The Well-Appointed Desk

Kickstarter Review: Iris Drawing Compass

When I saw the Iris Drawing Compass pop up on Kickstarter, I was intrigued enough to back the project. I have backed enough Kickstarter projects to know that no matter how optimistic the creators are, they will never hit their shipping date goals. So when it arrived right around the holidays, I was pleasantly surprised.

It came nicely packaged in a protective cardboard box. The brass ring is heavy. Heavier than I anticipated. The compass came with a wooden stand for your desk. Upon realizing that the Iris compass was considerably heavier than I anticipated, I realized it’s too heavy to be carried regularly. So, being a desk-only accessory, a nice stand makes sense.

The wood base is fairly small and made of a light wood stained dark so the compass sits “just so”. If it isn’t seated perfectly in the stand or if its jostled, it will tip over.

It looks nice as a desk accessory. At this point, my enthusiasm for this product has come to an end. The mechanism to turn and adjust the aperture to reveal the opening is very difficult to turn. I struggled with it. I attempted to improve the mechanism with graphite and household oil with no improvement. The leaves of the the compass are too tightly layered and the smooth brass exterior makes it difficult to grasp and turn. If I press down hard it’s no better than a light touch.

Finally, when in use, the large brass ring, and the opaque aperture completely obscures whatever you are drawing. So, while the Iris drawing compass is a lovely piece, it does not function from a mechanical perspective nor as a functional perspective.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the brass oxidizes onto your hands… turning them grey. As if pencil graphite wasn’t bad enough.

This product was not provided free for this review. I purchased it with my own money.

In Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Waterproof Ink & More Refill Questions

AnaJanuary 13, 2020January 13, 2020Leave a comment

Stacey asks:

Hi there, I was gifted a pen in 2017 which is personalised with my name as I was working as a TA. It needs a refill now (I didn’t use it much) but the refill I bought doesn’t fit properly. It takes a Parker style refill but made of white plastic. I’ve measured it and it’s approx 8.5cm long, with a fat body and tapered tip where the spring would sit. And advice on what sort of refill I actually need would be great. I have pictures of the refill which I can attach to another email if this would help. Kind regards

Refillfinder.com features a Size Guide section that shows a picture of a particular refill along with the length measurements. I didn’t see one that was the same length that you described but since I’m not looking at the refill, maybe there was a modification made to a refill (like the plastic insert on the end was removed)?

The Fisher Space Pen Refill looks closest in length. It’s essentially a regular Parker-style refill but without the plastic fins on the end. It will sometimes ship in a blister pack with removable plastic cap to fit the refill into standard sized pens. Do you think that might work?

Aimme asks:

I am wondering about what kinds of waterproof inks would be best for watercolour art? So I wanted to sketch with a waterproof/resistant ink and then paint over it with watercolours. Any suggestions would be great! Wishing you all a very happy New Year! -Blessings, Aimme

For water resistant inks for watercolor, I recommend Platinum Carbon Black ($22.50 for 60ml bottle). I did all of my Inktober one year using it plus grey watercolor brush and can attest to its waterproofiness. Some people prefer Sailor Kiwa Guro Nano Black ($21.33 for 50ml) but the reviews I’ve seen don’t seem to be as waterproof as PCB (that’s Platinum Carbon Black, not Panama City Beach, FYI). I’ve never had issues with PCB clogging my pen. A quick dip in water or a wipe on a wet towel, even after sitting for months, was enough to get it going again.

I also did a test of a few various waterproof inks awhile back. You can also search the site for “waterproof” as there have been several other inks tested by Jesi and Tina as well.

Frederick asks:

Does another gel refill, other than Monteverde, exist for the somewhat unique Montblanc ballpoint format?

Unfortunately, Montblanc has designed their ballpoint pens and refills in such a way that they are proprietary. For drop-in ease, the Monteverde or Montblanc refills have been your only options. I found a listing on Amazon for a new refill that is “Montblanc compatible”, The Jaymo Montblanc Compatible Ballpoint Refill. I have not tested it nor do I know anything about it but this gives you another option to try.

My last option for you is to purchase a 3D printed adapter from Tofty. He has several available for Montblanc ballpoints:

In Art of the Day

Eye Candy: Yamamoto Paper Tasting

AnaJanuary 10, 2020January 10, 20206 Comments

Two years ago, the San Francisco Pen Show was rocked by the arrival of Yamamoto Paper and their Paper Tasting packets. The creators came across the ocean from Japan to share some of the many unique and different papers with western paper fiends.

These cellophane jewels each contain a stack of B7, A6 and B6 paper. Yamamoto organizes the paper tasting sets by color and includes a reference sheet that provides information about the paper included. The details are written in Japanese and English.

The information sheet also has a key indicating how suitable each paper might be for dip pen, fountain pen, ball point, gel and pencil. I think the circles mean the paper is good for the specific tool and the black triangle means it is not so good. Occasionally there is an X- mark which maybe means it’s okay? Or your mileage may vary? However you look at it, I appreciate that some effort has been made to at least try to provide some information in advance.

Each stack is held together with a bright silver bulldog clip. There are lots of sheets in each set, maybe 25?

Obviously, if you’re looking for writing paper, the black set will be most suitable for opaque gel pens and acrylic and metallic dip pen inks.

In the back of each packet, is one of two possible guides about Japanese paper. One provides details about the “hierarchy of paper” from newsprint and toilet paper to fine art paper.

The other guide provides details about how paper is printed.

The sets that are likely to be the most appealing to fountain pen enthusiasts are the Egg shell Vol. 1 and Silky Vol. 1. Both contain white and warm white/ivory stocks that are most common for writing. The largest B6 sheets are appropriate for letter writing and the smaller sheets would work well for notes. The Silky set includes a paper called Marshmallow which I fell in love with when I tried it in San Fransisco.

I feel terrible that I have done nothing but covet this paper for over two years. The colored paper sets are beautiful. The craft, translucent and egg shell sets beg to be written on and touched. This week I was finally inspired with ideas on how to utilize these papers to their fullest. My first idea came from a collage artist, Katie Licht, who I love. I plan to use some of these papers to create simple collages in my journals and art books.

Second, I plan to bind some of the larger sheets into a book so that I can use them. Last year, I made several books filled with mixed papers and being able to use these fountain pen-friendly papers would be amazing. I like using vintage found book covers so that will be my first challenge. Below are pictures pictures of some of the books I created last year.

The good news is that the Yamamoto Paper Tasting sets are now available through Shigure Inks in the US. Each Set is $10.80 each. Or you can purchase directly from Yamamoto Paper on Etsy.

In feature, Ink Review

Ink Overview: Manyo Inks by Sailor

Jessica ColesJanuary 9, 2020December 13, 20207 Comments

By Jessica Coles

Last week I presented a post featuring an overview of the Taccia Lip color ink collection, rather than focusing on a single ink in the line. Since several new ink collections have come out recently, I decided to again present an overview – let me know if you enjoy this type of post!

This week I am focused on the new Manyo collection made by Sailor. This is an ink manufacturer that seems to put out a new ink almost daily, especially store-exclusive inks for small stores in Japan. Their Sailor Studio inks are so popular that certain colors are still very difficult to find in stock.

However, the Sailor Studio inks were surprisingly small (20mL). That makes this newest line up even nicer – large 50mL bottles ($21.33 for 50mL at Pen Chalet).

These Manyo inks are surprisingly large compared to the Sailor Studio bottles – 2.5 times as large. That’s not where the similarities end, though. Two of the Manyo inks (Haha and Nekoyanagi) have been compared to Sailor Studio 162 and 123 (two of the more popular colors). I found these colors to be similar and to demonstrate similar multi-chromatic characteristics, but not similar enough to choose one over the other.

Other Manyo inks remind me of Sailor Studio colors – Akebi and Sailor Studio 653 are similar although Akebi is brighter. I love the brightness of Yamabuki.

Nekoyanagi is the first Manyo ink that I knew I had to get. However, Yomagi has been my favorite to use for taking class notes. It shades beautifully and has mid-level red sheen.

Kikyou has an understated sheen – not shiny, though. The sheen presents more as a secondary color than a shine. Sumire is a beautiful cerulean blue with a hint of sheen as well.

Kuzu is another ink that has a muted sheen. Haha is the best name ever for an ink. The halo color is a greenish teal – a color that is all around difficult to describe.

Here’s a big family photo of the Manyo inks!

As I stated above, Haha is a very difficult ink to compare and to show. It does have many of the same properties of Sailor Studio 162, but the halo colors remind me more of Sailor Studio 264. Shading is in line with Papier Plume Lake Michigan Winter, but the purple is close to Vinta Maskera (the photo two below).

Manyo Nekoyanagi is closely related to Haha, but less confused. Nekoyanagi is very close to Vinta Maskeraand Ya Ching Eternal Love, but it contains quite a bit of teal in the undertones. The teal does show as a halo in some writing.

Manyo Akebi is a beautiful bright purple-ish pink with a huge amount of muted sheen. The sheen moved between greenish-gold and dark brown and is very present in all writing. The underlying bright color is almost surprising when it peaks out.

Manyo Yomagi is a favorite of mine for writing. it moves from dark to light quickly and has a bit of a red sheen. I’ve been writing with it for three weeks now and I love it.

Manyo Kikyou is a close match to Monteverde Blue Velvet Cake but the sheen is very muted. A great work-safe blue-black.

Sumire is not quitet as bright at ColorVerse Supernova, but a deeper color than Pelikan Edelstein Topaz. The shading is beautiful.

Manyo Kuzu is close to Akebi is writing, but the color underneath is burgundy rather than a purple-ish pink. The muted sheen is gold-brown.

Yamabuki is a highly shading orangish-yellowthat reminds me of Diamine Amber butt the darker portions (and in writing) looks more like Diamine Marigold.

All of the Manyo inks are on the wet side of normal (only slightly) and behave like other Sailor inks I have encountered – easy to use, beautiful colors and shading, not water-resistant, no feathering or bleeding on fountain pen friendly paper. I am very happy that I own the whole set now! I’m also thrilled with the larger bottle size. One of the best differences between the Sailor Studio inks and the Manyo inks – Manyo inks are much easier to obtain in the US!

Tools:

Ink: Manyo inks by Sailor (Pen Chalet, $21.33 for 50mL)
Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER: Some of the inks used in this review were purchased by me, while others were provided for the purpose of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Virtual Hive Mind

AnaJanuary 8, 2020January 8, 20208 Comments

In the past, links have coalesced into a sort of hive mind of the pen community. Sometimes this hive behavior is due to the release of a new product but, sometimes it seems more random. This week, the feed seemed filled with a collection of posts single-handedly targeted for my particular needs right now.

If you have heard the news this week, employment at my day job is on shaky ground. I won’t know how it will all shake out until mid-February. So posts like 50 Creative Companies to Work For in 2020 down in Other Interesting Things is definitely getting bookmarked… just in case.

But to bolster my spirits, and yours, in the bleakness of winter, the blog reader gods also gave us some gems. The Art & Creativity section is chock full of inspiration so if one of your goals for 2020 is to draw, paint or make more, than maybe this will inspire you.

In Pens, Susan over at The Pen Addict evaluated her pen collection which is something I’ve been considering for some time. Have you ever done this? I think I would be shocked and appalled if I ever did the Marie Kondo “dump all my pens on the bed” method like she recommends with clothes.

In Pencils, Jet Pens Blog pulled together their recommendations for best pencils which is timely since my internal pendulum has swung back to pencils recently.

There was also a secret peek into what I love when I’m not obsessing over pens… Bernadette Banner! Bernadette is an Edwardian-inspired fashion costumer and everyday wearer of antique style clothes. And she’s not alone! As a result of watching her YouTube channel I’ve found a bunch of other people making period clothing on Instagram. She was featured on Hyperallergenic this week but I am a follower of hers on YouTube.

Finally, I love the browser extension that helps to choose the library over Amazon. My house is chock full of books and, should I find myself considerably more cash poor, checking books our from the library, either virtually or manually, is a much better alternative.

While I wish kismet was all happiness, these grains of advice, direction and inspiration feel like something, however small, to take us all on the journey that will be 2020.

Eye Candy: Stampitude Custom Wax Seal Stamp

Laura CameronJanuary 7, 2020January 6, 20209 Comments

One of the best gifts that I received for the holidays was a lovely little custom wax seal stamp from Stampitude ($35-46). My husband saw an ad on Facebook (those really work!) and decided to have one made with my logo. He presented it to me a few days before the holidays as “just a little something I got you.” I was charmed and I’m having fun melting wax and sealing things!

In Pencil Review

Pencil Review: Penco Prime Timber 2.0 Mechanical Pencil

AnaJanuary 6, 2020January 6, 20201 Comment

I have been meaning to write a review about this pencil for almost a year. I don’t entirely know why I’ve waited so long to actually put pencil to paper and write the review though. It’s not as if I was torn in my opinion about its performance. The Penco Prime Timber 2.0 by Hightide ($11) is the picture of simplicity. Its a soft, hex-shaped, woodcased mechanical pencil with a metal knock and conical end to facilitate the click mechanism. The advantage of this design is that it maintains the warmth of a woodcased pencil with the ease and convenience of a mechanical pencil.

Like a good pencil, the Prime Timber appears to be dip painted in two-tone gloss enamel and then stamped with branding info in black. I’ve used my Prime Timber long enough that some of the stamping is starting to wear away.

The only complaint I would have about Prime Timber is the join between the wood and the conical tip is not as smooth as it could be. Of course, it’s a mechanical pencil selling for about $10 so all other elements being equal, when in use, I don’t notice the transition any more than I notice the threads of a fountain pen so my issue is more aesthetic than in actual use.

Penco Prime Timber 2.0

I was excited to acquire this pencil specifically because I like using red and non-photo blue drawing leads and they are easier to find in 2mm size these days. The 2mm leads are a bit more robust than smaller 0.5 or 0.7mm sized leads.

Penco Prime Timber 2.0 + foam eraser + sharpener

The Prime Timber came with a lead pointer which works really well. However, at the time of this review, I was not able to locate it so I used a Faber-Castell Pocket Lead Pointer. Either lead pointer is effective and does not take up too much space in a portable kit. The lead pointer that shipped with the pencil has a cap which keeps any loose material from transferring into your pencil case. The Faber-Castell does not have a cover but it smaller overall.

Penco Prime Timber 2.0

No reflection on the Prime Timber itself but the red lead I was using does not erase as completely with my trusty Sakura foam eraser as non-photo blue or traditional graphite lead. The advantage of drawing with red lead is that it can be separated out when scanned or photographed into the computer using RGB channel separation. Non-photo blue will not copy on a standard photo copier. Hence the name. And if scanned in black and white, it will not show up. Usually. Non-photo blue can be really light though so red can be easier to see on paper.

Penco Prime Timber 2.0

As a lefty, there is a secret bonus in using colored leads– they don’t smudge as readily as graphite. I can reap all the same benefits of graphite with colored pencil lead without the telltale smudge on the heel of my hand.

Generally speaking, I prefer using pencils on paper with a bit more tooth like Baron Fig, Leuchtturm1917, any sketchbook paper, standard 20# office bond, etc, over Rhodia which is a little too smooth. For consistency’s sake though, I did the writing sample on Rhodia though. It does make for a creamy looking writing sample.

I purchased the Penco Prime Timber 2.0 at Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS. Similar models can be found online but I highly recommend trekking out to this gem on the prairie if you get a chance. Write Notepads features a fancier brass edition of this pencil for $14. It’s probably a little weightier and would feel a bit more like a drafting pencil as a result.

Tools:

Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
Pencil: Penco Prime Timber 2.0

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge. 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.

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