The Well-Appointed Desk

Review: Poppin Jumbo Mobile Memos

AnaAugust 12, 2013Leave a comment

When Poppin suggested that they send me some of their Jumbo Mobile Memos in the hunt for the better-grade-of-sticky-note, I was thinking “jumbo” meant bigger than the standard 3×3″ square. You know, maybe 4×4″? Imagine my surprise when I got these.

Here’ s picture with a regular, rather diminutive sticky note and the Jumbo Mobile Note. When Poppin said “Jumbo” they meant 8.5″x8.5″ JUMBO. Once my amusement at the monstrous size subsided, I wanted to try them out. How sticky are they (on the backing paper it say “I am super tacky”)? How well will they take ink? How awesome would they be for meeting brainstorms, notes on the office fridge and to really make a point?

I was shocked at how well they took ink. For such a large piece of real estate, I wanted to try Sharpie Markers (or in my case, the discontinued but much-loved Crayola InkTank marker) and got from there. The wide felt-tip permanent marker wrote beautifully so I got out the pen arsenal and went to town, starting with a fountain pen with an italic nib. No problem. At this point, everything else seemed guaranteed to succeed and it did.

I tried a white gel pen, just to see, but the bright color overshadowed the opaque white gel pen. Otherwise, this paper works great!

Even the reverse side of the paper shows no ill effects. There’s a little show-through from the marker but that’s to be expected and not nearly as visible as I would have suspected.

Sticky-wise, I hung these up on my chalkboard/memo board on Saturday afternoon and, as of Monday morning, they haven’t budged. The pink note was moved to a plastic surface and its still stuck. All-in-all, these are fun and effective. My supply closet will soon be chock-full of lime sticky notes, for sure!

A three-pack of assorted Jumbo Mobile Notes are $18, individual Jumbo Mobile Notes are $6 and available in yellow, orange, pink and lime. Mobile notes are also available in the more traditional 3×3″ size for $2 or packs of 10 for $12 in the same array of colors. Paper file flags that are 0.6×2″ are available in an assorted color pack of 15 pads with 5 different colors for $5.

In feature

Brand It With Office Supplies

AnaAugust 10, 2013Leave a comment

I appreciate any company whose branding leans heavily on quippy uses of office supplies. For one, few jobs are nothing but sparse workspaces and iPhones so of course you need good office supplies. And second, the products aren’t overbranded with the company’s logo but rather with the principles that guide the company.

I’m speaking of the new branding campaign for advertising giant Hill Holliday. They are using stark black and white with liberal Helvetica to create the brand message without using logo-fied golf shirts (don’t do it).

I love that they quoted Yoda on an office wall.

(via Under Consideration with a shout-out to Paper Pastries for the tip)

In photo

Leather Letter Clutch

AnaAugust 10, 2013Leave a comment

The gorgeous brilliant blue leather clutch, from designer Karina Hesketh, is stitched with vintage travel decals, postcards and postal marks with ivory leather tie. While the £80 price tag is a bit much for me, the whole thing is giving me IDEAS. A leather clutch that looks like a letter? Of course I need one!

(via Pinup Polly)

In video

Video: How Do They Make Bic Cristals?

AnaAugust 9, 2013Leave a comment

I’m not at all as enthusiastic about ballpoints as the announcer in this video but it is interesting to see how much work is put into making the Bic Cristal ballpoint pen.The beginning of the video paints fountain pens in a very poor light indeed.

Let the comment raging begin.

(Shoutout to Andy of Woodclinched for finding this video)

In feature

Vintage Book Tablet Covers

AnaAugust 9, 2013Leave a comment

I mentioned earlier how my dearest friend, Rebecca AKA Squirrel Junkie had created fabulous tablet covers using vintage books. Well, she is now selling her creations so if you’re not inclined to make your own, you can purchase one directly from her. Each tablet cover includes a vertical elastic closure and soft felt lining and sells for $26.50 plus shipping.

These are designed to hold a Kindle Fire, BlackBerry Playbook, iPad Mini, Nook HD, Samsung Galaxy 2 & 3 and other tablets of similar size. Tablet stays in place with velcro dots provided.

Clearly, this Spanish edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone is a favorite.

(via Squirrel Junkie)

In photo

Brand Name Pencil Branding

AnaAugust 8, 2013Leave a comment

The logos and branding on pencils is quite amazing when you see it like this. Thanks to H&FJ for finding it. The original pieces were culled from Brand Name Pencils a vast array of vintage and modern pencil-nalia.

(via Hoefler & Frere-Jones)

In feature, Ink Review

Review: Edelstein Aventurine Ink (and Flex Nib Dip Pens)

AnaAugust 8, 2013September 18, 2014Leave a comment

The very sudden acquisition of this ink can be entirely blamed on the folks over on App.net. We got to talking about green ink and voila! this ink ended up in my collection. It’s the Pelkian Edelstein Aventurine which is a deep green color. I love the Edelstein bottles and the posh packaging makes it feel like a true gift to myself and you know how I feel about green. So, of course, I had to give it a try.

I went ahead and tested it here at work using my more professional tools rather than my daily fountain pens and was quite pleased with how it performed. I used three different dip pen nibs on Borden & Riley 100% Cotton Rag Marker Paper with a rough finish.

(I included the Karas Kustoms Render K in anodized green aluminum because its an almost perfect match for the Aventurine ink color. “Hello, Pantone Color of the Year, I think your ink just called.”)

In a swab test, the color appears to be a true green with a little lean to blue but no black or grey overtones. In a stiff nibbed pen, the color is lighter, a nice evergreen green. With flex nibs, the ink pools into variations from a dark forest green to a light, true green. The wider variety of color differences in quite appealing for me and the fact that even in these flex nibs, I got no feathering, splining or blooping was mighty impressive.

The nib on the bottom in the Tachikawa nib holder is my favorite, is the Brause 66 Extra Fine Arrow. It’s a super flexy and requires a delicate touch and probably a little super fine grit sanding paper to polish the end before using.

The middle nib is a Tachikawa G series. It has a medium flex. The top nib is a Central School Supply House Roudebush Vertical No. 2 and is the stiff nib used in the sample writing. Its a vintage nib but some of the standard Speedball Student nibs might perform similarly.

If you’re curious the other nib holders are both wood with a cork grip area, one from General’s and the other is an old Koh-i-noor with a red lacquer finish. Versions of both nib holders can be found at John Neal along with some other awesome nib holder options.