Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
Ellen Ashford Ellen Ashford · June 26, 2026
Eleven years and something like four thousand handwritten pages into this habit, the question I get most often has nothing to do with fountain pens or the notebooks I fill with them — it’s about mechanical pencils. For most of that stretch, I assumed the fault was mine: too much pressure, too little patience, lead … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 25, 2026
What does it actually take to make a desk you’ll willingly sit down at, day after day, instead of avoiding? In my case: a full teardown, three rebuilds, and a lot of trial and error. My setup began as nothing more than a folding table shoved into a corner of my bedroom, a chipped mug … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 24, 2026
My case backs used to carry the scars of my own impatience. Nothing about a spring bar tool is complicated in theory, but in practice I’d end up hunched at my desk for the better part of ten frustrated minutes, loupe pressed to one eye, gouging a fresh scratch into the metal with every third … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 24, 2026
Ask five people what belongs on a desk and you’ll get two contradictory answers: fill it with a matching accessory set for a “put-together” look, or strip it down to bare wood and call minimalism a virtue. The second piece of advice is the one that’s wrong, in my experience — an empty desk isn’t … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 23, 2026
Every January, when the new notebook goes on the desk and I dig through the pen cup for something worthy of page one, I run into the same infuriating snag: a refill that’s *supposed* to fit and somehow doesn’t. It’s happened to me more times than I’ll admit out loud. A proper pen refill compatibility … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 23, 2026
Ask ten notebook manufacturers what their ruling actually does to your handwriting, and you’ll get a blank stare — that information simply isn’t printed on the cover or the packaging. I found this out somewhere past journal number forty, once I finally stopped reaching for whatever was closest on the shelf and started genuinely interrogating … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 22, 2026
7S26 — that’s the caliber stamped into a Seiko 5 I picked up at an estate sale for $40, and hunting down that reference number is actually what got a notebook into my pocket in the first place. I needed somewhere to scribble the serial, the caseback markings, whatever the seller could remember about its … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 22, 2026
The assumption nearly everyone starts with is that a decent pen will simply behave itself on whatever paper happens to be lying around — that ink is ink, paper is paper, and the pairing hardly matters. It’s wrong, and I still own the ruined notebook to prove it. Three years back I sat down with … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 21, 2026
Nearly every beginner picking up a fountain pen assumes that if a notebook feels sturdy and looks nice, it’ll handle ink just fine — thickness equals quality, or so the logic goes. That assumption cost me $34 and three weeks of ruined journal entries. I’d loaded my TWSBI ECO with Pilot Iroshizuku ink and started … Read more
Ellen Ashford · June 21, 2026
Don’t buy a Hobonichi Techo expecting an ordinary notebook — that’s not what you’re paying for, and misunderstanding it will cost you money and patience. For three straight Januarys I watched the planning world work itself into a frenzy over this slender Japanese import, and for three straight Januarys I scoffed and reached for something … Read more