Since I’m traveling this week, I didn’t have a lot of time to pull together a Fashionable Friday. But never fear, the internet came to my rescue with this wonderful assortment of gold accoutrements for your office.
Thanks to the Bright & Beautiful Blog for unknowingly doing my job for me this week. I’ll be back next week with my own take on fashion for the office. Until then… Enjoy!
This week’s links of the week are all those “Other Neat Stuff” links at the bottom. Two pen shows, the Pennaquod update, “The Pen Debacle” and Harry Marks’ “I Wrote a Novel” article are all excellent reads. I hope you enjoy them too.
Pens:
Ink:
Pencils:
Paper & Notebooks:
Other Neat Stuff:
I really like the idea of having office “toys”. When I was a manager, I would often cover conference room tables with Silly Putty eggs and jars full of Lego. I find it helps people forget they are in a big room feeling awkward. It can give people something to do with their hand besides check their phones for messages and I’d like to believe that doing something tactile can get you thinking more clearly.
So, I was intrigued by the idea of Office Putty. It’s targeted for the office — in a respectable tin in a pleasing blue color and in a good sized wad.
However, I think the $20US/$22CAD opening price point seems a bit steep for the product. Normally, Kickstarter prices are a bit lower than the final retail prices and this seems like a high price, even at retail.
I really want to support this project but it seems a bit too expensive for what it is. Is it just me? Is $20 for a big tin of putty resonable? Talk me into it.
For the most part, rollerballs and I do not get along. Ink takes too long to dry or they skip or just don’t write at all. So, when I found my first Pilot Precise V5, it was true love. I hoarded them whenever I could find them. Now, they are readily available at every big box store, office supply shop or even your corner drugstore.
When I discovered fountain pens and Japanese gel pens, I sort of forgot about the Precise V5. I think its time to re-embrace the Precise V5.
Its a simple cylindrical body pen with a silver clip on the lid. There’s no fancy silicone grip and no retractability. Just above the tip are some fins that remind me of fountain pen breather fins. The Precise V5 has a large ink reservoir and a clear window on the body of the pen to see how much ink is left.
On cheaper paper, the needle tip point tends to snag paper fibers and cause the tip to get a little gunky. A quick wipe on a piece of scrap paper or paper towel will clear up a gunky tip.
The Precise V5 is one of my Top 5 easily accessible pens. If you’re lucky, you might find the multi-pack that includes the pink, purple and turquoise ink versions. I love those!
What is behind these simple black boxes? They hide the latest editions of the Field Notes Colors subscriptions. I love the packaging for these. They are gusseted black envelopes that hold three Field Notes with a wide flap on the back. I will definitely be reusing the packaging to store Field Notes.
Tessa at All Things Stationery is building a map of all the best stationery and pen shops in the world. She’s got it started but she needs our help. Can you send her your favorite local stationery or pen shop (no, Office Depot does NOT count)? Let’s find all those mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar stores and get them on the map. Literally. This way, we can start planning the epic office supply world tour.
Send your recommendations to Tessa directly.
Thanks to Jet Pens for providing the 18-piece set of Marvy Le Pens to give away for the From The Archives: Mary Le Pen review.
The winner is:
Congrats, Mary Ann! I’ll be contacting you by email to make arrangements for shipping. Thanks to everyone who left comments.
As for the color popularity: purples, orange and teal/oriental blues were very popular with readers. Shout-outs to grey and black as tried-and-true. There was even some love for the greens and the pinks. Marvy, your Le Pens are marvelous, every single color.
