Unnatural Love: Pens, Stationery, Office Supplies

[the_geneticist]

I have various papers for various tasks: postit notes for quick reminders, classic yellow notepads for meet notes, those magnetic grocery pads for daily to do lists. 
I also have a coveted red, metal Swingline stapler.  No, you may not borrow my stapler.

[Tee_Bee]

At our community's recent vaccine clinic they were giving out pens promoting the state's Rural Health Partnership.  They were a good deal nicer-looking than those sorts of giveaway pens usually are.  But they have a rather odd means of getting the point out for use.  You don't push a button on top, twist it, or pull off one end.  There's a slide on the side that you have to operate.  It takes a moment to figure out.

That reminds me of how you deploy the top on the Pilot Frixion pens: with the pocket clip. It can be confusing on first glance.

[Wahoo Redux]

Hi my name is Wahoo (not my real name) and I am a butterfly binder clip addict.

It's been 40 years since my last visit, and I just can't stop opening and closing the clips, snapping inanimate objects as if I've got a herd of little ravenous bite-machines, and flipping the handles up and down, up and down, up and down like the binder is flying. 

My wife has threatened to leave me if I accidentally clip her one more time, and neither of the dogs will come anywhere near me because I've lost control of the clips and sent them summersaulting through the air so often the pooches are traumatized.  They think butterfly clips want to kill them.

Also, any highlighter that is not yellow is disgusting and against nature.

Thank you.  I must go fly my clips now.

[latico]

I realize I'm reactivating an old thread, so please forgive me, but I recently read Juvenal's post on the first page, in which he remarks that he can no longer find Sanford Xpresso pens, his favorite.  My husband also loved those pens (they are the only pens he feels comfortable writing with), so a couple of years ago, when my searches for the Sanford pens became more and more difficult, I mounted a search for a replacement.

My first step was to figure out the technical classification for the Sanford pens.  I learned that they are "porous point" pens, and used that name to search for what I wanted.  Lo and behold, I found
Schneider Xpress pens, made in Germany, .8mm, fine liner.

You can get a box of 10 for $18.99.  I got them for my husband and he loves them! He says they are exactly like the Sanford pens, only better.  They last longer, for one thing. And they are bright green, so he can always find them in the depths of his bag or desk drawer.

I know what it is like to love a particular pen and to find that it is discontinued, so even though it is so late, I thought I would post for Juvenal and anyone else that misses Sanford Xpresso pens.

[mamselle]

Happy to see this thread!

My recent guilty purchase (because CVS had a 2-fer): Rainbow colored post-it notes.

Color-coding things helps you find them, right?

Of course, right.

M.

[Langue_doc]

My Parker pen refills (Quink cartridges, black) have been shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. I have extra boxes of my Waterman ink cartridges, blue, for another pen.

I need the black ink to address the Christmas card envelopes.

[ergative]

My Parker pen refills (Quink cartridges, black) have been shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. I have extra boxes of my Waterman ink cartridges, blue, for another pen.

I need the black ink to address the Christmas card envelopes.

Ah, another fountain pen user. Have you ever considered making the switch from cartridges to bottled ink? It opens up your world in new and marvelous ways.

[Langue_doc]

My Parker pen refills (Quink cartridges, black) have been shipped and will arrive on Tuesday. I have extra boxes of my Waterman ink cartridges, blue, for another pen.

I need the black ink to address the Christmas card envelopes.

Ah, another fountain pen user. Have you ever considered making the switch from cartridges to bottled ink? It opens up your world in new and marvelous ways.

I have bottled ink, the adapters for the pens (or whatever they're called) and also calligraphy pens and ink (in ink bottles). I'm just too lazy these days. I went to school in Country X where we had to use real pens and real ink. I think the pens had a lever of sorts that you raised so that the suction would get the ink from the bottle into the pens. Back in the days, long past my school and college years (3-15 years ago), I would use calligraphy pens for my Christmas and other cards and also for addressing the envelopes. I probably need to get un-lazy.

[mamselle]

I may have posted this on this thread earlier, but in time for the holidays, these folks (and in particular, Caroline, on the pen counter) are one of those privately-owned niche stationery places with pens, inks, etc. to die for...)

   https://www.bobslatestationer.com/

Just to tempt anyone who needs that tiny little push over the edge...

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

Ooh - and my quad-ruled spiral bound notebooks. Hard to find outside of back-to-school season.

Maybe we are twins because I buy stacks of those every back-to-school season.

Hi Polly!

[Wahoo Redux]

Hello, my name is Wahoo and I am an addict.  I was clean all through secondary education----we only had an old electric typewriter in my childhood home, and it barely worked----and I was a disinterested student as an undergrad and it is remarkable I managed to stumble to the B.A. line at all.

Then I went to grad school, and I developed a <sniff> deep addition to yellow highlighters.  Not the nasty blue, green, or pink highlighters (they make me puke) but those light, bright, lemony yellow highlighters.  It is like filling your texts with sunlight and happiness!  I just can't stop...

And I've got a weird fixation on three-hole punches.  But I can stop any time I want.

[Tee_Bee]

I am back in hopes of reviving this thread and to share my recent stationery fetishism discoveries.  Share yours! Let's revel in our love of office supplies!

* I subscribe to https://www.scribedelivery.com/, which for thirty bucks a month sends me interesting pens and really cool notebooks. Sometimes the pens and notebooks aren't my thing, but, about 90% of the time, the stuff is to die for. Like this gorgeous Rhodia dot grid notepad in A4 format. Or a Rhodia "reverse book" that is a square, quad-ruled spiral-bound notebook that, because it is square, makes as much sense to use with the binding side up as on the left. It's a thing of beauty.

* Because of Scribe Delivery I've also amassed an absurd collection of pens. My favorite so far is the Zebra Clickart retractable marker pens. I have a 36 color box, which makes me feel like a six-year-old with the 64-color box of Crayolas. So much fun. I have zero artistic talent, and even worse handwriting, but I love doodling with these, and watching all the stationery and planner porn on YouTube where people with talents make beautiful planners and journals (have they no jobs?)

* To feed this new pen habit, I now have a favorite website--JetPens.com. They carry all the groovy Japanese stationery, such as Hobonichi Techo planners, my favorite Zebra pens, fantastic fountain pen inks--I've learned the hard way never to carry my fountain pens, so they sit in a place of honor at home. All these new pens and notebooks have me doing far more hand-written notes than I did before. I've tried and tried to digitize everything, but for day to day, fleeting notes, nothing beats a good pen* and a good notebook. I have fully leaned into the realization that I enjoy the aesthetic/tactile aspects of hand writing, even though my handwriting is awful.

* Pencil: The Pentel GraphGear 1000, in .7 or .9 mm. The best mechanical pencil I've ever owned. The writing is silky smooth--sometimes it just feels better to write/doodle with a really good pencil.

Disclaimer: I don't have a stake in any companies mentioned here, except for a fervent hope they stay in business! Thanks for indulging my tale of stationery addiction.

[mamselle]

I have a friend who would make dazzling contributions to this thread, but she doesn't do forum stuff....

She has a whole wall devoted to little wooden cubbies with pens, pencils, ink, etc. above her desk.

She does make very good use of them (calligraphy, artists' books, etc.).

She is now just trying to find a place to give away her stub ends.

Any suggestions?

M. 

[Tee_Bee]

I have a friend who would make dazzling contributions to this thread, but she doesn't do forum stuff....

She has a whole wall devoted to little wooden cubbies with pens, pencils, ink, etc. above her desk.

She does make very good use of them (calligraphy, artists' books, etc.).

She is now just trying to find a place to give away her stub ends.

Any suggestions?

M.

Do you mean stub ends of like colored pencils? I wonder if a high school  or college art teacher could use them or similar items.

[mamselle]

Good thought. I'll mention that to her.

She just sent me a photo of a 'new' (old, re-furbished) printer's tray, set up vertically, with all its cubbies filled with more pens, inks, etc.

As long as the wind doesn't blow it down....

M.