Pen Vibe

We recently posted about teachers using red ink at school, and that put me in mind of another classic color debate: Blue or black ink?

There are all sorts of opinions on this and, for the most part, it just comes down to preference. That said, there are some very valid reasons for choosing one or the other, particularly in certain circumstances.

I’ll get into details below, but here’s what I generally recommend:

• Black ink for filling out official records.
• Blue for business signatures and most others.
• Black for memos and work correspondence.
• Blue (or red) for notes and most learning purposes.
• Blue for credit card applications.
• Blue (or another color) for creative purposes.

 

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Lito at Palimpsest shares a Kate Chopin letter griping about the tiny invisible hairs on her pen.

The Passionate Penman block-prints his respect for the Tombow Mono 100.

Ian at Pens! Paper! Pencils! splashes through some J. Herbin 1670 Stormy Grey fountain pen ink.

Patrick at The Cramped gets to the point with the new Field Notes Planner.

Ray at Fountain Pen Quest experiences disappointment with Toucan Bright Green ink.

Maybelline at On Fountain Pens finishes delving into the meaning of Iroshizuku fountain pen inks.

Azizah at Gourmet Pens feels no intensity from Diamine Red Lustre fountain pen ink.

George at My Supply Room finds his match with the Retro 51 cat fountain pen.

Matthias at Bleistift appeals to his Swedish readers to identify a mystery pencil from television.

Tina at Fueled by Clouds & Coffee learns new appreciation for her drawing pens.

Pilot Pen continues its campaign to make pens sexy by returning to New York Fashion Week with gift bags and a dress festooned with pens, reports World Branding Forum.

Smile Politely introduces Chicago-area artist Katie Funk, who designs unusual mandalas, including one made up of mostly nudes, for her coloring books.

Moleskine fanboys/girls might be excited by the new Livescribe special edition that includes a Moleskine-branded Livescribe pen, an Evernote premium subscription, a Moleskine notebook and a few other goodies, according to The Next Web.

A college student offers some tips for personalizing notebooks – like how to use Scotch tape to make your notebook cover a dry-erase board – in the Daily Star of Bangladesh.

In the most unsurprising news story ever, the Telegraph reports that kids who don’t write letters also don’t think letter-writing is fashionable.

The Korea Herald tells the story of an artist whose installation art about handwriting consists of having people walk into an isolated room and transcribe literary works with a pencil.

Good news from the Atlantic: Artist Jason Polan’s project to draw Every Person in New York has been turned into a book with 30,000 of his drawings. (In 2011, Jason told us about the pens he uses.)

Create great nail art on the cheap with Pilot Choose gel pens, according to BlogHer.

The brilliant thing about pens is that, while they’re capable of producing great art, they also provide one of our simplest, most effective means of communication, aside from speech.

That’s why we love to hear from  people who put their pens to that most fundamental task, connecting people through the handwritten word. Especially when they’re helping to pass that skill on to the next generation.

Today, we introduce you to Ruth Stephens, an occupational therapist and pen enthusiast in West Sussex.

Please tell us a little about you.

I am a mum of 2, who loves baking, coffee and making a difference in children’s lives

Tell us a little about your work.

I work in private practice assessing and providing therapy to children of all ages who have coordination and sensory issues. My areas of expertise are working with children who have handwriting difficulties and children who are adopted (both very different I know). My working life never ever has a dull day!

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Halloween’s always a load of fun and a great excuse to play dress-up, especially if you’re going to a costume party.

So why not take the opportunity to flaunt your stationery geekery?

There are any number of costumes you can buy or make that will show off your favorite pens, pencils, and paper. We’ll show what a few people have done in years past, then we’ll toss out a couple of ideas of our own.

Now fire up your imaginations and let these costumes inspire you.

UK make-up artist Jade Brady put together this simple, but terrifying costumer of the old pencil-up-the-nose joke gone wrong. See more of her SFX work at her blog.

 

 

Kid’s felt Crayola costume going for £10 on eBay. There are other colors, too, including blue and green. [Read more…]