Watches, Pens, and the Craft of Analog Living
Ellen Ashford · July 26, 2026
A Locked Drawer Came Down From the Attic With Everything Else The desk itself I was ready for — three pieces wrapped in moving blankets that reeked of cedar and old wool, exactly what you’d expect from an attic in November. What caught me off guard was the shallow center drawer, still locked, with a … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 21, 2026
No spec sheet lists “will eat an entire month of journal entries” as a possible outcome, but that’s exactly what happened when I trusted the wrong notebook with my then-favorite wet-noodle flex nib. It was loaded with Diamine Registrar’s — a heavily saturated, slow-drying formula — and page after page soaked straight through to the … Read more
Ellen Ashford · July 8, 2026
Don’t trust a journal entry until you’ve flipped the page. That shadowy double of yesterday’s handwriting rising up through today’s paper is the single most common complaint I field from other people who write daily with a dip or cartridge pen — and it fooled me for years before I finally sorted out what was … 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