1) What would your recommend for a short point pencil sharpener? Think the stubby point on a golf pencil. My husband is obsessed with short point pencils, but his current method of using a wider sharpener to make a short point isn’t always ideal.

There are three readily available adjustable pocket sharpeners: The Kutsuwa Stad T’Gaal ($6), the Sonic Rachetto Capsule ($5.50) and the Dux Adjustable ($22 with leather case). Each has a dial that will allow you to adjust the pointiness of the graphite tip.

If you are looking for a manual crank sharpener, I can’t recommend the Dahle 133 (approx. $20) highly enough. The Dahle will also adjust the point by rotating the dial on the crank handle.

2) Can you recommend a leather traveler’s style cover (with the elastic loops to insert notebooks) that would fit 8.5×11 notebooks? 

Your second question was a bit of a stumper. I got some help from our Patrons during our monthly Zoom meet-up. The first suggestion was to reach out to the Curnows for a custom-made cover.

Rustico and Levenger stock some padfolios that might work though they are not specifically designed like a Traveler’s Notebook. The slats designed to hold a legal pad or notebook would work to hold a large notebook.

Another option would be to look on Etsy for “Traveler’s Notebook A4” for other custom made traveler’s style notebook options.

Isabell asked:

Hello, I own a lady sheaffer skripsert fountain pen and would like to know what ink converter goes with it – if there isn’t a converter for it then simply what cartridges fit would be great. 

The sad truth of the matter is that Skripserts take a slender Sheaffer converter which is no longer produced. Often, folks at pen shows swill have a converter  available for sale but but will sell them for upwards of $30 per converter. They are squeeze-style converters so used or NOS converters might need to be repaired or have sacs replaced which will be an additional cost.

What is often not known is that standard cartridges are still produced by Sheaffer and will fit into Skripserts. Most online and brick-and-mortar shops should have an assortment of these cartridges available for purchase. I save these cartridges and refill them.

I received a tip from one of our Patrons that other converters might be modified (like a standard international converter) by building up the material around the lip of the converter with UV curing glue. If you want more details about modifying or making your own converter with this technique, drop me an email and I will put you in touch with our Patron.

Peter asked:

Hi! Staples has discontinued my favorite legal pads and i’m wondering if you have a recommended replacement. …what I like about them is 1. college ruled 2. thick paper 3. lines are very faint… so far cannot find any other yellow legal pads that meet those three criteria!

Peter, your question was the hardest of the lot. Our Patrons suggested I reach out to some of my favorite Legal Eagles and ask their recommendations. When asked, Gentleman Stationer said, “There are none. Unless you can find bagasse or sugarcane, save yourself the headache and go Rhodia (No. 18 is A4 sized and No. 19 is legal sized, available in white or yellow) or Blackwing I honestly use the Write Notepads letter size memo pads.”

Marla asked our lovely Jesi:

I love your beautiful calligraphy (this comment comes especially from the Monteverde Jungle review, but applies in general)… especially on the Jungle test strips. Is there a special name for that style? Biz work has severely degraded my speed-print/cursive blend and I’d love to be able to write and letter beautifully. I’m sure that I can improve with practice towards a goal.

Jesi taught herself a more refined style of handwriting using books and worksheets by the much-revered Michael Sull. She utilized The Art of Cursive Penmanship particularly but Mr. Sull has produced another books of note; American Cursive and Learning to Write Spencerian Script (available for order via his web site). She uses a dip pen for her swatches with Nikko G ($3,85 for a pack of 3) or vintage Esterbrook dip nibs.

If you have questions for the Desk, use the link at the top of our site to submit them. 

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this post were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review.And some items in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ask The Desk: Sharpeners, Skripsert Converters and Staples Legal Pads appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

For those of us who love to see the penmanship of other people, and famous people being of particular interest, this tidbit of a letter by Georgia O’Keeffe will be quite the coup. A friend stumbled across this and sent it over to me.

His notes indicated that it was a photocopy of the original letter. It looks faded because the letter originally written in blue ink and he didn’t correct the density when he scanned it for me. She wrote the letter on Eaton’s Eminence bond, aka onion skin.

His comment? “Such terrific, swooshy handwriting!” I couldn’t agree more.

The post Eye Candy: A Letter from Georgia O’Keefe appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

If you’ve been waiting to purchase a Col-o-ring, the wait is over! The shop is not only stocked with Col-o-ring books but we are adding other products back to the inventory as well including some choice stationery goodies like the Star Chart note cards. These cards are a joint-venture from Skylab Letterpress and The Well-Appointed Desk and feature multilingual “thank you” messages for all your galactic sending needs.

Edit: To our friends across the pond, Cult Pens has Col-o-rings available (and currently featured on their home page which make me flippin’ giddy!) so many of our UK and EU pals now have a source  for their inky needs! In Canada, Wonder Pens is stocking Col-o-rings and will gladly help our friends to the north. Down Under, Notemaker in Australia and Pen Classics in New Zealand should soon have Col-o-rings available. Col-o-rings are invading the world! Who would have ever guessed such a thing?

Blog Improvements:

Did you notice there’s been a bit of a facelift around here? Besides updating the looks of the design a bit, there’s also been improvements made in the background to help make searching the copious archive of posts a little bit easier.

The fonts have been updated to (hopefully) be more readable and the whole design is now more consistent across all platforms: desktop, tablet and mobile. I’m really pleased with the look ad I hope you will be too.

If you look up in the top menu bar, you’ll notice that as you scroll up and down, the menu bar at the top will stay visible. It has the search bar in the far right corner and hot links to the refill guide, guide sheets, ink reviews, pen reviews and a new separate category for fountain pen reviews!

You’ll also notice that there are now featured posts at the top of the blog. Above the fold, so to speak, special posts will be featured for a week or so. Giveaways, new products, hot reviews, pen shows or other notable stories will be featured there so they won’t be missed.

It was time to retire the old template as it broke every time there was an update to WordPress so hopefully this version will be able to grow with us.

DeAtramentis Pearlescent Inks:

While they may be a little late to the game, DeAtramentis has finally decided to try their hand at making a line of sparkle inks. They’ve divided their ink colors into Pearlescent Gold, Pearlescent Silver and Pearlescent Copper flake bases. Then they offer eight ink colors with each sparkle: Whisky Brown, Amber Yellow, Helio Green, Cyan Blue, Camellia Red, Brilliant Violet, Magenta Red, and Velvet Black.

YStudio Pens:

Finally, a retailer in the US is stocking YStudio fountain pens. Vanness Pens is carrying the YStudio Brassing fountain pens, ballpoint and mechanical pencil. I reviewed the portable fountain pen awhile back and I’m still enamored with it.

Ink Academy:

Ink Academy is a crowd-funded campaign to create an online calligraphy school. Master Penman and one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, Michael Sull will be the academic director of the school. There are also a host of other amazing calligraphers involved in the project including a former White House calligrapher. The project has about a week left to fund and a long way to go to meet its funding needs. Whether you have a desire to learn calligraphy yourself or just an appreciation for the art form, it’s definitely a project worth some consideration.

Pen World:  June Issue 2017

The June issue of Pen World magazine hits newsstands on Tuesdays. This issue features articles all about paper including my first published article in the magazine: an interview with Bullet Journal creator Ryder Carroll. There’s a sneak peek of the article below but to see the whole magazine, hop over the the Pen World web site and subscribe or visit your local book shop or newsstand an pick up a copy soon.

The post Desk News & Beyond appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Every year, National Handwriting Day sneaks up on me. Luckily, I have a whole bunch of writing samples from previous National Handwriting Days.

Hope you get to put pen or pencil to paper today and use your handwriting.

The post National Handwriting Day appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

These are my 19 Instagrams you should follow if you love pretty handwriting, calligraphy and typography.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mary Kate McDevitt (@marykatemcdevitt)

1. Mary Kate McDevitt: hand-lettering artist and illustrator extraordinaire.

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A post shared by Leigh Reyes (@leighpod)

1. Leigh Reyes: Art, Calligraphy and all-around awesomeness

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A post shared by Raul Alejandro Garzon (@draw_ul)

1. Raul Alejandro: Type illustrator, calligrapher and designer known for his work with Nike and the Hallmark Signature line.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lindsey Bugbee (@thepostmansknock)

1. The Postman’s Knock: Lindsey Bugbee, modern calligrapher and educator of the fine art of lettering and calligraphy.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Matt Vergotis (@mattvergotis)

1. Matt Vergotis: My favorite Aussie, left-handed, brush lettering calligrapher and logo/branding designer.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Neil Secretario (@neilsecretario)

1. Neil Secretario: Typography, Lettering and Design from Atlanta, Ga. Pretty sure he’s a lefty too.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jonathan Faust (@jonathanfaust)

1. Jonathan Faust: Designer and Lettering Artist in Copenhagen. Did I mention he’s a lefty?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Callie Rian Hegstrom (@callierianandco)

1. MakeMediaCo: Callie Hegstrom, creator of lettering, calligraphy, illustration and type design. Quite the witster.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Drew Europeo (@dreweuropeo)

1. Calligrafikas by Drew Europeo: Calligraphy and Watercolor. Beautiful.

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A post shared by jusebox (@jusebox)

1. Jusebox: Hawaiian designer and calligrapher.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mycustompuppet@gmail.com (@mycustompuppet)

1. Mycustompuppet: Master puppet maker and calligraphy enthusiast posts mesmerizing videos of his penmanship and his puppet making.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Attila (@attilasultis)

1. Attilasultis: Hungarian architecture student and fountain pen lover creates lovely lettering.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kathy Weller (@kathywellerart)

1. Kathy Weller: Creative playful lettering, illustration and licensed design and one of my favorite artists.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Goodtype | Strength In Letters (@goodtype)

1. GoodType: Curated lettering and typography collected by Brooke Robinson.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJGAQMSBgzG/?taken-by=thedailywriting

1. Thedailywriting: Curated collection of beautiful notebooks, particularly Traveler’s Notebooks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @foldedpenfriday

1. FoldedPenFriday: If you love the look of folded nib pens, you’ll love this feed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJiNDWwAL57/?taken-by=frerejones

1. Frere-Jones: Type design practice in New York City collects found type images.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cheryl Dyer Art & Calligraphy (@cheryldyercalligraphy)

1. cheryldyercalligraphy: Cheryl Dyer is a lettering artist and calligrapher

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aaron James Draplin (@draplin)

1. Draplin: Found type, design and silliness from the man himself, Aaron Draplin.

The post Click Bait: 19 Instagrams You Should Follow If You Love Pretty Handwriting Redux appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

In an effort to use both pen and paper supplies this month AND get into a regular habit of writing and drawing, I started participating in the Rock Your Handwriting Challenge started by BohoBerry and her compatriots. This is the second month of the challenge and many people I know are doing both this month’s prompts and the previous month’s or choosing the prompt they like best. I didn’t mention it at the beginning of the month because I was a bit concerned that like so many other challenges, I might flake out after three or four days. But, lo and behold, I’m on Day 19 and still going strong!

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A post shared by ana reinert (@wellappointeddesk)

I decided to set the bar for the challenge very low, using just a Field Notes and whatever pen or pencil I had handy to compete the challenge for the day. I would use whatever 20 or 15 minute of time I could find to do the practice and I was amazed how much I started to look forward to a chance to doodle my little rectangle of lettering.

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A post shared by ana reinert (@wellappointeddesk)

The challenge is designed to help get some much-needed penmanship practice in each day and, for me, a chance to do something creative that is not for anyone but me. I’ve been sharing my pages on Instagram and some are better than others but I felt it was fair to show when things worked and when they didn’t — even when I misspelled something!

The best thing about this challenge is that is has re-ignited my desire to make more art the way it has recharged other people to write more in their journals or just write more in general. So if you’re looking for a way to help get you back into a regular habit of putting pen to paper, than maybe just practicing your handwriting is a good place to start. After writing “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” you might just want to write a story about that fox or draw a picture of them and off you go!

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A post shared by ana reinert (@wellappointeddesk)

If you would like to see all my Rock You Handwriting posts and all the other sketching and lettering doodles its inspired me to create, you can follow me on Instagram.

The post Rock Your Handwriting Challenge appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Ink – Written by Hand (#INKdoc) from Ryan Couldrey | @RyTron on Vimeo.

A film by Ryan Couldrey featuring Tanja Tiziana and Wonder Pens.

The post Video: Ink — Written By Hand appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Why Write is a sixteen minute Ted Talk from Master Penman Jake Weidmann waxing poetic about the love of penmanship and writing.

(Shoutout to Fountain Pen Physicist for the link as I hadn’t yet seen this!)

The post Video: Why Write by Master Penman Jake Weidmann appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The recent article on the New York Times entitled What’s Lost As Handwriting Fades is too good to wait until the end of the week for a Link Love so I decided to go ahead an post the link today. Once again, scientists are coming up with studies proving that there’s some tricky cognitive stuff that goes on when we write things by hand and there is even some data that different parts of the brain are triggered depending on whether its printing or script (cursive) writing.

But we all knew this already, right?

(via NYTimes)

The post What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

NPR recently did a report about the value of cursive in child’s brain development. By their best calculations, all fine motor skill activities are valuable to brain development, be it printing, cursive or keyboarding. But the best option is for kids to be doing all sorts of fine motor activities.

This story, however,  does not address the issue of legibility, speed of writing or not writing like a 6-year-old when you’re forty.

Opinions?

(via NPR.org)

The post Cursive: Is it really that important? appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.