Good mail place

I'm settling into summer mode, and getting back into the mail groove! I don't have an actual writing desk here, but I brought a stash of stationery, stamps, and postcards, and I did a lot of Postcrossing cards at this table recently. I think this is going to be my prime mail location ... except I keep getting distracted by the view! This Midwestern gal has become entranced by mountain-watching.

Yesterday I walked the 2 miles (and back) to our new PO Box to get the mail. It was a lovely walk, and it's nice to slow life down so that I can take the time to do this. You notice so much more on foot than you do in a car, and you get a much more intimate feel for the neighborhood. Sometime soon I'll have to take some photos of this sweet little post office.

The cats are settling in nicely to our new place as well, and Oberon also enjoys the light:



And in other news, Missive Maven on Etsy has reopened, selling just postcards for the summer.

Happy Summer Mail Days!

2016 sticker organization system

In my previous post about my newly organized writing desk and study, I mentioned I had a new organization system for stickers and stamps, and that I was considering separate blog posts about said organizational systems. Blog readers were so enthusiastic about that prospect that I must deliver! So here's a look at my new organization system for stickers.

A little background: I have a lot of stickers. You will see that in this post. I use them almost exclusively for mail and mail art, decorating envelopes, letters, postcards, etc. Previously they were fairly loose and unorganized, floating through desk drawers and scattered on my desk in piles and mis-matched envelopes... they were a mess. I could never find anything. I would say, "hey, this person loves owls, I know I have some adorable tiny owl stickers somewhere," and then I would root through desk drawers searching for them. It was a waste of time. I always meant to organize my stickers, but it was a pretty huge project. As I was setting up my writing desk, I had both energy and inspiration, and decided to do it. I should have taken photos of all the piles of my stickers as they were spread out across the entire study floor, but I didn't. Oh well.

So, my current system involves the following components, all of which I will show and explain:

Large sticker books

Small sticker books / boxes of stickers

Loose stickers sorted by theme in pocket dividers in a 3-ring binder

Loose stickers sorted by theme in drawers

Above we have the large sticker books, all together at last. They are all the same size, mostly but not exclusively from Dover. I am particularly fond of the Edward Gorey and Kliban cat sticker books. These live on top of my stationery shelves, normally tucked in next to my mail organizer. (If you want to see the whole setup in contect, see my previous post about my newly organized writing desk and study.)



Small sticker books and sticker boxes, which fortunately are all about the same size, are stacked in a pile on top of the stationery shelves, right next to my writing desk. This seems haphazard and isn't completely ideal, but I have in my head a fairly accurate idea of which stickers live there. The small books are almost all Dover, and include essentials like the Glitter old-time cats and kittens stickers (kitty kitsch!) and the Cavallini Par Avion Tin. There are also a couple of random notebooks and journals in there. Ooops. Nothing's perfect, folks!



And now, the meat of the matter: loose stickers. These were the biggest nightmare. I do not assert that my system is ideal, and I created it on the fly with materials on hand: a 3-ring binder and a few extra plastic 3-pocket postcard holders. Each pocket has a theme, and here we have fauna (glitter and non-glitter) and fantasy/mythical creatures (hello, unicorns!). You can see through to some of the pages behind it. I will spare you each and every one of the sections, but others include glitter/sparkle stars and rainbows, bats/Halloween, flora, objects, etc. This system clearly still has flaws, a major one being that it's very easy for stickers to fall out the top, so I'm careful when I'm handle it. A minor flaw is that I still have to pull them out of the sections to find something, but it is less of a hassle than rooting through entire drawers as it used to be.



The drawers still contain loose stickers, but each drawer has its own exclusive theme: the largest themes of the lot. This drawer holds exclusively CAT STICKERS. Ha. 'Nuff said.



The other drawer has one main theme with a smaller unrelated subset. The main theme is mail / meta / writing (air mail labels, mail-themed stickers, stamp-themed stickers, stickers of pens, etc) and the minor theme is snowflakes, because I tend to use a lot of snowflake stickers, and I like them close at hand.

So there you have it. My system is highly idiosyncratic and tailored to my own tastes and collections, but so far it is working extremely well for me. I'm curious to see how this system holds up over time; I am sure I will develop some complaints, but it's better than a mess of unorganized stickers!

New study and writing desk setup

We moved five months ago, and it has taken me this long (remember how grad school ate my life?) to get my writing desk and workspace set up in my new study. Oberon and Stella were gracious enough (or curious enough) to help me with this little photo shoot, and above you can see Oberon sniffing around near that one empty shelf cubby on my paper and stationery shelves. (How long will it stay empty? Hmmm...)



Here's a closer look at the writing desk itself. Yes, that is a towering stack of boxed postcards on the desk, and on the bulletin board above the desk, some of my favorite received mail and mail art.

For the first time in many years, I have a room of my own, and I won't go so far as to say I've finished the entire study -- sections of the room are carefully omitted from these photos, because they're still a mess -- but I'm thrilled to have my letter-writing materials all set up and organized.

In the future, maybe I'll need to do a blog post about how intensely I've organized my stamps and stickers now, in a way they've never been organized before; this deep organization project is something I've long been itching to do. It's really exciting and it took me many hours to achieve, with stamps and stickers spread out all over the floor, but I finally know exactly where to find everything. Not only is it efficient, but after years of having things all jumbled together, it's also very satisfying.



I'm thrilled to have natural light nearby. My writing desk in DC was shoved into a dark corner, and not an entirely lovely place to write... but it wasn't an entirely lovely apartment, either. Here, I have my own room, and nice big window right next to the desk. And that's Stella on the floor, walking towards me as I take the photo.

Best of all, this setup makes me really want to write letters! Today is my last day of winter break (back to school tomorrow), so I'd better carpe diem while I still have the time.

Writing desk candid + washi tape storage

Well, I haven't done such a good job of blogging again this month, have I? The good news is that I've been spending a ton of time writing postcards and longer letters, which has been a pleasure. I took a photo in the middle of writing one of those longer letters recently, just to share the mood of my writing desk. I didn't really tidy it for this, so you can see the current semi-mess in action, complete with messy piles.

I didn't set out to talk about this, but as I look at the photo, I'd like to mention my new storage system for washi tape. I mention this in part because I've been really, really into washi tape especially lately, and my collection has grown... thereby increasing my need for a decent storage system. I like to use the tape outside of a dispenser and place it by hand, and I also need to be able to see all my tapes at once. You can see some of them hanging from my bulletin board on a system I've rigged with hanging them on a ribbon between two pushpins; this is nice for visibility, but a bit of a pain for retrieving the tape unless they're the ones on the end. So, the ones I use less frequently gravitate to the middle.

The new system about which I'm most excited is a little less apparent here, but you can see it under and to the left of the hanging tape rolls, next to the mug of fountain pens. They are Mark's Round Pen Cases which I got from the beloved JetPens. Yes, they are technically pen cases, but when I saw these recently added to the JetPens website, the description mentioned storage for decorative tapes, and I thought.... hmmmm.... First I bought the black case, and then I loved it so much I bought another one in white. The round shape perfectly holds the washi tape, and the clear window lets you see what's inside, and it's easy to retrieve the tapes in the middle. Now my favorite, most-used tapes live in the Mark's Round Pen Cases for fast and easy access. As you can see in the photo, they stand up nicely on their own (though they could be hung quite easily using the zipper ring), and if I need to expand, I'll get them in different colors to differentiate. They also feel very sturdy, and would stand up well to travel, I think.

You can see some of my washi tape use on the letter on the desk. I have more ideas for blog posts than I'm sure I will ever execute, but this makes me think I should review some of the utterly adorable tapes I've found recently; the designs available have exploded exponentially in the past few years, and it's pretty amazing what you can find on a tape now.

If you have any nice writing desk photos, or washi tape storage ideas, or any other thoughts, please share in the comments!

A desk of one's own

Some of my postcards were recently featured in a lovely blog post called A desk of one's own from Little Yellow Couch. It talks about setting up a dedicated writing space, with all kinds of fine accessories, and has lovely photographs with engaging text. Specifically, she featured my Swallow's Air Mail Garden postcard set, and I'm so pleased with the way they look on her lovely desk! For a great post with some writing desk eye candy, do check it out. You can also follow her on Twitter.

It's so important to have a desk of one's own!

A candid glimpse of my writing desk in action

Last night I wrote a long-overdue response to a letter from blog reader The Real Miss Monogram. She asked me a lot of questions about my letter-writing and mail habits, and one of the last questions was about my writing desk. She thought the photos I posted of it looked "too nice," and wanted to know if it really looked like that.

I think what she was getting at was that it looked neat and organized. HA! Looks can be deceiving... but it is fairly organized. As I wrote to her in my letter, I need to have a clean writing surface beckoning to me in order to be encouraged and inspired to sit there and write. But I did admit that I usually take photos of it right after I've tidied it up - and the tidying process is a constant one, given my shifting supplies and moods. In any case, I told her I'd take a photo RIGHT THEN in the middle of the letter to show what a "candid," or at least unplanned, untidied glimpse of my writing desk would reveal.

This is it, Soda and all.

And now it's time to go back to that writing desk and get some mail going!

Show and Mail: Fiep Westendorp writing desk from Postcrossing

I got a Postcrossing treat today: NL-1274604 showing artwork by the wonderful Dutch artist Fiep Westendorp. This postcard had been in my favorites, and the sender kindly sent it to me! Of course I love the fantastic writing desk imagery. Look at that great pile of mail on top of her desk!

Soda, feline letter-writing taskmaster

Soda has been very helpful in my return to increased letter-writing this month.



Longtime blog readers know she loves to sit on my writing desk and "help" with mail.



Usually she gets up when I do - letter finished, time to drop it in the outgoing mail slot, etc - but lately she's been staying on the desk and giving me this look: "Are you really finished?" Nope. "Then get back here and write some more."

Okay.

A clean desk encourages letter writing

It seems like everything has been a mess in my life lately. The last two weeks of October were just incredibly rough, with mostly unexpected things... the latter of which was that I've gotten a nasty flu and have been sick for nearly two weeks, sicker than I've been in years. So things piled up, including letters and mail, and I barely had the energy to get anything done. My desk got messier than it's been in ages! I'm not a neat freak, but I firmly believe that a clean and organized desktop makes for a more inviting workspace... and it was such a mess before that I didn't even want to look at it, let alone write letters at it!



Tonight I sort of started to get my energy back, and I cheered myself up considerably by cleaning my desk. The piles are still daunting, but at least the writing space is cleared and all my tools are organized.



Naturally, moments after I settled into writing a Postcrossing postcard to Japan, Soda had to jump on up to be a part of the action.



She appreciates the clean desk, too - now there's room for her to stretch out there again!

Sorry for my lack of posts, and my severe lack of mail output... it's been a bad month, but I think I am on the upswing. I did manage a lot of postcards in October - 50! - but only wrote 12 letters. I'm hoping to do a little better in November.

New R by Rhodia tablet: my new favorite paper!

I just got my latest, greatest order in from Goulet Pens, and I couldn't be more excited. I have been eagerly anticipating the new R by Rhodia soft-touch notepads for longer than I even knew. More on that in a moment.

I warn you, this is going to be a long and photo-heavy review. But you already know that if your page is loading as slowly as mine is. I think it will be worth it, though.

First, you might want to acquaint yourself with the hype. Brian Goulet did a wonderful video on his Ink Nouveau blog that gives an excellent review of the new product, and a nice overview and comparison. I wish I had remembered to take a photo of this paper in comparison to other papers, but I didn't - I think he does that in the video. Anyway, worth watching.



So here is the awesome new paper. It is a gentle ivory/cream color. It does not detract from any ink color, but it's not SCREAMING BRIGHT WHITE like Clairefontaine Triomphe and most of the Clairefontaine notebooks, including my current ink journal. Nor is it screaming bright white like the other, original Rhodia pads.



Also unlike the other Rhodia pads, there is no margin, and the lines (this is also available in blank, but I started out with the lined version) are sort of a soft grey, not blue. Subtle. Nice touch. I like the ruling. It's a good width for me. (I just checked, for those of you that want precision: it's 7mm.)

But it's really about the paper, and how well it takes ink. This new pad is an "upgrade" to 90g paper from the previous 80g. It does feel slightly thicker to the touch. In his video, Brian said it was nearly as smooth as Clairefontaine Triomphe, and I would mostly agree with that, but it doesn't have the Triomphe's "glassy" quality... which, in most cases, is a plus. I wouldn't say there is drag on the paper, and there is definitely not "tooth"... it's just a lovely smooth surface.



Again, though, it's all about the ink. And this is where this paper really excels. For those who like their colors harmonious, I apologize, as I just grabbed pens with excitement in no particular order, other than thinking, "this is a juicy wet pen!" or something like that... really putting the paper to the test, as it were.



As you can see, no feathering. Slight smudging, due to wet inks and my smudgy over-writing hands (+ general impatience). Ink dries significantly faster on this paper than on Clairefontaine Triomphe: a significant plus! All of the inks played nicely, even one of my newest, least favorite inks: Noodler's Old Dutch Sepia; this is the only paper I've tried it on yet where it doesn't feather! (It's humid here in August. That happens. I hope it will be have better in the winter, when everything, including my pens and papers, is less damp.)

Inks and pens shown:
Noodler's Heart of Darkness / Pilot Varsity M
Diamine Registrar's Ink / Pilot Varsity M
Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green / Pilot V-Pen F
Montblanc Ink of Love / Pilot V-Pen M
Noodler's Old Dutch Sepia / Daiso Mini
Diamine Steel Blue / Waterman Taperite
Montblanc Ink of Joy / Parker Flighter 180
Iroshizuku Shin-Ryoku / Sheaffer school pen F
J. Herbin 1670 Rouge Hematite / Noodler's flex pen
Diamine Violet / Dollar Demonstrator
Diamine Dark Green / Noodler's Nib Creaper (firm/non-flex)
Diamine Delamere Green / Waterman Graduate M
Noodler's Kung Te-Cheng / Platinum Preppy F
Diamine Oxblood / Parker Vector M
Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses / Esterbrook 9788
Noodler's Blue Ghost / Platinum Preppy M



Slight tangent - if you thought the last line of ink was Noodler's Black Swan in Australian Roses, you thought wrong! Included in my order from Goulet Pens was the awesome Noodler's Blue Ghost invisible ink, which shows up with a black light on non-bleached papers. COOOL! Goulet pens also sells this ingenious set of black light rings that you can attach to your pen or your finger as you write, illuminating in black light just your area of writing. Trust me, this is key: it is eerie to be writing if you can't see what you're writing! I'm writing with a Platinum Preppy M, which came from Goulet Pens already as an eyedropper conversion (and folks, I am happy to pay the extra $2 to Goulet Pens for them to do the eyedropper conversion for me - it's a time-saver, so this pen came all ready to go), and for a specialty ink such as this, I wanted to make sure to use a brand-new pen. Platinum Preppy eyedroppers are one heck of a great bargain for about $6 from Goulet Pens!



I do happen to have a larger black light, which is handy for the reading part, not so much for the writing... but it allows me to show you the whole line of ink and not just part of a word.



With the ivory color of this paper, this ink looks fabulous! It does not show up at all in my bright white Clairefontaine ink journal... that paper is just too white.



So back to the paper. This photo above is the most exciting photo to me of the whole bunch, and if you're a real fountain pen/paper aficionado, you'll guess why. This is the back of my ink tests page. Not only is there no bleed-through, there's not even any SHOW-through! You can only tell there is even writing on the other side if you look really closely. WOW! And I even flexed my flex nibs with Noodler's BSIAR and Herbin's 1670 Rouge Hematite inks... wet inks in very wet pens! LOVE it. This, as much as anything else, is why this is my new favorite paper. I will use it for second/additional sheets in letters, and I can write on both sides with ease. It's also a great size for the sort of stationery I prefer to use.



And finally, the back of this wonderful tablet. It comes in many sizes, both lined and blank, with black and orange covers. (The inside of the cover has the inverse color.) I chose orange this time, since my other Rhodia pads have black covers.

Important note: I am not affiliated with Goulet Pens, I am just a happy repeat customer. Here's the buying info: R by Rhodia No.16 tablet, 70 sheets for $7. This stuff is new and freshly out, but other retailers may be carrying it now as well.

Wrap-up:
If you wanted pretty much the paper that comes in Rhodia webnotebooks but in micro-perf tablet form, this is it.
If you wanted "off-white Clairefontaine," this is it.
If you want a great, high-quality writing paper for a great value, this is it.

Highly, highly recommended!

My writing desk is a Rhodia advertisement

I tidied my writing desk yesterday because we had a little cocktail party. I didn't mean to arrange it as such, but the piles (I always have piles!) ended up looking like an advertisement for Rhodia, with a secondary tier for Chronicle Books boxed postcards. They do stack tidily... On the top of these piles you can see my Rhodia Webnotebook, a Rhodia No.16 lined tablet (black cover), and the new R by Rhodia soft-touch No.16 tablet (orange cover). Lurking underneath there somewhere is a Rhodia dotpad, too.



I always love seeing photos of people's writing spaces, so here's what mine looks like right now (or what it looked like yesterday when I was doing an ink test, which will be showing up on this blog shortly). I am particularly pleased with how I've learned how to use the room's built-in lattice, which used to be an annoyance, as an advantage, by hanging things from it. My latest storage idea was to hang my washi tapes from a ribbon (with a paper clip securing them underneath) - keeps them right at hand, but off the surface of the desk.

If you click on the photo above, that will take you to the photo on Flickr, which is covered with a lot of notes showing what things are. Sometimes I just love Flickr notes so very much.

Yet another post featuring Soda on my writing desk

I can't resist. I know I'm biased, but she's so cute... and ever so helpful with my letter writing.



And hey, it's a snapshot of my desk in action, without being cleaned up all nice for a planned photo shoot.



Write the letter, or pet the belly? Tough decision. I usually have to do both.

Soda on my writing desk, AGAIN

Soda is on my writing desk a lot lately. She knows she will get an occasional pet there, and it seems my writing lamp is a low-grade heat lamp. She's so cute, and I'm so over-indulgent, that I take a lot of pictures of her there. And then share them incessantly with you.



But part of my motivation is that I really love photos of other people's writing spaces, especially when they're in action, and not just recently cleaned-up and pretty (although those are nice, too). I only got a dedicated writing desk late last summer, so it's still sort of new to me, and I really, really love it. At first I thought I would dislike the white lattice (a permanent fixture in our house) around it, but actually I love it. The cats can poke their faces through and say hi (there are stairs and a platform behind it, so the cats are eye-level with me if they meow through the lattice), and now I've discovered that it's a great place from which to hang things! I have a few cute little pen pal gifts hanging there, as well as an Edward Gorey calendar. There's more now than when this photo was taken a number of weeks ago, but as I glance up at my writing desk now, I realize that everything up there is something someone else has sent to me. Cool - I had a theme and I didn't even know it!

Soda says hi. If I wrote you a letter or postcard recently, she probably helped.

A welcome visit from the Feline Postal Brigade

Here's a photo of Soda, Feline Postal Brigade charter member, "helping" with a letter. She has learned how to get up on my letter-writing desk, and now it's a free-for-all in kitty correspondence.



I took these photos back in January, when Memo was still with us. I can't help but think that now, as I post them. We are taking so much comfort in our two remaining kitties, Soda and Magic, and I find myself wondering - are they really grieving for Memo as much as they seem to be (they are unquestionably confused by his absence), or are they just tuned into our grief, and staying close by to give and receive comfort?

In any case, Magic and Soda and I have been thick as thieves the past few days, and I am so grateful for their presence and feline love. Soda has been sitting all over my letters on my writing desk (yes, I have been writing a few), and she is more than welcome. She is purring on the arm of the chair I'm sitting in, as I type this, and nuzzling my hand.

I has a writing desk!

We letter-writers often ask, talk, and blog about our letter-writing spaces. I love seeing posts on others' blogs about their writing desks, or where they typically write (check out this awesome post about writers' rooms from The Guardian - thanks for the tip, Queenie!) and in my prior apartment, I pretty much wrote at the dining room table. It was sunny and big, and a very cheery space, but of course I had to clear off for meals and games and such, and remove all my piles altogether when guests came. So I didn't feature it on blog posts, and was envious of other folks who had their own spaces just for letter-writing.

But in our new house, I have my own dedicated writing desk! I am so excited. Of course it is just for letters, but my cutting mat and pens can stay there, though I am pretty dedicated to keeping it as uncluttered as possible. (We'll see how that goes.)



The random white lattice is part of the room, and we can't move or remove it. I can't decide whether I'll stick things in the lattice, or not... right now, I'm leaning towards not, because I can see through it to the set of half-stairs behind it, and occasionally a cat will come and meow at me through there, which I find utterly charming.



And here's the context, to show my little writing nook in our larger sunroom. The on the far right are sliding-glass doors that look out to the back yard, and they face west, so it does get quite sunny in the afternoons.

It is a new space that inspires me to write letters, and I have all the tools at hand to do so (drawers undereath! I have drawers! I've just begun organizing stamps in there...) close at hand.

I think it's time to go write a letter...