The Well-Appointed Desk

I’m headed off to Dallas for the pen show tomorrow. If you’re attending the show, please come by the Dromgoole’s corner in the main ballroom and say hi. I’d love to see you!

In Link Love news, its a very arty week and art markers get some serious love. USPS provides shipping guidelines for the upcoming holiday season and there’s some tips for reusing old planner inserts from Philofaxy. Enjoy!

Pens:

A Joy of Acrylic Markers: Two Different Sets of Arrtx Reviewed (via Apple-Pine)
Hinze Pen Co. Sleipnir Fountain Pen Review (via The Pen Addict)
VIDEO: gourmetpens LIVE | episode 97 | schondsgn lil’ dipper aluminum dip nib (via Gourmet Pens)

Ink:

Ink Review #2910: Ink Institute Cat at Midnight (via Mountain of Ink)
Ink Review #2909: Pennonia Fenyves Boreal (via Mountain of Ink)

Planners, Notebooks & Paper:

A Successful Pivot (via From the Pen Cup)
Paper Sizes Explained (via JetPens Blog)
Repeating Years? (via Philofaxy)
September Reset (via Philofaxy)

Art & Creativity:

Miata’s Birthday Portrait (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
A Joy of Acrylic Markers: Limited Palette Experiments. (via Apple-Pine)
Playing with Markers in Backgrounds (via RozWoundUp)
Using collage in my everyday sketching (via Liz Steel)
Step Into Surrealist Seasons With Mulgil Kim’s Contemporary Paintings (via My Modern Met)
Sketchbook covers (via Drewscape)

Other Interesting Things:

Best San Francisco Pen Show Ever 2026 Edition (via The Penguin Post)
Art by Humans, For Humans: A Letter from Our Editorial Director (via Colossal)
I didn’t know Beehiiv had a program to support independent journalists… (via Kottke.org)
Music for the Dyeing (via Kottke.org)
Postal Service Recommends 2026 Holiday Mailing and Shipping Dates (via USPS Newsroom)
Pen Rotation Transition (via Rachel’s Reflections)
Pelikan Hubs 2026 this Friday Has Pelikan Let Us Down? (via dapprman)
My Stationery Origin Story (via Inky Imaginings)
Video-Review: Galen Leather “Expansi-Pouch” (Wide) 10-Slot Pen Case (via Scrively)
Sunday Reading for September 20, 2026 (The We-Have-a-New-Storefront Edition!) (via The Gentleman Stationer)

In case you’re curious, I build each Link Love illustration from bits and pieces of vintage artwork collected or purchased through reputable stock illustration sites. No AI is used in making the art or building our curated list of links each week.

If you love Link Love, you’ll love our Patreon where you can get inspiration, gossip and free printables plus a biweekly podcast and more. Your patronage supports this site. Without our Patrons, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Sailor Manyo Ayame

Laura CameronSeptember 22, 2026September 22, 2026Leave a comment

A few weeks ago when I was preparing a yarn and ink palette I realized that I didn’t have any mint or sage green in my ink stash. I’ve got bright grassy greens, kelly greens, greeny teals and forest greens. But nothing muted or minty. I immediately went to JetPens and remedied that; I purchased a bottle of Sailor Manyo Ayame ($24 for 50mL).

Ayame is a dual shading ink. It starts as a muted darker green (more of the sage) and then shades into violet and pink tones. I can also see bits of a brighter green there in closeups.

This ink is gorgeous! I don’t know that it’s my original intended, but I feel like I want to put it in every pen now. Obviously it shows up darker in my splotches and brushing, but I do think in a medium nib it would be dark enough for decent writing.

As far as comparisons go, I don’t have anything that’s even close. Ukikusa is bright green and not close at all. Styx Valley Forest Green picks up the darker tones in Amaye, but is way too dark. I love that I’ve filled a whole in my color options!

DISCLAIMER: Special thanks to Jet Pens who sent us the ink sample for the purposes of review. Other items may have been received for review, or purchased with our own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

Paper: Crossfield Journal ($24.00) and Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
Pens: Pilot Iro-Utushi Dip Pen (F, M, $11 each), Komamono Lab Fonte Glass Body Pen ($7.50)
Swatches: Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Ink: Sailor Manyo Ayame (50mL for $24)

In Fountain Pen Review

Surprise Pen: Sailor Pro Gear Slim Celestial Grey EF Fountain Pen

AnaSeptember 21, 2026September 21, 20261 Comment

For months, I have been looking at the Sailor Pro Gear Slim 2024 Celestial Grey EF ($280) on the JetPens site. It is one of the last places that had one in stock and the price was more 2024 than 2026. However, I have been on a budget and even at the reasonable 2024 prices, the Celestial Grey was still pricey.

So, on Sunday, with the window still open on my laptop, Bob says, “Hey, hon… I have a little present for you.” And he pulls a bubble wrapped packed from his backpack and puts it in my hand. I open it seeing the “Sailor” logo on the side of the sleeve and look quizzically, “You didn’t?!?!” and he said “I did.”

I slid the navy box from the white sleeve and popped the lid open and immediately ripped the plastic wrap from the pen and held it to the light. “It’s so pretty!!!”

The Celestial Grey is a dark, translucent grey with sparkles. It’s a distant cousin to the Whisper of the Witch Pro Gear but without the custom nib and end cap and several hundred dollars cheaper.

Bob smiled and I hugged him. (Good husband!) And then carried the pen around with me all day. I introduced Celeste (yep, she has a name now) to her cousins Stardust Galaxy and Purple Lamé.

Stardust Galaxy, Celestial Grey and Purple Lamé

I told him I would fill the pen on Monday because I needed to think about what color I wanted to use.

Late on Monday, I decided to fill it with some purple ink I had from Pen BBS (don’t ask which color, it’s not in production anymore) and I started testing it. The nib is extremely smooth for being one of the finest nibs in my collection. Because so many of my planners and journals have tiny 5mm grid, I do tend to prefer finer and finer nibs. I also write small so finer nibs make sure my letters are legible and not blobs.

The Celestial Grey with EF on the far left, center is the Starburst Galaxy with H-F and the far right is my 21K H-F Sailor nib which is a bit wider than the 14K nibs.

Writing sample and comparison with a Sailor 14K H-F and 21K H-F for line weight difference.

There is a slight line difference in the Sailor 14K nibs in EF and H-F nib width that remind me of a blade-style nib where there is some line variation between up-and-down strokes and side-to-side strokes. It’s visible in more script writing or the curly-q’s above. The 21k nib has a more uniform line width and is a little wider than the 14K H-F.

The EF Sailor 14K nibs can feel super sharp depending on your writing angle and have the most feedback (scratchy sound like a pencil on paper) depending on your angle, firmness in writing and paper choice.

I tested the pens on 68gsm Tomoe River and its gave lots of feedback with the EF nib. I’d definitely compare the Sailor EF to a 0.25-0.3mm gel pen tip. If you prefer a wider gel pen, than go for the H-F, MF or M nibs from Sailor. Its a special kind of crazy that likes these super sharp extra fine nibs. On other papers, the EF can feel smoother or even scratchier depending on the tooth or texture of the paper. My daily 52 gsm Tomoe River journal feels smoother with the EF than 68 gsm but it could just be my perception.

In the end, there are some times when using what you have is the best way to go. Other times, its really nice to have a new tool to love on. Happy new pen day!

This pen was purchased with real monies by my sweet husband. JetPens is a sponsor of this site but this pen was not gratis for the purpose of reviews. All opinions are my own.

In Paper Review

Planner Review: Owl Paper Co. 2026 B6 Dated Bullet Journal (80gsm Delphina Paper)

AnaSeptember 18, 2026September 17, 2026Leave a comment

Last year I did a review comparison of lots of different planners papers following the Tomoe River issues in Hobonichi and other planners in 2025. Since then, several planner companies have changed or updated their paper selections. Owl Paper Co. is one of the companies that has switched from Tomoe River paper to a very unique 80gsm Delphina Paper.

As far as I can tell, Owl Paper Co. is the only planner/journal company using Delphina 80gsm paper. I’m excited to give it a try.

Since the paper is thicker than Tomoe River, Owl Paper Co. splits the year into two books so I was sent the Jul-Dec 2026 dated version (currently $25) in order to try it out.

Planner Details

The Owl Paper Co. planner has a flexible leatherette cover and a stitched spine that allows he book to easily lay flat.

The planner includes index pages (2 pages), goals pages (2 pages), forward planning pages from Jul 2026 – Jun 2027 (4 pages) and then a month-on-two-pages calendar (2 pages) followed by a tracker page with notes area and an inspirational quote (2 pages). There are six sets of calendar and tracker pages that are then followed by week-on-two-pages (27 sets for the 6 months) and then blank grid pages for journaling, notes, planning, etc. (247 pages, more than enough for a page-a-day for six months with space for additional notes).

The weekly pages are vertical with time marks from 6am to 9pm. I don’t time block so these weekly pages are the hardest for me to figure out the best way to use them effectively. I do like the open space at the bottom for adding some decorative elements and random notes.

The dotted grid lines are quite light, comparable to Hobonichi and Stalogy — just enough to keep my lines straight but not so dark as to compete with lighter ink colors.

Pen Testing

The Delphina paper is much thicker (obviously) than Tomoe River but, in using it, I was surprised. I use so many TR or TR-like papers that I realized how long its been since I used a thicker paper for daily writing. It feels a bit more sturdy.

I did some standard pen tests and the paper performed beautifully. There was mild show through but not nearly what thinner papers tend to show.

I even did some ink swatches to really dump some ink on the pages and wanted to see the sheen potential and was delighted to see sheen, shimmer, and almost no showthrough or bleedthrough from the larger swatches. I am falling in love with this paper!

Planner Testing Pages

For the weekly pages, I tried a couple different layout options: a simple checklist of tasks as well as a more time blocking approach. The weekly pages definitely seem most useful if you time block.

The blank pages are perfect for my goofy planner approach. I added date and day stickers as well as some washi and stickers to create my pages.

The pages for today and tomorrow are waiting for me to add my thoughts, to-do lists and random nonsense.

Final Impression

I freaking love this paper! Even without finding a way to make use of the weekly pages effectively, I love this planner. I do hope that Owl Paper Co. will start selling simple graph paper notebooks to pair with the planners for other projects and uses. The Delphina paper is too yummy to be missed!

Owl Paper Co. also sells plastic covers or vegan cover leather covers for the planners which I think is also pretty cool.

Owl Paper Co. only sells the dated planner in B6 but there is an undated A5 option as well.

Pre-orders for the 2027 B6 Dated Planners are available now. They can be purchased as a set or just the Jan-Jun if you want to try it before committing to a full year. But once you try this paper, you’re gonna want a year’s worth.

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

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Jinhao #59 EF

AnaSeptember 17, 2026September 17, 20262 Comments

I spend way too much time on Reddit and the Jinhao #59 pocket fountain pen ($9.99-$12.99) is a popular pen amongst the folks in r/fountainpens. So, I finally broke down and purchased one. I was iffy as to the quality and I am fully aware its a dupe of the legendary Pilot E95s ($176) but the price of the Jinhao version makes it a very appealing alternative.

I don’t actually own an E95s but I do have a vintage Platinum pocket fountain pen which I’ve included in the photos for size comparison. The #59 is very similar in size and weight to a classic Platinum pocket pen.

The Jinhao #59 features a steel nib and a captured converter (it might be removable but I couldn’t figure out a way to get it out without making a mess right now). The cap is friction fit and can be posted to create a full length pen.

The nib is surprisingly smooth. I wasn’t sure if the EF nib would be too fine and potentially scratchy but it absolutely was not. Its quite smooth but also a bit wider than I expected.

I compared the nib width to some of my other fine and extra fine nibs and noticed that the #59 is similar in width to the Kaweco EF and as smooth as my Sailor 21K H-F nib. Pretty impressive for a $10 pen, for sure.

If you are looking for a Japanese fine or extra fine nib, the #59 will not meet your needs. I would compare the EF to a Japanese MF or M nib.

The nib is super smooth, comparable in width to European nib sizing and a stiff nib (no bounce).

If you’re looking for a good pocket pen option, the Jinhao #59 is surprisingly good option. Shockingly good.

DISCLAIMER: Some items 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.

In Link Love

Link Love: It’s Okay Not to Be Okay

AnaSeptember 16, 2026September 16, 2026Leave a comment

I am slowly starting to feel better after a long bout of bronchitis and FluA (me and just about everyone else who went to the SF Pen Show. As I slowly come back to the world, get more energy and see my ever-growing to-do list, I agree with Rachel’s post that, right now, in our current world, its okay to not be okay all the time. The world is a crazy place and sometimes we need to protect ourselves. Use your paper and pens to document the good, the bad and the could be’s. Through our analog tools, we can take care of ourselves.

Check out our Patreon where you can get inspiration, gossip and free printables that include a biweekly podcast and more. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Planners & Organizers

Notebook Cover Review: Happy Hollow Farm Leather A6 Loxx Notebook Cover in Plum

Laura CameronSeptember 15, 2026September 14, 20262 Comments

A few weeks ago we were approached by Happy Hollow Farm, maker of custom leather products out of Tennessee. They offered us a chance to try a one of their leather notebook covers for free. Ana gave me a chance to review, and I happily selected an A6 Loxx Notebook Cover in Plum ($93) to cover my new beloved Tea & Diary Time.

The notebook cover arrived beautifully packaged in a muslin drawstring bag, and Happy Hollow Farm generously added in a tin of Smith’s Leather Balm (their suggested method for keeping the leather looking great) and a magnetic bookmark that they are testing.

The notebook cover itself is lovely. I chose plum, but there are many other colors available. Their Loxx system refers to the snap on the front. It took me a quick Google to understand how it works – you pull on the top knob and the snap opens!

Inside the case there are two side pockets so you can slide A6 notebooks into. The inside also has a few slots for ID cards, credit cards or business cards so it would be useful as a small notebook for daily use.

The case comes with a Paperpage Lined notebook, a 160 page notebook with 100 gsm lined paper in a light cream. While it looks like a fun notebook, I had other plans in mind for my case, so I skipped testing the paper.

Overall, I really like the look and feel of this case. Aside from the closure it’s fairly slim and lightweight. It’s clean, minimal design is unisex and the number of colors available mean that everyone should find what they want.

Notebook covers are also available in A6 and pocket sizes, and with other closures (zippers, straps, etc.) I will need to put the cover through it’s paces to determine how it will wear, but I’m excited to see it patina a bit!

Thanks again to Happy Hollow Farm!

DISCLAIMER: I received the A6 Loxx Leather Notebook cover (a value of $93) from Happy Hollow Farm for free for the purposes of this review. Please see the About page for more details.