Shorthand Shop Visit

(Kimberly (she/her) took the express train down the fountain pen/stationery rabbit hole and doesn't want to be rescued. She can be found on Instagram @allthehobbies because there really are many, many hobbies!.)

I visited a few stationery shops when I was in the SoCal area after the CA Pen Show in February. In addition to Paper Plant Co, I also went to the Shorthand shop in the Larchmont Village neighborhood (the other location is in Highland Park). Larchmont Village has several blocks of cute shops and restaurants, so this was a great location to walk around. Let’s take a look!

Shorthand, Larchmont Village location.

Can’t wait to go inside!

I gasped out loud (in a good way) when I stepped inside because it is such a visually pleasing aethestic!

I love the airy, open feeling inside the shop. There is a lot of room to browse and you never feel rushed.

After gasping upon entry, I looked to my right and saw this color-coordinated window display from the inside.

There is a wall full of greeting cards to choose from. In fact, this is only half of what’s on this wall. You can also buy the posters displayed above the cards.

More cards!

In the corner is this awesome wooden card catalog which holds all sorts of refills - from fountain pen ink cartridges, to ballpoint and rollerball refills, to pencil leads!

Look at all this colorful eye candy on the walls! My inner matchy-matchy heart was bursting!

Any green fans out there?

I bet no one likes orange either, right? Maybe one guy, but he’s a lil sus. 🙂

Shorthand isn’t a pen store, per se, but they did have assorted pens, including fountain pens, available.

Here are some of their fountain pens.

A few more pens, as well as custom stationery and other assorted items, in the glass case at the counter.

Since I was just at the CA Pen Show a couple days prior, I wasn’t on the hunt for anything in particular. I still enjoyed looking at the products in my favorite colors and being able to talk to the staff in a relaxed environment.

I couldn’t resist this awesomely colorful clutch pencil from Koh-i-noor, as well as their shop postcard.

As I mentioned above, there are two Shorthand locations: this one in Larchmont Village at 126 N Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90004 and the other in Highland Park at 5030 York Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90042. Both shops are open daily from 10am - 7pm. You can reach them via their online contact form. You can call the Larchmont location at 323-640-1793 or Highland Park location at 323-642-9039. Shorthand is also on Instagram as Shop Shorthand.

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The Pen Addict Podcast: Episode 660 - Annual Performance Review

I was so close!

With Myke out, I’ve surprisingly had the podcast on lock - until now. Don’t let your ears deceive you, as I continually call this episode 670 throughout the show. Oops. It’s not worth AI Brad re-recording the number, so we will just roll with it.

On the content front, Kimberly Lau, aka @allthehobbies, joined me for her performance review this week. I asked her all of the #ASKTPA we needed to catch up on - how did she do? Pretty great, if you ask me. I’m the one who now has a permanent mark on their record. 🤣

Show Notes & Download Links

This episode of The Pen Addict is sponsored by:

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Kenro Industries: Esterbrook introduces the new Estie Coffee Monsterz Co pen. Click to buy now.

Wearingeul The Old Man and the Sea Ink Review

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

One of the inks I've been using recently takes inspiration from a work of literature that I'm sure many are familiar with. For me, it was required reading for 9th grade English in school. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was my first exposure to his work, and it's also the inspiration for Wearingeul's ink of the same name. While the source material is about an epic struggle of human versus beast and nature, the ink focuses on the serene but unknown beauty of the sea.

The Old Man and the Sea is a deep teal ink with lots of shading and a heavy dose of red shimmer to mimic the sparkly reflection of the sun off the ocean's surface. I've used many Wearingeul inks at this point, and I've come to expect great performance. This ink is no exception.

I've really enjoyed the color of this ink. The dark teal is a pretty shade and there's enough shading to produce a good amount of color variation in even small nibs. Comparing this ink swatch to others in my collection, I was surprised by how similar it is to Sailor's Yama-dori. The main difference is that the Wearingeul ink has an additional red shimmer component.

While I'm not a huge fan of shimmering inks, it's really well-done with this ink. The ratio of glitter particles to ink is on the lower side to ensure it never overwhelms the beautiful teal color, and the choice of using red glitter is a fantastic complimentary color. There are many blue/green inks that use a red sheen for the same reason — they just go well together.

Writing with this ink is a joy. It feels smooth on the nibs and papers I've tried, and it flows well. Since this is a shimmering ink, you need to remember to shake the bottle well and ink your pen immediately to get a good sampling of red glitter. If you forget to shake the bottle, you will barely notice the red shimmer when you start writing.

The ink also dries in what I'd call an average amount of time. It's not setting any records (on either end of the spectrum), but it falls right in the middle at around 20-30 seconds to become smudge-proof. Not an ideal candidate for anyone that wants a fast-drying ink. That said, I think the color and shimmer is worth the extra hassle of waiting for the ink to properly dry if you know you won't be in a hurry. For left-handed writers, it will be challenging to keep your hand from smudging this ink as you write — even if you're using a really small nib.

It's been so long since I read The Old Man and the Sea, but I'm pretty confident that I can say that I've enjoyed using this ink for the past several week more than I enjoyed reading and writing about the novella. To each their own, right? Wearingeul really did a great job at designing an ink that pays homage to the source material, while also making it a fantastic ink on its own rite.

The Old Man and the Sea is $22 for a 30ml bottle, or you can pick up a small sample vial to try out first for a few bucks. Regardless of what you think about the book or the author, this ink is a great color that looks great on paper. If you like how it looks, you'll really enjoy using it.

(Vanness Pens provided this product at a discount to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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Enjoy reading The Pen Addict? Then consider becoming a member to receive additional weekly content, giveaways, and discounts in The Pen Addict shop. Plus, you support me and the site directly, for which I am very grateful.

Membership starts at just $5/month, with a discounted annual option available. To find out more about membership click here and join us!