Hope you find an inspiring place to write, draw, create or relax this weekend!
(image via Madelyn Mulvaney of Persisting Stars on Flickr)
Halfway Through
Moleskine did a lovely little post about being halfway through a yearly planner. I love to see what people’s planners and notebooks look like after they have been used with stickers, tabs, bits of paper and notes scattered throughout.
Do you have any photos of your planner or notebook in its current condition (half-full or almost totally full) that you would be willing to share here? If so, please drop me an email with your name, web URL and photo to chair (at) wellappointeddesk.com and I’ll do a feature in the upcoming weeks.
Institutional Redux
Character, history and a little oompf to this space.
Had to scroll through 19 pages of Porsches to find the original link. If you like Porsches, I recommend the site. Lovely photos. If you want more desks, look elsewhere.
(via Werk Crew)
Link Love: Sales, Flyers and Discounts
This week I thought I might round-up all the info that has been filtered through my email. There are lots of sales, discounts and deals to be had.
First up, if you live in Melbourne Australia be sure to stop by the Notemaker warehouse sale this weekend (starting today through Saturday). If you don’t live near Melbourne, there are sales to be had on their web site as well.
Don’t forget that Well-Appointed Desk readers get a 10% discount from Notemaker by entering the code WELLAPPDESK at checkout. Let them know you heard about them from Well-Appointed Desk!
Goulet Pens is having an ink sample sale. Save 20% on any ink sample through June 30. Its the perfect time to try out some new colors — venture into scented inks or try a color you wouldn’t normally buy just because you can!
Jenni Bick Bookbinding is now carrying Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks. They carry a full range of sizes and colors so if you haven’t picked one up yet, here’s your chance. Don’t forget to sneak a peek at Jenni’s one-of-a-kind handmade books at a discount in the Jenni’s Faves section while you’re there.
And finally, today’s the last day to receive a free brass KUM sharpener with any purchase of $15 or more at pencils.com. Just enter the coupon code “KUM” at checkout.
If you want to get info about any of these deals, make sure to sign up at each site to receive their emails and you too can have an email inbox full of temptation!
InkJournal Notebook
If you are becoming as much of a collector of fountain pen ink as I am, this little pocket notebook set might be just what you need to keep all those colors straight. Each page provides an area to note the brand, date and pen used to test out the ink as well as a space for writing and swab samples. You can also note the flow, saturation, shading and dry times in one spot.
3-pack of notebooks is $9.99.
(via InkJournal)
TWSBI Diamond 540 EF Review
First I have to start off by telling a little story of how the TWSBI Diamond 540 came into my life. I was having a particularly crappy week at work and knew my birthday was coming up so I thought I’d cheer myself up with a new fountain pen so I ordered a TWSBI 540 on the strong recommendations of various podcasts I listen to (I blame you, FPGeeks and Pen Addict!).
The day it arrived I was too busy to play with it until I got home and my husband said he had something he had to do in the office so I needed to “keep myself entertained” for a few minutes after dinner. I took this opportunity to open up my new TWSBI and load it with ink. In walks my husband with a birthday present. Can you guess what it might be? Yep, just as I finished adding ink to my new TWSBI, he walks in with a wrapped box containing a TWSBI 540! Smart man!
Since I’d already inked up the TWSBI I bought, I didn’t even break the seal on the one he bought and it is speeding its way back to Goulet Pens in hopes of turning into credit for a future pen purchase (Hello, Namiki Falcon?). Shall I move on to the review now?
The nib is quite lovely on the TWSBI 540 and, to me, the pen is HUGE! Its a weighty, substantial pen with a large ink reservoir and a piston filler mechanism. Filled, I put it on my trusty scale to discover it weighs 29gms capped! That’s heavier than my Lamy Studio in brushed stainless steel. I don’t quite know what makes the TWSBI so heavy being that its a plastic body but there you have it.
I chose the clear demonstrator model so that no matter what ink color I chose, it would not clash with my pen. Silly, I know but I didn’t have any demonstrators so let this be the first! I purchased the EF nib. I write small so I tend to prefer the finer nibs but as you’ll see, the EF is so fine that an F or M nib might be just perfect for someone with larger handwriting.
The cap is a twist-off with the company name etched discreetly on the chrome cap.
On the cap end is a pretty TWSBI logo jewel in red and metallic silver. Quite pretty and made the pen feel special.
I filled my TWSBI with my favorite ink, de Atramentis Pigeon Blue, in case you’re curious (and you’re reading a pen review so of course you’re curious about the ink, right?). It was a breeze to fill, and was not messy at all. I just jammed it into a bottle of ink up to the edge of the nib and twisted the bottom to fill. It didn’t leak, dribble or in any way soil my hands.
In writing tests, I was most surprised that the TWSBI 540 wrote smoothly and precisely from the minute I filled it. I have not had to “prime it” at all since I filled it and its been used on and off for over a week. The 540 is a big enough, heavy enough pen that I could not write with the cap posted though if you prefer a big heavy pen, the cap does post snugly.
When compared to a quick writing sample from my Kaweco Sport EF and my Pilot Prera F, you can see that the TWSBI falls in between the two in regards to line thickness and wetness. The Prera is definitely the driest of the three and the Kaweco is the wettest.
Comparing the size of the pen to my other go-to fountain pens you can see that my pens are progressively getting larger though I still reach for my Kaweco more often than any other pen. I have very small hands and the lightness of the Kawecos tend to not fatigue my hands the way larger, heavier pens do. Alternately, in meetings, I take my 540 because it performs the minute I uncap it and it looks like I mean business. And the large, visible reservoir makes it a great daily carry pen because its easy to tell if you need a refill.
For a really detailed review with more technical information than presented here, I recommend the FPGeeks Awesome Review.
TWSBI Diamond 540 EF purchased from Goulet Pens for $50, as was the de Atramentis Pigeon Blue ink.
(This pen was tested on the Miquelrius medium flexible 300 grid paper book purchased from B+N.)
