Pen Vibe

● 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…]

Margana at Inkophile takes on cheap paper with Noodler’s Black fountain pen ink.

Matthias at Bleistift encounters the Deli No. 7083 pencil in Shanghai.

Amanda at Paper Pens Ink gets skeptical about left-handers and smeared ink.

Joanna at My Precious Krafts sticks to her Daiso Kraft Scrapbook.

Cody at The Pen Haul weighs the Kaweco Sport fountain pen and finds it a little light.

The Unroyal Warrant inks up a vintage Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point fountain pen.

Brian at OfficeSupplyGeek makes friends with the Field Notes 56 Week Planner.

David at Too Many Inks shows off the Pelikan M320 Ruby Red.

Ray at Fountain Pen Quest changes inks in the Visconti Homo Sapien Bronze Age fountain pen.

Rhonda at the Blog of Rhonda Eudaly accidentally tries out the Uniball Signo Broad gel pen.

Femi Martin is a storyteller.

She’s created fiction inspired by Charles Dickens novels, shared her struggles with illness in the Achalasia Diaries on BBC 4, and captivated UK festival audiences with performances of her short stories about love, relationships, and stolen chocolate bars.

Her stories always start at the point of a pen, and Femi was kind enough recently to share with us how writing by hand guides her creative process.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I write fiction but am an avid reader of non-fiction. I am particularly interested in the body, especially the brain. As I am prone to over-thinking I have to carve time out of my day for switching off. I do this by either going to the gym, meditating, or watching reality TV. My favourite reality show is Project Runway but I mostly watch anything to do with love and relationships. Oh, and Judge Judy, of course. [Read more…]

Art comes in all forms.

It can be a pen-and-ink drawing. Or a watercolor painting. Or a delicate pencil sketch.

Or sometimes, it can be a simple chalkboard menu written in a flowing hand.

Meet Amanda Miller, known as the Chalkboard Lady to her clients.

Please tell me a little about you.

I produce chalkboard art and wall-art for businesses and homes across Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. My clients range from major pub chains to small independent shops and cafes. I trained as a ticket writer in the artroom of a supermarket chain producing all point-of-sale by hand. This eventually lead to me writing chalkboards. I’ve been doing so for 18 years now! Wall-art is very popular at the moment and I do quite a lot of that from family trees to favourite quotes, all written freehand.

[Read more…]