Just want to share my experience at Bungu LA this year.

Wavetops: Overall great time, friendly sellers, great quality products, event was well organized, and traffic flow was well managed. Help out the sellers so they can't wait to return and bring cash. Looking forward to the next Bungu LA event.

Organization: This is my second stationery expo. First was the last Paper World event in Anaheim. I am always impressed with the people I meet at stationery events. They are friendly, courteous, and are passionate about stationery. My wife and I found ourselves talking to people around us and shared our love for stationery. There was a language barrier with some of the sellers but respect for each other, shared passions, and the joy from recieving praise for their beautiful and well made products and the joy you get from buying from them. They have lines taped on the floor and it shows where to enter for the booths. I loved this and it made traffic flow smoother.

Pens and Paper: If you are looking to try out fountain pens before making a decision or try out different papers this is the event for you. I am a believer that picking the right pen and paper is similar to picking out the perfect shoe. It might be good for some but maybe not for you. For pens Pilot had a full display that you can test their lineup, Esterbrook was there, and Sailor presented by Itoya had a display all allowed you to test out their pens. Also, Yamamoto Paper (my personal favorite), Oblation, and Hiromi had paper to touch and test.

Art: What's a show without artists. We found ourselves going back to Yohaku to buy more of their items. Lots of washi tape (the best sticking ones I've used so far), letter writing sets, and cards. Some of my favorite artists were somesortof.fern, Parakid, Haikino, MiiCHOS Journal, necktie (drew the poster for this year), and Authan Chen Illustrations. Stamps all over the place but I especially loved the ones Tokyo Seihan, picked up a Great Wave set, a Millennium Godzilla set, and their stamp pads.

Every seller was amazing and I enjoyed meeting them. Ichigo Ichie.

Honorable mentions. Distributors: Itoya and Daigo.

I went a little overboard at BunguLA day 2 😬🤭

I had the best time at BunguLA today with my 9AM general admission ticket! I got to the hotel at 8AM, the event staff allowed us to start lining up at 8:15AM and we checked in promptly at 9AM! The event was well organized and had lots of space to comfortably walk around! I was able to visit every booth that I had on my wishlist and more! Some Japanese vendors accepted cash only but the majority of them accepted cards! My only very minor complaint was that it seemed kinda dark inside?? maybe it was just me though! haha 10/10!!

It was so relaxing and they quickly got you in right at 8AM! Plenty of time to browse and get items you didn’t get yesterday.

My second order from them and I am honestly so obsessed with it. It’s so personal and very reasonably priced. Please support them 😭🩷 They are just starting out and it’s still a small business 😭😭

Perhaps I really have too many…

I’ll try to name them from left to right
Rotring 600
Staedler 2.0mm lead holder
Platnium pro-use
Tombow Mono graph fine
Pentel graphgear 300 (black and white)
Pentel orenz 0.2
Lift+ LI2500
Pentel graphgear 500
Tombow Mono graph
Sakura 127
Pentel graphgear 1000 0.5 and 0.3
Pentel P205
Sumogrip 0.5
Pentel graphgear 0.7
Ohto Ms01
Pentel anniversary graphgear 500
Pentel AM13
Pacific Arc H-1305
Faber castell pencils
Blackwing natural, pearl, 602, and the black one idk
Uni hi pencil
Staedler pencils
Faber Castell pens
Pentel Slicci
Asvine black forest fountain pen
And the all might pen
(Top)
Sakura micron, various sizes
Singular garnet copic marker
And the Tombow Mono erasers

The end of a pen. This gives me joy.
I couldn’t remember when was the last time I finished a pen.
I am not a pen collector but I easily get bored. The joy and excitement of opening a new pen can only last for so long. Then it becomes just another pen sitting in the holder.

I bought this Pentel Energel about two years ago. My writing habit comes and goes so I didn’t use it that often, but I stuck with it and today there’s no ink left.

To celebrate, I bought a refill with a new colour - olive black. The hint of green in the ink gives me the subtlety I enjoy.

Not all of this is mine… I purchased by Proxy for a couple of people. It was smooth compared to last year. Here is a forewarning for any coming tomorrow bring CASH!!!! Lots of vendors do not accept other forms of payment. Very few take Venmo - some take PayPal.

I’m back at it tomorrow.

Most Vendors were holding stock for tomorrow. So some sold out today of exclusives.

EDIT: or is anyone interested in being online buddies? I'm also open to that too:))

hello there 🤗 does anyone live in the DMV, more so nearby southern Maryland and are looking for friends? I'd love to have a friend to go meet up with to journal or craft with 🥺. More so if they don't mind driving, I don't mind helping with gas if need be! It can be quite difficult to try to find friends who are not a part of groups that aren't quite so inviting because they already have each other--

I really want to support small artists! I'm in the UK. I found https://coyapricot.com/ while surfing for stickers to buy, and I really love her style. I also found https://www.pikarar.com/, but I can't tell if her stickers come separately or as a sheet / pack, which is why I haven't bookmarked anything from her yet!

CoyApricot made these geese stickers. I added them to give you a general idea of the kind of stickers I'm looking to buy! Preferably not above £3 for a single sticker sheet. Bonus points if you find any cool sci-fi / bookish sticker artists!

Another sticker I like from Bioworkz!

I see like $15 Washi samples from the coffee monster and simply gilded? I’ve seen one coffee monster Washi tape for $50😨 are these like super rare ?? Why are they so expensive

Purchased in Hong Kong, Okinawa and Singapore 🐱

As the title asks, I’m curious to hear who are your must see vendors at Little Craft Fest next weekend in Houston. I went earlier this year in April but only for one day and it was super crowded so I didn’t get to explore many vendors. Since then, I’ve discovered some new artists to me and realized they were vendors then but will not be there next week. Ex. LCN Design Studio and Yamamoto Paper :(

So in your opinion, who is worth checking out for someone who may have never heard of them or seen their art? Or what is your super niche stationery interest that is worth checking out?

Hello,
I am going to Seattle in a few weeks to do a stationery crawl around downtown. Any suggestions on stores to hit and ones to skip?

I got the Stickii Club Advent calendar last year and I love it. I've been plucking away at using my stickers ♡ I've preordered this years collection as well. No Spoilers Please

I was super excited about the little binders and envelopes last year but I've not figured out how to repurpose them. I love the owl one from this years' preview even more and am desperate to not let these beauties just sit on my shelves. So far, I've ordered some clear sheet protectors to use for sticker storage and some A6 sized paper.

I'm looking for more inspiration ✨️ and ways to use them.

Hi there. I used Dempsey & Carroll years ago and Crane for the past twenty or so years. But Crane has become very expensive, and in my experience, it's increasingly difficult to reach someone or arrange anything custom. I once had them make several thousand jotter cards with a nonstandard monogram, but they won't do that anymore. Fair enough.

They occasionally have sales, though, and if you stay within their limited options, you can still get something nice at a reasonable price. And I don't think you can beat the quality. (I haven't tried Smythson.)

I bought some cards for one of my children from American Stationery. Not quite Crane quality, but much more reasonably priced, although they no longer seem to offer heavier card stock.

Anyway, their website has been returning a 503 error for several days, and I'd like to order cards as a gift for another one of my children. Their telephone support has always been good, but ordering online is more convenient.

Any suggestions for good-quality correspondence cards? I prefer ecru cotton stock with a thermographed name or monogram across the top.

Yalllllllll I have been hunting for this set for a while I wanted to show anyone bc I don’t have anyone to talk about this. They don’t make stationary like this so personally I’ve been collecting as well it’s just so gorgeous the die cut fish nothing like it only $8 too…I got it off Vinted i literally sniped this so fast I’m very happy

Hi guys. I'm a 19-year-old left-handed guy. I'm struggling with smudging a lot. With ZEBRA or other hard ballpoint pens, there's little to no smudging at all. But with gel and other softer kinds, I smudge a lot. What do you guys suggest?

(The first example was written with the ZEBRA, the second with the thicker pen).

I saw that Papier has one, also Stickii Club

Wondering if there are others that are good 👀👀👀

There’s something about the old cloth-covered account books, with the pale green paper, the red money columns, and the “Brought forward” and “Carried forward” lines at the top and bottom of each page. I wanted one that actually fits in a back pocket, so I designed my own.

It’s 3.5" × 5.375" with a green linen-textured cover, a dark spine band and a leather-style title label. Inside, each entry runs across a two-page spread, just like a real ledger:

Left page: Date, Description and Category Right page: Paid Out, Received and a running Balance, with dollars and cents split by red double rules

I added a few extras: a Year at a Glance page for monthly totals, a Fixed Monthly Expenses page for the bills that never change (so you’re not hunting for them every month), and a Category Codes key on the inside back cover so you can write “G” instead of “groceries” in a 3.5" wide column.

I print, fold and trim these myself. Next I want to try printing the interior on pale green paper for the full vintage look.

Would love to hear what you think. Does anyone else still track spending on paper?