Celebrating Lunar New Year… with Pens!

Lunar New Year is almost here (Saturday, February 10) and we know many of you are set to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. I’ve seen a few high-end, limited edition pens to commemorate the event so I thought I’d share a few today.

Visconti Year of the Dragon LE

Visconti Year of the Dragon 2024 LE Pen (4.793,39 via Appelboom). No one does it like Visconti eh? This collection is limited to 224 pieces.

Caran D'Ache Straw Marquetry Dragon Pen

If you’re looking for something even more exclusive, I’m in love with the Caran D’Ache Straw Marquetry Dragon Limited Edition (only 20 pieces exist). But I love the story they’ve told.

Benu Euphoria Draco Dragon

On the other hand, for us mere mortals who are into a bit of whimsy there’s the Benu Euphoria Draco Dragon Edition ($280 via Pen Boutique).

Regardless of whether or not you add a dragon to your collection, I wish you a wonderful new year!

 

Pen Review: Primrosia Fauna Dual-Tip Watercolor Brush Markers

Pen Review: Primrosia Fauna Dual-Tip Watercolor Brush Markers

The Primrosia Fauna Dual-Tip Markers (Set of 60 for $33.99) is one of those pen sets that kept showing up in my “recommended for you” list on Amazon so I decided to take a chance on them to find out if they are gems or garbage. Simply based on the fact that the set comes with 60 dual-tip brush markers for less than $34 makes me suspect. But the packaging for the set looked decent and functional as a storage container so I was willing to take a chance.

I like to think I’m above being lured in by good packaging but in this case, I completely fell for the packaging. The cylinder container, accented with cute florals and gold foil details looked like a good, functional container.

Unfortunately, in order to fit all 60 pens into the container, they can’t all be face-up. Or face down. To fit all the pens into the container, some have to be brush tip up and others felt tip end up. This makes my OCD itchy. Also, the seam and inner lip are higher than is useful to access the pens as a storage container. It’s pretty but functionally, it makes me sad it’s not as usable as I’d hoped.

On the plus side, the set includes replacement tips and instructions on how to swap out the tips. There is also a bookmark with information to access a swatch template. I think the only way to access these downloadable sheets is to sign up for their newsletter.

These markers look like they were designed to compete with the beloved Tombow Dual Brush Pens, with a fet-tip brush point at one end and a finer tip at the other. The biggest difference, at first glance, is that the Primrosia pens have a fine tip more akin to a Marvy LePen rathe than a fine bullet tip like the Tombow Dual Brush.

Pricewise, a set of ten Tombow Dual Brush Pens are about $27 ($2.70 per pen, review next week!) while the Primrosia Dual-Tip Markers are about $0.57 per pen in the set I purchased. That’s a $2 per pen price difference!

This set is specifically cottage-core with a name like “Fauna” so there are some notable colors missing: no black, no dark jewel tones like burgundy, navy or forest green. If those are colors you are specifically looking for, consider a different set. There are lots of pinks, blues, browns and light colors.

I noted, with dashes, the colors I thought were too light to be usable. Shown below are the colors though based on the caps, they look much darker than they appeared on paper. Seven markers out of a set of 60 is a lot to be unusable. If the set was more expensive, I would have been really mad. As it is, removing seven markers is just about how many I need to remove to be able to store them all brush tip up.

The other thing I noticed was that several of the colors were highlighter bright. I marked the swatches with an (F) for fluorescent. I initially thought there were three but two of the pinks were bright enough to make me reconsider. I think there are four.

The yellow, orange and green are unquestionably fluoroescent. You can decide if the pink is really fluorescent. To me, in a set of “Fauna” markers, fluorescent colors seema little out of place.

In writing samples, I found the brush tips odd. I couldn’t decide if they were too stiff or too flexible but they didn’t react in a way I was comfortable with. I had a bit of trouble maintaining thicks and thins when I expect them. The tips also seem to fray quickly so the extra tips will definitely come in handy.

The felt tip end behaved similarly to a Marvy LePen, if a little bit wider. Hopefully, the felt tip end will be more durable.

Overall, the set is kind of fun but if you have previous experience with Tombow Dual Brush Pens or similar tools, the Primrosia set may be a bit disappointing. A wise man once said, you get what you pay for and in this case, the pens are not as high a quality as some of the name brand options. I think I will gift this set to my preteen neighbor as (hopefully) a gateway pen set.


DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include 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.

Link Love: 600 Episodes and Ink Love

First, I’d like to shoutout congratulations to Brad and Myke at Pen Addict podcast for 600 episodes in the proverbial can. Its a feat for any podcast to have managed to continue for 10 years but for it to be a podcast about PENS?!?! Pretty amazing. Congrats and thanks for making the pen community a better place.

Now, on to ink love in the form of new designs from our good friend, Calvin at Ink-a-Pet. For Valentine’s Day, Calvin has created new accessories for his ink sample vial holders. I couldn’t resist  decking out my Inktopus with a heart crown ($2). Be sure to check out the whole collection. These are my must haves to keep from tipping over my ink samples. Ready for February to be a month of hearts and flowers, chocolates and ink samples!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:


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Notebook Review: Rhodia Greenbook

As a lover of things analog, I do sometimes wonder about my carbon footprint with all my notebooks and scratch paper. While I love jotting down notes more in pen and paper than digital, I do wonder what the real cost of that habit is? So when I was perusing new products at JetPens, I was interested in the Rhodia Greenbook Notebook (A5, $13.00)

Now let me get a few biases/preconceived notions out of the way. I LOVE Rhodia notebooks. That’s definitely a point in this notebooks favor. On the other hand, in general, I’ve found recycled paper to be kind of crappy, particularly with fountain pens. Let’s see what I think of this!

The Greenbook Notebook is an A5 notebooks that is made of recycled materials. The hard plastic covers are made of recycled polypropylene, and the 80 sheets (160 pages) are made of 100% Clairefontaine 90gsm FSC-recertified recycled paper. The paper itself is white with blue graph paper.

As you can see this is a spiral notebook, and the paper is perforated for easy tear out sheets. The sheets are pre-punched for a European 2-ring binder or an A5 4-ring binder if you wish to store them that way. There are no frills on this one – just the plastic covers and the paper.

So how is the paper? Honestly it’s pretty darn good. It’s a little toothy and more porous than some other papers, but that is sort of how I expect recycled paper to feel. However, there’s no bleeding or feathering, even with medium wetter nibs and brush pens. I got a smidge of puckering on the backside when I used the highlighter, meaning this paper is not going to be good for any mixed media, and there was just a hint of bleed through there as well, but not with any other ink/pen. . I don’t have anything bad to say about the paper itself.

However, I find the grid to be kind of dark and it’s distracting as I write. I could see using this book to plot out knitting motifs or the like, but I don’t see it as a favorite everyday notebook because of that. But if graph paper is your jam, and you like the idea of using recycled materials as much as I do, this might be a great notebook 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.

Setting up my Planner for February

Setting up my Planner for February

Inspired by last week’s color-coordination of my pens, I decided to pro-actively set-up supplies for my journal for February. I am embracing the Valentine’s Day vibe with an all-red-and-pink palette with pink floral washi and flower stickers as well as color matching my pens and inks.

I picked out two inks for the month:

and three pens:

I also dumped out my jar of pink and red pens to see what I have available:

I went through my collection of washi tape and pulled out some that were pink, red, green and floral. The roll in the plastic container is the Bande Washi Tape Sticker Roll in Pink Roses ($6). The rest of the rolls have been collected over years so I don’t have links to share but JetPens has lots of fun options in the pink color family.

I also purchased some new washi date stickers ($6.99 for a pack of 12-monthly sheets) to use on my pages since my notebook is a plain Stalogy and the pages are not dated.

From my sticker stash, I picked out some flowers, cupids, leaves and other elements that felt Valentine appropriate. Most of the washi stickers came from Flowers, Fairies and Plants washi sticker set ($9.99 for 120-stickers) I found on Amazon last year and the Botanist’s Sticker Anthology Book ($14.49). I carefully razored out a few pages from the book that I will put into a folder so I have quick access to stickers as I want them.

For Clarity:

The only purchase I made this month for my planning was the washi date stickers. Everything else was collected from my existing stash of products. I like this activity of pre-selecting inks, pens, colors, washi and stickers at the beginning of the month. IT pares down my massive collection to a more manageable kit and makes it easier when I sit down to plan or add a little flash to my notebook.

I’ll probably streamline the pens a little bit more so they fit in my travel pen case that I take with me to and from work. The rest will stay in my home office for my weekly prep sessions.

I used a similar, curated collection for January and it worked really well. In January I focused on blues, snowflakes, and a wintry feeling. Using a curated portion of my collection meant I had fewer decisions to make when I got my journal out but enough different pieces to create nice little embellishments to my pages. For both January and February, curating my tools has helped me stay inspired and excited to use my planner and, really, for me, that’s the most important thing.

What kind of system do you use to keep you excited about journaling or planning?

Pen Review: WRITECH Journaling Kit

Pen Review: WRITECH Journaling Kit

Having watched lots of planner set-up videos recently, I am seeing a lot planner and journal supplies that were purchased on Amazon. A lot of these products are from brands I’ve never heard of before so I got curious.

I tend to purchase name-brand writing tools from smaller, online retailers like JetPens and Vanness Pen Shop but, in an effort to see what the competition is offering, I decided to take a chance on the WRITECH Journaling Kit (9-Count with Pen Bag) in Vitality Blue & Green ($19.59, approx.$2.17 per pen ). The Kit is also available in Red & Pink, Earthtone, and Blue & Purple.

pardon the little wet footprints. my kitty helpers were getting into everything today!

As a starter set for setting up your first journal or planner, the set seems like a good option.  The zipper pouch that ships with the set is a frosted, flexible plastic with a color-coordinated vinyl top — Instant Travel Kit!

The WRITECH Journaling Kit includes:

  • 4 Dual Tip Brush Pens (2 colors in 2 different styles)
  • 2 Retractable Gel Pens
  • 2 Retractable Highlighters
  • 1 Black Fineliner
  • Pen Bag

JetPens also offers similar sampler sets but many are currently sold out. Prices for JetPens mixed pen samplers start at about $33 and include over a dozen pens (approx. $2.53 per pen). So, pricewise, the JetPens sets are comparable in price to the WRITECH set.

Reviewing the individual tools:

The waterproof liquid fineliner black ink pen will remind many pen folks of the classic Pilot Precise V5 but the nib is a bit wider at 0.4mm.

The larger brush pens feature a tapered brush-style, felt tip on one end and a small bullet tip on the other.

The smaller brush pens have a slightly smaller brush-style, felt tip on one side and a metal-housed tip on the other. The finer tip reminds me of a Marvy LePen tip.

There are also two 0.5mm gel retractable gel pens and two retractable highlighters.

In testing, the colors are light green and light aqua overal. For me, the 04 Liquid Fineliner is a bit too wide for me. The brush markers work well and have pleasantly flexible brush tips. I always think the “dual-tip” option is a nice bonus but is seldom the reason I reach for or purchase a brush pen.

Tested on Tomoe River paper

I do like the retractable highlighters. I don’t think I’ve had any other retractable highlighters which seem like a good tool to be retractable.

The gel pen colors are pretty but I tend to prefer much finer tips for gel pens.

Despite the collection being made up of some of my favorite colors, I am unlikely to use the gel pens or the black liquid ink pen. The brush pens and highlighters might get some use but overall, I find that I was disappointed with the collection. So, about one-third of the tools may get used.

I’ve been color theming my planner each month so having a selection of pens in  a specific color family is a quick way to get my monthly theme started. But this set got me thinking about how I could better utilize the pens I already own. So I went through my various pen bins and re-sorted them by color.

I realized when I did this experiment I don’t have a lot of blues or purple but a massive amount of green pens. Surprised? Nope. Me either. The center container is reds, oranges, brown and yellow as my Autumn palette. These containers actually make me excited for the different seasons so that I can use them in my planner and use pens I REALLY like.

If you are just dipping your feet into bullet journaling or planning, the WRITECH kit is a quick way to acquire an array of options in a favorite color plus a black fineliner. Just be aware of what tip sizes you prefer or what your comfort level is with the brush-style pens. To be honest, I would rather collect individual pens in colors I like in the sizes I like. Though this method may lead to a few pens that aren’t to your liking, I feel like your odds of building a collection you genuinely like is much higher.

Are you a “buy the set” or “buy just the sizes and colors I like” person? I often fall for the set because I think it’s a quick way to have lots of options but after repeated disappointments with sets that offer colors I don’t want (or tip sizes, etc) I think I’m leaning towards a slower, one-a-time process.


DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include 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.

I Need A Pen Store!

Last week, Frank from Fontoplumo launched a new website, ineedapenstore.com. His goal was to create a centralized location to help people who might be looking for nice pen shops around the world.  The site will also list manufacturers.
As the site is just getting started, a  lot of shops and info still needs to be added. But you can help! There are multiple ways people can add or suggest a shop:
  1. On the website, click “add “and choose “visitor”, then enter the details
  2. Email Hello@ineedapenstore.com to recommend a shop. Please try to include as much information as possible.
  3. There are links on the bottom of the website to WhatsApp, telegram, Facebook and Instagram so you can send a message with your favorite pen shop that way.
At the moment, the search area needs an option to “search by country” or an option to key in a country and see what stores are in that country. When traveling to another country, I am not likely to know a specific city name or town that might be just outside a major metropolitan area. I do hope that this option is added.
Also, I wish the map on the home page was clickable. The US is a big country but we have statistically very few brick-and-mortar pen shops. I just want to click and see ALL THE SHOPS!
Have you submitted your favorite local pen shop yet?