Pencils:
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Misc:
Daycraft is a Hong Kong based stationery producer that offers a range of notebooks, diaries and accessory. One of the most notable things is the array of products with contrasting edging.
This is the Animaland Elephant Diary, a small diary for 2012 that measures 4.25″x6″. It starts in September 2011 and goes through the end of December 2012. The cover is stiff paper wrapped board with a light iridescent sheen. It is filled with colorful artwork, a satin bookmark ribbon (end has been sealed so it won’t fray) and features a week-at-a-glance.
In the front of the book is a listing of international holidays, year overview calendars for the current year, previous year and next year, nutrition and health info and a place for a birthday or gift list. The diary also came with a sheet of coordinating stickers to embellish your entries.
At the beginning of each month is a full color illustration and space for writing. They have crammed 18-months into a book that’s less than 0.5″ thick so the pages were bound to be thin. But the paper is a warm ivory and the lines are gray and dotted so they are no too obtrusive.
I tested a Uni Jetstream 0.5 (in red and black), my Kaweco Sport with F nib and de Atramentis Pigeon Blue ink, pencil, my new Pilot Prera with F nib and black ink.
On the reverse side, I tried a Coleto Hi-Tec-C in purple and red. You’ll notice a bit of show-through from the Kaweco and even the Prera but the gel ink Hi-Tec-C and Jetstream are not so noticeable.
In the back are some pages for logging expenses, four pages for contacts, some pages for notes and a page for personal info. The last eight pages are perforated into thirds and embellished with small illustrations for notes and what not.
Overall, the diary is a nice little book. I do wish the paper was a little bit thicker to accommodate a wider range of writing tools but it is so small and compact that I find it very useable.
Expect a new version of this notebook to be available soon for 2012-2013. $119HK (approx $15.50US)
I received a couple other items from Daycraft as well. First up is the Cookie Bookie. It is designed to look like cheese and crackers and amuses me to no end.
It measures just under 5″ square and features 144 pages of orange lined paper. The covers are puffy leather-like stiff board with orange embroidery floss to simulate cracker tufts.
The paper is lined with 6.5mm fine black lines and a heavier paper stock than the diary. According to the Daycraft catalog it is 90gsm. I love this notebook! $129HK (about $16.75 US or on sale through the MOMA store for $8.95)
The last book I received was this white embossed “Gutenberg Notebook“. It measures about 4″x6” (A6) with pliable leather-like cover with uppercase letters embossed on the front and lowercase letters embossed on the back. The interior pages have 6.5mm fine black lines and a much heavier stock than the diary. The catalog lists the paper as 100gsm and describes it as white though I think its more of a soft white. $129HK (about $16.75 US)
All the Daycraft products can be purchased on through their web site and they offer FREE worldwide shipping.
So, if you’ve stuck with me to the end of the post, I have a deal for you. I am going to give away both the Cookie Bookie and the Gutenberg notebook. So, leave a comment below and tell me which notebook you want and why.
FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by midnight CST on Friday, June 8, 2012. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Saturday. Winner will be select by random number generator. Please include your email address in the comment form so that I can contact you if you win. I will not save email addresses or sell them to anyone — pinky swear. Shipping via USPS first class is covered. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money.
This stainless steel and enamel L4 iPhone plate gives your mobile phone the look of a stylish vintage camera while protecting it. $24 from Luxe Plates.
(Clockwise from top left: Wooden Tape Holder £27.50 from Present + Correct, The Heavyweight from Black + Blum $50, Squirreled Away Tape Dispenser from Anthropologie $24 and Tape Cutter bookends $47.04)
This is a nib holder from Tachikawa Model 40 via Jet Pens. It is listed as a tool for comic and manga artists but if you’ve ever wanted to experiment with flexible nibs for calligraphy or more decorative writing and line weights, this nib holder is a great option.
The Tachikawa is designed with two grip rings for nibs that accommodate just about every style of nib on the market — some nibs have a wider arc at the base that normally fit into one size holder and other nibs have a smaller arc that require having another nib holder to hold it — which makes it universally handy. Then there is the soft padded grip area… ah! Most nib holders are just wooden or plastic and can be uncomfortable after using them for awhile, so this soft grippy area is a welcome option.
And finally, the nib holder comes with a plastic cap to protect your nib from damage when traveling or even when it just sits in a cup on your desk. Can I tell you how many times I’ve impaled my hand on a nib accidentally when reaching for a pen?
$6.75 (worth every red cent)
Oh, what could be inside this glossy black box?
None other than the Pilot Prera fountain pen with F nib and in the most lovely shade of lime green, of course. I’m hoping this will satisfy my lust for a lime green pen and that I won’t feel the need to buy the apple green Lamy as well. I’ve been itching to try this pen ever since Brad and Myke started waxing romantic about it on the Pen Addict podcast. So, I finally gave in and bought one. This is just a quick overview. I plan to do a longer, more detailed review next week but I just had to share.
The packaging is unremarkable. Just a plexi box with a beige flocked insert and a fabric elastic band to hold the pen in place. The ink cartridge was just stuffed into the box on top of the pen. For a $50 pen, I wasn’t expecting much. It did come with one black ink cartridge. Somewhere in my pen mess, I believe I have a Pilot converter that I hope will work with it as I prefer to use cartridges only as emergency back-up ink supplies and not as my primary option.
The cap snaps into place, its not a screw closure like some of my other pens. I would compare it to the Lamy Safari/Studio capping mechanism. The Prera snaps fairly tightly but might be an issue if you tuck your pen in your shirt pocket and pull it out from the cap. It’s not an issue for me but I thought I’d mention it.
I loaded it with the stock Pilot cartridge that shipped with the pen and started writing with what I had on hand — a budget composition notebook from a big box office supply store. It is a supremely fine nib. On first touch to the paper it performed so smoothly I wanted to compare it to a gel roller ball which is fairly impressive for a fountain pen at this price point. I wrote a few letters with it last night and discovered that the nib is so fine it is not a good option for more textured, toothy paper stocks. This is a pen that may perform admirably well on Moleskines and other lightweight stocks (with the right inks).
The Prera is only about an inch longer than the Kaweco Classic so its still a good portable pen. Its a big weightier but for a lot of people, the Kaweco is just too lightweight for doing a lot of writing so this may be an appropriate step up.
Expect a more detailed review next week!
Erik Wahlstrom caught artist Jockum Nordström hard at work in his chaotic but inspiring space.
(via Erik Wahlstrom)
