🎁 TREE 495: Ffestive FFOREST gift guide 2

By now, you have probably erected your Christmas shrine. (Mine doesn’t have lights or decorations yet. But I have secured it to the wall with a wire so the cats don’t knock it down again.) Soon you will start placing your offerings beneath it as we enter fully into the season celebrating our glorious god Capitalism. In the spirit of this sacred time, I have compiled a list of a few things you may like to purchase for yourself or a loved one/coworker. I’ll share my list over the next few days.

Automatic writing

I like writing. I like drawing. I do not like things that interrupt writing and drawing. I do not like dull pencils. I do not like sharpening pencils. I do not like dipping a brush or a pen in ink. Because I live now and not a thousand years ago with the Brontë sisters, I don’t have to do those things I don’t like.

My pencil is a Pentel GraphGear 1000 with 0.7mm Ain Stein lead. This is my favourite pencil that I have owned. And the lead is like spreading butter. It’s a beautiful thing to experience.

My brush pen is a Pentel GFKP. I’ve had my current one for at least five years. The brush tip is still perfect.

My fountain pen is a Noodler’s Ahab. It’s made of weird plastic that stinks for the first few months. The ink feed has to be hacked before it lets enough ink through. Once you get past those two issues, it’s great. It’s the only decent fountain pen I could find with a bendy nib for less than £200. (A bendy nib is important if you want to vary the width of your line. If you don’t care about variable line widths, I recommend my other fountain pen, a Lamy Safari.)

1. If you know someone who likes to draw, these are good gifts, not flashy or pricey but proper tools that will last for a long time.

2. If you spend more time fiddling with your tools¹ than you do working on your project, it would be wise to rethink your tools and your workflow.

Minerva has put on her fanciest hat and her sternest face for today’s outing.

Billy Idol can do more than sneer. Such a great voice, also 80s saxophone (Spotify).

Grow slowly
Jeff

1. Read that any way you want. It still works.