I’ve got a Senator shorthand pen waiting to go into the Museum at some point, so it’s quite handy to have a bit of history on them. The one I have still works ok. The piston filler is a bit stiff, and the nib is a little disappointing. I thought a shorthand pen would have a nice flexi nib, but it’s actually only slightly flexible. Still, not a bad pen, and writes ok, if a little scratchy.

I’ve been doing well with my Pocket Filofax. I usually swap ‘systems’ around quite regularly, and no paper system has really lasted a long time with me yet. My little Pocket Lyndhurst has done nearly five months now, and I’m still enjoying using it. The small size of the paper is a bit of a problem, but anything much bigger is just too much to carry everywhere.

Anyway, GeorgieR has done a bit better. He’s posted a picture of his Pocket Filofax, with some pages dating back eighteen years. There’s a real charm to the worn page edges, and it’s nice to see these things age well.

Found via a post on FPN by ToThePoint, Renaissance Art sell leather journals, notebooks, covers and cases. They’re expensive, but they do look good.

THIS SMILE….

There isn’t another one like it on the face of the earth. This is THE guitar god smile of the millenium!! If I have had a rough time, there is nothing like listening to this man play some sizzling guitar and look at his gorgeous smile. It warms my day, my heart, my soul, my life, my body….it makes me forget meanies, grumpies and other assorted bad stuff – as well as what I am doing, my name, where I live…but who cares?? All I need is his music and that smile and my life will always have something in it that is good.

Thanks Jimmy!!

Dear Blog…

You know that spiral thing you get into sometimes? Did my Dear Diary tell you about that? I hope you two are talking because you need to know a few things that only the pen and paper version from the last 30 years can tell you!!

Yeah..the Spiral. One thing goes a little wrong, then another…then another…suddenly it is all a huge gigantic dark blob-like thing that is smothering you and nothing seems to fix it. That’s what is happening at the moment. The Spiral has come to get me! Ahhhh!!!!

What can you do about the Spiral? Well, you can hide, but like Prince Robert says, “There’s no use hiding in a corner ’cause that won’t change a thing.” Very true. You just get trapped in the corner and the Blob sits there staring you down. No good.

You can pretend it’s all fine. This can temporarily lighten the mood, but sadly, the Spiral Blob stays there waiting for you to drop your guard and it pounces! Also no good.

So, what to do? Well, talk to a friend about it. If you don’t have a friend that you can share things with, please get one. It does make things a lot better. Just be sure you can trust your friend because you may need to share things with them that make you seem like a nutter, and well, a real friend will love you anyway despite your nutty stuff.

Next I am going to concentrate on things that relax me. Things that I find fun – and my friend reminded me to do this – see how helpful they are? This will help because it’s not as simple as pretending everything is fine, it’s acknowledging that it isn’t but relaxing despite the blob-like Spiral. It’s a slightly different twist and works better. So what things do I find make me happy and help to relax me? Ummm…

1. Laying under the stars with my favorite safe song playing. See, you can’t even see the Blob-like Spiral in the dark, and gazing at the twinkly stars listening to your song you feel one with the universe – no Sprial can hang around for that!
2. Exercise until I can’t move. Sounds dreadful but working out reduces the stress drastically. You can beat up the Spiral while you work out and then it has to give up!
3. The next time it rains – I’m out there! I love walking in the rain, splashing in the puddles, feeling it on my face. It’s so fresh and free and it melts the Blob!
4. Go to the park and play! Swings are the best…they put me right up into the blue sky if I keep my eyes up, just like flying. The Spiral Blob can’t keep up, and hates the blue sky anyway!
5. Sing. Get my favorite music out and sing. LOUD! Sing it all out. Songs that make me cry, songs that make me happy…just sing! Sometimes in the middle of singing I get a revelation and the Blob Spiral is doomed if I do! And I know Jimmy and Robert can BLAST ANY BLOB LIKE SPIRAL INTO OBLIVION! Trust me, they can.
6. Do something nice for someone. So many people are so sad. They have big Blob Spirals that are a lot worse than mine, and sometimes no friend to tell, no way of getting free. Doing something sweet for them helps. Let someone in front of me in the line at the grocery store, bake a cake for the neighbor, make a traveling friendship basket and set it off on a journey. Blobs hate all this niceness and they shrink because the focus is off me and therefore, off it!
7. Be spontaneous…I always wanted to go balance on the fence and walk along it, so lets’ do it! Want to change my look – do it! Just doing what I want is great! Spontaneous change throws the Spiral off balance!
8. Walk by the sea. The sea is calming to me. I may have to drive a way to get to it, but that’s okay. When I do I feel free. Be sure to splash around in it too and collect shells and big gooey pieces of seaweed and build the best sand castle ever…cool!
9. Build a fire. Sit by it with a drink you like (hot chocolate is good!) and stare into it and let your mind go where it wants. It’s a great way to think out a problem.
10. Eat some really messy thing – chocolate pudding, toasted marshmellows (around your fire!) with melted chocolate on them smashed on a cookie…run down to the local fast food place, grab a junk food thing and go sit on the hood of your car somehwere to eat it. A little junk food is so much fun!

Okay…those are things I find fun and relaxing. I’ve got to get out there and do them…this Spiral Blob has got to go!!! Good luck with yours if you are reading this and have one of your own. It will go away – I promise! Oh and, don’t be afraid to cry. Go somewhere quiet and scream and cry. I do that too, it helps.

Chat later Dear Blog.

Latest Update: Added a link to some fantastic pictures of different techniques, posted to The Fountain Pen Network by Winedoc.

Plenty of people use pens to make art, but for some, the pen is the art. Plenty of pen companies make special editions and limited editions, where the pen is designed to be more than just functional, but some people and companies take it further than that.

Japanese Pen Art

The Japanese are probably the best at this – they have techniques that the rest of us can only gaze in amazement at.

Urushi

Urushi is a very tough natural lacquer, made from the sap of the Urushi tree. It’s most commonly either black or red, and gives a very strong shiny finish.

Urushi in itself can be a beautiful finish, but maybe a little short of what we could call art. Applying it as a skilled craft, certainly, and can take months to finish a single piece. It can, however, be used in conjuntion with other techniques to take things to another level.

Maki-e and Chinkin

These two techniques combine the Urushi lacquer with gold – often varying colours of gold to make patterns or even pictures. With Maki-e, the gold is in the form of powder, sprinkled onto the urushi before it sets. Chinkin is similar, but with gold foil.

• Namiki Emperor at Andy’s Pens – some wonderful examples of maki-e work from Namiki – the luxury pen division of Pilot.

Raden

In a similar way to the other techniques, raden uses tiny fragments of abalone shell in different colours, applying them in layers to the urushi.

• Namiki Raden Capless at Cult Pens – from Pilot, again, this pen uses ten layers of urushi and abalone shell fragments to give it a shimmering 3D finish that I’m sure has to be seen to really be appreciated – I’ve not seen one yet

Elsewhere

I’ve only covered a couple of techniques here, and I’m sure there are more – I’ll add to this as I learn more about these sorts of pens.

• More on Urushi from Russ Stutler. The main cause of inspiration for this article, and very well worth reading for a much more in-depth description of the process and the stuff itself.
• Russ also visited Wajima, and wrote all about it, including lots of photos of the ‘factory’ he visited where the craftsmen are making Urushi and Maki-e pens.
• A post on The Fountain Pen Network discussing Urushi and Maki-e, and other techniques – scroll down to the photo set by Winedoc – amazing stuff.

Think you know your rock? Pit your wits against this fun quiz…

One member of the GuitarPr0n team wiped the floor with the rest of us on this with a perfect 100% score. They are now sat upon a Golden Throne of Rock Wisdom and are being fed truffles and champagne by a team of lightly oiled lackeys. Well done you!

Josh is going to try Google Reader for a week, and has linked to posts from Gina at LifeHacker and Matt Cutts at Google about switching. I’m really quite tempted to try again with it, as it does sound good. Not that I’m at all unhappy with Bloglines, and the little improvements they keep making are going well.

Only problem is that it’s difficult to switch until I’m all caught up on the reading, and right now, I have 1521 unread items in Bloglines. Hmm…

The Times has the story of how eight different writers go about writing.

From this we learn that…

• Mont Blanc claim that the insides of their pens rot when exposed to fountain pen ink – doesn’t sound too good to me.
• Many writers like pen and paper, many others like their computers. Simplicity and familliarity seem to go down well all round.
• Some find that music helps concentration, some find it breaks it.
• Wandering around Devon can be good for inspiration.
• Bed can be a good office.
• Manuscripts go in the fridge, and according to the comments, should be shredded before being put out for recycling.

It’s not a long article, but well worth a look through…

• The Write Stuff from The Times.

Found via a post on FPN by Chris – good find, Chris.

If anybody out there knows of where we could get hold of copies of the special 20th Anniversary edition of Q magazine that has Jimmy Page on the cover, please let us know in the comments. There are 20 versions of this issue in circulation but, for obvious reasons, we’re only interested in the one with Jimmy on the cover.

Thank you kindly.