In Ink Review

Ink Review: Diamine Teal

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

Diamine Teal header

Can there ever be too many deep teal blue-green inks? Not in my world. Diamine Teal ($14.94 for 80ml bottle) is a deep ocean blue-green color. Its got a bit of shading in a finer nib pen but is more evident in wider strokes and in my painted title. The color is muted enough and dark enough to work-appropriate but interesting enough to keep the most discerning pen geek engaged.

Diamine Teal

When I loaded Diamine Teal into my TWSBI 580 Christmas Green I was immediately reminded of another favorite, DeAtramentis Petrol. However, DeAtramentis inks are a little more watery than Diamine and the Petrol color is a bit more vibrant than the Teal. So, clearly, I have reasons to need both.

Diamine Teal Swab comparison

Akkerman #24 Zuiderpark Blauw-Groen is also very similar but is a little darker and has a visible sheen. Akkerman inks are also a bit more expensive and harder to acquire in the States so if you’re looking for a good alternative to #24, I think Diamine Teal is a very close alternative.

 

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: 30 Years and Still Pink

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments

FF-PrettyinPink

Sure, Sunday is the Oscars which to some will be an event to note but, to me, the event of the week is the 30th anniversary of Pretty in Pink, a seminal film of my youth that solidified my taste in men (I’m pretty sure I married Duckie), my taste in music (from New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen to an appreciation for 60s classics) and my style icon Andi, AKA Molly Ringwald circa 1986.

For Andie:

  • Kaweco Sport Skyline fountain pen pink € 18,95 (via Fontoplumo)
  • Retro 51 Tornado Classic Lacquer Rollerball in Pink $25 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Palomino Blackwing Pearl $22 per dozen (via Fresh Stock Japan)
  • KUM Masterpiece Long-Point Sharpener $17 (via CW Pencils)
  • Stillman & Birn Premium Alpha Hardbound Sketchbook 5.5″ x 8.5″ $18.50 (via JetPens)
  • Diamine Hope Pink Fountain Pen Ink in 30 ml Mini Bottle $7.50 (via JetPens)
  • Kurochiku Japanese Pattern Cord Clips in Maiko (Apprentice Geisha) Design $8.25 (via JetPens)

For Iona:

  • Midori Traveler’s Notebook Starter Kit – Regular Size – Black Leather $46.50 (via JetPens)
  • Caran D’ache Metal Collection Fluorescent Orange Ballpoint Pen $19.95 (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Pilot Metropolitan Fountain Pen in Purple Leopard $15 (via Pen Chalet)
  • Artemis Fiber Pen Case in Newspaper Print $12 (via JetPens)

For Duckie:

  • Platinum Preppy 02 Extra Fine Fountain Pen in Black $4.45 (via JetPens)
  • Chicago Graph Paper 3-Pack for $9.95 (via Field Notes)
  • Word Notebooks Standard Memorandum Notebook 2016 (via JetPens)
  • Karas Kustoms Bolt Pen in Brass £68.50 (via Cult Pens)

Get in the spirit of the film with Jon Cryer’s epic singalong to “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding.

And because it seems to be fitting to include the fabulous music that defined my teen years:

The only things missing from the soundtrack are the INXS track and the Rave-Ups which is the band that plays in the nightclub.

In Tools

Review: Yasutomo Niji Pearlescent Watercolor 21- color set

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment

Yasutomo Niji Pearlescent Watercolor 21- color set

Yasutomo Niji Pearlescent Watercolor 21-Color Set ($5.25) was a total impulse purchase. The price point was so low and sometimes I’m just a crow and require something shiny. Besides, I love watercolor sets. I knew this was not going to be the end-all be-all of watercolor sets because no watercolor set that sells for under $6 is going to rival the Daniel Smith tube paints I have which can sometimes cost $30 per itty bitty tube and are made from grinding up the horns of unicorns. Okay, not really but some are actually made from real ground-up gemstones so they might as well be unicorns. So, anyway… back to the 21-color pearlescent set from Yasumoto.

The set comes in a lovely plastic box which makes it perfectly portable and fine to share with your favorite junior artists. There is a slot to store your favorite brush in the case so you can keep it in the kit. I suspect my niece and I may one day paint many a My Little Pony with these.

Yasutomo Niji Pearlescent Watercolor 21- color set

I aligned my swatches with the colors in the pan so you can get a good idea how vivid the colors appear in the pans versus how they look when they are applied to paper. I used my Strathmore multimedia sketchbook for swatching and a Princeton Neptune synthetic squirrel #8 round paintbrush from Blick. I wet each color first before I swatched to give the pans time to rehydrate. However, the colors were still quite a bit lighter when I swatched them. They were quite luminescent though with lots of sparkle.

Overall, there seemed to be a lot of beachy colors: shell, sand, earthones and sea hues. There were not a lot of bright, fantasy colors. Everything was very subtle. The colors are quite pretty but they do not paint as bright as they appear in the palette.

The rinse water also had a lot of sparkle in it too so be warned not to cross-contaminate your rinse water with other paints.

Yasutomo Niji Pearlescent Watercolor 21- color set

In the end, I suspect I will use the Yasutomo Pearleascent colors as an accent with more vivid watercolors rather than as a standalone set. But its a fun little set and would definitely be a nice addition for the paint hoarders out there.

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.

In feature

A Safer Way To Sit

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments

I keep hearing people talk that they sit too much and that they know its bad for them. I know they are right but I wanted more details on exactly why it’s bad. So here are a few articles:

The health hazards of sitting (via The Washington Post)

The “Sitting Is Killing You” Infographic Shows Just How Bad Prolonged Sitting Is (via Lifehacker)

Most experts, including Cornell University, recommend that for every 20-30 minutes of sitting, you get up and walk or move around for two minutes. Getting up and moving is considered as effective as a costly (and often less work-efficient) standing desk and its free. Add in 30 minutes of brisk activity each day (which can be broken into 10 minute segments) and you might just live a longer, healthier life.

I’m going to try it by using the Pomodoro Method. I’ll work for 25 minutes and then walk around for five minutes. I also used to sit on a yoga ball and I have to say I’ve been missing the bounciness. I think I might reinflate it and try that again as well to help improve my posture too.

Do you worry about how much you sit? Are you using a standing desk or trying any techniques to walk, stand or move more? Any tips?

In Link Love

Link Love: Pen Shows & Crotchety Old Men

Author AnaPosted on

rp_link-ana1111111111111111-1-1-1-1-1.jpgPosts of the Week:

What Happened When I Tried To Declutter My Brain (via FastCo) which lead me to the podcast Note to Self’s project Infomagical, a 5-day effort to make information overload disappear. I recommend listening to the whole Note to Self series and trying to streamline your digital information overload… I’m willing to bet you have one too!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper & Notebooks:

Planners & Organizers:

Other Interesting Things:

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Akkerman #9 Laan Van Nieuw Oost-Indigo

Author AnaPosted on 8 Comments

Akkerman #9 header

Akkerman #9 Laan Van Nieuw Oost-Indigo ($28 for a 60ml bottle) appears to translate to “New Eastern Indigo Avenue” which is not at all what I expected when I looked at the color. I thought it was like “new moon night sky” indigo or something like that since its such a deep blue color and has a fascinating reddish halo in the swatch.

Akkerman #9

I paired it with my Lamy Scala in blue black which seemed like a fitting match and the 14K gold nib let the ink color and shade beautifully. Yesterday in the comments, someone mentioned how Lamy pens tended to lighten inks overall which was such a wake up call for me. And I think it probably holds true for this Akkerman #9 too. The ink looks darker in the painted title and I suspect in a wetter pen, the ink would be darker overall. But I think the color is legible and shades nicely in the Lamy so its completely useable even in a drier pen.

Akkerman #9 swab comparison

Compared with several of my other deep blue black inks, its clear that the Akkerman #9 is bluer and more “denim-y” than most. Noodler’s Bad Blue Heron is probably the only one that’s more blue while maintaining the deep tone of a blue-black. Akkerman #9 seems quite similar in color to the Caran D’ache Magnetic Blue which is not quite as vivid and actually a bit more expensive, if you can believe it.

Are you a fan of blue-black inks? Do you like them more vivid or more subdued? I waffle between wanting a deeper blue-black and preferring a bluer blue-black. Either way, I love blue blacks and Akkerman #9 is no exception.

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.

In Fountain Pen Review

Review: Lamy Al-Star Charged Green

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

Laym AL-Star Charged Green Writing Sample

The new limited edition Lamy AL-Star in Charged Green is absolutely beautiful. It clearly is THE signature color for a Lamy pen for me. I’ve always favored the AL-Stars to the Safaris as well for the beautiful luster of the the anodized aluminum as well and the price increase for the aluminum is nominal for the added good looks. If you are a green aficionado then you will want to grab one of the Lamy AL-Stars in Charged Green this year while you can. It’s really a lovely addition to any pen collection and can be had in the fountain pen, rollerball or ballpoint model. I really get a kick out of the 80s springy look of the ballpoint if only I liked ballpoint pens.

Laym AL-Star Charged Green Writing Test

I got the Charged Green model with the F nib, however, the Charged Green ink was as much of a letdown to me as last year’s Neon Lime. Sadly, both colors are too light to be used for much more than highlighting. I even swapped out the nib in the AL-Star from the F to an M to a 1.1mm in hopes that a wider nib might allow the Charged Green ink to be usable. Sadly, even when it dried, it was still too light and shaded too dramatically from super light to just-barely-legible to be usable.

n the end, I swapped out the Charged Green ink fro Diamine Meadow which was a close match to the pen and much darker so that I could use the smooth F nib.

feb2-2

Laym AL-Star Charged Green Ink Comparison

In my swab comparisons, you can see that even Pilot Iroshizuku Chiku-Rin appears darker than either the Charged Green or the Neon Lime. Lamy keeps trying to make a good lime green. Maybe next year…?

Laym AL-Star Charged Green Pen Comparison

Finally, I also included a comparison photo of the Neon Lime Safari and the Pilot Retro Pop in green so that it is clear the the the Lamy Charged Green Al-Star is definitely more of a yellow-y green. Its definitely a metallic guacamole green when compared to the other two pens.

All-in-all, I’m a big fan of the AL-Star in Charged Green but the ink is not what I’d hoped it would be. But, of course, as a fan of all things green, this pen color was made for me.

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