In Pen Review

Pen Review: Tombow Dual Brush Cottage Set

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pen Review: Tombow Dual Brush Cottage Set

In my commitment to being a regular journaler, I have been adding some markers to my collection that will fill in gaps in my color ranges for my journal headers. I got the Tombow Dual Brush Pen Cottage Collection (10 Pen Set for $27) because it looked like a good opportunity to add colors I will like and a chance to use Tombow Dual Brush Pens a bit more.

The Tombow Dual Brush Pens have a flexible fiber brush tip on one end and a bullet-shaped tip on the other. The brush tip will allow for variable line widths when writing and the bullet tip will provide a monoline when needed.

I find the brush tip to be a medium flexible tip. To get the best range of strokes, a light hand will have better luck and blending light strokes with heavier strokes will have the greatest variety. In that regard, the brush tips can take a bit of experimentation and practice.

The bullet tips are easier for first time users. They are probably comparable to a 1.0mm felt tip or larger so they are not designed for fine details but will be good for adding headers to a bullet journal or underlining.

Tested on Tomoe River 52gsm paper.

All the colors are listed by a number designation only. The set included two green, two orange, a beige, a pale ivory, a blue, a pink, burgundy and a deep plum purple (almost black) pens. For the most part, I found the 910 ivory unusable for my purposes. If I were planning to use these pens for more drawing or art purposes, I might find it more useful but for writing purposes, it’s too light to really be useable for me. It might be useful as a blender if I want to try blending the colors of my pens… maybe? Something to consider. The other colors I think will be useful. The colors are a bit muted in tone and less expected than a lot of boxed pen sets. I don’t get “crayola” vibes from these colors at all. They feel more complex and intersting.

Pens tested on bright white, ivory and natural white paper.

My favorite colors are the greens (192 and 312), pink (772) and the burgundy (757). I think the oranges are a much needed citrus pop in my pen collection and will probably be used in the late summer and early fall. I even like the brownish tan (992) as it has a tea/coffee or fallen leaves vibe.

Close-up of pens tested on bright white paper and ivory paper.

Overall, the color range is to my liking for sure though I’m not sure that I would describe it as “cottagecore” though I’m not sure what colors would be in a cottage palette anyway. I just liked that the colors were more sophisticated and less primary than a lot of the pen sets available. I remain disappointed about the 910 color and think another blue or gray would have been preferred for usability.

Sample doodle on Tomoe River paper.

DISCLAIMER: The 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.

In Link Love

Link Love: Pre-Pen Show Tension

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Pre-Pen Show Tension

Tomorrow morning, I head out to LA for the California Pen Show — my first pen show of 2024. I’ll be working with Dromgoole’s with ink maven Jesi. We are both so excited to spend a few days in fountain pen fanstasyland. Please some say hello to us, if you’re in LA this weekend.

I hope I’ve remembered to packed everything I’ll need. What would you put on your pen show packing list?

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In feature

Ink Review: IWI Colors of Nature Spring Equinox

Author Laura CameronPosted on Leave a comment

After feeling like I failed the assignment miserably with Diamine Peach Haze, I went ahead and looked at a variety of other inks that might fit the Pantone Color of the Year – Peach Fuzz variety. Today I’m looking at IWI Colors of Nature Spring Equinox ($3.75 for a 4mL sample from Vanness).

Spring Equinox is a delightfully peachy, melon colored ink, in which I can see elements or orange, pink and yellow.  White there are bits of shading and mottled colors in heavy applications, in writing the ink comes across as a clear peachy orange color.

This one doesn’t have sparkle or shine, but somehow it looks like I think a peach should. It’s still not quite as muted as Pantone’s Peach Fuzz, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

The one thing that I don’t like about this ink is it seems prone to feathering and bleeding. Sure, some of my ink splotches are really heavy applications, but I also notice feathering around my writing on both Mnemosyne and Col-o-dex cards, and I don’t often get that.

As you saw when I reviewed Peach Haze, I don’t have anything similar to Peach Fuzz in my collection. I have gone ahead and compare this one with Peach Haze just so you can see we’re moving in the right direction!

Overall, I love the color of this ink even if it’s not what I was expressly looking for. It’s bright and cheerful, and I love that I can see bits of pink and yellow in it. But I don’t know how much I’d use it given the feathering. I do have several more peachy inks to sample though – I’ll share them in the coming weeks!

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.

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: PLUS x Sailor – First Snow ProGear Slim (Special Edition), Ice Gray Ink and A4 Slim Notebook

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Fountain Pen Review: PLUS x Sailor – First Snow ProGear Slim (Special Edition), Ice Gray Ink and A4 Slim Notebook

The packaging, which is a lovely pale blue with silver foil snowflakes, says “PLUS x Sailor” but the listing that I found online focused on the Sailor Pro Gear Slim First Snow fountain pen with very little mention of the additional items included in the set: PLUS x Sailor Ice Gray Ink and Ca.Crea A4 Slim Notebook. The full set, whatever its official title, was €217 from Fontoplumo (I bought the last one that Fontoplumo had in stock. Sorry, folks!). If you google it, there are other vendors who still have the First Snow in stock so there’s still a chance to get one.

I bought this set for the pen, one hundred percent. Before I was the chair of The Well-Appointed Desk, my online moniker was Snowangels (I still own this name because why give up such a great URL?) so when something is covered in snowflakes, I tend to melt (pun intended). When I saw this pen, with the milky white, silver glitter embedded exterior and bright blue glitter embedded end cap and grip section, I was sold.

The pen features multi-colored screenprint on the barrel, including metallic silver which is unique for a Sailor Pro Gear and so pretty. This detail felt different from the half dozen other Sailors I own.

Then there’s the nib — it is etched with a snowflake! It won my heart immediately!

Then there’s another silver snowflake embedded into the end cap. Swoon!

The only downside that I found about the pen was that it was only available with a M-F nib (Medium Fine ). I prefer the F/H-F (hard fine) and was bummed I couldn’t purchase this pen with what is normally such a common nib option. This model was only sold with the M-F nib which is something I hand’t seen with Sailor special editions before.

In regards to the PLUS Ca.Crea A4 Slim gird notebook that came in the box, I breezed past it. I confess, I had little interest in this extra. The notebook has a special limited edition foil snowflake cover and features slightly ivory grid paper.

I couldn’t find a reliable source online for any other Ca.Crea notebooks available in the US so I didn’t really want to fall in love with the notebook only to never find a replacement. I also didn’t want to soil the notebook testing the paper  in case I ever decide to sell the pen and wanted to be able to sell the whole kit. Dipping into the ink for testing purposes doesn’t make the ink unusable but few people will want a worn or used notebook. So, this review will not include an in-depth review of the Ca.Crea notebook. If anyone knows of a reliable source to order additional Ca.Crea notebooks with non-special edition covers, let me know in the comments. Thanks.

In regards to the ink, the PLUS x Sailor Ice Gray ink (which came in a small 20ml cube-shaped bottle) is a light gray color with hints of purple and blues, depending on the application and paper. Its quite pale however.

I really didn’t have a ton of inks to compare Ice Gray with: I found a light grey ink from Pent called Kotoba No Iro (Spider’s Web Thread) and a much bluer inke from the Ferris Wheel Press Twilight Collection called Dusk in Bloom. I am sure there are more options that are similar, possibly in the Sailor Studio line but I have been skimming past a lot of these super light inks because I use so many fine nibbed pens that these pastel inks are just not very usable for me.

Ice Gray ink tested on Tomoe River 52gsm.

I have to say that Ice Gray is not particularly well-suited to the M-F nib that ships on the First Snow pen. It really is too light to be used in any practical way. When I dip tested the ink with a flexible dip nib, the results were much better. I think it was poor planning on Sailor’s part to include such a light ink with such a fine nib pen. I may switch out the ink in this pen with something that matches the bright blue of the end caps or just a deeper color. I like the idea of keeping a bluish ink in this pen to be my wintery pen but sadly, the Ice Gray is just not a good match for the pen or the nib.

This pen was a spontaneous purchase based entirely on its looks. I needed another Sailor Pro Gear like I needed a hole in my head. I bought it because, the moment I saw it, it checked all my personal boxes (glitter, snowflakes, custom etched nib). With all the many Sailor special edition pens, I know its easy to get swept up in the FOMO but sometimes, when you wait, the “just right” pen will magically appear and you’ll know its the right time to BUY IT NOW. Over the years, there have been a few Sailors that I bought because I was afraid of missing out but the ones that are still in my collection are the ones that were the right pen at the right time.

Do you have a story about the right pen showing up for you?

DISCLAIMER: This item was purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Year of the Dragon

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Fashionable Friday: Year of the Dragon

Lunar New Year officially begins tomorrow but my co-workers in China have been celebrating since last week. 2024 is the year of the Dragon which is always considered an auspicious occasion. Celebrate Lunar New Year by sharing a meal with friends and family, leave offerings for your ancestors, and clean house to bring a fresh, new year. Celebrations will continue through next week so you have plenty of time to celebrate, clean house and share a meal with friends.

In Link Love

Link Love: Love to the Pen Communnity

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Link Love: Love to the Pen Communnity

It’s weeks like these, when the stationery community fills my inbox with joy, fun and new discoveries, that I realize how amazing this community is and how important it is to my emotional well-being. From cheap French supermarket pens to lots of blue inks to Kottke.org using his comment section as a job search option, you all make my day. xoxo, you are all my heroes.

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In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Kaweco Perkeo Limited Edition Infrared

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

As I think I’ve mentioned, I LOVE the Kaweco AL Sport. So when I was browsing JetPens a few weeks ago, the Kaweco Perkeo caught my eye. I don’t know how I missed it before, but the limited edition Infrared ($28.50) was too interesting not to order one!

The Perkeo is modeled after the ever popular Sport pen, just in full size. It generally comes with a plastic barrel and the faceted cap, and a steel nib. The Infrared edition has the additional feature of being translucent, so you can see your ink inside!

The biggest “perk” to the Perkeo (forgive me!) is that it is a full size pen so it can accommodate a full size converter. While there is a smaller converter for the Sport, most folks just use cartridges. And given that I have a drawer full of ink bottle, this seems like a good option.

The model seems red, but I admit I also think it looks awfully close to my Franklin Christoph Pocket 20 in Salmon Glow. Which coincidentally, is roughly between the Sport and Perkeo size-wise so I’ve included it here.

What happened next in my review is that the day got away from me and I didn’t have a chance to look at a writing sample until later in the evening. I admit the picture below is totally terrible and I debated even adding it here because many of you know how a Kaweco steel nib writes.

Suffice it to say, the Perkeo is easy to hold in the hand, very lightweight (15g capped) and kind of a fun pen. Pricing for this limited edition puts it nearer to a TWSBI Eco or Lamy Safari, and I think it holds its own in comparison to those two.

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.