kottke.org)
You asked what readers have been doing this week. Nothing terribly exciting. Going with parents to their medical appointments where I take notes with a fountain pen and Tul notebook.
Oh, and ordering too much online. Vanness got an ink (De Atramentis Marie Currie uranium green) back in stock I wanted. Used that excuse to order a Platinum Plaisir in gold. When I realized Plaisir pens could be found cheaper, I ordered one in Nova Orange from amazon, using my rewards $ to pay $1.70. That made me feel better. Although the Plaisir gold can be harder or trickier to find when a version is listed as yellow. It might be the Bali Citrus. And I ordered a nib unit from Franklin-Christoph.
I will place an order from your store once the new Keep The Post Office Public rubber stamp is back in stock. I have 2 of your already. But it’s more important now more than ever to support the USPS. Thank you for helping us show our support to the USPS.
Well, happily I checked your store, and ordered the two rubber stamps I wanted.
Hurray, now I can start using the Oversize Col-o-ring I got at the Pelikan Hub last year.
Thanks for the variety of links! I especially like the one on the 1947 film. It’s always interesting to see how the future looked in the past. I’ve been mainly puttering around home and working on my own blog margretputspentopaper.wordpress.com.
Love Liz Steel and love your list of links! I’m happy to add you to my blogs that I read now and can’t wait for my Col-o-ring and ink sample rubber stamp to arrive!!