The Well-Appointed Desk

I have never owned a fountain pen before and I want to know which is a good medium priced ($30 or so?) pen that won’t require a lot of maintenance and easy to master.

At the $30 or lower price point, I would probably recommend a Pilot Metropolitan or a Kaweco Sport with an extra fine or fine nib to start with (Jet Pens stocks a wide array of these). The Pilot nibs are going to be finer overall, even with the same marking on them, so if you know you prefer a wider point but would like to try the Pilot Metropolitan, I recommend starting with a medium nib. The Kaweco Sports are smaller, pocket pens but the nibs are statistically excellent for the price point and are screw-in so if you find you like the experience but would like a wider or narrower nib, a replacement nib unit is about $10-$15.

Pilot, Kaweco and Faber-Castell Grip ($20) all use cartridges or converters that make them easy to fill and clean.

Overall, I find that most fountain pens that have smooth grip areas are left-handed compatible. The biggest issues tend to relate to writing hand position and whether you are inclined to smudge ink. These issues can be resolved with quicker drying inks like Noodlers Bernanke line or a finer nib that lays down less ink as you write. Paper stock can affect this as well. Rhodia or Tomoe River is great paper for fountain pens as the ink does not bleed or feather but it can often increase dry time. Leuchtturm1917 paper is a good alternative. Most ink dries fairly quickly on Leuchtturm paper and has minimal show through and bleed through.

You may want to check out the article I wrote for The Cramped about fountain pens for lefties and the article I wrote for On Fountain Pens about my favorite fountain pens for lefties.

I received an email from Anurag asking about left-handed writers and flex nib pens.

I just found your website recently and its great! I notice that your a lefty. Have you tried any flex pens yet? I am hesitant on buying a flex pen due to this being a very new hobby for me. I’m a lefty over-writer( very similar to your style) and would love to hear about your experience. Thanks!

The key to writing with a flex pen is being able to make wide down strokes and thin upstrokes to get the look we are most accustomed to seeing. Unfortunately, if you overwrite, this is not going to work with a flex pen if you are writing left to right. So you have a couple of options. You can learn to flex write from below the baseline, or underwrite. Its hard but this is the technique I’ve learned as its the most natural adaptation and easiest to expand to other types of calligraphy.

Master Penman John DiCollibus demonstrates some various angles for holding a flexible dip pen in this video which might help in showing some options to help you in getting started with flex nibs.

There are lots of other videos on YouTube showing how other left-handed calligraphers overcome our inconveniences of writing in the same direction that the English/Roman languages are written so its definitely worth exploring to see how others tackle the problem.

If you happen to make it to a pen show in the US, Deborah Basel is often teaching calligraphy workshops and is an excellent left-handed calligrapher and a fabulous resource. I highly recommend seeking out her classes.

Matt Vergotis, a left-handed calligrapher, relies more heavily on a brush pen rather than flex nibs that allow him to come at his work from the side rather than the top. Felt-tip brush pens are a bit more forgiving than flex nibs and can give some similar results with thicks and thins. You might want to check out some of his videos on YouTube or on Instagram. You might also consider enrolling in his lettering class on SkillShare where he shares a lot of his left-handed tips.

In feature

Happy Lefthanders Day!

AnaAugust 13, 2016August 13, 20162 Comments

Happy Lefthanders Day! I thought I’d celebrate this weekend with a few posts specific to left handers that I’ve had queued up for awhile. So, all you lefties out there, this weekend is for you! Whether you hook when you write (also called overwriting like President Obama, pictured below) or write from below the baseline in a more neutral hand position like previous US Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Yes! Five out of the last seven US Presidents were left-handed! Amazing.

U.S. President Barack Obama signs his first act as president, a proclamation, after being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States during the inauguration ceremony in Washington January 20, 2009. REUTERS/Molly Riley (UNITED STATES)

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Travel Edition

AnaAugust 12, 2016August 12, 20167 Comments

FF:DC

I confess I spent the better part of what little free time I had in DC (at breakfast, on the train, at the airport, etc) trying to figure out how to post this Fashionable Friday via my iPad. Let’s just say that the technology has not come far enough to allow me to accomplish the task to my satisfaction without being able to use pretty fancy photo editing tools AND then bounce back and forth between typing and copying and pasting copious links in order for all you lovely folks to be able to purchase or at least browse the items shown.

Keeping in mind, I had nothing but an original iPad Mini with no external keyboard (because I couldn’t find mine before I left). So, I know I need to upgrade my iPad soon but according to MacRumors’ Buying Guide, I should wait to upgrade all my Apple gear until after the September announcement. And according to the Trib, there won’t be a new MacBook Pro until 2017. Why do you hate me, Apple?

Sorry, I got way off Fashionable Friday topic there for a moment! Here’s my travel edition of Fashionable Friday, finally. I photographed it with iPhone, with all my favorite travel goodies spread out on the floor of the airport terminal while I waited for my flight, which was delayed by two hours. I would have used my “good camera” but I wanted it included in the shot.

Olympus PEN E-P2 (2010 model) 12.3MP with 17mm f2.8 pancake lens $488 (via Amazon)
Anitbacterial Moist Wipes Individually Wrapped 30-pack $3.69 (via CVS)
Pilot Foam Eraser $1.65 (via Jet Pens)
Clinique Different Lip Color in Angel Red $17 (via Clinique)
Dux Brass Sharpener with Leather Case $22 (via C.W. Pencils)
Lookout 3-Pen Holster $25 (via NockCo)
Platinum Carbon Desk Pen $9.60 (via Pen Chalet)
Seven Color Rainbow Pencil $1.60 (via C.W. Pencils)
Exacompta Forum Refillable Journal in Turquoise Club Leatherette $24.50 (via JetPens)
Blackwing Volumes #56 Dozen for $24.95 (via Pencils.com)
Lamy Scala Fountain Pen in BlueBlack – colorway longer available though others are starting at €85 (via Fontoplumo)
Cross Century Ltd. Black Gingham $39.95 with Switch-It 0.7mm Mechanical Pencil converter refill $8.50 (via Goldspot Pens)
Pacifica Roll-On Perfume in Island Vanilla $12 (via Ulta)
Caran d’Ache Sketcher Non-Repro Blue Pencil Pack of 2 for $5.95 (via Jet Pens)
Uni Signo Broad Opaque White Gel Pen $2.50 (via Jet Pens)
Zebra Sarasa Dry Gel 0.4 mm Pen with Black Ink in Soft Blue body $2.55 (via Jet Pens)

In Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Notebooks (TN, XL and A5 Filo)

AnaAugust 11, 2016August 11, 201619 Comments

Matt writes:

Dear desk, My question is: I own two travelers Midori journals. One is the regular size while the other is the passport sized one. I am currently using the passport sized one for planning and bullet journaling/taking random notes in. I am not sure what to use the regular sized one for at this point. I was thinking as a daily journal. Any suggestions? P.S. — Do you use these too? Thank you. Matthew

inky-TN

The great thing about Traveler’s notebooks is that they can be used as you need them. So if you find that most of your needs are being served by the passport-sized cover right now, you can put aside the regular-sized one for awhile. However, I found that I loved the size of the regular sized Traveler’s notebook, even though it seems a little unusual. They are particularly good for journaling and traveloguing. I ended up using mine for planning too and the smaller sizes for note-taking and randomness. I don’t think I provided much clarity but the flexibility is the key to Traveler’s notebooks and the ability to use small booklets means you can try one method for awhile and see what works best for you. I’m excited to try my newest inserts, the Ink Journal with the Currently Inked card and the Inky Fingers Currently Inked Journal to help me keep track of what inks are in which pens.

Thomas asks:

I start law school in a few weeks, and I’m looking for a nice notebook to use for class notes. I just moved into my first house, and found my notes from undergraduate and and a masters program. They’re spread across lots of spiral notebooks that are looking as ratty as ever. I know that my notes for law school will be even more important, so I’d like to make sure they have a good home. In reading through your reviews, it seems most of the notebooks you look at are the A5 size–I carry (and love) a Moleskine A5 for meeting notes, ideas, and to-do lists–but for class notes I need something bigger, in the neighborhood of 8×10 or 8.5×11. I really like the classic look of Moleskine, but was also intrigued by the hardcovers from Baron Fig–only to be dismayed to find that they don’t make a larger version. So I’m wondering if you have a sense of who makes lined books that are little bigger, and that are affordable enough that I can buy a dozen or so over time without taking out a second mortgage. I’m also left handed, so that means that smearing is my worst enemy. I write everyday with a Uniball Vision Needle pen, which usually dries very quickly for me, but sometimes it has trouble on the Moleskine paper. And if anyone has done enough paper tests, its you! I would be extremely grateful for any thoughts you might have. Thanks for your time! Cheers, -Thomas

XL-notebooks

The first notebook I thought of was the Leuchtturm1917 Master series (A4 measures 9″ x 12.5″ – 225 x 315 mm – 121 pages in the Slim and 223 in the standard Master), which I suspect might be second mortgage requiring at around $27 per book for the Slim and $30 for the regular Master. Jenni Bick stocks both in a variety of colors and all the paper configurations (plain, ruled, graph or dot grid). The paper quality is good and the books hold up well but they are pricey.

So, I went digging for other options.

Still a bit pricey, the Blackwing Luxury Large Soft Cover Notebook (7.5 x 10) offers 160 pages of 100 gsm paper in plain, lined or graph and will fit into the Blackwing Large Folio. European Paper sells the books for $21.95 each but offers volume discount pricing so if you decide this is the notebook for you, you might save a few pennies ordering in bulk.

The Fabriano EcoQua Notebooks are available in 8×12″ size in either staplebound booklets with 38 sheets ($4.79) or gluebound with 90 sheets ($8.35) from Dick Blick. Its smooth 85gsm soft white paper that should work well with your Uniball Vision and available in lined or dot gird. The covers are cardstock, however, so its not as durable as a hardcover notebook but definitely easier on the wallet.

If anyone has other A4-ish sized notebook recommendations for Thomas, please leave them in the comments. Thanks!

Emily asks:

I’m looking for an A5 notebook that comes pre-punched with filofax-esque holes. I would like to use my A5 filo as the “home” for all the notes I take in meetings without actually taking my filo with me to meetings. Ideally it would also have perforated pages. Am I asking too much of the notebook world for such a thing? Thanks!!!

I have not seen any A5 notebooks that are pre-punched with holes for Filofax and that’s most distressing! I noticed that Michael’s was stocking pre-punched Personal-sized paper (not perforated) recently for their Recollections “Creative Year” planner lines but not A5. They had a custom larger-sized binder with four holes. So odd and unhelpful.

Readers, if you can help Emily, please leave a note in the comments. Thanks!

In podcast

Podcast: Art Supply Posse Ep. 10

AnaAugust 10, 2016August 10, 2016Leave a comment

tri-tones-1 A little bit worse from the road wear, Heather and I are back for the final installment of our series on colored pencils this week on Art Supply Posse. I almost couldn’t remember where I was! I was so tired last night! We cover a little news and follow-up, do our drawing for our first giveaway, yawn a couple times and talk about the colored pencil weirdos — the misfits, and the ones that defy category. I like all colored pencils, even the weirdos.

Hope you like the episode and next week we promise to be awake and ready to discuss the heady topic: calling yourself an artist. If you have a comment or question or your own story, please let us know. We’d love to share it on the episode. Thanks!