Pilot Penmanship Tip!

If your Pilot Penmanship is acting up and not giving you a proper flow of ink...pop off the cartridge and take a look.   There is a little disk (that stays in the cartridge) that could possible block the ink,  take a needle or something and just make sure that the disk is turned sideways and not blocking the cartridge.  I refill mine and just noticed this.

Enjoy!  This little thing is still one of my favorites.

Winner Winner

Leo Mitchell!  Ping me,  you are now the proud owner of a Baltz Mincey!  Congrats! and thank you to everyone that donated.

The race was awesome,  I set a personal record and if you are a runner, the Philly Marathon is spectacular.

Seth

Win a Baltz Pens "Mincey"

This is going to be difficult one to giveaway.  The extra fine gentlemen over at Baltz Fine Writing Instruments (earlier review here)  were willing to jump in and help out with the donations for my Philadelphia Marathon charity run which is in less than two weeks.  (Yes, I am running another marathon.)

With a tear in my eye, mainly because I cannot tuck this one into my shirt pocket and go show it off in the office, I am offering this one up to you:  the faithful and loyal readers of Good Pens and the money is going to support a Childrens Cancer Research Foundation.  Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.  All for a great cause.

The great news:  if you haven't seen it yet, Baltz Pens has launched a brand new pen line and they are busy cranking them out. You can get all the details on it here: http://baltzpens.com/exemplar-plus.php but I can offer a sneak peek of un-wrapping one of the models.

In my opinion...no one packages a pen up better than Baltz. Not only is the pen well protected during shipping,  it's presented in a way that makes the received feel like they are getting something special (and they are.)   If I were graduating, or celebrating a big win or needed something nice to add to my Christmas list and this showed up on my doorstep, I would be very happy.

Did you notice the subtle little tweak here on the "B" from the last line?     Nice touch.  I thought just  having the engraved  B was a nice touch,  but highlighting it is even nicer. Oh, and it's 22 ct. gold by the way, oh and these are numbered pens. Amazing.

So...do you want a chance to win a $280 pen? It's simple.  For every dollar you donate to my page at Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation...you get 1 raffle ticket to win this pen. On November 19th,  I will put every one's name in a randomizer and pick a winner. Make a two dollar donation and get two chances to win.  Simple.

The link to donate is here.   Please enter Good Pens in the field or shoot me an email (goodpensblog@gmail.com) to let me know you donated and I will get you in the running and if you have already donated you are on the list as well. It's for a really good cause people.  Anything helps and a dollar could win you a very nice pen.

Thanks again for looking and good luck!

Seth

It's a Good Day: Win an Explorer

I am feeling generous.  Anyone who leaves a comment below is in the running for a Pilot Explorer.

This one will only run for 24 hours starting at 9:00 Eastern Wednesday October 3rd..  Which means you could have this in your hot little hand by Saturday.  As always...there will be a bonus giveaway if you make me laugh hard enough to spit coffee on my monitor.

Seth

Call Me Mabie

So...Sunday was rough.  A crushing Patriots defeat left me with a few options.  I could go crazy or I could go downstairs, pull out a few pens and get some work done.  I opted for the pens. (Crazy right?)

I was rummaging through the archives and came across a Mabie Todd Eternal 44 that I had forgotten about.  I wrote about it back in 2008 and one of the comments from Mr. Munson was to "restore this, it's a beauty." So that's exactly what I did. 

The usuals were needed; a good breakdown (I am talking about the pen, my emotions were already shot) ultrasonic bath, scraping and probing (again...the pen,) new sac, polish, polish, polish and I was really happy with the results. Its near perfect and if I were shipping this one out, I would have spent a little more time on it,  but in the end this one is for me and I wanted to see how much it would come back while still catching some of the 4:00 Eastern games. 

There's what I was looking for: "ETERNAL" hanging out near the end, gleaming. There's huge sense of accomplishment in restoring these pens.  I am glad I took the time to notice the details and what needed repaired.  Eternal apparently stood for the Lifetime guarantee.  Right below here on the end is 44 over the E.T.N. initials.

I reassembled everything,  threw in some ink and good news...no leeks!  Happy day. Of course I used this for two days straight before the review, so it could use a little wiping down but you get the idea.  (You foodies got the joke right?)  Leeks?  Not funny if you have to explain it.

I am guessing this was built somewhere around 1927, but I am not exactly sure.  There's a ton of history out there on the Mabie & Todd company,  but I struggled to pinpoint the true date of this pen.

Here's a better shot of how the shiny bits shined up.  I like the Swans with the logo on the clip- but the Patent info is fun also.  They made this pen in some funky colors and I will be on the lookout for those now. Shiny!

 So thank you Mr. Mabie, Mr Todd, Mr Munson and Mr. Tom Brady for allowing this pen to get restored and back into the rotation. I would also like to thank whoever owned this pen before me and decided not to chew on it. You have saved me a ton of work by not doing that.  I have seen prices all over the place for these.  Some people are selling the nibs for $60, but I am keeping this one.

The nib is a #4 and BROAD!  Tasty, wet and fun to write with. To be honest...broad nibs are not exactly my cup of tea.  I like to write tall and skinny and these just do not allow for and I feel like my handwriting suffers.  EF is usually best for me but in this case it is a welcomed change.

I am not positive why I went with brown ink- other than it was handy and it feels a little like Fall. I know soon I will switch over to some black ink,  but not until I go through this filling.  Next Sunday might mean another restore depending on the games outcome but restoring this pen was the bright spot in my Sunday afternoon.. But I am still hoping for a win next week.

Call me Mabie...(funny right?)
Seth

Zebra Trio

I have reviewed a few Zebra's here at Good Pens in the past. Here's the list and some have even made my top tens.  So, I was pretty stoked when Shoplet.com sent over a pile of the little fellas for review.  I was pretty familiar with this line of office supplies and Zebras and I knew they had a gel version (G 301) but had never written with one.  I like this line of pens,  they look good in combination. Sort of how matching pens and pencils should look.  

I see a lot of pen and pencil sets on eBay and on the pen forums from back in the day and I wish they would not have gone away. In fairness...these are not sold as a set-but if you get creative on your shopping and you can have a nice ballpoint or gel /.5 mechanical "set" that looks nice.  These Zebras are a little bit lighter than I remember mainly because they are not solid metal.  There's enough plastic on the front and the back to lighten the load.

So here they are:  being watched over by Marty.  It's pretty clear, Gel is Gel, BP is ballpoint and 0.5 is the pencil.  What I did not know until I looked in the product guide that they also make a Fountain Pen. What?  Why didn't I know this? (The search has commenced.)

Here's the business end of all three.  I have bigger hands- so writing with these for a long time is a little strenuous.  More-so with the ballpoint than with the gel.  The plastic isn't rubbery at all,  it's a harder plastic that doesn't give a ton of grip but still works because of the knurling.

 Ooh,  Gel, thank you...nicely done.  The ink is thick and puts itself on the paper nicely.  It's pretty close to a true .5 even on bad paper.  Black and consistent= Exactly like I like my coffee. Just my opinion,  but I prefer the gel over the bp for my writing.

 Again,  the ballpoint is a little odd for me, because except for reviews or in extreme emergencies,  I rarely write with a normal ballpoint. Clicking the picture makes this larger and you get a better feel for the way the rubber meets the road.

The other thing I noticed about these pens (and pencils) is that they are really clicky. If I were in a conference room and someone was consistently clicking this thing unconsciously I might have to jump across the table and silence them, but in reality that means a solid working mechanism,  so I won't argue.  So, thanks Shoplet.  They are also kicking off a contest that is fun here.

I will get the winner of the August contest out and change the rules a little for September.  The Tumblr is getting some good stuff on it and there's always Facebook if you like that sort of thing.

Seth

Getting the Tumblr back up to speed

All things pen and ink related:  http://goodpens.tumblr.com/

My Ideal Pen Cup

Click for a better image.   If this were any larger it would just be a 5 gallon bucket.  Odd question...can anyone name that square gray one in the lower right side by the red Sarasa?

Seth

Pens In the Name of Charity

To be blunt... I am running the Philadelphia marathon for a great cause and am asking for audience participation.  The cause is Alex's Lemonade Stand.  If you don't know about the foundation.  Here's a link.  Rather than going door to door to each of you shaking a can and asking for spare change, I thought I would do a few giveaways with all proceeds going to Alex's!  Two birds..one stone.  YOU love paper pens and art stuff.. and I want to raise money to help the cause.

It's simple: donate anything, send along a nice comment or share this link out to social media and I will get you in the running for the giveaways.. What's the first giveaway?  Well August is this:

August Prize Pack!

At the end of the month I will ship prizepack #1: The bottle of Eclat De Saphire, the Moleskine and the Sweet Old Sheaffer School fountain pen (that has a really cool see through blue barrel) to a randomly picked winner.  This isn't a silent, highest bidder auction...anything will get you in the running even sharing out this link on facebook or social media...just let me know what you have done.    If you don't win this month, just wait...  I have some AMAZING sponsors dropping off some incredible prize packs. (Think handmade, wooden and spectacular.) entering now will get you in the running for every month through November!  No need to re-donate unless you want to.  

You can donate on my page here: http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/85649 and then just shoot me an email to goodpensblog@gmail.com letting me know who you are and I will follow up if you are (again) randomly picked.  Simple right?  Any amount is good,  dollars are helpful. If you don't win this month, stay tuned.

Here's an idea! If you can just spare $4.00, that's only a dollar a month for a chance at 4 great prize packs. (and they will be great!) or again,  just leave me a friendly comment...no pressure.

I will continue to do reviews and post updates along the way. Thanks again, your generosity and your comments are appreciated! I also have a few kinda crazy ideas that I will roll out also to make this fun.

Seth-

Travel Bag... Nicely Packed

If I do say so myself.

A few weeks on the road coming up and I am pretty happy with my set up...Thinkpad, Journal (to do list), iPad, Pleasure Book (Racing Weight) , Rhodia (Journal Swap,)  and my sweet new Amazon Basics Electronics case (more on in other post) and some misc paperwork to go through on my first of many flights...All snuggled up in my Custom Timbuk2 that I trust with all the goodies!  

The other good news...I only packed one pair of running shoes this trip. Progress is an amazing thing.

Also in the bag hidden from view, 3 Fountains (Pilot, Parker and a Kaweco Sport) 4 Sarasa's and 2 Mechanical pencils. I just got word of a fresh shipment of pens for testing.  Stay tuned!

Seth

Best eBay auction Ever!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-pen-collection-mount-blan-parker-sheffer-etc-Fauntain-and-else-/280934346788?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4168fdf024#ht_500wt_949

"collected over 40 years the two mountblan are of the second and third generations of the brand.
each worth thousands."


The Mountblans are nice,  but I am really interested in the white HSB pen on the right. It might be worth the 2 thousand by itself.

Seth

Thinkwells

The other day I was thinking about the history and the subsequent demise of the inkwell and it sort of bummed me out.  My deep depression lasted just a few short minutes until I realized how nice it is that I am not forced to use one on a daily basis but the history fascinates me.
An inkwell to me has always been an option.  I have about 18 other ways to put information on paper and if I use a dip pen and an inkwell it's because I am horribly bored or simply just testing a new ink. It didn't used to be that way.

Just for clarification...I love dip pens...and I have quite a few in my collection but I haven't seen a dip pen show up lately in any one's daily arsenal and I can't imagine needing to travel with one.   When the ballpoint was patented in 1939, it started a serious downward spiral for all other types of ink pens. The inkwell suffered the loss and fans of the inkwell (if there were any) were also left behind. 
The inkwell was sort of a by-product of the dip (or steel) pen. It was a necessity.  Inkwells served a long and illustrious life as a tool, a vessel and a means to an end.  Sure, there are fancy ones and expensive and basic ones but at the end of a day any small bowl without a hole in it would work. Doing a search on Amazon produces some interesting results. most of the "inkwells"  are now pre-filled with ink or bad reproductions.  

Everyone remembers Grammy right?  It turns out that she collected inkwells also...of every shape and size. I like to think she was carrying on or prolonging the tradition  but in reality I am sure she just appreciated the function and style of what once was.

 If anyone is curious,  you can join the SOIC. The Society of Inkwell Collectors,  its $45 a year and there is an opening for a Director at Large (I might have submitted an application.)
I never expect to hear about the resurgence of inkwells,  or that suddenly they are cool again...I get it,  they are dinosaurs...but I imagine there was something cathartic about spending time with a dip pen and an inkwell and ink and knowing it was always going to work. I hope you enjoyed your 4th.Seth

Favorite New Mini

Mini post. Mini pen. I like a .4 pen that feels like a .3.  It is rare but it happens. Meet the Hi~Tec C Slim Knock. It's been a great travel pen, small enough that I can just throw it in my journal and close it with only a small bump.
I like mini pens... they're different, they're odd, they kind of barely fit my hand but I always keep them around because they are different.
I will be ordering many more refills on this one and I see it staying in the daily rotation.
Have a great Fourth of July everybody. I will get a full review out on this one later and thanks again.

Knock, Knock?

Knock, knock,
Who's there?
The blogger who takes large vacations and then comes back with a fury.
The blogger who takes large vacations and then comes back with a fury WHO?
Me!
Consider this a fury. If I were hairier it would be a furry fury, but I am not...so a simple fury will do.  Does everyone know how amazing Jetpens is? The kind people over there sent out a few things for me to take a look at and I am not the type of guy to get a pen (teaser: or non pen) and blog about it the first day I receive it.  No, instead: I use it, I pass it around.  I take it to dinner with my friends, I sleep with it. (Too far?)

How did this one get by me? I swore that I had a good grasp of the better pens and pencils available out there but this one was a surprise.  It was new to me. Presenting the...Pentel Kerry. It might be because I rarely shop for (what I consider) medium end Mechanical Pencils but I am still amazed that this one was not in my collection or on my radar.

(As always, click for larger, better pictures) At a dinner party the other night when I pulled this out to show it to everyone.( I am that guy.)   My friend- I will call him Bill-  (that's actually his real name,  weird huh?) was all over it,  saying he had a blue one in architecture school and that he still had it around the house.  I was impressed. Pentel has been making this one since 1971 and I am sure it has gotten a few engineers and architects through school.

So once you pull off the cap and place it with a firm click on the back end of this thing you have a very respectable mechanical pencil. I know there must be others but I can't remember another MP with a cap like a regular pen. Let's break it down with more surprises:
Surprises:
1. How smooth all the moving bits are.
2. How comfortable this is in my hand.
3. Trying to figure out where the eraser goes when it is posted.
4. That nice readers like you come back after I take the Spring off to play squash and travel the US for work.

There it is,  sneaky little thing.  Hidden away when capped, but easily accessible when it is in write mode. Some people in their reviews say that the metal eraser cap will get a little loose after use,  but mine stayed solid. (Everyone knows if you give the cap a tiny squeeze it helps also right?)  I don't  know,  I do like my Mechanical Parker's but this might just win overall due to the cool features.  Jetpens sell a bunch of styles and you can purchase this version right here.

More details on the .5 here.  I have been dragging this one around the Country for a few weeks and I definitely like it.  Black is usually my "go to" color but I have not minded this shade of red at all. Impossible to describe...but the weight feels right to me. Not too light,  not too heavy.  It feels like a good mechanical pencil should feel.

Great saying.  I still do not know why I shoot a writing test for a pencil, call it a habit.  I like being surprised and if a pencil can do it,  I like it even better.
Thanks again,  another post coming early next week and a bunch of news coming out of this site. Thanks again for reading.

Seth

Update:
"Bill" sent in a photo of his pencils.  These are at least 10 years old.

Kickstarter Alert: Premier Pens

Its coming down to the end folks.  The Premier Pen Kickstarter campaign is about to wrap up and  they are also going to break through 100K.  Simply amazing.  (I think I sold at least 5 of these already.)  This is a very solid pen from a solid company and I have been  in love with my Premium. 

Here's the link to get in on the action:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/steveblack/p1-by-premier-pen

I did an interview and a review that I will post in the next day or so.  but seriously...its a Good Pen.

Here's the webpage :  http://premierpen.com/.  

Seth

Baltz Fine Writing Instruments "The Carraway"

I like when people and companies can find their happy place and make it work really well for themselves. It feels like that's entirely the case with the good guys over at Baltz.

Prepare for a long, related ramble here- do you know what it feels like to go down to the corner market and buy fresh bread from the baker who smiles and gives you exactly what you ask for and at the end of the day you probably would have been comfortable paying twice the price and still feel like you are getting a good deal?
That's what it's like to work with the guys from Baltz Fine Writing.

You can read about their background here, but the short version is that two guys decided to pursue their dreams and start a company hand turning distinct pens. Dream job...

I already knew a little about this company but I was really excited to get a chance to get my hands on one of their pens and discuss the business side with them.

Please meet Bart Creasman and Cass Baltz, the two nice guys behind Baltz. Let's start with the interview:

Good Pens: First of all, thank you for your time and before we even get started, when it comes to pens, I am sort of a silver snob, so thank you for not using gold plating. Conscious decision or was it based on the quality of pens that you wanted to create?
Bart: When we were initially designing our first line of pens, we both thought the rhodium plating would look best with the wood combinations we wanted to use. We also anticipated that people would be using these in professional settings, and silver looks better with the color scheme of most business attire and accessories like watch bands and belt buckles. Also, Rhodium is supposed to be one of the most durable and lustrous plating materials available.

Good Pens: So.. what's the idea behind Baltz Fine Writing Instruments?
Cass: Primarily, we each have an interest in well-made, nice things. To that point, we both enjoy style and fashion – with pens piquing our interest due to the limitless creative opportunities they present in terms of design and style. So that’s how we initially got interested in luxury pens.

With these pens, our number one goal was to create a product that could emote a personal connection between it and the user. We felt the most effective way to do that would be through handmaking the pens. From our experience, there seems to be a lingering connection between the maker and owner of hand made products… it’s much more personal and seems to lend more pride to the owner than mass manufactured goods. We want our pens to be unique to their owner through design, the individuality of each piece of wood used, and the process through which each pen is made. Believe it or not, there is quite a bit of adaptation necessary for producing each pen… whether it is in combining the wood parts or in our finishing process. No two pens will be exactly the same, and that’s something we believe is very important and special.

Good Pens: Are you both getting dusty or is one of you the businessman?
Bart: Cass probably spends a bit more time in the shop than I do, but we both make these pens. He spent a lot of time over the course of a couple of years learning and refining the process for making our pens. He then was able to teach me how to hand-turn pens, but not without a chipped piece of wood or two! I quickly found that turning a raw piece of wood into a beautiful writing instrument that someone will enjoy for many, many years is quite the inspiration.

Good Pens: You seemed to have found a niche market between over the top custom pens that people are terrified to use and your common average hobbyist making pens... was that the goal?
Cass: That’s exactly right. We wanted something that would be distinguishable, affordable, and well-made. This is how we sort of nestled into our mid-$100 price point. A lot of the handmade pens on the market were very plain with the hardware and wood design. We knew we could do better. For this reason, we shot for the mid-$100 price point when figuring out labor and materials. This price allows us to make a very nice product with quality materials and craftsmanship, which helps to facilitate that meaningful connection between owner and product. The idea behind our company was accessibility. In essence, we wanted to create a product that was special, but accessible to a reasonable number of people.

The B is a nice touch!

Good Pens:You don't want these pens sitting in a pen box gathering dust right?
Bart: Definitely not. We came up with the unique design so that people could show off and talk about their pens.

Good Pens:I love the idea of casting the hardware for these pens...how did that come about and what can you share about the process?
Bart: Well, we wanted to make our clip and cap stand out, as these are the parts of the pen that people see when it's being worn as an accessory. We had briefly explored getting the clip bent into its final shape, but that's difficult to do with the unique curvature in our design. Casting was the best solution, plus we prefer how it's a solid piece of metal. It definitely seems more substantial compared to the metal clips of most pens. As for the caps, we originally had those cast as well, but we have since changed to a precision milling technique for their production. We needed an exact fit (down to .001 of an inch) for the internal part of the cap, as this piece actually turns the mechanism that retracts the ink insert.

Good Pens:Full time pen makers right?
Cass: Yes, that's right

Good Pens: That's a rare occurrence. Did you quit jobs to do this? I can't imagine how sweet it would have been to tell your boss that you are starting a pen company. What was that like?
Bart: Haha. Well, I quit my job about halfway through our Kickstarter campaign, once we had surpassed our goal and secured the rest of the start-up funding. I actually avoided telling everyone exactly what I was doing unless they asked, for fear of a long explanation followed by a blank stare. I'm still pretty sure no one believed me even after I told them, but it was one of the better moments in my life to be able to leave an unfulfilling job to follow a dream. So yeah, that was pretty sweet.

Cass: Funny question...it was a little different for me, because I was working for my father’s cabinet shop at the time. He and my mom were incredibly supportive of our decision to pursue this passion full time. Bart and my parents helped us get off the ground running with some financial help. We are very fortunate to have such supportive parents.

Good Pens: Your pens names are Holden, Barnes and Carraway? The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye? Or is that a coincidence?

Bart: Not a coincidence at all. We weren't sure what to name the individual pens, so we picked our favorite characters from classic American novels.

Good Pens: Whew, took a stab at that and got lucky.

Good Pens: Other than making sure you both still have 10 fingers each...What's your 5 year plan?
Bart: Yeah, well Cass had a pretty close call with his thumb and a saw the other day, so keeping our fingers intact could be tricky enough. Seriously though, we want to expand on our current line of pens, hopefully coming out with a new line every year or so. These may include a click-style pen, a cap pen, and different wood variations on all our designs. We'd also like to design some special edition pens (we have some pretty crazy ideas we need to filter through). Our main goal is to establish a reputation for making great pens, so that a lot of people are very happy with our products.

Good Pens: How did you get started with Kickstarter?
Bart: We were looking for a way to gauge interest in our pens while we held other jobs. We did manage to get positive feedback from some retailers, but this interest was not concrete enough to convince us (or any investors) that we could do this full time. We did some research and found that Kickstarter would be the perfect medium to pre-sell our pens and gauge interest, with very little to lose if our campaign failed. Not only were we able to almost double our fundraising goal, but we also convinced ourselves that we could make pens full time.

Good Pens: Any interest in putting together a fountain pen?
Cass: That’s a question we’ve been asked a few times by the hard-core pen lovers. We do believe we will eventually offer a fountain pen, although it will be a bit into the future. Fountain pens can be intimidating to the lay person, and we wanted to make our product accessible and usable on a daily basis… which goes back to your point about sitting in a box gathering dust.

Good Pens: I imagine there are a ton of challenges taking the fountain pen plunge, mainly because we like our fancy fountain pens to write really well also...that's the magic equation right?
Bart: We need an opportunity to find reliable nib makers, as we are not qualified to make the nibs ourselves. There are plenty of opportunities to get nibs for our fountain pens from Far East manufacturers, but we are very careful about finding a solution that reliable and considered to be top-class among the mavens. We have our eye on a few nibs from SCHMIDT, the same company that supplies our rollerball inserts, but need to test them first. There are a lot of things that are necessary to bring a pen to market. In addition to all the exterior features, we will also have to work with machining companies to make the “guts” of the pen work together and function properly.

Good Pens: Any other projects we should keep an eye out for?
Bart: We're currently designing a new line of pens, which we can hopefully introduce later this year. I don't want to say too much, but we want to integrate some rare wood types with very distinct character.

Good Pens: Pop Quiz Opinion Poll: Mont Blanc...over used and too trendy or a good pen for pen people?
Bart: They are the most recognizable pen company for a reason - some of their special edition and higher end pens look amazing, and all of their marketing is incredible. But you do pay a premium for the white star.
Cass: My boss a couple jobs back had a Mont Blanc Meisterstuck. Truthfully, his pen is what initially sparked my interest in fine writing instruments. Mont Blancs are nice. I hated how his ballpoint wrote, though. That was part of the reason for us sourcing the SCMIDT rollerball inserts. They’re much smoother than his Mont Blanc’s ballpoint.

Good Pens: Did you know you can put a Mont Blanc refill in a Pilot G2?
Cass: No, but it’s believable. Our SCHMIDT is a Parker style insert which could be used or interchanged with other types of pens.

Good Pens: So...who's a good customer for you? Who do you want to buy your pens?
Bart: Interesting question. Before our Kickstarter campaign, we would have told you our ideal customer is someone who works in a professional field such as doctor, lawyer, banker, sales, etc. and needs something to help them look the part. But what we found through getting to know our Kickstarter backers, our earliest adopters, was an eclectic mix of professions interested in our pens. For instance, we had a couple teachers, few engineers, a voice actress, some doctors, some lawyers, an orthodontist, etc. So our opinion has changed. It was too simple (and quite frankly, wrong on our part) to group our ideal customers by what they do. Rather it is important for us to think about who they are. A good customer is someone who appreciates the personal connection that can be achieved through ownership of high quality, handmade products.

End of interview,there's more, but for now I will keep this shorter for everyone...

The pen line is called the Exemplar, this version is called the Carraway, the guts (as you heard) is a Schmidt EasyFlow 9000 rollerball with a nice Baltz logo and you know the spare cartridge is appreciated. I honestly like the refill, its smooth and starts up nicely every time. There's a nice weight that I wasn't expecting in a wooden pen and the detail work is surprising and appreciated. It feels like a great deal of thought went into every part of this pen and shows in the end result.

Click for better pictures... the picture looks much better larger.

Pens like this deserve to be shown AND to get written with. That's rare in this time and age and so is a company willing to got the extra mile for their customers. The quality across the board seems above and beyond what I expected. Normally, a pen like this would seem to me like a perfect gift, but in this case...feel free to get selfish.

Here's a link to where you can shop away: http://baltzpens.com/exemplar.php

Good Pens.

Rhodia Journal Swap!

I could not be more excited to be included in the first ever Rhodia Journal Swap. Here's a link if you haven't seen the details yet and see what other people are included.

Being a crazy planner- I have already sketched out my first page even though the journal hasn't arrived yet. I love the idea a bunch of artists/ bloggers coming together to put something collective together. Rhodia has always put out a pile of great products and supported us pen people nicely. Stay tuned for more info and the blow by blow over sharing of what's in store. Seth

Awesome Chalk Art

Garden & Gun from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

Sweet!

One of my drawings got picked up and is getting passed around.  http://youngfolksociety.tumblr.com/

Scroll down and on the right you might recognize the "Let me Down Easy" doodle. Word of warning....the site is sometimes a little NSFW but mostly tame.

Seth