My daily carry of stationery has been interesting this past month. For some reason, my turnover in products I am actively using has been lower than what I am used to. Why? I think busyness is the main factor. If I haven't been working my day job or my plethora of night jobs, I have been getting away on the weekends with the family. The weekends seem to be the time when the shuffling of goods happens, and there just hasn't been time.
I've found, over the past several weeks, that this means one important thing: I'm very satisfied with the pens and paper I have been carrying on a daily basis. What I have been taking to the office in my work bag easily makes the jump into my weekend bag with zero changes. That's the sign of a good kit, and contentment with the products I am using. Here is a look at what I am currently carrying:
Pens
-- Sailor Pro Gear Regency Stripe
-- Franklin-Christoph Model 20 Marietta
-- Pilot Vanishing Point Black Faceted
-- Karas Kustoms Ink
-- Pilot Elabo (Falcon)
-- Nakaya Piccolo
-- Lamy Safari
Paper
-- Midori Travelers Notebook
-- Nock Co. DotDash Pocket Notebook
-- Nock Co. DotDash Spiral Pad
Case
-- Nock Co. Brasstown
It’s funny how the perfect carry makes itself sometimes. I moved pens in and out of my Brasstown a lot over the past month or two, and then all of a sudden it stopped. The pens I am carrying are a good match for how I like to write, and cover me for almost all situations.
I want at least one bright ink, and the Sailor Jentle Apricot in the broad-nibbed Pro Gear is pefection. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I want an extra fine nib with black ink for tiny notes and drawings. Stub or cursive italic nibs are a must, which the Franklin-Christoph, Karas Kustoms, and Pilot VP handle nicely, and I want new goods in there too, which the Lamy Safari and inks such as Dromgooles Blue Steel and Kobe #7 Kaikyo Blue do for me.
The lone outlier in the pen department is the Pilot Falcon. The way I use this pen is similar to other EF pens, meaning I just use it to write with. Both the Nakaya and Safari are in the same realm, so I can see the Falcon being the first pen I swap out into someting new.
As far as paper goes, I’ve really narrowed down what I am using regularly. I’ve carried the Midori Travelers Notebook (regular size) with me for months just waiting to bond with it and I think I’ve finally turned that corner. I’ve been using it for planning and general writing, like the newsletter draft I wrote in the picture above. I really like the format and layout of the MTN and see it as a continuous partner.
I also love the two most recent Nock Co. paper products, the black DotDash Pocket Notebook and the DotDash Spiral Pad (Spoiler alert: I own the company.) The Pocket Notebook is the perfect portable companion for short notes and sketches, and the Spiral Pad is great on the desk at home, office, or remote work space.
Between these three notebooks all of my bases are covered. I was carrying two other A5 sized books and two other pocket notebooks along side these three up until a few weeks ago, but found this setup to work best for what I need.
The pen case is the no-brainer of the bunch. The Brasstown offers six individual pen slots, plus a pocket to add a few more if needed. That’s where the Safari rides, for example. When I start carrying the Brasstown plus one or two more filled pen cases with me is when I start to get in trouble. I do that more than I like because I frequently carry new products for testing, and have to be sure not to overwhelm myself with choices, especially redundant ones.
I learned a lot about my likes, dislikes, and needs over the past month. While to most people this seems to be an insane amount of goods to carry at once, to me it is a simplification and refinement of what I had been carrying. We will see how this translate over the coming months as more new (and old) products are shuffled in and out.
