The Well-Appointed Desk

JetPens offers a wide variety of sticker sheets that can be used in planners, bullet journals, notebooks or on letters and correspondence. I thought I’d try a few of the different brands of stickers that they carry to give an in-depth review. Stickers are fun and right now I think we all could use some fun in our lives.

Most of the planner and sticker-sheet stickers are printed on clear acetate and kiss-cut. Some of the stickers have had the additional top paper/acetate removed so the stickers look die cut and then floating on a sheet of acetate. Most of the stickers also included a pass of opaque white ink so that you may apply them and not see lines or dots from your notebook or planner through the stickers. Other stickers are left purposely translucent so they may be applied over printing in a planner (like bubbles over key dates) or to create a more watercolor effect.

The first sheet I have to show is from Midori. It is the removable achievement Exercise Animals ($3.80/sheet). They are designed for planners and are removeable so that if plans change, you can move the sticker as needed. I just thought the little animals were too cute to pass up. Since there are not many other activities in my planner, I don’t feel bad utilizing space with cute reminders to exercise. The small images like the fruit and avocado are also stickers that can be used to brighten up your bullet journal or planner.

The image above is a close-up of the kiss-cut diecut around the edge of a sticker.

Also from Midori are the Sticker Marche Tea set ($3.80/sheet). These stickers printed on translucent washi-like paper and are die cut. There is a triangle cut-out in the lower righthand corner of the backing card to show the translucent quality of these stickers. When I ordered them, I didn’t realize quite how translucent they were so the pastel color will definitely look better on white or light colored paper.

Suatelier makes some of my favorite stickers available through JetPens. While the shelter-at-home world is taken with bakin’, the Suatelier I Like Bread stickers ($2.50/sheet) seemed like a perfect addition. The stickers are die cut to the edge (no clear edges) and are opaque white so no paper will show through.

While on the topic of opaque white stickers, the Suatelier Rain Drop stickers ($2.50/sheet) are one of my favorites. The white rain drops look particularly nice when applied over color and the little expressions on the faces are adorable.

I originally bought a sheet of the Suatelier Kokeshi Stickers for my friend who collects kokeshi dolls but when they arrived, they were so cute I knew I would have to order another sheet for myself. Like the Rain Drop stickers, these stickers have no clear edges, the die cut is flush with the designs so they look so good when applied. The white flower stickers look great on a colored envelope or over an ink splash.

I’m not sure that the Suatelier Spring Day stickers ($2.50/sheet) serve any purpose other than they make me smile. Like the other Suatelier stickers, they are printed on white and die cut with no visible trim edge so they look great when applied. Honestly, I’ll probably buy another sheet of these, just for the monkeys.

Oof, the Suatelier puffy pandas ($.250/sheet) make me feel like I’m back in grade school — in a good way. These rolly-polly puffy pandas printed on opaque white vinyl are so cute. They definitely brighten my day. Are they useful? Not in the least but I don’t care.

The Pine Book Poyo Animals Schedule Stickers – Annual & Daily Events ($2.65/sheet) are brightly colored and printed on clear acetate with a die cut edge but these are tiny stickers designed to fit into your planner or bullet journal. There are some holiday related critters though some may relate more to Japanese holidays like cherry blossom festival but they are still so stinkin’ cute and include critters that could be used for birthdays, outings (if we can ever go out again) and exercising piggies (again with the exercise, clearly a theme is developing).

Another set of Poyo Animals Mark & Line stickers ($2.65/sheet) are designed specifically to annotate planners, calendars and bullet journals. The majority of the stickers are translucent so that they can be used across days on a calendar page or over the dates to indicate a special day or activity.

I absolutely had to get another sheet of the Pine Tree Event & Corner Schedule stickers by Panda Life ($2.65/sheet). If you didn’t know, I really like pandas so I had a sheet of these a couple years ago and I’m glad they are still available. The sheet is essentially two small sheets repeated on one page. If you notice the large “corner peek” pandas, you’ll see where the repeat starts. The teeny, tiny dancing pandas can be put throughout your planner and the “corner peek” pandas fit in the edge of your calendar blocks or the edge of your page to make you smile. I’ve already used one as you can see in the right hand photo — I swiped the corner panda who looks a little stressed. It seemed to fit the overall vibe for the month.

I’m pretty happy with all the stickers I got. The Midori stickers are a little pricey considering they are the same size as the others. Suatelier are probably my favorites in terms of overall aesthetics. For functional and fun, I really like the Pine Book stickers for annotating planners. The Sticker Marche is probably the only ones I was a little disappointed about simply because I didn’t realize they were going to be washi-style and very translucent. Had they been planner stickers this would have bothered me less but since the Sticker Marche set was purely decorative, I’m not sure I’d buy another sheet of those. Once stuck in my planner though, they look pretty good.

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 feature

All the Winners: Ink + Volt Founders Notebook & Leonardo Momento Zero

AnaMay 11, 2020May 11, 2020

Laura and I magically ended both of our on-going giveaways on Sunday so I thought I’d just roll all the winners into one post. Thanks to everyone who entered our giveaways and playing along with our “answer a question” tactics.

So here goes:

Leonardo Momento Zero

The winner of the Leonardo Momento Zero giveaway, kindly donated by Appelboom is:

Ink + Volt The Founder's Notebook

We had three winners in our Ink + Volt Founders Notebook, kindly donated by Ink + Volt:

Based on our three lucky winners, it appears that Galaxy Blue and Astro Camo were the clear favorites. I think that the Leonardo would look good with any of the three colors.

Stay tuned, more giveaways soon!

In Tools

Sharpener Showdown: Hand Cranks

AnaMay 8, 2020May 5, 202013 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

The venerable Carl Angel-5 hand-crank sharpener (also known as a “classroom-friendly” sharpener) is a popular, reliable favorite for many pencil users. With a metal body and “original quality,” it has a classic, sturdy build.

Carl Angel

I’ve had mine for several years, but sadly, I don’t love it. For one thing, its pencil gripper has “teeth” that leave tiny bite marks in the pencil’s enamel. That might seem like a picky detail, since the teeth are close to the pencil’s business end that will soon be sharpened away again, but it still annoys me. (I think it reminds me of the actual teeth marks that were left on my third-grade-assigned pencil when I was absent one day, and some kid went through my desk and used it. When Miss Lyons saw my pencil and asked, “Did you chew your pencil like this? You shouldn’t,” she didn’t believe me when I denied it.)

Carl Angel's teeth

Carl Angel bite marks

But the more important reason why it’s not my favorite is that it will accommodate only pencils of standard size. Since at least two of my most-often-used colored pencils (Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle and Derwent Drawing) have barrels that are slightly larger than standard, I can’t use the Angel-5 to sharpen those. In the image below, the Angel gave the Blackwing a perfectly good point, but the green Museum Aquarelle remains unsharpened.

Carl Angel - sharpening completed

My mission with this sharpener showdown was to find a hand-crank that beats the Angel-5 in both ways. Of course, giving a standard graphite pencil a good point goes without saying, but it must also sharpen my heftier colored pencils and do so without leaving telltale bite marks. Here are the contenders: the red Mitsubishi Uni KH-20 ($29.50) and the yellow Carl Ein ($39.50).

three sharpeners

The pencils I used to test them were Museum Aquarelles and various Blackwings.

tested pencils

The bright yellow Carl Ein (also available in light gray) has an all-plastic body. With a slightly larger footprint than the Angel-5, it also has a larger-capacity shaving bin.

Carl Ein front

Carl Ein crank

Carl Ein side

An important feature is that the Carl Ein’s barrel gripper is round, not toothy. It leaves no offending bite marks.

Carl Ein closup of pencil gripper

A second important feature that the Angel-5 lacks is a point selector that enables a choice of a sharp writing point or a slightly blunt tip that some prefer for colored pencils.

Carl Ein closup of point selector

With the sharp setting, according to JetPens’ product description, the pencil is sharpened “into a slight bow shape,” which I assume is similar to the much-revered concave point that the famed but finicky Pollux sharpener produces (I don’t have one, but I’ve heard many go on about it). Honestly, I couldn’t see much difference between the Ein’s point and the other contenders’ points, but it was darn sharp and beautiful on both the Blackwing and the Museum Aquarelle.

Carl Ein - sharp

With the blunt setting, the point is slightly shorter and less sharp.

Carl Ein - blunt

All four pencils have stunning points!

Carl Ein - sharpening completed

The final contender is the bright red Uni KH-20 (also available in black and blue). The KH-20’s all-plastic body has a similar profile and footprint as the Carl Ein.

Mitsubishi front

Mitsubishi crank

Mitsubishi side

Also similar to the Carl Ein, the Uni has nicely rounded barrel grippers that leave no bite marks.

Mitsubishi pencil gripper

And again like the Carl Ein, the KH-20 can give both a sharp point and a slightly blunt point. The point selector, however, is slightly less intuitive than the Carl Ein’s dial. To produce a blunt point, push the orange button in.

Mitsubishi point selector

On the sharp setting, the points look nearly identical to the Carl Ein’s sharp points.

Mitsubishi - sharp

And the blunt, slightly shorter points are also comparable to the Carl Ein’s. (The slight angle apparent on both pencils are residual from their angled use for drawing, not a result of the sharpening.)

Mitsubishi - blunt

The KH-20 did an excellent job on all four.

Mitsubishi sharpening completed

Final Impressions

Which sharpener – the yellow Carl Ein or the red Uni KH-20 – won the showdown? For performance, I have to make it a tie: Both beat my old Angel-5 on the factors important to me, and both have the added feature of offering two point styles. I like the Ein’s point selection dial better, but the Uni’s styling with rounded edges everywhere and its mailbox shape gets more points for appearance. Take your pick – they are both excellent sharpeners. I’m keeping one in my studio and the other downstairs in the “TV room” (where I often doodle and journal), because every home needs more than one reliable crank sharpener.

What about portability, though? Stay tuned for the handheld sharpener showdown.

DISCLAIMER: Some 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.

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

In Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Muting Ink & Sheening Ink Colors

AnaMay 7, 2020May 7, 202011 Comments

Carol asks:

I wrote Brad Dowdy this question and he didn’t know however thought you might be able to help me understand.

I am looking to find a way to desaturate some of my fountain pen inks.

As an artist I’m looking to add ink lines, marks by drawing on top of my watercolor washes. Most of my inks: Diamine, Noodlers, Birmingham, Faber Castell, Pelikan and Edelstein are great inks yet their values are too saturated. I’m looking for a way to reduce the saturation to create a more muted tone in the line. Birmingham are some of my favorite as Nick and Josh have created inks that are favorable to me by their faded look – yet those are still a bit dark.

Diluted water I have found does little to alter the saturation while it makes the ink obviously wetter – which is a bit defeating as I am also looking for drier inks. A permanent or water resistant quality would be wonderful to maintain as well in those inks that offer this. I love for example Faber Castell Stone Grey and Noodlers Walnut – however both come off severely too dark.

It’s an odd ask I realize. Just thought if any experience has been noted on this. Advise would be welcomed.

What a fascinating question. And I’m tickled to think I might know something Brad doesn’t.

When thinking about color theory, muting color in a luminous material like ink, which behaves a lot like watercolor, is challenging. If you want to dull down a color, you will want to start by adding it’s complement. Refer to a color wheel (search : “color wheel” in an online image search to see a visual) to find a close complementary color. It will be the color on the opposite side of the color wheel.

First, whatever you do, do your experiments in a separate bowl, tray or container and not directly in your ink bottles in case contamination occurs. I would recommend one of those divided trays used for watercolor. Maybe like this one from Dick Blick.

For my example, I’m going to choose a deep dark blue. It’s complement is a yellow orange. So, if the deep dark blue is Kaweco Midnight Black, then yellow orange ink could be Papier Plume Sazerac (It’s what I had handy).

So, to put this to the test, using pipettes or a large blunt syringe, add ink approximately 10 drops of the color you want to mute (in this case the Kaweco Midnight Blue) in to one of the wells. Then add one drop of the Papier Plue Sazerac (my chosen complement) to the ink. I gave it a little swirl and then swabbed it on the paper. Then in the next well, drop 10 drops of the blue and two drops of orange and swab that to see the results. Be sure to label your swab if you want to replicate your results later.

By experimenting with a ratio of 10-to-1, 10-to-2 and 10-to-3, I was able to mute the color. This same method would work with other colors as well. YMMV and results could be unpredictable depending on the ink brands and composition. If you’re willing to experiment with small quantities (in separate containers so you are not contaminating your original ink supplies) you might get some interesting and subtle results.

I tested these inks using a Col-o-ring Oversize, cotton swabs and a dip pen to label my results. If you decide to fill a fountain pen with your inky experiments, I would recommend using a less expensive pen until you know how your new ink behaves.

Your safest options would be to use colors within the same brand however companies like Noodlers have different formulas across their range (like their Eel range, the Bulletproof range, etc) and Birmingham use different companies (check the labels to see “Made in England” or “Made in Germany”) for their inks so there may still be some discrepancies.

While I think color experimentation is a good thing, I cannot guarantee what every ink brand cross mixed with every other ink brand might do. So, proceed with caution and be ready for happy accidents.

Kiera asks:

I’ve been using diamine marine in my hobonichi cousin, but I want to take advantage of the hobonichi’s paper more. Marine is a lovely color, but not a very interesting ink otherwise. Can you recommend some sheening or shading inks that are similar in color? Thank you!

Kiera, most sheening inks tend to sheen because the pigment-to-liquid ratio is considerably higher. As a result, most sheening inks are darker than the lovely aqua Marine because all that pigment doesn’t allow the color to be as translucent. In the fountain pen world, we think of this as an ink’s ability to shade. So, the more pigment, the more sheen, and the less shading.

At least, up until this point. Someone will figure out how to circumvent this at some point, I’m sure.

That said, there are a few aqua/turquoise inks that have more sheen than Diamine Marine.

As you will see in the photo above, the four other ink colors I found that were in the same color family but had more sheen, are Diamine Aurora Borealis, Colorverse Gravity Wave, Robert Oster Marine and Kaweco Paradise Blue. Some of these colors are considerably darker but will have a red, pink or magenta sheen. The sheen will be more or less noticeable depending on how broad your nib is.

Colorverse Gravity Wave probably has the most sheen and I was able to catch the sheen highlights in the photo above.

There are many other sheening ink options available but they are not necessarily in the turquoise or teal color range. I pulled a few for you to consider.

The classic Organics Studio Nitrogen is the first “super sheener” and it will potentially smudge but if you’re looking for lots of sheen, you can’t go wrong with this one. I would recommend a finer nib for less smudging.

Diamine has created many amazing sheening inks. Some were created as exclusives for European pen shops but others are now available directly from Diamine. The colors are not as smudge-y as the Organics Studio and have some unusual sheening. Robert (and the Pen Gallery Exclusive Manggis) is a purple that sheens green. Skull & Roses is a deep vibrant blue that sheens red. Communication Breakdown is a rust red that sheens green. November Rain is a deep teal green that sheensred-violet.

There are many other sheening inks that will pop up in places you might not expect it like this Lamy Crystal Azurite or even in the most unsuspecting inks like Waterman. I often surprise people when I show them the sheen from Waterman inks, particularly Tender Purple and Inspired Blue. Blows their mind.

I decided to swatch the Waterman inks (and some of the inks on some Tomoe River paper) at the last minute just to show more of the sheen. It’s not all the colors mentioned above, but a lot of them.

This morning it’s overcast so I was able to get the sheen better. The Waterman Audacious Red didn’t show but on some papers, it sheens gold.

Kiera, did I give you enough options?

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.

In Link Love

Link Love: (Week Seven) 10/10/10

AnaMay 6, 2020May 6, 20202 Comments

For the folks here in the Kansas City area, today marks the first day of relaxed restrictions on the stay-at-home order which has been dubbed by our mayor as 10/10/10 for non-essential businesses. Whether this will actually keep people healthy while restarting our economy remains to be seen. Being essentially “self-employed”, I don’t have to leave the house except for the occasional grocery run or postal pick-up so I am going to try to keep those as minimal as they’ve been in the past month.

In less pandemic news, Sunday I met, virtually, with the Lone Star Pen Club which was very cool. We talked about recent pen acquisitions, favorite shades of pink ink, why we made the new Col-o-ring Dippers and what’s on the horizon for The Desk Shop. Stay tuned. It was such a nice group of people with a great collection of pens from Viscontis to Jinhaos. It reminded me a lot of our local Kansas City group. All pens welcome!

One other topic we discussed was the news about Crane paper mill. I promised the group I would include the link from the news coverage here. The link is in Paper & Notebooks. I hoped to get more information by the time this post went live but unfortunately, the information I found online is still largely contradictory and hazy. Hopefully, there will be more information available from Crane and Mohawk in the coming weeks.

Giveaway: Leonardo Momento Zero

Laura CameronMay 5, 2020May 11, 2020358 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

It’s my 42nd birthday (I’m the answer to life, the universe and EVERYTHING!) and we’ve got a gift for you!

A few weeks ago I reviewed the Leonardo Momento Zero in Green Blue with a Fine nib. Thanks to Appelboom for providing this pen to us! The pen is very gently used for the review, but otherwise in like-new condition!

So you know the drill and may the odds be ever in your favor!

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what color ink you’d put in your new pen! 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 10, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. 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 does not respond within 7 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.

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

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Ink + Volt The Founders Notebook (and Giveaway)

AnaMay 4, 2020May 12, 2020119 Comments

Ink+ Volt collaborated with Japanese stationery brand Kunisawa to create the new Founders Notebook ($33).

The Founders Notebook is a classic A5 size with a manageable 112 pages. The covers are a flexible soft cover with subtle shimmery patterns that look cool and professional. The Founders Notebook is available in three different cover options. When I was told one option was “camo” (it’s actually astro camo) I was skeptical but when it arrived and I discovered it was this amazing shimmery metallic that looks more like space-age terrazzo than military camo, my opinion changed dramatically. The deep “galaxy blue” is, well for lack of a more poetic description, flippin’ gorgeous. It has an iridescent glow to it that is subtle but eye catching. And the shade is edging towards that Ingres Blue that makes me weak. And then there’s the “starlight opal” which has a subtle horizontal patterning and a slight lavender quality to the silver sheen. Honestly, just from the cover colors, you wouldn’t go wrong with any of them.

Close-up of Astro Camo

Close-up of Galaxy Blue

Close-Up of Starlight Opal

The Founder’s notebook has gilt edges which are fancy-schmancy. While gilding the edges does not enhance performance or stability, it does make the book look pretty dang classy. Depending on the notebook cover color, the gilding color varies. The gunmetal astro camo has a golden edging, the galaxy blue cover has silver edging and the starlight opal has a pale gold edging. The only branding on each book is matching foil stamped logos and “The Founders Notebook” centered at the bottom of the back cover which is elegant and subtle. The paper wrap is, of course, removable.

The interior paper is a soft white, smooth paper that is fountain pen-friendly but still works well with all your other favorite tools too. The paper are lined on the right and blank on the left. The lines on the right are 7mm spacing but they are so light they are almost invisible. There is also a rule on the far left creating a box that can be used as a check box or to number the column or whatever suits your method of note taking. The blank left page can be used for doodling, diagrams or freeform content. My contact at Ink + Volt says the paper is ~~about 70lb~~ 81gsm and that sounds about right. It’s translucent enough to slide guide sheets underneath if you would prefer more structure or if you like graph or tighter ruling.

In writing tests the paper did, indeed, work well with fountain pens, pencils and a variety of other ink pens. I was even able to do a large doodle on the blank page with very little show through. There were just a few dots of bleedthrough where I was dotting color with my brush pens.

The starlight opal notebook has smoke blue end papers (the astro camo has lavender and the blue galaxy has black).

CONCLUSION

While the Ink + Volt Founders Notebooks are a little pricier than most notebooks, the covers are unusual and the gilded edges give them an upgraded look too. The covers are not leather but feel premium so that a plus for some consumers and a minus for others. There is ~~no ribbon bookmark~~ (Ah ha! There was a ribbon bookmark but it was tucked so snugly into the center of the book that I didn’t see it until it was pointed out to me. The ribbon bookmark is long enough to pass the “Can I open the book with the ribbon test?” but does not, however, have sealed end.) pocket in the back cover or elastic closure. Again, for some, those are not things they will miss and for others it will be a disappointment. For me, I think these are a beautiful addition to the notebook market. I have plenty of bookmarks I can use and I can buy a pocket sticker or make one if I find myself missing it, and I honestly never use built-in elastics on my notebooks.

THE GIVEAWAY: Ink + Volt has kindly donated THREE Founder’s Notebooks to giveaway to the readers of The Well-Appointed Desk. Three winners will be drawn at random and will receive ONE Ink + Volt Founder’s Notebook of their choice.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me which color Ink + Volt Founder’s Notebook you’d like. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

Finally, apologies for the delay in getting this post up today. One of my cats was feeling particularly needy today. Working from home has its good points and its bad. Kitty cuddles are great… until you need to get work done.

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

Final Impressions

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

Somewhat Coroanavirus/COVID-19-related:

CONCLUSION