Wednesday 28 October 2015

A new lead on paper, some new designs, and A4 update

I know, even before I write this post, just how ridiculous it is.  I'm so desperate for new paper that I am looking for it in bizarre places, like the shipping box of my Scriptus Toronto supplies.  When the shipment from La Marche in Montreal arrived at work, I ripped it open to stare lovingly at all the Emerald of Chivor bottles that will be up for sale at the 2015 Toronto Pen Show.   Inside there was the regular gray paper that is typical of packages from La Marche, but there was also a new paper I had never seen before.  It was much thicker and a brighter white.  As is typical, I whipped out my fountain pens and tested out the paper.

I was blown away.



There was no bleed through, there was no feathering, and the paper didn't feel thick like cardboard stock.  Thrilling!  But the real test was the show-through.


Almost nothing.  My lower finger is right underneath the writing on the opposite side, and you can barely see anything.  I had originally been looking for paper to use for ball point pen writers in my shop, but this paper could easily double as FP friendly paper.  But how to get more?  This is the packing paper they sent, it was all crinkled up.  I couldn't just call and ask to buy some from their stock.

I did call Alex, who is my guy at La Marche.  He's always been very kind and accommodating, and I appreciated it today even more when he dug around in his warehouse to find the paper in question.  It turns out that this is packing paper that come from Europe with G.Lalo shipments to their Canadian distributor.  Packing paper.  Wow.  Alex agreed to call Europe and ask if he could purchase some of the paper, and if so, how big it is in terms of width.  It would need to be manageable enough for me to carry it around and have it cut down to A4 and A5 sized sheets.   I should know more by next week.

In the meantime, I've been designing some new stationery for the Toronto Pen Show coming up this Sunday.  Check it out!


I am especially in love with the hedgies.  :)

The supplies required for A4 shipping have finally come in, so I'm ready to roll out the A4 line.  I'm too busy to get orders for the A4 sets before Monday, so I'll have them go live at that time.  

Time to head off to sci-fi class.  We're discussing vN this week, and I've got an essay on it due in two weeks.  Eek!



Friday 23 October 2015

Shimmer home mixes + mail call

Well, the transfer over to A4 paper is basically complete, but I'm stalling.  I'm not sure why, but I've got this major fear about offering A4 sets on etsy.  I've really got to get over it and let it go live, so I'll work on that next week.

In the meantime, I've been playing with some lustre dust added to ink while I wait for the new Diamine inks to show up at my doorstep.  I've had some successes and some abject failures.  What I've learned is that it takes A LOT more lustre dust than I originally thought to make an ink shimmery.


That is a mix of J.Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite and some random Sailor blue I've forgotten the name of.  I added some red plum lustre dust into the mix, and although it's darker than I had hoped, it is still fairly pretty.

Next up, some Penman Sapphire, into which I threw a ton of light blue dust and a smidgen of clear crystal dust as well.



Not bad for some first attempts!  I'll keep trying with different mixes.  I made a really interesting Sailor pink with gold shimmer.  If it's sunny next week I'll try and take some pictures.   Next up - orange with gold sparkles!  Or maybe clear ones?

Also, mail.  I've had only two incoming letters recently, but they were both lovely.



And I've already sent out replies.



I was so sad and bereft without a pen pal to write to that I trolled a site for a new one, and came across a girl in Finland that I thought I might click with.  I decided the hedgies were so cute I couldn't help but make my new pen pal a cute hedgie envelope for my initial letter.  It's nice to have a pen pal in Finland again.  Things ended not so well with my last one, who decided I was too analytic for her tastes.   <sigh!>  I actually still think about her a lot, and while I don't think we make great pen pals, I do wish her the best and miss her letters terribly.  She was great at mail art.

Well, I'm off to pick up a library book for my sci-fi university course reading list.  Catch you guys next week.  Happy letter writing!


Tuesday 13 October 2015

Bung Box paper

Someone on s-mail.proboards.com just mentioned buying several pads of this paper at a recent pen show and really liking it.  Urged on by this recommendation, one of my pen pals purchased a few as well and graciously sent me a sheet to try out.

Honestly, I kind of think this paper is terrible.

First off, it is really oddly textured.



I could probably get over that if the paper was awesome, but it's not.  There's feathering with all the inks I tried.  It's light feathering at just the tips and edges of text, so maybe people don't mind that as much as I do.  After Tomoe River paper has spoiled me, and after my recent addition of Triomphe paper to my etsy roster, I really don't have patience for feathering anymore.  I mean, even a cheap Rhodia dotPad won't feather!  



There is also bleed-through, which of course didn't impress me.



I thought, hey, perhaps all the thick nibbed pens are too much for this paper to handle.  So I tried an M5 vintage Sheaffer Snorkel, which has a nib as thin as a modern F.  That orange line at the top that still has a bit of bleed-through?  That's the M5 nib.  ARG.  

I think the worst part is that the feathering and the bleed-through don't come with any kind of pay off.  The colours look kind of flat and matte on the page.



And instead of shading, you get this really patchy effect because of the texture.  The dents in the page seem to be more absorbent than the rest of the paper, so those bits inside the text are darker than the rest, leaving the text looking literally spotty.  Perhaps some people will like this effect, but I do not.



Overall, I am really NOT a fan of this paper.  A big thanks to alc3261 for sending me some to try out before I spent money on a pad of this stuff.



Friday 9 October 2015

Monthly raffle, new sets, and incoming/outgoing mail

Okay, I guess I have a bunch of stuff to talk about in this post.  First off, the monthly raffle.

Each month, I'm going to hold a raffle, with the prize being one full set of A5 sized stationery, any design the winner wants, and in any combination of sheets/envelopes, and on any paper they want.  The name of the winner will be chosen from the list of all customers in a given month.  So, to be entered, all you need to do is buy a set of stationery, and your name will automatically get thrown into the digital hat.

Changing how many sets you buy in one order doesn't increase your chances.  If Suzy buys three sets in one order, she doesn't get her name into the raffle more times than Joe, who only buys one set.  However, if Joe buys one set on October 9th, and another set on October 15th (ie. two separate, complete orders), then Joe will have his name entered twice.  Please note that if you purchase only a 50% off set in your order, your name WILL NOT be entered into the raffle.  However, if you buy a full price set as well as a 50% off order, then it will be entered.  If you've already purchased this month, fear not - your name will be included in this month's raffle.

I'm still a small shop - I only had 11 orders last month - so your odds of winning are pretty good!  I'll keep up the raffle for October through to December, and then poll people and see if they like it and they want me to continue.

Also, I've got some new sets listed.  Check out my shop for full details, but here are some pictures!










 





In final news, I've decided to post my incoming and outgoing mail on this blog.  I've seen *a lot* of blogs related to snail mail and stationery do this, so I don't think it will be stepping on anyone's toes to join in.  Besides, some of my pen pals send me seriously great envelope art.  :)  Me, not so much.  I was just super proud of finally being able to print onto an envelope.




Check out what came to me in the mail though.  It's 10000x prettier.  



Well, that's it for today!

Thursday 1 October 2015

New etsy banner

In my daily life and not just the world of KWS, I tend to do things a bit backwards.  I know we're moving into Fall, but i'm doing some KWS (and bedroom!) spring cleaning.  I'm retiring some old sets, and now I've revamped my etsy banner.  I'm really loving the new look!



The quote comes from a custom order I recently fulfilled.  I loved it, and I'm thinking about trying to figure out how to make envelopes with that quote written fancifully along the back.  

Any knitters who are following this blog, keep your eyes peeled in the next few days.  If it's sunny, I hope to take some pictures and list a new set that I created for a recent customer who loves knitting.  :)