Our Valentine's Day station is open all this week up until February 14th. Come in store and talk to our staff to create a heartfelt Valentines Card and finish it off with an extra special touch by sealing your envelope with a wax seal. Choose from a selection of different premium blank cards and envelopes and write your valentine message with fountain pens filled with the 6 different Standard Bindery fountain pen inks. Decorate your card with different stamps and washi tape and finish it off with a stunning rose or flourish wax seal with a choice of wax colour, all for $15 per card. If you ca ..read more

  Take a look behind the scenes at the process we went through to make our first batch of Standard Bindery Leather Balsam in this video ..read more

Journaling can be a powerful tool to help clear your mind, get on top of your to do list and conquer your goals. It can also be a way to express yourself and exercise your creativity. In the hopes of inspiring you to do more with your journal we post a page spread once a week to our Instagram & Facebook accounts. We will keep updating this guide with our latest page spreads as a handy reference tool.   Mood Tracker -  This simple tracker prompts you to record how you were feeling about different aspects of your day. Do you feel like you worked toward your goals, gave yourself enough relax ..read more

For a lot of people the most exciting part of using a fountain pen is the ability to pick from hundreds of different colours of ink. Inks are being produced all around the world by pen manufacturers and bespoke ink makers and we stock a wide variety. This guide to fountain pens will step you through the process of filling a fountain pen from a bottle of ink using an ink converter. The fountain pen we are using to demonstrate this is the Platinum 3776 Century, which takes a piston style ink converter. If you would like to become more familiar with the different parts of a fountain pen check out ..read more

Fountain pens offer a unique writing experience and consist of a few different parts, utilizing gravity to deliver controlled ink flow to your paper. First invented in the early 1800's and later coming into production in the late 1800's the fountain pen is a fun, analogue tool for writing and sketching. This guide shows the anatomy of a fountain pen so you can familiarise yourself with the different parts and common terms used to describe a fountain pen. Like a ballpoint pen, a fountain pen will usually have the barrel, clip, grip section and a cap to stop the pen from drying out. Where a foun ..read more

With a range of different formulas of fountain pen ink available it can be daunting to find the right ink for your particular needs. This guide will break down the differences to help you choose what ink is best for you.   Dye Based Ink Dye based ink is the most common fountain pen ink you will find. Brands like Pilot, Faber-Castell, Diamine and so many more create their fountain pen inks using this method. Dye based inks can be found in a huge array of different colours and give you the broadest choice. These inks are made with water soluble dyes which make them very easy to clean from your p ..read more

As the cold approaches it’s time to get cozy with a nice cup of tea, your journal and pen. Here are our top 7 fountain pen themed picks with a winter feel.   1) Faber Castell Loom - Piano White With its glossy white cap the Faber Castell Loom fountain pen in Piano White has a striking polar feel. It's smooth nib is a perfect match for any of the winter feeling inks below.      2) Monokaki Notebook The Monokaki notebook from Masuya in Japan has that white on black contrast on the outside and is filled with cream fountain pen friendly paper that will give you the vibe of warming up by a fire on ..read more

Wax seals are the perfect way to finish off a carefully crafted letter, thank you note, invitation or to add something special to your gift wrapping. Before starting, make sure the brass stamp is clean and free from fingerprints and dust. We recommend using the Stamptitude Wax Melting Kit and following the steps below to create consistent, stunning wax seals and to avoid charring the wax. Alternatively, if you have a large amount of seals to create, you can use Wax Gun Sticks with a 1/2 inch glue gun for quicker results. We also recommend first practicing on some spare card to ensure you get a ..read more

Hand lettering with brush pens is a fun and rewarding skill that requires practice to master. This guide will take a look at how you can get started on your lettering journey with Tombow Brush Pens and the Tombow Beginner Lettering Set. We recommend downloading and printing these free Tombow work sheets to help you get started: Dual Brush Pen Work Sheet   Taking your first steps -  Learning to control the amount of pressure you apply with your brush pen is one of the biggest challenges for anyone starting to learn lettering with brush pens. Starting out with a pencil, like the soft 4H included ..read more

With so many different styles available it can be tricky to find the perfect pen for you. This guide will take a look at the difference between two very similar, but different pen types - the rollerball and the ballpoint. Both pens have similar designs with the main difference being the ink used inside the refill. Rollerball - The rollerball pen has a liquid based ink and as a result writes smoother and requires you to use less pressure when writing. With a rollerball pen you get a strong dark line of ink. As a result rollerball ink will often take slightly longer to dry and when using a light ..read more