Friday Favorites : More writing tools and a grounding tool

March 30, 2018 in Favorites

Every week on Friday, some things I love. No affiliate links, just things I love because I love them and want to share the love so you might love them too. Lots of love. Love all around, no commerce.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that my dream has always been to open a stationery shop. When I travel, particularly overseas, stationery shops are my first go-to destination. The different sizes of paper, the variety of lines on the page, the way the ink sinks into the paper, all are luscious to me. While I appreciate and use a lot of technology solutions, paper and pen (or pencil) will always be my first love.

Here are some more delights to join the ones I wrote about recently:

Paper

As noted earlier, Tomoe River Paper has me in its grips, totally. Sheer, but strong enough to hold watercolor, it is perfect for fountain pens and anything else that isn’t alcohol-based (those will ghost through too much). It’s like the paper that Bibles and dictionaries are made of, to reduce the heft, so it feels insubstantial, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Or further from the truth. I can never remember the rule about when to use which one of those words.

Here’s a Writer’s Notebook with Tomoe River Paper. Or its smaller cousin, the Cafe Notebook. Oh, and the glory of loose-leaf sheets of it.

Pens

Because I use so many Japanese products like Hobonichi and Jibun Techo with Tomoe River Paper and smaller writing spaces, I have grown to love and appreciate fine and extra fine nibs on my pens. If you need a good beginner fountain pen, here’s what I recommend: The Pilot Metropolitan.

Love one particular color? You’re going to LOVE these pen samplers.

Pencils

While I’m deeply into non-mechanical pencils at the moment, having ritualized the whole sharpening process, I have had this mechanical pencil in my cart at JetPens for a while and will hit “buy” soon. It has teeny tiny lead in it, great for those Japanese planners. I like a dark lead, which is why my love for Goldwings was noted earlier, and here’s a handy chart that will help you buy the kind of lead you like most.

Way Makers Cards

Artist and author Mary Anne Em Radmacher has created a set of Way Makers Cards that are adding direction to my days. Each morning, as part of my morning routine, I randomly choose two cards without looking and use those two as a North Star for my day. It’s remarkable how clarifying that is. I find it changes what I look for and do in my days by providing a focus. An oracle of direction. Words + image = powerful. She’s selling sets of 200 WAY MAKERS Cards & a display clip for $82. And $4.50 for Post. Bring intention to your day. Email maryanneradmacher7@gmail.com if you’re interested in ordering a set.

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.