Does Anyone Use A Pen Pillow At Their Desk?

[MHBru]

I find them intriguing but they aren't widely available and certainly don't seem to come up in conversation here very often. I'm interested in see what you use and your thoughts around how you use them? I know that chopstick rests have been used ... What you got???

[inkstainedruth]

I have considered chopstick rests, but couldn't find them for sale anyplace -- even in the oriental grocery where I bought my husband a 24" wok for Christmas a few years ago....

I do have a couple of the small Pelikan pen rests, but don't actually use them except as decorations; sharing space on top of my desk with random other tchotchkes: a couple of Wade Whimsies (two pelicans and a cat -- I think I have a few others which I keep misplacing and then finding again); a 1960s Rat Fink toy; a mini "Gumby and Poky"; a Funko Pop "Doctor Who" (the current Doctor); a plush "Grumpy Cat" toy; a ceramic Kliiban Cat Christmas ornament; and a mini "Lucky Cat" with battery powered arm....

On the few occasions where I need something like a pen pillow, it's generally someplace abnormal, like I'm temporarily putting a pen down on my kitchen (in which case I'm just propping the pen(s) against something on the counter. But normally, I'm sticking them someplace nib up if the pen is inked, and putting them horizontally on the bookcase next to my bed (as a reminder that the pen needs to be refilled or flushed out).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[KaB]

[inkstainedruth]

Very nice KaB! I have a similar looking mouse-pad (back when Borders still existed they carried these in a bunch of different patterns and I got one that was from the collection of a store in (IIRC) Newton, MA. When we lived in MA, the company (which at that point had been around for something like 65 years) had an exhibit of rugs from their *personal* collection (they were on I think their third generation and training up the fourth...). And when I saw that one of the available patterns of mouse pads was a "Gregorian" rug, I just had to have it....

I once went in the store just to look around. They had a lovely large rug at the bottom of their stairs to their lower level (although I'm not sure I would have wanted one with a white background for that). I looked at the pricetag and was STAGGERED at the cost. And even more staggered when they had it just to be walked on by customers (a lot of the rugs in the museum exhibit were *also* on the museum floor, as it happened -- except for the really fragile silk ones, and one that was a replica of the earliest Oriental rug ever found). Their attitude was "rugs are made to be used, and walked on". And that is why I'm firmly of the belief that pens are meant to be used.... Even the "rare" vintage ones.

If I could have afforded a rug from Gregorian, I would have bought one in a heartbeat.....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for formatting

Edited August 27, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[DonLeone]

My pens rest on soft cloth. They're always on some sort of cloth blanket, microfiber cloth, anything like that.

 

The great thing about it is that my pens have their own space, their own "home" if you will. I never have to wonder and search where I left my pen because they always go home to the same spot, even if I'm juggling 7 different books and piles of loose papers.

[bemon]

I have a square of leather at my desk that I rest my pen in when I'm not using it. Either that or I put it back in it's case. Or my mousepad. Either way I don't rest my pens on any hard surfaces.

[DonLeone]

I now use a dice rolling tray. They're pretty cheap and usually come in multipacks and different sizes.

 

I have a red and a purple one. They're felted on one side and leather-ish on the other. They have buttons in the corners that allows the sides to be pushed up so it forms a tray. Prevents pens from rolling.

[langere]

Ha! And how am I supposed to add a pen pillow?

[ridiculopathy]

I did have a chopstick rest that I used as a pen pillow, but then it seemed unfair to the other 15 pens I had inked at the time.

[Mech-for-i]

I have a porcelain pen tray on the desk its got space for 3 to 4 pens or I can have a pen and an ink bottle on it , separately I had a few China ware pen rest that I can put either on the desk or on the tray to further rest the pens

[amk]

Langere, I'm glad to discover I'm not the only desk slob around :-)

 

I use either little wooden pen rests (that I made myself) or a nice pen box with enough room for two or three pens inside.

 

I don't have room for anything more!