The body is a Resinsoul 70cm Bigger Boy Body in Blue; they modded a 2nd pair of arms for me. She’s wearing Resinsoul Jointed Hand-02 hands.
Her head is a 2D Doll Merlin in Pure White. I dyed the head using Rit Dyemore: 4 cups of water, 2tsp Kentucky Sky, 1/4tsp Sapphire Blue. It took maybe 30 seconds’ worth of a dip to match the Resinsoul blue. I think the body has a smiiiidge more green than the head but I knew paints and blushing would even that out.
I closed her right eye with Apoxie Sculpt, and made her left eye with UV resin.
Her gross rope feet were a lot of fun to make.
I blushed and painted her body and face, lightly blushed her hands (they’re so fragile that I was afraid to do much to them) and manicured them with moonlight-pearly polish. Her spirit scar is TripleThick gloss for dimension and a ton of silver and blue mica powder for glow.
Her wig started as a ratty blond Monique mohair; I dyed it with the Sapphire Rit Dyemore and then basically straightened acrylic yarn back into faux roving, glued strands into wefts, curled those around a paintbrush handle and set the curl with a flatiron, and sewed the wefts into the wig. It’s not really meant to be seen without the hat. Plus, Ranni the Doll is pretty busted up, so her wig can be sloppy. (I’m super happy with it though.)
I drafted and sewed her skirts, bodice, and robe. The robe’s skirt is much more voluminous than the in-game model so I can arrange/style it around a doll body better. The skirt and robe are also a bit longer for the same reason.
The cloak is a rug from Homegoods, hahah. I painted most of the top two thirds with black, brown, and silver acrylic and made the edge bit from a bit of old blanket I had. The cloak is MUCH longer and cloakier than game-Ranni; I may cut it down later, but I left it huge for now because she’s my doll and I am a fan of TOO MUCH CLOAK.
The hat!
The hat was… well, I made four of them. The first two, I made as hats, like as garments for her to wear on her head. I could get the hat silhouette pretty close to correct, but it just looked weird on her when worn. The third one, I treated more like a soft sculpture, like a hat plushie. That one came out great! I made a really good witchy hat! But it wasn’t Ranni’s hat. It was more… just a witch’s hat. I don’t know how to DO soft sculpture, for one thing. And even with wire and glue-molding and other experiments, I just couldn’t get the brim to sag and droop the way Ranni’s does.
So I cheated and 3d printed it. I tried out Cura’s fuzzy skin setting for the first time and really loved the result. I painted it, kind of decoupaged paper I printed after sampling out screencaps from the game to the underside, and glued silvery stretch velvet ribbon around the brim edge.
And that – gluing on the velvet, settling the huge hat on her head – is when I gasped and said, “THERE she is.”
Finishing
I’m really happy with how she turned out. I got to use all my BJD crafting experience, plus try some new things. Never dyed a doll before, never messed with UV resin, never made a wig, never used Apoxie Sculpt, never handled jointed hands (they. are. amazing.)
Future projects:
Will probably make her Dark Moon ring.
May try making a better eye. I want her eye to really be bright and I don’t think I’ve nailed it.
I’ve been experimenting with UV resin to make her spirit face; so far, not happy. If I pull it off, you’ll hear about it.
Gonna make her throne. Not sure how to tackle that, and it’ll be huge.
Right now, I have 11 working machines in these two Ikea Fabrikor cabinets. I have space for one more (that spot currently holds my Alphasmart and my TKL keyboard right now, because I didn’t like the emptiness.) I’m TOLD that, if I must, I can find extra shelves and fit another two machines in each cabinet. Plus, there’s the top… I bet I could fit a couple cases underneath, too. Hmm. There are a few still on my wishlist but I’ve got some hella good machines.
Anyway, I got tired of sorting through cases to pull out what I wanted, so I needed a dust-free solution with easy access. Plus, they’re beautiful, why not have them on display?
I have an Underwood Finger Flyte Champion in the basement; I tried once to repair it and couldn’t. I will try again at some point – it’s a basket shift and theoretically a decent machine when functioning – but if it’s too fucked I guess I’m going to repaint it and use it as decor, and not have to worry about dust and maintenance for once.
And I have a line on a Royal HH desktop machine, fingers crossed on that behemoth.
Here’s a little gallery with brief thoughts and typeface samples, in reverse order of acquisition.
Facit TP2, Standard Pica 10 pitch, 1967. Made In Sweden.
In November 2024, we drove up to Cincinnati to meet a lovely woman who was selling her late friend’s typewriter collection. There had to be two hundred gorgeous, restored portables laid out to inspect. I had asked her to tag a few specific ones for me in advance – a couple of SM9s, an Adler J2, and an Olivetti Lettera 32. I was going to pick one. MAYBE two. More on the SM9s later.
I arrived, armed with ribbons (which I didn’t need) and paper (which I didn’t need – she was very prepared!) It turned out that I was unmoved by the Adler, had fun messing with dozens of others, really really dug one of the Lettera 32s.
But this boring, utilitarian Facit TP2? I tested it and immediately latched its case, announced “this one’s coming home with me,” and shoved it into Shawn’s hands.
One of my grail machines was an SM4, and I do adore it. I didn’t think anything would top it. And I’ll talk about the SM9s later. But this machine… there’s just something about it. The touch and banking is perfect for my hands, the heavy bakelite keys feel luxurious, there’s this clockwork-jewelry sound with each keystroke, the typeface is easy to read – I just love everything about it.
I don’t think these are particularly popular machines; folks seem to prefer the TP1. That also means they aren’t worth a bunch, so if you find one, give it a look.
Facit TP2
Olympia SM9 Pica #12 10 pitch
In November 2024, we drove up to Cincinnati to meet a lovely woman who was selling her late friend’s typewriter collection. There had to be two hundred gorgeous, fully-restored portables laid out to inspect. I had asked her to tag a few specific ones for me in advance – a couple of SM9s, an Adler J2, and an Olivetti Lettera 32. I was going to pick one. MAYBE two.
I came home with a Facit TP2 and two Olympia SM9s.
The SM9 is a really nice machine: it may not be the most eye-catching of designs, but it’s a delight to use and feels like a workhorse. This is a novelist’s machine. The typeface is dead serious and extremely easy to read. This particular machine makes a really crisp impression on the page. It has a steep key bank that’s actually quite ergonomically comfortable (a genuine concern for me.) The basket shift makes it extra comfortable to use.
The SM9s are the only machines that I can comfortably use on a normal-height table. All the other machines have to sit on a typing table, otherwise I end up with hella pain in my wrists and forearms.
There’s a reason people obsess over the SM9s.
Olympia SM9
Olympia SM9 Script #69 11 pitch
In November 2024, we drove up to Cincinnati to meet a lovely woman who was selling her late friend’s typewriter collection. There had to be two hundred gorgeous, restored portables laid out to inspect. I had asked her to tag a few specific ones for me in advance – a couple of SM9s, an Adler J2, and an Olivetti Lettera 32. I was going to pick one. MAYBE two.
I came home with a Facit TP2 and two Olympia SM9s.
The SM9 is a really nice machine: it may not be the most eye-catching of designs, but it’s a delight to use and feels like a workhouse. This is a novelist’s machine. The typeface is dead serious and extremely easy to read. This particular machine makes a really crisp impression on the page. It has a really steep key bank that’s actually quite ergonomically comfortable (a genuine concern for me.) The basket shift makes it extra comfortable to use.
There’s a reason people obsess over the SM9s.
(You may notice I’ve repeated myself. I figured I oughtn’t assume anyone’s reading every info card, so I’ve put the pertinent info on multiple cards. But this is the last of the Cinci batch!)
Oh yeah, and this one is FREAKING SCRIPT, Script #69.
Olympia SM9 Script #69
Webster (by Brother) XL-747, 11 pitch, 1970
This little Webster was made by Brother in 1970. We’d just moved into our new house and I wanted a 70’s-era ultraportable to use on the patio. After loads of research, I settled on a Brother and found this one on ShopGoodwill in late 2022.
I’d never had a typewriter shipped before and I was super anxious, plus I had no idea what condition it would be in. I’m all right at repairs and refurbishment, but Japanese ultraportables would be new to me and I was a little worried about finding my way around.
No need to worry: this machine was pristine. Like new. Its case contained all its brochures and the sales receipt from its original purchaser.
And it’s a blast. Super fun little machine. Comfy to use, easy action, lovely crisp typeface. I use it on my lap a lot. (I have not, as of yet, used it on the patio.)
Webster XL-747
Olympia SM4, Congress Pica #83, 10 pitch. 1959
Ahh, the storied SM4, friend to the also-beloved SM3.
This was one of my tip-top grail machines. I’d been hunting for one for years.
‘Twas pre-vax semi-lockdown covid times. ‘Twas a blizzard. Things were pretty bad in stores, and late one night I turned to Craigslist in hopes that someone was scalping road salt out of their garage. I’d nearly killed myself slipping on ice in our driveway and I was pretty scared.
But my typical Craigslist searches were for typewriters so that autofilled and this poorly-photographed machine was for sale for exactly the small amount of cash I had hidden in my planner.
So Shawn drove, hella masked, in a blizzard, to meet the guy. (Next neighborhood over, not like miles. There’s love, and there’s not-worth-it.) The guy’s street hadn’t been plowed so Shawn parked at the corner and they trudged toward each other and did the deal (after sending me photos so I could be sure the frame wasn’t bent; it looked bent in the sales listing, but no. All good.)
AND LO, the SM4 came home. And she’s glorious.
Olympia SM4 Congress Pica
Royal Quiet Deluxe, 12pt. 1946
This is another of my Dad’s finds at his local rural consignment store. It was pristine when it arrived. I pretended to clean it but it didn’t really need anything.
This one has a bit of an escapement skip if I type too quickly, and like the other Quiet DeLuxe, the glass keys cause me problems. (My fingers slip off them and land in between the keys on occasion.) The 12pt typeface is also not the most fun to read. I dig the machine, it’s just not a favorite.
With the pre-1950s machines, I like having them in my collection, and I like to use them occasionally, but generally just enough to keep them operable, not to really write a whole lot. If that makes sense.
Royal Quiet Deluxe
Smith Corona Silent, #46 Script (Upright), 10 pitch. 1953
My Dad found this machine at his local consignment store and sent me photos. I told him I wasn’t interested – it looked like hell, and I already had a Smith Corona (sorta – the Tower President.) He tested it and it wasn’t working.
As an afterthought, for some reason, I asked for a photo of the typeslugs. VERTICAL. SCRIPT. Sold!
She was a mess when she hit the workbench.
The paint was stained and slimy with some kind of seeping oil. The back was missing big chunks of paint down to bare metal. There was no drawband at all. And, the very worst thing: the mainspring was completely seized. The drum wouldn’t turn. Liberal amounts of product helped along with gator pliers and some muscle finally broke the spiraled spring free of itself and shazam, back in business. This was only slightly terrifying (very terrifying.)
I knew she needed a repaint but there were no colors on the market that seemed right, so she just stayed gross-looking for a few years. I got her in May 2018. It took me til March 2023 to find the right sour-rose paint for her.
And then, while I was stripping the paint (with Scrubbing Bubbles, which I learned from the Tower would dissolve Smith Corona crinkle paint from this era) – a bad thing happened. The green plastic Smith Corona badging also dissolved. Melted into gloop. I was stupid; I should have removed it first. Just dumb of me.
Now, on the Tower, the badging is one big plastic “Tower” with a couple plastic pegs on the back that go into wee holes in the metal. On this machine, the “Smith-Corona” badge pushes through a whole big cutout from behind.
So, sigh, I found a kind of Yoda-green approximation of the original color in PLA filament and designed and 3d-printed a replacement badge. This was kind of a bitch to do, but I’m happy with the result. I also had dark forest green nail enamel that matched the keys, so I painted the pinstriping with that.
I loved her original ribbon, which was a vintage blue-black, but it eventually disintegrated and I haven’t been able to find the right blue to replace it. This blue will have to do for now.
Smith Corona Silent #46 Script
Royal Quiet Deluxe, 1948
This is the Royal Quiet De Luxe “Tuxedo” that was designed by Henry Dreyfuss. It’s so beautiful! Other than needing a cleanup, it came to me in fabulous condition. Outrageously classy and elegant.
I don’t use it that often. The key action is incredibly light and smooth, and the bank is nicely ergonomic, but I find glass keys really slippery. Pair that slip with the typing speed that the light action allows, and sometimes my fingers fall in between the keys. Yes, I could slow down. I’m working on that.
This one needs a visit to the workbench to fix the ribbon color selector, and I need to check the text alignment – I think my paper shifted and caused the letter cascades you see below, but I’ll take a look and correct it if need be.
Royal Quiet Deluxe (Dreyfuss Tuxedo)
Tower President (SCSS) Pica #1 10 Pitch
This is a Tower President, even though its serial number doesn’t match the numbering convention in the Typewriter Database listings. I think it must have been an early one that predated the new numbering? Or it was mis-stenciled.
The Tower President is a Smith Corona Silent Super rebadged for sale as the Sears house brand. It’s fine. Not my favorite, not my least favorite. It’s fun to use and the Silent Supers are typically rock solid little machines. The mechanicals cleaned up nicely, and the platen is tolerable. Not great, but not a rock.
This one got stripped and repainted because it was trashed when I got it. I scraped all the awful, tobacco-gooey soundproofing felt out of it and doused the crinkle paint with Scrubbing Bubbles, which usually works a treat. This time, it instantly peeled the factory paint off in sheets. Awful. So it got a repaint (and fresh felt, obviously.)
Tower President
Hammond 12
This is a WILD machine. The type is on a shuttle which rotates with key action and a little mallet hits the paper from behind, whacking it against the shuttle. You can swap in other shuttles to change the typeface. It’s like the original Selectric. The keys are spring-loaded, so it’s as easy to type on as a computer keyboard. WILD.
This one needed loads of cleaning. The paper is meant to rest against a rubber impression strip that both keeps the paper from flapping about, and pads the impression so as to protect the shuttle and deliver clean type. I had none, but I bought a bicycle inner tube and cut a strip. It’s also missing its ribbon shield; I made a replacement from cardboard but will fabricate a metal one at some point.
After a cleanup and some adjustments when I got it, it worked perfectly.
I got this in March 2017. In the years since I’ve gotten it, the mainspring seems to have weakened some, and it doesn’t like to finish a line without help. This weekend (July 2025) I came very close to Trying To Fix It, but I decided that I should leave well enough alone and just keep it as a mostly-working, clean, lovely 118-year-old machine.
Here’s the original typeface (a bit skewed because of my camera angle.)
Plus… I found my coveted Attic typeface shuttle on Ebay. It’s actually for a Hammond Multiplex and doesn’t work all that well in the #12 – it catches on the swivel sometimes – but still! (Also, see all the weird artifacts in this sample? That’s because I hadn’t installed the impression strip and ribbon shield yet.)
Underwood #3
“Found you a typewriter,” my Dad said, and texted photos. I’d said I was keeping an eye out for one, and he found it in October 2016 and stuck it in his garage.
December 2016 he and my Mom drove up to visit (and to bring us Sadie, who was coming to live with us.) Two glossy black beasts arrived that day, one rustier than the other.
The machine is an Underwood No.3 11inch and it was a huge project. It was my first, for one thing. I referred to original repair manuals and traced linkages and learned a ton. Replaced the missing drawband. Scoured tons of rust off of it. Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. Freed up jammed escapement. Fixed wonky typebars. (When an old typewriter repair manual says to “form” a metal piece like a typebar or linkage, they mean bend it with great care until it does what you want.) Tightened or replaced a few springs. Replaced those ruined feed rollers in the photo with ones I made out of Fimo – I didn’t have calipers and even if I did, there was no intact roller to measure, so it’s a miracle that my fix worked.
At one point, either because of a frozen carriage or a jammed bell trip, I forget – but Shawn and I resorted to whacking it with a rubber mallet til it broke free. It was a whole thing! Anyway, I had to fix a LOT.
Someday I may re-decal it if I feel like spending the $40 for the nice waterslips that are available.
But I finally got it all clean and now it works like a dream. It may be ancient but it’s a joy to use. The platen is rock hard, so I use construction paper as backing paper, and it weighs close to 50lbs so I don’t haul it out often, but I really love it.
I’ve been meaning to talk about my fountain pens (and inks, and typewriters, and dollhouses) on this blog for uh years? But I sit down to write about them and realize I need photos, and that means I need to clean this or get better lighting there or oops now the dogs need to go out, or we suddenly need housing, and then I’m tired or I forgot.
So I thought this questionnaire would be the trick to get me blabbing about pens!
1: What is the pen they’ll have to pry out of your cold dead hands?
My Lamy 2000, medium nib. It’s currently inked with Robert Oster Grey Seas, and as far as I’m concerned that’s the endgame perfect ink for my perfect pen.
Is it the most beautiful pen, design wise? Is it the best nib, the smoothest, most reliable writer? Does it have the best machining, the best fit and finish for the parts?
Yes. Yes it is, yes it does. I like to pet it, because I’m so amazed that the blind filling cap is just imperceptible. And it fits my hand just right, socks right in there. I’d really love another one in a Fine someday.
and maybe one of the expensive heavy steel ones
and maybe the pencil
and the 4 color ballpoint
Kaweco Dia2, Pilot Metal Falcon, Lamy 2000
2: What’s your guilty pleasure pen?
I don’t feel guilty about most of my pleasures. But let’s see.
I have a beautiful, gifted vintage pen – story for another time, but it’s a good one – that makes me feel guilty because I owe a letter to the lovely man who sent it.
And I have three knockoffs: one Delike New Moon (kind of a Sailor clone) and two WingSun 699s, which I bought basically as kind of a test drive to see how I’d actually like/use a Pilot 823. I feel guilty about owning knockoffs sometimes.
3: What’s the pen you wish existed?
An affordable, non-limited Lamy 2000 in another color. Any other color. I think an ivory one would look great next to the black.
Or – wait, I mean AND – an opaque glitter Pilot 823. Black and glittery.
4: What pen would you give to a new enthusiast?
Pilot Prera, or maybe an Online Vision (as long as I checked the nib first.) Both are luxe-feeling but affordable average-sized pens with spectacular nibs and satisfying snap caps, and they never hard-start. The Prera may have the edge because swapping in other Pilot nibs is easy; I don’t know about swapping Online nibs (never been tempted to.) The Prera is also eyedropper-able. But the Online has a durable metal body.
Online Vision, turquoise.
5: What pen do you want to get along with but it just never clicked?
I’ve been dissatisfied with my Guilloche Vanishing Point all along. I have a Medium nib unit, a Stub, and a Bold. Bold is too big. Stub is not stubby enough yet scratchy. I just keep the Medium in the pen but it dries out and hard starts all the time. I have a little dream of sending my Bold and Stubs off for custom grinds, but don’t want to put money into that if they also misbehave.
However, I put Iroshizuku Momiji in it the other day and it seems much happier with that. I tend to just grab the VP for quick “pay attention to this” notes so the bright Momiji isn’t a bad pick.
6: What pen do you only keep only because its pretty?
I have the Conklin Rosegold Abalone Endura in a stub, and I don’t use it a lot, because it’s really heavy. I keep Diamine Jack Frost in it and use it for headlines and exciting words or whatever. But it’s really pretty and I keep it displayed on my desk instead of in my main pen tray.
Vintage inkwell and pen stand with Leonardo Momento Zero Blue Hawaii, Conklin Endura Rose Gold Abalone, and Benu Euphoria Vodka on the Rocks.
7: What pen (or stationery product) did you buy because everyone else did?
I caved to the Hobonichi Hype after years of happily using Midori travelers’ notebooks. And boy, did I cave. I think I’m on my fifth or sixth year of using the Cousin as my daily planner, plus I have an extra Cousin as a project notebook, and two (three? do I have three? unsure) A6s as, uh, a smaller project notebook, and a music-lessons notebook.
I love the paper, I love the design. I love that there’s a lot of structure if you want it, but the structure is in tiny gray print and easy to ignore if you want to do something else. I love, as a free-range nocturnal person, that the weekly planner area has 24 hour days, and the daily planner area’s structure – which I typically ignore, but sometimes I need – goes 4am-4am. And I love the covers, even the plastic cover-on-cover sleeves.
So thanks for that, everyone else. You got me so hooked on a good thing. It’s a luxury, but I use it all day, every day.
Hobonichis galore, with bonus peek in the pen tray.
8: What pen (or stationery product) is over your head or just baffles you?
I think Pilot Metropolitans suck. There. I said the thing. My 3 all had trash nibs, the rubber sac converter holds no ink and fails fairly quickly so you really need a new converter at the outset, the designs are ugly, and I don’t like the way they feel in hand. They’re Not For Me.
That said: I know people love them, and I’ve seen them for sale in local grocery stores etc, and if someone buys one and gets hooked – or wants an upgrade, like, immediately – that’s all the better for the world of fountain pens.
A few years ago they were like $12 in the US.
Now they’re $25. So is a Pilot Prera. I would always, always recommend the Prera over the Metro.
9: What pen (or stationery product) surprised you?
Hmmm. Maybe Sailor HaHa ink? Because it looked like it should be illegibly pale, but it’s not, and I’m crazy for it.
I don’t think I really get too surprised because I research everything absolutely to death before I make a decision.
10: What pen doesn’t really work for you but you keep it because it’s a collectible?
I don’t think I have anything that anyone would consider collectible.
11: What is your favorite sparkly pen (or ink)?
Benu Euphoria Vodka On the Rocks. I mean. Look at it.
Benu Euphoria Vodka on the Rocks, inked with Diamine Jack Frost.
12: Which nib do you love – but hate the pen?
I love my Pilot Falcon Soft Medium nib, in the Brown metal body. I don’t hate the pen. If I’d been able to get a different color (light blue) I would have, but it’s one of the many VERY FUCKING NICE pens (like the Vanishing Point and all its nib units) I got at intensely steep discounts in 2019 from a local store that was shutting down. Like, “I felt like a vulture who was robbing them” prices. RIP Leather Inc.
But I don’t hate the brown, and I may not have bought my now-beloved Iroshizuku Tsukushi if I hadn’t had a brown pen that needed nice ink. (And of course Tsukushi is now discontinued. I hope my 2 bottles last a long time.)
13: What pen (or stationery product) gives you the willies?
I really hate the Kaweco Liliput. Just deeply unpleasant to hold. I picked one up to try at Leather Inc once and nope.
14: What’s your favorite pen for long form writing?
Lamy 2000 all the way. WingSun 699, which means that yes I do very much want a Pilot 823, the Smoke Black in Medium. And Kaweco Dia2, an underrated pen. It’s basically a nicer Kaweco Student, which is also a really nice pen.
15: What pen (or stationery product) do you love in theory but not in practice?
In theory, I love inks that sheen. So pretty. I love looking at photos of them. I love writing with them. Magic. Sucks to try to read/refer back to what you’ve written, though, because you have to find just the right angle of light, otherwise you’re trying to read shiny foiled letters.
See the Benu Euphoria glitter pen photo for an example. Awesome in photos. Obnoxious to try to read later. I use those kinds of inks for the kind of journaling entries and brain trash that I don’t want to read again.
16: What pen (or stationery product) would you never let someone else use?
Let’s just say that I bought special black document ink for my Lamy 2k to sign my marriage license, but when I held the pen out for the witnesses etc to use, my hand started shaking and I ended up pocketing the 2k and handing over a rollerball instead.
17: What pen (or stationery product) would you never use for yourself?
I guess just really pale, dry inks. I need legibility, and I hate the feeling of dry ink on paper. I’m not a fan of extra-fine nibs either; one of my Kaweco Student pens has an EF and it’s in a drawer until I get around to fitting a bigger nib on it.
18: What pen (or stationery product) could you NOT bring yourself to buy?
I have one grey-market Sailor Pro Gear Slim, and I absolutely stupid love it, and if I had all the endless money forever I’d buy Sailors til I was drowning in them, and I’d have way too many to actually use – when using that pen is the real pleasure. That nib. I just die.
But I cannot bring myself to buy any others at non-gray retail because they’re just too expensive for me. Same with Pelikans: I yearn for a Pelikan Souverän M605, but, oof. I just can’t.
19: What’s your favorite vintage pen?
I have a sweet little Esterbrook CH Trianon Rose pen; it was my birthday gift last year that also celebrated our 1963 house. It’s restored and came from Anderson Pens. I put a Venus medium steel nib in it, and I use Waterman Inspired Blue ink. It’s very tiny and I’m careful with it, but it’s a lovely writer and just screams vintage.
Esterbrook CH “purse pen” in Trianon Pink.
20: What is your favorite EDC/pocket pen?
Toss-up: Kaweco Sport or Pilot Prera. The Prera’s easier to access due to the snap cap, but the Sport’s better for actual pocket carry. Thing is, I eyedroppered both of my Sports and both of my Preras, so if one explodes in my pocket – well, I wear black, nothing will happen.
21: What’s the pen (or stationery product) that got away?
I wish I’d bought the Estie Blueberry when it was available. I waffled on it for so long it sold out.
of blogging again. Once upon a time I was constantly on Livejournal, paid sub and all, and then the Great Abandoning happened. I was on Vox for a minute, and it fell apart. Ello, Google ?circles? whatever their social thing was. I mirrored my Lj at Dreamwidth for a minute, but most of my circle ended up on Tumblr, which wasn’t my thing. The best part of Lj were the conversations in comments.
I joined MySpace to get updates regarding a friend of mine who was undergoing physical therapy. I joined Facebook to keep tabs on what bands were coming to town. MySpace fell apart (no great loss to me) and my fb account, always friendslocked, has been idle for years. I joined and adored Imzy, but it fell apart.
I joined Twitter to read updates about the then-forthcoming Jonathan Strange series, and that’s been my main hangout ever since. I doomscroll like a champ, and don’t engage often, but I’ve made some friends there.
Twitter’s falling apart, fast.
I miss Lj. I miss Imzy. I miss hobby forums. (I know they still exist, but I cycle through hobbies – a month of hardcore dollhousing, a month of knitting, a month of Elden Ring, a month of 3d printing, etc – so there’s no cohesion or consistency.)
The plan is to pick up my usage of Instagram, Mastodon, and this blog. Maybe I’ll even start using some of the social features of my Quest. And I have some actual snail-mail letters to write.
Newswise:
We bought a house! It was a traumatic experience (landlords sold our place, we had to make new affordable plans in zero time during a terrible time to buy) but we love it.
The Thunderstorm Books ultra-fancy limited edition of Last Night at the Blue Alice sold out in 24 hours. I had a whole whiteboarded promotional plan and basically marked off “tweet about it” before it was sold out. You’re all wonderful.
There is good book news coming soon, just can’t say anything about it yet.
Blue Alice and Dangerous Red are both out of print at the moment. At the moment.
And the fabulous New Maps of Dream from PS Publishing, edited by Cody Goodfellow and Joe Pulver, is available in a gorgeous hardcover edition. It features my story “If The Cat Were Around, He Would Have Eaten the Fish.”
I’d been going to tell you all to come visit me on Imzy, but, much to everyone’s sorrow and disappointment, the site is shutting down. Didn’t get enough traction. It’s a real shame.
So instead, I’ll invite you to read an interview! Alexandra Peel asked me some really fun questions for her blog, and I answered them. Most of them, anyway.
Frankenparker: 1938 Parker Parkette with XF Wearever nib of similar vintage, inked with Private Reserve Sonic Blue.
My dad found the Parkette in an antique shop, along with a couple of Wearevers. I just deleted a bunch of boring details re: its problems. End result: cobbled together parts and now she writes. The extra-fine nib is a treat.
I have a Cracked Ice Duragraph w/a very wet Medium nib that I adore and am just as happy with this stub. The stub is a touch scratchy, which is to be expected as it’s untipped, plus I’m using a particulate/GLITTER! ink in it. Makes me happy though.
The Ahab is a pleasant surprise. I have been battling a loathed Nib Creaper Flex for two years, following every adjustment tutorial, heat-setting, replacing the nib and feed, etc and it’s just a piece of hateful, hateful junk. It therefore seemed masochistic to try the Ahab but I really wanted flex. I absolutely love it. I’d thought it looked like a gross, fat torpedo in pictures, but in person, it’s the perfect size for me. Colorway is pretty, too. But the real action is in the nib, which does what I’d hoped. So, happy days. It pretty much confirms that my craptown Creaper was just defective.
My pen/ink/paper wishlist is… healthy. I was afraid that might happen.
I have at least 50 blank books. I’ve written in a few of them, but many are still blank, because I don’t want to screw them up. I’ve got unused books that I’ve been hauling around since I was a damn teenager.
When I worked at the art college, I bought a new pack of Franklin Covey planner inserts every year. Fifteen years. Wasted a lot of pages, skipped a lot of days.
As a youngun, I kept a personal diary full of Thoughts and Feelings – mainly because I was broke and bored and had nothing to read and needed something to occupy myself, something to keep my hands busy while I nursed the single cup of coffee I’d panned up enough to afford.
Reading about my 20-year-old self’s exploits horrified me; I was a terrible kid. Selfish, shallow, thoughtless. It was jarring, and I haven’t really been able to journal since then, because I don’t want to revisit my 40-year-old self on my deathbed and discover that I’ve been awful my whole life.
ANYway, I rely on bullet journaling, and I do love my fountain pens. I researched notebooks with good paper, and was an instant away from ordering a Hobonichi, before realizing that the structured approach wouldn’t work for me.
Enter the Traveler’s Notebook. There are lots of “fauxdoris” on the market, and they look great, but I got a Midori for a good price on Amazon. Wooooorth it: the leather is spectacular. (I did debate for probably 3 weeks as to whether to get brown or black. Opted in the end for brown simply because I keep the house dark and wanted to be able to more easily locate the book.)
If you’re not familiar with Traveler’s Notebooks, they are simple things: a cover, with elastic strung down the center. You slip notebooks under the elastic. You can have multiple books with different uses and types of paper. You can replace them when full, toss them if you screwed something up, pull one out and use it alone if bringing the full notebook isn’t convenient, etc.
The fauxdoris come in a million sizes and materials. The Midoris come in passport size and standard; a page in the standard is about 4.5×8″ , which seemed odd to me, but it turns out that I LOVE the size.
Bullet Journal: for daily logging. I printed a grid on Staples sugarcane paper.
Collections: traditionally would be in the same book as a Bullet Journal; I’ve just moved them to a separate sheaf of paper. I reference the page numbers in the bullet journal as usual. These are lists, notes, diagrams, measurements, project plans, etc. This is a Midori #13 Lightweight (Tomoe River) insert. I adore this paper.
Journal: Trying to do Thoughts and Feelings, but still pretty uptight about it. Instead I goof off and play with inks and script styles. Right now this is a booklet of half sugarcane, half Rhodia dot.
When the bullet/journal sections fill up, I replace them. The collections section will stay (and take a lot longer to fill up b/c the lightweight paper allows a ton of pages.)
I also sewed a zipper pocket/pen loop/card holder insert, just because I could. I’m not sure I’ll keep it, but whatever, I was excited.
The little silver charm is something I bought on Yahoo!Japan years ago.
So, if you love flexibility, and especially if you have anxiety about “messing up” a notebook, consider this approach. I LOVE IT SO MUCH YOU GUYS SO MUCH
(I’m trying to talk myself out of a second one, a black one to devote just to fiction-related notes. The whole POINT of the system is that you can stick new segments in & have the whole thing with you at once. I’d have to either carry them both – ugh – or carry just one, which defeats the purpose, but… blaaaack. In the mean time, I’m just flipping the book over and writing fiction-related stuff in the other direction. Topsy-turvy book.)
So much stuff has been going on, a lot of it really heavy and depressing – world stuff, and personal. I have been self-medicating with:
My first playthrough of Mass Effect; psyched for Andromeda now. May replay ME2 but unlikely to play the others again. Currently replaying Fallout 4 just because it soothes me.
Books, including Mary Sangiovanni’s Chills, K. C. Alexander’s Necrotech, Cherie Priest’s The Family Plot, Gleick’s Time Travel: A History, and Arnold’s Necropolis: London and its Dead.
Bourbon, tea, and thick socks
There are also a couple of new loves in the household. Both need caring for, which is good for everyone.
The Remy dog:
She is the sweetness. Enjoys Dirk Gently, milkbones, and nocturnes.
The Underwood #3: after lots of cleaning, tinkering, replacing rollers, etc, she’s up and running. All she needs are new decals and a single key top. Maaayyybe a bit more polishing, but hey, she works.
My parents live in rural South Carolina, same house where I grew up. There are lots of older folks out there, pack rat folks, and also a lot of families who are starting to inherit their old homesteads and clean out the attics/barns.
With that in mind, I sent out the alert to my dad: please keep an eye out for vintage typewriters and fountain pens. Affordable antique fountain pens are tough to find these days. Typewriters are even trickier, thanks to rise of keychoppers – artists who clean old typewriters off thrift store shelves and cut the keys off to make jewelry.
That means that the typewriters are getting a lot more rare, and that prices have skyrocketed: both to capitalize on the keychopping trend, and to protect nicer specimens for collectors.
Anyway. Let’s just say I’ve lost a lot of auctions. And I haven’t wanted to buy a typewriter online, anyway. I do dream of someday spending big money on a pristine Olympia SM3, which I’ll have to order from a pro, but for one of these that I want to spruce up myself, I need to mess with it first. Or to have my dad mess with it.
I was up past dawn playing Mass Effect. I’d just listened to Episode 4 of In The Dark – it’s outstanding – and had finally fallen asleep, when my dad started blowing up my phone.
At first, I panicked, because that’s just how I roll.
But he was sending photos, and then called to say he’d asked his consignment-shop-owning friend to keep an eye out. He asked if I wanted this typewriter for Christmas, and yes, I did and I do, and here’s a photo of it on his washing machine at home.
I called it a beast; Shawn took one look and called it a beast, so I figure that’ll be its name. Or Bess. I don’t often name things, but this machine just begs for a name.
I have the serial number: it’s a 1928 Underwood Model 3 with 11″ carriage, and I can not wait to get with the tinkering.
