The Well-Appointed Desk

New Podcast:

There is a new pen community podcast called The BYOB Pen Club. Its a round table discussion of Pen Addict Slack regulars. If you are looking to have a virtual drink at the bar with some pen friends, this is the podcast for you. This is the closest approximation to pulling up a chair at any of the after hours events at a pen show I’ve experienced in a podcast. At least that’s how Episode O plays. Here’s hoping that future episodes keep the same casual camaraderie.

New App:

Austin Tooley developed an iphone pen/stationery blog aggregator called Nibbler. What a fine way to entertain yourself while waiting for the bus! There is a $1.99 in-app purchase option to “re-skin” the app or as a way to thank Austin for his efforts. Help support the pen community and the on-going efforts they make to keep it awesome.

New Field Notes Edition:

The Resolution Edition is the 10th anniversary edition of Field Notes. Spoiler Alert! The Resolution Edition includes a red, white and blue cover. The white cover is the Date Book and the red and blue are Checklist notebooks. There is also a 2018 calendar card that fits inside the books. The subscribers’ bonus is a reprint of the original Draplin Field Notes pack. The Checklist notebooks remind me a lot of the Word. Notebooks not that anyone invented the idea of a checklist or bullet list but its all coming full circle.

New Pen Releases:

Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos ($250) is a limited edition of only 800 available. It is a deep purple with metallic flecks with a 14k nib and sliver hardware. The pen is due to ship any day now. You can ask to be notified if there are any available at Anderson Pens but the remainder left may be slim. I ordered mine back in July.

The Parker Jotter Architecture Series takes its inspiration from London architecture. Each pen is etched with elements inspired from a particular  time period: classical (red), modern (blue), postmodern (black)  and gothic (bronze). Each pen comes in a gift box, making it giftable for both seasoned collectors or new collectors. MSRP $25/£19.

The Visconti Opera Master Fountain Pen Luna ($795) will be available in a limited edition “Goulet blue” resin with silver sparkles. This Goulet exclusive is limited to only 188 units and can include the magnetized MyPen System options – natural stones can replace the Visconti logo in the finial. The pen features the Visconti’s double reservoir power filler and a 23kt palladium nib in medium. It comes in a leather pen box with a glass ink bottle filled with Visconti Blue ink.

Retro 51 has two new Tornados available. They are yoga themes, one is the bamboo Hamsa ($45) and the other is the brightly colored, glow-in-the-dark Chakra ($45). The Retro 51 seasonal Popper was also released. It’s called “Winter Wonderland” ($37).  I really like the yoga releases and I think the illustrations on the holiday Popper are excellent this year.

Platinum is releasing the newest in their Nice 3776 line the 3776 Century Nice Fountain Pen in Lavande ($228). First, there was the Lilas in pink and now the more purply Lavande. If you like the more demonstrator style pens but still want a colorful barrel, this might be an option.

The new TWSBI Eco T fountain pen in blue (€ 35,00/€ 28,93 Outside EU) will be available soon. The Eco is a favorite piston-filling, entry level fountain pen. It’s reasonably priced and one of the only available with a piston-filling system instead of cartridge/converter. TWSBI continues to release new colors for their Ecos and ALs on an on-going basis.