Use it for Life
I was browsing JetPens this past week looking for things for my office and I was checking out some of their guides. One in particular caught my eye, Buy it for Life: Durable Stationery that Lasts. I don’t own any of the products on their list, not since I sold my Kaweco Brass Sport over a year ago now. However, the concept has stuck with me. As part of my focus on intention this year, I thought about the things on my desk that I will be using until it literally falls apart in my hand.
I moved around a lot in my twenties and as a result I have very few things that I have owned a long time. Some of them are odds and ends like a generic bowl I bought from Target in undergrad, a can opener that I found in a drawer in a place I’ve lived, and even a little white Pound Puppy plush that I probably got when I was 9 or 10 who currently sits on my desk.
Many things have come and go through my hands over time just out of sheer necessity. It’s hard to fit your life in the back of a car when you move to another job. So things that were portable and useful became product categories that I put a lot of thought into and tended to stick around until they were falling apart at the seams and needed to be replaced. While I have settled down quite a bit since buying a house (and the novelty of not moving every six months), I still think about purchases in this way. Is it going to be something I need for just now (in that case I should look for something cheap, or better yet borrow something) or is going to be something I will need years from now (and in that case I need to find something that is quality so I’m not rebuying it constantly).
Since I worked in outdoor education for most of my twenties things like shoes and packs were probably some of the most expensive things I owned. I didn’t replace a pair of Chaco sandals until they literally crumbled off my feet during a wilderness excursion (duck tape does wonders for holding a shoe sole together in a pinch).
So, how does this relate to stationery? For me, it puts items into categories. In the most general sense it is things to be used up and things to keep using (maybe with repair over time). Inks and paper fall in the first category and things like pens, pen sleeves, bags, etc. fall into the second.
At hand, I could think of a few things that fall into the “use it for life” (either the objects or my own) category:
My A6 Chic Sparrow Hand-tooled Travelers Notebook cover
I’ve talked about my TN journey early on when I started this blog. It sounds overly dramatic to say, but this notebook cover changed my relationship with the stationery hobby in a way that has brought me joy and also probably saves me a lot of money. This cover became a grail for me not long after I learned about its existence on a Chic Sparrow group on Facebook. At the time I’d bought and sold probably more than a dozen covers trying to find The One. I was pretty enamored with my blue TN from Chic Sparrow that was in pocket size as I was a big fan of Field Notes at the time. However, something kept me looking and buying.
It was a few days before my birthday in 2019, which had been a rather tough year for me. I was reeling from a career change from government to non-profit because I was tiring of the rat race and wanted to settle down. I was in culture shock by moving to a new region of the country. I was a mess when this notebook appeared on a buy-sell-trade board. I almost didn’t go for it, as it was an A6 and I felt pretty invested in the pocket size notebook world. However, I figured the odds were good one wouldn’t pop up again so I contacted the seller and soon it was on its way to me.
It was love at first sight and has been on adventures with me ever since. It’s got water stains, scratched, paint from a refresh I wanted to give it, and it still looks grand with that wear and tear. It’s been in use for five years and I don’t see that ending any time soon. Even if companies stopped making A6 notebooks for some unknown reason, I would just cobble my own together and keep the journey going. I’ve looked at other covers, but this one just brings me joy every time I look at the design and I never hit buy.
Seriously, this one will have to be worn to shreds for me to stop using it.
Rickshaw Duo Pen Sleeve for my Kaweco Liliputs
While I have a few Rickshaw pen sleeves, I am calling out this one specifically because of how hard I have been on it since I got it in 2019. This case was a custom request after I picked up my copper liliput. Previously, my fireblue liliput had been carried in a green single pen sleeve made for the liliput. When I call this pen sleeve an EDC, I mean that it is literally in a pocket on my person all day every day. While the heavy use of this item is mostly due to what it carries, I would not be getting the same joy out of my liliputs if I didn’t have it.
In this pen sleeve, I don’t have to worry about their smooth metal bodies falling out of my pocket. I also don’t have to worry about them rubbing against each other and wearing the metal down since one is stainless steel and the other copper.
This pen sleeve is seriously well made. Other than a little bit of patina and the tag starting to wear, there is not a stitch out of place. It’s as secure a pen sleeve as the day I bought it, maybe even better now that it’s formed around the pens.
Totally worth the purchase and I’m curious to see how much more I can put it through before it actually starts showing serious wear.
My Fountain Pens
Modeling how great the duo pen sleeve also doubles as a pen rest.
I buy them because they are fun and I love that I can use them for my whole life. I expect that the plastic Kaweco Sports may eventually meet an end through cracks or unfortunate mishaps (I lost one two years ago because it fell out of my pocket and got run over by a truck before I realized I lost it in the parking lot), but my metal pens I can just replace a part when it gets worn down. I’ve even done this with a nib housing already, the plastic sleeve wasn’t gripping in the liliput anymore so I just grabbed a different one to slot the nib into.
I’ve always been pretty attached to my writing instruments. Another one of those random objects that has managed to stick around in my life is a “fancy” mechanical pencil I found on the floor in middle school. I used it for a long time in school. I can’t think of a writing instrument I’ve actually lost permanently, after all, I did find that lost Sport in the parking lot… only too late. And with my fountain pens they are endlessly refillable and can offer different writing experiences with only a nib swap or an ink change. I love them for that.
And I imagine they will be with me for a long time. If all the fun ink colors disappear tomorrow I still have a pretty hearty collection and even if I only had whatever I could find at Office Depot, I would still be writing with them.
I look forward to my stationery collection gathering their own stories over time and showing their age as they journey through this life along with me filling notebook after notebook and maybe even emptying an ink bottle someday!
Are there any stationery objects that you expect you’ll have around for life, either yours or the objects?
Currently Inked
Birmingham London Fog - Kaweco Art Sport Terrazzo M Stub - I still haven’t really given this ink much of a chance. It’s a gray-brown and it has some good shading. It’s up my alley, but I haven’t reached for it much this past week. I’m thinking of swapping nibs in this pen to switch things up.
Taccia Black Jeans - Kaweco Art Sport Tiger’s Eye 14K B - This ink got another refill and I’ll admit, it’s grown on me in the past few weeks. It’s just super interesting on papers that show off ink properties well. The black sheen and the blue leaning black base just work really well together. This is not a “boring black” by any stretch.
Colorverse Supernova - Kaweco Liliput Copper 14K M ‘selvedge’ - Since I’m still waiting on the release of Colorverse Season 8, I am continuing through my Colorverse stash and into one of my mini bottles. Supernova is a classic Colorverse ink. It was from season 2 and it has a blue base with pink sheen on certain papers. It’s one of the original sheeners. While there are many blues like it out there now, this one will always have a special place for me.
Ferris Wheel Press Crystal Blue Legacy - Kaweco liliput fireblue 14K M ‘journaller’ - This ink was such a workhorse this week that it got refilled again after only 3 days. This ink is a blue-black with blue shimmer that only shows up when the light catches it. It’s a super fun ink to use at work because it doesn’t look all that interesting to the casual observer, so while my coworkers know I’m a pen nerd, it doesn’t distract them. I’ll work my way back up to wild colors with my new cohort, but I’m starting them slow with some stealth shimmer. Really enjoying this ink right now.