Yesterday, NPR published two articles about paper. The first, focused on the continued appeal of the Moleskine notebook in the “digital age” (despite us all knowing the paper quality leaves something to be desired) and another piece about the business of paper and that China makes GMO paper! Who knew?
And today, there is a piece about brick and mortar bookstores. Long live paper!
Posts of the Week:
One of my good friends and favorite, super-productive artists, Britton Walters, AKA Nerfect was mentioned on the Field Notes blog: Support Your Local Weirdo! (via Field Notes)
AND
J. Robert Lennon was interviewed for a piece on Marketplace called Pro Tool: Tools of the Professional (via NPR’s Marketplace)
Congrats, guys!
Pens:
Ink:
Paper & Notebooks:
Pencils:
Planning and Organizers:
Other Interesting Things:
Diamine Damson is a purple ink I wanted to try in my hunt for the “perfect purple” and this was available in a diminutive 30ml mini-bottle for $7.
Diamine Damson is the smokiest of the purple inks I’ve tried and probably closest to some of the colors I already had in my collection. It is quite similar to the P.W. Akkerman Voorhout Violet and Kaweco Summer Purple. Damson is similar in hue to these but a little bit lighter. Rohrer & Klingner Scabiosa is also quite similar but a little more grey.
Because Damson is a relatively dark color there’s not a ton of shading and there isn’t any sheen I could discern. The ink dries quickly even though its not specifically quick-dry. Its not water resistant but it I wasn’t expecting it to be. The color has a dusty matte quality when dry.
I’m inclined to like Diamine Damson though its quite similar to other colors in my collection. If you’re in the market for this sort of dusky violet, the fact that Diamine Damson can be purchased in mini bottle makes it a good candidate for trying before investing in a larger bottle.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Goldspot Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
My good friend introduced me to the Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pens when she brought an assortment home from Japan. I ordered several individual colors to try them out myself and loved them so much I went ahead and got a full set of 20 colors ($34.50). The pens originally came in reusable plastic package but I like keeping them in a jar where they are easier to access quickly. These brush pens feature a filament brush tip that behaves more like a real paintbrush than other felt tip brush pens. This creates a finer point and greater line variation.
The colors are both vivid and unusual like a bright, pastel sky blue and a more traditional artist-based yellow ochre. There’s a super pale apricot color that is fun to use for blending and a indigo-like midnight blue that I love. The 20-color set provides a wide variety of color options and I didn’t feel like any color was missing from the spectrum.
Colors can be altered, lightened or blended with water or each other to create more colors. I tested these pens on my standard Rhodia pad but on a watercolor stock, the inks could probably be manipulated and modified to greater effect.
Individual Sai Watercolor pens can be purchased for $3.50 each. There is also an assortment of pigment, waterproof “liner” brushes that can be used in combination with the watercolor brushes. The liner brushes sell for $5.25 each or a 5-color set for $24.75.
If you’re looking for a brush pen that can be used for calligraphy or art-making, these are totally worth the price.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Jet Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I’ve had good experience with every Private Reserve ink I’ve used up to this point so I had no concerns about the quality of the ink. My goal was to find a purple that I loved and Ebony Purple was recommended to me buy the fine folks at Goldspot Pens as a color I might just love. I got the 50ml bottle of Diamine Ebony Purple for $10. While its not the prettiest bottle in the world, its easy to use with a simple, cylindrical shape and a wide mouth that makes it easy to refill pens.
Ebony Purple definitely lies on the the darkest end of the spectrum and more violet than purple. Because the color is so dark there’s not a lot of shading. In my waterproof tests you can see the blue and the red undertones in the ink. The ink is definitely not waterproof but makes it easy to clean out of the pen.
I’m not a huge fan of plain black inks so Ebony Purple is a good alternative for a dark ink that’s respectably blackish but with some personality. I like it for this quality but my search for the “perfect purple” continues.
DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Goldpost Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I took a lot of ribbing from readers after I reviewed the Pilot Varsity awhile back. I had a particularly bad experience so when I spied the newly repackaged Pilot Varsity ($3), I decided it was as good a reason as any to give the Varsity another try.
The new pen design is the same shape as the original pen but features a black, grey and silver diamond pattern on the barrel and a small yellow “Varsity” logo on one side. The clip is a little larger and bulbous and too plasticky but the pen is comfortable in the hand and the cap is easily postable. The nib is labelled as a medium and its definitely equivalent of a European medium nib.
I’ve been writing with this pen on and off for over a month and I’m quite pleased with its performance. It writes smoothly and starts as soon as I remove the cap. There are no hard starts or need for priming. The nib is wider than I generally prefer for an everyday writer but its a pleasing medium nib with some nice line variation and requires the lightest of touches to put ink on the page. Even writing upside down, sideways and just grabbing the pen to quickly write down a number presented no problems for me.
This is one of the best values in fountain pens. While the Platinum Preppy is available in a much finer nib and refillable, the Varsity will put a smile on anyone’s face. “Three dollars for this?!?! What a good deal!” I’m willing to admit that my previous experience with the Varsity might have been a fluke, one bad apple in the bunch. If you had a bad experience with a Varsity, I recommend you give it another shot. At $3, quality control is probably not a top priority but it also means it won’t break the bank to buy two.
