When the Iconfactory announced their Tapestry Kickstarter, I backed it immediately. I’ve been a fan of the Iconfactory’s work for decades, and was a loyal user of Twitteriffic before Musk cut off the API. I’ve had beta access for months as a Kickstarter perk and I’ve been using it daily.1Now that Tapestry is released to everyone, I wanted to write a little review with some thoughts about how it’s working for me.
One app for pretty much everything. Tapestry is a unified feed reader. You build a feed from a variety of sources and “connectors.” I’ve used connectors to bring in my Micro.Blog, Mastodon and Bluesky social timelines. I still use Feedbin as a traditional feed reader so I’ve also some of my favorite RSS feeds and some YouTube channels. I even have a podcast feed in there and, while I wouldn’t listen to a long podcast in Tapestry, it does works for short audio files. All of it pulled together into a single timeline.
You said “pretty much everything?” Correct. To be added to Tapestry, the sources need to connect to the open web. That means no Meta apps. So if you want to connect to Instagram, Facebook or Threads, there isn’t an API to allow for a connection. This isn’t a problem with Tapestry, it’s a problem with Meta. But don’t get me started on the importance of open APIs.
Algorithm free. Tapestry doesn’t add any annoying algorithms to your content feed. You decide who you want to follow, and you see their posts in the order in which they were shared. No engagement manipulation.
Interaction. You can’t like or comment directly from the Tapestry interface, but it’s easy to swipe and access a Safari web view. For example, if I see a Bluesky post I want to like, I swipe and Bluesky opens. I like the post, click done at the top left, and I’m back to my feed. It’s a smart solution to a complex problem. I’m not someone who likes or comments a bunch so this little bit of friction is completely acceptable to me. I understand if this isn’t enough for you, but it works for me. You can “Mark” items for follow up later, and I find that helpful for keeping track of good links and stories.
Muffle and Mute. You can build rules to muffle (collapse) or mute (hide) posts that contain keywords. I find this to be incredibly powerful. There’s a person I know — who I want to follow — who shares his Wordle every day. So I muffled “Wordle” in my feed. You can build those rules to hide whatever you don’t want to see. I loved it in Twitteriffic and will absolutely use this in Tapestry.2
Opportunities and rough edges. This is a 1.0 version. There are rough edges, but also clear opportunities for them to improve the app. The Iconfactory is committed to improving Tapestry and offering a Mac version eventually. I’m excited about where this is going.
I’ve really enjoyed Tapestry because I can just dip into the most recent information. And since Micro.Blog and Bluesky are currently my most used services, this integrates perfectly. It’s tough to explain, but it brings a social media style timeline together for a wider variety of sources. It’s not for everyone, but it is absolutely what I want.
Bob Wertz is a type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
If you tried the beta early and it wasn’t what you were expecting, now that it’s out of beta, try again. Tapestry got better and better over each iteration. ↩︎
I’ve also muffled any reference to “Clemson” or “Dabo.” Because Go Gamecocks. ↩︎
It’s dark. And my son is still in the backyard getting ready for tryouts next week. Trying to make the high school JV lacrosse team as a 7th grade goalie.
Proud of this kiddo. 9 am Saturday practice with the high school team. 27 degrees. And heâs excited to go to practice. (As a 7th grader, heâs pretty much the youngest kid out there.)
Every year, I make Team Wertz pose on the stairs before we open presents. Finally got around to posting the image from this morning. Hope yâall had a Merry Christmas. ððð
Every year, I make Team Wertz pose on the stairs before we open presents. Finally got around to posting the image from this morning. Hope yâall had a Merry Christmas. ððð
Ryan was born on Thanksgiving day, so no matter when his birthday falls, we celebrate with a cake on Thanksgiving. This year, a red velvet turkey cake.
I skipped last week’s post. Sunday, I was busy with schoolwork and didn’t have time. I planned to post something later, but the election happened and I just didn’t feel like posting at all.
Favorite Picture of Last Week
Our oldest, Norah, joined us at the polls to cast her first vote in a presidential election. And while most of the races didn’t go the way we hoped, I love that I was able to share this experience with her.
Feels
Nervous. I’m worried for the future of our country and the future of democracy in general.
Optimistic. I had advisement this week and feel like I have a strong path forward toward finishing my Ph.D. I’m planning on taking two courses in the fall, one in the summer, and then, I’m pretty much just writing from there to the end of my dissertation.
Reclusive. I don’t really feel like being around anyone right now. It’s don’t feel like sharing on social media. I kinda just want to be a recuse for a little while.
Health
Fine. This week wasn’t the best week for my health.
Projects
School work. I’ve got to talk about my research on Wednesday. And then finish up my project for class. Very doable.
Entertainment
Not much. I’ll be honest. Pretty much avoiding all media right now. Just not feeling it.
This week was busy like the last couple, but felt much more manageable for some reason. I have an insanely busy week ahead of me and as the semester wraps up, I have a lot of school work to do. But emotionally, I feel a little more focused.
Favorite Picture of Last Week
My son, Ryan, is a lacrosse goalie. He played four games this weekend and did amazing. Probably his best week in goal ever. I also try to capture the action and yesterday, a kid made a great move a slipped the ball past Ryan. Great shot, and a fun picture.
Feels
Motivated. I have a lot to do this week. And I’m feeling good about getting it done.
Deep in thought. I need to make some decisions on my dissertation that I’ve been putting off. I think I’m starting to figure out what I want to do — and it’s a little more ambitious than I originally planned. But if I’m staring off into the distance, that’s what I’m thinking about.
Frazzled. Less than two weeks to the election. I know I should vote early, but it’s my oldest’s first presidential election and I want her to get the full experience of going to the polls.
Tired. We dropped off Jillian very early this morning to go on a school trip to DC. I should be trying to get some sleep right now, but the cat woke me up and I so figured I’d be productive and knock this out. Honestly though, I should be asleep right now.
Health
Still stable. Not much progress this week. At some point, I’ll kick back into high gear soon, but this week is not the week.
Projects
School work. I’ve got some projects to finish up for the class I’m taking this semester.
Entertainment
Welcome back, Lower Decks. Star Trek Lower Decks is back for it’s fifth and final season. Loved the first two episodes of Season 5 and excited to see where it goes. Sad that it’s wrapping up, though. It’s been a wonderful addition to Star Trek.
Formula 1. In the middle of a three week stretch of F1. Mexico City Grand Prix is today.
At Jillâs Research Reveal for her AP Research class at Chapin. Whatâs AP Research? Basically grad school, but in high school. Fun to see all the interesting projects.
Another busy week. I feel like a broken record at this point. The kids’ schedules are busy. We went to the South Carolina State Fair. I was thankful that I didn’t have class this week for Fall Break, but I’ve still got a bunch of grad school deadlines to handle. We are actively looking to buy a car — which is a process I do not enjoy. It’s all quite overwhelming, but we manage to figure out how to fit it all in.
Favorite Picture of Last Week
I’ve decided to add this weekly feature to my Now page to encourage me to take and share more pictures. We went to the State Fair to see my daughter’s papier-mâché giraffe. While I was there, I caught this Ferris wheel against an impossibly blue sky.
Feels
Overwhelmed. October has been a little bit of a whirlwind. Ryan is doing lacrosse. Jill has hit peak homework. We’ve got school events and volunteer events. It seems like we never have free time.
Grace. Recognizing that I need to give myself some grace. I’ve been too hard on myself, and realize that I’ve been a bad model in that regard for my kiddos and Liz. There isn’t enough time in the day to do all the things I need to do. And I need to be okay with that.
Frazzled. Still nervous about the state of the nation, but encouraged that I see more and more people standing up and expressing their support for Harris Walz. Several friends in Georgia recently shared their stance on Facebook challenging their conservative family members. My neighbors have Harris Walz signs in their yard in a corner of conservative Lexington, South Carolina.
Health
Stable. October has been a holding pattern. I realize how much a busy schedule works against my efforts to be healthier. I’m choosing to give myself some grace…
Projects
Accepted. My journal article was accepted for publication. A couple more editing hurdles and it’ll be ready to go. I’ll share more here when it’s out.
Entertainment
SEC football. Big win for my Gamecocks over Oklahoma. Georgia beating Texas. Tennessee beating Alabama. There really isn’t a more exciting conference in college football.
F1 is back. Watched some of the sprint race yesterday and qualifying. Watching the United States Grand Prix this afternoon.
Quartiles. I’m really enjoying the Apple News+ game Quartiles. It’s pretty much replaced The NY Times games like Wordle and Strands that I had been playing daily.
It’s funny to see how a post shows up when crossposting. In Micro.Blog, it’s a link with some tiny thumbnails. In Bluesky, a link with all four images. In Threads, a link with a preview, but the featured image is my Micro.Blog fish avatar.
My dad texted me one afternoon that he’d found some fountain pens at a local auction and asked if I wanted to bid on them. He’s shared links in the past and I’ve never seen anything that looked interesting. From the look of the pictures, most of the listings looked well worn. But one of the pens was actually in the original packaging — a Parker 25B. It was impossible to tell what condition the pen was in, but I decided to take a shot on it. Dad placed a $7 bid. And won.1
When I got the pen, it was in great shape. The package contained two dried up ink cartridges and a squeeze converter.2 The pen had been used — there was dried up black ink in the feed — but I was able to clean it up fairly easily. I inserted a modern Parker black “Quink” cartridge3 and the pen started writing immediately.
The Parker 25 was an entry level metal pen that the company introduced in 1975 and sold until the late 1990s. My new acquisition was a Parker 25B, a matte black version that was only sold between 1979 and 1983. The body of the pen is a little bit thinner than many of my favorite pens with a stepped down section at the back that allows the cap to be securely posted while writing. Apparently the matte black finish can be easily damaged, but the surface of this pen looks like it’s barely been used.
The nib section is simple and beautiful, with no markings to indicate what thickness it is. The 25B was only available in a fine or medium nib, and this one writes like a medium nib.
The Parker 25 was designed to look modern and that’s how Parker marketed the pen. In one ad, they referred to the pen as “Space Age Design.” One major shift from traditional Parker pens was the clip design — squared off with a Parker badge on it instead of the traditional Parker arrow.
The pen is stamped “Made in England,” but I don’t know what year this pen was manufactured in. Many Parkers have year codes etched into them, but I can’t find one on my 25B. Given that it was only manufactured between 1979 and 1983, I know the pen is between 41-45 years old.
Bidding on this pen was a gamble because we couldn’t inspect it in person. I’ve been intimidated by vintage pens, worried that I’d overpay or get something that doesn’t work. My dad loves these kinds of auctions and has been looking for pens for several years. This is the first I felt good about. If you are interested in picking up a vintage pen like this, my best advice is to be patient and know what you are looking for.
My Parker 25B writes beautifully and fits my preference for modernist fountain pen designs. I haven’t decided if I’m going to add it to my daily carry yet, or just use it at home. But I’m thrilled that I have it in my collection and look forward to using it.
Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. He’s been blogging since 2008.
