Thanks to everyone who entered the Floor 9 Daily Notebook giveaway. And now, for our lucky winner:
Maybe Enzo’s bed is a loft bed and his desk is below it? Let’s hope so. Happy writing, Enzo. I hope you don’t get writer’s cramp under there.
I found myself lost the other day in the depths of JetPens, wandering through various corridors. It seems that even though I could swear I’ve seen everything they offer, I can still find nooks and crannies of previously unseen goodies.
This time, I came across a Pilot fountain pen that I had never seen before. It was the Pilot Grance fountain pen ($137 from JetPens). I’ve known that Pilot offers a few amazing deals for mid-level fountain pens, but this was a special treat. A gold nib fountain pen!
Gold nib fountain pens are not necessarily for everyone. In fact, there was recently a great conversation about gold nibs versus steel nibs on an episode of The Pen Addict that touched on the pros and cons of nib materials (the question was asked by a listener and is near the end of the episode).
My personal preference swings between steel and gold, but I am always excited to find a great deal on a new gold-nibbed fountain pen – one that is at a lower cost than most others. Pilot also offers the E95S at a similar price ($135 at JetPens), but it is a rather small pocket pen that doesn’t usually appeal to those with larger hands.
The grip of the Grance is 9.5 mm, about the same as a Pilot Metropolitan. The weight of the Grance is also in-line with the Metropolitan, coming in at 25 grams to the Metro’s 27 grams. The posted Grance is about half an inch shorter than the posted Metropolitan, although the capped pens are nearly the same size. Again, like the Metropolitan, the Grance pen closes with a very satisfying snap.
However, the exterior of the Grance is quite different. It has a pearly finish that comes in white, pink, or light blue, each with black and gold accents. 
The pen is long enough (for my hand) to be used unposted, but the balance is much nicer when posting it.
The Pilot Grance is offered with an extra-fine, fine, medium-fine or medium 14kt nib. The nib is a buttery smooth nib with a bit of springiness. A small amount of variation is present when writing with no pressure at all.
The nib is soft when writing with light pressure.
In longer writing sessions, using the Grance pen feels elegant and looks amazing, especially in the sunlight! I had no problem writing for several pages with the posted pen – the balance of the pen kept me from pressing harder on the page and the nib was absolutely perfectly tuned straight out of the box.
The pen comes in a plastic clamshell box with one black cartridge but no converter. It is a sad thing that no converter is included in a gold nib pen purchase, but it seems one way that some pen manufacturers are using to keep the retail prices down. A converter is available separately ($7.25 at JetPens), or it can be used with Pilot’s proprietary cartridges.
Overall, I would highly recommend this pen. At $137 for a gold nib, a post-able, snap-able, beautiful pen that writes smoothly out of the box, I think the Pilot Grance is one that you will treasure.
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.
Moo has once again released a special edition of their notebooks. This time, they teamed up with artist Kate Moross and created a 3-notebook set in a slipcase ($24.99) that is available starting today.
The slipcase has the same texture and sturdy build as the slipcase that my original hardcover notebook came in. Its matte finish though. Inside the slipcase are three stitch bound, softcover notebooks each with coordinating covers, center pages.and stitching.
Each cover is printed in tone-on-tone inks with a clue to the purpose for each notebook.
The turquoise blue book is set-up for to-do lists, the bright goldenrod yellow is blank sketchbook and the red is lined for notes.
The red notes notebook is printed with yellow lines and has contrasting blue blank pages in the center and yellow end papers.
The yellow blank sketch book has contrasting red paper in the center and blue end papers.
The blue to-do book has wider red printed lines and check boxes with yellow pages in the center and red end papers.
These notebooks all use the same paper as the previous notebooks. The paper is 100gsm Munchen Kristall and the colored paper is 135gsm Colorplan, the same used in the previous editions of the Moo notebooks so all our previous writing tests apply here as well. The paper is lovely, these notebooks are cool looking and the slipcase makes for great storage later.
Clearly, I can’t possibly keep something this nice all to myself. So, I want to share the wealth. I am giving this amazing Moo x Kate Moross Notebook Set away to one lucky reader.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me which notebook you’d use first. 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 moneys some time.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, February 3, 2019. 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 for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
This week, the ink is where it’s at! Oh, there’s still lots of other interesting things to read but between Macchiato Man’s overview of the Sailor 100 inks and Mountain of Ink reviewing the much revered Parker Penman Sapphire, the Ink category is this week’s hot ticket.
Oh, and in honor of Chinese New Year, I thought you might enjoy seeing this video that our Asian American group put together at work in honor of the occasion. If you watch carefully, you might see someone you know!
Review by Laura Cameron
As I said, I thought I ought to give coral a chance this year. So when I placed my last ink order, I went ahead and added J. Herbin Corail des Tropiques (10ml for $5.50) to my cart.
The photos I’ve taken really don’t seem to do Corail des Tropiques justice. While Diamine’s Coral is a bright hit of orange, Corail des Tropiques is more subtle and shaded, and looks almost dustier. There are no bright oranges in this one, just peachy coral goodness; the kind that reminds you of the southwest or the beach.
I think the distinction is hard to make in the ink comparison swatches (thanks camera!), but a bit easier to see in my writing pages.
I didn’t see any sheen in this ink, just tons of beautiful shades of coral.
I was pleasantly surprised that the Corail des Tropiques was soft at times and yet still had good coverage. Some of the J. Herbin inks are very light and faint in writing, but this was very readable. I have to say, I think I like Corail de Tropiques even better than the Diamine Coral!
DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. All other materials in this review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.
The Clairefontaine Graf’Book is a simple, blank notebook with black card stock cover and an exposed thread binding. The Graf’Book is made up of 100 pages of 100gsm bright white paper. I got the A6 size but the Graf’Book is also available in A4 and A5 size with portrait or landscape binding options.
The exposed binding allows the book to lay flat when opened and is aesthetically appealing in its simplicity.
Along the inner edge of the pages, they are printed black. It creates a slight visual margin.
The 100gsm paper stands up to most fountain and drawing pens, water-based markers and pencils. The paper has a tiny bit of tooth. It’s not super smooth like most Clairefontaine paper so its suitable for drawing and holding graphite. I have not tried heavier water medium like water color but the paper is heavier than most notebooks but not watercolor paper so it will probably buckle under heavy water application. For quick sketches, though, I think it will hold up. The soft cover will accommodate any growth as well.
There was a tiny bit of show through with the calligraphy width pen but nothing with any other tool. There has been no feathering with any tool I’ve used with this notebook either and I’ve been using it for several weeks.
I’ve been using this book for a catchall for ideas, quotes, doodles and ephemera and I absolutely love it. I really hope that the Graf’Book gets wider distribution in the US so that its easier to get your hands on one.
I purchased mine at Wonder Fair in Lawrence, KS. If you’re passing through, it is an absolute MUST see. Otherwise, ask your favorite retailer to start stocking the Graf’Book from Clairefontaine today.
Floor 9 is a home decor and gifts line from a certain company that might sign my paychecks (full transparency here) and I found these lovely, cloth-covered journals (similar notebooks can be found here) recently. Both notebooks feature two ribbon bookmarks and the internal pages have different left- and right-hand page designs.
On the lefthand side, the top of the page features the days of the week, the months and the days which can be circled, highlighted of designated as needed. Then the page is divided into blank and dot grid about halfway down the page. The righthand page has a set of slashes at the top to be the date or some other indication and says “Today’s Notes” and is then lined down the rest of the page.
This 2-page layout seems like it would lend itself well to being used as a travel journal allotting one side to drawings, maps or pasting in tickets, photos or ephemera and then writing thoughts, activities and such on the other. The paper is a soft white and the printing is brown.
In writing test, there was no feathering issues with the assortment of tools I tried and enough tooth that pencils performed well. The flex fountain pens I tested did show some bleed through so I’m not sure these books will be the best for heavy fountain pen coverage. Fine nibs seemed fine and other pens worked well though there was a little showthrough.
I was still listening to The Beastie Boys audiobook while writing this review , hence what I was writing.
I would like to share the bounty of notebooks I’ve acquired this year so I am giving away the cream and green notebook. (It is new and has not been used). The foil lettering on the cover says “Dream Big”. If you would like to win this, please read the info below to enter our giveaway.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what or where you would “Dream Big”. You can say “Poughkeepsie” or “McDonald’s” if that’s your dream big but put something in your entry. It makes reading through them 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 moneys some time.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Thursday. Winners 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 (where it say “email address”) 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 only. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.
