The Goodies Done Been Got!

Hello friends,

My goodness, what kind little kittens you all are to help me clean out my “junk”. I loved reading all about your favorite pens, and I’m sure others did too–I even received a kind little package from Richard of My Ink Pen, with the result that I had an extra goodie to give away (six cartridges of very fine Private Reserve Ink–there were seven, but I nabbed one to try for myself, and can report that it’s smooth and dense)!

I, too, find it difficult to name my favorite writing implement. There are so many, and no one pen is the perfect pen for every situation.

These are but a few examples of my current and past favorites. I still love my Daiso disposable (especially as Carroll has sent me a re-filled one!) and I know that on any given day I will choose one over the other. But these are my current favorites, for now:

From left to right: The adorable and compact Kaweco Sport (I bought the white one because I misplaced the black one–but I found the black one when I cleaned out my desk!!). A nice solid writer, almost like a gel pen. Has the sad tendency to skip on the downstroke (something that happens to me with fountain pens a lot, and I don’t know why).

Next to that is the tried-and-true Bic Clic. I got this one at a beer tasting. I also stole my companion’s. You just never know when you’ll need to write on a carbon, or something shiny.

Then, the Hero 616s. Powerful little workhorse of a pen, and cheap on the eBays. The black one has a tendency to throw ink when I uncap it, but hey, what do you expect for $1.50? The burgundy one is superfine and I keep it filled with Noodler’s Red Rattler.

Next, a double-headed ZIG writer that I found in the garage when my neighbors moved out and left a TON of junk behind. Yes, I dig through other people’s cast-offs. That may be why I have so much junk. Water-proof, fade-proof, acid-free non-bleeding pigment ink. Lots of hyphens means I like it for addressing shiny labels.

Oh, Pelikan Future. I bought this one in Tokyo, which is funny, because it’s German. RED! Filled with Rattler Red. It’s tried and true and even though it’s plastic, I love it to pieces. Probably the best inexpensive fountain pen I’ve ever purchased. Firm but springy nib and almost never gets dried out. I have three, now….

Next, the Pelikan M215 (o Pelikan, how I love you). I got this one for myself when Good Mail Day was released. It was expensive and you know what? Even though I tried it out a lot in the shop before I bought it, it’s not my favorite pen. It skips a little. I have it filled with Noodler’s Black, which is a nice juicy black, but…something is lacking, for me. Oh well.

And then, another perennial favorite, the Pilot V-Ball (extra fine). I prefer the shape of this one (I don’t need my pens to look like rockets, or have lots of colors, or funny facets…I like this lozenge-shape and basic appearance) over the other Pilot iterations, and these never fail me. I recently bought them in every color for my art buddy M. Wertz.

So there you go, a little pen-voyeurism to start off the holiday weekend. That’s all I have for you…oh, wait, was there something else I was going to do today?

…oh YES! THE GIVEAWAY!!

This was very scientific. I wrote everyone’s name on a scrap of paper and then I wrote all the goodies on other scraps of paper and drew them successively out of two very special paper bags. And the winners are….

Origami Stationery Box Set: Tricia! Tricia likes colored ball point pens and would love to try a fountain pen sometime. Anyone have a recommendation?

Scribble Scribble Stationery Set: Nicky! Nicky loves her Papermate Liquid Expresso pen.

Bunny Jotter Set: GirlonaGlide! Juli finds that sometimes a pencil can be the perfect implement (and I couldn’t agree more).

Gnome Jotter Set: Kiyasu! Kiyasu’s writing-love is complex and multifaceted, from the Pilot 2020 pencil to the Feeder G101 to funky, felt-y, Marvy markers. Now she has a crow-quill pen to add to the mix!

Tag/Seal set 1: Niku! Niku used to be on my Pilot V team until a friend converted her to Pitt pens. More Pilot V-balls for me!

Quarry/1984 Jotter Set 1: Mia! Mia told a charming tale of a Florentine fountain pen that encourages one to Write for Glory. Mia, can we have a picture?

Tag/Seal set 2: Mina! Mina, too, has varied writing tastes. Everything from the Lamy ballpoint to the Stabilo rollerball to a nice soft lead pencil makes her happy.

Glue Brush Notecards: Almah! Almah’s preferred sepia brush pen will really look special on these notecards.

Private Reserve Ink from My Ink Pen: Meg! Meg likes coloured markers, but perhaps she does not have a fountain pen to use with these lovely Private Reserve cartridges…which is why I am going to send her that extra Pelikan Future I had sitting around. Special bonus extra special pen love! Paying it forward, so to speak!

Little Labels Set 1: Elissa! Elissa has a thing for Muji gel pens. I think I know the ones she means; I bought a couple at a 7-11 in Tokyo and used them until they dried up like the desert.

Quarry/1984 Jotter Set 2: Faiza! Faiza did not share her favorite pen with us, but she does like her “please deliver with kindness” stamp, which is good enough for me!

Tag/Seal Set 3: Debbie (favphotos)! Debbie loves fountain pens and typewriters, and I can say the same.

Little Labels Set 2: Debbie Igram! Debbie loves the Pigma Microns that are beloved by artists and writers all over the globe.

Tag/Seal Set 4: Stephanie! Stephanie does not discriminate between fine Sharpies and fat markers, so long as there is color involved.

Tag/Seal Set 5: Cecelia! Cecelia told a touching tale of her Waterman fountain pen: My favorite is a Waterman fountain pen that my sister gave me as a graduation gift in the 80′s. I don’t know the model, but it’s thin, black, and heavy. I fill it with blue-black ink because it looks old fashioned and reminds me of the ink our mother used. It’s a simple pleasure, and connects me to my sister and to a different time.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone for writing! I’ll be sending out emails later today to get snail mail addresses (from anyone who did not also post on the Call-For-Pen Friends, that is) from the winners.

And for those of you who didn’t win, Anna Catwrangler has a very generous gift for you! She wrote me when I first posted the giveaway and offered to send out some stationery-type goodies to those who didn’t win this time. Here’s what she has to say:

For those of you who will not win these lovely items – I have 3 shoe boxes of crap. Whoops I mean long cherished stationery items such as a million envelopes of all sizes and random postcards/cards. It is nowhere as near as beautiful as the above items but will provide you with lots of items to rework and make into something better. Besides – it is free. Some of the stuff – you will say ‘Ugh who in their right mind bought this?’ and some of the stuff will make you say ‘This is amazing! I can’t believe she is giving this away!’ So if you don’t win the above item then email me at annamlincoln@gmail.com and I will have my pug randomly select a name on JULY 6. Not kidding, I will take pictures and post on my blog.

There you go! Happy scribbling, each and every one of you!

–Carolee

**EDIT: ANNA HAS EXTENDED THE DEADLINE UNTIL JULY 6!**

The “I-cleaned-my-office!” Giveaway

Hello my little scribblers,

I have some really beautiful mail to show you, but instead, today, I’m having a Midsummer Giveaway. I decided that I needed to clean out my desk and the seventeen kajillion bags that were holding things, next to the desk. And look what I found! GOODIES!

• A set of five letterpress-printed glue brush cards, with envelopes (printed by me). ^

• A set of labels and seals (two sets to give away). ^

• A set of letterpress-printed pen nib stationery, with five different letterpress-printed envelopes. ^

• A large selection of fancy tags and some seals (5 sets to give away). ^

• Origami Note Cards with booklet and 48 sheets of decorative paper. ^

• Little jotter set; One “makeready” notebook from Quarry Books and one small jotter notebook from 1984 Printing in Oakland (2 sets to give away). ^

• Jotter notebook (from 1984 Printing) plus a crow’s quill Japanese fountain pen from Tachikama Japan, with sepia ink and one refill cartridge. ^

• A smaller jotter gnome notebook from 1984 Printing and a crow’s quill fountain pen with sepia ink and one refill cartridge. ^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want one of these things? So here’s what you gotta do:

Leave a comment and tell me all about your favorite writing implement.

Contest winners will be chosen randomly, so be sure to leave your email address so that I can get your street address for mailing.

DEADLINE: Thursday, July 1 at 8 pm. Comments will be closed at that time and I’ll choose the winners (all fourteen of them!!).

Call for Scribblers, Mail Artists, and Pen Friends!

It was brought to my attention, through a recent comment (thank you, Pamela!), that more of you would like to correspond with like-minded people. Let’s think of this as less regimented than a pen-pal list and more regimented than Postcrossing, shall we?

Hit the “leave a comment” button if you would like to send and receive mail. Some guidelines:

• include your mailing address. This can be your work address or a PO box if you don’t feel comfortable giving out your home address on the internet (may I just say that a post office box goes a long way towards achieving privacy peace of mind).
• feel free to write a little bit about the kinds of themes or subjects you like, whether you’d like letters or mail art, or if you’re interested in doing a certain kind of mail art project. You don’t have to do this, but you may, if you wish.
• all comments will be moderated by me, so that we don’t see any of that nasty spam.
• I’ll put a link to this post in the sidebar so that you can always find it, and direct others here if you see fit.

ETA: Your challenge, should you accept it, is to NOT ONLY add your information in the comments, but to choose ONE PERSON from the commenters to write to.

REMEMBER: you have to give good mail in order to get it.

Go!Go! Go!!!!

–Carolee

The Elsewhere Philatelic Society

I picked this up at Maker Faire this weekend. I’m not sure what it’s about yet, but you can bet I’ll be investigating.

(flickr members can click through the photo to see the larger, readable options. Non-flickr people click here.)

The mention at the bottom leads to nonchalance.com, which seems to have nothing to do with stamps or philately or talismans or anything. But there is a mention of a scavenger hunt, so….I’m in!

there’s a bit about the “curious dilettante” in the video that really appeals to me.

–Carolee

A full mailbox is a happy mailbox…

…and a happy correspondent!

In today’s post, I’d like to introduce all of you to some of the superstars of the postbox. If one of these beauties is yours, and you want more pen-friends, or you want to turn people on to your (brilliant, relevant, picture-pretty) blog, please leave your info in the comments!

First up…

^ Good words from the kind and creative Georgiann Carlson of Arlington Heights, IL. You said it!

♥

^ Spring in Cascadia from Cascadia Artpost. Artiststamps ahoy!

^ And another from Cascadia Artpost…does everyone know by now that my favorite color is red?

♥

^ this reminds me of Cheerios. Hmmm. Now I’m hungry! From Karen Eshelby of Birkenfeld, OR

♥

^ inspiring words from Jackie Henderson of Calgary, Alberta. I think she knows how hard it is for me to get out of bed some mornings.

♥

^ a charming question-and-answer format from Tracy Herrity of Portsmouth, UK. Her question was, “I was unable to find but a handful of books detailing this fabulous practice [of mail art], I wanted to ask for your opinion on this.” Well, Tracy, in the simplest of terms, we also had your experience. Thanks to Quarry, and our contributors, our answer is now “if you want to see something in the world, bring it about yourself!”

♥

^ a gorgeous multimedia portrait (on handmade paper!) from Lynne Hoppe of Adin, CA.  The scan does not do justice to its textural loveliness.

♥

^ themed postcards from the back of Good Mail day. This one, musing on “green”, is from Gail Lintern of Kent, OH.

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^ and this one, on (whose favorite color? hmmm?) red, is from Emily McDonald of Brighton, MA.

♥

^ and now into oddity. The bubble from the packaging of a miniature staple becomes a thing-repository (earrings! watering cans! a dum-dum wrapper! a be-hatted green man!) from Jackie Desiraye Ramos of Coralville, IA.

♥

^ another unusual shape from Lauren N. Scott of Naples, FL. This made it to me with SURPRISING swiftness, given its unusual shape. Keep stretching the post!

♥

^ a heartfelt tribute to Jennifer Bygness from her friend Nancy Shreve of Stillwater, MN.

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^ and, above, two beautiful (as always) offerings from Jennifer Utter of San Francisco. I am the lucky recipient of many of Jennifer’s incredible letters and postcards. Maybe, if you ask nicely, she’ll write to you as well….

♥

Thank you, everyone, for all of the incredible mail!

–Carolee

Maker Faire this weekend in sunny San Mateo!

Dear Friends,

I’ve poked my head up out of my mail-work-project hole just to tell you this:

I’ll be signing books this weekend at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, at the Craftside (Quarry/Quayside/Rockport) booth. If you stop by to say hello, I’ll have a special surprise for you. Does it have something to do with the little strip of stamps above?

Hmmm……it might.

I’ll be at the table on Saturday, 1-2, Sunday, 11-12.

Watch this space over the weekend for a roundup of Good Mail from the Good Mail Day mailbox!

*slips slowly beneath pile of mail*

–Carolee

Good Mail: Jamye Jamison

For the last two years, Jamye (who some of you may recognize as the maker of AbsolutMailArt on page 112 of Good Mail Day) has spent February in India (working on a top-secret conservation project). She diligently amasses all manner of odd ephemera, with great attention to detail, and through some accident of luck I became the recipient of one of these packets. The clear plastic envelope measures 4 x 6 1/2 in. Jamye is a conservator at the Intermuseum Conservation Association (translation: is a total bad-ass).

Conserve! Archive! Ephemeralize! and MAIL!

–Carolee

Good Mail: Canadian Girl Scout (Lauren Leanne)

Confession: I troll around on the Internet looking for mentions of Good Mail Day. Sometimes a search-engine alert lets me know that someone has typed those three key words on her blog (leading to a lot of irrelevant but enjoyable posts about mail–good mail day is a concept a lot of people appreciate, even when they have never heard of our book). Sometimes I notice that someone has linked to this blog from their own in my referrer stats. Regardless of how I find them, when I find that people have enjoyed Good Mail Day and have also kindly included their address on their blog, I like to write them a little letter (hi, Cheryl  of strikethru!).

Such was the case with Leanne, the Canadian Girl Scout. Through one of the above methods, I found her kind review of Good Mail Day and sent her a little goodie-pack. The card with the zine and postcards confesses,

My dear, (for I did not even know her name) (and evidently I still do not)
It is my fervent wish that you see this little packet as proof that no kind word goes unrewarded–rather than get the feeling that two very self-centered authors are stalking about Google looking for mentions….
but truthfully, that’s what I do! And I saw your lovely words about Good Mail Day and wanted to send a little surprise.

It seems to have met its intended purpose. For, as she wrote on her followup entry,

Just confirmation that a good word put in for someone, no matter how far away, how quietly or anonymous, really does come back to you. (Certainly this is true for the opposite as well, so let’s watch what tongue, pen and keyboard puts into existence.) Today is a day to feel the good vibes of the universe…. and the interconnectedness of us all.

I can’t think of anything better to say than that. Feel the good vibes, won’t you? And while you’re at it, send some good vibes out in the mail as soon as you’re able. It really does make a difference.

–Carolee

good mail gives twice

(or: a mailbox surprise)

the post-it (if you can read it) says it all. Who is this nice? WHO? Dina Gamboni of San Francisco’s Mission District, that’s who. I wrote her back to thank her, but also to wonder: in just which book had I used this fine postcard (from Michael Wertz) as a bookmark? Stay tuned, kids.

Good Mail: Grigori Antonin

I haven’t done a Good Mail post in a while, so I’ll start here. The other day I received this strikingly simple postcard from Grigori Antonin (not surprisingly, it is easy to look up mail artists simply by Googling their PO Box number). It’s proof that one needn’t use a lot of fancy techniques or equipment to make visually exciting pieces. To break it down for you, it consists of the following elements:

• an index card
• the label from a Target pharmacy prescription (tell-tale red bulls-eye)
• a portion of a paper chopsticks package
• a self-designed rubber stamp (the Ray Johnson head with the words “Post Kunst”, “mail art”, “No John Rays” and “tell Toby this is a mail event” surrounding it)
• alphabet rubber stamps

Simple, yet effective.

I learned from Grigori’s blog that he is currently taking submissions for a mail art call celebrating 100 years of Jean Genet (who occasionally bears an odd resemblance to Mr. Ray Johnson as he is depicted above).  Channel your best reformed-criminal genius and send in your works! Deadline is December 19, 2010. Postcard-sized works only.

–Carolee