In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Octaevo Notebooks

Author Laura CameronPosted on 48 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

When I dug into the samples for The Desk to review, I was delighted to find a set of Octaevo notebooks. The Travel Notes Gold Pack ($19.00) is a set of three passport sized notebooks.

Octaevo

The covers are linen, and printed with stamps of Mediterranean cities. The blue notebook is the Travel Notes No. 1, Barcelona, filled with blank pages; the yellow is the Travel Notes No. 2, Alexandria, and is filled with ruled pages; and the orange is the Travel Notes No. 3, Athens, and is filled with dot grid pages. All books have 52 white 90gsm pages.

Octaevo

All of the books feature a contact page inside the front cover, which should aid in returning the book to you if ever it should be lost. The inside back cover includes a bit of information about Octaevo, as well as specifications of the notebook and a handy ruler along the edge.

Octaevo

Octaevo

I enjoyed these notebooks. The linen covers have a nice tactile feel and the notebooks feel sturdy. The paper is nice and quite smooth. I tested a variety of fountain pen inks, along with my gel pens and fine liners and even when adding some color or emphasis I saw only a bit of ghosting and no bleed through. I think these would be great notebooks for recording notes on your travels, or just to live with your every day carry for lists or bits and pieces of things you want to record. The set of three notebooks is reasonably priced and would make a nice gift to yourself or others.

Octaevo

Octaevo

That said, we have a giveaway for you! The giveaway includes:

Octaevo

To enter to win,

TO ENTER: Please visit Milligram (who generously sent us these materials for review) and leave a comment letting us know what Octaveo products catch your eye!

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Tuesday, December 12. 2017. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Wednesday. 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 – just email you if you win. If winner does not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US residents and APO/FPO only please (The kind folks from Milligram shipped them all the way over from Australia, don’t make us ship them back over there, okay?).

Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.

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

In Link Love

Link Love: Droids & Holiday Decor

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper & Notebooks:

Art & Art Supplies:

Other Interesting Things:

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Uni Posca Paint Markers

Author AnaPosted on 8 Comments
Pen Review: Uni Posca Paint Markers

Review by Tina Koyama

Awhile back I reviewed the white Uni Posca Paint Marker in extra fine, which is handy for lettering and fine lines. I also wanted to try a set of Uni Posca fine point markers in eight primary colors.

With a bullet tip, these markers make a line about 1.5mm wide if held at a natural angle, but you can get a slightly finer line if held upright. As advised on the packaging in Japanese (and in English on JetPens’ site), it’s important to prime the marker before first use by shaking vigorously until you hear the agitator rattle inside. Then press the tip down on scratch paper a few times to get the ink flowing. (As a precaution, I give each marker a little scribble on scrap paper before each use. It hasn’t been necessary with these, but my extra fine tip white pen occasionally blorts out a blob of ink initially.)

I got the set of paint markers with the intention of having fun with them on paper, but I read in JetPen’s product description that they also write on nonporous surfaces like glass, metal and plastic. Before I got started on paper, I doodled the pink flower on a metal jar lid. The green writing was done with a Zig Painty FX paint marker, which came in my June 2017 ArtSnacks subscription box. While both markers wrote equally well on the jar lid, the Painty FX has a distinct alcohol marker odor, while water-based Posca markers have hardly any odor – a bonus for me (I can’t stand stinky markers!).

Now I was ready for real fun – on paper! I had seen some of my urban sketcher friends using Posca markers on toned and black paper, and I love how the bright colors pop, so I pulled out my black Stillman & Birn Nova sketchbook. They were just right for sketching koi at Seattle’s Japanese Garden as they swam through dark, murky water.

The colors in the set I chose are so bold and primary that I wondered if they would work for urban sketching, but I decided realistic colors are over-rated. Even mundane street scenes look more exciting on black paper.

I also happen to have a Plum & Punch notebook containing bright neon orange paper (Ed. note:no longer available on their website), and Posca markers can hold their own with near-neon vibrancy.

Of course, they also work great on white paper. I made test scribbles in my Plumchester sketchbook and gave the red scribble a swipe with the waterbrush after it dried. Although Posca inks are waterproof, I could see some insignificant bleeding. When I scribbled the white marker through the other colors after they dried, the white reactivated the colors a bit, making them smear.

Final Impressions

Posca markers are a lot of fun, and their brilliant opacity makes them ideal to use with black and brightly colored papers. Major bonus points for being stink-free!

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

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 Paper Review

Notebook Review: Hippo Noto A5 Cream Dot Grid

Author Laura CameronPosted on 4 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

Like many of you, I’m sure, I was excited to receive my Hippo Noto in the mail. I ordered the Turquoise A5 with the cream dot grid paper ($33).

Hippo Noto

When my Hippo Noto arrived, I was first impressed by the packaging. The Hippo Noto comes in a beautiful sturdy black box with a cute belly band. The notebook itself has a leather cover that is soft to the touch and bears the embossed Hippo Noto logo.

The Hippo Noto lives up to its name, boasting 500 pages of beautiful 68gsm Tomoe River paper. The inside covers of the Turquoise notebook are a lovely pale lilac. The inside front cover is plain, but the inside back cover has an envelope folder in the same pale lilac as the front cover, and a turquoise elastic band. Finally, the notebook has two turquoise ribbons.

Hippo Noto

Hippo Noto

Hippo Noto

The paper is luscious. I ordered the dot grid because it’s my favorite, and I wasn’t disappointed. The paper itself is smooth, and my nibs felt like butter sliding across the page. I tried a variety of fountain pens, gel ink pens, fine liners, and I even got out the dip nib and water brush. While there is significant ghosting on the paper, there was very little bleed through.

Hippo Noto

Hippo Noto

Overall, I love this book. It will take me a while to work my way through it, but I can see it being an every day carry for all my notes and plans.

Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.

In Book Review

Book Review: The Revenge of Analog

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments

I had The Revenge of Analog by David Sax sitting on my “to read” pile for several months before I actually picked it up and started reading it. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be too esoteric or high-brow for me as I don’t normally read a lot of non-fiction.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that The Revenge of Analog was both east to read and interesting. Each chapter focuses on a different analog technology (for lack of a better word) starting with vinyl records. Sax discusses records through the growth of record stores in his community and then interviews a vinyl record pressing facility in Nashville to discuss the growth of vinyl records in the age of digital music downloads and streaming music services. It is followed by a chapter about notebooks through the lens of Moleskine and Evernote, film for cameras through the revival of FILM Ferrania and the Impossible Project, and board games through the lens of a local game cafe. Then the second half of the book covers the revival of books and magazines, physical retail shopping, the workplace, school, and camping.

The tone is personal and conversational. For some this won’t seem as well-researched or in-depth but I think for a lot of folks in the pen community, this approach might be appealing.

This is not a doctoral dissertation, but more of an overview of how each of these non-digital technologies are making a resurgence. I’m sure it is possible to write a full, deeply researched book on each individual topic that would be more fully discussed and analyzed. This is the introduction and is food for thought. I finished the book several weeks ago and lent it to a friend immediately because I couldn’t stop talking about different chapters I had read, each which could stand on their own like long form articles as well as parts of the whole book, particularly the Adobe chapter (Chapter 9) and the Camp Chapter (Epilogue). The chapter most likely to rile people is the chapter on Work (Chapter 6) which uses Shinola as a point of reference, for better or worse.

I originally purchased Revenge of Analog for the chapter about notebooks and Moleskine which I found interesting and did provide more background information about the development and rise of that company but the whole appreciation for analog, in general, is interesting to consider. Whether you end up enjoying the book or it makes you livid, it will be food for thought.

In feature

News: Notebooks-a-palooza

Author AnaPosted on 4 Comments

Kaweco Skyline Sage:

Milligram (formerly Notemaker) has released their own limited edition Kaweco Skyline edition. It’s sage green. It’s also available in a box set with a matching A6 notebook.

Baron Fig Strategist:

Baron Fig has rolled out their own 3×5″ notecards called Strategist. They are printed with dot grid and feature rounded corners. A set of 100 cards for $9.

Story Supply Co:

Story Supply Co has released their new hardcover Exposition notebook ($24.99). The Exposition notebook is “A5-ish” at 5.25″x8″ and features 192 pages using the  same 70# FSC certified, acid-free paper as the pocket notebooks Story Supply creates. The paper is available in blank, lined or dot grid and the covers are “sea depth” linen wrapped board. They a smyth-sewn and include a ribbon bookmark. The notebooks are available for pre-order and quantities are limited so if you are interested in getting one, order now. Also, shipping will start  within two weeks with delivery guaranteed by December 23, 2017.
For every Exposition Notebook sold, Story Supply provides a  Story Supply Kit to a kid with a story to tell. And of course, they are all made in York, PA.

Moo x Timothy Goodman Notebook Collaboration:

The first, limited-edition, hardcover notebook from Moo is a collaboration with artist Timothy Goodman featuring the quote “Meetings Kill Creativity” on the black fabric cover in silver foil lettering. Inside is bright white, plain Munken Kristall paper and a center section of 16 pages of bright yellow G. F. Smith paper. The end papers and the front of the yellow section are accented with illustrations from Goodman to inspire meeting whimsy.

The notebook features the same attention-to-detail as the original hard cover notebooks like the exposed lay-flat spine, heat sealed ribbon and adhesive business card holder.

The Moo x Timothy Goodman notebook is available for $21.99 $17.59 (20% off until Dec. 4).