I did an epic pen cleaning a couple weeks ago. While pen cleaning can be cathartic its also a time consuming ritual. As I cleaned an embarrassing number of pens that were inked, dried out or in some state in between, I started noticing my tendency to have multiples of the same pen. I asked…
One of our own had a huge reason to celebrate last week – Jaclyn got married! The Well-Appointed staff has not yet been able to attend pen shows during 2021 (nor for most of 2020), but that doesn’t mean we haven’t seen one another! Ana, her (real) husband, Bob, and I made the trek up…
There are lots of pen, pencil and stationery blogs and podcasts that are finding ways to generate funds to support their passions through subscription services. By contributing $2, $5 or more each month, we as readers or listeners can help keep our favorite blogs and podcasts going. Subscribers get little extras like handwritten thank you…
Private Reserve ink has had its share of controversy. I won’t elaborate on past issues in this post but instead, I will show some of the new colors and compare them with the original Private Reserve colors. Private Reserve inks can clearly be divided into old and new versions. The brand was purchased by YAFA…
News dropped this week that CW Pencils would be closing up shop for good by the end of 2021. Caroline Weaver and her devoted team of pencil enthusiasts have been an inspiration to the stationery community. Caroline launched a beloved stationery subscription service, published an amazing book on the history of the pencil and appeared…
Guest post by Julia van der Wyk Since my first visit to The SF Pen Show in 2015, I have made this event the destination for my annual vacation. (2020, I’m not talking to you). Its tag line is “The Fun Pen Show” and it has certainly been very fun for me. The draw of…
People often tease me that “back-to-school” season is my favorite holiday and I fully own this. So much so that when I get emails about the Sept. 1 launch of Hobonichi’s 2022 line-up, I get the same giddiness that we got as kids when the Sears Christmas Catalog would arrive and we would start dog-earing…
