Review by Tina Koyama
Back in the day when I frequented coffee shops, I was often impressed by laptops I would see that were completely encrusted with stickers. I have never been one to sticker up my hardware, not even my bumpers, but my sketchbooks and notebooks are another matter. Stillman & Birn sketchbooks, my everyday-carry, are a blank canvas waiting to be stickered, as are some Field Notes covers. And many of my favorite stickers have stationery themes – especially pencils!
In addition to “eclectic, unusual, and desirable stationery accessories, paper, and tools,” stationery purveyor Notegeist sells stickers featuring the shop’s personable ghosty mascots, Blackwing pencils and even stationery geekiness itself (emblazoned on an actual bumper sticker, no less).
Lead Fast, a pencil and notebook review blog, offers a few unique pencil-related sticker designs, including one for the fictional Borrowdale Mining Company. It’s kind of an in-joke for pencil geeks. (I also own a Borrowdale Mining Company T-shirt.)
Speaking of unique, Etsy shop Ernest Theodore offers hand-illustrated Field Notes, “hackwinged” pencils (Blackwing ferrules attached to vintage pencils), custom handmade desk organizers, pencil extenders hacked with Blackwing ferrules, and many other surprises. After my own less-than-satisfying experience using a Tsunago, I bought some Tsunago’d pencils from this shop because by then I had a much greater appreciation for how finicky that tool is (and I never wanted to use it again). In addition to all of that, stickers are a creative mashup of Wolverine, robots, Ghostbusters and more – all with a pencil twist.
Perhaps my favorite stationery-themed stickers come from another Etsy shop, Kamikokuen. Specializing in vintage Japanese pencils, this shop owner has also turned sticker designer lately, with new designs showing up regularly. I love the Star Wars-themed ones – R2 as a pencil! Look closely – pencils are hidden everywhere. Many stickers are limited editions, so if you see something you like, better grab ‘em.
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. (Other stickers shown in my photo are from Brand Name Pencils, Draplin Design Co., Two Rivers Trading and Random Thinks. These were purchased with the reviewers own money.) Please see the About page for more details.
Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.
I’ve got 2 or 3 pretty cool Well-Appointed Desk stickers. One of which adorns my Muji glasses case.
That’s funny, I have stickers on my laptop but am HORRIFIED at the idea of putting any on the outside of my planner. It’s silly, I know!!
If you can find a plastic cover for your planner, you can either apply stickers to the cover or sandwich them under the plastic cover without actually sticking them on the planner.