Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Klein Blue 2mm Fixpencil

Pencil Review: Caran d’Ache Klein Blue 2mm Fixpencil

Review by Tina Koyama

Once I grabbed onto the Caran d’Ache Klein Blue Maxi pencil, the slope became slippery. I had already had my eye on the Klein Blue Fixpencil ($52), which I had resisted for a while . . . until I realized that it came with Klein Blue leads! And the leads are water-soluble! I could resist no longer.

The limited edition 2mm Fixpencil comes in a metal gift box in the expected “infinite ultramarine blue” that Klein is known for. The lid is emblazoned with the Caran d’Ache logo and the artist’s signature. 

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue tin lid

Inside the box is the Fixpencil and a tube containing one graphite lead and three Klein Blue leads. 

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue opened tin

If you read my review of the “junior” Caran d’Ache Fixpencil 884, all my remarks there hold true for the Klein Blue version. The body has the same sleek, comfortable design. The only differences I can see are that the luscious Klein Blue finish is matte instead of glossy, and the grip is without the subtle texture of the standard 884. And of course, Klein’s signature graces one facet of the pencil.

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue detail

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue point

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue signature

The graphite lead is also the same as the one that came with my standard Fixpencil. An HB grade, it is pleasantly smooth graphite that I enjoy writing and drawing with. But – let’s get to the main attraction (for me): I immediately plopped one of the Klein Blue leads in and got out a Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook (which has paper that would adequately enable me to see the lead’s water-soluble properties) and a waterbrush. 

Cd'A Fixpencil Klein Blue sketch

After being dazzled by the pencil’s body and even the box, I was somewhat underwhelmed by the pigment’s intensity. I had to work pretty hard to get the degree of color you see in the sketch above. Even as I was sketching, I was thinking of Caran d’Ache’s standard 2mm colored leads, which are very soft and highly pigmented for clutch leads. When compared to the standard blue lead below (swatches made in Col-o-Ring Oversize), Klein Blue is a bit pale. 

Cd'A Klein Blue and regular blue comparison

Still, I’m thrilled by the limited-edition Fixpencil itself, which seems to be growing scarcer by the minute. I’m glad I grabbed one when I did.


DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Pen Chalet for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

tina-koyamaTina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

Link Love: A Moment…

Link Love: A Moment…

This week, under our blanket of snow and frozen temps, leaves me feeling a little melancholy. Being isolated at home and cold and grey… this whole pandemic is definitely taking its toll.

If like me, you need something to lift your spirits, check out the comparison review from Parka Blogs comparing Crayola Crayons to Caran d’Ache Neocolors — similar but wildly different. This week, our animal of choice is dogs! And these darlings are decked out in floral crowns. A must see to put a smile on your face. Mountain of Ink does a quick rundown of her love and hate inks which is also a delight. Hopefully, this little post brightens your cold, grey day.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors and affiliates. Your patronage will let them know you appreciate their support of the pen community. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

Fountain Pen Review: Venvstas Carbon-T Fountain pen

I’m always interested in modern pens, so when the chance came up to review the Venvstas Carbon-T Fountain Pen (€123.14 or $149 from Appelboom), I took it!

Venvstas is manufactured in Italy and their Carbon Collection is made up of several instruments designed in “a consistent minimal approach… [in] materials, function and details.” Indeed the sleek carbon body hides a piston system in a way I hadn’t seen before!

The pen is made up of carbon and steel and boasts a titanium nib. Nibs are available in fine, medium and broad. I received a broad for review and it was nice and juicy, laying down a satisfying amount of ink.

Left to right: Caran d’Ache 849, TWSBI Eco, Venvstas, Platinum 3776, Carolina Pen Company Charleston

Then pen weighs in at 24g and is longer than most of my other pens coming in at 155mm or 6 1/8″ with the cap on. Even with the cap off, the pen is still long, owing to the piston. The body is a consistent circumference of approximately 40mm/1.5.” There is a small step down near the nib, but not enough of a section to hold it there. I did find that my small hand found it a bit wide for my liking. The cap defined as a “snap on” although I would say there’s no real snap there. It does fit fairly snugly.

To fill the pen with ink, simply pull off the back of the pen to reveal the piston.

I did enjoy writing with this pen. The nib, as I said, was really smooth and wrote nicely, laying down a decent amount of ink. It would be a great pen for your sheening or shading inks since you can get a lot of ink down on the page. My only major complaint about the pen is that the nib dried out super quickly. I filled it up with ink last week and used it on and off. When I went to use it again today it was COMPLETELY bone dry. I had to walk to the sink and let the nib run under water for a few seconds to get any ink out of it and then it still took a bit to start reliably. I do have a few ideas on why this is. First of all, I am living in the Midwest in record cold temperatures and running the heat constantly so the air in my house is very, very dry. That said, I don’t feel that the materials allow for an optimal seal on the cap and I do think that contributed to the nib drying out. If I’m being honest, the dry nib alone is a bit of a deal breaker for me. No matter how much I love writing with a pen, I feel like constantly having a dry start would annoy me over time.

However, that’s really my only complaint about the pen (the width wouldn’t be an issue if my hands weren’t small and I think many writers wouldn’t even notice it.) So if you’re willing to risk a dry nib sometimes, test this one out and see if it’s a good fit for you!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Pen Review: Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen (0.5 mm Olive Body)

Pen Review: Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen (0.5 mm Olive Body)

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

I’ve been binging on the TV series Endeavour on Amazon Prime the last few weeks and I immediately noticed that Inspector Morse continually uses a Parker Jotter to make notes in his not-entirely-period-accurate pocket Moleskine. Regardless of the slight period inaccuracies, I was getting itchy to use a classic Parker-style Jotter. Along comes the Ohto Rays Flash Gel Pen in period appropriate avocado green with a 0.5mm gel refill. For the extremely reasonable price of $3.90.

To get a taste of the vibe of 1960s Oxford, check out the set decorator Anita Gupta’s photos of the sets. See the appeal?

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

The Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen features a metal knock, clip and  end section and a plastic body.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

The ink delivers on its promise to be quick drying, even on slick, smooth Rhodia paper (A4 blank pad, $13.75) and creates fine lines that work with my tiny handwriting.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

Compared with an actual Parker Jotter, the Ohto Rays is a bit longer in its overall design. The tip of the pen is strengthened with a metal cap.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

Inside, you’ll see that the Ohto Flash Dry refill is a standard Parker-style refill. So, if you already have a Parker Jotter or another knock pen that uses a standard Parker-style refill, you could always just invest in this sweet gel refill ($1.90).

Either option is a no-brainer. No matter how much we love fountain pens around here, sometimes you need a ballpoint or gel pen and this is a great option.


DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. This review also includes affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush & Felt Tip Pens (Set of 5)

Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush & Felt Tip Pens (Set of 5)

When the Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush Pens (Set of 5 for $17.50) and Felt Tip Pens (set of 5 for $15)  first arrived on JetPens, Jesi, Jaclyn and I pretty much hoarded the entire inventory and then argued about who was going to write the review about them. I believe Jesi and Jaclyn got the Kuretake Ink-Cafe Set that included the empty pens and a set of inks that will allow you to mix your own ink colors. Because we need more ink colors like we need a whole in our heads, right? So, look forward to either Jaclyn or Jesi writing up a review of their ink mixing experiments in the near future.

I purchased the pens because I wanted a chance to find new and different ways to use my fountain pen inks. Would these Karappo pens work with sheening inks? Would they work with shimmer inks? I needed answers to these questions!

I also wanted to experiment with the difference between the brush pen and the 0.4mm fine pen.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

First, I wanted to know how long it took to fill the pen? Answer? About one minute with regular fountain pen ink.  I did not use any special tools. I just dropped the cotton-y looking inserts into a bottle on ink and watched as they wicked up the ink.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

I filled two of the “fine” 0.4mm on the left and three of the “fine” brush pens on the right.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

I tested a sheening ink — Diamine Skull & Roses in one of the 0.4mm fine tipped pens and the sheening qualities of the ink are still visible. The advantage, for me, of theses pens over other pens which accept fountain pen ink is that they are fiber-tipped rather than rollerball. As a lefty, I tend to choke rollerball pens or I don’t hold them at quite the right angle to get them to write. With the fine 0.4mm and brush tip Karappo pens, I had no issues with ink flow!

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

The other fine tipped pen was filled with a delicate grey ink: Colorverse Matter. All the shading properties remained! I like how the 0.4mm pens write. They are very similar to the width of a Sharpie Pen, IMHO.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

The brush pens were not super flexible or brushy but just gave a nice bit of line variation and would be perfectly acceptable for embellishing the titles or headers in a notebook or addressing an envelope. Since I tend to buy a lot of very light inks and very fine nibbed fountain pens that do not show the inks to their best  result, these pens are a great opportunity to give some of the paler inks a second life.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

My last experiment was to put Pen BBS #111 (a shimmer ink) into one of the Karappo brush pens. While the color looks amazing, none of the shimmer is evident. I don’t think the material was able to absorb any of the shimmer particles. So… that answers that question.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens Labels

Each package of pens comes with a set of stickers to mark with the color of ink in your pens and attach to the cap.  (Please ignore my winter parched hands.)

Of all the fountain pen ink-fillable pens available, the Kuretake Karappo Brush and Fine Pens are by far my favorites even if shimmer inks don’t shimmer. Now to decide what inks to put in the other empty pens…

Tools:


DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Link Love: Hello, Sketchnote Army!

Link Love: Hello, Sketchnote Army!

We here at The Desk may not have our own podcast but we seem to “get around” quite a bit. This week, Mike Rohde over at Sketchnote Army released his new episode where he and I talk about all sorts of things. I am a huge fan of Mike’s Sketchnoting process and getting a chance to talk to him again was a true honor.

(Note: Don’t panic about the photo Mike posted. We joked that I have no idea where he found the photo but at present, my hair is as pink as it’s ever been with a couple inches of dreaded quarantine roots.)

In the links this week, there is Star Wars, Giant Cats and some beautiful inks. The highlights from the USPS quarterly report are eye-openeing:

…Postal Service’s sales from Shipping and Packages increased by approximately $2.8 billion, or 42.1 percent, on a volume increase of 435 million pieces, or 25.0 percent, compared to the same quarter last year, as a result of the record holiday Shipping and Package volumes impacted by the surge in e-commerce associated with the COVID-19 pandemic…

Hope you are having a good week!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors and affiliates. Your patronage will let them know you appreciate their support of the pen community. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

Notebook Review: Endless Recorder

I always love trying new paper so when Ana presented me with The Endless Recorder to try, I was thrilled. The Endless Recorder (€18.14 or $21.96) is a journal designed in Madrasa and manufactured in India. It is an A5 hard-bound journal, with a leatherette cover available in Deep Ocean (Blue), Infinite Space (Grey), Crimson Sky (Red) or Forest Canopy (Green) and measures 5.5 x 8.25″ (21 x 14 cm).

Then end pages are ivory and include a nameplate page up front and an expandable pocket in the back. A turquoise ribbon bookmark and elastic band help you keep your place and hold the notebook closed.

The journal includes 2 pages up front for a Table of Contents and the remainder of the 192 pages are white square grid (0.5 x 0.5 cm squares). The notebook includes 187 numbered pages and 16 perforated sheets. And the main draw of the notebook (least to me) is that the pages themselves are acid-free 68 GSM Tomoe River promising “zero bleed-through and feathering.”

So let’s dig into this paper!

Normally my only problem with Tomoe River is how thin is it. I dislike it when my writing shows through the other side of the page; I find it distracting to read and write on the next page. This paper doesn’t do that! There is a nice level of shading in the inks I used and true to claim, no bleeding or feathering. Now if only it were available in dot grid?

PS – So the photos tell a different story huh? When I look at the page I see very little of the writing through but in the photos it’s more visible!


DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge from Appelboom for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.