A pilgrimage to NYC’s fabled Yoseka Stationery
I did it. At long last, I transported my physical person into the hallowed Yoseka Stationery shop. Where friendly staff were eager to join me in touching, swabbing and sampling basically every item in the shop. I apologize for the excited-toddler personality I brought into their lovingly curated shop.
Victory
Last weekend’s trip was my first trip to a physical stationery shop in 2022. I followed my pen show routine. First, case the room and identify areas worth revisiting.
Then take a short break. Leave the space. Inhabit healthy context about what kinds of stationery I need to buy. Separate from what looks cool, and what looks fun, and what simply brings a smile to my face. Both are legitimate justifications for a purchase so long as they all fit within my prepared budget.
And then go play.
So, first, I needed to buy my planner for 2023. This year’s adaptation of Hobonichi’s Day-Free book worked well for my planning needs. Yoseka had one A6 Day-Free left. Thank you, universe.
And with a new-era Tomoe River sample included
Then I sought out sticker packs, washi tapes and planner tabs that my friends and partner had requested.
And then I enjoyed a full hour swabbing, exploring and chatting about Yoseka’s curated ink selection. They keep paper copies of their ink sample sheets and offer swabs for every ink they have in stock.
Tono & Lims, Dominant Industry, and Lennon Tool Bar are challenging ink lines to see in person in the United States. So comparing swabs of entire ink series helped me to curate my ink wish list down to inks I like the aesthetics of in person.
An hour of playing and chatting with folks about inks landed me on three new inks. One grey (Dominant Industry Downpour) and two earth tones (Sailor Manyo Shirakashi and Lennon Tool Bar Firmament). Fall colors for the win.
Under the watchful eye of my editor, of course
Lastly, I walked out with TWSBI’s special edition black and rose gold 580. A color scheme I know my partner enjoys. Bonus.
Oh, and I exchanged blog stickers for new Yoseka stickers. Two of the shop’s stationery wizards were kind enough to trade stickers and chat.
Wins all around.
This week’s Inked Tines update includes last week’s currently inked writing tools.
Toolset
Pens. There are weeks when my standout combo is clear. One pairing simply, subjectively, emotionally brings a smile to my face when I write. And that is the heart of things. This was not one of those weeks.
Franklin-Christoph 45 (B-SIG) — 1/5. My meetings this week were preventative and constructive in tone. As such, I reached for the 45 for meeting notes. The fun sparkly blue ink made for fun lesson plan outlining, journaling, and teaching reflections.
TWSBI 580-AL (M) — 2/5. An early clog stalled use of this pair. After flossing, the combo wrote reliably the remainder of last week. Wide, action-packed lines rendered personal reflections (journaling, teaching reflections) exciting. And lecture notes easily visible.
Kaweco Sport (EF) — 2/5. The Fox colorway adds a fun orange flair to work clothing. The EF nib provided disciplined narrow lines. Effective for pocket notes, scratch notes, accent lesson notes, and paper marking. My go-to editing combo all week.
Lamy Safari (EF) — 1/2. A soft nib for a steel writing-tooth. Reliable, and pliable, EF lines — with the option for F widths with careful pressure. Easy task management. Moderate smudging while Chushu dried. Meeting notes, lecture notes, reading notes, and lesson planning.
Sailor Pro Gear (MF) — 3/5. The MF is surprisingly soft for a Sailor nib. I can control the amount of sheen Enchanted Ocean throws up with my writing pressure. As a result, this pair was great for journaling, detailed notekeeping and even lecture notes.
Nakaya Neostandard (M Naginata) — 3/5. An excellent nib, pen and ink combination. I deeply appreciate a multitasker nib grind. The M lines and EF lines bring out Walt Whitman’s varied personalities. From shady grass-green to whispy green-grey. Excellent for accenting important tasks, longform journaling, accenting reading notes, and lesson plans. Five stars.
Notebooks. Work bujo. Odyssey Neptune 400 TR (A5). I added another twenty pages to my work bullet journal last week. A two page weekly, five pages of lesson plan outlines, four pages of meeting notes, a two-page log of students’ project due dates, and …
… eight pages devoted to my own class notes from a professional development course I took on designing diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
The TWSBI lent a wintry spice to my thematic headings. Sheen and shimmer keep section headings easily skimmable — and so easy to reference in later weeks and months.
Grey EF lines manifested my detailed notes.
Grey is for “serious” intentions
And the week’s brightest ink — Copper Noir — highlights my own commentary and new tasks arising from the classes’ work.
Stars mark points that resonate with me in the moment
Journal. Endless Recorder Regalia (A5). Last week was a banner journaling week. Seven entries carried me through seven days. My scribbling added twelve more pages to the Endless Recorder. Ending on page 27.
I sure do enjoy pre-printed page numbers
I mixed M nibs throughout. Wednesday’s entry, for example, tapped both the Nakaya and TWSBI. The M experiment in action.
The Naginata grind on my Nakaya brought me into a more extensive two-page reflection than I anticipated. That’s stationery working for me.
The Winter Spice’s shimmer and sheen lent whimsical flare to my transcription of Rupi Kaur’s excellent poem, Productivity Anxiety.
A little glam for the wow
I enjoyed Winter Spice so much that’s I turned to the TWSBI a second time on Saturday. Wowza.
Written dry. Watching letters grow into lighter shades of themselves. Feeling the edges of a nib on the page more and more solidly. Both are fun experiences. A pen writing empty is a beautiful thing.
A beautiful thing I must wait until next week to experience. Fair enough.
Newly inked. Adapt. Overcome. Ink new pens.
Yep. Inked this puppy up an hour after opening it.
The collection
Incoming / new orders. Welcome, kind world, the Sailor 1911 in Tangerine to my collection. Whoop whoop.
My orange safety-vest writer
The new pen marks two firsts for me. One is that this is my first 1911 Large. The 1911L feels more front-heavy than my Pro Gear models. I like it.
Second is that this is my first Sailor EF nib. A glorious, pencil-like feedback. Consistent and moderately wet lines. Well-suited to highlighting shading in narrow lines.
Goldi. Locks. Nib.
Outgoing / trades or sales. I’ve set five pens aside for future sale. Pens are chosen. Boxes and papers have been located. Pricing research is underway. Progress.
Currently reading and listening
Fiction. I have ping-ponged from one book to another for weeks. My reading has subsequently been scattershot. Alas, not every week is organized.
Nonfiction. I re-read and annotated Erica Benner’s introduction to her wonderful analysis of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. She argues that Machiavelli actually wants leaders to do the opposite of his written instructions. Fancy.
My favorite annotating tools featured on my work desk. A soft-core Blackwing pencil for scribbling summary and thinking annotations in margins. A grey Mildliner for highlighting Benner’s key points. And a sky blue Mildliner for highlighting passages I want to use in my teaching.
Music. The Arctic Monkeys released a new album last week. The Car is mellow. Intricate, Bowie-esque arrangements.
I enjoyed this new listen while writing and reading at home. The vocals proved so interesting that they distracted me from my most thoughtful journaling. Informal reading and planner-ing were better matched to The Car.
