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WB – Writer's Bloc Blog

8 Tips For Using the Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop

Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop
Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop

The Leuchtturm1917 Adhesive Pen Loop is a easy way to add a handy pen holder to a paper notebook or journal that doesn’t have one. Just peel the backing off the small 1.5″ x 1.5″ square piece of vinyl, stick it on to where you want it and voila, your notebook has a new elastic pencil or pen loop! Here are 8 tips for using your Leuchtturm1917 pen loop:

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop stuck on a Quo Vadis Habana Journal
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop stuck on a large Quo Vadis Habana Journal
  1. The Leuchtturm1917 pen loop works best with slender writing tools such as regular size wooden pencils, Staedtler triplus pens, cheap Bic or Paper Mate ballpoints, Sakura Gelly Roll pens, you get the idea. I didn’t like using pens with rubberized or highly textured grips with this pen loop because they are too difficult to slide in and out. Maybe you are more patient than I am.
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Staedtler Triplus Textsurfer
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Staedtler Triplus Textsurfer

2. I was able to use the pen loop to hold pens with a medium size barrel only if they were cigar-shaped (tapered on the ends) and had a smooth barrel. A couple of examples of this are the Platinum Plaisir fountain pen and Pentel Tradio pens.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holding a Platinum Plaisir Fountain Pen

3. For pens with a wide barrel and squared ends, the best you can do is attach your pen clip to the elastic pen loop. Check out the photo below to see how you can use it with the clip on your LAMY Safari fountain pen.

4. When I use a fountain pen, most often I prefer to write with it “unposted”, or without the cap placed on the top (non-nib) end of the pen. While I’m writing, I’m always looking for a place to put the cap so I won’t lose it. The pen holder is a handy place to attach the clip of my fountain pen cap until I need the cap again.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holds a LAMY Safari by the clip only
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop holds a LAMY Safari by the clip only

5. Think before you stick. The Leuchtturm1917 pen loop is only meant to be stuck in one place and not removed and stuck somewhere else. I put mine in the center of the back cover of my large Quo Vadis Habana Journal because I am planning on using the pen loop to grasp the center portion of my pen. If you want to use it to grasp the top part of a pen near the clip, you’re better off sticking the pen holder near the top of your notebook. It’s a good idea to figure out what pen you want to use with the holder, put the pen in the loop, and then put it next to your notebook to figure out where you want to place it before you stick it on the cover.

6. Once my notebook is used up, I will get another pen loop to stick on a fresh new notebook. This makes sense, because even if the Leuchtturm1917 pen loop used the best quality materials in the world, over time they eventually wear out.

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop

7. The pen loop is not a fool-proof way to avoid losing your pens and pencils. You still need to exercise care so as to not lose your valuable writing tools. Also, if you want to remove the pen loop, don’t expect it to remove cleanly.

Leuchtturm Pen Loop holding an Apple Pencil
Leuchtturm Pen Loop holding an Apple Pencil

8. Even though the Leuchtturm1917 pen loop is designed to be used with paper notebooks, some people have successfully used it on a tablet or smart phone cover to hold a stylus for their device. It does a great job at holding the Apple Pencil! This is a hack, so try this at your own risk.

How do you use your Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop? Do you have any tips or tricks to share?

Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop
Leuchtturm1917 Pen Loop

 

 

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Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks: Great Paper at a Budget Price

Clairefontaine Side Staple Notebooks - Great Paper, Budget Price
Clairefontaine Side Staple Notebooks – Great Paper, Budget Price

There are many things to love about Clairefontaine Side Staple Bound Notebooks. First and foremost is the paper. If you’ve never tried this paper you don’t know what you’re missing! In addition, the price of these staple bound notebooks is easy on the budget, so they are a great way to be introduced to some of the best paper in the world for writing.

Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks and Nova Orange Plaisir Fountain Pen

The thing that makes this Clairefontaine paper so great is the quality. It is 90g, bright white, and because it’s so ultra-smooth your pens will glide effortlessly across the page. If you enjoy writing with fountain pens you will discover that there is little to no ink that bleeds through the paper or feathers on the page.

Prices start at $2.15, and there’s even a large size notebook for only $3.30 (2017 prices), so this notebook is often chosen by teachers to introduce a class of students to the fine art of handwriting. In fact, these are the everyday notebooks used by students in France! The prices in our store are already discounted, and if you’re interested in purchasing 10 or more, there are some deeper discounts for this quantity on our website (contact us for ordering details if you need to place an order larger than our current inventory).

Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebook Paper and Ink

Clairefontaine is environmentally responsible, minimizing impact to the environment as they manufactures their own paper. The bright white paper is not bleached and the wood materials used come from forests independently certified by PEFC or FSC as sustainably managed.

Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks – Cover Closeup

Clairefontaine’s Side Staple Bound Notebooks are basically one thick signature of paper stapled at the spine with 2 or 3 staples. The covers are laminated to repel water and dirt and come in a variety of colors. As a left-handed writer I particularly appreciate that fact that there are no rings, wires, or discs to get in the way when I’m writing in these notebooks!

The number of sheets of paper varies from 24 to 48 depending on the size and style of notebook you get. In the USA, available sizes range from 3″ x 4.75″ to 8.25″ x 11.75″, and paper styles include ruled, ruled with margin, graph and French ruled.

Do you write with Clairefontaine paper? We highly recommend it!

Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks – Writing Test (Front)
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks – Writing Test (Back)
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
Clairefontaine Staple Bound Notebooks
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Everyone Loves a LAMY Green Puppy!

It’s been a stormy winter, great for staying indoors and playing with fountain pen ink. With spring just around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about the color green. I filled my Green Safari fountain pen with LAMY Green fountain pen ink to sketch a picture on a Clairefontaine sketchpad of a friend’s new puppy .

As a left-handed writer I appreciate that this green LAMY fountain pen ink dries quickly so I don’t smudge it very often. It’s safe to use in any fountain pen and easy to clean up so it’s great for beginners. I would describe this ink color to be a cool shade of medium green.

LAMY fountain pen ink bottles have an ingenious and practical design. There’s a small nib-sized basin in the bottom center of the bottle that collects ink so that you can fill a fountain pen even when the bottle is getting close to empty. There’s also a tiny roll of blotter tape that you can pull out of the bottom of the bottle that can be used to clean a nib after filling, or to blot your writing.

LAMY Fountain Pen Ink - Green
LAMY Green Fountain Pen Ink

The ink bottle is heavy and wide so it doesn’t tip over easily. LAMY green fountain pen ink is also available in the form of cartridge refills that fit LAMY fountain pens.

What green fountain pen inks will you choose for your fountain pen this spring?

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Greenery: 2017 Pantone Color of the Year Gift Guide

Greenery - Pantone Color of the Year 2017
Greenery – Pantone Color of the Year 2017

Pantone recently announced that the color of the year for 2017 is a shade called Greenery. Their website calls the Greenery “nature’s neutral” and provides this description of the color:

A refreshing and revitalizing shade, Greenery is symbolic of new beginnings.

Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew. Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.

I’m crazy about anything in the color yellow-green! We’ve put together a gift guide to help you shop for pens, ink and journals that are similar to this shade of green.

Greenery Themed Stationery
Greenery Themed Stationery
Green LAMY Safari with a Calligraphy Nib
Green LAMY Safari with a Calligraphy Nib

LAMY Safari Fountain Pen

The first fountain pen that came to my mind when I saw Greenery was this LAMY Safari fountain pen in green. If you haven’t already collected a Safari in this color this is a good year to do it! We replaced the regular nib on the pen in this photo with a calligraphy nib.

Pilot Prera Demonstrator Fountain Pen with Light Green Accents
Pilot Prera Demonstrator Fountain Pen with Light Green Accents

Pilot Prera Demonstrator Fountain Pen

The Pilot Prera Demonstrator Fountain Pen in Light Green has a clear body with a pop of green on the end of the barrel and cap. The nibs on Prera fountain pens are great if you have small handwriting or like to write with a very fine pen.

Pelikan M205 Duo Highlighter Fountain Pen - Shiny Green
Pelikan M205 Duo Highlighter Fountain Pen – Shiny Green

Pelikan M205 Duo Highlighter Fountain Pen

This Pelikan M205 Duo Highlighter Fountain Pen in Shiny Green is a special edition, so if this pen strikes your fancy don’t wait too long to add this to your desk. It comes equipped with a Broad BB nib and since it’s a fountain pen it can be refilled over and over again with highlighter ink. Our choice of ink? Why, of course matching Pelikan M205 Duo Highlighter Ink, also in Shiny Green.

ilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink Chiku-Rin - Bamboo Forest
Pilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink Chiku-Rin – Bamboo Forest

Pilot Iroshizuku Fountain Pen Ink in Bamboo Forest Green (Chiku-Rin)

Chiku-Rin or Bamboo Forest fountain pen ink is a yellow green shade similar to the color of new growth on plants in the spring, which also happens to be the same color in nature that inspired the shade Greenery. Truly a beautiful and refreshing color!

J. Herbin Vert Pre Fountain Pen Ink
J. Herbin Vert Pre Fountain Pen Ink

J. Herbin Vert Pre Fountain Pen Ink

J. Herbin’s Vert Pre is another one of our favorite yellow-green fountain pen inks. The top of the glass bottle has a handy built-in place to rest your pen.  J. Herbin uses all natural dyes in their inks, which makes them non-toxic and pH neutral.

Rhodiarama Pad Holder - Anise Green
Rhodiarama Pad Holder – Anise Green

Rhodiarama Pad Holder No. 12 with Notepad – Anise Green

Carry your favorite Rhodia paper in this pocket-size refillable Rhodia notepad holder. It has a pen holder and pocket to stash receipts and business cards.

Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebook - Anise Green Cover
Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebook – Anise Green Cover

Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebook with an Anise Green Cover

Your fountain pen will write like a dream on the high quality paper inside Rhodiarama soft cover notebooks. Your choice of lined or dot grid paper – just what those of you who are crazy about bullet journals have been waiting for!

Pentel Tradio Mechanical Pencil - Apple Green
Pentel Tradio Mechanical Pencil – Apple Green

Pentel Tradio Mechanical Pencil – Apple Green

The cap of the Apple Green Pentel Tradio mechanical pencil protects the tip from damage and breakage. It’s got a button on the side near the grip that you can click to advance the lead for uninterrupted writing.

Other ideas for a Greenery themed desk top include: the Quo Vadis Habana Journal in Anise Green, Quo Vadis Planner with a Bamboo Green Texas Cover, a Platinum Preppy Green Highlighter with Green Highlighting Ink, and the Staedtler Textsurfer Classic Green Highlighter. Several Clairefontaine notepads are available with yellow-green covers: you can request a yellow-green cover during order check out and if we’ve got that color in stock we will send it to you.

What yellow-green stationery items do you have on your desk?

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New! Rhodiarama Dot Grid Softcover Notebooks

Rhodiarama Soft Cover Journals
Rhodiarama Soft Cover Journals

Great news for dot grid paper fans: the Rhodiarama soft cover notebook with dot grid paper is now available in the USA!

The paper is ivory in color and has a subtle grey dots printed in a 5 mm x 5 mm grid. These dots are meant to be an unobtrusive guide to your writing and sketching and they are also great for Bullet Journaling. If you haven’t already heard of Bullet Journaling it’s a simple and effective method of organizing your notes as you take them. The Rhodia Drive blog has a series of blog posts on Bullet Journaling to get you started.

Rhodia Ivory Dot Grid Paper
Rhodia Ivory Dot Grid Paper

We’ve already reviewed the details and performance of the Rhodiarama soft cover notebook with lined paper here: Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebooks. Some of our favorite features of this notebook are:

  • The 90g high quality paper is fantastic for fountain pens!
  • The journal is slim and easy to carry
  • Comes with dot grid or lined paper
  • The leatherette cover is not only flexible it’s soft to the touch
  • There’s an expandable pocket inside the back cover
  • Binding is stitched so you can open the notebook flat and pages don’t fall out
  • Available in a variety of fun cover colors

Do you use Rhodia notebooks? Which one is your favorite?

Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebooks
Rhodiarama Soft Cover Notebooks
Rhodiarama Soft Cover Journal
Rhodiarama Soft Cover Journal
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