The Well-Appointed Desk

I seem to have quite the notebook collection. I know it’s a problem many of us have. I don’t exactly hoard them, but I do purchase for reviews and to try them out and see if I like them. I suppose I’m in search of that elusive PERFECT notebook (more on that in a future post!)

So when I saw the Fabriano EcoQua Gluebound A5 Notebook ($8.50) which comes in dot grid (which is totally my jam) I added one to my cart immediately!

To start with, I would say that this is more of a notepad than a notebook. The Fabriano notebook comes with a sturdy card-stock cover with woven texturing. It’s available in a variety of colors including blue, wine, stone, lemon, raspberry, orange and black.

The paper is advertised as acid free, FSC-certified and fountain pen friendly. It’s 85 gsm and comes in 4mm dot grid (light grey dots) on white paper. The notebook includes 90 sheets.

The reason I consider this more of a notepad than a notebook is that the paper itself is glue-bound across the left edge of the pad. Sheets are easily torn from the pad so you can save notes and share with friends. When I think of a notebook, I think more of a collection of pages that are meant to be stored together. The glue on this pad is very thin and even trying to turn the page mostly separated it from the remainder of the pages. While this is a total plus if you want a tear and share pad, it’s not a notebook meant to keep the pages all together. None of this is specifically a detractor – I just want you to know what you’re getting!

I actually did really like the paper. It’s a little toothy, and was pleasing to write on. I tested my ball points, fountain pens, gel pens, brush pens and more. The only thing that “failed” the test was the Sharpie of course – bleed-through city! The paper is fairly thin, so there is plenty of show-through, but I got no bleeding or feathering with anything but the Sharpie. I also kind of dig the smaller grid – you could fit a LOT on this page if you’re a small writer.

Overall, the Fabriano is going to end up being a desk pad for me. I like the paper and I know I’ll use it to dash off notes on phone calls and meetings, and to write daily to do lists. However, I won’t use it for anything of permanence, and that means I probably won’t end up buying it again as I prefer to keep most of my notes organized together. I do think it’s a reasonably priced product of good quality, but it just doesn’t fit my needs as much as I would like.

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 Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Planner for Medical Editor, Waterproof inks and Cross Porous Point Pen Options

AnaDecember 7, 2020December 7, 20203 Comments

Angela asks:

Hello–I’m a freelance medical editor. I have to keep track of jobs for ±6 clients each day. For years, I’ve used a spiral notebook and pencil. I’ve been upgrading my notebooks, and now I think I’d like to use a daily planner so I have a more orderly view of finished projects. I would need something that at least 8 inches wide because I have to record client job numbers and project descriptions, as well as the amount of time each job takes. Do you have a recommendation for a nice but moderately priced planner or notebook? I wouldn’t need extra pages for long-range planning or goals.

I think your best bet would be to start with Agendio.com. This site allows you to completely customize a planner to meet your needs. This takes a bit of decision-making on your part but it also means you can get what you want and nothing you don’t. You can save your design and change it or update it next year if you find that there was something you didn’t like about your layout this year. And you can start any month. You can even choose if you want a spiral binding or just what your pages punched to fit into a binder you already own.

Lisa asks:

Hi, I’m thinking of buying a TWISBI ECO to accent my watercolor sketches with ink. What kinds of ink can the ECO use? I’m interested in experimenting with acrylic inks, for example. PS – total newbie. Thanks!

Lisa,

NO ACRYLIC INK!!!

I don’t mean to yell but I want to make sure you don’t miss my comment. Fountain pens use fountain pen ink ONLY. However, there is waterproof (bulletproof, archival, etc) ink that can be used in fountain pens that will work with your fountain pens. I did a post awhile back about some of my favorite waterproof fountain pen inks and urban sketcher Liz Steel is a big fan of using fountain pens for her artwork too. Our own resident urban sketcher Tina also uses fountain pens for her artwork and has lots of recommendations as well. And, of course, my favorite will always be Platinum Carbon Black.

If you want to play with acrylic inks, I would recommend using a dip pen and nib like a Speedball dip nib. These are available for about $1 per nib and a holder is anywhere from $5 and up depending on how fancy you want to be. Using acrylic ink with a dip nib means if the ink dries on the nib, you have only damaged a $1 nib. No big deal. You can throw the nib out (or recycle it with a metal recycler) and use a new one.

John asks:

Hello, I was wondering if you know what pens are compatible with the cross porous felt pen refill. I truly love that you porous refill tips from Cross and looking for a similar experience with a different pen body. I was wondering if you knew of any.

The Porous Point (felt tip) refill from Cross is part of their “Selectip” line which fit in the Cross Century Classic. Any of the BigiDesign capped designs like the Ti Ultra, Ti Arto EDC, and Ti Arto. Pretty must any of the BigiDesign models with a cap. I realize that’s not a lot of options but at least it will give you a pen that will accept other refills should you no longer be able to get the Porous Point or decide you want to use something else.

In Pencil Review

Colored Pencil Review: Camel 36-Color Mini Pencil Set with Elastic Case

AnaDecember 5, 2020December 5, 2020Leave a comment

The Camel 36-Color Mini Pencil Set with Elastic Case ($40) is a tiny package full of cute, colorful sticks of fun. By fun, I mean colored pencils. These colored pencils are rounded square shaped and arrive in a paperboard box that closes with an elastic strap. The box, when closed, is about the same size as a standard Traveler’s Notebook, making it the perfect companion to your journal.

The exterior of the pencils are a soft matte black and the rounded square shape make them comfortable in the hand (even for being so small) and unlikely to roll off the table. Each pencil is numbered with the color and the inside of the box includes a list of color names that correspond with the number. I would have preferred that the ends of the pencils were color dipped for easier identification but I understand the aesthetic choice for all-black. It just makes for a lot of hunting to find the right color.

The pencils inside are diminutive in size (8.5cm or 3.34″).

Compared to a full-sized Prismacolor, it’s clear to see just how small the Camel pencils are.

The pencil core is visible from the unfinished end of the pencil. The core is much smaller than a Prismacolor core but that will make these pencils better for detail work.

The set of 36 colors includes approximately 3 purple/violets, 6 blues, 6 greens, 5 reds, 4 oranges, 3 yellows, 4 browns, black, white, neutral grey and a metallic gold and silver. The white is, like most colored pencils, best used as a blending tool rather than a highlight white as it is not very opaque.

When compared with Prismacolor for blending, the Camel pencils are not as soft and blendable, particularly on paper with any tooth or texture. However, because of the smaller core, it’s much easier to use the Camel pencils for small details or even to write.

I liked that the Camel pencils are about the same size as my travel watercolor tin making them extremely portable — with or without their box.

I was a little concerned about sharpening them but the square shape means that they fit into a standard-sized pencil sharpener. I used my Staedtler 2-hole sharpener and the Camel pencils sharpened just fine.

These are probably not artist-grade, fade-proof, top quality colored pencils but for everyday coloring, journaling, doodling fun, they are an adorable set. If you are looking for a last-minute gift for the artist or artist-at-heart, this set of colored pencils would make a delightful gift.

I originally received my set from the now-defunct Fresh Stock Japan but my dearest friends at Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS (LFK!) are carrying them and would be delighted to ship them to you or your loved one ASAP.

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

In feature, photo

Eye Candy: Rose Gold

Jessica ColesDecember 3, 2020December 3, 2020Leave a comment

By Jessica Coles

This time of year turns me to thinking about sparkly things and pens are part of that. One of my favorites is rose gold things. Ana and I were talking about rose gold the other day when the idea of a matching ink came up. What kind of ink is good with rose gold?

Well, as I pulled out the pens in my collection that I consider either rose gold or copper (since rose gold is rose due to the addition of copper), I noticed that they fell into three basic groups. Orange under tones, Brown under tones, Pink undertones.

Orange undertones (left to right): TWSBI Smoke and Rose Gold 580AL, No Name (pronounced noh-nah-meh) pen, Conklin black and rose gold, Waldmann Tuscany Rose Gold, Y-Studio Classic.

For the pens with orange undertones, here are a few ink options:

The Brown under toned pens (left to right): Nemosine Rose Gold, Caran D’ache rose gold 849, Lamy Rose Gold, Platinum Nice Pur, Copper Schön Pocket6.

Inks for pens with Brown under tones:

Pink under tones (left to right): Kaweco AL Sport Rose Gold, PenBBS pink, Kaweco Apple Pencil sleeve, Uniball Signo Angelic Red

Inks for the Pinks:

In Link Love

Link Love: Holiday-Adjacent

AnaDecember 2, 2020December 2, 2020Leave a comment

The holiday shopping season is officially underway and Link Love reflects the arrival of all things holiday-related: from “The Child” hot cocoa to snowflake Field Notes. If you need a holiday idea, a video to make you smile or shipping information, hop down to the Holiday-related section.

I have one more week of teaching before the winter break. Hopefully, that means my posts will start being a little more prompt. Don’t hold your breath.

But, to all my knitters, enjoy some notebook and yarn pairings. We should do this more often.

Post of the Week:

Colorways (via Field Notes)

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In feature

Shop Updates

AnaDecember 1, 2020December 1, 20201 Comment

We are making so many new things right now for the shop. Not all of them are ready yet but some things are en route, some are well into production and others are at the tips of our fingers but we have been so busy packing orders that we haven’t had a chance to put the finishing touches on them yet.

Shipping:

Rubber Stamps and notepads are available in both our Big Cartel and Etsy shop. International shipping is available through our Etsy Shop only. Be aware that, to meet postal deadlines, orders must be placed by:

First Class Package: Ship by December 18th.
Priority Mail: Ship by December 19th.
First Class Package International, and Priority Mail International: December 7th (Deadline has passed for packages to arrive in time for Christmas for Central America, South America and Africa).

New Rubber Stamp Ink Pads:

I am a reseller of Ranger Archival ink pads ($7 for full-sized pads) since this summer but, due to the pandemic, Ranger is having a terrible time keeping up with demands. As a result, I have expanded my ink pad offering to Tsukineko Staz-On ink pads ($9 each) as well.

The Staz-On pads have a plastic inner liner under the lid to help keep the stamp pad from drying out and each pad comes with two small stickers for labelling the ends of the stamp pad containers if you file them on their ends. Very Japanese details.

As a result, I have a few pads in color and black from Ranger and some red and blue from Staz-On. Both are great waterproof and archival stamp pads.

I also have the Staz-On All-Purpose rubber stamp cleaner available now too. It’s designed to work with the permanent inks which tends to dry quickly onto the stamps and will eventually cake up making your stamp a bit mushy and indistinct. So, stamp cleaner is pretty handy. I would try to figure out how to make my own but this is reasonably priced and comes in a nice spray bottle ($4.50) or dauber bottle ($5) which is very handy so it’s just as easy to buy a bottle.

We are also carrying one water-soluble rubber stamp ink pad: The Tsukineko Brilliance Moonlight White ($9). I got this for entirely self-serving reasons because I like to stamp all the outgoing boxes and some of our mailing boxes are kraft colored and this opaque white sings on the kraft brown. It will also look great on colored paper. Just remember, it is water-soluble so plan accordingly.

Rubber Stamps Back in Stock:

Thanks to the hard work of Paper Pastries in LA, I’ve been able to restock all of the nib stamps (The Daily Grind and The Unfamiliars)($11 each) as well as Ink Bottle ($14) and Sample Vial ($13) stamps. Paper Pastries stamps are gray rubber instead of the red rubber that I was getting from my previous vendor but the quality is top notch! I will be continuing to work with Margaret at Paper Pastries through the end of the year until my stamp manufacturer recovers from their fire.

Did I mention our latest Star Wars edition?

I know it’s not Wednesday but I still have Star Wars to talk about. You probably already know about our Rebel Plans and Imperial Orders and maybe you’ve seen our Do or Do Not addition. But we couldn’t stop there. Nope. Now we have our Stay on Target pad as well. They all use the same fountain pen friendly paper found in all our notepads. The Stay on Target pad feature 7mm lines because this was Bob’s baby and he writes with a big ol’ crayon-like 1.1mm fountain pen these days and insisted on wider line spacing. We used the same 7mm line spacing for the Do or Do Not pad to leave space for those all-important checkboxes.

All notepads feature 40 pages and are $8 each.

What’s Next:

I want to tell you all about what we have coming but I’ll keep it a surprise. I hope you’ll like them. Follow us on Instagram for regular updates.

In Art Supplies

Review: Boku-Undo E-Sumi Watercolor Palette

AnaNovember 30, 2020November 28, 20201 Comment

Review by Tina Koyama

In late September as I geared up for InkTober, of course I inked up a few favorite fountain pens. But I also picked up a few new things to keep it fresh and challenging (you can see them in my inky previews here). One was a Boku-Undo E-Sumi Watercolor Palette (set of six $17; single colors $3 each). Since I fully embraced colored pencils, watercolors have not been in my regular sketching arsenal for years, so I thought these paints would be nothing more than a novelty. I was so wrong! They nearly took over my InkTober.

According to the product description, Boku-Undo colors are “made with a combination of traditional sumi ink* and colorful dyes.” The six “shadow black” shades in the palette are, indeed, mostly black with a hint of hue. They evoke the “off-black” shades of some gel pen inks. (Swatches below made in a Col-o-ring Oversize.)

One of the many challenges of using watercolors is that it’s difficult to get intense blacks and other dark hues, but these inky paints make it easy. I find it especially fun to make values studies with varying dilutions of color. (Still life below made with greenish-black on Canson XL 140 lb. watercolor paper.)

Seattle’s Smith Tower is one of my favorite buildings (and where my spouse guy and I were married a few decades back). I made this anniversary card with bluish-black (Canson XL 140 lb. watercolor paper).

For my daily InkTober sketches, I continued my series of hand drawings, and that’s when I really fell in love with Boku-Undo. Typically with watercolors, I get wimpy washes, but not with these – the washes are as rich and dark as I want them to be without much effort. I love pairing the inks with a Uni Posca Paint Marker with a brush tip for highlights. I used a notebook containing colored, coated pages that made the ink bead up – a surprising effect that I like! On the blue paper below, I used bluish-black. On the yellow page, I used reddish-black.

Perhaps my only problem with Boku-Undo is wondering what they really are. Traditional sumi is made of soot that comes in a solid form and must be slowly ground with water to make a liquid ink. It’s conveniently sold as a liquid ink, but I’m pretty sure traditional sumi masters would frown on using that. (Grinding your ink patiently and meditatively is part of the process, said my instructor at a workshop I once took. The workshop was only one day, and we must have spent half of it grinding the ink.) These Boku-Undo look and behave just like pan watercolors, so they aren’t traditional sumi, either . . are they painty inks or inky paints? No matter. Boku-Undo are a ton of fun.

*Editor’s Note: Sumi inks often contain carbon soot, pine tar and animal glues. These can be corrosive to dib pen nibs and other materials. DO NOT, under any circumstances, use Sumi inks in your fountain pens.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. This review also includes 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.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

NO ACRYLIC INK!!!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Holiday-related:

Other Interesting Things:

Shipping:

New Rubber Stamp Ink Pads:

Rubber Stamps Back in Stock:

Did I mention our latest Star Wars edition?

What’s Next: