PSA: Cleaning Up Your Email InBox with Unroll.Me

Unroll.Me

I recently discovered Unroll.Me which quickly and easily let’s you sort through all those newsletters you’ve subscribed to and will help you unsubscribe from the ones you don’t want. Then it allows you to sort the newsletters you do want to keep into a digest format called a “roll-up” or leave them in your email inbox if that’s more appropriate.

I used the web-based service and it took about 10 minutes to sort through the massive list of email newsletters I was receiving and decide which ones I wanted to keep and which ones I wanted to roll-up or leave in my inbox. I was able to unsubscribe from 31 newsletters in one go! The roll-up is then delivered daily as one email that I can read through instead of potentially 20 different emails. Joy!

Unroll.Me cleanup

The service is free which is awesome and is also available an iOS app. I’ll need to go through a few more email accounts later and will try out the iOS app for those account.

I think Unroll.Me is a good alternative to my current system which has been using a bunch of rules to filter newsletters into folders which end up getting ignored which is the method I’ve been using. I know that there are some other services available to accomplish a similar task like Sanebox which is frequently recommended by Mac Power Users but this free service seems like a nice “training wheels” version for me before I invest in a paid-for service which might be more power than I need.


This is not a promotional post. I just found this website and I liked the service so I’m sharing it with you as a public service in hopes that you’ll like it too and will help streamline your digital work process.

Link Love: Who Let The Pens Out?

Awesome new Link artwork by Chris Grine, illustrator of the web comic Wicked Crispy.
Artwork by Chris Grine, illustrator of the web comic Wicked Crispy.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Planners & Organizers:

Other Interesting Things:

Ask The Desk: 4mm Grid Paper Notebooks

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Romain asks:

I am desperately looking for a large notebook (A5-A4) with 4mm squared paper; do you have any advice for me?

This took some hunting and I could only find one printed option that featured the coveted 4mm grid paper It’s the Miquelrius leather-look journals. They are available in 100-, 200-, and 300-sheet books with black, blue or red covers for $9.99 to $14.99. The paper quality is decent. I used a Miquelrius book for ink testing for some time early in my blog career before switching to Rhodia paper which is a bit more hardy.

Miquelrius books

There are more images of the whole Miquelrius Grid journal I used available on Flickr.

Another option for grid paper would be to print your own paper. Paper Snake offers printable graph in a variety of quadrille and graph paper sizes in metric and imperial sizes including 4mm.

Paper Snake site

Ink Review: KWZ Menthol Green

KWZ Menthol Green Ink

KWZ Menthol Green Ink

It wasn’t until I started writing with KWZ Menthol Green ($12 for 60ml bottle) that I realized what I liked about it so much – it’s essentially Emerald of Chivor without the sparkle. It might be a tad bit bluer when actually writing with it, but KWZ Menthol Green is probably the closest I’ve found to a sparkle-free substitute for Emerald of Chivor. It’s not water proof but it stands up to a little water without completely losing its shape so that’s handy. It’s a good shading ink, and its priced right too!

I testedd the ink with several different Esterbrook nibs which will account for the color variations. I used wide nibs, fine nibs, flex nibs and even a slightly janky nib. All worked well with the Menthol Green, even Mr. Janky Nib.

KWZ Menthol Green Ink

KWZ Menthol Green doesn’t have the red halo that Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku has either and its a considerably cheaper ink as well.

All-in-all, I can’t say enough nice things about the ink. The only bad thing is that KWZ inks sells out fast. Keep your eyes peeled for it. Vanness usually tries to get it in stock for pen shows so save your pennies for the next big show (DC and SF, for sure).


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.

Pencil Review: Louise Fili Tutti Frutti Colored Pencils

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I fall for the gorgeous packaging of Louise Fili’s pencil sets EVERY TIME. I bought the Perfetto Pencils but they were double ended red-and-graphite pencils so how could I not? The red leads were pleasingly soft and the graphite was decent not to mention the foil stamping on the pencils was gorgeous so for looks alone, I loved the Perfettos even though the cores were basically shattered from the moment I got them. But did that stop me from buying the Tutti Frutti colored pencil set? No, of course not.

The packaging on the Tutti Frutti box said it contained “12 Pencils 6 Colors”. What my mammalian pea-brain did not process was that that meant that these pencils would be split pencils and that the box would contain four sets of split pencils that each had complementary colors on each end. From one perspective, it means I have three sets of pencils to share with friends. From another perspective, it means I got three pencils for $12.95– in a lovely box with the same great silver foil stamping on each pencil as the Perfettos. The pencils are round with black cores, lovely smooth paint finishes and are packaged in a matte, slip case box. I am a sucker for good typography and there is beautiful typography all over – on the pencils and the packaging. Twelve dollars and ninety five cents worth of good typography.

Louise Fili Pencils

Colorwise, the pencils are quite basic: red, yellow, blue, orange, green and purple. The basic primary and secondary colors. From a quality standpoint, the pencils are waxy and the colors are bright. On the slightly toothy Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook paper that I tested them on, the Fili pencils didn’t blend very much but I had done some earlier tests in my Seawhite of Brighton Artist’s Travel Journal which has a smoother, albeit slightly warm white paper, and the pencils did blend to allow me to make some tertiary colors more easily.

inkbottle

As you can see, the Prismas blend more easily than the Tutti Fruttis. I drew over the pencil with Golden High Flow acrylics in a paint pen (dioxazine purple, if you’re curious). For the price and convenience of having three sticks with six colors, the Tutti Frutti pencils are pretty decent, if you are inclined to be taken in by fabulous packaging and the novelty of double-ended pencils like I am. Ah, novelty pencils!

I think that a box of Tutti Fruttis would be a great way to have an assortment of colored pencils handy for traveling, particularly going into summer, and the ability to share the additional sets with friends or kids for road trips is a bonus.

The pencils are regular sized so they fit into a regular sharpener. Being completely round does mean they have a tendency to roll and that means they will fall off the table and break at a moment’s notice so keep that sharpener handy. Would  replace my trusty Prismacolors with Tuttti Fruitts? No, but I will definitely keep a set of these in my travel case for drawing on-the-go.

Fashionable Friday: We Are All Mad Here

FF-Alice

This week, I spied a beautiful photo of the costumes from the new Disney Alice Through the Looking Glass film and I thought “This is definitely a Fashionable Friday”. The rich, cacophony of colors and brocade fabrics, not to mention a dappling of pop culture, is the perfect basis for a 3-day weekend Fashionable Friday. And this weekend looks to be a stormy one here in the Midwest, so going to the movies is definitely an option.

And my project is all wrapped up so I’ll be getting back on schedule with reviews too!

  • Funko POP Disney Alice: Through The Looking Glass McTwisp $8.95 (via Amazon)
  • Retro 51 Slim Tornado Electron Rollerball Pen $30 (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Alice Through The Looking Glass Lipstick in Alice $18 (via Urban Decay)
  • OPI What’s The Hatter With You $9 (via HB Beauty Bar)
  • Sailor Storia Pigmented Fountain Pen Ink (30ml) $24 $18 (via Pen Chalet)
  • Ecridor Chevron gold fountain pen € 285 (via Fontoplumo)
  • Alice Through The Looking Glass Chronosphere Bluetooth Speaker $49.99 (via Amazon)
  • Grand Street Zip Around Personal Organizer in Sweetheart Pink $198 (via Kate Spade)
  • De Atramentis Gold Fountain Pen Ink (35ml Bottle) $12.95 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Kaweco Special Nib Holder + Nib $36 (via JetPens)
  • Paperblanks Ultra Lined Journal in Silver Filigree Aubergine $29.95 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Funko POP Disney Alice in Wonderland Queen of Hearts $9.79 (via Amazon)
  • Visconti Purple Bottled Ink (40ml) $17.50 (via Pen Boutique)
  • Midori D-Clips Cat Paper Clips (Box of 12) $5.50 (via JetPens)
  • Platinum Modern Maki-e Fountain Pen Phoenix Fine Nib $144 (via Pen Chalet)

Don’t forget to check out all the Memorial Weekend Sales! Goldspot Pens, Pen Chalet, and Kate Spade are all offering extra discounts on their sites through the weekend so if you’ve been planning to order, don’t forget to use those coupon codes! Goldspot and Pen Chalet are both sponsors of this site. Kate Spade isn’t but her deal was too good not to mention.

Link Love: More Link Fury Than Ever!

Awesome new Link artwork by Chris Grine, illustrator of the web comic Wicked Crispy.
Awesome new Link artwork by Chris Grine, illustrator of the web comic Wicked Crispy.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper & Notebooks:

Planners & Organizers:

Other Interesting Things:


Super shoutout this week to Chris Grine for the new Link artwork. I ran into Chris at Planet Comicon and he kindly offered to whip up a new Link for me. If you think Link is awesome, you should check out his web comic Wicked Crispy or his Dark Horse graphic novel series Chickenhare. Thanks, Chris, you totally made my week!