5-color pencil question mark screenprint, £40 by Jportch. Edition limited to 25.
(via Jportch)
Field Notes for Memory Keeping
While traveling, I used a Field Notes to keep my thoughts, names of places, restaurants and people, as well as pasting in receipts, business cards and various paper ephemera. I stamped the date and the name of the event on the front of the the Field Notes before I left.
I added the squashed penny with gel Super Glue when I returned. Squashed pennies are great inexpensive keepsakes for a trip. I got this one at the Musee Méchanique at Fisherman’s Wharf, a mechanical toy and game museum where you can play every game! Some took nickels and dimes but most took quarters and ranged from dancing puppets, vintage “peep shows,” pinball machines and classic 80s arcade games. Most American museums or large tourist attractions have a squashed penny machine. You insert 50¢ and one penny (I like to use a shiny penny but anyone will work). Then turn the crank and out pops your penny embossed with a design.
I was surprised how easily my paper scarps fit into the Fields Notes with little more than a fold. I used glue stick and washi tape to attach items and a 4-day trip filled almost a whole book. I used a paper clip to hold the transit cards just in case I needed to use them again. I’m not a scrapbooker but this is the perfect amount of memory keeping. I could complete it while traveling and on the airplane so, once I was home, it was done and all the bits I’d collected were contained.
Eyecandy from San Francisco
While I could not get Flickr to upload my travel photos, at least it saved my goodies, so I shall share those with you today. I did not buy a lot of goodies knowing so many things could be purchased later via Jet Pens and other vendors’ online shops so I limited myself to must-haves and small items that would fit in my carry-on bag.
Above, Melissa of Craftgasm and the Smithsonian Postal Museum shared the postal love with a little pink mail box filled with paper treats.
If you put red-and-blue airmail stripes on anything, I’m likely to buy it. Maybe that’s why I love red/blue pencils so much? The pencil pictured above came from the epic Patrick & Co. stationery shop for a mere $0.39. Patrick’s is a classic stationery shop that’s been in business for over 100 years with an endless array of legal pads in every color imaginable, pens and pencils in jars to be purchased individually and so much more. There are two locations in downtown San Francisco, both near Union Square and should not be missed. The Dennison Airmail seals and the gummed labels came from Saturday Morning Vintage who had a stellar booth at the vendor market at Ex Postal Facto. The G. Lalo Verge de France stationery pad came from Patrick & Co. while the Air Mail stationery and envelopes came from Maido.
I purchased a few Pilot Hi-Tec C refills and a Hi-Uni HB pencil in the Maido shop in the Westfield Mall in Union Square. I also visited the Maido shop in Japantown and picked up a few more goodies. The postcard set tied with twine came from the 826 Collective Pirate Shop in the Mission. What fun! The Ohto Dude pen was compliments on Jet Pens along with a couple Morning Glory Mach 3 pens.
And of course, no trip would be complete without a little green. I got a word cards deck, some green gel pens, a “beans” cutter and itty bitty green staples from Maido. There will be more details about these purchases in the near future but I wanted to give a little taste of the stationery bounty available in San Francisco, should you find yourself there.
The Chair is back at The Desk
Wow! Miles of travel at unholy hours make for a crabby Chair. I’m shuffling through purchases and photos but in the meantime, I thought you’d like to see who I met while in SF.
This is Elaine from Jet Pens. I had just as much fan glee as you’d expect finally meeting my contact at Jet Pens. I hope she doesn’t mind that I posted this photo here. We chatted endlessly about pens and paper and bored her poor friend to death. She did take our photo together to prove the meeting occurred.
I must get back to editing and sorting and sampling. More tomorrow!
Don’t Go Away, I’ll be back on Tuesday!
I’m going to be traveling for the next couple days, attending Ex Postal Facto in San Francisco, finding all sorts of pens, office supplies and postal wonder to share with you when I return.
If you live in SF, come by any of the Ex Postal Facto events and say hello. I’d love to meet you!
Giveaway: Jet Pens Valentine’s Winner
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Jet Pens Valentine’s poem giveaway. I was tickled with all the poems and wish I had gift cerificates to give to everyone. But alas, I only have one.
Drum roll, please….
And the winner is Hannah!
Congrats to you, Hannah! And thanks to everyone for making me smile with your limericks, poems, rhymes, refrigerator.
Valentine’s Jet Pens Giveaway
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m giving away a little bit of love to one lucky reader — a $25 gift certificate to Jet Pens. Its a quick giveaway so don’t delay! Write a little love poem to JetPens or your favorite office supply in the comments to be entered to win.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted here by 10pm CST on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Thursday. One winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 30 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Gift certificate will be sent electronically via JetPens.
(Valentine artwork was created with a Pilot Pocket Brush Pen – hard and a Pilot New Brush Pen – Medium.)
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by JetPes for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.