In Paper Review

Paper Review: Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments
Paper Review: Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

The Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection ($39.50) is an A4 paper pad containing EIGHTEEN different kinds of Japanese paper. There are five sheets of each stock which will give you plenty to test and experiment with or share with friends.

Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

The papers, in order are as follows (copied from JetPens description page because I was way too lazy to retype every description AND write reviews about all 18 papers):

  • View-Corona for Pocket-book (52 gsm): Made by Oji F-Tex.
  • Tomoe River (52 gsm): Made by Tomoegawa.
  • Tomoe River Cream (52 gsm): This is the same great Tomoe River as above, but with a warm cream color instead of bright white.
  • New Chiffon Cream (75 gsm): Made by Nippon Paper Industries, this paper is slightly thicker and more textured than the papers listed above. It is the paper used in the Yamamoto Ro-Biki notebooks.
  • Cosmo Air Light (75 gsm): Made by Nippon Paper Industries, this is a micro-coated paper.
  • 35NFC (35 gsm): Made by Nippon Paper Papylia, this an extremely thin yet densely layered paper originally designed for use as food wrapping. .
  • Glassine (30.5 gsm): Made by the Nippon Paper Industries Company, this is an extremely thin, translucent paper with a smooth, glossy texture.
  • Halftone Color 99 White (81.4 gsm): Made for use in security envelopes, this medium-weight paper contains a special filler that makes it 99% opaque.
  • Kin Kaku Den: Made by Sakamoto Paper Industries, this is a medium-weight washi paper with a woven texture designed to emulate the look and feel of traditional hand-laid washi paper.
  • Bank Paper (48.2 gsm): Made by Mitsubishi Paper Mills, this is a high-quality paper made from a blend of cotton and wood pulp.
  • Spica Bond (49 gsm): Made by Mitsubishi Paper Mills, this is a strong, durable paper used for important documents like checks and stock certificates.
  • Champion Copy (35 gsm): Made by Mitsubishi Paper Mills, this is a very thin but impressively strong paper designed for use in blueprint copying.
  • Typewriter Paper (27.9 gsm): Made by Mitsubishi Paper Mills, this is the thinnest paper included in the collection.
  • Air Mail Bond White (61.7 gsm): Made by Oji F-Tex, this is a high-quality bond paper with a lattice texture that reproduces the look and feel of traditional laid paper.
  • Air Mail Bond Natural (61.7 gsm): This is the same paper as above, but with a softer natural white color.
  • Eastory COC: Made by Kyoto Kami Shoji with help from Oji F-Tex, this medium-weight writing paper.
  • OK Fools (81.4 gsm): Made by Ohtori Paper, this smooth, medium-weight paper has a subtle lattice pattern.
  • Colored Woodfree Paper Black: Made by Nippon Paper Industries, this is a smooth black paper. Black paper isn’t generally used with fountain pens because most fountain pen inks are too transparent to show up on it.

Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

In between each paper type is a divider sheet with information about the paper. Some information is more detailed than others.

Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

Above are most of the writing implements I used in testing the Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection. I tried not only an array of fountain pens from fine to fude but also some brush pens as well since large sheets of paper are excellent for practicing calligraphy and handwriting.

Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

Trying to accurately capture the whiteness or creaminess of paper for reviews is always challenging. As we are in the middle of spring storm season, it proved particularly challenging this week. I did my best but be aware that the paper color may not be accurately represented in the photos below. The photo above shows all eighteen sheets together which will hopefully give a idea of the range of tones. Few of the papers were extremely bright white. most leaned more to a natural white, ivory or cream tone.

Yamamoto Fountain Pen Friendly Paper Collection

This image is the reverse side of the first nine sheets in the pad to give a quick glance to the showthrough and/or bleedthrough of the papers. Overall, there was only one paper that had actual bleedthrough but most had some level of showthrough.

Now, onwards to the individual paper evaulations:

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In feature

A Very Special Giveaway

Author AnaPosted on 99 Comments
A Very Special Giveaway

Today is a very special day. It’s Jesi’s birthday. Jesi is not only a pillar of the pen community but one of my best friends. In this time of sheltering-at-home and COVID-19 and whatnot, we will not get to celebrate her birthday in our usual way: drinking too much and eating cake (often provided by unsuspecting friends) at a pen show.

So, I have decided to enlist the help of you, lovely readers, to celebrate Jesi. You too, will get a gift. Well, one of you will in the form of ONE $50 gift certificate from our good friends at JetPens. So, here is what you have to do.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and wish Jesi a happy birthday, tell a story about Jesi, tell my why you think she’s awesome or otherwise wax poetic about her. 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 Monday, April 27, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Tuesday. 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 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Winners are subject to all restrictions and shipping limitations in Jet Pens shipping information section.

In news

Giveaway Winner: Pokka Pens

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Giveaway Winner: Pokka Pens

Thanks to everyone who entered our Pokka Pens giveaway and wrote in their favorite places to order take-out or delivery. If I were to tally it up properly, it appears that Chinese food and pizza topped the list. It’s a similar list for us here too. Our favorite take-out Chinese place has been closed due to the pandemic but recently re-opened to much fanfare. We have also ordered pizza a couple times. There’s a great Middle Eastern shop we like to order from but it appears they’ve closed. Their hummus was the best. Then there’s the Korean bibimbap shop…. great, now I’m hungry.

On to our winner:

Congrats to Sean. I’ve contacted Sean directly to ship the Pokka Pens and look forward to our next giveaway. Thanks for reading!

In Link Love

Link Love: (Week Five Quarantine) Making All The Things

Author AnaPosted on
Link Love: (Week Five Quarantine) Making All The Things

There are some weeks when writing the introduction for Link Love is a challenge because I have no idea what to write and other weeks when I have too many ideas in my head and I can’t figure out what to focus on. This week is a too-many-ideas week so pardon me if I prattle on for a bit.First, I couldn’t choose what to pick for the Link of the Week. I ended up with two but it could easily have been six. I feel a mix of admiration and kinship with Annie Atkins. Her name is a mix of my name and my husband’s: if I had been a traditionalist, I could have become Ana Atkins. Annie has the job of my dreams (If you’re hiring, Annie, I am currently available!). I had even been thinking about doing a project like what she created. She did it differently than what I had in my head but, of course, hers is spectacular.

Annie Atkins Cheerful COVID-19 Posters
Cheerful posters featuring “virus slogans” by Dublin-based designer Annie Atkins from her Instagram

I also chose Inkpothesis’s post about doodles and notes in this time of frustration. Jaclyn has such an amazing ability to capture in both beautiful images and words a particular situation that I feel like she crosses it off everyone else’s list. “I don’t have to do that now because Jaclyn did it so thoroughly and completely I have nothing to add.”

I might have also included Crónicas Estilográficas’s post about 10 Years of blogging, as I too, am approaching a similar anniversary. I feel honored to be in such excellent company.

There are also wonderful posts about artists working from home, a designer’s bullet journal, and Studio Ghibli backgrounds for your next Zoom meeting (I took full advantage of these for my last virtual Knit Night). It wouldn’t be a “good week” without a Star Wars link so things are looking up.

And all this sheltering-at-home has me (and a lot of other people) picking up knitting needles again so there’s a whole section for knitting this week. Have you re-embraced a craft or hobby in the last few weeks? What are you working on?

Link(s) of the Week:

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Design & Typography:

Knitting:

Other Interesting Things (to Entertain, Distract and Inform):

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Kobe #50, Legend Blue

Author Laura CameronPosted on

Review by Laura Cameron

As you might guess, after my last ink review, I picked up a few more blues to try. Today’s blue ink is Kobe #50, also known as Legend Blue (50mL for $30).

When I started writing with Legend Blue, it appeared bright blue and brilliant, much like the Monteverde Horizon Blue I reviewed a few weeks ago. However, upon drying, I noticed that Legend Blue was a bit dustier and not quite as bright. As it turns out, Legend Blue is much closer to my Diamine 150th Anniversary Blue Velvet in terms of tone and intensity.

Kobe inks write beautifully, and this one was no exception. There is definitely some nice shading going on, but I don’t see much sheen, even in the darkest applications on my Tomoe River paper.

 

I like this one, but I think it might be a little lighter than what I’m looking for – I really want those brilliant blue notes!

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 Pen Review

Pen Review: Muji 0.25mm Needlepoint Gel Pens

Author AnaPosted on 4 Comments
Pen Review: Muji 0.25mm Needlepoint Gel Pens

Muji, as a brand, is known for being “brandless”. They create simple, utilitarian products that do not have any outward branding on the items. The stationery products that Muji creates are no different, including the Muji 0.25mm gel pens (approx. $2.50 each) that I picked up in New York oh-so-long-ago with Myke and Brad on our 2018 world tour (details here).

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm

The pens are hexagonal with a soft touch feel. Not rubbery per se but a very matte feeling. The entire pen barrel matched the ink color contained within and the cap is clear with a colored dot on top printed with the  point size. This is the only permanent information on the pens.

The bar code info stickers on the pens can be removed making these pens the brandless bits of Muji perfection they are meant to be (see top photo for the stickerless pens). Without the stickers, these pens make my designer heart swoon with their clean lines and simplicity.

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm tip

Since these gel pens are the micro 0.25mm tips, they have a needlepoint tip.

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm writing sample

The caps snap into place with a quiet click, probably thanks to the soft-touch surface. They write super smooth and the fine, fine 0.25mm means I can write like the mouse I am.

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm water test

Since I tend to doodle and draw on anything and everything, I thought I’d also test how waterproof these gel inks were, on the off-hand chance I decided to add marker or watercolor. They are water resistant, but not waterproof. In other words, if you were to drip condensation from a beverage, your writing wouldn’t be lost but it would smear a little.

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm

One last test was to see how the Muji Gel Pens performed on Col-o-ring cards which are a bit more toothy than the Rhodia paper I normally use for pen reviews. Since, like I mentioned, I like to use gel pens for drawing and Col-o-ring cards are similar in texture and weight to some drawing papers. The pens worked great on the cards. They skate along smoothly on the Col-o-ring paper though any paper with tooth may cause a rollerball to pick up stray paper fibers over time so you might need a scrap of smooth paper to restart them if they get choked.

Muji Gel Pens 0.25mm water test

I went ahead and wet this sample too, just to see if the results were better or worse on a thicker stock. I think there was more evidence of ink bleed on the Col-o-ring paper but the writing remained so I would still say the ink is water resistant but not waterproof.

Overall though, next to the the Uni-ball Sign RT and Needlepoint, these are probably my favorite gel pens. Sadly, this particular model is not available on the Muji website but if you are in a city that has a Muji store, I highly recommend making the effort to go and pick some of these or any of their pens up.

Tools:

In Ink Review

Ink Review: DeAtramentis Artist Green, Brown, Black

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

It may seem like fountain pen inks come in a bazillion colors, and they do – but the vast majority are water-soluble. Finding a range of ink colors that are also solidly waterproof isn’t as easy. Some may say they are waterproof and may be sufficiently water-resistant for addressing an envelope, but if watercolors or other wet media were applied over them, they could smear. Of the ones I’ve tried, DeAtramentis offers the widest range of hues that are also sufficiently waterproof for use as an art medium.

I suppose that’s why the German ink maker’s latest line of waterproof inks is called DeAtramentis Artist. I’m not sure how different its formula is from the DeAtramentis Document line, which is also waterproof, but at least on Vanness Pen Shop’s website, the Artist inks are described as being lightfast as well as waterproof. Available in eight colors, “All inks of this group are mixable with each other. The inks can be painted and written with fountain pen, brush and quill pen.” (Awhile back, I reviewed DeAtramentis Document inks in Fog Grey, Dark Red and White.)

1 - pens and swatches

For this review, I tried the Artist inks in Green, Brown and Black. Green is on the slightly cool side tending toward emerald. Brown is a rich chocolate that is neither orangey nor grayish. Black is neutral, although in the brush swatch, it’s a bit on the warm side. (I had a chance to sample the inks on some Col-o-Ring Dippers!)

2 - Dippers and samples

These inks do not show fancy features like sheening or shading, but they would be excellent for addressing envelopes or writing in a journal when you might be apt to spill a beverage on it. They are also ideal for sketching with wet media, which is my primary interest with these inks.

After making my usual swatches on Col-o-Ring cards with various fountain pens and a brush, I gave them a good hour or two of drying time. Then I swiped them with a waterbrush. Even the thick brush swatches barely show traces of bleeding (right side of cards).

3 - DeAtramentis Artist inks -cards

My long-time favorite black waterproof ink for sketching is Platinum Carbon Black, which I have used for years because it dries very quickly and then becomes as waterproof as I need it to be with wet media. I decided to put it head-to-head with Black DeAtramentis Artist. Since I had sampled the DeAtramentis with my juicy Franklin-Christoph fude nib, I used an equally juicy Sailor Naginata fude nib for the Platinum ink.

4 - DeAtramentis and Platinum Carbon test

I typically draw with ink and then apply wet media immediately afterwards, and I don’t like to be kept waiting. For this test, I waited only one minute before putting my waterbrush through the lines (right side of scribbles). As you can see, whether I wait a minute or an hour (on the left), the very minor solubility is negligible. DeAtramentis Artist is just as waterproof as Platinum Carbon and dries just as quickly. The bonus is that DeAtramentis is available in a much wider range of colors.

Convinced that the ink wouldn’t bleed all over my sketch, I stood on our upstairs deck to sketch the fully blossomed cherry tree across the street. As soon as I made the ink lines, I colored the blossoms with water-soluble Caran d’Ache Supracolor pencils. Then I spritzed it generously with water to activate the color. I see no trace of bleeding from the ink.

I know that waterproof DeAtramentis inks are popular with many sketchers, and I can see why. The collection offers fast-drying, fully waterproof inks in more colors than I’ve seen elsewhere.

TOOLS

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

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