The enduring seductiveness of paper goods
Even though I’m as technologically wired as anyone, I love paper and pens. I get giddy in the pen aisle of the Office Depot. I swoon at the site of a paper goods store. I can convince myself I need a dozen Russell & Hazel notebooks (even though I don’t need even one). I could spend all day at See Jane Work.
When I was job hunting, I reveled in buying Crane stationary–the heavier, the better. The one part of American Pyscho that I actually connected with was the scene about the business cards–not because I needed my cards to be heavier, with nicer type but because business cards done well are gorgeous pieces of miniature art.
My mentor always signed his documents with a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck pen with a wide barrel and a fat nib. It was almost always out of ink. He’d dip it into a shallow well of ink and sign. When I graduated from law school, my husband gifted me my own fountain pen–a Waterman Rhapsody with a lacquer finish. I learned about the finish later because the pen has this amazing heft to it and apparently the lacquer is part of the reason for it.
But I don’t just love gold nibs and expensive lacquered pens. I like boxes of crayons and tiny stationary sets with miniature (but working! staplers). I like colored pencils (even though I don’t use them), Crayola markers, and I own a dozen thin tip sharpies that I picked up at the office supply store for $.20 a piece.
I read that adult coloring books are in vogue–so popular that there are waitlists for some artists’ coloring books.
Buzzed did a post on 37 Borderline Erotic Photos for People Who Love Stationary. I’ll admit I’ve bookmarked that post and visited it more than once.
I like washi tape even though I haven’t figure out how to use it and I treat every new year as an excuse to by a new notebook calendaring system. And don’t get me started on office supplies like the lacquer trays and boxes at Swing Design.
I’ve spent far too many hours on Pinterest looking at DIY stationary tips. I love the gilded thank you cards from Camille Styles
and the DIY Watercolored Letterpress Invitations
and the button bookmarks!
In a world of bits, bytes, and pixels, I find my love for stationary items increasing and not decreasing. Do you have a favorite stationery provider/supplier/DIY idea?
I love pens – nice pens, cheap pens, charity branded pens, tourist pens collected when I have been overseas, hotel pens etc. Love them all, and I have far too may of them!
But my main love is little boxes – storage boxes that look like big fake books, nice wooden boxes, decorative boxes, hat boxes, boxes for presents, photo boxes etc. I have them all!
I have seen the adult colouring books, but haven’t succumbed yet, which is surprising as I do have a set of Staedtler felt-tip pens that I just had to have but have never used!
I miss small stationery stores. When I was in high school, I spent time after school browsing the aisles of our local stationery shop. I can still recall the wonderful smells. They sold vintage movie posters, too, so every payday (from my job as counter girl at the local theater) I would buy a poster or a couple of wonderful pens, or a boxed stationery set. Now my big thrill is back to school time, because I can stock up on (hoard?) pens, paper, little boxes, and other doodads.
My pen pal of 40+ years and I are definitely stationery geeks. We delight in sending each other our newest discoveries- these don’t have to expensive or fancy. Sometimes a postcard from the latest vacation spot is enough to bring a big smile. We are strong supporters of the USPS ;-)
This is my absolute weakness too. Hobonichi planners and all the lovely goodies they sell–flat scissors that tuck into journals, tabs, blotter paper, washi tape. I make weekly visits to Jetpens.com to see what new products they’re offering from Japan–Jetpens has turned me into a complete Japanese-stationery fanatic. I also have racks of fountain pen ink samplers from Goulet Pens. And Tomoe River paper and…well, any and every type of paper I can sample.
I don’t think I can go back to composing stories longhand–being able to work on a laptop really freed me, since I can get things out of my brain so much faster, then go back later to refine more thoughtfully–but for diary/journal/to-do lists, I love pen on paper–fine-point pen (Japanese fine is usually finer than US/European) on tiny notepads….
I have no idea what all to do with washi tape either, so I just pick one that matches the day’s mood and add a strip down the side of the journal page. For washi tape I like the thin ones best (small, tiny, and itty bitty are my themes when it comes to stationery!).
@Carolyne: Do you have any recommendations for JetPens?
Amen! I fell the same way. :)
When I’m researching my books I like to take notes in cursive with a Cross Townsend fountain pen, on Rhodia paper in the Levenger Circa notebooks. The kinetic motion of writing helps me retain information more than typing notes does.
In addition, I have a Namiki/Pilot Retractable in my purse, a case of fountain pens of all types sitting in front of me, an inkwell, a blotter (shaped like a sailing ship) and plenty of Crane’s stationary and notecards. Yes, I’m a pen&ink geek.
One of my pens is a mini-green one from JetPen. They have an interesting selection and good delivery. For Mother’s Day my sons got me a Kaweco Sport and notecards from McNally Jackson Store–“Goods for the Study”. I swear, their Instagram account is like pen porn. I also like Goulet pens for tips on keeping pens clean and useful, and their YouTube videos are very helpful.
I LOVE the selection at JetPens. I think they have just about every pen you can buy that isn’t marketed exclusively through the brand only store. I was so excited to see this post. I’m such a pen and paper kind of gal. If I want to remember things, I have to write them down. Even studying, I have to take all of my notes by hand because I won’t remember 80% of the lecture if I don’t. I do all my editing when I write by hand though my initial draft is on the laptop. My brain moves too fast at that first rush to do the writing by hand. I’m like Carolyne in that respect.
I’m a tactile person at heart and have bought paper, notebooks, paperbacks all based on the feel of the paper. I know. I’m weird…
@Darlene Marshall: I’ve eyed the Circa notebooks from Levenger more than once but have never pulled the trigger on that purchase. I do love to buy artisan notecards. I bought this brown and green set and use a gold pen to write on them. I feel tremendously dorky admitting these things but it looks like I’m in good company.
@theo: I spend far too much time on pinterest looking at stationary.
@LeeF: I LOVE that you have a penpal. That’s awesome.
@Jeannie Watt: We have a lovely one in East Des Moines called Ephemera. They carry a variety of small goods. And a local letterpress opened up. It’s gorgeous. Maybe I’ll go down one weekend and see if she’ll let me take pictures.
@ShellBell: You should take a picture of these!
@Invested Ivana: Paper goods for the win!
@Jane: There’s so much at Jetpens, it’s hard for me to pin it down! I check them weekly to see what’s new, since they often bring in things for a short time that might make good stocking-stuffers, like bunny-shaped binder clips or polar bear post-its. They have some informative articles on their blog, but mostly I just browse around the site looking at stationery porn.
I draw a lot, so a lot of what I get from them are brush pens–Kuretake is a favourite brand. Some of the fine brush pens with hard tips are suitable for (Roman alphabet) writing, such as the Fudegokochi and some of the Tombow fine points. Jetpens does sampler sets so you can try out a bunch of different brands at, well, maybe a little bit less cost than buying them individually. The sampler they currently have includes some good writing pens, though a couple are very juicy (the Pentel Pocket, frex) and more suited to art or calligraphy.
For day-to-day office pens I love the Uni-Ball Signo UM-151 in .28 and .38 for a smooth, fine line; they’re not super-cheap but are inexpensive enough to keep a handful around and not be sad if one or two walk off. I like them in Bordeaux Black (because I don’t have to have use only black or blue for work). The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Maica Gel Ink pens also work well for me, and work well in the Hobonichi planners (where show-through on the Tomoe River paper can be an issue).
For washi tape, I prefer the MT brand. I’ve gotten other washi that didn’t stick, or stuck too well and couldn’t be lifted off and repositioned. Or that wasn’t quite washi tape at all. But Jetpens only has a limited selection. I’ve found MT washi at wildly different prices. I binge-bought a lot from Etsy sellers.
I also have more pen cases from Jetpens than I can shake a pencil at. The Kutsuwa Dr. Ion Super Mega Pencil Case for hauling tons of things around (it’s smaller than a lunchbox…I guess bento box size…but wow, it holds everything), and the Kokuyo C2 Tray cases because I can colour-code and they’re sturdy enough to toss into a bag and pretty enough to sit on a desk. They stack well, too.
My latest love are the Pentel Orenz 0.2mm mechanical pencils. They’re tricky to get the hang of, but they carry an extremely fine lead very well once you figure them out. There’s a learning curve to figure out how not to snap the lead constantly, not to jam the pencil, etc.
Shipping from Jetpens is always prompt (and free over $25, making the temptation to buy lots of little things so much greater), and the few times I’ve had a problem with a product, customer service was fast and helpful.
Once I get started talking about my Jetpens habit, it’s hard to stop…!
@theo: I’m the same kind of weird! I’ve been known to walk through a stationery or art supplies store just touching the paper without even really looking at the brand/size/shape. I know people who walk through clothing stores doing that with fabric before considering a garment, so…maybe we’re not so weird after all :)
If you’re going to write about your passion for stationery, please learn to spell it correctly.
@John Petrey: Bad habits die hard. My inability to spell it is why I used paper goods in the post title. But thanks for pointing it out with your kind and generous comment.
@Carolyne: You do know that if you get the JetPens email, you’ll get not only what’s new every week, but a heads up on what’s coming in the next few days or weeks and those emails come more often. And it’s all good. We’ll just be weird together! ;)
@Jane: Oh, good gravy! I do the same thing! I can spend hours just touching the different papers, trying to find that one that feels ‘perfect.’ I’m such a dweeb.
Wedenesday is my favorite day of the week because it’s the day the Jetpens and Goulet emails come. Romanceland people like Erin Satie and Sunita got me back into using fountain pens, which obviously requires lots of ink colors and notebooks with fountain-pen friendly paper, and I will forever love/hate these people for my new hobby/obsession.
Lost my last two comments :(
@ShellBell: “But my main love is little boxes – storage boxes that look like big fake books, nice wooden boxes, decorative boxes, hat boxes, boxes for presents, photo boxes etc. I have them all!”
Oh, gosh, me, too! I use the decorative, magnet-clasp boxes for gifting homemade cookies; everyone loves getting cookies that way. A treasure chest/trunk covered in paper butterflies. A faux card catalog with notecards and envelopes from a public library.
How about the Griffin and Sabine books by Nick Bantock? Letters in envelopes, exotic postcards and stamps. Powell’s in Portland, all the paper things. *swoon*
Jane: That link to the stationery photos? I think my face is a little flushed, my eyes dilated. That was better than any steamy scene in a romance novel. Thank you.
Ooh, I love stationery, too. I have a large collections of various pens, post it notes, and colored paper. I have a small cabinet filled with actual stationery. I also love tablets. When Borders went out of business one of the things I grabbed first was a large assortment of Paperblanks journals.
Sadly, most of my friends are more into email nowadays and I get the “just email me next time” when I write actual letters.
If I ever won one of those shopping sprees where everything you could fit into a cart in x amount of time was yours free, I would want it to be some place like Staples.
Stationery is the best. I love walking through stationery stores and even the school supplies aisle of the supermarket. I’m always having to remind myself not to buy more pens, note books and lever arch files. My real weakness is packs of note cards. I used them as birthday cards most of the time, but I’m always telling myself I’ll start sending thank you cards even though I was raised in an area where nobody did that. It’s upwards of a dollar to send a letter here, though, so it’s a bit expensive.
Oh, Jane–I am all over this! My love for paper has carried over into making my own stationery. Little B has some adorable washi. I wrap my pencils in it, or use it for journaling as mentioned above. I also used to use Levenger’s Circa system, but honestly the Arc series from Staples is so much more affordable. This year I had a chance to go to the National Stationery Show and it was practically like Christmas for me.
I love beautiful paper (almost as much as I love beautiful fabric and yarn). I make my own gift cards – it started as a budget thing (I love Papyrus but their prices give me sticker shock) but it’s become one of my favorite creative outlets. And I get to use my stash of gorgeous papers.
I have to confess I don’t pay too much attention to pens. I lose them frequently, so I don’t get too attached. But drawing supplies are another matter – I’m quite devoted to my lead holder with 2B graphite, and to my Prismacolor pencils and double ended markers.
I keep a semi regular journal and my favorite kind is a 9 x 6 hardcover with lined pages and spiral binding. (My current one is by Piccadilly and it’s lovely).
@Shellbell – I love little boxes too! I have a large box of little boxes in my home office.
I am a notebook and notepad collector. I have boxes of them. I’m in the process of moving and have given boxes after boxes away to the local thrift store. I think every time I’ve ever been sad I buy a new one…my go to purchase.
I have the same thing–I love office supply stores, stationary supplies, paper, notebooks, pens, pencils….
My favorite thing are paperblanks notebooks. I have been getting their dayplanners every year for the past 10 years or so (various sizes) and their journals are beautiful. I also like the Clairefontaine journals because the paper is nice to write on.
I’ve started using a fountain pen, and have been trying to get myself to start the Spencerian Penmanship set of handwriting courses because I think one thing that really has sort of started to fall out of practice in our age of technology is really nice handwriting. I’ve always wanted to learn Copperplate, and this is a step in that direction. Plus I think the pens are really cool. :-)
It’s so nice to know there are others out there as in love with paper supplies as me. It drives my boyfriend crazy. LOL. He doesn’t like shopping and tries to get me to promise not to diverge from our planned items when we go to Office Depot or Staples, but it’s inevitable–like a siren call…
I tend to go a bit wild when the back to school sales start. Nothing fancy, but I have so many notebooks and pens. And highlighters. I never used a highlighter in my life at school, now I have a small herd of the things. (Turns out they’re pretty useful on paper bus schedules. All relevant stops get their own color, so I don’t have to worry I’m looking at the wrong column.)
I love trolling the internet for free printable planner pages. I think I have a collection of over 200 pages now. They are all so fun. Office supply addiction is one we need to band together and all go to the supply store so we can support one another.
On the other hand, I’ve stumbled across calligraphers creating some non-pretty pens to make their beautiful words, on account of pens are expensive. http://watering76.tumblr.com/post/93003235372/diy-aluminium-calligraphy-pen
@Jane:
Did that dickhead just drive by to correct your spelling?
Some mother’s children, honestly.
My particular love is decoratively printed postit notes, and the postit notes that are like a lined pad.
I love drifting quietly around huge office supply shops. We have a chain here called officeworks. It is wonderful. But my first and best experiences of paper shops (I can’t spell it either) is Paris. I bet if I ever got to Japan I would just disappear into their papershops and never be seen again – except hovering around their hand made ornamental paper which I just adore, but cannot find a use for.
@Jane–The beauty of the Levenger Circa system is the freedom to move papers around. I have four large Circa notebooks arranged by topics, and if I decide notes need to be under “Key West” rather than “Pirates” I can easily switch them. I bought the paper punch to be able to add the photocopies I make.
Since Levenger added Rhodia Circa paper to the inventory, it’s been bliss.
I also used small Rhodia “Moleskine” journals when traveling, and I purchased those from JetPen. They have an excellent selection.
@Jane–The beauty of the Levenger Circa system is the freedom to move papers around. I have four large Circa notebooks arranged by topics, and if I decide notes need to be under “Key West” rather than “Pirates” I can easily switch them. I bought the paper punch to be able to add the photocopies I make.
Since Levenger added Rhodia Circa paper to the inventory, it’s been bliss.
I also use Rhodia Moleskine-style journals when traveling, and I purchased those from JetPen. They have an excellent selection.