Pen Vibe

● Gizmodo reports that Star Wars fever has reached the pen world with a lightsaber fountain pen from S.T. Dupont that floats on a magnetic platform and retails for more than £16,000. Dupont also offers an X-Wing fountain pen, while Cross has its own line of Star Wars-themed writing instruments.

● The accumulation of discarded pens concerns some students in India, so they’ve collected nearly 10,000 of them to display and hopefully convince fellow students to cut back, according to The Hindu. (They’re trying to promote the use of pens made from paper, instead.)

● The Trail-Gazette profiles the owner of an unusual – and brilliant – business in a small mountain town in Colorado. It’s a combination coffee shop/stationer that sells Moleskine notebooks and Retro 51 pens, among others, along with its cups of coffee. [Read more…]

If you’ve been trying to get yourself motivated to write more letters, then February is the perfect month for you.

Two different events running this month challenge people to spend February reviving the habit of communicating the old-fashioned way, with ink and paper. One is International Correspondence Writing Month, started by fountain pen collector Eric Schneider. The other is author Mary Robinette Kowal’s Month of Letters.

Both make the same simple request: During February, write and send at least one letter, postcard, or note every day. These can be letters and postcards sent to distant pen pals, or just notes written and passed to family, friends, co-workers, or complete strangers.

There’s no right way or wrong way to do it, as long as you write them by hand (no typing at all) and send something every single day.

On the InCoWriMo site, you can add yourself to the participant map and find people who are looking for pen pals, including George Lucas and Richard Branson. Month of Letters (LetterMo) offers a forum where participants can connect with each other.

If it’s been a while and you’re a little fuzzy on the mechanics of writing a letter, Scheider and Stephen Brown have put together a helpful instructional video on how to write a letter.

Canadian pen store Wonder Pens also has put together a great list of places to find pen pals, in case you need someone to correspond with.

Of course, you don’t have to write letters to faraway people. Consider spending the month leaving notes for people you know…and people you don’t.

Write a note to your spouse and leave it in a favorite coffee cup. Write one to a co-worker you admire and leave it on their desk. Write another to that neighbor you never speak to, but should, and tape it to the front door.

You can even write notes to people who annoy you.

This is your chance to say those things that always seem to slip by the wayside. All you have to do is pick up your pen.

Pao at The Serial Doodler searches for feathering in Smells Like Sunday notebooks.

Matthias at Bleistift stages a dance-off between the Mitsubishi 7700 and the Staedtler Noris colour.

Joanna at My Precious Krafts gives high marks to the Studio Oh! Deconstructed Notebook.

Pete at Pete Denison tries to get comfortable with the Pilot Decimo capless fountain pen.

Brian at OfficeSupplyGeek just can’t join up with US Military Memo Books.

The Gadgeteer wishes for more choices in the First Draft Co. notebook.

Margana at Inkophile experiments with the Speedball Elegant Writer.

Amanda at Paper Pens Ink unfolds her new traveller’s notebook.

Azizah at Gourmet Pens deems the Lamy Pico ballpoint pen useful.

George at My Supply Room scores with the Levenger L-Tech 3.0 rollerball pen.

● Lamy’s introduced a new high-end pen range – imporium – and the Naples Daily News highlights a Florida stationer that is one of only 12 in the US to carry the pens.

● BlogHer joins the adult coloring craze with a few useful tips on getting into the habit, including one common-sense bit of advice that works: Keep your coloring book where you can see it and be reminded to use it.

● ITV reports on a London artist who is collecting articles of clothing and stories about the owners for an installation project that mixes handwriting and hand-stitching. When finished, the Stitch Lives of London will feature 215 garments with the owners’ handwritten stories stitched into them. [Read more…]