The Well-Appointed Desk

Ask The Desk: Muting Ink & Sheening Ink Colors

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.

In Pen Review

Rollerball Review: Baron Fig Adrift (Limited Edition Squire)

Laura CameronMay 1, 2020May 1, 20205 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

Believe it or not, I’ve never tried a Baron Fig Squire, so when the latest limited edition, Adrift ($60), arrived for review, I was eager to play with it!

As many of you know, the Squire is Baron Fig’s understated, elegant rollerball. It comes in a variety of colors, as well as shorter limited editions. The pen body is made of aluminum in a sleek, smooth design that is a consistent circumference except right at the ball point. The Squire also uses a twist mechanism to open the pen.

Adrift is their ocean themed edition and the first to feature a full wrap around theme. From Baron Fig, the inspiration for the edition is:

Putting an idea on paper is like sending a letter out to sea—there’s no knowing where it will end up. Set your ideas adrift and discover the treasures they bring.

Here’s a quick rundown on the stats:

Aluminum pen body
Length: 5″/12.5cm
Weight: 0.85oz/24g

I find the whimsical design charming and I can’t decide if my favorite is the sea turtle or the octopus!

The Squire is a smooth writer and wrote beautifully with minimal pressure.

The Squire is a beautiful pen, there’s no denying that. I think when compared to Retro 51 (the closest competitor I can think of in the industry), it comes down to aesthetics and ergonomics. The Squire is elegant and minimalist with a touch of whimsy, whereas the Retro 51 is more classic (retro?) and employs a variety of designs and textures. Both have balanced bodies, and while the Squire is sleek and ergonomic, the Retro features a tapered body, which I confess I find slightly preferable when I’m holding it in my hand. Both are beautiful choices to elevate the writing experience with a roller ball!

Papers: Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
Pen: Baron Fig Limited Edition Squire: Adrift ($60)

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 feature

Product Review: C. Ching Stationery Rubber Date Stamp

AnaApril 30, 2020April 29, 20201 Comment

Review by Tina Koyama

On various occasions, I’ve had the need for a rolling date stamper, and believe me, I’ve visualized more than once Ana’s impressive collection. But then I’d find a different solution to my need that worked just as well, and I would still be without one. Maybe it was my recent acquisition of a full rubberstamp printing kit that rekindled my interest. Or maybe the unique mix of pandemic anxiety/restlessness/boredom prompted a wave of childhood nostalgia to play “post office” or “library.” Whatever the reason, I suddenly decided I needed the C. Ching Stationery Rubber Date Stamp ($5.75).

Ching rubber date stamper

Along with the date – which has the date, month and year through 2030 that change with traditional rollers – the stamper offers 11 messages and icons, including “Thank you,” “Congratulations” and “Hey, give me five.” I was especially tickled by the pencil icon.

stamper closeup date closeup

pencil closeup

The messages are keyed to numbers on the roller that turn with a separate crank handle (on the left side for this lefty! High five, indeed!).

stamper - full view

The impressions are surprisingly crisp and clean, even the messages with the tiniest type.

stamp sample

stamp sample closeup

In addition to playing post office, I can see dating my journal, undated planner and correspondence with it. At this price, I don’t know why I didn’t get it a long time ago.

P.S. Cleaning out a desk drawer recently during a fit of anxiety/restlessness/boredom, I found a rolling date stamp I’ve apparently had a long time: The last year on it is 1991. As much as I love vintage things, it’s annoying to find them among my own possessions.

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.

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 news

Giveaway Winner: Jesi’s Birthday JetPens Gift Card

AnaApril 29, 2020April 29, 2020

Thanks to everyone who wrote warm wishes for my dear friend and blog collaborator, Jesi. She read all the comments and said she was tickled and moved by all the wishes.

One lucky commenter is the winner of our JetPen gift card. So without further ado, our giveaway winner:

Big thanks to JetPens for the gift card and thanks to everyone who reads and comments on the site. More giveaways to come.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

Somewhat Coroanavirus/COVID-19-related:

CONCLUSION