In feature, Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: Kobe #47 Aoya Cascade Green

Author AnaPosted on
12 Days of Inkmas: Kobe #47 Aoya Cascade Green

Kobe #47 Aoya Cascade Green is a perfectly holiday themed green. It reminds me of blue spruce and pine needles.

The Kobe inks are Sailor, of course, so they are good stable inks that shade beautifully and #47 has a lovely reddish sheen.

I love the shading variation in a wider nib and the dark, woodsy quality it can achieve in finer lines.

When compared with other greens of similar values (and some way outside the range), Pilot Shin-Ryoku is probably the closest in value, price and performance as well though it is a little less expensive. DeAtramentis Sandalwood is a little darker and does not sheen. It’s also available in a scented version and is a little wetter, more watery ink. The J. Herbin Vert Reseda is fairly close in color but is definitely a wetter ink and can be notoriously finicky on paper. Both Diablo Menthe and Paradise Blue are much bluer but act as a nice reference point.

So, if you are looking for a good wintery green, look no further. Kobe inks are a great way to expand your Japanese ink collection without reaching all the way up to Bungbox prices.

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DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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Eye Candy: Sailor Pro Gear Slim Cosmos

Author AnaPosted on
Eye Candy: Sailor Pro Gear Slim Cosmos

Even though I was already the proud owner of a Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Lamé, when I heard about the Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos way back in August at the DC Pen Show (Thank you, Squishy Ink and Inkaday! You are both terrible enablers and I love you both for it!) I knew I had to order it.  It was, however, a long wait to get the Purple Cosmos in my hot little hand. It finally arrived last Friday.

I thought I’d share a few photos of the two purple jewels together so that you can see the color and sparkle differences.

The Purple Lamé is on the left above and the Purple Cosmos is on the right The Lamé is a lighter shade of purple with smaller sparkle flecks. Purple Cosmos is a very deep violet color with a much more noticeable sparkle, similar to Pink Love in that regard.

And I can’t let an Eye Candy post go without taking a wicked close up of the Sailor nib. The detail on a Sailor nib, with the twisting vine, anchor and perfect “1911” type is part of what makes Sailor Pro Gear pens so worth their price.

While the Purple Cosmos color was a limited edition, the Pro Gear Slim models are always readily available and special editions are available throughout the year through various retailers.

In Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: Robert Oster Sublime

Author AnaPosted on
12 Days of Inkmas: Robert Oster Sublime

On the fourth day of Inkmas, I just went with my favorite color, nothing SUB about it… Robert Oster Sublime ($17 for 50ml bottle)!

Not only is lime green one of my favorite everyday colors, its one of my favorite holiday decorating colors too. I love to decorate with lime, sugar pink, minty blue and silver for what I lovingly call Fairy Christmas. Faded bottle brush trees, Shiny Brite ornaments, mercury glass and vintage elves are my favorites. So, to me Oster Sublime is a perfectly holiday green.

It’s also the closest I’ve found to the spot-on Well-Appointed Desk lime green. And trust me, I’ve looked. This ink has some nice shading though it does look a bit darker in finer nibs. There’s no sheening, but for me, that’s okay. I just want juicy lime green here.

See? I’ve been looking for a lime green for awhile. This is just  small smattering of the greens in my stash. Some skew more olive-y and some grassier. While Chiku-Rin looks great on the swatch, it tend to write much lighter. Vert Olive is a nice color but J. Herbin inks are notoriously watery and tend to misbehave on a lot of papers. Kobe #43 Gakuen Toshi is a bright summery green like Diamine Meadow and so neither fit my lime criteria, thought they are lovely colors in their own right. Diamine Light Green is close but is a little too green with not enough yellow for me. So, unless something else comes along, Sublime is my best option for lime green.Who knew it was so hard to find the perfect lime?

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Eye Candy: Baron Fig Squire Experiment

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments
Eye Candy: Baron Fig Squire Experiment

Baron Fig released the Squire Experiment several months ago as part of its quarterly subscription and it sold out almost immediately. What was so amusing was that almost everyone who knows me and my love of green assumed I bought one and/or would love it. However, I must have had my head down for a split second because I completely missed my chance to order one because by the time I got wind of it, they were all gone. So, I’ve kept my eyes peeled for someone selling one online to no avail. Then, my very own Secret Santa mailed me the Experiment!

The Experiment, like the Squire that shipped with the Kickstarter bags (now available as Fig Wine), the colors is very jewel tone and vivid, and the Erlenmeyer Florence (I stand corrected!) flask is nerdy cool!

Secret Santa, you know who you are, and I am eternally grateful for my little mad scientist jewel. Hope your holidays rock.

 

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Giveaway Winner: Octaveo Stationery Collection from Milligram

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment

Octaevo

Thanks to Milligram for providing the wonderful array of Octaveo stationery products for us to review and giveaway on the blog.

Our lucky winner is:

Seth! He’ll be receiving his very own set of Marble Notes along with the Lobster bookmark, Creative Notes and Cinema Voyage Notes.

We have more giveaways coming soon so hold tight!

In Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: Robert Oster Peppermint

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
12 Days of Inkmas: Robert Oster Peppermint

On the third day of Inkmas, this ink nerd couldn’t resist breaking out the holiday appropriate Robert Oster Peppermint ($17 for 50ml bottle)!

When I first started reviewing Robert Oster inks I worried about the tall skinny bottle being difficult to use as it got used up but I have one bottle that has gotten down to the bottom quarter (I have been sharing it among friends) and the mouth of the bottle is really wide enough to get most full-sized pens with a full-sized converter or a piston mechanism all the way to the bottom without too much trouble. You may need to rest your fingers on the lip of the bottle for stability so you may end up with inky fingers but we are used to the by now, right?

Now, about this holiday appropriate Peppermint ink! Who doesn’t love a little bit of peppermint at the holidays? Wouldn’t it be lovely if it was peppermint scented? Oster Peppermint captures the deep green hue with just a hint of blue undertone AND a reddish sheen. What could be more holiday than that? The ink has a good deal of shading too. As I dipped my testing pen, I was able to get a range of colors which demonstrated the array of shading possibilities from a fine nib which would skew darker to a wider pen which would show more shading variation.

In my swatch comparison, Oster Peppermint is very similar to Waterman Harmonious Green ($11.30 for 50ml), even the sheen is there. So, if you have a vintage pen you’d like to use a holiday-inspired ink, you could easily substitute Waterman. DeAtramentis Sandalwood (scented) ($13 for 35ml) might add a little Wise Men to your festivities. Private Reserve Spearmint ($11 for 66ml bottle) and Avacado (sic) seemed too dark to be festive but might be appropriate in a business setting.

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

In Ink Review

12 Days of Inkmas: MontBlanc Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
12 Days of Inkmas: MontBlanc Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

On the second day of Inkmas, the true nerd brought to you:

An ink from the author of The Little Prince! Honestly, that is all I knew about Antoine de Saint-Exupéry which I’m sure makes me poorly educated about the author so I read his wikipedia page. So now I know that besides being the recipient of a limited edition MontBlanc ink, I also know that he was a pilot and a hero to the French. So, let’s talk about the ink.

The MontBlanc Anotine de Saint-Exupéry ink ($43) is in my favorite faceted 50ml square glass bottle.  It’s really a lovely,distinctive bottle.

The box mentioned that the color was “desert” but obviously the color is more reddish burgundy than brown which is what I would associate with a desert. To be honest, this is the color I wanted to see in the Shakespeare ink that was released by MontBlanc earlier this year.

The ink shows some nice shading and color variation and the rich burgundy, plummy color is lovely.

Compared with other inks in the same color family, Diamine Syrah ($14.95 for 80ml) and Callifolio Grenat are probably the closest in color. Syrah is slightly more red and Grenat is slightly more purple. Robert Oster Claret is not as vibrant. As you can see the Shakespeare Velvet Red is not really red at all but a red black.

In conclusion, the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is a very expensive ink in comparison to other options in the same color family but if you are looking for a good gift ink for someone who loves The Little Prince or who is a fan of little luxuries like a bottle of burgundy ink in a fancy bottle, then this might be the perfect holiday gift. If you’re on a budget though, you might consider one of the other inks above as an alternative and a copy of The Little Prince instead.

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