Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Handmade Leather Pocket Notebook

by Tony Thomas

I decided to create a pocket notebook out of a piece of tooling leather that I had dyed previously.


 It is great for holding loose pages of Rhodia pad paper, other scraps of paper and receipts.


This notebook was super easy to make.  Just cut the tooling leather (4 to 8 oz.) to size, dye it and fold it.


I secure it by using an elastic hair band that are available at most drugstores.   Great project and very handy!

























Saturday, April 1, 2017

Pentel Energel Pens



by Tony Thomas

I know I usually write about fountain pens, but I thought I would change things up a bit.

Besides fountain pens, I am also a gel pen and pencil user.  Why?  Due to my frugality, I have a limited supply of really fountain pen friendly paper and sometimes cannot deal with long dry times when using really good paper.

I have recently tried out the Pentel Energel line of gel pens after using pens from Pilot and Uniball for a long time.

What immediately impressed me is their short ink dry time and lack of smearing.  They also produce a nice, dark black line.  And are they smooth!  I have used the needle point and ball point versions and am impressed with both.  

By the way, I was not compensated in any way for my recommendation of this line of pens.  I just love them!