Online Stores and Shipping and Handling

So a few weeks ago I went to the NYC pen show. It was great! I purchased a nib and some sacs for some old fountain pens a coworker gave me that used to belong to her husband. I also received a lot of good information from a few vendors. While I was there I also purchased a TWSBI EF fountain pen. The great people of TWSBI were really great because they gave you a few ink choices to fill your brand new pen with, I chose Sailor Blue-Black.  OMG let me tell you, I normally don't like blue ink. It's just something about blue which makes me think of the ugly blue from the Bic Stic Pens in school. So normally I stay far away from blue. However the shading that Sailor Blue-Black gives in the TWSBI is phenomenal!

But back to the topic. I really love the ink so I decided to buy a bottle. Normally I would have purchased it at a physical store, because tax is cheaper than shipping.  However my normal stomping grounds don't sell this color ink. Well one just doesn't sell Sailor ink and another one only sells the newest colors. So that leaves me with buying it online. My usual online retailers for ink do not sell the brand either.  So I had to scourer the internet for a reputable company that did sell it. Now for the fun part, Shipping & Handling! I don't mind paying out the ___ for large and cumbersome items. However what ticks me off the most, with these charges is when I pay $8-12 in shipping and it only cost the proprietor $4-6 to ship the item. Do they refund you the money that you spent on shipping that was not used, No they do not. However we the customers are at their mercy for products that can not be found in local stores.

I guess I have become spoilt by online retailers that give free S&H after a certain dollar amount purchase or those that have a very nominal shipping fee.

I have now vented and should be ok for a while.

Calligraphy Nib Holder

So I told my mother and aunt that I wanted to learn calligraphy. Being the kind women that they are they gave me all of their old calligraphy supplies. One item that I found to be interesting is this nib holder. I have never seen one like it before. I tried searching for it online; however I was unable to find any information about it. Has anyone ever seen at calligraphy nib holder like this before? If so do you know anything about it?

Yeah so..

My lack of posting is all do to lack of time spent reading or doing anything of any type of interesting. (<-Run on sentence I know) So my world last week was hospitals, home and work. This week Ma Dukes is home so it's home and work.
I wanted to go to the NYC pen show which starts tomorrow. I was think of stopping by it on saturday. However it all depends on how she's doing that morning.
This is my life now. I was so going to work on changing my life perceptions and figuring out what I wanted to do most in life. However this blog seems to be more of a dud due to lack of prolific post or any post at all. Ish happens in life it's all a matter of how we deal with it. Anger gets us no where fast and I have learned that in the past week during all this. Staying calm and collected and never loosing your cool( <-Really who does that). It's ok to cry; I have learned. People get tears and stay clear of anger. It's when your life seems to be falling apart you find out who is really there for you.

Rhodia Web notebook (Webbie) Review

Hi all! First I would like to thank Stephanie and Karen for giving me the opportunity to do this review! Weeks ago Rhodiadrive.com had a Web notebook giveaway. So like any lover of great quality paper, I entered. Not too long after the contest was over I received and email from Stephanie at Rhodiadrive.com asking me if I would be interested in receiving a Web notebook to review. I was hesitant at first because I don’t know if anyone actually reads my blog. However after much internal debate I emailed her back saying; Yes! I was given the opportunity to receive an extra one to give away however I really don’t know how many people are reading my blog if any. So I declined that offer. I am sorry if you do read my blog and I have now hindered you from the possibility of owning one. A few weeks ago Karen from Exaclair, Inc. sent me the Web notebook. I was so excited to get it, however I left it in the packaging until I had time, as to not damage it before taking pictures to review it.

So here is my review. As you can see from the pictures I like the color orange. It’s not to say that I don’t own black Rhodia books because I do. However there is just something about having a nice orange to pull out and brighten up your day. Left to right are a blank N ̊16 staple bound, Web notebook, graph N ̊18 staple bound and a lined notebook stapled in the center. Now as you can all see from the open books picture the Web notebook has a cream color where as the others are all stark white. While I like cream for drawing and painting purposes for writing I tend to like white and the brighter the better. Not really for any other reason than sometimes it’s harder for me to focus on my notes on darker paper. Yellow legal pads at work just irk me. It’s much harder to highlight yellow on yellow.



So with that I decided to use the Webbie for drawing purposes. Mind you I cannot draw for the life of me. However I have learned that with the right stencils I can create really nice stuff. So here are a something’s I tried my hand at in the Webbie. The first page I found to be too much going on in the tag shape. So I left that alone and went to the next, next page (No typo I really did skip a page and go to the next one). So I created the stars and such. After doing that I went to the skipped page and wrote some quotes down. As you can see I write hard because the back of the writing page picked up the color pencil. As you see from the written page you can faintly see the “stars and such” image in the background almost like a water mark. I loved using the color pencils on it for every color I used except yellow. However it made making the color pop less stressful than with pure white paper.



I am very new to using blogger I have no clue as to where my pictures are or if they even uploaded. If by chance they did not. Here is the link to this set on flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/laoriginaltec/sets/72157624726636011/

Posting Delay

Sorry it has taken me so long to post again. My mother has cancer and I have been busy with her in the hospital. She is now home so maybe I will be able to get back to my "Evolution of Me". I am reading more! YAY! Not buying books but getting them from the library. Mostly Sci-Fi, and fantasy. I had taken out a few calligraphy books however I did not have time to really work with them. I am going to try this week to finish reading Dan Millman's The life you were born to live. It's basically a Numerology book with more detailed information about yourself. Well to say the least it's a lot less confusing then a numerology book and a lot more strait forward in it's explanations. With that said, I'm not reading the whole book per-say but the parts that pertain to me. My brother borrowed it last week and found it to be very enlightening. I did not just buy this book if your wondering. It's just one of the many books that I own that I purchased but never got around to reading.

Knife in the Heart

So I have been abstaining from purchases of fountain pens/ pens, ink, paper and books. OMG!!! I am dieing here. All the things I'm interested in have either gone down in price or new things have come out. Pens I want prices either came down or the store now has the pen in stock. Inks I have not had so much of a problem with. Due to the fact that I keep telling my self that, I own all the primary colors so I can always mix my own colors. Paper now who does not like paper. I'm still kicking myself for not going to Kinokuniya in the Palisades Mall and buying the Maruman "sept couleur" notebooks I like, while they where 50% because the store was closing. Now the store is closed. :( Now onto books I live in Barnes and Noble. Every time I go to the mall I have to stop in. Even if I was there the day before and the day before that! I know I have issues but you never see the same things. Take for instance today, I went in and was browsing the Sci-Fi section and saw the second book in a series I started not too long ago. I also saw books to another series that looks interesting and I want to read them. However I must stay on course. So I will search the Library for the books and pray that they have them.

Frugality

So this month I will do my best to not spend money on anything that is not necessary to survive. Things necessary: Food and Gas for car. Not Necessary books, pens, paper, ink and art supplies (clothing is not listed because, I don't really like to shop for clothes). So today starts my Month of not spending money on unnecessary items. I am also hoping that this not spending money will allow me to have money saved for either the DC Pen show or just to buy some flex nib pens else where. If I am unable to make it to the DC Pen show. Wish me Luck!!! Oh tomorrow I had already promised my brother that I would go with him to go see The Last Air bender. However movies are not a weekly thing or even monthly thing for me so I should be good after this movie.
So during this no money spending time. I figure I should use all of the stuff I already own. Like my 7 fountain pens and try my hand at mixing inks. Well time will tell.

Hello World

So I tried wordpress did not like the lack of ability to make things my own. So now I'm trying again here. I hope this goes better.
I am going to take a stab at blogging. I'm a long time reader first time blogger. I hope that I do not bore you. If I start to, let me know I love constructive criticism.

What I want or wish to accomplish with this blog?
No real clue.

I'm a jack of all trades a master of none. I'm new to the world of Fountain Pens, but a long time lover of pens and paper. My addiction started from an early age when I used to go with my mother to the office supply store to buy her pens for work because she did not like the pens they supplied. Looking at all of the pens getting the tried and true or experimenting with the new ones. My mother had no idea of what she was creating when she took me with her to the Office supply store. Now she looks at me and shakes her head and smiles whenever I tell her I bought a new pen. However considering all the things one can be addicted to this one is pretty safe.

Now this blog will not be all about pens and paper. There are more than enough people who already do that. This is more about me trying new things. It's my very own Everything evolution.

Wire Book Binding part 1

So my mother is really into card stamping. There just happen to be shows for people interested in stamping for cards or scrap-booking.  So at one of the shows I saw this machine that allows you bind books with wire. After many shows I finally caved and purchased one. I am posting pictures of my first attempt. I have learned that the directions suck!! No matter how many times I tried to follow them on punching the holes I kept messing up. Oh well even with the messed up top punch it's pretty decent for my first try.