Found a great art supply store in Richmond, VA, this week that
carries lots of Speedball stuff, including some stuff I'd never seen
anywhere else. You probably already go there, but in case you
don't . . .

It's called Plaza, and it's in the VCU area at 927 W. Grace St. The
phone number is 359-5900. Hours are something like 8:30-6 Monday thru
Friday and 12-5 on Saturdays. A sign at the register said art
students and professional artists got a 15% discount on their entire
order, yet the woman that rang me up said that everyone gets the
discount because "you must be an artist of some type if you're
shopping here!"

Plaza had all three sizes of the pink stuff. It also had all the
sizes of blades I'd seen before plus a no. 6 that the package says is
for fine details. Haven't tried it yet, but it was only like $2.65
for two, so I snatched that up. And I was stoked to see a package
containing a blade assortment paired with a plastic handle. The
unfamiliar no. 6 was in this set, along with the more common nos. 1
and 2 as well as one or two others, I think. (Wish I'd seen this set
last year when I first became addicted!) And the starter kits that
we've all probably seen at Michael's are also there.

Another sweet area is the paper aisle. Plaze had lots of the 3x5,
yellow, spiral-bound sketch books that folk like to put in their
boxes for logbooks. The larger versions that I've seen a lot of
boxers using as their personal logbooks were also abundant. But the
special paper! It was too much! Great heavy card stock in all colors
and patterns that could be used to make handmade logbooks. The
pricier but even lovelier sheets of handmade paper were also a sight
to behold. And are you sitting down? There were even sheets of fur
and fake animal skin in case you wanted to give your logbook that
tactile feel!

Plaza also has a clearance section, and until June 1, a lot of stuff
throughout the store is 25% off. (None of the Speedball stuff
unfortunately.)

What's not to love?

-- mlg
Richmond, VA