Every year, National Handwriting Day sneaks up on me. Luckily, I have a whole bunch of writing samples from previous National Handwriting Days.
Hope you get to put pen or pencil to paper today and use your handwriting.
National Handwriting Day
Fashionable Friday: Marble Madness
I spent two days this week marbling paper for a project for work so I am in the “marbling zone”. It’s definitely a trend right now and fountain pens have always utilized marbled resins and plastics so this was an easy crossover. Hope you enjoy your own Marble Madness this week.
- Genuine Ingenuity Sleeveless Top in Indigo Swirl $49.99 (via Modcloth)
- Aurora Optima Nerla Perla Fountain Pen $445 (via Anderson Pens)
- Palomino Blue Eraser-Tipped HB Pencil $13 per dozen (via Fresh Stock Japan)
- E+M Marble Nib Holder – Silver-Black $1.80 (via JetPens)
- Paperblanks Mini Blank Journal in Rococo Revival Crystal Chandelier $12.95 (via Anderson Pens)
- Pelikan Classic M200 fountain pen marbled green € 119 (via Fontoplumo)
- Monteverde Prima Fountain Pen in Black Swirl $37.50 (via Pen Chalet)
- Bookbinder’s Blue Coral Snake Ink (30ml Bottle) $12.50 (via Anderson Pens)
- Delta Matte Journal Fountain Pen in Ivory $120 (via Pen Chalet)
- Franklin-Christoph Model 03 Anderson Pens Special Edition $165 (via Anderson Pens)
- Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun Ink (Old Man Winter) – 15 ml Bottle $13 (via JetPens)
- Kaweco AL Sport fountain pen in Grey / Gunmetal aluminum € 65 (via Fontoplumo)
- Hand marbled original artwork marble case – iPhone 7 PLUS – Aqueous Orbit in Silver & Turquoise – by Roo Bannister $57.14 (via Marbleous Roo on Etsy)
Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.
Book Review: A Year of Living Danishly
After reading the article in the NYTimes about hygge and creating my New Year’s Hygge-themed Fashionable Friday, I decided to get more familiar with the concept of hygge and what might make the Danes so happy and well-adjusted. So I decided to read The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country by Helen Russell. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the book. Was it going to be a self-help book like Marie Kondo’s Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up book?
Well, it turned out to be more of a memoir of Russell’s year of living in Denmark having relocated there after her husband got hired on to work at Lego. Each chapter is one month of their year with an aspect of the Danish culture revealed in that month. She discusses politics, taxes, trust, sex, childcare, healthcare, traditions, pastries and family to name a few things. And while she finds many things to recommend the Danish way of life, there are also many things that perplex her as well. In the best way, the book is not rose-colored glasses. I found it very interesting and enlightening in the way that any book about someone immersing themselves in a new way of life discovers what is really important and what they can easily live without.
Russell is British so, while the book is witty, the humor is quite dry. Some parts I laughed out loud though but I do lean to the dry humor.
So, if you’re looking for a book to make you reconsider how you see your place in the world, and whether you have it good where you are, this might be a book you would enjoy. I certainly found parts that made me think that I have it quote good where I am and parts where I thought “Why can’t we do thing more like the Danish?”
This book isn’t specifically pen- and paper-related but I do think anyone who wants to think about how to slow down, get hygge or simplify their life might appreciate the ideas offered in this book. We tend to be a literary lot in general and I know we all appreciate a good cup of coffee and a snegle.
An Administration Remembered, Stationery-Style
(Photo credits: in order clockwise from top left: A reporter takes notes while President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom speak to the press in the Oval Office, March 3, 2009, Photo by Pete Souza;Pens to be used by President Barack Obama are set on the signing table with the bill prior to the signing of H.R. 803, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building South Court Auditorium, July 22, 2014, Photo by Amanda Lucidon; The place-setting for attendees of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet meeting to discuss the economic recovery effort in the State Dining Room of the White House, June 8, 2009, Photo by Samantha Appleton; resident Barack Obama’s place is set at the table prior to the State Dinner for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in the East Room of the White House, April 28, 2015, Photo by Chuck Kennedy. )
Over the years, I’ve frequently used photos of President Barack Obama writing as examples of an overwriting lefthander because of the tireless work of the staff photographer (usually Pete Souza) in the White House who has spent the last eight years photographing just about every time President Obama signed anything. And thankfully, the photos have been available for use by the press on the White House Flickr feed, now archived as the Obama White House feed.
I thought I’d share a few of my favorite pen related photo over the years. I’ve spent much time trying to figure out exactly what pens are used for the signing of legislation (I’m assuming either Parker or Sheaffer) and admiring the occasional photos of the handlettered place cards for luncheons and state dinners.
And that photo at the top left of the reporter who still writes in shorthand?!? That was back in 2009 but still! Pretty cool. I always like to see how other people work and live especially in such a world in which they meet foreign leaders, visit other countries and still occasionally dig in dirt, go for burgers and play basketball and manage to do it all under a microscope and smile through it all. I don’t think I pull that off. But I guess if I got all those pens, I’d sure try.
(Photo credits: in order clockwise from top left: Close-up detail of President Obama’s signature on a bill, and a pen used for the signing, aboard Air Force One on a flight from Buckley Air Force Base, Denver, Col. to Phoenix, Ariz., Feb. 17, 2009, Photo by Pete Souza; President Barack Obama signs a United States name plate at the conclusion of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2014, Photo by Pete Souza; President Barack Obama writes a response to one of the ten letters he receives each day from the White House Correspondence office on Saturday, July 25, 2009, Photo By Pete Souza; A copy of the menu sits on a table following the Congressional Spouses Luncheon, May 20, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton).
These photos are official White House photographs and are made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
Art of the Day: Unlikely Airline Art
I just had to share this video of my pal Amanda and her awesome habit of embellishing the sick bags in the seatbacks on flights to and from LA on Southwest. So if you ever happen to be on a Southwest flight, check the seatback pocket…
To see some of her previous work, check out the instagram hashtag #barfbaglettering. All her lettering is done with her trusty Sharpie markers and a kind heart.
If you want to try it yourself, there is also a #spewbagchallenge hashtag where other people have also submitted there lettering and artwork (may not be suitable for all audiences… you have been warned!).
Review: Blackwing Point Guard
I received my Blackwing Point Guard in the mail last week. As a subscriber to the Blackwing Editions, I only had to pay shipping to receive it so I was willing to try it out, even though I had already heard through the blog phone tree that it wasn’t worth it. Curiosity killed the cat and cost me $3 in shipping and a trip to the PO Box.
The first thing I noticed is that its heavier than any other pencil cap I own. Not like brass-heavy just more substantial, and larger than any of the other pencil caps. Since Blackwing pencils are already exponentially larger than pens and other pencils, sticking a Point Guard on one makes it almost impossible to get it to fit into any pencil or pen case. Euphamistically, its friggin’ huge.
It also does not fit onto the pencil very far. In the photo above, I aligned the cap with the marks on the pencil to show exactly how far the cap fit onto the pencil. I know some people can get a pretty long point on their pencil but that still leaves an awful lot of clearance at the end.
Shown above, the Point Guard appears with a Sun-Star plastic pencil cap, a generic aluminum pencil cap and a Kutsuwa Stad Aluminum Pencil Cap. I also chose a selection of pencils to test all the pencil caps to see which worked with the most pencils.
I chose common favorites beyond the Palomino Blackwings like the Prospector, Tombow, Mitsubishi, CDT, General’s Cedar Pointe, Natajar, Faber-Castell Grip 2001 (for its triangular shape), and the Mitsubishi Colour Pencil (its a round barrel and slightly wider) to get a range.
My experience with the Point Guard mirrored many other’s. I found it very difficult to actually get it on to a Blackwing Pearl. I practically had to wrench it on. It sort of broke my heart a little to do it knowing I was marring the paint to do it. I really like Pearls. But for you, I did it. And here’s the proof. Yep. It marked it up. And I had to wrench the Point Guard off again. I mean I looked ridiculous trying to pull the cap off. I can’t imagine trying to pull that cap off in a meeting. I looked like I was wrestling a candy cane out of the mouth a rigor moritised-earthworm. It was not pretty. In a public place, I would have inevitably lost purchase on one or the other and let them fly across the room. Hence, the need to bring in the other pencil caps for comparison. Were they all this difficult to use? Or did they all fall off?
So I started testing the other pencil caps like the transparent plastic Sun-Star and the aluminum caps.Between the plastic Sun-Star caps and the aluminum caps, I was able to cap and shake test all of the pencils shown above and easily remove the caps without endangering those around me. They fit snugly but not TOO snugly. Mostly, these caps keep the points of your pencils from poking you or your carrying case or from the lead breaking in transit. Some of the caps fit better than others with some pencils but clearly the price points are drastically better so its easier to have an assortment of Sun-Star and Kutsuwa Pencil Caps on hand than it is to have more than one Point Guard.
The aluminum caps have slits up the side to make it possible for them to fit wider hex and round barrel pencils more easily. Of course, this means its also possible to stretch the aluminum out so that they no longer fit snugly around a standard hex pencil and wouldn’t pass Blackwing’s rigorous “3-shake test”. But you can find two 8-packs of aluminum Kutsuwa Stad Pencil Caps on Amazon for under $9 so you can outfit an entire dozen of pencils and then some for the cost of ONE Point Guard.
The bottomline: Don’t waste your hard earned pencil funds on the Point Guard. Buy an assortment of these other pencil caps instead or do a search on JetPens for Pencil Caps or ask at your favorite shop or web site for other pencil cap recommendations. I appreciate that Blackwing tried to innovate the pencil cap but in this instance, it just didn’t work.
Link Love: Reasons, Pencils & Videos
Pens:
- 6 (More) Reasons Why You Should Write With a Fountain Pen (via Ed Jelley)
- Paper Mate Biodegradable Gel Pen (via Pens! Paper! Pencils!)
- Pokka Pen EDK (via Pen Addict)
- Parker Sonnet Great Expectation Edition (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Ink:
- Robert Oster Signature Turquoise (via Alt. Haven)
- Robert Oster Signature Ink Fire and Ice (via Pen Addict)
- Franklin-Christoph Ink ’17 – Philly Pen Show Limited Edition (via Inkdependence)
- Robert Oster Gold Antiqua (via Goulet Pens Blog)
Pencils:
- Metalshop Timbertwist Bullet Pencil (via Pencilcase Blog)
- On Point Retention and Durability (via Pencil Revolution)
- Archer Pencil (via All Things Stationery)
- A Box of Pencils: Uni Hi-Uni Wooden Pencil Art Set (22 Degrees: 10B to 10H) (via Fueled by Clouds and Coffee)
Paper & Notebooks:
- Muji Notebook (via Inkophile)
- Write Notepads & Co. “In the Pines” Release (via The Weekly Pencil)
Other Interesting Things:
- You Can’t Accomplish Anything Without Context (via Jocelyn K. Glei)
- Fjällräven Kånken Backpack (via Gourmet Pens)
- Tale of a Vandal Pen Blogger: Behind the Name (via Peaceable Writer)
Shawn Newton and Lisa Vanness talk about details regarding the upcoming Arkansas Pen Show. For more details, visit the Facebook page.
The creators of Flow Magazine talking about why they created a paper magazine empire.