In Link Love

Link Love: Primsmatic Pencils & Too Much Pen Addict

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In feature

Product Review: Dee Charles Leather Pen Sleeve

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Product Review: Dee Charles Leather Pen Sleeve

I’ve never owned a leather pen sleeve that wasn’t something that came with a pen purchase. So when I was offered the opportunity to try a “nice” pen sleeve from Dee Charles to carry my Aurora Optima, I leapt at the chance. The Dee Charles single pen sleeve in Midnight Gold ($19.80) is a thick black leather with a warm yellow-white stitching. It’s definitely not floppy leather!

The Aurora Optima is not a huge pen and it fits comfortably in the sleeve. If anything, I’d describe it as an average sized fountain pen. I image most regular fountain pens will fit the sleeve. Lengthwise, there is plenty more room. I suspect that if you had a particularly large pen, you may have issues.

By squeezing the sides, it was easy to slide the pen in and out of the sleeve but I had no concerns that once in the sleeve, my pen would come out unintentionally. The suede definitely is grippy enough inside to keep the pen from moving around.

I hope I don’t sound too ridiculous writing up a review of a pen sleeve but this is honestly my first experience with one and I was pleasantly surprised with how effective it was. It also made me feel a lot more comfortable about taking my most precious pens out and about in the world which I don’t often do because I didn’t have a good way to carry it that felt secure and protected from scratches.

I like that the leather is clean and simple and understated. Its not flashy and doesn’t say “there’s something expensive in here”. If you’re looking for a reasonably priced option to protect your pen investments but not looking to carry your whole collection, the Dee Charles single pen sleeve or the double pen sleeve ($25.50) might be an option for you.

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

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Paper-Oh Notebooks

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments
Notebook Review: Paper-Oh Notebooks

Review by Tina Koyama

When I first visited Paper-Oh’s site, I was immediately struck by the beauty of its products. The notebook designs all have an elegant Japanese look – refined and understated, even when bold colors and elements are used. (Their promotional information does refer to Japanese gift-wrapping and paper-folding inspiration.) Although they’re just ephemeral softcover notebooks like so many others, they are about as different as any I’ve seen. Unlike stapled stacks of paper, they look like “real” books.

While poking around the site, picking out my favorite products, I found a video talking about their story, and then it all made sense. The designers see themselves as bookbinders – not notebook producers – and their love for the art of bookbinding shows. As a dabbler in book arts myself, I was intrigued by the spark of something different in Paper-Oh.

Although I wasn’t able to find out where the binding is done, the books are designed in Berlin and Vancouver and printed in China.

Paper-Oh (a division of Hartley & Marks) offers seven distinct lines of notebooks in various sizes, colors and binding styles. I chose an A6 Puro (suggested retail $8.95) in Fuchsia, A5 Cahier (two for $12.95) in the Circulo version in black on red, and an A5 Circulo ($12.95) in red on black, all with blank pages. All styles offer the option of blank or ruled, and the Cahier is available in graph, too. As someone who prefers unruled pages for both sketching and writing, I give bonus points to any notebook maker that offers blank as an option.

Before I describe the individual styles I tested, I’ll mention a couple of things about the collection in general. Books in all styles come with a multi-purpose flexi page marker that matches the book’s cover. Rather than an attached ribbon (that many hardbound journals come with), the multi-purpose marker is loose and can be used like a traditional bookmark. It has adhesive on one end with scoring, so it can also be attached permanently to a cover and folded over, allowing for flexibility in use.
You’ve all seen the small accordion-folded booklet that comes in the pocket of every Moleskine, telling of its Bruce Chatwin legacy, etc. Paper-Oh’s insert similarly tells of the company’s design philosophy – but instead of being conventionally accordion-folded, it is irreverently folded asymmetrically, as if tossed in casually to crease on its own. This little insert expressed an insouciance that delighted me no end.

Bonus: The site includes instructions for an origami pencil holder! (OK, so I’m easily amused.)

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In Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Platinum Carbon Ink & Student Pens

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments

Jill asks:

Does the Preppy handle the Carbon ink? Are there others or only the desk pen that can handle Carbon ink?

Short answer: YES. I have put Platinum Carbon ink in the Preppy with no issues. You can even use the Platinum Carbon cartridges in the Preppy. Easy peasy!

I’ve also put Platinum Carbon and Platinum Pigment ink in Lamy Safaris. I am not Brad Dowdy and do not practice vigilant pen maintenance. I am slack beyond words about cleaning out many of my pens. Especially the ones that have Platinum ink in them because they tend to be daily carry tools for drawing and I don’t like to have them out of circulation for the cleaning, drying and refilling window. I even let Platinum Pigment Brown dry out in a Lamy Joy, just to see if I could clean it out. And I could. Took a bit of rinsing but because I could disassemble the whole pen ad nib unit it was not a big deal. So, I think you’re safe to go forth and torture that Preppy! Throw everything you’ve got at that $5 pen!

Samuele would like to find the best non-fountain pen for a student. His criteria is very specific:

1. not to expensive * (students are poor)
2. refillable with g2 standard ballpoint refill * (everybody love standards and disposable pens are a huge waste, standards also guaranteed fine size like 0.7 that are important if you do serious math with long apex and pedix etcetera)
3. it should be not to heavy, to reduce the fatigue *
4. a good comfortable design (like lamy) but that meet the comfort of the people who doesn’t write with in the good way (not like lamy safari or pelikan twist)
5. not too thick or too thin
6. a good grip possibly
7. happy color to contrast the grey of math (lamy safari rules here)

I have two recommendations for you, Samuele. Both of these are under $20 and are available in bright colors, accept Pilot G2 refills and are lightweight.

First up is the Lamy Tipo which is plastic with a rippled plastic grip. At $12.50 it’s a bargain priced pen and according to JetPens, it accepts around 100 different refills.

Next is the Pilot Metropolitan Rollerball. Bright colors? Check. Lightweight? Aluminum. Check! Pilot G2 refills? Check. Price? 13.50.

In Link Love

Link Love: Nibs & Erasers

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In news

News: KC Maker Faire, Oster Inks & Pencil Subscriptions

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment

This Weekend:

If you are in Kansas City, please come by the Maker Faire at Union Station. Not only is it tons of fun with all sorts of ‘bots and gizmos but there are also crafts and makers including Skylab Letterpress! There will all the wonderful Skylab goodies like posters, prints, coasters and some notepads you may recognize. I’ll be there helping out and we might even have some Col-o-rings squirreled away if you ask nicely. Don’t miss the epic experience including costumes, robots, 3D printing, crafts, food and more. Don’t forget sunscreen!

Blackwing 73: Lake Tahoe Edition

Blackwing unveiled its latest Volumes Edition this week, the #73 Lake Tahoe edition. This edition is a bright vivid blue with textural raised lines to mimic the topography of the lake. The number is the maximum depth of the lake in feet. The ferrule is plain silver and the eraser is white. The branding is white foil stamped. It’s a nice looking pencil overall but I see a striking California-centric trend following the John Muir, the Jade and now the Tahoe. I suppose that’s their focus with the California cedar as well. Maybe they are clustering their themes by year… this year California?

Baron Fig Archer Prismatic

Baron Fig also introduced its newest release of its pencil, The Archer Prismatic. This time the Archer comes in three bright colors: red, yellow and sky blue. Subscribers to the quarterly Archer subscriptions should be getting theirs in the post this week.

Retro51 Tornado Popper Play Ball!

Retro51 unveiled the latest Tornado Popper this past week. It’s the new Play Ball! edition and they are selling out fast. If you collect the Tornado Poppers and you like this one, you better hoop over to your favorite retailer quick and purchase it because they are selling out fast.

(photo from Anderson Pens)

Robert Oster Signature Inks:

Robert Oster has been releasing ink colors faster than I can keep up. At the Chicago Pen Show was the release of Ryde Green and Tangerine. A couple weeks ago he released the new Blue Water Ice and then Plumb Nut and Sublime. Somewhere along the way Marrone Mustard and River of Fire were also released. And this week there’s more with Eucalyptus Leaf, Red Clay and Golden Brown.

While I appreciate the constant influx of new inks, I think the flood of colors makes it hard for consumers to appreciate the colors and hard for retailers to sell and promote the new colors. I would like to see releases from Oster in a more targeted manner.– maybe four to six colors released quarterly? That would give both shop owners and consumers a chance to appreciate the inks they’ve purchased to appreciate what they have and crave new colors.

Also, in the midst of all of these new releases, the price for Oster inks also went up. I’m sure there’s a lot of reasons for the price increase

And more new sponsors!

Federalist Pens joins the ranks this week. All readers can use the coupon code “desk” at checkout to get an additional 5% off at checkout! Federalist Pens already discounts 20% or more and offers “Daily Deals” that are at least 20% off so the extra 5% on top sweetens the deal a little bit more. Federalist Pens also offers free shipping on all orders over $99.

Appelboom has also come on board as a sponsor to offer great service and products to our European (and global) readers. Appelboom has a huge array of brands of pens, inks, paper goods and more.

In Paper Review

Product Review: Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book (by Tina not Ana!)

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment

Review by Tina Koyama

Like many fountain pen aficionados, I have way more ink than I’ll ever use in this lifetime (but don’t worry, I have several more planned to take care of my stationery and art supply stash). I’ve been keeping a log book of sorts to track all the colors. The problem with using a notebook is that I had initially assigned one page per color family, so when I filled a page (it happened way more quickly than I’d anticipated!), the rest had to be put on a different page out of sequence. Do it all over again? Argh.

When Ana offered me a Col-o-ring Ink Testing Book, I knew it was an ideal opportunity to put my inks in order and log them in a more functional system – this time in the Col-o-ring book’s loose-leaf format. I know a compact ring-bound card system idea isn’t new, but it certainly is the best format for comparing colors easily (like paint chips at the hardware store). It means I’ll never run out of space within a color category, and if I eventually decide Iroshizuku Yama-budo is really closer to pink than to purple, it’s easily moved. Much better than a bound book! I also simply love the way the pages (2-by-4 inches with nicely rounded corners) look when fanned out.

A major improvement over my previous system is the paper. Unlike most fountain pen writers, I also use my inks for drawing. One of my favorite techniques using water-soluble fountain pen ink is to wash the line lightly with water for shading, so it’s important to me to see how the washed ink looks. The fountain pen-friendly notebook I had been using isn’t sized for water media, so I had to make separate wash samples in a sketchbook. The Col-o-ring book’s 100-pound paper is heavy enough to withstand a light wash. In addition, the surface sizing keeps the ink from sinking into the paper, which allows water-soluble inks to wash nicely and sheening inks to show their stuff beautifully. (The paper reminds me of Stillman & Birn’s Alpha sketchbook paper in both texture and sizing.)

With a subtle tooth (seen most easily in my sample of Viarco Artgraf water-soluble graphite pencil), the paper’s texture surprised me a bit, since it’s intended for fountain pens and dip nibs, which usually do better on smooth paper. But I made all my ink samples with a flexy Zebra G dip pen, and it had no problem with the tooth.

In fact, I started thinking that the tooth on the paper would be nice for pencils, too – but why stop at pencils? After finishing the inks, I kept right on going and sampled all my favorite water-soluble media – colored pencils, graphite pencils, brush pens, markers – just to see how they’d do. They sampled beautifully, and I gave them all my usual swipe with a waterbrush to test the wash. From now on, the Col-o-ring Book will be my handy go-to sampler when I want to see how any water-soluble medium will behave.

The book contains 100 pages, which is plenty for my bottled ink collection (I’m leaving my ginormous ink sample collection for one of those future lifetimes I referred to).

Although I wrote all the ink titles with a fine dip pen, I know that inks can look entirely different when used with other nibs, especially the fatter nibs that I favor. So whenever I ink up a fountain pen, I write a sample on the reverse side of the card as a reminder of how it looks.

Ok, now that the review is done, here’s the pop quiz: How many of you get how to pronounce Col-o-ring? I’m sure you all do. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t get it until I heard Ana and Brad talk about it on the Pen Addict podcast. Dang – that’s the kind of product name I wish I’d come up with!

tina-koyamaTina 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 The Well-Appointed Desk for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Editor’s Note: Tina was in no way coerced into saying nice things about this product by the editor. I’m glad she liked it though.