Archive for January, 2012

Guest post: Vintage pens

Posted January 30, 2012 by
in Pens, Paper & People, Product Reviews | Add your comment »

Guest blogger Kate Marshall of K’s Notebook went to the Philadelphia Pen Show last weekend and came back with a gorgeous antique Waterman. If you’re not jealous after reading her description, check out these photos on Flickr.

So it’s probably been well established that I like fountain pens. Me + fountain pens = TRU LUV 4 EVAH!

I’ve almost always stuck to modern-day pens until last week at the 2012 Philadelphia Pen Show, when I stumbled across a Waterman pen so old that it was probably around when Edward Cullen was still a human. I’m not quite sure what made me stop and notice this relic of the Woodrow Wilson era — was it the oxidation of the black hard rubber? The Waterman No. 2 nib with its jaunty, heart-shaped breather hole? The clear and crisp imprint stamped in the middle of the pen’s chasing? The ringtop cap, which may or may not be original to the pen? Who knows, but at the end of the day, I came away with a black hard rubber Waterman No. 12 PSF pen in reasonably good condition, and my contemporary pens all felt slightly jealous that they were still 60-odd years away from collecting Social Security benefits.

After doing some quick research on sites like Fountain Pen Network and Richard Binder’s website, I learned that my 12 PSF was the precursor to Waterman’s famed Ideal No. 52 fountain pen (still in high demand on the vintage pen market). The thing to remember about flex nibs is, they aren’t magic like unicorn horns. They won’t automatically turn one into a professional calligrapher any more than a new…scrub brush…will turn a someone into a master…scullery maid…whatever, there are a lot of analogies that could work here. But sometimes, a nice flex nib can add a certain “je ne sais quoi” to a person’s handwriting, because the nib responds to changes in writing pressure. Plus, the idea of writing with a 97-year old pen is pretty cool. My great-grandparents (or maybe even my grandparents) could have used a Waterman No. 12 back in the day. What sort of adventures did this pen’s previous owners get into during the past nine decades? How did the pen finally wind up among Susan Wirth’s wares at the show? Most importantly, what might the future hold for it?

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Friday review roundup

Posted January 27, 2012 by
in Product Reviews | 3 comments »

Happy Friday, everyone! What better way to kick off a winter weekend than with some constructive criticism of Habana notebooks:

  • Azizah at Gourmet Pens compares the new, ivory-paged Habana to its old white-paper counterpart. The verdict: more showthrough on the new Habana with fountain pens, and “even though the ivory paper is satiny smooth, the white paper is so smooth that it’s practically glossy. It gives start contrast to any color of ink and makes them look outstanding. I miss that.”

  • Jake Seliger tackles the small Habana’s big problem at The Story’s Story: “it’s not quite a pocket notebook. It’s also not quite a full-sized notebook, either, at 4″ x 6″, it’s uncomfortably in between, too large to carry around and too small for classrooms.”

I know Azizah’s not alone in her preference for the old, white paper. Do you agree with Jake that the small Habanas are awkwardly sized?

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LiveScribe your planners and notebooks

Posted January 26, 2012 by
in Planning Tips | 8 comments »

I first encountered Livescribe — the nifty digital pen-recorder that, via a special sort of paper, enables you to take notes and record things at the same time, then replay certain snippets by tapping on specific words — a few years ago. (If you used it during class and tapped your “test Friday” note, for example, you’d skip straight to the part where your professor announced there’d be a test on Friday covering such-and-such topics.)

A friend who’s a grad student and gadget geek had an early version; as a freelance writer, I was intrigued. There are few things more tedious than transcription, and you don’t always need to transcribe every part of an interview — just the parts that are relevant to your subject. However, I conduct a lot of my interviews on the phone, and the idea of having to do them on speakerphone just so I could use Livescribe didn’t seem terrifically practical. And though I don’t recall LiveScribe paper being of poor quality, the pen-and-paper experience is important to me, and I like being able to choose which tools I use for a particular project.

But there are plenty of others, I’m sure, who’ve come to use and love Livescribe. One of our survey respondents even suggested we release a planner format that’s compatible with Livescribe and Anoto (a similar technology I’ve not seen in person).

With the caveat that I have no idea how easy or difficult this would be, I’m curious to know if you agree. Do you use Livescribe? Would you like a Quo Vadis planner or notebook that’s compatible with it?

Oh, and speaking of our planner survey… if you haven’t already taken it, we’d love to get your opinion! It’ll be online here through the end of the month.

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The propeller pen

Posted January 25, 2012 by
in Pens, Paper & People | Add your comment »

Here’s another item to add to the list of things I don’t need, but would love to have nonetheless: the propeller pen. This refillable ball-point pen balances on a stand when not in use, and you can spin it, too! I’m not a doodler by nature, so this seems like the perfect thing to fidget with during phone calls.

The downside: according to a reviewer, the refills aren’t easy to purchase.

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Happy handwriting day!

Posted January 23, 2012 by
in Announcements, Cabinet of Curiosities, Pens, Paper & People | Add your comment »

Ok, so it isn’t a real holiday. But I still think handwriting is an important cause to promote in the age of electronics… according to the Writing Instrument Manufacturer’s Association (WIMA), which sponsors it, “National Handwriting Day is a chance for all of us to re-explore the purity and power of handwriting.” It falls on January 23, in conjunction with John Hancock’s birthday, because “Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and is famous for his large, bold signature.”

Interestingly, Western countries are not the only ones who struggle with this issue. According to a post on The Economist‘s language blog, computers and mobile phones have made Chinese characters much easier to read and look up, but harder to write from scratch:

In Chinese culture, good handwriting was long seen as indicative of moral fibre, knowledge of characters was synonymous with learning itself, and calligraphy was a great art. Now, the Chinese can avoid the drawbacks of the writing system while reading, but in avoiding those drawbacks, they are atrophying their ability to write their language with a pen. Writing on a computer is different – type in “wo” and Windows’s Chinese support will give you the most common character (the one that means “I”) first, along with the ability to choose many other characters pronounced “wo”. The software will usually find the most appropriate character for the context.

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Reusing old planner covers

Posted January 20, 2012 by
in Pens, Paper & People, Planning Tips | 1 comment »

A few years ago, I discovered that my old Sapa X covers fit perfectly onto the smallest size of staplebound Clairefontaine notebooks. It was a particularly handy thing to know when I switched to the Space 17, and it got me wondering about other planner/notebook cover combinations.

Of course, it then took me a while to track down the covers and notebooks I needed to experiment with, and even longer to get off my duff and write up the results. Nonetheless! Here are the combinations that work:

  • Sapa X + small (3.5 x 5.5) staplebound Clairefontaine, pictured here

  • Visual + medium (6.5 x 8.25) staplebound Clairefontaine, pictured above and below

  • Visual + medium (6 x 8.25) clothbound Clairefontaine, which fits quite similarly to the previous combo, so I didn’t photograph it

  • Prenote + large (8.25 x 11.75) clothbound Clairefontaine, pictured below

  • Notor or Textagenda + Exacompta Forum journal, pictured below

And here are some more pictures, plus the combos that didn’t work… Continue reading »

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Norwegian wood

Posted January 19, 2012 by
in Where to Go? | Add your comment »

I was sorting through old files the other day when I came across some pictures from last year’s trip to Norway. I took this shot on the beach of Moskenesøya (part of the Lofoten Islands) on an excursion to see the Refsvikhula caves; our guide said the logs had come all the way from Russia, where they slipped into the sea as they were being loaded onto commercial boats.

Of course, the Russian logging industry doesn’t have the best reputation, but I thought it was an interesting story, all the same.

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What are your resolutions for 2012?

Posted January 18, 2012 by
in Editorial, Planning Tips | 2 comments »

I rarely make specific resolutions, but this year, I’m determined to repeat one of the things I did during the week between Christmas and New Year: go through my hanging files and sort out the things I don’t need.

Too often during the year, I see something I don’t have time to deal with but don’t want to lose track of completely, so I file it away for future reference. Unsurprisingly, a lot of those things then proceed to languish for years. It wasn’t even as difficult or time-consuming as I thought to sift through them once and for all.

What are your resolutions this year?

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Letters in the mail

Posted January 13, 2012 by
in Beautiful Creations, Cabinet of Curiosities | Add your comment »

On the heels of Snail Mail My Email, Dialogus, and the many pen pal match-making sites comes a new initiative called Letters In The Mail.

Through it, people can subscribe to receive weekly letters from writers like Dave Eggers, Margaret Cho, and Jonathan Ames. (The cost is $5 a month, and each subscriber gets the same letter.)

“I got this urge to get back to sending paper letters, and I also knew a lot of authors who I knew would be really excited about it,” founder Stephen Elliott told MSNBC.

If the author decides to include his or her return address, participants are encouraged to write back.

Thanks to Cecilia for passing this on!

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Medical planning

Posted January 12, 2012 by
in Planning Tips | 5 comments »

One great idea to come out of our survey: a specialized treatment planner for people with cancer and/or other long-term illnesses.

A nice planner (NOT PINK) with large easy to read dates, days of the week like a Septanote but with Notes at the bottom and at the back. Something that feels great in the hand, inspires and doesn’t remind one of Cancer (or heart disease, etc).

A list of Doctor’s names, phone numbers, emails and addresses, as well as blank notes. Even blank notes at the end of each month would be handy… Needs a pocket in the front to hold business cards of doctors and insurance card.

What do you think? If you had (or have) to deal with a long-term illness, would you want to use a dedicated planner for it?

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