I'm really, really excited about the review that's coming at you today. Ashley Bush is one of the early calligraphy.org students. She's made an incredible business of freelance calligraphy and pensmithing. It's so exciting to see when students really run with it and make calligraphy into a career.
Ashley recently reached out to me to try out her resonate line. I'm really thrilled with how it's turned out. It's affordable, instagrammable and most importantly: comfortably functional. At $30 for these gorgeous marbleized pens, you really can't go wrong. See the pen rest, tilted ink holder and pen holder in action in my YouTube video below.
VIDEO DETAILS:
But if you're not the video-watching type... Here are my pros & cons of each item offered in the collection...
HOLDER $30PROS: Affordable, smooth/silky finish, easy to clean, made from resin so it won't split, carrot holder for promoting whole arm movement (also a great holder style for arthritic hands), flange adjusted and pre-fit with a G-nib
CONS: It's a little short. It feels nicely balanced in the hand, but I personally wish it were a little bit longer. I wouldn't mind an angled foot, either. But the foot is still small enough for a carrot holder that it fits in most ink jars.
PEN REST $9PROS: Holds 2 holders for easily switching styles, pretty, heavy enough base that it doesn't topple over.
CONS: has a slightly different finish on it than the pen, it'd be nice if it had the same matte finish. Not a deal breaker by any means.
TILTED INK HOLDER $7PROS: It tilts the jar just enough that you can get that last little bit of your ink out of the jar. It really works with very little ink!
CONS: It doesn't do well with full jars of ink. I wish there were a second well that was upright for me to hold my ink when the jar was full, and then tilt when the jar was nearing empty. But I really rarely put my full ink jars in an upright inkwell holder anyway, so it might just be superfluous.
BOTTOM LINE: It's a no-brainer. Scrounge up $50 and snatch up the entire collection. But at the very least, get the holder. It's a must. It's so so good. GET ONE RIGHT HERE.
Ashley recently reached out to me to try out her resonate line. I'm really thrilled with how it's turned out. It's affordable, instagrammable and most importantly: comfortably functional. At $30 for these gorgeous marbleized pens, you really can't go wrong. See the pen rest, tilted ink holder and pen holder in action in my YouTube video below.
VIDEO DETAILS:
But if you're not the video-watching type... Here are my pros & cons of each item offered in the collection...
HOLDER $30
PROS: Affordable, smooth/silky finish, easy to clean, made from resin so it won't split, carrot holder for promoting whole arm movement (also a great holder style for arthritic hands), flange adjusted and pre-fit with a G-nib
CONS: It's a little short. It feels nicely balanced in the hand, but I personally wish it were a little bit longer. I wouldn't mind an angled foot, either. But the foot is still small enough for a carrot holder that it fits in most ink jars.
PEN REST $9
PROS: Holds 2 holders for easily switching styles, pretty, heavy enough base that it doesn't topple over.
CONS: has a slightly different finish on it than the pen, it'd be nice if it had the same matte finish. Not a deal breaker by any means.
TILTED INK HOLDER $7
PROS: It tilts the jar just enough that you can get that last little bit of your ink out of the jar. It really works with very little ink!
CONS: It doesn't do well with full jars of ink. I wish there were a second well that was upright for me to hold my ink when the jar was full, and then tilt when the jar was nearing empty. But I really rarely put my full ink jars in an upright inkwell holder anyway, so it might just be superfluous.
BOTTOM LINE: It's a no-brainer. Scrounge up $50 and snatch up the entire collection. But at the very least, get the holder. It's a must. It's so so good. GET ONE RIGHT HERE.
