When I write personal correspondence, I tend to write with either brown or blue ink on ivory or cream paper. Like I have said before, I like to color-match pens to inks, not least because it helps me pick the right color pen and ink on sight. I have blue pens with nibs I love, …
Continue reading Sailor Pro Gear Slim (Sapporo) Special Edition Earth
If you're one of those people that looks for stationery or nice pens on the interwebs, then you have probably found it difficult to avoid reading about the Traveler's Notebook (from The Traveler's Notebook Company in Japan, formerly Midori). They're written about on almost every pen and stationery site you may stumble across, and—I should …
Continue reading The Traveler’s Notebook—With A Leather Thong
Thank you to Wonder Pens of Toronto for a quick and efficient delivery yet again. I just can't fault these guys, and my collection of Thank You postcards from Liz is growing by the week. So what was in the parcel? If you've already seen that I have a new toy, then you'll know it was …
There comes a point when pocket-sized, and A5 notebooks just don't cut the mustard (note for North American peoples, this means they're just not up to the job; and no, I have no idea whatsoever why that should have anything to do with mustard). Enter, the Life Japanese Stationery Company's Noble Report A4 Writing Tablet. One …
The Uni Kuru Toga is an extremely popular mechanical pencil for a reason; more than one actually. It has a solid plastic, clear barrel, with a comfortable ridged grip. The clip is springy, but firm enough to hold the lightweight body of the pencil. And the whole product feels well-made, and well-designed... for the most …
The Clairefontaine Age-Bag Tan journal... has about the worst name for a notebook/journal I've come across to date. I'm sure their marketing department has a great reason, something to do with retro aesthetics and so on... blah, blah, blah. What would have been wrong with calling it a tan notebook? This is obviously why I …
The Life Japanese Stationery brand of handmade notebooks, writing paper, and other products have become a firm favorite of mine over the last couple of years. I regularly pick up products from my two favorite Toronto stationers, the terrific Take Note (though not so much for buying online), and the all-round amazing Wonder Pens. Both stock the …
I have to admit to being purely superficial in my attraction to this pencil. I was browsing the amply-stocked shelves of the Take Note stationery store in Toronto, when the glossy, mid-dark, of the Faber-Castell TK Fine Vario L mechanical pencil, and its shiny silver grip and clip, sparkled into the corner of my vision. …
Continue reading Faber-Castell TK Fine Vario L Mechanical Pencil
If you begin to read fountain pen reviews, and collector's sites, you'll soon see a fair bit about starter or beginner pens, as if they were some sort of gateway drug to the harder, and more expensive, Montblanc or Nakaya. And who am I to judge the analogy? It may well ring true for a lot …
Continue reading The Platinum Balance: This is a REAL Starter Pen
It occurred to me, after reading a bit more, and enjoying the pens in—what I now probably have to call—my collection, that I could probably enjoy pens that cost less than $250 each. You could be forgiven for thinking that the thought was a bit late in coming to me, but I was never a very …
Continue reading Platinum Plaisir, Medium Steel Nib, in Gun-Metal
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