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Field Notes in Special JUST BELOW ZERO Colors

For a very limited time, we have Field Notes in special JUST BELOW ZERO colors. These are the usual great Field Notes graph-paper notebooks, in a three-pack with one book each in Winter Night Charcoal, Frozen Pond Blue, and Cold, Cold Grey. For a little extra winter crispness, these notebooks feature metallic silver printing on their covers.

We have the full line of standard brown Field Notes, too…

Want to write a book?

I've received several questions this week about freelancing fiction. These kinds of writing jobs are available on the outsourcing sites, but if you want to write a novel, just write it, and sell it. You just may get lucky. Writers...

The RichardsPens.com 2010 Wall Calendar Is Now Available!

At 11"×17", our fountain pen wall calendar is plenty big enough to see from across the room — and there’s room to write some actual useful reminders into each day’s space. The illustrations feature twelve different vintage and modern pens larger than life, on specially chosen and edited complementary backgrounds. Go here for more information.

Vintage Pilot Custom Music Nib and bonus matching BP

US $0.99 (1 Bid)
End Date: Saturday Nov-28-2009 8:20:29 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Ink Links

-- Sharpie as a Tack (Dave Duncan) -- Diamine Fall 2009 Ink Swatches (All My Hues) -- oh, I love pens (Angry Chicken) -- Equology Scholar Planner (another post with too many pictures) (Unposted) -- Rhodia Pad No 12, Paul...

1930s japanese "Mitaka" an Authors Fountain Pen

US $10.50 (2 Bids)
End Date: Friday Nov-27-2009 22:54:07 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Thinking Ahead to Winter CHA

It's Friday and I'm back from a busy week of travel and a trade show at the University of Oregon. I just want to give a quick rundown of upcoming events. January may seem like a long time from now, but we at Copic are getting things ready for Winter CHA.

Jan. 22 & 23 CHA Craft Supershow, Open to Public
Stop by the SplitcoastStampers booth any time during the show for a free make-n-take hosted by Copic. If you wish to attend the show, the Coupon code CRAFT20 will take $5.00 off of the admission cost for the CHA SuperShow. Tickets may be purchased online at www.craftsupershow.com.

When CHA class registration opens there will be some fabulous Copic cardmaking classes hosted by Jennie Black. These are a great way for the beginner to get a flavor of Copic and learn how to use their markers better. These classes are in conjunction with Our Craft Lounge.

There will be many vendors at the Craft Supershow selling Copic markers, so be looking for some great places to shop at the show as many of your favorite companies will be there.

CHA Copic Certifications
Applications are now available for the two certification classes on Jan. 22 & 23rd at the Anaheim Marriott, across from the CHA Convention. If you need an application please e-mail nancy@copicmarker.com

Each class runs from 9 am to 4pm with an hour break for lunch. These will be taught by Sherrie Siemens and each of these classes will also be assisted by two of our other new, Regional Instructors.

Also, we will have a list of upcoming Feb. 2010 certifications available next month, so keep looking for more details.

Pelikan 100: classic German piston-filler, 11.7 cm long, all or

9306: classic German piston-filler, 11.7 cm long, all original parts but for the barrel -- a non-Pelikan custom replacement in transparent acrylic -- and the semi-stub nib unit, which is from the 1950s. Cap crown, section, and filler unit are hard rubber, while the cap body is celluloid, typical transitional construction of the later 1930s. The barrel will accommodate an original or custom-made Binde (barrel sleeve; not included), or can be used as is, for a transparent demonstrator; fine-exc condition, medium semiflex nib; $450

Pelikan 100N: black piston-filler with striated green pearl barr

9321: black piston-filler with striated green pearl barrel sleeve, 12.2 cm long, gold filled trim; no brassing, like new, name on side of cap; near mint condition, fine oblique semiflex nib; $325

Pelikan 100: classic German piston-filler, 11.6 cm long, all or

9320: classic German piston-filler, 11.6 cm long, all original parts but for the barrel -- a non-Pelikan custom replacement in transparent acrylic. Cap section, and filler unit are hard rubber; uncommon "K" (Kugelspitz = ballpoint) nib with turned-up tip, rounded profile, good for left-handers and those who write at steep angles. The barrel will accommodate an original or custom-made Binde (barrel sleeve; not included), or can be used as is, for a transparent demonstrator; fine-exc condition, fine semiflex nib; $500

unmarked lever-filler: pristine black veined pearl with black ends, 13 cm

9332: pristine black veined pearl with black ends, 13 cm long, chrome plated trim, made in Japan; good quality, 14K gold nib is a USA-made replacement -- probably an upgrade from an original stainless steel nib; near mint* condition, medium semiflex nib; $165

Pelikan 100N: black piston-filler with striated green pearl barr

9322: black piston-filler with striated green pearl barrel sleeve, 12.2 cm long, gold filled trim; piston seal has been replaced, fineness of nib tip matches filling unit "EF" imprint, but writes more like a fine; fine condition, fine semiflex nib; $275

Lamy Safari Winner

Thank you to everyone who tossed their name into the hat for the Lamy Safari giveaway, and thank you to JetPens for providing this very cool pen. The number of entries blew away any other contest I have had here...

Revisiting the Levenger Fine Fountain Pen Nib

A few days ago, I did a review of a replacement fountain pen nib for my Levenger True Writer, but I was surprised at how thick the line was that it laid down, especially when compared to the Levenger medium nib. When I notified Levenger of the issue, they quickly sent out a new nib [...]

A Year in Color...Moleskine colors

Notebook enthusiasts are abuzz about the new Moleskine "Color-a-Month" planners - a set of daily planners with the comfort of a Volant. An individual Volant daily planner for each month of the year. The set for 12 months are packed...

Moleskine Surprise Boxes

For your gift-giving in the coming holidays you may consider these attractive "Surprise Boxes" featured by Patrick Ng in his blog. He explains that "they are called surprise boxes for reason that the content is not exactly known to consumer....

Review: PaperMate Replay Max

Aside from a few dabblings here and there with Pilot FriXion's, I have pretty much sworn off erasable pens. They are usually too inconsistent from a writing perspective, don't erase well enough, or more times than not, both of those...

A little Show ’n’ Tell

It’s been a quiet few weeks here at the Nashua Pen Spa: no exciting restorations to describe. We’ve done some interesting celluloid repair, and I’m currently working out a repair for a vintage Montblanc piston, but nothing earthshaking. So, just to keep things stirring, here are a few interesting pens I’ve photographed recently.
First we have a Parker “51” that I bought at the Ohio Pen Show. It’s pretty ordinary in appearance until you notice that it has no blind cap (not a Vac) and no hole in the end or side of the barrel (not Aero-metric, either). So what is it?

As you can see, it's an original Parker factory cartridge/converter “51” from about 1960. A bit rare, a bit cool, and very happy in its new digs. Now the only “51” variant I need is a Red Band…
A few weeks ago, a friend pointed out to me a pen for sale on a Web site in France. This pen was particularly interesting to me because it was a Postal bulb filler. Well, not precisely a Postal — actually, it was a Bonded, with a very nice imprint on the cap to prove it. So why did I just call it a Postal? Simple. The company that made Postal pens and sold them only through the mail (whence the Postal brand name) apparently didn’t get enough business by mail. It also made Bonded pens and sold them through other channels. The two brands are physically identical, and that means my Bonded can stand in for photographic purposes as a Postal.

But why do I care about Postal pens? As best I can determine, they’re the original bulb fillers. And as if that weren’t enough to trigger my techno-geek gene, they were also among the early attempts to provide a visible ink supply; they have Bakelite barrels through which you can see the ink (or, when the pen is empty as shown here, the breather tube). And that is just plain cool. And pretty, too, don’t you think?
So this pen has a weird circular repair in the cap above the clip. I’m thinking somebody used epoxy because he or she wasn’t able to fuse celluloid. Maybe I’ll find some sort of period-appropriate medallion to affix there. Maybe there already was one, and maybe that’s why this pen has that repair. Qui sait ?
Next we have another in my small (but growing) sub-collection of sleeve fillers. This one is a pretty little BCHR Laughlin.

Laughlin was a small U.S. pen company, founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1896. They made eyedropper fillers and, obviously, sleeve fillers. Nice ones, too! This pen is of particular interest to me because of the filler design, which is identical to the later of the two designs used by LeBoeuf in the 1920s and 1930s. Here’s a LeBoeuf for comparison.

I find it fascinating the way what goes around comes around.
Okay, one more. What’s unusual about this pen? (Hint: it’s not a Snorkel.)

What Are Dreams ?

A fascinating look on what happens once we close our eyes and drift into sleep. What are dreams and why do we have them? NOVA joins leading dream researchers as they embark on a variety of neurological and psychological experiments...

The Character Behind Character Design

Meet Character Designer and new favorite Sharpie artist, Marc Perry! I hunted down this amazing artist and all around great guy through good ‘ol Google a while back. When I came across his blog, I found that he draws TONS of Sharpie doodles and posts them write to his own site www.studio5.blogspot.com. This immediatley sparked my interest and I had to know who was [...]

Another Moleskine project from Art House Co-op

Exciting update from Shane Zucker at the Art House Co-op:"(Our) latest Sketchbook Project ended up with 3,600 artists participating in it! ...We just launched a new project called The Fiction Project which focuses on telling a story through writing and...

Equology Scholar Planner (another post with too many pictures)

I don't know if anyone remembers when I posted about the Moleskine planner that I bought a while back. I loved the size and all of the features that it had. After using it for a while, however, I realized that the size wasn't right for me. I thought that I would be able to carry it around in my pocket but it was too thick. It is a great planner but I decided that for 2010 I would get something bigger that I could lay out flat on my desk. I was in luck. Karen, with Exaclair, was passing out some planners for reviews. I requested the Scholar and soon received one.

From Equology Planner

The Equology line is made by Quo Vadis and is made of recycled materials. The paper is 100% recycled and the agenda is made of 88% recycled materials. It measures 6 1/4" x 9 1/2" (16x24 cm for my European friends), has a removable, flexible cover and includes some very nice features.

From Equology Planner

I really like the cover. It is a textured rubber material that looks nice and seems to take some abuse. I also really like the size because I can lay it flat on my desk and it doesn't take up much space. I have been carrying it in an old Eagle Creek folio that I have, and even though it isn't a perfect fit it stills makes a nice little kit.

From Equology Planner

Now for all of the features. Let's start with the tabbed pages. This is a nice addition that aids in finding your current page. After each week you just tear off the tab and it is simple to find the current week.

From Equology Planner

Of course there is the standard "Personal Notes" page for your name and related data. Excuse the small picture. It is, after all, personal data.

From Equology Planner

Next, we have a "Notes" page,nice for quick notes on the go, and a "Time Schedule" section. You could use these two pages to quickly plan out a week, or a day. I would recommend using pencil for this.

From Equology Planner

Following the "Time Schedule" is the page for "Anno-Planning". These two pages allow you to note events that will happen throughout the year and it also lists holidays.

From Equology Planner

The actually planner starts next but we'll go ahead and take a look at the features in the back of the planner, which are mostly maps. Eight to be exact: North America, Canada, United States, South America, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Asia and Africa.

From Equology Planner

Finally, we have a three year calender. (somehow I missed shooting it)
In the very back, tucked neatly into the cover is an address book for contacts.

From Equology Planner

Now for the planner itself. The Scholar is a weekly planner with ample space for writing in and a section for priority items. Each week is numbered, as are each of the days. I did a few writing tests with different types of pens.

From Equology Planner

As you can see, the Sharpie was the only pen with bleed-through. Even the two fountain pens that I used did not bleed-through, though they are both fine points.
I have been very happy with this planner and will most likely order a refill when this one runs out. I like the space for writing, the size and the fact that it is made from recycled materials. I think that my favorite piece is the cover. I love the texture and feel of it and, if I decide to try another planner, I can always use the cover on a notebook. Thanks again Karen for the opportunity to try out a great product. Nr

The Sharpie Pen Grip – Evolution of the Sharpie Pen

The Sharpie Pen Grip is a new version of the Sharpie Pen that seems to have taken a bit of the original Sharpie Pen and a bit of the Retractable Sharpie Pen to create a hybrid that seems to address some of the feedback and issues that people had with those previous versions. Hopefully this [...]

Inroducing Jim Baer’s “Apprentice Tray”

In an effort to bring more cool pens to you and to make our offerings more accessible to a wider audience, we bring you a new occasional feature, Jim Baer’s “Apprentice Tray”…

Finally, We Have Converters!

As much as we’d like to think converters are everlasting, we know better. They do wear out, especially if you remove them frequently. We’re finally able to offer a selection of converters for the pens we sell (and many others).

Holder for M

Interesting product from "Holder for M" from Vintage Revival Productions. Here it is, described by Patrick Ng at his blog: " It is an ingenious two piece product made from a combination of leather and denim label material. One piece...

Giveaway: Lamy Safari

It's time for more giveaway goodness here at The Pen Addict! This time, I have a beautiful Lamy Safari Shiny Black Body with Chrome Clip and Fine Nib from my good friends at JetPens. If you have ever used a...

Kiki James Tuscon Wrap Journal Winner

Time to announce the winner of the Kiki James Tuscon Wrap Journal that I reviewed hereAnd the winner is: Geoffrey Simpson “That is very nice. I hope I win it!” Geoffrey you will need to, leave a comment on this thread, and use the contact tab above to send me your mailing address. You will have [...]

More Nibless Pelikans — You Asked for It, You Got it!

You’ve been asking for nibless Pelikan M215s and M205s, and we’ve heard you. We’ve figured out what it takes, and we now have these two models without nibs in addition to the usual way (with nibs). We’re also working on being able to offer our preground specialty nibs in the unplated style that these pens call for, so do stay tuned!

Writing: manage your time with ticklers

The more effective you are at managing your time, the more time you have for writing. It's easy to fritter time away, obsessing, or wondering what you should be doing -- how do you choose the ONE item that you...

MP Character Design: Sharpie Marker Works

via wwwstudio5.blogspot.com Coming soon to the Sharpie Blog! Posted via web from Sharpie Permanent Markers

Review: Rotring Tikky Ballpoint 1.0mm

The Rotring Tikky line has been around for a while, something which I didn't realize until reading a great review of the Tikky pencil line at Dave's Mechanical Pencils. I had actually already purchased the Tikky Ballpoint by the time...

Pantone Universe Notebook Flame Orange

I almost forgot I had this Pantone Universe A5 notebook that I picked up from Maido in San Francisco a few months ago. Being a big fan of most things orange, it was hard to pass this one up when I saw it, and I thought Id make this review a little fun by using [...]

Congratulations!

Wow! What a fabulous response to the Copic giveaway! I must admit that I haven't read all the comments yet, but there are some really great comments that have been posted on each blog in our celebration. Thanks to all of you for helping our new team feel welcomed and appreciated.

For now, I'd like to announce the winner of my prize drawing. There were 439 comments on my blog alone. And with the help of Random.org the following winner was chosen:

Colleen said...

Congrats to everyone! Love the Copics because of their versatility and the ability to airbrush just makes them that much more fun!

Congrats Colleen!!!

And a big congratulations to the winners from the other blogs. You'll have to let us know how you use your prizes once you get them.

I'm hoping to post a tutorial early next week, so check back here for more tips and ideas for coloring. Have a fabulous weekend, and see you next week at the U of O Trade Show in Eugene OR.

Twitter for writers: make connections, get hired

Have you discovered the power of Twitter? This week I've received a couple of messages from writers who are excited about using Twitter to make connections. One writer tweeted his annoyance about a magazine editor who seemed to be ignoring...

Granny Birthday card

This month celebrates three anniversaries for me. One of which is coming up this weekend, the other two are closer to the end of the month. The anniversary I'm celebrating this weekend is the first anniversary for Our Craft Lounge! Last year on November 14th OCL went live to the public after months of behind the scenes work. My other two anniversaries are 9 years working for Copic and 7 years being married to my dear husband.

Today we are also celebrating the birthday of someone here at work, so I made her this lovely Granny card. This card was made using the set Granny's Secrets, one of the 5 different Granny sets currently available from Our Craft Lounge.

Pre-Soaking with Colorless Blender
One technique I used on this card that you may not be aware of is the gray area under Granny's chair. I didn't have a light enough shade of gray within easy reach so I used my colorless blender and pre-soaked the area in which I wanted a shadow. Then I added my C3 and it was much lighter because the paper was already wet. It was also much easier to fade out the edges with the blender because the paper was pre-soaked.

Another thing you can't tell is that because Granny's dress has such a tiny pattern I colored it with the fine end of my Copic Original markers. The middle of each flower was colored with my R35 then I lightly touched it with blender to get it to wash out. One layer of the white silk flower I touched up with a yellow marker to accent the rich yellow center.

Markers:YR04, Y15, Y11, E33, E37, R35, C3, 0, E00, E11, assorted Spica pens, Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Prism Papers, Other: Prima Say it with Crystals and leaves for the photo.

I hope each of you has a chance to head over to the forums at Our Craft Lounge or their blog to check out their scavenger hunt and get a chance to win some fabulous prizes. You still have one more day to leave your entry on my last post to win a special Copic prize as well. Good Luck!

How to Make a Good Decision – The Pro & Con Pad

I’ve seen these notepads around before so when the folks at Usefulthings.com offered me one to review, I thought it would make for a fun post. In the past I have actually drawn up something similar to this when I was stuck with a hard decision, and it turned out to be pretty helpful. So the [...]

1950s Japanese Red Dragon flexy fountain pen

US $50.00 (9 Bids)
End Date: Sunday Nov-22-2009 21:10:50 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage Pilot Murex Myu500ss Silver Stripe MP

US $19.50 (7 Bids)
End Date: Sunday Nov-22-2009 17:37:55 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list

Make money writing: keep the cash flowing in

How's your writing career? If you've been writing for money for a year or more, you should be booked solid, into January and beyond. If you're not, chances are you're not paying enough attention to customer service. Anyone who's hired...

SEO articles? How do you write them?

I've had several questions this week about writing "SEO articles". You'll often find these gigs on the outsourcing sites SEO means "search engine optimization". In this article, Writing SEO Articles That Get Results in 15 Minutes » Fab Web Writer:...

New Regional Instructors & Blog Team 2010

Note: Commenting on this post is now closed. Thank you for your comments!

You may feel that I have really dropped off the face of the earth right now but actually I have been very busy making it even easier for everyone to get the Copic instruction they need. Now Certifications will be coming closer to your home town...

Over the last few days we at Copic hosted a special training session. Not a regular Certification, but a special training to add some very talented ladies to our team of Regional Certification instructors.

You can meet each of these people at CHA and if you are a store looking to have a special event hosted by Copic you can contact them directly in your region to arrange something. Stores attending CHA can also ask our great team for ideas and advice on how to teach their own Copic classes and build their customer's knowledge, so look for their table at CHA (And we are planning for the future, so if you thought a regular Certification was fun, just you wait). Each of our new instructors will begin teaching after Winter CHA, in addition to our current team. (For more photos like this one visit Debbie's blog, as we seemed to be too busy to take photos. Thanks Debbie for remembering!)

If you are a store interested in contacting one of the Regional Instructors please send e-mails to nancy@copicmarker.com Be sure to include where you are located and how large your classroom space is. We will forward your request to the instructor nearest you and they will personally contact you. If you are wanting to attend a class in your area also e-mail Nancy and she'll add you to the mailing list for that area.

We have switched a few people on our blog team as well, but all the names are ones you should already be familiar with.

And so, without further fanfare...

The new Copic Instructors and their regions are:

Colleen Schaan
Colleen will be covering the Southern US. She has been teaching some absolutely fabulous online Copic classes through Our Creative Classroom and has visited stores in here area. Now you can take Certification Classes from her and ask her to host something special in your store if you're in her new region, as she will soon be moving to Atlanta. Welcome Colleen!

Lori Craig
Lori will be covering the Central Midwest, US. Lori should be a familiar name to many stampers, and I think we all adore Lori just as much as she adores grits (a wink right at you Lori!). In addition to her duties at SplitcoastStampers, Lori will be occasionally teaching Certification classes around Kansas, Missouri, and nearby states, so welcome to our team!

Sharon Harnist
Sharon gets to visit stores and teach Certifications from her home state of Texas up to Lori's area, and I'm sure the two of them will be co-teaching classes as well, since they are great friends. Sharon is a name you've seen around here for a while, but she also helps Ellen Hutson, Just Rite Stampers, Inchie Arts, Lockhart Stamp Co, and Taylored Expressions to name a few! Now she's on our Blog team as well, so thank you Sharon!

Kathy Sanders
Kathy will be teaching in the Northern Midwest/Chicago area. Kathy is a name you might not be familiar with unless you're on Splitcoast and recognize her as making some fabulous cards & tutorials. She has also taught Copic classes to papercrafters at her home store in Brookfield Wisconsin, Creative Pals, for over 6 years! If you've ever seen Whipper Snapper design's colored card examples most likely it was sweet Kathy who colored it.

Then, some other names you already know on our Design Team and some are also teaching Certifications:

Sherrie Siemens- Certification Instructor, Western Canada and Pacific Northwest. Look for more classes from Sherrie not just in Canada, but also in Washington and possibly Alaska (Betty, Nancy that's just for you!). Now Sherrie is also on our Design/Blog Team.

Sally Lynn MacDonald- Certification Instructor, North Eastern US and Eastern Canada. Sally Lynn already has a full schedule for 2010 scheduled so check out her blog for dates and locations. She has also been added to our Design/Blog Team, so look for great inspiration from her as well!

Debbie Olson - Certification Instructor, Regional Floater. Debbie may occasionally fill in and teach or assist at Certifications all across the country and she'll be helping us a little more with special projects, so look for more great things from Debbie.

Marianne Walker- me. I'll be floating around like usual and covering classes more in California, Oregon, and the Southwest region. I am also proud to announce that I made the blog team (oh wait, I guess I was already on the team, sorry!)

Michelle Wooderson - She's still our steadfast blogger, out there making faboulous projects using Copic Markers like she has for the last few years. We love you Mish!!

And we want to leave Trudee with a big warm hug and thank you! Trudee hasn't been doing as much papercrafting recently, but we thank her for all her gorgeous work as a past Copic Design Team member.

Go visit the blog of each of these people to really get to know them better. We are so lucky to have them on our Team and are looking forward to 2010!

Copic Giveaway!!
To celebrate the new team we are offering a special giveaway. Simply go to each blog listed below and leave a comment. The winner gets to PICK their prize: Either 12 Sketch of their choice or an ABS-1.

To enter, please leave a comment on this post letting us know either how you use Copics, which Copic products you use, why you love them OR why you wish you had Copics. Be sure to include contact information/link so we can inform winners.

You have 8 chances to win, since there are 8 blogs to visit. In addition to one winner from each listed blog, we at Copic will be reading through comments. If we find a testimonial that we really like, then we will contact that person to use their story for the CHA booth and whomever we choose would get an equal prize to the random winners. So make your comments good, and make them different on each blog for even more chances to win! There will probably be two or three winners chosen total on comments, as well as the one winner for each listed blog (The testimonial winners will not be announced right away, but random winners will).

The drawing begins on Wednesday, November 11, and ends on Saturday, November 14 at 11:59pm. This varies from blog to blog, by the way.

Blogs to visit:

Marianne Walker, Copic Product Specialist, Certification Area: West/Southwest, Floater

Debbie Olson Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Floater

Sherrie Siemens Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Western Canada, Northwest US

Sally Lynn MacDonald Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Northeast US and Eastern Canada

Sharon Harnist Copic Blog Team, Certification Area: Southern Midwest

Lori Craig Certification Area: Central Midwest

Colleen Schaan Certification Area: South

Michelle Wooderson Copic Blog Team

Kathy Sanders Certification Area: Northern Midwest and Chicago area. No blog yet.

Good luck and have a great time coloring!

Lie De The

Lie De The is another great color from J. Herbin that Karen was gracious enough to send me. It is probably my second favorite color, that I have tried, after Eclat De Saphir. I first noticed it while visiting Wolf's blog and seeing this post. His Lie De The looks much lighter than mine but it is probably because he is using an EF nib. Unfortunately, I could never get a picture that captured this ink's color.

From Lie De The

It is a brown ink. Out of my medium and fine nibs it is dark brown. To me, it is a great manuscript or a manifesto color. When I use it, I know I should be writing something meaningful.

From Lie De The

If you are looking for a color that is a little different and interesting I would recommend trying out Lie De The. Thanks again, Karen. Nr

Halloween Highlights

Back away from the cheese. Favre, stay put in Minnesota. I’ve got something better for you… Sharpie Accent Highlighters! Alex Koeppler, Leader, Brand Marketing Sharpie, ( @sharpie_AplusK ) sent this picture of some friends dressed up for Halloween in Wisconsin. These lovely ladies were defintely the HIGHLIGHT of the party Which got me thinking… How do YOU [...]

Clairefontaine Cloth-Bound Basic Notebook

Are you looking for a simple notebook that doesn't scream, "Look at me! I'm an artist!" yet you still want the same type of quality? If you answered yes then the Clairefontaine Basic line is for you. It looks good without drawing too much attention and the paper is wonderful to write on.
Would that make a good ad or what?
I received this one from Karen at Exaclair when she sent me a box full of goodies. I requested this one because I really like the clean look of the cloth rather than spirals.

From Clairefontaine Basic

Like the name suggests, it is a simple notebook but the quality goes way beyond basic. The paper, of course is 90g and the cover has a great marble look to it.

From Clairefontaine Basic

I love the cloth binding because there is no annoying wire to get caught on things.

From Clairefontaine Basic

These are great notebooks for the price. The one I am reviewing is a medium size and it is perfect for sliding into a bag. I tried several pens on the paper and it performs beautifully.

From Clairefontaine Basic

The medium notebook runs for about eight dollars and the large size runs for about twelve dollars. Great prices for such a good, useful notebook. Nr

BIG Sharpie Art

Looking At North Forty One West Eighty Seven Milky Way Galaxy Solar System Earth Northern Hemi America United States of America Illinois Chicago Six One Six North Rush Street Six Zero Six One One Exact Point You Are Looking At North Forty One West Eighty Seven Milky Way Galaxy Solar System Earth Northern Hemi North [...]

Notes Left Behind

I received an email from a co-worker today that was absolutely beautiful. I’m so thankful to have recieved this, as it is something that needs to be shared. I hope by posting and sharing with you that I am able to make even a tiny difference in someone’s life, just as Elena, the miracle behind this message, has done herself. The following [...]

Quartet EnduraGlide

Not the usual review I guess.
I tried one of these markers once (for like 5 mins) and thought they were really cool, but no stores nearby carried these, so I was thinking about getting some online, and I never got them.
Yesterday I went to Staples (with the clear intention of getting what I needed, not stopping anywhere else) and noticed that the pens/markers aisle had been rearranged and slightly improved, they had those stations where you can try some pens, and they had a lot of markers and pens available by the unit, including the EnduraGlide (and unlike before, they also had pretty much the entire line of Quartet dry erase products).

I grabbed two, an aqua and a blue, for further testing.

I must say that they write really good, they feel good, they are odorless (they still have a small odor of isopropanol) and they come in a lot of colors. I'll probably stop by later to get more colors.

Unlike most current dry-erase markers, these allow you to see the ink tanks and you can estimate how much ink is left. Also, the tip is not too soft and not too hard; that's my main issue with the Expo2 / Expo low odor markers, the tip is too hard and doesn't feel good when writing with a brand new marker.

Certification and Thank You

I'm back from a fabulous trip to Grand Rapids last week. The Certification was a lot of fun and I was happy to meet both old and new friends there.

When I went to the certification class in Coos Bay a week ago I took my husband with me. He makes videos and in his spare time he made this simple promo video for the store that the class was hosted in - Memories of Time. Here is the nice video he made for Michelle, owner of Memories of Time.

What a cute store! I love going around the country and seeing all the different little stores. I'm glad my husband was able to make the video for her, and I can't wait to go back to visit her store someday.

Meanwhile, I need to update everyone on upcoming certification classes and events.

On November 18 & 19 we will be participating in the University of Oregon Bookstore's annual Tools of the Trade Show. The show theme this year goes along with the U of O Art Museum's current Gallery Show - Art of the Superhero. I will be one of the featured artists at the U of O Tradeshow event and I'll be coloring some appropriate comic artwork just for the event.

In conjunction with that show I can also be found this Saturday evening down at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art here in Eugene doing airbrush demos and letting people draw or color their own superheroes. Don't miss it! Nov. 7th from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

The evening of November 19th I will be hosting a beginner Copic Marker class for fine art & landscape architecture at the DIVA Gallery, 110 W. Broadway here in Eugene. To register for that class you need to contact DIVA directly or through their website.

December 5th I will also host a Holiday Card Making class at DIVA. This is not a class where I make a kit and everyone makes the same card. Rather, this is a fundraiser for DIVA and I bring down a mixture of papercrafting supplies where we are creating our own mixed-media/altered arts creations. Bring some embellishments to share or swap with classmates. Your class fee becomes a donation for DIVA.

Although the year is winding down we still have some great locations coming up. In January we will announce our schedule for Spring 2010, and you'll see a whole bunch of new locations, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here are the remaining classes between now and CHA in January.

November
21st Montreal, taught by Sherrie Siemens Full
22nd, Montreal, taught by Sherrie Siemens Opens to Public this Friday
22nd Columbia, SC taught by Sally Lynn Opens to Public this Friday

December
13th San Antonio, TX taught by Sally Lynn Open to Stores & Designers
14th San Antonio, TX taught by Sally Lynn Open to Stores & Designers

January, 2010
10th Sarasota, FL taught by Sally Lynn Applications go out next week

And, for those who are attending CHA:
22nd Anaheim, CA taught by Sherrie Siemens Applications go out next week
23rd Anaheim, CA taught by Sherrie Siemens Applications go out next week

My Weekend

I had a fairly peaceful weekend at the beach. The sunset Saturday night was beautiful. I hope you enjoy and have a peaceful week. Nr

From Sunset

The other 31 pictures I took (of just the sunset).

A Lifetime Restored

Before you go any farther, read this.

Now that you have a little background info to go by, let's make a comparison:

From Lifetime Restored

As you can tell from the pictures this poor Lifetime had succumb to the years. The clip and nib were tarnished and the barrel had lost some of its sheen. Also, the pen did not write because it needed a new sac. Well, I called on my fellow pen freak and friend Mr. Goodpens for help. He happily obliged because he is a good guy. Never met him. I don't even live in the same timezone as he does but I have a feeling that if I did we would be hanging out on weekends. He cleaned her up, replaced the sac and gave me a new pen to love and enjoy.

From Online Edits

This pen really is a joy to use and it writes somewhere between a medium and fine nib. I did have to get used to its huge nib. Most of the fountain pens that I have have smaller nibs.

From Online Edits

I first loaded it with Noodlers Black but that has been used and it now is filled with my new favorite, J. Herbin Eclat De Saphir. Ahhh, writing euphoria.

From Online Edits

Again, Mr. Goodpens has given me a new old friend to confide in and I am very thankful for it. Go check him out at Goodpens and let him know what great work he does.

You can also check out his previous work here. Thanks Dunkind.Nr

Ya gotta love them black pens!

(Revised October 21, 2009) This week, of which the primary feature was our successful return from the New York City Pen Show, also offered a remarkably interesting contrast in pens that needed to be worked on. Here I present for your consideration two objects. They are both fountain pens, and they’re both black. This they have in common. From the end of the section back, however, they are remarkably different. And they are both exciting.
Of foremost cachet, but not the first to reach the bench — or the more interesting — was this gorgeous Parker Lucky Curve Nº 33 eyedropper filler:

The pen was in good, albeit not mint condition, and in fact all that its owner wanted was to have it reblackened. I examined it closely enough to assure myself that it could not be sold by some future owner as a pen with great original color, and then I put it through the G-10 process. Is it perfect? No. Is it a lovely pen? As Dick Martin used to say, “You bet your bippy!” By any standard, it’s a beautiful pen, one I wouldn’t mind owning. I hope its owner will love it as much as I loved having it in my care.
Of greater interest to me, despite its much lesser cachet, was this little gem:

Most people would consider this almost a throwaway pen. It’s from the 1960s. There are mold lines on the section, and the plastic is certainly no Precious Resin. The nib, as you might expect, is steel — plain steel, not even gold-plated steel that’s lost most of its plating. (Which is in my opinion quite all right given that it matches the chrome-plated furniture.) So what is it with this particular pen?
Well, it turns out to be very interesting mechanically. With its big transparent window it might almost be a piston filler, and that’s what I first assumed because the window wasn’t clear enough that I could see the breather tube running up the barrel. So it’s not a piston.
Taking off the blind cap, I discovered a clear plastic button — also pretty well inked up. Aha, I said to myself, I said, this is an accordion filler! For those not familiar with an accordion filler, this design is a pump filler with a sac that’s open at both ends (one for the section and the other for the button). 

The sac is pleated like a concertina’s bellows, and pressing the button compresses the bellows to expel air.

Releasing the button allows the bellows to expand, drawing ink up the breather tube, exactly the same as in a Vacumatic or a button filler. On the next downstroke, the tiny amount of ink in the breather tube can move with less resistance than the ink in the barrel, so the breather tube evacuates and allows more air to go. This makes room for the next inhalation of ink, and the process continues until the pen is filled.
So that’s it, right? Nope. Looking down the button’s side, I espied a threaded ring screwed into the same threads that mate with the blind cap. Under that threaded ring, the button has a flange to keep it from flying out the end of the barrel, and a spring. There are a couple of seals in there, too.

This is a Dunn-style pump filler (above), with a spring substituted for the user’s muscle on the upstroke. I like it! The only other pen I’ve seen with a filler like this is an Ancora LE based on the Perla body style.
Okay, so the pen is interesting to a geek like me. But there’s more. It’s called a Compactor Standard, and it wasn’t made in the U.S.A., or in Europe or Japan, either. According to its owner (to whose mother it was a gift from her then-future husband), it was known affectionately in its home country as pretinha, “the little black one.” That endearment looks to me like Portuguese — and if the pen wasn’t made in Europe it pretty much has to have been made in Brazil. Yup, that’s what the imprint says.
The real interest in this little pen, then, is its nationality: another country heard from!

Space Pen

ת’שמעו סיפור. לקראת סוף שנות ה-60 התרחש המירוץ המטורף לירח. המתחרות: ארה”ב מול רוסיה. אר

Back In the day, when Montblanc was a pen company...

…they made truly magnificent pens like this prewar coin-silver safety.

When it arrived at the Nashua Pen Spa, its cork was shot. Getting it apart to repair was an interesting exercise because of the way Montblanc put the overlay on, but when it came apart, the more serious damage (a broken threaded barrel-end collar) came to light. It’s all back together now, and I think it should last fairly well. It sure is a gorgeous pen — it has me wondering who Albert Matz was, that he deserved such a fabulous pen.
(Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.)

Can I Keep This Pen?

It’s a little known fact that I am very fond of office supplies. I like all sorts of pens, b

Something new every day

One of the perennial joys of pen repair is the continual learning process. You think you’ve seen it all, and the next day there’s something new and different. That’s what happened earlier this week, when the pen shown here hit the bench.

This is a Penol, made in Denmark by Christian Olsen (who also held the Danish Parker license). It’s an elegant pen, long and sleek and nice in the hand. The filling system wasn’t working. But unlike the Parkers that Olsen made, this is a piston filler with its knob located under a blind cap. Upon disassembling it, I had the following layout of parts:

Now, this doesn’t look particularly difficult. Fashion a new cork, and we’re outta here, right? Wrong. Here’s a closer look at the piston parts:

What you can’t readily see here is that there’s a hard washer still stuck to the left end of the cork. The cork and washer were secured by a metal pin through the end of the piston body; you can see the remains of the hole in the photo. You can also see another dark region, one that doesn’t look too awfully good:

What we have here is a piston that somebody, at some point, applied a file to. A lot of filing took it down to fit the cork, but it also thinned the wall so much that the plastic failed. There’s a gaping hole that allowed ink to flood into the back of the pen and thence onto the user’s hand. Not nice.
Suddenly it wasn’t apparent that the cork even needed replacement at all. A new cork had morphed into a new piston. Well, fans, I don’t have a stock of Penol pistons. So I had to repair the one in hand. Repair consisted of removing the turned-down portion, boring the end of the fat piece that remained, and fusing in a length of polystyrene tubing.

But there’s more. Tubing would allow ink to flow straight through, so I had to punch out a plug from polystyrene sheet and fuse it in place halfway down the length of the added tubing. This prevents ink from passing to the back of the pen. But it leaves a gaping cavity at the front of the piston, so I punched out a slightly larger disk of polystyrene and fused it to the end of the piston. And of course I drilled a hole for the transverse pin that holds things together.
I then checked out the cork and found that it should still be serviceable. It was nice and pliable and moist. I bored it out to fit the new, larger, piston, and assembled the parts to make a complete unit.

Here’s where the learning part comes in. The piston actually went into the pen and worked. But the action was extremely stiff, and I was concerned that eventually the piston might fail under the stress. So I pulled it apart and worked out a set of O-rings that would stabilize the piston and make a good seal. This entailed fashioning a polystyrene spacer to go between an O-ring that slides in easily and one that actually seals. The final result looks like this:

The pen works like a champ, and I have confidence in its longevity. I think the owner will be pleased — I know I am. Don’t you wish what you’re doing were as much fun as this?

Stealing from the best (part deux), and size does matter

“There’s something about designing a pen so that it will appeal to the buyer. Technology alone won’t do it; you can design a phenomenally good pen, but if it isn’t pretty it won’t sell. One way, proven by dozens of tributes and outright copies, is to copy the design of a pen that already does sell.”
I wrote the above paragraph early last June. It was true then, and it’s still true now. This week, Jim and I had the pleasure of working on another clone, one that’s even more identifiable than the Punto Rosso I wrote about three months ago.

Except for the slightly funky celluloid pattern, you might at first mistake this pen for a Parker Vacumatic. More specifically, because it’s a single-jewel pen, you’d be within your rights to date it to 1942 or later. (1942 was the year in which Parker redesigned the Vac, eliminating the blind-cap jewel among other things, to save resources for the war effort.) Well, you’d be right. This little charmer, Lovely by name, was made in Japan, and it is without question a post-1942 pen. The naked blind cap isn’t the only feature that gives the date away. There’s a very interesting filler design.

This could be a syringe filler, but it’s not. Yup, this pen is a Vacumatic internally as well as externally. And the plunger — in fact the entire filler — just reeks of the 1942 Parker redesign. It’s all metal, not partially made of plastic, but it’s a dead ringer for the Parker filler, even to the design of the spring.

Interestingly, because the plunger and pellet pocket are metal instead of plastic, they’re threaded so that you screw the pellet pocket onto the end of the plunger. This, as with Parker’s glued plastic design, also secures the spring.
Gotta love those copy artists!
Having dealt with design theft, I’ll now turn to the Great American Myth: Size does matter. We here in the good ol’ U.S. of A. are famous for the size of our houses, our cars, and our pens. Case in point: the Parker Duofold.

Big Red was a flamboyant pen, and part of its flamboyance was its size, a full 51/2” long capped and nearly 7” posted. There were other big pens, some of them even bigger, but the Duofold was the iconic “big pen.” It still is.
So, umm, what’s all this then? Well, it turns out that we ‘Muricans ain’t the only ones who dig big. This past week I repaired the nib of a very nice Montegrappa pen. A very nice big Montegrappa pen.

Like the Duofold, this pen is a button filler. (Size does matter. The brass filler button is big enough to eat five or six Duofold buttons for breakfast.) According to its barrel imprint, it’s a Montegrappa Contessa. It’s also, according to the imprint, a Superpenna. Ohhh, yeah. 6” capped, 77/32” posted.
The really cool part of this is that a big pen can still be eminently writable. Unlike so many modern pens that are loaded down with brass to make them heavy (to feel “substantial,” y’know), this pen weighs only 1.16 ounces (32.9 grams). Nice nib, too!

Pilot G-2, Revisited

About 6 years after trying the G-2 for the first time, I feel it's time to write a 2nd review of it.

As of now, I think that the G-2 is the pen family that allows the most customization, since you can choose
a)4 different body styles and sizes
b)4 different tip sizes
c)many different colors (not available in all sizes)

plus, you can fit cartridges designed for
a)Q-7 (0.5mm gel)
b) Precise Vx RT (5mm, 5mm liquid)
c)VBall RT (EF, F, B, liquid)
d) Mont Blanc Rollerball (Fine, Extra Fine, liquid)

I decided to stick with the 0.7mm regular G-2, which has the most colors available and I find it to be the best in most types of paper.

You can feel how the pen moves freely on the paper, doesn't feel scratchy or anything like that, the ink is not dispatched in excess, however, you still need to be careful not to smear the ink. The ink seems to be lasting, although the amount of writing I do now is by no means comparable to what I was doing a little over a year ago.

My main complaint is the availability, some colors like navy blue are only available by the unit from Pilot's website, the other option is a 3-pack available at certain stores (it comes in orange, forest green and navy), which sometimes complicates things, since I don't use forest green a lot (let alone neon orange).

And for those who try the MontBlanc conversion, DO NOT carry that pen in your pocket, that ink has a nasty habit to spill when you accidentaly press the clicky mechanism.

Waterman rarities

We stayed pretty close to home this summer, and we're now back from our one week end-of-summer break. Much to catch up on (as usual!) -- not least, one of our most notable catalog updates, featuring some incredible Waterman rarities. Most have been sitting for years in a private collection; there are some models which we have never seen before, and many which we have not seen examples of in

Great deal for 2 good pencils!

I might not be posting, but I am not dead! Here's a great deal on two Mechanical pencils that I love.

http://www.buy.com/prod/2-pack-phd-black-mechanical-pencil-0-5mm/q/loc/101/211948531.html?adid=17653

Enjoy!

August Giveaway: Pentel Sharp P207 0.7 mm Drafting Pencil

Man, I’m beat!… I’m ready for the ole waterbed!… I sure hope that there’s nothing happening for the next 15 minutes! At top of the hour I can get out of here!…

Zed!?… What are you doing here at this hour!?… You know, it’s almost quitting time and I…

“Ghdye mjhtdff mgjoo…”

Wait!… Sorry, Zed! I had already turned off the Universal Translator! Like I said, it’s almost quitting time…!

“I know, Geezer, but it’s well past the first of the month and you’ve not had the Pens And Pencils August Giveaway, yet!”

That’s right, Zed! I’d almost forgotten all about it! Thanks for reminding me! And if I’m not mistaken, that’s the Pentel Sharp P207 0.7 mm Drafting Pencil that I’m giving away!

“Right you are, Geezer! So why don’t you take a few minutes and get this giveaway off the ground!?”

Well…. OK, Zed!… Sleep’s over rated anyway!

“That’s the spirit, Geezer!”

I have not reviewed this particular pencil, but I have reviewed it’s sibling, the P203, on Associated Content. If you are unfamiliar with the Pentel Sharp P200 series of Drafting Pencils then checkout my review of the P203.

The P207 is a brand new, never used pencil that I purchased especially for this giveaway. I’ve added 10 sticks of HB lead to the reservoir, bringing the total to 12 sticks. I’ve also added a clean out rod, of the proper diameter, to the underside of the eraser as Pentel is living up to their proclamation of discontinuing the practice of including a clean out rod with their pencils.

So, how does one go about entering the Pen And Pencils August Giveaway? Simple! Just post a single comment to this article telling Zed how handsome he is, or isn’t, before midnight, EST, August 30th. If you post anonymously PLEASE include either an email addy in the body of your comment (one that you would not mind others knowing) or include a handle/screen name that you commonly use elsewhere on the Net! I can not giveaway the prize to someone whom I can’t identify! If you wish to make a general comment about the pencil or about my blog or about anything else, then please sign my Guest Book and leave your comment there!

The contest ends a nano second after the clock strikes midnight August 30th and becomes the morning of August 31st! Sometime after midnight August 30th and midnight August 31st I’ll count up the total number of eligible entries, assigning each entry a number in order in which the comments were posted. All comments/entries after midnight August 30th are automatically ineligible.

Once all the eligible entries have been assigned a number I’ll use the Random Integer Generator at the bottom of this blog to generate a random integer between 1 and the total number of eligible entries, inclusive, received. I’ll post the winner in the comments section of the post, so start checking back to see if you’re the winner, around 12:35 AM August 31st. The winner will have 3 days, until midnight, September 3rd, to claim their prize by dropping me an email @: theoldgeezer@live.com identifying themselves and giving me a valid shipping/mailing addy! Once I have an addy I’ll mail the pencil to them ASAP!

So, thanks for reading my blog and for entering my August Giveaway! Please return often as I will be posting more reviews shortly!

Back to School!

How great is Back To School time for pen nuts like me? Target has an entire section devoted to markers, notebooks, and even lunch boxes. Man, it's pen heaven.

One of the finds I picked up the other day was this pack of Bic 730r rollerballs. Ok, so Pilot is still my favorite pen maker of all time, but these Bic's are really something else. Needle point, 5mm so my writing is very neat, and they are smooooth as butter. Plus there's a visible ink flow so I can track how much longer till I need to start another pen. I'm definitely a fan, and they were pretty cheap too.

I've also been picking up notebooks galore. Cuz you never know when there might be a massive Notebook Shortage. Best to stock up while you can (she says, with irony).

I wish every month was a back to school month!

The Pen Blog is written by Heather Teysko, who is also the founder of NomadChick.com and loves to travel and write, especially at the same time.

My 200th pen post (wow)

I really miss the process, a good friend emailed me last night hoping that the updates were coming along smoothly...they are, but working on your current house while building a new one did not work for me. I was hoping to start some new pens on the new site, but here we are today with a fresh post. The only markings on this pen are on the cap, it says "Japan Marksman" and it is a cartridge filler. It's thin, like really thin, almost too thin for my hands.

The sun was shining in my kitchen window so I actually got to shoot with sunlight. Interesting. This pen has a bit of a "cheap look" to the metal. For how thin it is..it does have a bit of weight to it. You can see the threads by the nib, so it is a screw cap. I can only imagine that this came in a set, or with a notebook...it just has kinda that feel to it.

I just dipped it here, so it was not the smoothest writing ever, but it is true, Sara, Sam ,Brad, Jason, Mike, (and many others) you guys
have been great and I appreciate all your help and links and conversations. I am looking forward to another 200.

Have a great weekend.

Cow Print Pencil Display Box

I have a fondness for old wooden boxes, cigar boxes especially. My favorite thing to do with them is to convert them to pencil boxes. Not just an empty box in which to toss pencils into, but a box with pull out trays that hold the pencils in elastic, separating them and thus keeping them safe. I like to do something similar with nylon covered CD wallets and similar type cases. It's fun to create something, rewarding too, especially when I can do it for a lot less that I can buying similar items from eBay.

Some time ago I was gifted a broken down wooden cigar box. The top was split and the sides had come loose and the bottom was split. Both the hinges and clasp were in bad shape as well. So I glued the box back together intending to make a pencil box out of it. I replaced the clasp, but really wasn't happy with it. But I decided to go ahead and make the inserts that hold the pencils. The first incarnation were 2 panels that fit inside the bottom of the box that held 13 pencils each. They were made of corrugated cardboard, 1 ply thick, black cloth and some black elastic. This is how the box stayed for months. But I was never very happy with it.

The second incarnation came about when I bought some cow print fabric that I intended to use to cover some panels for another project. I used some translucent plastic sticky back shelf lining material as a template and traced out the cow print pattern onto it then cut it out with an X-acto knife. I then painted the box flat white. Once it had dried I placed the template onto the box and spray painted the black patches using flat black paint. Once it had dried I sprayed it with a gloss clear finish. The gloss finish soon was covered by a clear flat finish. I replaced the brass hinges and clasp with stainless steel ones. upgrading both as I did. The inserts remained the same until recently.

The third incarnation of the box occurred a few days go. I decided to remake the panels and cover them with the cow print fabric and to use thin round elastic instead of 3/4" elastic. But for some reason I cut the cardboard just a tad to little leaving the panels a bit loose inside the box. This is on no real consequence because the panels both fit into the bottom of the box. The box holds 24 pencils.

To make removing the panels easier I attached a strip of double folded black satin 1/2" ribbon to act as a pull. The bottom of the top panel is backed by a sheet of craft foam sheeting. This protects the pencils beneath the top tray! The bottom tray is backed by a thin sheet of card stock. Since there is nothing to protect beneath it, this is all that is necessary.

However. I was dissatisfied with the loss of 2 pencil spaces so on the last incarnation I redid the existing panels so now each panel holds 13 pencils for a total of 26. (Not shown).

It was easy converting the cigar box to a pencil display box and a lot of fun to boot! All you need is a wooden box, a few materials, a few tools, time, and enough skill to carry out the project!

If you are interested in making your own pencil display box send me an email asking for the instructions.

1920's Japanese SSS hand engraved sterling silver WOW

US $700.00
End Date: Saturday Dec-05-2009 1:48:31 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $700.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list

Sharpie Mini

Everything lately for me has been about simplicity. How can I get the most effect for the least amount of input. It's not that I am not willing to put in the extra time for things...it's that a 2 year old + a one month old= I am not sure really what is simple (or where me pants area) anymore. One bright shining star lately has been the Sharpie Micro. I have been on a labeling run lately and between this and my Brother ptouch, everything has a place and an owner.

I don't imagine I will ever hang a chain on the nifty cap loop, but its nice to know if I have this pen when I am 80 and feel the need to wear it around my neck to permanently mark down on my wall the number of grapes I had that day, it will be there. (wow...there was a little flash into the future I did not want to see.) For this pen...there's really no need to do a writing test. If you are unsure how a sharpie writes you should immediatly go eat about 42 grapes.

Have a great day.

Coolest thing I have seen in a while

I really hope every one gets to take a peek at Cheeming Boey's amazing flickr set. This is the kind of stuff that amazes and inspires me. I love finding the coolest art in the oddest places. I could stare at these all day long and this is one of my favorites. The even sweeter thing is...these are for sale. Incredible stuff. Enjoy.

Update...and I already asked what kind of pens are used for this. Update number 2: A simple Sharpie is used.

Washington DC pen show

We'll be closing up shop this week to attend the pen show. As usual, we'll be taking only a small selection of our inventory, so if you'd like to see a particular item, let us know right away so we can be sure to bring it along.Our main focus will be displaying and selling newly-made celluloid and hard rubber stock. You can read more about it at the American Art Plastics website.

Not Dead Yet

Thanks for all the emails asking where I am, no I am not curled up in a bottle of Private Reserve American blue... truth is.. I am working on a new and updated and cool (and dare I say better) Good Pens that I hope to launch in the next few weeks. I will keep you updated and thanks for your support. Seth

Tommy And The Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, it's Tommy Turquoise! What have you got there, Tommy!?

"Thank you, Geezer! I have your Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A Drafting Pencil! It's time that you reviewed it"

You are so right, Tommy! Thanks for the reminder!

"You're welcome, Geezer!"

The Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A is a pencil that I have been looking at for a long time. I own 2 other Platinum 0.3 mm pencils, the Pro-Use MSD-300A , and the Pro-Use MSD-500A. I like both of these pencils a lot but they are either plastic or partially plastic on the exterior. The MSD-1000A is an all metal pencil on the exterior. I find that I have come to like all metal pencils. I'm not sure if it's the silver color that they usually come in or the weight that an all metal pencil has or the feel of the metal surface or a combination of all 3! Maybe it's the luxury of having a more expensive pencil in my hand. Even though most companies, like Platinum, put as much quality into their less expensive pencils as they do their higher end pencils, an all metal pencil just speaks to me of quality and luxury!

The Pro-Use MSD-1000A is a quality pencil. It's designed and built by the Japanese so the engineering and manufacturing are superb. The shape of the 1000A is a little unusual in that it suddenly flares out at the grip, emerging from a slender cylinder. The grip has 9 evenly spaced grooves, concentric the the body of the pencil, giving rise to 7 evenly spaced ridges and 2 unevenly spaced ones. The end cap, which contains the lead sleeve, is flat where it meets the grip but quickly rounds over instead of being angular. It inverse curves to a short straight shaft before tapering to the lead sleeve. The color is a stain chrome. Behind the grip, in line with the body, is the lead grade indicator. The sleeve is a bright chrome with a rectangular window. The characters are silver upon a black background. The straight shaft of the body, like the grip, is a silvery gray with the words "PRO-USE" in hollow, gray outlined, backward slanting letters, the numerals "03" in solid gray and the words "PLATINUM JAPAN" in thin gray letters. The satin silver pocket clip is unadorned but the blade is slightly curved downward at the hilt then again at the end. The push button is of the over-the-shaft mushroom type that is reflective in shape to the grip only with 2 evenly spaced groves. Atop the broad top of the push button is the lead size in the same gray characters as on the side of the pencil. All in all a very lovely pencil to look at.

And now for the stats: The pencil is 143.3 mm long, 9.4 mm in diameter at the grip, weighs 16.1 grams and has a balance point 69.3 mm from the tip of the pencil, making it 2.3 mm top heavy, but you won't notice it! The 1000A feels perfectly balanced in the hand. The lead reservoir is cavernous enough to hold a couple of dozen leads but the eraser does not have a clean out rod, which is typical of Platinum pencils. It only takes two clicks to produce adequate lead to write or draw with. This is very nice in helping to eliminate lead breakage. The 1000A is a ratcheting style pencil with an all brass chuck and chuck ring. Being all metal the end cap is secured from accidental loosening by a rubber O-ring. In order to adjust the lead grade indicator it is necessary to loosen the grip from the body just a tad.

While the pencil body is thin the grip is robust enough to grip comfortably. The satin finish on the grip combined with the grooves make for a nice gripping surface. It's very easy to hold onto and to write with. It feels balanced in the hand and easy to control. The broad head of the push button makes the ratcheting mechanism feel softer than it really is. The ratcheting mechanism has a metallic sound to it but it's quieter than one might expect from an all metal pencil. The lack of a clean out rod is typical of the Platinum pencils. This is a little disturbing. The average person who would buy this pencil may never need the missing clean out rod, but when the need arises, the average person is stuck with a broken pencil as 0.35 mm wire is not a common household item! With the other lead sizes common items can be found that will act as clean out rods.

The bottom line, despite the lack of a clean out rod, Platinum has a winner in the Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A. It not only is it an attractive pencil (now tell me, does anyone really want an ugly pencil?) it is an easy pencil to use. Disassembly, should it become necessary, is easy and straight forward, as is reassembly. It is well designed and built pencil, a true quality instrument. If you are on the hunt for a quality 0.3 mm pencil then you should definitely consider the Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A.

The Platinum Pro-Use 03 MSD-1000A can be purchased from our friends at JetPens.

I'd like thank the Platinum Pen Co. of Japan, and the Customer Service Department, for the pencil reviewed in this article.

Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

It’s time for something new! Introducing the Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper, which will kick off here at Notebook Stories on Tuesday, August 4th. Future editions will be hosted by The Pen Addict on September 8th , Office Supply Geek on October 6th, and other blogs yet to be determined.

If you are a blogger and want to submit a post for the inaugural edition, the deadline is Sunday, August 2nd at 5pm Eastern time. Read below for all the details.

What is the Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper? Will there be cotton candy and rides?

The Carnival is a monthly collection of the best blog posts about notebooks, journals, pens, pencils, paper products and other related topics, appearing at a different blog the first Tuesday of every month. Any unhealthy foods and unnatural G-force levels will be purely virtual.

How can I get one of my posts into the Carnival? How are the posts selected?

Any blogger can submit a post by filling out a simple form at this link. The carnival host will then be responsible for selecting submissions to be included at his or her discretion. One post per submitting blog per carnival. Spam, off-topic posts and inappropriate material will be rejected.

What is the best kind of post to submit?

Please submit a recent post (within the past week or two). Posts should be your own original content. The most interesting posts reflect the point of view of the writer, such as a review of a pen, or an explanation of your paper-based organization system, or examples of artwork from your sketchbook with some commentary. Photos of gorgeous notebooks and pens are always a big plus!

Are there any other requirements for bloggers submitting posts?

Bloggers whose posts are selected should write a post linking back to that edition of the carnival after it is published, as well as the carnival home page. Tweets and Facebook updates are also appreciated. Toot your own horn a bit!

How can I host a future edition of the carnival?

Contact the organizer to apply. Hosts are expected to weed out spam and post the carnival by 9am the first Tuesday of the month in order to ensure maximum exposure for all participants. It’s also preferred that the host select a few “editor’s choice” posts to highlight. The host should help publicize the carnival by posting, tweeting, etc. The organizer reserves the right to limit hosting to established, active, on-topic blogs.

What is the point of all this? Why should I want to participate?

If you like reading about notebooks, pens, etc., the carnival is a great way to discover new bloggers and make sure you haven’t missed some of the best recent posts from blogs you may already know.
If you are a blogger who writes about notebooks and pens, either as a main topic or just occasionally in relation to other topics such as writing, organization, art, creativity, etc, then the carnival is a chance to showcase your work, find new readers, and gain more incoming links to your blog.
We hope all notebook, pen and pencil fans will find this a fun way to learn more about and interact with a large and growing community of like-minded souls! Please pass the word!--

www.notebookstories.com
Follow me on Twitter: @notebookstories

On over-engineered solutions

On a recent trip, I had way too much time on my hands and was ambling around the usual overpriced sh

More Round Stics

And as summer progresses, I keep on getting more pens in my collection, and as my travel and hotel stays continues, I've been able to get more Round Stic Pens.

It turns out that some Marriott brands are renovating themselves, and with the renovations, comes an increased ecology thing, and more things are made from recycled materials, pens included.

They moved away from the traditional white barrels and solid color caps, so the new Marriott pens have a translucent barrel with a dark translucent red caps (please note that it's not completely "clear" like the Diamante or Crystal pens), and the Courtyard by Marriott are also translucent, but the caps are translucent green or orange. And on the barrel they have a small recycle sign and say 74%. These are the new Bic Ecolutions pens, which are already available for the consumer market.

These are actually really cool, and here are the pics

My room had 2 green ones, the 2 orange ones were stolen from my parents' room. The design of the notepads has also changed.

And here you can see the all of them. The Courtyard logo was dropped from the new pens, and you can see the old one there. The old design has been around for at least 10 years.

Staedtler Liquid Point 7: A Second Look

If you live long enough sooner or later you will have to eat the most distasteful of meals, Crow, followed by a generous helping of Humble Pie for desert. Such is the case with me and the Staedtler Liquid point 7 rollerball pens. Some months ago I had written about the Liquid Point 7 where I had given it a mediocre review. It was one of my earlier reviews and in my defense I can say that I was honestly looking for a 0.3 mm pen when I came across the Liquid Point 7 at my local Staples. What follows is a more in depth, more objective review of the Staedtler Liquid Point 7 Liquid Ink Pen, aka a Rollerball.

From the Staedtler website:

STAEDTLER® liquid point 7
Rollerball
* Rollerball with visible ink level
* High-tech needle tip for effortless writing
* Suitable for carbon copies
* Ink feed system
* With metal clip
* PP barrel guarantees long service life
* 4 colours
* Line width approx. 0.30 mm

Perfect writing performance

The liquid point's high-tech needle point guarantees high performance and fluent writing.
Even when under pressure, the line width remains constant, keeping lettering clear and legible.
In addition, the tip is ideal for use on carbon paper.

Ink feed system

The ingenious ink feed system ensures that the ink flow remains constant from the first right down to the last drop.
This ink feed system impresses the user with a consistent, precise, pleasant and smooth writing experience.

Steadtler claims that the Liquid Point 7 produces a 0.3 mm line. And in deed it does produce a 0.3 mm wide line as measured by my Peak 10x Scale Lupe with a metric reticle. When I first came across the Liquid Point 7 rollerball I was expecting a 0.3 mm ball in the tip of the pen which would have produced a sub 0.3 mm line. That was my mistake and the main cause for the lackluster initial review.

The Liquid Point 7 stats: The pen weighs 9.7 grams. It is 137.5 mm long, capped.It is 151.1 mm long posted. It is 128.2 mm unposted. It is 9.3 mm in diameter in the body. It's balance point from the tip of the pen is 76.8 mm, posted and 69.9 mm unposted, making it a little bottom heavy either way. The look is attractive being 3 shades of metallic grey (Silver) with the ink color being reflected in a colored insert on, or rather in the top of the pen under the pocket clip which starts in the back of the pen and curves over the top then back earthward in order to form the pocket clip, which is chromed steel with the Staedtler logo embossed on the end. The cap is a dark metallic gray, the body a more silvery metallic grey studded evenly with rows of grey dots. There is a silver band around the body just under the cap with the words "MADE IN GERMANY" in grey letters. Opposite each other are 2 windows which allow you to see the ink supply. On one window the words "STAEDTLER" Liquid Point 7 in silver, which is a nice contrast to the darkness of the window. On the opposite side are 5 ink level indicators. The window is actually useful as one can actually see the ink supply. A color coded button seals the back of the pen.

The Liquid Point 7 is a needle point pen. This means it can easily be used with drawing or drafting equipment such as triangles and templates.

The grip is made from polypropylene and is clear. The grip itself is smooth but surprisingly affords the user an excellent gripping surface. It also allows the user to see the ink feed system, which unlike many of it's type does not fill with ink. This gives the Liquid Point 7 a cleaner, fresher look than other pens of it's type.

The Liquid point 7 is a smooth writing pen due in part because it's a liquid ink pen and in part because it's a 0.7 mm ball sized pen. The ink flows smoothly and the colors are bold, not washed out. I ran my usual tests, a writing test,a bleed through test, a smudge proof test and a waterproof test. The writing test consisted of writing a single like of text to check for smoothness and blobs of ink. The Liquid Point 7 passed this test with great marks. The bleed through test consists of me holding the tip of the pen to the paper for 10 seconds using normal writing pressure. All four pens bled through at least to the second page, a couple bled through 3 sheets and one bled through to the 4th page. The smudge test was where I wrote a short line of a word or two and quickly ran a finger across the ink in an effort to get it ti smudge. The Liquid Point 7 is difficult to smudge. The waterproof test consisted of 4 lines, one from each color, sprayed with tap water from a small spray bottle then left to dry. The ink ran and feathered.

Despite the feathering and bleed through the Liquid Point 7's wrote smoothly and without blotching. The slender bodies are not too slender for someone with larger hands! I personally find them easy to hold and control. I like the clear grip which I find easy to hold onto despite the smoothness of the grips. The pens make nice carry pens for general purpose use such as making notes and writing letters and such.

All in all a second look at the Staedtler Liquid Point 7 Liquid ink Pens proved enlightening. They are an elegant looking, easily controlled, smooth writing rollerball available in four colors, Black, Red, Green and Blue.

Bottom line, if you like smooth writing rollerballs in bright, solid colors that are elegant to look at, easy to handle, and write well then pick up a four pack of Staedtler Liquid point 7 Liquid Ink Pens today!

Many thanks to the STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG, Customer Service Department for the consideration of the pens reviewed in this review.

I am currently journalling in this moleskin notebook, which I bought, overpriced I'm sure, at the Oakland airport when I realized I had a long flight delay and had no notebook. Hence, I paid $18.95 for this beauty, but to be honest, it really was worth it. Here's what I love about it:

1) The lines - It's narrow rule, which makes my handwriting look much neater. Also, there are lines on both sides of the page. I used to have a journal that had lines only on the right side of the page, which really confused me. I wanted to do clever things like make collages on the blank side, but I didn't feel like i was creative enough. So, I like lines on both sides of the page. Nice narrow lines, so I can fit in between them and look nice and neat and orderly. I like orderly.

2) It has a nice red ribbon for a page marker, which my cats love to eat, and it's withstood the abuse pretty well so far. It also has a red elastic thingy that holds it all together. Which I also love.

3) The binding is really quality. It's all sewn together, and sometimes in sewn notebooks pages start to tear out and thread starts to come loose. But not in this one. Which is why it cost $18.95 at the airport, I guess.

4) It has an expanding pocket in the back, so I can keep sentimental things from the time I'm journaling and they won't fall out. Like ticket stubs.

There's a lovely description and history of the moleskine notebooks on wikipedia. The sentence that particularly stuck out at me was:

Although Moleskine srl claims their notebook has been used by well-known artists and writers, such as Picasso, Matisse, Kurakin andHemingway, the brand Moleskine was officially registered only in 1996. Francesco Franceschi, head of Modo & Modo's marketing department, was quoted as saying, "It's an exaggeration. It's marketing, not science. It's not the absolute truth.

Those darn marketers!

Anyway, I'm quite happily writing in my marketed Moleskine with a uniball Signo .07mm gel pen with a beloved needle point. Oh, how I do love my needle points. The thing I love about this pen, though, is how the ink flows. Sometimes needle points don't allow the amount of ink I want to come through. This one is great, though.

The Pen Blog is written by Heather Teysko, who is also the founder of NomadChick.com and loves to travel and write, especially at the same time.

Parker Newhaven closure

This has been expected for a good long time, with great fear and trepidation. The property has become very valuable, and Parker's current corporate masters don't care a whit about tradition.Plans to close the Parker Pen factory in East Sussex, resulting in the loss of up to 180 jobs, have been revealed.Newell Rubbermaid said it had started a consultation on the closure of the site in Newhaven

Where were YOU….

….Forty years ago, tomorrow??? Do you remember? It’s one of the seminal ones, folks. Forty years ago

Summer plans

In years past, summer has been a slow time. This year has been different -- partly because of kids getting older, and ever more time devoted to their activities, but also because of our new/old plastics venture, American Art Plastics. We aren't fully up and running yet; we have managed to get some fantastic celluloid rod and slab stock made to our specs, however, and are looking forward to

Bic Round Stic Medium USA

So a month after my last post, I'm back online. School is over and I'm already on my way home (should go to bed soon, since I'll be waking up in less than 5 hours. This is partially the reason of my post.

If you have followed my blog for a while you might think I just went crazy or something. Yes, I'm well known to my family and friends to be quite eccentric with pens, yes, I have a Pilot G2 Mont Blanc Edition, yes, I order 0.38 pens from JetPens, yes, I spent 15 minutes at a drugstore looking for more 0.05mm Uni Pin pens, and many more yeses, but, everything started with hotel pens. Over the course of my almost 19 years of existence I have stayed in a bunch of hotels, from a motel that didn't even have hot water to Fiesta Americana and Intercontinental luxury hotels, and if possible, I've kept the pens and the keycards (plus my dad's and aunt's travels have brought me many more).

The reality is that a decent number of hotels put a couple of pens in your room. At some point my collection had more than 100 hotel pens that spanned the US, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and Spain. And my collection is still quite big, and dominated by the Bic Round Stic Medium.

The Round Stic Medium (RSM) is a pen that's not nearly as famous as the famous "Crystal", in fact, it's almost impossible to get it in some countries, but my collection is quite big.

I must say that the RSM is a great pen, if you consider that you can buy a 12 pack of them for a few bucks, yeah, some people use G-2s, 207s, etc, but they keep a jar of RSMs because people rarely return G-2s. The feel of them is way better than that of the Crystal, and the writing is not bad, again, I've used cheap pens for a long time, and the RSM is just great.

While looking for hotels near the Phoenix airport I saw an email from Continental Airlines with some kind of special offer when staying at Hyatt Place hotels. I looked and found one of these hotels close to the airport and for a decent price.

After checking in a few hours ago I noticed that the pens came in several colors, and when I went down to the front desk to arrange tomorrow's transportation I asked them about the number of colors, to which they just looked at each other and said hmmm 5, 6 or so, and asked me if I wanted one of each color (a big yes) and one of the guys went somewhere and came back with 6 pens, and the other one had already given me like 4. Being happier than a 5 year old who just got the newest action toy I had to post this.

And here are the pictures. These clear barrels are awesome, and not easily found (one of my friends thought I was tricking him when I offered him a brand new Pilot G-2 in exchange for his clear barreled RSM that he got at a Radisson).

The write stuff

Anyone remember the Space Pen? The astronauts first used them in the Apollo missions (in fact, the p

The Pilot Precise V7 RT
I just finished this pen and I loved it. Here's what I like -
1) The needle point (in case you can't tell, I'm a big fan of needle points)
2) The cushion
3) That the ink actually comes out a little bit uneven. I liked that.
4) The colors are really bright.

The one thing I didn't like about it... it took forever to die. Seriously. I thought it was never going to end. And I can't just throw away a pencil if it still has some ink in it. So I just kept dragging it around all week, convinced it was on its last page, and it would last another five pages. Seriously - it did my head in.

I do really love pilot pens, though...

The Pen Blog is written by Heather Teysko, who is also the founder of NomadChick.com and loves to travel and write, especially at the same time.

Bic Triumph 537R

So a couple of months back I went to Staples looking for nothing in specific and found some somewhat expensive Bic pens. I decided to think about them and come back later, mostly because of previous dissapointment with Bic pens (including the Z4 leak back in 7th grade). I grabbed a 4 pack a few days later and tried it out.

This is one of the few refillable Bic pens (probably the only one unless you consider the 5 cents a piece stic pens, which are indeed refillable, but refills aren't sold -they must be sourced from another pen :|) and after trying it out I decided that it wasn't bad after all. It doesn't have the nice feel of Pilot or Uniball pens, but it doesn't feel like a Bic either.

Some people complain of ink bleeding, I was using them on regular bond paper (20lb 92 brightness, 30% recycled, Staples brand) and didn't notice anything bad, but if you are using 20lb notepads things might be different.

I still have to try the 730R ones, but that will be later, once I throw away some 3 or 4 (and an upcoming trip home means I will come back with ziploc bags full of pens)

In conclusion, not a bad pen, a departure from what we think when we hear "Bic". I'm not sure if I would buy another one though, I like more Pilots and Uniballs, so I might just go thru this 4-pack, maybe try the 730R and that will be it.

On a side note, there are many pens advertised as refillable, but aside from the Pilot G2 and Uniball Signo (regular, 7mm ones), refills are hard to come by unless you order them online, possibly in a big order (to avoid paying $2 for a refill and $7 for the shipping) and selection is sometimes limited.

Pictures will come once I find a pen (3 of them are sitting inside a box in my storage unit, the remaining one has been flying around my truck for the past week after I wrote down some coordinates while traveling on a dirt road and didn't put it back in my pocket

Happy holiday weekend!

It's Memorial Day Weekend here in the USA , so we'll be off until Tuesday. Summer is just about here, and we still have a big backlog of items to list -- so expect to see some catalog additions once we get back.

Awww shucks...

The comment someone made today about missing my blog posts made me smile, and then made me want to get off my lazy butt and tell you about this great pen I'm using right now. The Pentel Energel in violet, ,7mm needle point.

I first found these pens a few years ago when I worked in a tiny office off Third ave in New York and was the only person who seemed to enjoy getting stuff at Staples, so would always do the supply runs - the upside was that I got to get a rewards card and every six months or so they'd send me $20 gift certificates with which I would buy useless planners (I had a planner addiction for a while) and Pentel Energel pens. I kind of forgot about these beauties for a while, until I got this package of purple pens. I like purple pens. I mean, who doesn't? Why write with black when you can just as easily write with purple, right?

So anyway, I know it's probably cheating on my true love (Pilot) to wax poetic about Pentel, but these things just really make taking notes, journalling, and writing silly post-it-note lists and reminders to my hubby so pleasurable. The ink is sublime. And I don't use the word sublime very much. It's a really vibrant violet - but not all over-the-top in-your-face violet. A subtley vibrant. Is that possible? Somehow they make it so.

And the feel. The feel in my hands is exquisite. It fits my hands just perfectly. And the needle tip makes my handwriting look readable. So yeah, I'm a fan. Oh, and another note - I love the purple cushion, blue barrel and silver accents. It's like all my favorite stuff at once. If only I could get it to dispense a calorie-free chocolate.
----
I read the comment about the pen giveaway, and I'm thinking something up! I'll post about it (and sooner than a month, I promise) as soon as I figure it out. Great idea---thanks for the suggestion.
---
In other news, I'm STILL using the same journal I've been on since January, and it's driving me crazy, so that I don't want to journal, and thus the journal never gets filled up, and it's just a self-fulfilling ring of A.D.D.ness. I hate it when I fall in love with really big notebooks that just last too long.

That reminds me of this girl I knew in high school, who was dramatic and artsy, and spritely and loved by everyone, myself included. She was two years older than me, but I was always in school plays with her, and I remember sitting on the stage after a rehearsal once, getting ready to leave for the night, looking at her, like, totally cool keyring (it was loaded with ironic keychain thingys like those trolls with the crazy hair, and framed ticket stubs from Violent Femmes concerts) with all kinds of awesome keys for things like cars, which I didn't have yet. But she also had this keyring sitting on top of a Mead Grad notebook, college rule. It was just messy and beat-up enough to know that she used it - the proper amount of beating up, as far as I'm concerned - but wasn't all ratty and destroyed yet. On the back cover she had lyrics from Pixies songs written down next to homework assignments, all in pencil, and slightly smudgey. I so much wanted to be like her that I ran out to CVS (well, I asked my dad to drive me) and bought me a Mead Grad notebook and wrote down poetic Paul Simon lyrics in the covers (I didn't like the Pixies much) and proudly carried it around to play rehearsal where I promptly spilled a can of coke all over it. This was an early lesson in not copying other spritely juniors, and I went back to my looseleaf system, which was protected by a binder, thus usually avoiding coke mishaps.

I really need to stop using the journal I'm on right now. It makes me think of my mead grad notebooks, and that just upsets me.

Anyway, that's my stationary update. I promise I'll think up a decluttering pen giveaway, and not be so distant again...

The Pen Blog is written by Heather Teysko, who is also the founder of NomadChick.com and loves to travel and write, especially at the same time.

Pilot Hi-Tec-C Material Grip Gel Ink Pens

I had this pen come in the big batch I got from JetPens a little while ago (and I know, I stink at regular blogging...). I have started using it, and have to say, I'm really bummed that they appear to be sold out now because they're GREAT! They are a little bit skinny, but not enough to make me not like them, and the writing is amazingly smooth. The tip is just scratchy enough to feel textur-y, but not enough to scratch the paper. It has a fine point, and makes my handwriting really neat and clean. So I'm totally loving on this pen right now.

I'm in a bit of a decluttering mode and am planning a big yard sale in a few weeks. I'm thinking about getting rid of some of my pens. On one hand this seems crazy to me. But on the other hand, the sheer amount of pens I have is slightly overwhelming, and I feel like I'd write more if I got rid of all the ones I am never going to use, and just kept half of the ones I had. I'm thinking about it. Will see what happens...

In other news, has anyone checked out the stationary section of Target lately? Man, they are really rocking. They have a bunch of new notebooks, especially, that are really boutique-y and fun. I love that I can get great stationary and cat food at the same place.

The Pen Blog is written by Heather Teysko, who is also the founder of NomadChick.com and loves to travel and write, especially at the same time.

Happy Earth Day 2009

Happy Earth Day to Everyone... I wanted to take a moment to say Happy Earth Day to all of our family, friends and all passersby here at the RICHARDink.com blog. As a lifelong environmentalist and dedicated outdoorsman, I always have...

Smart Pen: Livescribe Pulse™ Smartpen

The Livescribe Pulse™ SmartPen records and links audio to what you write, ultimately bridging the gap between analog and digital note taking -- and a whole lot more. Wow. There is so much I'd like to say about the Livescribe...

Libelle Announces New Lines of Pens: New Nature Series and Santa Croce Series Pens

New Fountain Pens, Rollerball Pens and Ballpoint Pens from Libelle! Libelle is introducing 2 new pen lines at a great price - Only $75 to $90 Bucks. ►This first collection is built on the body of Libelle's most successful line,...

Mont Blanc Fine Pens

Mont Blanc pens are highly collectible and many of their antique classic series have proven to be more then worthy investments to make the collectors drooling.

Parker Duofold Fountain Pen with Free Shipping

Parker Duofold Fountain Pen (Black) with Free Shipping! A recreation of the 1920's Duofold, the popular pen that started the Parker phenomenon. Every writing mode in this collection employs technology and engineering to satisfy the highest standard for comfort, reliability...

Cross: Fountain Pen Nib Replacements -- Cross Century II Nibs

Cross Solid Gold Fountain Pen Nib Replacements 18k & 23K Gold Replacement Nibs plated in Gold and Rhodium for A.T. Cross Century II Fountain Pens Choose your width from Extra Fine, Fine, Medium and Broad ►Available at A.T. Cross from...

Website paid for for another year - Thanks Bob

Newly redesigned PCA website up and running!

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rssHugger is a service with manual verification and approval. This means that spammers and shady marketers are kept out.

How to write with a Mont Blanc fountain pen

Generally, the correct way to write with a fountain pen is with the metal part of the nib up.

Mont Blanc - 100 Years of Soulmaking

Although styles have changed over the years, the basic shape of the first Meisterstücks have remained true to form. You can still find the original shapes on sale at the many boutiques around the world.

How to spot a fake Mont Blanc fountain pen when shopping on eBay auction

How to detect a fraudulent seller once you're obsessed with the idea of buying a Mont Blanc pen via ebay?

Chilton Golden Quill sold at auction in Columbus

Fall meeting notification sent

Philadelphia Pen Collectors Group on Facebook!