Finally, after many months of trying, we have done it! The new Two Hands Paperie website is active. The site is in no way filled out- we tried to at least provide a representative sampling of a few products under some of the categories to get the site going. But most of the categories are still empty. But it is up, and it is beautiful in our opinion, especially compared with our old version.

Not only is the site more visually up to date, but it is more easily navigable and more user friendly. We will be adding to the site over the next few months, choosing some of our favorite items from the store, so be sure to check back if there is something you have seen in the past and do not see now. Also, feel free to email us with questions about products you have seen in the past and presently do not see.

You will see new pages added to the website, including this blog. One very exciting addition is the page for classes and events. In the past the store offered classes on bookbinding, creative journaling, and a variety of related topics. We are planning to bring these classes back and are in the process of putting together a fall class schedule. This will be posted by mid-August. We will also post any free in-store events, or community events that we think might be of interest to our customers.

We have also added a “Custom Printing” page. We offer custom letter press and ink jet printing through the store. This will be represented more fully on the website in the near future. In the meantime, if you have any questions on custom printing, please stop by, call, or email us at the store.

We appreciate everyone’s patience while we worked out the details of our new website, and hope that you all agree it was worth it. Please be sure to check back regularly as we will add products daily and will do our best at adding a blog post each week.

Yours,

Mia and Gerald

We have been very busy at Two Hands lately, continuing with our spring cleaning and restocking after the holidays. We have also been working on our new website which should be up soon. It will be more user-friendly- much easier to navigate, improved checkout, and with updated products and product information.

Many customers ask us if we offer journaling classes.  But recently we talked with one of our customers about teaching journaling classes. Cynthia Morris lives in Boulder and teaches, among many things, journaling and creative writing.  While in the store she showed me a couple of her journals that she had in her bag.  Seeing her journals and our conversation during our brief visit in the store was very inspiring to me.  I decided then and there that I would approach the new journal that sat on my desk in a different way, including more sketching and art work with the writing . We are hoping to have Cynthia teach a class at Two Hands in the fall so that anyone interested can be equally inspired.  If you are hoping to enhance or tap into your hidden creativity, this class may be for you. You can learn more about Cynthia at her website- OriginalImpulse.com.   Watch our website for the class schedule to appear later in the summer.

For pen lovers, the new Visconti Homo Sapiens line of pens will be out soon. We have the pens on order and are very excited about carrying them. The pens are unique in many ways.  Besides the flexible nib, wide-opening spring clip, large ink well, and customisable cap which are standard on most Visconti pens, the Homo Sapiens  line are made from lava from Mount Etna in Italy. The black body of the pen is enhanced by bronze trim which, on the pen I tried out, had a beautiful patina already forming.  The pens are available in fountain, ball point, and rollerball.

One of our favorite items at Two Hands Paperie is our pens. We all love them, employees and customers alike. There is really nothing like the feel of a fine pen in your hand, gliding across paper. A good pen with colorful ink makes you want to write. It is a tactile experience that is unfortunately being replaced by the tapping of keys on a keyboard. But it doesn’t have to be.

At Two Hands Paperie we have a selection of  ballpoint and roller ball pens, as well as a variety of fountain pens, all of which are very popular. We carry fountain pens by Jean-Peirre Lepine, Namiki, Delta, Faber-Castell, Taccia, Visconti, Retro 51, Lamy, Online, and Spalding.

One of the most exciting aspects of the fountain pen is the ability to choose inks. There are a large number of inks available for fountain pens, both in cartridges and bottled inks. Cartridge inks are more limited in color in some brands, but ink manufacturers such as Herbin make all of their bottled inks available in the International cartridge style. Nearly all fountain pens come ready for cartridges.  Converters can be purchased for most pens to allow the use of bottled inks.

Fountain pens that accept cartridges are handy for travel and for those who carry a fountain pen daily. They can be carried onto airplanes while traveling. Bottled inks lend themselves better to use at your writing desk, simply because carrying bottled inks can be cumbersome and potentially messy.  At Two Hands Paperie we carry inks by Herbin, Waterman, Taccia, Lamy, Caran d’Ache, Namiki, and Visconti.

For those not ready for a fountain pen, there are ballpoint and roller ball cartridges that write as smooth and flow as freely as fountain pens.  Caran d’Ache ballpoint cartridges are very smooth. Faber-Castell ballpoint cartridges flow across the page as if they were a gel or roller ball cartridge. If you are not familiar with these brands, or with the differences in pens, ask to try them out the next time you visit us. We would be happy to explain  their features and let you try them side by side for comparison.

In an earlier post I mentioned that one of our frequent customers uses his sheets of paper to cover watering cans.  Frank spends hours crafting unique designs.  And more than just creating something visually pleasing, his creations are still functional.  He coats the watering cans with a clear sealant that leaves them impervious to water. Our neighbor, the West End Gardener will be carrying them for sale, should you be interested.  Frank is working on his website.  When that is up, I will provide a link to it so you can contact him directly. In the meantime, enjoy his watering cans.

Nearly every day someone visits our store with the intention of slowing down their progress in the digital world.  Today a customer purchased a Filofax organiser to replace her PDA. It seemed that the PDA just no longer felt right.  I have also recently helped a few customers purchase letter writing materials- paper, envelopes, pens, and even wax seals and sealing wax. Their intentions were to do away with email, and write letters again. 

Because of these interactions, I recently decided that I needed to write a letter myself.  I gave it quite a bit of thought- I asked myself “Who do I know that would really enjoy receiving a letter?” When I finally hit upon the person, I sat down immediately and began writing.  I have to say that the tactile experience of writing, of addressing an envelope, and sending it off was something I had forgotten about. Not to mention the challenge of not being able to cut and paste, and the fact that I had no spell check! I plan to write another letter soon, once I realise who the next recipient is. 

Valentines day is just around the corner- our paper stars came down yesterday and were replaced by a paper heart. The heart shape is made of the pages and covers from romance novels, twine, and wax.  Waxed paper flowers from the leftover pages are in the process of being made. We will post photos of the flowers as soon as they are in the store. Maria Fuoco-Lawson did the installation. She is currently in her last semester in the Fine Arts department at the University of Colorado.

At Two Hands Paperie we hear this question every day. When new customers discover our paper room we usually find them excited, and sometimes overwhelmed, as they look over our hundreds of sheets of decorative paper.That is when we usually hear the question: “What do people do with this paper?”

For us, the answer can be daunting- because there is so much you can do with it! We keep a list of possibilities on hand in the store and are always happy to talk about new ideas. Here is a short list of possibilities: make a book, make cards and invitations, cover a lampshade, collage, make origami, scrapbook, wrap a present, line drawers, or frame it and hang it on the wall. Some recent discussions with customers have added the following to the list: use it as photography backdrops, make paper ornaments, decoupage glass Christmas bulbs and pink flamingos, cover watering cans, line the inside of a ceramic lamp, hide the clutter in glass-front cabinets (a popular use), or cover the glass in a door.

The possibilities really are endless and only limited by the imagination. Stop in and look over our decorative sheet papers and let us know what you will do with yours.