In Link Love

Link Love: In My Strawberry Era

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: In My Strawberry Era

I am 100% embracing strawberries as my icon, favorite fruit and vibe for June. If you are a Parton, you’ve already seen our strawberry-themed printable for June. My planner set-up video for June will post tomorrow and its also all strawberry vibes. Strawberries are happy for me.– a symbol of the first fruits of the year and give me such joy. We all need some joy right now. What’s your vibe for June, your favorite fruit or something you’re looking forward to in June?

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In Fountain Pen Review

New FPD: Sailor x Mizutama Profit Junior Limited Edition Fountain Pen

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

I had a birthday a few weeks back, and a bestie who is into pens with me sent me a fun gift, a Sailor x Mizutama Profit Junior Limited Edition Fountain Pen. I had never heard of this pen before, but I’m always game for a Sailor!

This particular limited edition collaboration is between Sailor and the Japanese illustrator Mizutama, whose drawings are whimsical and fun! The collaboration features three resin bodied pens (in Orange, Aqua and Cream) along with a matching converter, and a 10mL bottle of ink.

The Profit Junior pen (also called a Compass and a Junior 1911 in other places I’ve found) is a smaller model of the Sailor 1911, with a cigar shape. The pens feature steel nibs (a MF in my Aqua version), metal trim and a cute illustration. The Aqua features a girl reading a book with a plane flying overhead. The other interesting thing is that the feed mechanism is clear. I wish I had shot a photo of it before I loaded the ink because now it just looks blue!

The pen writes pretty smoothly. It definitely doesn’t have the feel of my favorite Sailor Pro Gear Slim, but it is nice and firm. The smaller size might be meant more for students, but it fits my hand really well and I know this is a pen I can use without hand fatigue. The nib, while an MF, is actually quite fine for me and the ink is the perfect blue to match it.

I think it might be a good color for me eh?

DISCLAIMER: I received the Sailor x Mizutama from a friend for my birthday. Some of the other items in this review may have been provided to me free of charge for the purposes of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Dominant Industry Little Craft Fest 2025 Exclusives

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Ink Review: Dominant Industry Little Craft Fest 2025 Exclusives

While I was in Houston, I grabbed the Little Craft Fest exclusive ink colors from Dominant Industry. The irony was that the first day of the show, they did not have swatches of the colors to show so I went back the second day and someone had swatched them. One of the bottles in clearly labelled on the box and the bottle as A Day in Arpril (yes, there’s a typo). I will refer to it by the misspelled name since that is what is printed on the bottle and the box. It may be listed elsewhere with the spelling corrected to A Day in April if you are searching for more information, FYI.

From a quick glance the inks: A Day in Arpril (sic) and A Field of Bluebonnets are remarkably similar. Bluebonnets appears to be the same color ink with shimmer and Arpril (sic) is just a shading blue lavender ink.

Both bottles are 25ml. Arpril (sic) is $17 per bottle and Bluebonnets in $20. To be honest, the bottle of Bluebonnets I got did not have much shimmer particles in it making the upcharge not worth it particularly. Also, buying both bottles seems unnecessary as the base ink color is the same.

When compared with other inks in my stash, I discovered I have a lot of inks in this family of mid-tone blue lavender shading inks. Clearly, its a color that appeals to me.

Pen BBS inks are hard to find these days and Bungbox/Bungubox inks are much more expensive so the Dominant Industry inks are a good alternative if you’ve been looking for a dupe for these other inks.

Ink colors from top to bottom: Dominant Industry 107 Manschurian Violet, Troublemaker Ink Milky Ocean, Dominant Industry Little Craft Fest A Field of Bluebonnets, Pen BBS #182 April Diamond, Dominant Industry Little Craft Fest A Day in Arpril (sic), and Bungbox / Bungubox Omeazaki Sky.

All these ink colors have a little multichromatic effect that causes the colors to range between the bluer violet tones to the more pinky colors depending on paper, saturation and nib size. If you own any of these other colors, it might not be necessary to purchase the LCF 2025 edition inks. But if you don’t have any inks in this family, the price is right for the Dominant Industry versions.

Despite the typo on the bottle, I would recommend the A Day in Arpril from this limited edition release. There is just not enough sparkle in the Bluebonnets to make it worthwhile (YMMV).

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DISCLAIMER: Some items in this post were 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 Link Love

Link Love: 8 Years & A Mountain of Ink!

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: 8 Years & A Mountain of Ink!

This week, let’s all wish Kelly of Mountain of Ink Happy Anniversary on 8 years and over 2700  ink reviews! her dedication and consistency is unrivaled in the pen community and a true treasure for us all.  Thank you for all you do, Kelly! You are the inky queen!

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We have been here, bringing you stationery content, for 15 years and we would like to be here for another 15. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support by joining our Patreon. You will unlock our exclusive podcast, free printables and more. Without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Diamine x Independence Trust a Bivalve + Shimmering Kelp

Author Laura CameronPosted on Leave a comment
Ink Review: Diamine x Independence Trust a Bivalve + Shimmering Kelp

A few weeks ago I was super excited to order Inkdependence’s newest collaborative inks. Mike teamed up with Diamine to create Never Trust a Bivalve and Trust a Bivalve ($8-14 for 30mL) featuring wonderful label art from Tom of Sugarturtle Studio. These two new inks are lots of fun, but I was a good girl and just got myself a single bottle.

Trust a Bivalve is available with and without Shimmering Kelp. I do love a good shimmer, so I got that one. It’s a beautiful shading brown ink, with a shimmery blue affect if you so choose! I’ve been collecting brown inks quite a bit recently and I was shocked when I went through for the comparison shot that I really don’t have anything quite like it!

It’s sort of a dark taupe that almost has a purple or wine colored tinge to it. I thought at first it was purple, but next to a more purple gray ink like PenBBS June Pearl it doesn’t look anything alive. And then I wondered if it would be more akin to Vinta Isabella and the tones are completely different (though I guess this is also a brown shimmering ink so I see why I might have thought that…)

I digress. The ink is lovely and shades well, but there’s also that fun touch of blue shimmer. I don’t see it so much in writing – more in the heavier applications, but I love it just the same.

I do love that Diamine makes a really reasonably priced ink. I’ll let you know that the markup on shimmer at this point really is almost twice what the regular ink costs, hence Mike’s prices, but even at that, it’s a great price for a fun bottle of ink.

Honestly, my only conundrum is that generally I don’t trust a bivalve, but that wasn’t the ink that screamed take me home! But, no matter which side of the argument you come down on, you’re in for a great ink.

DISCLAIMER: The Trust a Bivalve ink was purchased with my own funds. Some of the other items in this review may have been provided to me free of charge for the purposes of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Tools

Tool Review: Dominant Industry Ink Muddler/Glass Pen

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Tool Review: Dominant Industry Ink Muddler/Glass Pen

I had been putting off getting the Dominant Industry Ink Muddler/Glass Dip Pen ($15) because I had heard that glass stir rods for cocktail making could potentially do the same thing. But those are sold in quantities of 10 or 12 and really I just need one. So, I ended up not getting anything that could be construed as a muddler for an excessive amount of time. Then, I was wandering around Dromgoole’s shop a couple weeks ago and saw the little kraft box with the muddler inside. This was definitely a purchase of opportunity.

The Muddler is only about 3.5″ long — the box it comes in is about the same size as a Kaweco Sport box if that helps to visualize the size.

On one end of the glass rod is a fine tipped dip nib and the other is a little flattened disc like a teeny tiny spoon made from glass.

So, despite its size, it can serve many purposes from ink testing, playing with those shimmer inks you don’t want to put into your favorite fountain pen and even just for quick drawing and ink play.

The Ink Muddler ships with a soft plastic tip designed to protect the nib in shipping. I recommend holding onto this piece to continue to protect your tip wherever and however you choose to use it.

I found the Ink Muddler to make quick work of ink testing and sampling with very little clean-up between colors. I quick dip into a glass of water to remove ink from the dip nib and a wipe with a paper towel is all the clean-up that is needed. This makes it a perfect tool for on-the-go ink swatching and the tool’s small size makes it quite portable.

The small size may make it a little uncomfortable for folks with larger hands however. You may prefer to use it for the muddling end only and then switch to a full size glass dip pen for writing or drawing.

I was able to replicate the same look and technique I use for swatching on Col-o-ring cards using the Ink Muddler with less water use and less waste which is a real plus. I often wait to do ink sampling until I have absolutely dozens of bottles to try and catalog. So, the Ink Muddler is definitely going to streamline my process and hopefully keep me from putting it off until the task becomes an all day project.

I definitely recommend this tool with two thumbs up. While being a bit small might make writing more of a challenger, the diminutive size makes it extremely packable which 100% makes up for it. The fine tip on the dip nib end also closely mimics most of the fountain pens I use in terms of line width which is also a bonus. Have you tried an Ink Muddler yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

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 Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Strawberry Daze

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Fashionable Friday: Strawberry Daze

June is my strawberry month. I love strawberries and I am always sad when they go out of season and I can’t afford to buy them anymore. So, in honor of strawberry month and my birthday month, I went full strawberry. In case you are curious, the full moon in June is called the Strawberry Moon and this year, it falls on my birthday. Prophetic sign? I like to think so.

For my Patrons, this is a hint for the theme of our June calendar inserts. If you are not a Patron, join today to get access to free printable monthly calendars in a variety of sizes.

Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.

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.