Ink Review: Montblanc Midnight Hour

MontBlanc Blue Hour Ink

I must confess right away that the new Montblanc Meisterstück Blue Hour Twilight Blue ($17 for a 30ml bottle), despite its lengthy name, is an ink color that is totally in my wheelhouse. Initially I was thinking it was a blue black but its actually more of a dark teal/black, if that makes sense. It reminds me more of a dark stormy sea blue than a midnight sky blue.

MontBlanc Blue Hour Ink

Blue Hour looks more like a blue black when wet and then dries to a more greenish deep teal blue. The ink dries pretty quickly. I managed to not have any smudges while writing this sample page so that’s saying something. I really like the square, ripple glass bottles that Montblanc has been using for their inks this year. The JFK and Pink Ink also came in these bottles.

MontBlanc Blue Hour Ink

I had lots of similar ink colors. Similar, but not the same as Blue Hour. In the swab sample, there’s a little reddish halo to the Blue Hour sample which reminds me of Sailor Jentle Yama Dori and Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku (both of which are favorite inks of mine) but the Blue Hour ink is more greenish than Ku-Jaku and a bit lighter overall than the Yama Dori. So, do you need Blue Hour if you have any of these ink colors? Logically no, but since when are pen addicts logical?

All-in-all, Blue Hour fills a sliver of a gap in my teal-y blue/black ink collection that I’m glad to have filled. This ink seems to be selling out quickly so if you’re interested in acquiring a bottle, I recommend that you act fast. I couldn’t find any specific info whether Blue Hour would be a limited edition color but as an ink hoarder, I’m not taking any chances.

MontBlanc Blue Hour Ink

Oops! I always forget to go back and add water to me test page. In this case, I photographed everything before realizing I didn’t do the water test. With a few stroked of a wet paint brush, the ink definitely lifted and moved quickly. Plus side, it should be pretty easy to clean out of your pens. Minus side, this ink is not recommended for documents that require permanent ink. It might make for interesting drawings as the ink can be blended nicely like a watercolor.


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

Guess Who’s Coming to Kansas City?

mike rohde

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist a click bait title.) MIKE ROHDE!!!!!!!!

If you are in Kansas City, and you read this blog, you are probably going to want to hop over to the KC Coffee & Design and register to attend the Friday lecture (FREE!) and the Saturday Sketchnotes Workshop ($75) coming at the end of August. And if you happen to attend either of this events, be sure to look for me and say hello. I’ll be the one trying to hug Mike.

Don't forget to buy his book!
Don’t forget to buy his book!

 

Fashionable Friday: Over the Rainbow

FF-rainbow

This Fashionable Friday was just way too much and there were way too many options to choose from. So many ink brands offer a huge rainbow of colors or many notebook manufacturers offer a rainbow of cover options (I’m looking at you, Rhodiarama and Leuchtturm1917) that it was hard to fit everything on one page.

  • Rainbow Pencils 3-pack for £5 (via Duncan Shotton)
  • Retro 51 Tornado Classic Lacquer Rollerball in Purple $21 (via Jet Pens)
  • Lamy Safari Fountain Pen in blue $29.60 (via Pen Chalet)
  • Kaweco Sport Ice fountain pen green £17,95 (via Fontoplumo)
  • Aurora Talentum Finesse Yellow Fountain Pen Chrome Trim 14Kt Nib $224 (via Anderson Pens)
  • Conklin All American Sunburst Orange Fine Point Fountain Pen $75.95 (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Pilot Elabo Fountain Pen with Soft Medium Nib in Red $159 (via JetPens)
  • Iwako Color Daruma 7-Piece Eraser Set $5.75 (via JetPens)
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Momiji (Autumn Leaves) Mini Ink $14 (via JetPens)
  • Bright Ideas Journal $14.95 (via Chronicle Books)
  • Rainbow Leather Journal with Artist Papers $100 (via Jenni Bick)
  • RainboWand 5-pack $8 per set (via Etsy)
  • The Bolt in a rainbow of colors $55 (via Karas Kustoms)
  • Platinum Mixable Mix-Free Bottled Ink in Sunny Yellow (also available in eight other eye-popping rainbow colors) $15 (via Pen Chalet)

Link Love: Sharpeners, Ink, & Owl Ink

This week's submission is from Elaine Ku. You can see more of her pen love and calligraphy on Instagram,  Twitter: @owlinkdesign or at her beautiful new blog: owl-ink.com
This week’s submission is from Elaine Ku, AKA Owl Ink. You can see more of her pen love and calligraphy on Instagram, Twitter or at her beautiful new blog.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Planners & Organizers:

Other interesting things:

Video: How It’s Made: Space Pens, Colored Pencils, Fountain Pens & More

I found a great collection of pen-and-pencil-centric How Its Made videos. Some you may seen but I thought this would make for great lunchtime viewing. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/ymJKmFMugrc

This next video is how Aurora Fountain Pens are made:

This is the manufacturing process of Caran d’Ache colored pencils:

https://youtu.be/5-b2q3jQ414

This next video is in Japanese subtitles with no spoken dialogue but its how Pilot makes its fountain pens so I thought it would be fun to watch even without narration. The first eight minutes is all about how the nibs are constructed which is a little slow to watch but fascinating!

https://youtu.be/UsvvOvOaRdY

The Desk Set: Cluttered but Clean

The Desk Set Header

desk-set-busy

(From left to right, top to bottom: Better Homes & Gardens, Brownstoner, Jeremy Bittermann for The New York Times, Danielle de Lange.)

I hope these spaces feel colorful and inspiring. So many of the images I find around the internet of workspaces lately have been stark white and barren and don’t feel like inviting workspaces. These spaces felt tidy but productive with evidence of people actually utilizing the space for a variety of tasks.

Fashionable Friday: Steampunk Patina

FF-Steampunk

  • Grolier Ornamentali Journal (via Paperblanks)
  • Retro 51 Tornado Metalsmith Roller Ball Pen “Lincoln” (via JetPens, Anderson Pens, Goldspot Pens and others)
  • Fisher Space Pen .375 Caliber Cartridge Ballpoint Pen (via Pen Chalet)
  • Fisher Bullet Pen in Titanium Copper Zirconium Nitride (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Pilot Iroshizuku Mini Ink in Syo-ro Pine Tree Dew (Gray Turquoise) (via JetPens)
  • Steampunk Peacock Brooch (via Etsy)
  • Anderson Badger Black Ink (formerly Scribal Workshop Kraken) (via Anderson Pens)
  • Vintage Aerostation Print (via Etsy)
  • Kaweco Liliput fountain pen in copper (via Fontoplumo and JetPens)
  • Wherever You Arm Shot Glass (via Modcloth)
  • De Atramentis Copper Brown Ink (via Goldspot Pens)
  • Tea at 2,000 Feet iPhone Case (via Society6)
  • RETRAKT in Copper (via Karas Kustoms and JetPens)
  • Sailor Fountain Pen Jentle Yama-dori (Copper Pheasant – Teal) Ink (via JetPens)
  • Midori Traveler’s Notebook (via JetPens)
  • Diamine Ancient Copper Mini Ink (via JetPens)

Big shout out to Lori at Franklin-Christoph for the steampunk idea. Smart and beautiful, that one.