Renaissance Art

If you haven’t heard yet, it’s February. V-Day. You either love it or hate it and whether you celebrate pro or anti-Valentine’s Day, Renaissance Art has got a gift for you (and it’s not a box o’ chocolates). We’ve got new Limited Edition 2010 His-n-Hers Valentine’s Day Journals.

Both are lined in black leather with Cranberry covering Hers and Flight Jacket covering His. A snap closure keeps all the Frankfurt Creme pages (our premium paper) safe, and a three-letter personalization comes free with the purchase of the book. Also printed within each book are four love poems. See the first of the four below:

Dream Girl

by Carl Sandburg

You will come one day in a waver of love,
Tender as dew, impetuous as rain,
The tan of the sun will be on your skin,
The purr of the breeze in your murmuring speech,
You will pose with a hill-flower grace.

You will come, with your slim, expressive arms,
A poise of the head no sculptor has caught
And nuances spoken with shoulder and neck,
Your face in a pass-and-repass of moods
As many as skies in delicate change
Of cloud and blue and flimmering sun.

Yet,
You may not come, O girl of a dream,
We may but pass as the world goes by
And take from a look of eyes into eyes,
A film of hope and a memoried day.

So, what’s in it for the Valentine’s Hater? A Horrible Love Poem Contest*.

The world is filled with love poems. We want the cheesiest, stinkiest, most horrible love poem you can think to write. Send it in the body of an email with the subject line “Horrible Love Poems” to service@renaissance-art.com by February 14. Winner will receive their choice of a His or Hers Valentine Journal with his or her poem printed on the front page.

*Yes, I know that we have not yet announced the results of the Jingle Bag Rock Contest yet (you guys sent us a ton of GOOD CDs. Needless to say, we’re still fist-fighting over the winner).

If any of you have ever wondered what our paper is like to write or draw on or our leather looks like up front and close, you an now order samples of each.

We include our 4 different papers and 14 different leathers.  Cost is $5 and $10 respectively.  This cost is credited to your account for any future purchases.  Shipping for the samples is free.

You can order them HERE.

Happy Friday! Today we’re posting the last of the reviews Kadymae, a forum member of the Fountain Pen Network, did on our paper. Zerkall seems to have been her favorite, she gave it a 9.

Kadymae says:

I can’t decide if I like the vellum or the smooth better. Things dry a skoosh faster on the vellum, but the smooth is like writing on Rhodia … but 40lb (estimated weight) Rhodia. (The vellum being what vellum would be like if Rhodia did it.)

Be warned, this is not an inexpensive paper, but if nothing but bar none the best, the Rolls Royce of paper will do? I’m not kidding.

You can view the review and any comments at the Fountain Pen Network. You can read her last reviews of the Arches and Frankfurt paper by clicking on the links.

Thanks again Kadymae for reviewing our papers and giving some honest feedback. We’re glad you enjoyed them. And thanks to the Fountain Pen Network for being a great resource.

Today we’re sharing Kadymae’s second review of our paper. Kadymae’s a fountain pen user anda forum member on Fountain Pen Network. We sent her some samples of our three paper types a while back and this review is about our Frankfurt White and Creme paper.

Kadymae says:

As you can see, there is some showthrough, but that’s only because of the bright light of the scanner. This paper is about 32lb weight and under normal conditions, there’s no showthrough.

The scanner does not pick up the subtle watermark decoration of this paper, and that’s a shame. To the human eye, this paper looks like it’s going to be heavily ridged and boldly textured, but running one’s finger over the paper reveals that the paper is quite smooth with only a subtle texture. Holding the paper up to a light source reveals that that irregular cross-hatch “texture” is actually a form of watermarking, which I think lends the paper a sort of fun sophistication. It certainly is a distinctive paper.

Verdict: Wonderful stuff.

You can view the review and any comments at the Fountain Pen Network. You can read about her last review of the Arches paper here. We’ll be posting her last review on Friday. Thanks for the honest review Kadymae and to the Fountain Pen Network for supplying a great resource.

Awhile ago, we mailed out some paper samples to Kadymae, a member of the  www.fountainpennetwork.com.  Today we’re posting a link to her review of our Arches Text Wove White paper. We use this paper, along with two other types, in our all journals and books. The Arches is the best all around artist paper we carry and works well with light watercolor washes as well.

Kadymae says:

Despite the fact that this paper is called “white” it’s clearly a very lovely cream color. I do not know for certain if this paper is acid-free/archival or not. Given that it’s clearly an artisan paper, I think so, but you’ll have to double check with them to be certain.

Despite the texture, it did not make my already toothy M205 an unbearibly scratchy writer.

It’s not what I’d choose in a journal, but if you like/need a heavy paper with nooks and crannies, it’s very good — the ink does not feather and the nib will not “lint” up.

(And there’s no show through under normal lighting conditions. The very bright light of my scanner did produce a hint of show through on the top sample.)

You can view the review and any comments at the Fountain Pen Network. We’ll be posting two more of her reviews this week (one on Wednesday and one on Friday), so stay tuned. Thanks for the honest review Kadymae and to the Fountain Pen Network for supplying a great resource.