In Pencil Review

Pencil Holder Review: Tokyo Slider Twin

Author Laura CameronPosted on 2 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

When the Tokyo Slider Twin Pencil Holder ($11.50) first came out, it caught my eye for several reasons. One is that conventional-size woodcased pencils are a little too slim for my comfort, and I experience less hand fatigue if I fatten the barrel with a holder. Another is that I have a thing for bicolor pencils, and my secret desire is to someday make my own (with something like the Tsunago concept, except one that works for colored pencils). While pencil holders and extenders for one pencil are commonplace, I’d never seen a twin holder before: I immediately saw the bicolor potential. Finally, I rarely see pencil holders/extenders made of wood, and the Slider’s smooth, round barrel appealed to me.

I chose the reddish-brown wood. The Tokyo Slider also comes in a single-pencil version and in white wood and red wood.

To test the holder, I chose a conventional yellow pencil that’s getting too short to use easily and a tiny stub that’s so short it must be sharpened with a knife (both hexagonal).

A cap on either end of the Slider screws off, revealing an inner sleeve. Place the pencil into the sleeve, and replace the cap to secure.

The tiny stub was easy to install securely, too.

Even with two pencils installed Darth Maul-style, the Slider is surprisingly lightweight and comfortable to use. The barrel is exactly the diameter I find comfortable in hand and for long writing or drawing use.

I also tested a conventional diameter round pencil and triangular pencil, and they both fit fine. The whole barrel is hollow, so I could even install a full-length pencil (using one end of the holder only).

Final Impressions

As expected, my colored pencils with larger-than-average-diameter barrels (such as Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle and Luminance) would not fit. But all the rest fit well, so I’m going to go through my stubs and make a handy bicolor. (In fact, I think I’m going to get a couple more Sliders – six colors in the space of three would make a very portable sketch kit!)

Darth Maul, eat your heart out.

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 video

Video: Marie Kondo – How to Tidy Your Office

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments

While I’ve waffled about how I feel about minimalism and the KonMari Method, my office and desk has reached an all-time level of excess and extreme measures need to be considered. Today is a grey and rainy day and there’s no time like the present to tackle some serious purging.

This is the first video I’ve seen that has translating the “spark joy” metaphor into something relating to work or functionality relevant to one’s office or other situation where you may need to keep items that serve a purpose.

I’m going to go Kondo the studio now. Cross your fingers for me.

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve

Author AnaPosted on 4 Comments
Ink Review: Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve

UPDATE: It’s come to our attention that this formulation of Australian Opal Mauve was mis-mixed. According to Robert Oster, about 1/3 of the bottles formulated reached retailers and were sold as is. The correct color of Australian Opal Mauve is considerably more blue-purple and is what is currently available. The ink color shown in this review is no longer available as “Australian Opal Mauve”. Maybe it will re-appear in the future under a different name?

Robert Oster Australian Opal Mauve ($17 per 50ml bottle) is one of my favorite ink colors from 2017 and I cannot believe I hadn’t written a review for it already. So, I’ll start out with an apology for waiting so long to write a review  and confess that this will be a wholly biased review.

I swatched this ink color from a sample at the Little Rock Pen Show in 2017 on a whim. Up until this point, I’d mostly tried Oster’s blues and greens and Opal Mauve was so unusual from any of the other colors I’d seen from Oster at that point, that I walked across the aisle of the show and handed Chris at the Vanness table the requisite funds for a whole bottle.

I really wouldn’t describe the color as mauve as the word as developed such a disreputable association over the years. It is absolutely luminous. It hovers between lavender and red-violet with an occasional flash of deep violet or pink shading depending on whether it gets dark or light.

Look at that range of color! It is like a purple opal for sure.

Even with a fine nib, its still fully legible for writing with a plummy tone — not too pinky but not a dark purple either. If you’ve read this blog for awhile, you might remember a few years back I was on a hunt for a smoky plum ink? Opal Mauve is a little bit pinker than what I had originally envisioned but a heck of a lot closer than any of the inks I tried.

Opal Mauve has little-to-no water resistance but would make lovely shading inks for painting.

Compared to some other inks in my stash, Opal Mauve certainly has the greatest range of color shading. Colorverse #4 Einstein Ring is a bit darker. Private Reserve Arabian Rose is very close in color but does not have the same range of shading not does Rohrer and Klingner Alt. Bordeaux.

Like I said at the beginning, this is one of my favorite inks from Robert Oster and one of my favorite ink colors in general. The color is beautiful, with tons of shading and color variation. The hue is unique but legible. Not that I could ever narrow my inks down to a Top 5, but if I could, this would probably be in that list.

Tools:

In Pencil Review

Sharpener Review: Caran d’Ache Pencil Peeler

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

For most uses, I sharpen pencils in the most expeditious way possible: my trusty electric Bostitch Quiet Sharp 6 (or, on the street, a portable Kum). But for some pencils or specific drawing purposes, knife-sharpening is the best or sometimes the only way. I have a knife that does the job at home, but what about when I’m traveling? Even my modest Opinel has a blade longer than the TSA-approved 2.36 inches.

That’s why I was so intrigued when I saw the Caran d’Ache Pencil Peeler. Designed in Switzerland in collaboration with the prestigious Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne and a 2017 ISPA & Innovation Product of the Year Award winner, the peeler has a simple, elegant design. Although it has an exposed blade, it’s only an inch long!

Available in red or stainless steel, the pencil peeler comes packaged with three spare blades. It can be used for pencils of all types as well as crayons.

The back of the package indicates three ways that the peeler can be used: A. By pulling the pencil and simultaneously pushing the blade with the thumb; B. by pulling the blade; and C. by reversing the blade and pushing it against the pencil.

Since the sharpener came with the blade installed in the direction shown in A and B, I gave that a try first. I decided to practice on a new, inexpensive yellow pencil (it’s so generic that all it says on it is No. 2/HB). (In retrospect, it may have been a bad choice to learn on.)

Using some hybrid of the techniques shown in A and B, I used a pulling motion. The pencil’s non-cedar wood was a bit harder than pencils I typically knife-sharpen, so it required more pressure than I expected. The collar isn’t pretty (David Rees I am not), but I learned how to use the tool sufficiently. Learning on something softer such as a cedar Blackwing might have been better, but I preferred to mangle something cheaper.

 

With that under my belt, I moved on to a Koh-i-Noor Magic Jumbo triangular colored pencil, which doesn’t fit into any sharpener I own, so it must always be knife-sharpened. It helped to have practiced first on the conventional size pencil.

Feeling confident, I decided to turn the blade around so that I could try the pushing method shown in C. Removing the blade was easy; it’s held in place by tension, so all it takes is slightly pulling the two sides of the peeler’s U shape in opposite directions, and the blade drops out.

Replacing it, however, took a bit more dexterity and practice (sorry, no photo of this move – I needed both hands and, in fact, could have used a third). You must pull the two sides of the U and simultaneously place the blade carefully into the two grooves that secure the blade. And by the way, don’t cut yourself. (And don’t forget which way the blade is facing if you sharpen by method A!)

Now it was time to sharpen the pencil that I am most likely to need the peeler for while traveling: a Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle, one of my favorite colored pencils and a daily-carry. With a barrel that’s slightly larger than standard, the Museum Aquarelle often requires knife-sharpening because it doesn’t fit into many conventional sharpeners. Made of cedar, it was much softer and easier to cut through than the generic or Magic pencils, but the pushing motion of method C felt awkward and unnatural to me (your mileage may vary). I got through the basic sharpening, but I turned the blade back around to the A/B direction to finesse the pencil’s core.

Final Impressions

Although not easier to wield than a conventional knife, which has more to hang onto, with a little practice, I got the hang of using the pencil peeler efficiently (someone more adept at using a blade would probably feel comfortable even more quickly). It’s exactly the replacement I needed for a knife when flying, and it’s definitely going into my travel carry-on bag.

I do have one complaint, however: For this price ($25), it should come with a protective case. With the blade facing in the C direction, I could certainly see myself unconsciously digging around in my bag and encountering it in a very unpleasant way. With the blade facing in the A/B direction, it’s less likely but still possible. Even a simple vinyl pouch with a flap would be better than nothing. I’m sure I have something around the house that will serve the purpose, but come on, Caran d’Ache – we know you can afford it.

In Link Love

Link Love: Ebbs and Flows

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

As summer rolls in, the blog post rhythms change. Folks in academia have more time as they are coming into their summer breaks. Folks with young kids have less time as the kids are now home from school and they might be preoccupied with kid activities. Some of us are coming to our mid-season pen show gap between Chicago and DC where we can catch up a bit with our regular lives, catch up on some much-missed sleep and a back log of reviews, posts and other things. Longer days here on the northern hemisphere help so hopefully there will be a wave of posts to get caught up on in the coming weeks here on The Desk.

This week, Junee at Alt. Haven reviews KWZ IG Green that doesn’t really look green, Kelly at Mountain of Ink reviews a bunch of purple inks, Ian at Pens! Paper! Pencils! tackles the UK’s Silvine Exercise Notebook and Brad goes to Texas and leaves the Pen Addict in the hands of Jeff and Sarah (Go, team!).

My Giant Strawberry delves into the heady topis of what it means to choose joy while The Cramped tackles our favorite debate: analog over digital for thinking and idea processing. The Pelikan’s Perch provides great info on nibs and the Ink Smudge considers the “whys” behind fountain pens and pencils.

It’s always interesting to watch the blog post tides roll in and roll out.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper & Notebooks:

Art Supplies & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Diamine Espresso

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

Review by Laura Cameron

I typically don’t use brown ink, so when I got the opportunity to review Diamine’s 150th Anniversary in Espresso (€7.85 via Appelboom), I welcomed the opportunity.

Espresso is a dark, dark brown, the color of dark chocolate and espresso beans.

Diamine Espresso

Diamine Espresso

Interestingly enough, I liked the ink more wet than dry. When wet it just appear more full bodied, but dry I feel like the effect is a bit flat.

While I could see quite a bit of shading, I got no sheen from this one. Just dark, dark brown.

Diamine Espresso

Diamine Espresso

Diamine Espresso

The performance of Espresso is similar to other inks I have reviewed from Diamine. It is not too wet, nor too dry. It flows easily and readily through my nibs.

Diamine Espresso

As I said previously, I found Espresso a bit matte for my tastes. It was probably closest to a saturated Noodler’s Rome Burning. Platinum Classic Khaki Black appeared somewhat similar, but the Khaki Black has more yellow and green tones. Overall, I found that I prefer the warmer browns like Monteverde Brown Sugar and Diamine Chocolate Brown.

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

In news

Chicago Pen Show 2018 Recap

Author Laura CameronPosted on 14 Comments

By Laura Cameron

The Chicago Pen Show is only the second pen show I have attended, and I upped the ante for my second show by working in the Vanness Pen Shop booth for the weekend.  This left me with very little time to shop and wander the show, but I got to meet and talk to so many wonderful people at the booth and in the evenings at the bar.  Apparently, spending most of my time in the booth meant I took very few photos, so I apologize in advance.

Ana and I drove up to Chicago on Wednesday night, to prepare for Thursday’s booth setup.  On Thursday morning we had some time to kill so we had a leisurely breakfast, extended knitting and inking time, and then Ana took me to Portillo’s (home of the Italian Beef) to treat me to “a piece of chocolate cake bigger than [my] head,” as she had been promising me for weeks. Then it was back to the hotel to spend the rest of the evening setting up the booth.

Chicago Pen Show 2018

I should interject here that I celebrated my 40th birthday on Saturday, May 5 while at the show.

Technically, the first pen I got at the show was an amazing gift from Ana, a Parker Vacumatic that came to her through the late Susan Wirth.  I was really taken with Vacs at the LA show and spent a little time learning about them there, but my concern was how to purchase a vintage pen in good condition.  I was so touched at the significance of receiving a pen that had been touched by Susan, even though I never had the opportunity to meet her.  Later on in the show I went and saw Ron Zorn (Main Street Pens) and he got the pen in working order for me.

Chicago Pen Show 2018

Friday morning dawned bright and early and we were in the booth and ready to go. I later learned that the morning was only open to traders and weekend pass holders, and the public didn’t get to purchase admission until the afternoon. So the morning was a bit slow, but we got to meet and chat with lots of people. I made one big purchase on Friday, my first Jonathan Brooks (Carolina Pen Company) pen. I couldn’t resist the glitter!

Chicago Pen Show 2018

This photo really doesn’t do the pen justice. It is a cross between grey, periwinkle and lavender body with lovely sparkle and glitter. My ink whisperer suggested I pick up a bottle of Akkerman #7 Queen’s Night Blue and that it would match perfectly. I couldn’t find it at the show, but it’s on its way to me now!

Saturday was a crazy busy day. I didn’t even have time to consider that it was my birthday, or to really even take a break, but it was a wonderful day. I met so many people I know from online, and many that I didn’t, but all were lovely. Sales were brisk and I managed to keep super busy all day. By the evening it was time for the Pen Mixer. Vanness Pen Shop hosted a Pen Mixer after dark, a way for people to get to know each other and meeting with some big names in the industry to talk pens, nibs, ink, calligraphy, photography and paper. It was a super fun evening (if you go to a pen show with a pen mixer don’t miss it!) and the only slightly disturbing thing was the presence of an 8-foot, 26.9lb gummy snake. Don’t ask because I don’t even know what to tell you.

Chicago Pen Show 2018

Chicago Pen Show 2018

Sunday we worked the booth until about noon, and then packed it up. Sunday afternoon and evening were spent finishing out the show, and chilling in the bar with people just enjoying the last bits of the weekend. I got to sit and chat with Ralph (Regalia Writing Labs) and watch the BYOB podcast do an interview with Ana and also Paul Erano (check out their feed for those episodes to air soon).

Chicago Pen Show 2018
Photo credit: Yvgenii of BYOB Pen Club

And then, too soon, it was over. We came home and I spent a few days with what I call pen show hangover. I’m ready to do it again!

The haul for the weekend is below. In addition to the pens, I was able to get my hands on a Musubi notebook from Atelier Musubi, Coloverse Ink in Photon and Gluon, and the special show ink from Papier Plume, Bootleggers Sacrament. Not pictured – some amazing work on pens/nibs I already owned from Dan Smith, The Nibsmith.

Chicago Pen Show 2018