While at the D.C. Pen Show, my good friend John Martinson gave me a beautiful tin box of vintage pencils. It was a Wallace Motif box with nine unsharpened No. 2 pencils and three Eagle Mikado No. 3 pencils. I’ve never seen Wallace pencils before but the company was in Saint Louis so they were right here in Missouri.
The ferrules are longer than modern pencils and have concentric hash marks. The black erasers look nice with the blue paint too.
The cores were nicely centered. I know I should sharpen one and try it because I’m sure it would write like a dream especially since its not a full box of a dozen but I feel like I should wait a little while longer. Let them nestle in their perfect tin for a little while longer.
For those curious, we managed to lure the stray kitten into the house last night. It took a good deal of food and patience but she’s currently in a good-sized crate waiting to go to the vet this morning. Operation Kitten was successful!
One of the perks of writing for “the Desk” is that occasionally I get to pick some samples from the review box and give them a go.One of these such finds is a cute mint A6 notebook from Pebble Paper Design.
Pebble Paper Design was started in 2015 by Rachel Chew of Malaysia.Ms. Chew is known for her whimsical illustrations, and the company produces several lines of notebooks and planners.
The book I reviewed is an A6 notebook. It contains 48 sheets of blank bright white 100gsm paper, which feels similar to copy paper, and a minty aqua 200gsm cover, which feels similar to cardstock.It is staple bound with two staples in the middle.The belly band on the notebook indicates it is intended for both pencils and pens.
I used my Muji fountain pen (reviewed in a previous post) and a Kaweco Palm Green ink cartridge.
Overall I was very pleased with how the paper performed.The ink didn’t feather or bleed at all on the paper, and the nib moved quite smoothly over the paper surface.There was a bit of ghosting on the pages, so if that really bothers you, you might stick with ballpoints or pencils.
I think this notebook would be the perfect addition to a Travelers Pocket notebook, which is where I plan to stash this one for future use.
I didn’t find the notebook I’ve been using available for purchase anywhere, but if you’re interested in trying Pebble Paper Design products it looks like you might be able to do a little shopping through their Facebook page where notebooks range from 20RM to 59RM, or about $5-$14.
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.
When I saw the Sailor Procolor 500 Shikisai Fountain Pen in Hoshikuzu (Stardust) with Fine Nib ($60) come up on JetPens, I jumped at the chance to try it out. It looks like the Sailor 1911 regular with a steel nib and it was available in the black sparkle Stardust finish that I had wanted in the ProGear Slim but was only available as a limited edition a few years ago and is impossible to find now. I was curious if a Sailor steel nib would be up to snuff.
When it arrived, I was pleased that it was as pretty as I had hoped. It is not as sparkly as my ProGear Pink Love but not as subtle as the Purple Lamé. It looks like stars in the night sky.
The nib looks almost identical to the nibs on a ProGear Slim or regular 1911 without the 14K markings. It has the filigree around the edge of the nib, the “1911” and anchor and the “Sailor” logo branding at the bottom.
The ProColor is a bit lighter than a 1911 standard at 18gms capped with the cartridge. My 1911 weight 21gms but it has a converter which I suspect is adding the additional 3gms. Uncapped, the ProColor weighs just 10gms. The cap does post for writing and is fairly well-balanced.
Look! A new weight chart! Pens are weighed filled with ink (in the case of the TWSBIs) or with a full converter.
Sizewise, the ProColor is identical to the 1911 regular and just a bit shorter and slimmer than a Lamy Safari/Al-Star. The ProColor is just a little longer than the ProGear Slim but the same width.
After looking at the Delike knock-offs, I can see where some of the design cues came from for the New Moon. The ProColor cap has the silver hardware all the way to edge of the cap and the clip is not as graceful as the 1911. Its definitely straddling the line between the higher end 1911 and the knock-off New Moon. Of course, there’s the plus of the Sailor steel nib.
And the nib is what I really wanted to experience and what really took me by surprise because its been years since I tried a lower end Sailor nib. Very early in my fountain pen days, I tried a Sailor Clear Candy but I had very little point of reference and I feel I should probably go back and look at that pen again now that I know what a bit more about pens. I can’t recall the specifics of my experience now other than it was an inexpensive plastic pen. The ProColor, however, was a delight. It was comparable and in many instances surpassed the experience I’ve had with similarly priced TWSBIs.
Because its a Japanese nib, it writes like a western EF (hence the error in my written tests) but its actually a Sailor fine nib. It is a buttery smooth steel nib. I was quite delighted with how well it wrote. For the price point, this is an excellent fountain pen.
After reviewing the knock-off versions of Sailors earlier this week, I love having the chance to recommend to save your pennies for the real thing. It’s worth it. This pen feels better built, the nib is beautiful and, heck, it even comes with the Sailor box, warranty and two proprietary cartridges (converter needs to be purchased separately).
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Thanks to everyone who entered to win the quirky editions of the Col-orings. The random number generator was put to work and pull our winners. Congrats to Chuck and Tamra!
Emails are on their way to you both to get these in the mail to you before I head off to San Francisco next week. Happy inking to you both! And thanks again to everyone for sharing your inks!
Everyone at the D.C. Pen Show asked about the upcoming release of Robert Oster Lake of Fire and I had to tell them, “not until San Francisco,” knowing full well I had a whole bottle. The bottle I have is from the new ink.art series which is designed to be improved for art purposes. The ink.art colors come in 100ml bottles and has added UV protection. The only detailed information I could find about the ink.art inks was from Nick Stewart of Fountain Pen Inks and Bleach on FPN. Bless that Nick and his inky experiments.
With the ink, I also received the new Serendipity Hybrid Pen to try. It was created as a collaboration between Robert Oster and James Finniss of Pensive Pens to create a dip-style fountain pen for ink testing and experimentation. The pen takes standard screw-in size 6 nibs. It shipped with a broad nib but I swapped in a Goulet Pens EF nib to more closely represent the style of writing that I do.
I have a similar style of nib holder that I had made for me by Shawn Newton to hold vintage Esterbrook nibs several years ago that I use for ink sampling and to use my large collection of Esterbrook nibs. I included it in the photo above to show it for comparison. The Serendipity Hybrid Pen is just slightly shorter and has a slightly recessed area at the grip compared to my Esterbrook holder. Otherwise, they are remarkably similar in size and shape.
As for the Lake of Fire ink, there is a notable red violet sheen over the deep blue. The closest color I could find in the ink archive is Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yu which is a similar color with a similar sheen just a bit lighter overall than Lake of Fire. Other inks that might be close start to lean more blue-black or deep navy.
The writing sample shows both the ink and the nibs used with the Serendipity Hybrid Pen using a broad nib and an EF nib, a paint brush, a Zebra G dip nib, and my Shawn Newton nib holder and an Esterbrook nib holder with a #2442 nib.
I like the idea of the Serendipity Hybrid Pen but I found the grip section a bit awkward. I couldn’t figure out exactly where to put my thumb. I either had to choke up on the grip toward the nib or move my hand back away from the grip. I prefer the smooth grip on my Newton holder.
Lake of Fire will be available in the US at the San Francisco Pen Show in both the Signature and ink.art formulas and then through all your favorite retailers.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Robert Oster, James Finniss of Pensive Pens and Bauer Inks of Canada for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
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, 
