PSA: How to Pronounce Kuretake

Today's PSA is about how to pronounce "Kuretake". Kuretake is a Japanese stationery brand especially known among calligraphers for their brush pens and watercolors. I have no idea what the name itself means, but this is how to pronounce it!

"Kuretake" can be broken up like this: coo-ray-TA-kay. Here is a more in-depth explanation of the pronunciation syllable by syllable:

1. coo: like in the word "cool", but almost like you're making a bird call
2. ray: rhymes with "say"
3. TA: the accented syllable, rhymes with "la"
4. kay: like in the word "okay"

I hope this short little guide on how to pronounce "Kuretake" helped you out!

If you have any other requests on things you want to see in the PSA series (like other stationery words that you want to learn how to pronounce), make sure to comment it down below!

New York City Stationery Haul (AKA My Irresponsible Spending Habits)

Hey, everyone! If you don't follow me on Instagram, then you probably don't know that I went on a trip to New York City this past week. I was there for 10 days total - from July 9th to the 18th. In that time, I went shopping quite a bit. I actually spent almost $300 on stationery! Ahhh!!! As to be expected, that amounts to a lot of stuff. Anyway, that's enough talking; here is my New York City stationery haul!

Modern Brush Calligraphy Alphabet (Bounce Lettering)

I've been doing calligraphy for a little over a year now, and in that time, I've improved a lot - well, at least I like to think that I have. In the very beginning, I think one of the hardest things about starting was that I was lost in terms of an alphabet. I used to have look at a bunch of different Instagram calligraphers for different letter inspiration, but through that (and lots of practice doing various headers in my bullet journal), I've developed my own style in terms of modern calligraphy.

That style happens to consist pretty much completely of bounce lettering, which is where the lettering is a little more free-form, and each individual letter isn't completely straight on a baseline (especially the strokes that connect each letter together, which tend to go below the baseline in bounce calligraphy). That explanation probably didn't make much sense, so look through my Instagram, and you'll see a lot of examples of it (such as in this photo). I personally find bounce lettering easier than "normal" lettering because you can be a little sloppy, but it'll still look good. Plus, it automatically gives it that cute and "whimsical" look that modern calligraphy is often known for.

So, I've decided to share with you today my own modern calligraphy alphabet, specifically for bounce brush calligraphy (though you can still by all means use this same alphabet for other types of mediums). If you've just started learning calligraphy or if you haven't started yet and you have no idea where to begin (or if you just want to spice up your own calligraphy style with some variation), then this'll be a great resource to kickoff your hand-lettering journey, whether you want to do weddings, decorate your bullet journal, or anything in between.

If this is your very first attempt at any type of calligraphy, I highly suggest trying out faux calligraphy before brush calligraphy. It's not required, but I think it would be helpful.

PSA: How to Pronounce "Fudenosuke"

This is the first "real" PSA post (other than the introduction), and today, I'll be talking about how to pronounce "fudenosuke", as in the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens. The word itself is Japanese, and it roughly means "Mr. Brush" in English.

According to slightly Anglicized Japanese pronunciation rules, it should be pronounced "foo-day-no-SOO-kay". Here is each syllable broken down:

1. "Foo" as "food"
2. "Day" as in "daylight"
3. "No" as in the word that's the opposite of "yes"
4. "SOO" as in "Susan" or "suit" (this is the stressed syllable)
5. "Kay" as in "okay"

However, I found this YouTube video from Tombow USA. In the video, it's pronounced kind of like "foo-dough-NO-ski". Unfortunately, I completely disagree with this pronunciation. Since the word itself is Japanese, and Tombow is based out of Japan, "fudenosuke" should adhere to the original Japanese pronunciation as closely as possible.

Thus, I have to say that "foo-day-no-SOO-kay" is the proper way to pronounce this word.

What other words in the stationery community do you want to know how to pronounce? Let me know in a comment!

The Best Brush Marker for Calligraphy Beginners

Okay, I know that saying the "best" brush marker is a bit of a stretch, but I truly believe that out of all of the brush pens/brush markers that I know of, this is the overall best one for beginners starting to learn calligraphy. Seriously though, I really like these markers. They're amazing for calligraphy beginners, and even as a hand-lettering "veteran", I still use them all the time.

So, what are these magical brush markers? Read on to find out!

What's in My Pencil Case (2016)

Hello, everyone! This week I'm back with more of a stationery/studyblr/planner community in general type of post. Frankly, one of my favorite types of videos on YouTube are "what's in my pencil/pen case" ones (especially while I'm practicing my handwriting), so I decided to make a blog post about it! In this post, I'll be covering what I keep in my pencil case (well, actually cases) for school, so read on!

HUGE China Stationery Haul!

Ok, I have a bit of a problem with stationery hauls. Well, the problem is that only in the past several months, this is the third haul I've had! I think I'm just making up for all of the years in my life that I missed out on awesome stationery. But seriously, I couldn't pass up buying stuff in the world's favorite continent for cute stationery - Asia (and more specifically, China).

As some of you may know, I went to China for about three weeks in July. While I was there, I got an almost obscene amount of stationery, mostly awesome pens. This post will detail all of the stuff I got, so without further ado, here is my China stationery haul!