In Link Love

Link Love: Post-CA Pen Show

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Link Love: Post-CA Pen Show

I have so much news and stuff to talk about this week that I’ll try to be quick so you can get to those links — of course, you can just scroll right past my verbal diatribe if you want, I will never know.

The new California Pen Show was the overall success everyone was hoping for. The show was well-organized and well-attended for the first new show in our post-COVID world. Hopefully, as they plan for next year, there will be enhancements made like classes, workshops, and maybe even an evening auction. Honestly, that was probably the only elements, from an attendee standpoint that the show was missing. The show offered one day passes as well as a three day. Friday and Saturday were well-attended but Sunday was a little slow. This could have been due to the Superbowl (which occurred the same day) or the fears of the crowds normally present on Sundays at the former LA International Pen Show.

Jesi and I were the first faces people saw when they walked into the show behind two towers of inks. And we were hopping all weekend matching inks to pens and helping folks find just what inks they were looking for. In our rare slow moments, Jesi and I were able to wander about a bit and test out the new Schon Monoc Nib, visit with friends like Jonathan Brooks at Carolina Pen Company and John at Lemur. We also made new friends, visited with some folks we only see on the West Coast and oggle some beautiful pens.

Jesi left the show on Sunday afternoon in order to be at work first thing on Monday (in KC, coincidentally) and I left on Monday. When I got home, I discovered that I had picked up a raging case of con-crud. Not COVID, just your run-of-the-mill cold but it doesn’t make it any less of a drag. Our dear friend and Desk-contributor Tina, just posted that she did come down with COVID this week. Laura is about to leave on a two-week trip to New Zealand today as well. If we are short a post or two in the new couple weeks, its just a result of everything happening all at once so be patient with us.

Today, the entire city of Kansas City is downtown for the celebratory Superbowl champions parade. Except me. Because I am coughing up a lung. And I don’t really like crowds so I probably wouldn’t have been there anyway. My office, however, did give everyone the day off to celebrate. I will be “celebrating” by resting and recuperating from the crud.

There are some really great posts this week, including lots of ink reviews, a re-review of the Platinum Curidas, Gentleman Stationer’s review of the aforementioned Schon Monoc nib and lots more — a biotech firm is trying to bring back the Dodo (I’m having Jasper Fforde Thursday Next flashbacks) and even a cute dog rescue story and classic perfumes. Hope you find something that intrigues or delights you this week.

Love, Ana

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In photo

A Valentine

Author Laura CameronPosted on 5 Comments

R2D2 on the front of a card with a heart that reads "Beep Bloop Bleep"

The inside of the card reads: "Translation: Happy Valentine's Day" and includes a handwritten message, transcribed below.

Dear Well- Appointed Desk Readers:

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you’re able to have a little fun today, even if it’s a dreary February day where you are.

I just wanted to thank you for reading along with us at “the desk.” We love writing and reviewing products and getting to share our love of all things stationery with you. Your comments make us so happy!

So we wish you a wonderful Valentine’s Day. And even if you’re not so keen on today’s holiday, there’s always tomorrow’s – half price chocolate day!

❤️ Laura

A heart on a card reads "Roses are red, violets are blue, we love office supplies, we're glad you do too!"

P.S. Roses are red, violets are blue, we love office supplies, we’re glad you do too!!

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Pentel Fude Touch Brush Sign Pen 2020 Colors (12-Color Set)

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments

On Friday, I talked about how much I love the Sai Watercolor Brush Pens. What I realized recently is how much I also love the Pentel Fude Brush Sign Pens. I have had one or two of this pens floating around the Desk and frequently reach for them for my daily journal and planning needs but really wanted to have more than just a couple colors so I ordered the 2020 New Color 12-color set ($23) from JetPens.

Like with the Sai Watercolor Brush Pens, the range of colors in the 2020 New Color set featured some unique, non-standard colors so I was very excited to try this set.

The Pentel Fude Brush Sign Pens feature to bullet-shaped, felt-tip style tips housed in a plastic cap. The pens I’ve had floating around the office, I’ve had for months, maybe even years and are regularly used and have not frayed or gotten cruddy so I do tend to recommend these to anyone looking for a more brush pen-look marker. These are particularly good for folks with a heavy hand since these pens have a stiffer brush than the Sai pens.

Some of the colors in this set are quite light. The Pale Blue is even more pale in person than in the photo above but the other colors are all really lovely. The Light Grey will probably get used more for underlining or decoration rather than actually writing titles. The Olive Green is CHEF’S KISS for me. The Blue-Black and Turquoise Green will also get a lot of use for me.

The real joy is how lovely this pen makes my script look. We all have pens that make our handwriting look better and this, for me, is one of those. As such, I will extoll their virtues for years to come.

All these pens are available for individual purchase ($2.50 each)  if you want to cherry pick your favorite colors.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Sai Watercolor Brush Pens (Set of 30)

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Pen Review: Sai Watercolor Brush Pens (Set of 30)

For years, one of my favorite brush pens have been the Sai Watercolor Brush Pens. I originally purchased the 20-color set ($34.50). In the time since I acquired them, I have used some up, given some away or lost a few. In the end, I had about 6 or 8 of the original 20-color set. I also discovered that I have never written a review about these brush pens so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to invest in the 30-color set ($51.50).

Tip up or tip down, this plastic storage box is sturdy and well-made.

I don’t normally keep marker or brush pens in the packaging but with a large set like this 30-color set, the sturdy, translucent plastic box is easy to use, easy to see the pens and easy to store so the pens might live in this box for the time being. I do store the box with the tips down or horizontal so that the tips don’t dry out. The 20-color set came in a long flat plastic sleeve that is lovely for presentation but too big to be usable for me so I took the pens out of the case immediately, which may explain why I managed to lose some of the pens.

What I like most about the Sai Watercolor Brush Pens is the unusual color range. Unlike many pen sets that offer the standard ROYGBIV spectrum in smaller sets, the Sai sets all have a more sophisticated, complex color range.

The pens feature clear caps with a clip to keep the pens from rolling away. I did discover that the caps need to be pushed firmly to close the pens completely.

The package included an instruction and color chart sheet — all in Japanese. There are diagrams showing methods for blending colors by touching the pen tips together to transfer some of the ink from one pen to the other in order to create gradients while drawing.
The package included an instruction and color chart sheet — all in Japanese but interesting to look at the range of drawing and sketching examples.

With the 30-color set, I do feel like there are more common colors then in the 20-color set but overall, I think the set offers a great range of colors.

Sai brush pens come with a very fine point
Cat hair plus flexible nylon bristles of the Sai brush pen

Of all the brush pens on the market, the individual nylon bristle tips on the Sai brush pens are some of the sturdiest while also being the most like a real brush. Other brands feature the soft, flexible “felt tip” style tips which can often dull or the tips can get worn out but the Sai bristles have survived a wide array of paper surfaces and abuse and kept the tips sharp and usable. I didn’t go out of my way to try to damage or abuse them so I’m sure they can be damaged, but in regular use, I’ve found the Sai brush pens to be the most durable while also being the most brusk-like.

Using a standard Tomoe River A5 notebook, I tested the full range of colors in the 30-color set. My favorite colors are the dusty blue in the center of the second row and pretty much all the greens.  I think for nature sketchers, this set has a good variety. Lettering artists will like the spring brush tips and unique color range especially.

The red-orange color always reminds me of ripe, heirloom tomatoes. All things considered, its probably my favorite in the set. It is also in the 20-color set and I used it all the time.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Moon Pie on my Mind

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Moon Pie on my Mind
(image from Dieline)

This week, a good friend brought me a box of Pumpkin Spice Moon Pies, one of our family’s favorite snacks and then I saw the Valentine’s Day special edition Moon Pies (with a beautiful box) on Dieline. Moon Pies on my mind, for sure! In preparation for Valentine’s Day, I hope you get to indulge in your favorite snack be it food or stationery.

Very timely, there are several posts this week about go-bags, EDC bags and travel kits. This has given me food for thought regarding what I want to pack to take with me to LA this weekend. What’s in your go bag?

Don’t forget! If you are in the LA-area, be sure to pop by the CA Pen Show this weekend and say hello to Jesi and I at the show.

Links of the Week, Go Bags:

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors, affiliates or join our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Pilot Kese Lamé Erasable Glitter Gel Pen

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

The last time I was perusing JetPens, I came across something fun: the Pilot Kese Lame Erasable Glitter Gel Pen. There’s so much in there I have to fully unpack that sentence. Pilot – maker of fancy pens. Gel ink – one of my favorite inks (outside of fountain pen ink). GLITTER – ’nuff said. And erasable? I was hooked.

I went ahead and bought the Aurora 3-color pack ($11.00), which is unfortunately sold out. The pack contains three pens with 0.7mm tips, and something that looks a bit like an eraser (but certainly doesn’t feel like your standard rubber eraser).

The ink in these pens makes them a little bit like FriXion pens. It’s thermo-sensitive meaning that it will erase when heat (or friction from the eraser) is applied. They do caution that you shouldn’t leave these pens in a car on a hot day! And apparently if you get your writing very cold (i.e. the freezer), the ink reappears? What magic is this?

The only disappointing part for me is that I don’t see much glitter. I tried shaking the pens (hey it works for fountain pen ink right?) and I still saw only a scant spot or two, not enough to even show up in the photos.

Overall, I’d say these pens were a fun experiment and I’ll enjoy using them (and erasing any mistakes I make!).

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Planners & Organizers

Planner Review: Trigg Life Mapper

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Planner Review: Trigg Life Mapper

The Trigg Life Mapper Planner (£20 for a 2023 edition, £19 for the undated version) is a goal setting planner system that takes cues from many of the popular ideas regarding planning with a bigger picture in mind. But first, let’s review the basics.

The Trigg Life Mapper is an A5-sized, hardcover book with ribbon bookmark and vertical elastic closure. The book contains over 365 pages including one-day-per-page for the work week, Saturday and Sunday are half pages and then additional pages for monthly reviews, monthly goal planning and more.

The exterior of the book is a faux leather with a bit of texture and debossed design on the front, back and spine.

Each month is delineated with a color along the edge making it easy to find quickly.

The binding is sturdy and the pages are all stitched into the book in a way that allows the book to lay flat and remain pretty duarble.

The paper is a warm white overall with lots of color accents throughout. The front piece has a quick summary of the goal of the planner as well as a place for personal contact info and a mission statement of sorts. I’m not sure I’d want my mission statement next to my contact info. Should I misplace the book I would hope someone would flip to the first pages and find my contact info but not necessarily need to read that “I want to be retired by age 60, a fully trained flamenco dancer and published author” — that feels a little personal. So, I would recommend if you fill this out, don’t misplace your planner.

There are several pages in the front of the planner to help explain the system that has been created and also what various symbols mean and how they can be used. First, are the icons relating to the most common categories one might try to plan and organize. The colors associated with each icon are the same as the colors used to color code the months. As I dove into the planner, I discovered that this color coding also allowed for each month to be a chance to focus on a specific aspect of your goals. I.E. In January, the prompts at the beginning of the month suggest focusing on personal goals like health, wellness, etc. Since January is often the month that we set goals for ourselves like “exercise more” or “eat less junk” it seems like a good match. Each month rolls through each of the monthly goal focuses.

I really like this set-up. It makes it a little less intimidating. As I looked through the planner, I was encouraged that I would not have to tackle ALL the goals every month. You certainly could but, by focusing on one specific area in your life, the likelihood that you build an achievable goal seems far more attainable.

On each daily page, at the top is the grid. In the front of the planner the diagram above explains how or what sorts of tasks could be assigned to each section. I like that they made the main area the same size as a sticky note so that it would be possible to just move those “must do” tasks to the next day as needed.

The start of each month is a one-page spread that includes some prompts for thought around goal setting and space for a single goal for each life category and two or more actions that could be taken to achieve said goal. Again, one goal per month per category and a maximum of two actions seems doable. For self, the goal could be walk 3 days a week. The action item might be to get up an hour earlier to make time or buy new sneakers. Relationships goal could be “plan Madeline’s birthday party” and the actions are “order cake” and “make her a new scarf”. You get the idea. The goals don’t always have to be the 10,000 foot goals.

So, here is one of the daily pages above. One each weekday, there is an inspirational quote at the top. Then there’s the grid and then a half a page to list appointments or other notes.

At the beginning of the planner, in the middle and at the end are opportunities to reflect on the bigger goals and also prompts to help you focus and clarify your goals.

I’m surprised how much I like this planner from a content standpoint. I was initially inclined to be a little judgy about it. I often get a little salty when things feel to woo-woo or verge into “The Secret” territory of “you can do anything if you set your mind to it” nonsense. The writing in the planner is positive without being toxic. It’s uplifting without making me wretch from the saccharine. (See my Grievance Journal review for my dark heart revealed.)

Now for what you’ve all been waiting for, the paper and ink tests:

The paper is pretty lightweight so I was expecting average to sub-par test results with fountain pens. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the paper didn’t feather but there was some bleed through with wetter inks.

There was also so bleed through dots from the liquid ink rollerball pens I tested. The most unusual thing I discovered when testing the paper is that the paper is very soft and so some extra fine pens caused some indentions in the paper. I write with a very light hand and still got some indents in the paper so a writing board or guide sheet in between pages would definitely help mitigate dents to the next page.

Despite the less-than-fountain-pen friendly paper, I really like the Trigg Life Mapper planner. I normally prefer blank or minimal planners but the Life Mapper has just the right combination of structure and inspiration to make me want to keep up with a more thoughtful, well-planned life.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Think Trigg for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.