Pulp

Washington, D.C. received as much as 30" in parts of the metropolitan area this past weekend. I live in Washington, D.C. Therefore, I have been stuck inside for the past few days, right? Wrong!

I actually escaped my dwelling place for a couple of days between snow storms (we are in the midst of the second storm as I write) and trudged around the city, making the most of my days off.

During one walking adventure in my soggy Chuck Taylors, I came upon Pulp, a stationery store with as much attitude as its exterior would suggest. I have read several mentions of Pulp on a few of the local blogs that I subscribe to, but had never been there myself. I consider this the first stop in what I hope will become a tour of my local pen, paper and ink stores.

Entering the store, I was greeted by the largest display of sassy, snappy, and charmingly rude greeting cards I have ever seen. The collection began at the front door and stretched all the way to the back, up a staircase, and then back some more. Fantastic as this cache of cards was, I was more in the market for loose stationery.

Luckily, I found some great letterpressed loose sheets (I'll post about them later). And, because I couldn't resist, I also picked up a number of cards (you'll see those posted soon, too).

On the whole, I considered the trip worth the journey. If you're ever in the area and need a cool place to kill some time, or you just really have a hankering for a greeting card that says, "I'm indie, edgy, but still like to celebrate birthdays," then I recommend you pay Pulp, located on 14th and S Streets N.W., a visit.

I have no affiliation with Pulp or any sassy greeting card companies.

Magazine Needs Your Content

There are people that are passionate about written correspondence and journaling, there are people who are good writers, and then there are the people who read Everyday Correspondence. By reading this you satisfy the third grouping, so if you also fit into the other two groupings (read: if you're in the middle of my little venn diagram) then I strongly encourage you to submit content for Letters & Journals, a magazine about correspondence of all sorts, and it's soon-to-launch website! Check it out.

Dino-mite Correspondence

Back in January I read about a functioning post office shanty that had been set up on a lake in Minneapolis, over at Letter Writers Alliance. In the blog entry, I learned that I actually know some of the people involved with the project! Many years ago I worked at the Science Museum of Minnesota with a couple of the artists behind the shanty.

I absolutely had to write them a letter. In recognition of our common past, I employed a dinosaur theme for the letter. On the exterior of the letter, I used some temporary tattoos (I accidentally bought them in the dollar section at Target a while back, thinking they were stickers). Thought, I didn't remember them until I had already sealed the envelope... so I hope I didn't inadvertently smear the water based fountain pen ink I used to write the letter.

I also used a tree stamp to create some flora to go with the envelope's pre-historic fauna.

Friday Night Favorite Reads

Niblets at Bleubug

Midnight Rendezvous at The Missive Maven

Special Postmarks for Valentines at Letter Writers Alliance

If your ballpoint stops working, you throw it away. at Leigh Reyes. My Life As a Verb.

The Dracula Collection at Goodnight Little Spoon

Episode #08: Habana v. Webbie at The Ink Nouveau (video blog)

Pallarols Inkstand Envelope

Several months ago, I stumbled upon an article about a silversmith named Juan Carlos Pallarols from Argentina, who works for months, sometimes years, on single pieces of art. One of his specialties is writing accessories, the products of which are often purchased by kings and... Antonio Banderas.

At the time, I tore out the page and tucked it away in my bag. Then, today, I came upon the article, which included some great pictures. And I did the most logical thing I could think of, I made the page into an envelope to send to a pen pal who loves fountain pens. I used a Gary Cooper stamp on the envelope because his is the classiest looking mug in my current stock of postage.

I would love to own one of these fine pieces! But, then again, I might rather spend the $25,000 required to purchase one on things that would make me feel way less guilty.

Musicians' Protective Union Letterhead

Many weeks ago, I received a letter from Julie at Whatever written on a classic letterhead. When I responded to the letter, I asked politely whether Julie would mind e-mailing me the image for posting here... and, well, BAM! Here it is! The image needed no cleaning up (anything needed to make the image more crisp is unfortunately beyond the exercise of my remedial GIMP skills). It blows up to top a full size 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, but as with all the other letterhead images, I suggest printing it out two to a page (to produce two 5.5" x 8.5" sheets) to reduce distortion.

Also in the image archive is a new link to LetterHeady, a great new site that is compiling quite the archive of original scan vintage letterheads.

This image is now available for download in the Everyday Correspondence Vintage Letterhead Image Archive. However, if you follow Everyday Correspondence on Twitter, this is old news to you, as you hear about it yesterday.

Friday Night Favorite Reads

Comparing Pencil Cases at The Pen Archives

I'll Give it a Tri, or Why I Divorced My Moleskine at Plannerisms

It Came From Planet Awesome. at Leigh Reyes. My Life as a Verb.

Letter writing makes a comeback at Telegraph.co.uk

Doane Paper Notepad Hack at Pocket Blonde

Fahrney's Midnight Blues Ever Write Fountain Pen Ink at Office Supply Geek