In Link Love

Link Love: Lori, Louis and Lumagraph

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Lori (of DeskofLori fame) used De Atramentis Cucumber and a Pilot Envelope Pen on a Rhodia Dotpad. Find out more about Lori by visiting her blog or Twitter feed
Lori (of DeskofLori fame) used De Atramentis Cucumber and a Pilot Envelope Pen on a Rhodia Dotpad. Find out more about Lori by visiting her blog or Twitter feed

Fountain Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Planning & Organizers:

Other Cool Stuff:

PS: If you’re interested in being the featured art on an upcoming Link Love, write, draw, photograph, or doodle an original “Link Love” image. It can be lettering, calligraphy, your own interpretation of Link or anything else you think might relate to the weekly list of pen/pencil-centric blog links.

Email your submission to me at chair@wellappointeddesk.com. Please include any link information you’d like in the image credit (your name, Twitter handle, Instagram, blog, etc). Also include any information about inks, tools, paper, etc used in your creation. Please let me know that you give me permission to include it in the weekly Link Love post here on the blog and that the image is your original piece.

In Pen Review

Review: J. Herbin CreaPen Pinceau Brush Pen

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

J. Herbin Creapen Brush Pen

J. Herbin has gotten into the refillable brush pen arena with the CreaPen Pinceau Refillable Brush Pen ($20). It features a long narrow barrel design like traditional Japanese calligraphy brushes. The entire barrel is plastic and has minimal branding printed in gold. The cap is a simple faceted shape with no clip.The overall design of the pen is plain and simple. It does not offend visually but its pretty average looking overall.

What was intriguing to me was the synthetic bristle brush. The Akashiya Sai watercolor brushes are one of my favorite brush pens and they also use the synthetic bristles so I was hoping the CreaPen bristles would be similar.

J. Herbin Creapen Brush Pen

The tip holds a nice crisp point and is very springy making it fun for brush lettering and drawing. The ink flow is dark and black and dries pretty quickly. There were no smudges on my writing sample which is pretty impressive considering how much ink I laid down on a hot, humid day on a large Rhodia Uni-Blank #18 pad.

J. Herbin Creapen Brush Pen

For me, the biggest surprise is that the ink is completely waterproof when dry. This makes the CreaPen and accompanying ink prefect for outlining work mixed with watercolors or other wet media.

The pen ships with three black ink cartridges that appear to be slightly non-standard in shape and feature a metal ball bearing in the cartridge. Packs of four cartridge refills ($8 per pack) are available in black as well as four other colors Since the black ink is waterproof, I suspect that the cartridge could be refilled with Platinum Carbon Ink rather than using the J. Herbin cartridges but I’m curious if the non-black colors are also waterproof. I’d also like to see if a standard cartridge or converter would work with the CreaPen as a way to use non-waterproof inks. If anyone has tried this, please leave a comment to let me know if it works.

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 Paper Review

Follow-Up: Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

I have filled almost ever page in the Stillman & Birn Epsilon sketchbook I reviewed last year. I started working in it regularly about a month ago when I started taking some online drawing and painting classes and I thought I’d share with you how well it held up to regular use and abuse.

Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

I absolutely love the 100 lb/150 gsm natural white, smooth paper. I’ve used ink, gouache, watercolor, acrylic and colored pencils throughout the book, often all of these tools on the same page. Fountain pens, paint pens, markers and brush pens all worked well on the paper with no feathering. Some pages developed a little bit of a curl as a result of lots of wet media but there was no bleeding or show through at all. I’ve doodled, sketched, taken notes, tested materials and generally carried it with me everyday for a solid month.

Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

Not every page is finished but I thought this would be a good opportunity to show the overall wear and tear and show how well the Stillman & Birn sketchbook has held up. The hardbound cover and spine show a little bowing but the binding did not fail at all. I’m confident I can continue to add and tweak the pages and the book will hold up to the stress.

Much of the pages are doodles and sketches and I’m a little self-conscious about showing this work-in-progress but I hope you get a sense of the durability of the Stillman & Birn notebooks from the photos.

Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

Blick stocks the full range but I’d really recommend the Epsilon as a great place to start. Prices for the books range between $15-$24 depending on size and binding. The 5.5×8.5″ Epsilon is $15.99 which is comparable, if not a little cheaper, than the equivalent sized Moleskine (or similar) notebook with far better paper.

Stillman & Birn Epsilon Sketchbook

In Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Shark Week!

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments

FF-shark

  • Shark Metal Art Bookends $62.99 (via Etsy)
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Ink in Shin-kai Deep Sea (Blue Gray) $28 (via JetPens)
  • Moree Shark Outdoor LED lamp 249,00 € (via Nostraforma)
  • Shark Fin “Sharky” Stainless Steel Loose Tea Infuser $19.99 (via Amazon)
  • Filofax Finsbury Electric Blue Personal Organizer $76 (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Iwako Aquarium 7-Piece Novelty Eraser Set $5.75 (via JetPens)
  • Lamy Al-Star Fountain Pen in Graphite Gray $39.50 (via JetPens)
  • Monteverde Jewelria Fountain Pen in “Deep Sea” Green $35 (via Pen Chalet)
  • Lamy Scala BlueBlack fountain pen (special edition 2015) steel nib 140 € (via Fontoplumo)
  • J. Herbin 1670 Anniversary Ink Ocean Blue $28 (via Anderson Pens)
  • CUBE- Machined Aluminum Pen Storage $85 (via Karas Kustoms)
  • Rhodia Rhodiarama Sapphire A5 – Lined Notebook $30 (via Goldspot Pens)
In news

Call for Entries: Link Love

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment

rp_link-ana.jpgFollowing yesterday’s Link-less Link Love, I received a lot of feedback regarding images for the weekly Link Love. First, let me clarify. I will be continuing to do Link Love — I was just asking about the illustration of Link (from The Legend of Zelda) holding a pencil and whether people were getting bored with him.

As a result of the comments, a great idea was born. I’d like to ask you, my lovely readers, to write, draw, photograph, or doodle an original “Link Love” image. It can be lettering, calligraphy, your own interpretation of Link or anything else you think might relate to the weekly list of pen/pencil-centric blog links.

Email your submission to me at chair@wellappointeddesk.com. Please include any link information you’d like in the image credit (your full name, your Twitter handle, Instagram feed, blog, whatever). Also include any information about inks, tools, paper, etc used in your creation. Please let me know that you give me permission to include it in the weekly Link Love post here on the blog and that the image is your original piece.

Thanks to everyone! And I can’t wait to see what you create!

In Fountain Pen Review

Review: Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice Fountain Pen

Author AnaPosted on 8 Comments

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

I can’t believe I’ve waited so long to share details of the Franklin-Christoph Pocket 66 Ice that I purchased at the Atlanta Pen Show. Being able to try every single Franklin-Christoph nib and pen body at the show was such a great experience and Lori from Franklin-Christoph was a great enabler too. She carried her Pocket 66 proudly all weekend, eyedropper filled with Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-Gaki which looked like a little writing lava lamp. Sold!

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

I ended up choosing the standard medium italic nib and also eyedropper filling my Pocket 66. This maximizes the ink capacity and looks super cool, especially with brighter, vivid ink colors. For these photos, I filled my Pocket 66 with Pelikan Edelstein Tourmaline, a bright fuchsia.

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

The Pocket 66 Ice is clear polished acrylic but the inside of the cap and body have a frosted finish giving the pen its unique look. I like to just slosh ink around in the reservoir and watch the color.

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

The Medium Italic nib is a custom ground nib by Mike Masuyama which is available directly from Franklin-Christoph and is a nominal upcharge from the standard nibs. The medium italic  glides easily across the paper! Its lovely to use.

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

The pen measures 5 inches capped and 4.75″ uncapped. The cap posts easily and make the Pocket 66 5.5 inches long. The pen is lightweight at 15 gms capped and filled and 13 gms filled without the cap.

Franklin Christoph Pocket 66 Ice

Franklin-Christoph pens ship with a leather zip pouch which is one of the most useful extras I’ve ever gotten with a fountain pen.

The price for this configuration is $164.50 but a standard nib makes the pen a little less expensive and an 18K nib will increase the price but not nearly as much as other pen manufacturers. If you have a chance to try the F-C nib testing station at a pen show, I highly recommend it as a great way to find just the right nib and pen body combination for you.