In Link Love

Link Love: I Wish I Was a Penguin

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

Penguins at the Nelson-Atkins

This week, some of the local facilities in Kansas City started opening its doors to visitors including our fine arts museum, the Nelson-Atkins. It opened it’s doors to our local zoo’s population of tuxedo penguins. These photos brought so much glee to me, in a week that was otherwise a little bit of a slump emotionally for me. I’m sure, like everyone else, the pandemic has created an emotional rollercoaster and some weeks it’s been easier to coaster, and some weeks it’s more of a white-knuckled clackety terror “when can I get off this ride?!?!”

So, if you’re needling a little lift, check out the link to see the other photos and video of these penguins give the Caravaggio the snub. Everybody’s a critic!

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In Paper Review

Notebook Review and Giveaway: Write Notepads

Author Laura CameronPosted on 102 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

I have reviewed a few different products from Write Notepads & Co. over the past few years so when The Gentleman Stationer started carrying their products we grabbed several to try and give away!

Personally, I was most excited by the Dot Grid Steno ($14) since I have a deep and abiding love of dot grid!  The Dot Grid Steno is a 5.5″ x 8.5″ steno pad with 120 pages of 70# paper with a light gray dot grid. The heavy cardstock covers are available in both Pistachio and Black.

This pad is totally my jam. The paper is great! I tested a variety of fountain pens, fine liners, gel pens, pencils, Sharpies and fountain pen ink swabs. Of everything I tested, only the Sharpie bled through and there was barely any ghosting of any of the others. I also love A5-ish size notebooks and that beautiful dot grid! Based on how I use my notebooks, I’m sure this one will get lots of use (which means you’ll be seeing it in reviews to come…)

But now we’ve got some fun notebooks to share with you! Up for giveaway to one lucky winner are:

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what you’re snacking on while staying at home. I’ve become a devotee of cheese and crackers! Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, May 24, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Tuesday (Monday is Memorial Day and even in this time of COVID-19, I want a cocktail and a cheese platter in my backyard). Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner(s) do(es) not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

In Art of the Day

Giveaway: Faber-Castell Grip Fountain Pens (Pearl Mint Green, Turquoise and Rose)

Author AnaPosted on 163 Comments

I really need to put together a revised Top 5 Fountain Pens Under $25. I would definitely include the Faber-Castell Grip in that list. I reviewed it last year. This year, Faber-Castell released three new colors for this pen: Pearl Mint Green, Pearl Turquoise and Pearl Rose. All three models are available in EF, F and M. The pen is a snap-cap, European cartridge converter and slides just under the $25 mark.

Faber-Castell Grip Pearl Fountain Pens

The new colors are spring-tastic! The rubberized, rounded grip is confortable to hold, the slightly triangular shape and rubberized dots keep the pen from rolling, with or without it’s cap.

Faber-Castell Grip Pearl Fountain Pens

The new colors are a nice addition to the dark colors they already have in the line.

For our giveaway, sponsored by our good friends at Goldspot Pens, we have three pens to giveaway. They are available in these configurations:

  • Faber-Castell Grip Pearl Fountain Pens

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what other color you think Faber-Castell should make the Grip Fountain Pen (and which one you’d like to win). Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person. We will select three winners, each winner will get one pen. If all the winners select the same pen, they have to play Rock, Paper, Scissors for who gets which one.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, May 24, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Tuesday (Monday is Memorial Day and even in this time of COVID-19, we still want to sit in lawn chairs in our backyard and drink beer, okay?). Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. If winner(s) do(es) not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Zig Clean Color Dot Double Sided Markers

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

Kuretake Zig CleanColor Dot Double Sided Markers

I was absolutely tickled to find the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Dot Double Sided Markers recently. There are 12 different colors available (available in a set for $35 or individually for $3.30 each). I decided to just try a few colors to start. Usually, I’m inclined to get the whole set, every color, but this time, I decided to try a little restraint and just get a few of the colors I’m most likely to use. I got:

  • Salmon darker and pinker than cap suggests
  • Island Coral cap fairly accurate to fine tip but dots tend to be a bit darker
  • Summer Sun bright golden yellow, cap color is a fairly accurate representation of color
  • Kiwi (of course) best described as a fresh spring green, not as light as the caps suggest
  • Ocean the fine tip is a little lighter than the cap and the dot end seems a little bluer than the caps suggest

Kuretake Zig CleanColor Dot Double Sided Markers

So, what makes these markers different? Well, one end has a small dauber like a bingo marker. When tapped onto your paper with varying amounts of pressure, you can make dots of varying size. The dot end can also be used as a regular marker as well for coloring, highlighting or underlining. But let’s be honest, its making dots that is the real reason I bought these.

Kuretake Zig CleanColor Dot Double Sided Markers

The other end has a 0.5mm fine tip marker which is good for writing or drawing. It would be perfect for titles in a bullet journal, addresses on envelopes or details in coloring.

Kuretake Zig CleanColor Dot Double Sided Markers

As you can see the colors are bright and vibrant and quite Spring-y.  I think these are really fun and I have been bopping dots on anything that wasn’t moving. The pens are water-based pigment so the ink isn’t permanent. It won’t move like watercolor but if it gets wet, it will bleed to a certain extent. If you’re dotting on everything, it means you should be able to clean it up… hopefully.

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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 Tools

Product Preview: Ink Bottle Rubber Stamps (Shameless Plug)

Author AnaPosted on 11 Comments
Product Preview: Ink Bottle Rubber Stamps (Shameless Plug)

Following discussions and suggestions from friends and followers of the blog, we are introducing two new rubber stamps in the shop this week. This post falls clearly in the category of shameless self-promotion so proceed forewarned.

short bottle stamp art block

We created two different ink bottle rubber stamp designs. The first stamp is based on a classic bottle design ($14) used by many companies. The stamp measures 1.5″ x 1.5″ and fits easily on a Col-o-ring card, Col-o-dex Card, or Col-o-ring Oversize page.

short bottle handle stamp

The stamp is available mounted on wood as an “art block” (no handle) or with a blonde wood handle.

short bottle stamp rubber view

The stamp is thick red rubber, mounted on cushion foam and the design is laser etched on the top to make it easy to identify.

tall bottle stamp art block

The second design is a tall faceted bottle stamp ($14) based on a vintage bottle design. It is 1.25″ x 2″.

tall bottle handle stamp

It is also available as the “art block” (no handle) or with a blonde wood handle and laser etched on the top with the design.

tall bottle stamp rubber view

The stamp features the same high quality as the short ink bottle stamp.

permanent stamp pads black

We recommend using a waterproof, archival stamp pad if you want to swab your ink samples over the stamp. Below we have demonstrated tests using the Avery Carter’s Stamp Pad, Office Depot Stamp Pad and Ranger Archival Stamp Pad. The Avery Carter’s and Office Depot came from Office Depot. Similar big box office supply store stamp pads should work as well. Look for a pad that says “dye-based” not “pigment-based”. The Ranger Archival pad came from JoAnn’s hobby store. Again, any stamp pad listed as archival, waterproof or dye-based should work.

tall bottle stamp on Col-o-ring card

tall bottle stamped on tomoe river

The sample above shows the three black stamp pads used in a Nanami Cafe Tomoe River Notebook. The Ranger pad seems darkest but all three pads have been in my possession for sometime and the quality may be a  result of age.

short bottle stamped on Col-o-ring Oversize

Above, the same three stamp pads are used in a Col-o-ring Oversize. Again, the darkness of the ink from the pads may be a result of how old the pads are though my inclination is to guess that the Ranger pad may be of slightly higher quality as it’s designed for craft purposes.

tall bottle stamped in color

Don’t think you have to limit yourself just to black stamp pads. There are lots of different color options in the Archival stamp pads and it could make for some really fun looks in your Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book or other notebook. Here, I used a Ranger Archival green stamp pad with Vinta Sirena green ink. I think it looks pretty cool.

short bottle stamped in color

I tried a similar technique with an Avery Carter’s red stamp pad and Ferris Wheel Press Lady Rose ink and I got a little bleeding of the red ink. It could be a reaction between the ink from the stamp pad and the fountain pen ink or that the stamp pad ink is not as waterproof as the black ink. I’ll have to test it further to find out. I still think it looks pretty.

tall bottle stamp Col-o-ring filled in

Finally, back to using a black stamp pad and Colorverse Crystal Planet. I left the label open to maybe write the color name in once the ink is dry. So many options!

I hope you are as excited about these new stamps as we are. If these stamps are well-received, we may introduce more ink bottle shapes. What do you think? Do you like them?

In Link Love

Link Love: (Week Eight) Pen Show Updates

Author AnaPosted on 9 Comments
Link Love: (Week Eight) Pen Show Updates

On Sunday, Laura and I started going through the Pen Show Schedule and trying to figure out how best to update it. Many shows have already announced postponed dates or cancellations due to the pandemic but some, that are a few months out, are still listed as “on schedule”. I confess, I’m skeptical that any shows will go forward this year. Most cities have said that re-opening economies will be slow and the last aspect of that will be allowing large events. Most people think of “events” as concerts, sporting events, graduations, weddings, etc. We among us who are “pen people”, of course, think of pen shows.

Since pen shows, clearly require a lot of people to be in a small amount of space, many traveling long distances by plane, there is not a good way to make them happen without putting people at risk of COVID-19 unless the illness has been eradicated.  I don’t think most US shows will be able to happen this year. And it’s probably largely unlikely that worldwide shows may face the same issues.

I know that, short of a vaccine for COVID-19, I’m very unlikely to travel this year. So much for my frequent flyer mile status.

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In Pen Review

Pen Review: Iconic 2-Way Marker Pens, Pastel Colors

Author Laura CameronPosted on

Review by Laura Cameron

I always love new office supplies so I was happy to put a set of the Iconic 2-way Marker Pens in Pastel Colors ($8.00) in my cart and give them a whirl.

These Korean Markers are double-ended, giving you a variety of options. One end has a chisel tip, great for highlighting or laying down a heavier line, whereas the other end has what they call a “bullet tip,” a fine liner.

The Iconic 2-way Marker Pens come in 3 sets (Retro, Pastel and Deco) of 5 markers each. From the photos on Jetpens, it appears that the Deco Set produces the most saturated colors.

I like the colors in the pastel set, and I feel like they’d be great for highlighting, but I’m less sold on the fine liner use since the colors are light enough that I think they’d be hard to read in any large amount of text. I did also find while doodling a bit, that the ink in these pens needs some time to dry – I smeared one of my sad little drawings right away.

Overall this was a fun set to try, but I think I’d pick up the Deco set if I wanted to use it for any kind of writing because those colors would be saturated enough to read easily.

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.