Links For Handwriting, Calligraphy, And Pen Junkies

This is a rarity. All nine links are pen and handwriting related. How totally on topic!

• JBBPensPaper (calligraphy items on Etsy)
• NYT: Kate Gladstone on Handwriting Matters; Cursive Doesn’t
• Gentian adds an ink reservoir to a dip nib
• Italic handwriting and calligraphy lesson (h/t Kate Gladstone)
• Yikes! Look at the price tag on the Sailor Kai!
• Mommy Kat and Kids has a pen giveaway but hurry to enter. It’s ending in two days.
• PerthNow: Tech-savvy kids can’t push a pencil
• Mattias: Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen (He’s the artist who introduced me to the Namiki Falcon.)
• Leigh Reyes on taking better pen photos

Some Calligraphers Earn Really Big Money

Did you see this?

With the White House closing its doors to public tour groups in order to save money for the sequester, it’s worth remembering some of the other costs the White House incurs annually.

Like the “Chief Calligrapher,” Patricia A. Blair, who has an annual salary of $96,725, and her two deputies, Debra S. Brown, who gets paid $85,953 per year, and Richard T. Muffler, who gets paid $94,372 every year.

In all, the White House appears to employ 3 calligraphers for a yearly total of $277,050.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/chief-white-house-calligrapher-gets-paid-96725-year_706521.html

Color me gobsmacked!

Pen Giveaway And Other Assorted Links

Just a few but they’re good ones…

• Julianna Swaney: Calligraphy Practice, etc.
• Forbes: Why E-Mail Will Never Replace the Handwritten Note (h/t Missive Maven)
• Best Science Art of 2012
• FP Geeks: We’re Giving Away an Edison Beaumont Pneumatic!
• Ken Cavers Custom Pens

Links About Dogs, Calligraphy, Doctor Who And More

Trawling for links was especially fun this week with several of my favorite subjects getting coverage. Of course, I just had to share them with you.

• TheMarySue: Watch the Doctor Who Cast Sing “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• art-profiles: Jean-Michel Berts
• Dark-matter detector has new home in South Dakota 
• Fountain pen price guides and publications
• If you have multiple bottles of favorite inks, you aren’t alone.
• Dogster: Could Baby Boomers Change the Face of Dog Ownership?
• European Paper Company: How to Write With a Fountain Pen
• ModifiedK9: Police Respond to Vicious Dog in Baltimore City (tale with a happy ending)
• Baseball coach brings his beautiful calligraphy to the dugout (h/t hisnibs.com)
• 20 illuminating facts about Twitter: 2012 edition (h/t Glen Gilmore)

Links From Montblanc to Calligraphy to Watercolourists

The Montblanc featuring a gear in its design could almost pass for steampunk…

• Cult Pens: My dear old Sheaffer pen
• Montblanc Skeleton Fountain Pens
• Fountain Pen Revolution, affordable fountain pens and ink made in India
• Some of the best 21st Century Watercolour Impressionists
• LifeHacker: Five Best Home Wi-Fi Routers
• Beyond Calligraphy
• Richard’s Pens and the very sophisticated Taupe Pelikan M205

More Links

A few for the weekend…

• Daleks attend a wedding
• Eleanor Baker Watercolors
• Anderson Pens: Collecting Strategies – Making Sense Out of Pen Collecting
• Gentian: Rohrer and Klinger Drawing and Calligraphy ink
• 10 Reasons the World Would be a Better Place if Japan Ruled the Earth (h/t Chris Meisenzahl)
• Envelope Size Chart Quick Guide (h/t European Paper Company)
• Combination Stationery Case Lap Desk
• Abbey Pens: The Encyclopedia of Calligraphy and Illuminated Letters

A Dozen Delightful Links

Just in case you don’t have enough to do this weekend…

• Okami has a list of good gifts for fountain pen lovers.
• A Spencerian Script course is being offered online.
• MonkeyPhoto: Ryman Softcover vs Moleskine Pocket Notebook
• I love Pamela’s watercolor palette. Summery and bright.
• Quo Vadis Blog: The Problem of Shipping Charges
• Reading Today Online: Zaner-Bloser is accepting entries for their 21st Annual National Handwriting Contest.  (h/t HisNibs.com)
• Brain Pickings: The Astonishing Visual Lists of Gregory Blackstock (h/t Stillman & Birn)
• Multi Pen Dimensions: Schrade Tactical Fountain / Ballpoint Pen
• 2011 JetPens Penefit Week Giveaway
• Lost In Cheeseland: Where to take afternoon tea in Paris
• Alison Potter: How do writers choose pen names?
• Badger and Blade: Ultimate Noodler’s Ink Round Up