Link Love: Magic Brushes

Sometimes, the tools we use unlock the magic within us. It could be the kind of strokes they put on the paper, or sometimes its the color of the the ink or how it feels in our hand but this is the magic we are often looking for when we venture out into the world (real world or virtual world) looking for a new tools or new notebook. We are trying to find or recapture the magic we had or we’ve seen other have. We know that it is often just the process of doing the thing that will get us back into that zen state but sometimes, just getting us to sit back down with our notebook or pad, we need to bribe our inner child with a new pen or notebook.

My inner child likes to have several pens so she can be enticed with switching colors at a whim — particularly if titles or page headers can be written with a larger brush pen (like Austin uses). The new washi strips are definitely helping to keep my child brain engaged too.

How do you soothe your inner child when he or she doesn’t want to settle down to work? Do you set a timer? Do you promise a snack or a treat to yourself for working? Do you woo your inner child with a shiny new pen or notebook?

Pens:

• Perpetual Pen Maintenance and a Change of Seasons (via Apple-Pine)
• Fountain Pen Review: YSTUDIO Classic Revolve Fountain Pen (via Rants of The Archer)
• This Just In: Spoke Icon (via Fountain Pen Quest)
• The heavy metal of nib selection (via mnmlscholar)
• Uni-ball Vision Ultra Micro 0.38 mm Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Faber-Castell Textliner Highlighter Metallic Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Cult Pens exclusive VINTA Inks swatch tests (via Nick Stewart FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART)
• Does Kaweco’s Premium nib write like gold? (via UK fountain pens)
• Onoto’s The Flanders Pen is a tasteful tribute (via UK fountain pens)

Ink:

• Ostrich Inks Part 1 (via Mountain of Ink)
• Diamine Cult Pens Exclusive Inks (via Mountain of Ink)
• Lennon Tool Bar Celastrina Sugitanii Shirozui on Midori MD (via Inkcredible Colours)
• Vinta Ulap: an exclusive worth having (via UK fountain pens)
• Montegrappa Harry Potter Hufflepuff Yellow (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Montegrappa Harry Potter Slytherin Green (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Pen Chalet Exclusive Robert Oster Monsoon Clouds Ink Review (via Pen Chalet)
• S1:P3 – Organizing ink samples with coordinates (via mnmlscholar)

Notebooks & Paper:

• Holding It Together: From Red Tape to Grommets (via Pieces of History)
• Analogue Vs Digital…. or vice versa! (via Philofaxy)
• Tuesday Update: Does a Notebook “Lay” Flat or “Lie” Flat? Who Cares! Five Suggestions For Those Who Hate Holding It Open. (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• The Best Daily Planners (via JetPens Blog)

Art & Creativity:

• Detritus from my Inktobers (via Apple-Pine)
• The magic of the brush (via Austin Kleon)
• Free Greeting Card Calligraphy Cheat Sheet + Worksheet (via The Postman’s Knock)

Other Interesting Things:

• Nock Co Cases: An Urban Sketcher’s Companion (via Writing at Large)
• Online Pen Shows: They May Be Easier, But Are They Really The Same? (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• The Last Infirmity of My Mundane Mind: Why ozTypewriter Must One Day (Soon) End (via oz.Typewriter)
• Atlas Obscura Presents the ‘Gastro Obscura’ Book by Cecily Wong & Dylan Thuras (via Tools and Toys)
• An illustrated guide to cancer by those living through it (via It’s Nice That)
• “It’s a dying art”: Behind the scenes with master Mahjong craftsman Ricky Cheung (via It’s Nice That)
• Seriously, 2022 Social Justice Kittens Calendar Is Here! (via Design You Trust)
• A Celebration of Opening Title Sequences (via Kottke.org)
• The Simpsons Library (via Kottke.org)
• Actor Who Played Colin Creevey in Harry Potter Now a Pro Photographer (via My Modern Met)
• Review: Kobo Sage (8-inch E Ink eReader) (via Parka Blogs)
• Review: Kobo Libra 2 (7-inch E Ink eReader) (via Parka Blogs)

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