The Well-Appointed Desk

Hoo boy its hot here in the Midwest this week. Everything is sweaty, lazy and in search of ice cream, air conditioning or cold brews.

But here in Desk-land, it’s Mermaid Season for me. For my Patrons, this month is Mermaid month for the printable calendars. For everyone else, you can hang out in my kiddie pool and I’ll bring you a yard beer.

Big news in the USPS is the 250 Years of Delivering Stamps stamp sheet which will be available on July 23 and is a connected block of twenty stamps designed by comic book legend Chris Ware. I am going to get as many sheets of this stamp set as I can. So amazing.

While we are on the topic of all things postal, the USPS First Class shipping rates will be increasing on July 13. Thanks to Portland Stamp Company for this handy-dandy graphic.

Typewriter written airmail envelope with changes in the USPS first class stamp rates start July 13, 2025. — Image via Portland Stamp Company

Be one of us! Be one of us! Join our Patreon and get free printables, an exclusive podcast and more, like bragging rights. You help us keep this site going! Without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Sailor Fude De Mannen

Laura CameronJune 24, 2025June 24, 2025Leave a comment

While I’ve now been writing for the Desk for a while, one thing I have completely stayed away from is fancy nibs. I stick with my EF, F, M and occasionally a broad or a stub. I’ve never had a nib ground for me (I’ve had a few smoothed and tuned, but that’s it!) and I typically don’t play with anything beyond the standard.

So a few weeks ago when I was browsing through Yoseka Stationery, the Sailor Fude De Mannen caught my eye. ($16).

The pen comes in acrylic bodies in pearlized colors (featuring just a hint of sparkle), and feature stainless steel gold plated nibs. Some of the colors have different nibs:

The Green (-55 degrees) version is best for those who write upright, while the Dark Blue, Pearl White, Pearl Pink, and Pearl Brown (-40 degrees).

I opted for the Pearl Pink, so mine came with a -40 degree Fude nib. The fun of a Fude nib, besides it’s interesting shape, is the ability to create varying line thicknesses. As you can see, I can get anything from a thinner fine line to a thicker broad line. I find it most comfortable to hold and write somewhere in between, but it’s fun to play with the angle and see where it lands.

I used the pen as a dip nib while I was playing with it, but it is a full pen. It takes either Sailor cartridges or a Sailor Converter. This pen is long! 6.625″/17cm capped, and 5.875″/15cm uncapped. The cap posts (although not very tightly), but that would make the length and balance ridiculous. It’s a lightweight pen though coming in at 15g.

Overall this was a fun experiment and I think I’ll continue to use it for nib/ink testing and maybe even just to play with calligraphy and varying my line thickness. If you’re interested in branching out from traditional nibs this seems like a fun, cost-effective way to do so!

Papers: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
Pen: Sailor Fude De Mannen ($16)
Ink: Birmingham Pen Co. Grant Street Weathered Brick (60mL, $9)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items in this review were purchased with my own funds and some may have been sent to us for review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Ink Preview: KWZ St. Louis Pen Show 2025 Meet Me in St. Louis – 314 Blues(@stlpenshow)

AnaJune 23, 2025June 24, 20251 Comment

KWZ 2025 St. Louis Pen Show Meet Me in St. Louis – 314 Blues ($20 for 60ml Bottle) is the limited edition ink available at this year’s St. Louis Pen Show. Each bottle is 60ml and there will only be 200 bottles available. The ink will be sold exclusively at the show (this weekend Friday through Sunday!).

If there are any bottles left, they may be available for sale upon request (customer will be responsible for shipping costs, tariffs and taxes).

My handwriting is atrocious today! Apologies!!

The name for this year’s color is a combination of the St. Louis area code (314) and St. Louis’s rich blues music history, hence “314 Blues”. Also, the color of the ink is blue. The name is not at all related to Pi (3.14…) or Pi Day. Really a shame.

When compared to other inks, Pilot Iroshizuku Kon-Peki is the closest in hue but a little deeper color. Pennonia Torokkeo is the next closest. Waterman Inspired Blue and Lamy Pacific Blue/Turquoise are similar hue but are a little lighter and brighter.

I do love the way KWZ ink smells but this ink is similar enough to others in my collection that I’m not going to kill myself to get a bottle. But it does remind me that I need to look at other KWZ inks for the sweet vanilla scent.

Tools:

Paper: Odyssey Notebooks A5 Grid 68gsm Tomoe River and Ink Swatching Guidesheets
Pens: Dominant Industry Ink Muddler, Sailor Hocoro Dip Pens, Zebra G Dip Nib and Tachikawa T-40 Nib Holder
Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)

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

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Dominant Industry Log of Elixir/Log of Atlantis Inks

AnaJune 20, 2025June 24, 2025Leave a comment

Monday I reviewed the Ink Archiving Books from Dominant Industry and today, I have the inks that were released to compliment the collections. For each collection, there were two inks released. For the Log of Atlantis the two inks were Atlantis (shimmer) and Seaweed (standard). For The Log of Elixir the inks are both standard inks: Unknown Land and Allegory. All four inks are $17 each per 25ml bottle.

All four colors are complex and have low saturation to create subtle tones. Unknown Land is the most complex with the most multichromatic effects from sandy brown with hits of green and pinks. Its so cool.

Seaweed appears to be a standard kelly green but its got a base more yellowy than most middle greens which often lean brighter or more bluish. I already own so many greens I really bought this one to complte my collection but its actually beome one of my favorites from the collection.

Allegory looks like a simple dark grey/black but its actually a lot more complex — a little blue, a little purple, shading and delicious. I had a lot of fun mixing this with water for painting in the Log Ink Archiving Books.

I tend to prefer non-shimmer inks since I mostly use fine nib pens but the Atlantis ink is really pretty. Its an ocean-y aqua blue with a pale blue shimmer.

The shimmer gives the Atlantis ink that sparkly quality of sunlight on the water. The ink has a lot of shading and a bit of a multichromatic effect too so it kind of has everything.

Ink Comparisons:

I was. shocked to hve trouble finding similar inks with almost every color from the Dominant Industry Log sets. Unknown Land is a uniquely warm brown. 3 Oysters Mustard, J. Herbin Ambre de Birmaine and Robert Oster Gold Antiqua were the closest that I could find. Everything else was too orange, too brown, or too yellow.

I stock pile grey inks and this was another challenge to find similar inks. Grey inks tend to sway warm or cool. Allegory is a s charcoal-y as it comes without being black.

With Seaweed, its a little harder to tell in the photo above but Lemongrass and Minatogawa Lime are similar hues but with higher color saturation making them brighter. Seaweed is probably my favorite kelly-ish green right now.

With Atlantis, the closest I could find was Sailor Studio #264 and the rarity Pen BBS #507 Lily of the Valley. Vinta Sirena is more multichromatic with a pinkish cast and greener overall but it has a similar vibe — with multichrome instead of shimmer.

My final opinion is that Dominant Industry, while growing in popularity, is probably one of the more underrated inks currently available. The bottles are lovely, the prices are reasonable and the colors are excellent.

Tools:

Paper: Odyssey Notebooks A5 Grid 68gsm Tomoe River and Ink Swatching Guidesheets
Pens: Dominant Industry Ink Muddler, Sailor Hocoro Dip Pens, Zebra G Dip Nib and Tachikawa T-40 Nib Holder
Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)

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

In video

Video Interview!

AnaJune 19, 2025June 24, 2025Leave a comment

Patron Derek kindly interviewed me on his most recent video podcast episode. You can watch on YouTube or listen to the audio version only.

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out some of the other great interviews with other pen community luminaries: Joe Crace (Gentleman Stationer), Jaclyn Myers (Kaleidosc, Eric Gama (Amarillo Stationery), Shawn Newton, Lisa (Olive Octopus) and many more!

Thanks so much for spending some time with me, Derek.

I hope you enjoy watching this video as we had making it!

In Link Love

Link Love: 15 Years and Counting

AnaJune 18, 2025June 18, 20254 Comments

I forgot that Tuesday was the 15th anniversary of this little stationery project we call The Well-Appointed Desk. I started this project 15 years ago and it has grown from a Tumblr blog to a whole stationery life. I went from posting quick little posts about work spaces and the occasional product review to a staff of writers, developing products for the community and now a Patreon with a freakin’ podcast! For a little introvert, that’s a big life change, for sure. This is now my full-time job, can you believe it?

I don’t know where we will go in the next 15 years. Heck, I don’t know where I’ll be in 15 minutes but thank you to everyone who has read our posts, watched our videos, listened to our podcasts or bought our products. As long as you keep tuning in, we will keep doing this.

Thank you.

Pens:

Video-Review: OMAS Bologna Galassia (via Scrively)
Majohn/Moonman V60 (via dapprman)
Fountain Pen Rainbow 2025, Bi Edition (via Rachel’s Reflections)
Pen Porn: Cypress Maki-e Goldfish (via Rachel’s Reflections)

Ink:

Currently Inked June 10, 2025 (via Mountain of Ink)
ink review : Sailor Manyo ukikusa (via inkxplorations)
Van Dieman’s Pink Fairy Orchid (via Inkcredible Colours)
Ink Review #2777: KWZ Azure 4 (via Mountain of Ink)

Pencils:

Blackwing Lab 5-13-25 (Metallic Gold/Silver Cores) (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)

Notebooks & Paper:

2026 Planner Notification Sign-Ups (via JetPens Blog)
The transition from A5 Filofax to Personal Size Filofax (via Philofaxy)
Do Notebooks Destroy Memorization Skills? (via Notebook Stories)
Ask TGS: The Best Inks for Cheap Paper (via The Gentleman Stationer)
MD Paper Products Pop Up at Kinokuniya (via Inkcredible Colours)

Art & Creativity:

On Sketchbooking: A Creative Chat With Jess Greenleaf (via The Postman’s Knock)
People Sketching: Protests (via Apple-Pine)
Reading Notes: Thinking on Paper (via Apple-Pine)
#30×30, 2025, Day 13: Cheat Day! (via Citizen Sketcher)
In for a penny: This exhibition showcases 99 artists’ interpretation of the humble piggy bank (via It’s Nice That)
How creatives are surviving the 2025 slowdown (via Creative Boom)
Brooklyn Storefronts: Artist Creates New York City Street Scenes In Miniature (via Design You Trust )

Other Interesting Things:

The pleasure of craftsmanship: the Alfie tray (via A Gathering of Curiosities)
Minimalism by any other name (via A Gathering of Curiosities)
Elderflower Cordial Days (via Attic24)
Beach Bags That Perform: No-Fuss Access, Smart Storage, Sand-and-Sun Tested (via Carryology)
Eight Years and Here’s to Many more (via Rachel’s Reflections)
(un)Plans: May & June Notes (via Line Variation)
Pilot Vanishing Point with Special Alloy Nib Review (via The Pen Addict)
A Day Redeemed By the Smallest Of Things (via From the Pen Cup)

Help us celebrate 15 years of service to the pen community and consider joining our Patreon so that we can be here for another 15 years. Your patronage supports this site. Without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Kleid String-Tie Notebook 03 – 2mm Grid

Laura CameronJune 17, 2025June 17, 20251 Comment

A few weeks ago I was browsing what was new at Yoseka Stationery and I came across the Kleid String-Tie Notebook 03 – 2mm grid and decided to try one. ($22.50) I had tried the Kleid x Life Noble and the Kleid Craft Work Memo before, but have passed both on. I admit it – I was taken by the aesthetics of the cover with the metal corners and the leather string tie!

The notebook is cute, if not a standard size at approximately 6.5″ square (ok 6.7″ x 6.1″ or 17 cm x 15 cm). The cover is heavy cardstock. The notebook itself is spiral bound and has 80 sheet of OK Fools (Japanese paper) that has a light 2mm grid on it. In the past I’ve found the grid to be quite distracting when writing, but somehow this one seems fainter than before?

What tempted me about this notebook is that it seemed like a cute and possibly more durable model for a bit of a travel journal. I have some travels coming up and was wondering if I’d like this format. The other thing that recommends itself to me as a notebook I’d like to travel with is the paper folder pocket in the back (both sides) that can hold stickers and ephemera.

The paper on this one is far. It can handle gel pens, ball points and pencils no problem. It warns that it can handle finer fountain pens. As you can see most of my notes in the top section didn’t bleed through, but when I added extra strokes to the “Fountain” lettering, it did bleed through. The other characteristic of this paper that I had forgotten about is that the grid lines are almost coated – the ink definitely sits on top of them and looks a bit different. I noticed that in the Craft Work Memo previously.

Overall I would say this isn’t going to be my new go to notebook, but I was pleased to test out a new format. I will keep it around and test it out a bit, but I do think I’m going to have to remember that Kleid graph paper and I don’t entirely mix in the future. But again, that’s my personal aesthetic so you might find different!

DISCLAIMER: I purchased this notebook with my own funds for the purposes of this review. Please see the About page for more details.