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Some of Refilstigr, my mail art magazine, is handwritten. For instance, there is a toned cyanotype on aquarelle paper which has text handwritten with a fountain pen. There is also some text handwritten onto sheets of custom cut Tomoe River paper. The Tomoe River paper is a very thin (52 gsm) fountain pen friendly, acid-free paper manufactured in Japan. It comes in cream (the color variation I used) and white. The photos below show the process of creating these pages.

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1. First I need to measure and cut the paper to size. I planned for the format of Refilstigr to leave minimal amount of cutting waste — each sheet is 1/3 of the length of a letter sized sheet (ANSI Letter), so if I cut neatly I get exactly 3 sheets from each letter sized paper. But some of the papers I use are not letter size to start with (some are, for instance, A4), so there is sometimes a little bit of cuts left over. (On this photo I’m actually not cutting the Tomeo River paper I used for the handwriting pictured on the other photos on this page — the paper on this photo is an onion skin paper that I use for the pages that are typewritten. But I cut all the paper the same way, using a paper knife and a ruler.)
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2. After measuring and cutting the paper to size, I stamp all sheets with the logotype. I use an archival stamp ink — permanent, waterproof, acid-free, non-toxic — which dries fast and doesn't smudge. The color is called Jet Black.
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3. The second stamp goes on. This color is called Carnation Red.
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4. I apply the line between the logotype and the tagline using a 0.50 mm Rotring Isograph pen.
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5. Finally, after drying for a few minutes, the sheets are ready for handwriting. I like the challenge of handwriting the same text 21 times without messing up with typos or smudging. It’s an excercise in presence. I make some errors, but I mostly consider them minor and deem them acceptable.