The Seventh Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

The Seventh Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

Welcome to the February 9, 2010 edition of carnival of pen, pencil and paper. My name is Melinda and I happy to be the host this month!

I would have made this entry "prettier" and added more pictures or at least something I had written, but started a new job last week, and I am tired! Apparently ordering tons of new office supplies for my office takes more energy than I thought! Or it might be the fact I am used to sleeping until noon everyday and now I have to get up at 5:30am. Either way, I apologize for the lack of pictures, now on to the Carnival! (Please note the links are there, just hover and they will appear, my settings over rode the links an my html skills are limited.)

Editor's Choices

Julie (Okami) presents a Featured Pen - Sheaffer Statesman Snorkel posted at Whatever.

Passion shares a great review about Comparing Pencil Cases posted at The Pen Archives.

Notebook Reviews

Cynthia Niklas presents a review: Pen and Paper Test in Leuchtturm's Pocket Journal with New, Ink-Proof Paper posted at Journaling Arts.

Ryan Wolf presents a comprehensive and helpful review of ecosystem notebooks posted at RE:Wolf.

Pens and Pencils

John Johnston presents a Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen Review posted at Coffee-Stained Memos.

dianeb presents a Guest Review by Jack Labusch: Jinhao Evening Stripes Fountain Pen posted at Pocket Blonde.

Alberto presents a Lyra Colorstripe Colored Pencils Review posted at Lung Sketching Scrolls.

Lito Apostolakou presents Faber Pencil and Vincent Van Gogh:The Artist and his Letters (or his Pencils) posted at Palimpsest.

Snarky's Soapbox (I think we can all relate!)

Snarky's Machine presents an Open Letter to a Pen Thief posted at Does This Pen Write?.

User's Collection

George Fox presents a great collection of Pentel Roller Ball Pens posted at My Supply Room.

Well it is time to tear down the rides at this Carnival but don’t worry, another Carnival will be heading your way next month! Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of pen, pencil and paper using the carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the blog carnival index page. The carnival is organized by Nifty at Notebook Stories, and so if you have any feedback or would like to host, please contact Nifty.

New items and DIY planner update!

So I bought some new things over the past couple of months. I have had a chance to use all of them and I will give some brief opinions, there is a lot to cover!
At the top are several Zebra Sarasa Push Clip Gel .4 gel pens. I feel like they write a little more reliably than the non push clip Zebras. If you have been disappointed in the past, give Zebra another shot with these.

The Copic AtyouSpica in lipstick is next. This has a nice glitter to it and a marker/felt tip pen feel. I plan to buy a variety of colors but will use them as craft pens versus daily writers.

The Zebra Midliner Soft Color Highlighters are great! I will probably buy every color set offered. Again, I use these as more of a craft pen than a highlighter. The colors are a nice change from the typical fluorescent colors.

The next two pens I picked up at a bookstore, a Pilot Bravo and a pen marked Liquid Stylist, but don't see a brand name. The Bravo is like a marker where as the other pen has a needle felt tip. Both write very marker-ish and bold. Especially the Bravo.

Up next is a Morning Glory Mach II. This is a great pen, I like how it writes without a lot of skipping. I won't use it every day, but I know I will seek it out when I want a bit of a purple splash.

The Sailor Recruit is a great pen. I love the nib and although the pen is narrow I don't find it uncomfortable to write with. I bet it would fit in an agenda pen loop fairly well if you are searching for a classy looking, inexpensive fountain pen.

If you are looking for a pen to clip to a notebook the Tombow OnBook pen may be a great choice for you. The pen is just a pen, I didn't buy it for the simple ballpoint, I just liked the unique design!

The next two pens I purchased at the Pendemonium store in Fort Madison, IA. The yellow is a vintage Sheaffer fountain pen and the maroon pen is a cartridge roller ball. I haven't used either one on a daily basis, but I really like the the cartridge pen. The fountain pen was my first adventure in using bottled ink and truthfully that could be a whole separate post. It is apparently rocket science because I can not make it work!

The notebook is what I am using for my journal this year. It is a Kokuyo Campus High Grade MIO Paper notebook, A5 size. The string around it is my homemade elastic band to keep it from getting completely beat up. I'm crafty.

I also picked up a couple of notebooks while looking for the perfect journal. I almost used the Oxford Block book because I liked the layout and the simplicity of it. (The picture is blurry, but it says "date" on each page.) To be honest, I hated the Whitelines book. The lines are way to wide and the paper quality was not good. I really have no use for it. I didn't even include a picture of the paper. It was a waste of money.

Now an update on my DIY planner. I changed formats! I really wanted something that would match my purse and wallet so instead of using the large piccadilly, I bought a Louis Vuitton Desk Agenda cover. It didn't come with an agenda and they were about 100$ more. I wanted to keep my DIY spirit so I bought a multiple subject, grid format, wire bound Clairefontaine. The size is about A5 and it fits perfectly in the agenda after I trimmed the covers just a bit. The paper quality works well with most of my pens, except for sharpies, and it gives me a chance to still be creative!

I printed off some 4x6 cards for monthly calendars and keep them tucked in the front.My layouts aren't quite as interesting as my old planner. I find the grid pattern kind of stifles my creativity just a little. Also, my life hasn't been all that busy, but I will share the first few weeks. I start a new (great!) job tomorrow and I expect things to get a little more interesting, however I am not sure I will use this planner for work or have a separate one. Next week I am going to try a two page per week layout.




Back of planner...

That was a lot of pen and paper info in one post! If you want to know more details about the quality of the items I have recently bought, leave me a comment!

Send your submissions!

Just a reminder, the Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper needs your submissions! The carnival homepage is at http://www.notebookstories.com/carnival-of-pen-and-paper/ if you want more info and you can find the submission page is at http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_7671.html!

Submit your entries by 5pm on February 7th, as the next Carnival will be posted on February 9th!

Journal Suggestions and the upcoming Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have been journaling for a long time. How I have journaled has changed through the years. I used to want to fill up a book completely before moving on to the next one. I went through a phase where I used large, blank cover journals and modge podged my own covers because I was tired of all the cheap ones with lame covers being sold at the bookstores. I had a few of those that turned out great but some modge podged covers were just a bad idea. After the last trip we took to Las Vegas I decided to create a cover made entirely out the of the stripper trading cards you get from the people on the street corners. Shortly after making it, I realized that I could never take such a "unique" journal out in public, rendering it useless.

My last journal was this Robert le Heros Lined Journal. After a little bit of use, I did not like this journal at all. The paper was great, but I hated the design on the cover after about two months and the feel of cover material wasn't my favorite.

I need to really like the journal I choose or I won't write in it. I have several journals with very few pages filled because I just didn't connect with the book. Sometimes it was too pretty looking and I felt like by writing in it I was ruining it. Other times I just didn't like how the paper felt, the way it opened or the width of the lines.

This year I want a journal that is more functional than previous journals. I want nice paper that responds well to fountain pens and the various .3 pens that I have. I don't really want any designs on the cover. The book must be large, pocket sized journals don't work for me, A5 is the smallest I would want. The book should be lined, but not too small or too large of width, which I guess means a little bigger than a moleskine, but not too big. It can not be spiral bound because then I am tempted to rip pages out of it later on.

I have been all over the usual pen/paper websites looking at reviews and I just can't decide! If anyone has a suggestion, I would be glad to hear it. If I buy the journal you suggest, I might even send you a pen or unused journal out of my collection!

In other news, did you see the Sixth Carnival of Pen, Pencil and Paper over at Journaling Arts? You should check it out and then make sure to catch the February edition right here at SchoolSupplyDance!

Edited 1-8:
I am still looking for journal ideas, but if anyone has specific experience with the following I would love to hear it!

-Roma Lussa Leather Journal
-Toscana Bonded Leather Wrap Journal
-Fiorentina Lined Journal Refill
-Leuchtturm Master Book Lined Journal
-Leuchtturm Desk-Sized Notebook, Black
-Canteo (I can't seem to find a US Distributor, any ideas?)

I am really interested in the Canteo and the Leuchtturm books, and I want to know if the two Leuchtturm I have listed are the same or different.