The Well-Appointed Desk

When I spied The Grievance Journal ($28) in my Instagram stream, I was in a particularly salty mood and was getting a little fed up with all the toxic-level positivity surrounding the ad. You know what I’m talking about… Instagram influencers all shiny and happy and healthy. Hell yeah, I clicked on the link and hit BUY IT NOW faster than you can say, “Wednesday Addams is my spirit animal.”

Just reading the description on the order page tapped into my long-buried teen angsty Goth girl:

Who is this grievance journal for?

Humans! Particularly humans who like to write things on paper and vent about all the ways in which the world has wronged them. It’s cheaper than therapy and less dangerous than the incarceration that would surely result if you acted on your darkest impulses instead of just jotting them down in this sweet journal for sourpusses.

Ah, the gratitude journal made for dark souls!

The journal is hardcover with a matte finish. Inside is about 214 pages that features prompts and quotes to. inspire your own complaints and grumblings.

The book features two types of page spreads: one is a prompt at the top of the page followed by two pages of lined paper for a response. The second is a 2-page spread on blank paper with a decoratively framed quote on the left had page and a full blank page on the right that can be used to comment on the quote of freeform write or doodle.

I spent an inordinate amount of time reading out the prompts and quotes to my knitters, my dark-hearted friends and my patient spouse. I found them to be inspired and delightful.

Of course, with a “novelty” product (for lack of a better word), the paper quality was going to be immediately called into question. This is a book made for its message, not for the exacting standards of the picky-ass fountain pen community.

Writing tests, some fountain pens feather on the paper, This journal is a good place to use all those gel, rollerball and ballpoint pens in your stash.

writing tests, back side of the page, Very little show through, no bleed through

Truly, the Grievance Journal lives up to the hype, at least for me.

Anger management journal for venting about life’s annoyances.

If you have friends, family or children who need a good place to revel in their dark thoughts, this journal is the place. Would I love it even more if the paper was truly fountain pen friendly? Yes. But do I love it in spite of its short comings? Yes. We all have our flaws, mine are just written down in this journal now.

PS: If you see a Grievance Journal on Amazon, its not the “real deal”. There’s a note in the description page on Bored Walk that they don’t sell on Amazon so beware of fakes.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Ink Peek: Sailor Yurameku Inks, Round 2

Jessica ColesFebruary 2, 2023February 2, 2023

You may remember a long post on a new line of ink from Sailor – the Yurameku inks. While I have no official confirmation on it, I believe this is the place Sailor is tucking away some of their more experimental inks that do not clearly fit in any current ink lines. A huge thank you to Dromgoole’s for sending these inks!

Like the first batch of Yurameku inks, Yurameku 2 inks are packaged with a swatch of the ink color on the label in 20 mL bottles. The two batches are easily differentiated by the color of the boxes themselves, 1 a light grey and 2 nearly black.

I appreciate the color swatch on both the boxes and the bottles. Square bottles and boxes are also wonderful.

Now for the inks themselves. The Yurameku 1 line up was full of nearly pastel inks. Not under saturated, but pastel. This seems to be the best way to show dramatic multi-chromatic shading. The Yurameku 2 line in the opposite with all five inks being dark and moody with hints of sheen.

The dramatic shifting in Yurameku 2 inks seems to be both the angle of the light and the paper type. When sheen is present in an ink, it isn’t the bright metallic sheen caused by over saturated ink. Instead, it’s almost shimmery without a shimmer particulate.

In contrast to most sheening inks, Yurameku 2 inks don’t seem to be overly dye-heavy. Suki Gokoro brings to mind Sailor’s Rikyu-cha with more depth to the color variation.

Suki Gokoro shows this same shimmer quality with the sheen – present through the ink rather than only on the edges of pooled ink. I haven’t seen evidence of this in writing yet, but further testing is needed

I haven’t offered ink comparisons in today’s review, because I believe more testing is necessary before I can even decide the base color!

Date Gokoro stands out from the collection with a rich blueish-purple that changes dramatically based on paper type.

Hana Gokoro is quite difficult to photograph. This is a purple-red-brown-grey ink that is also impossible to truly describe.

When I first swatched Zaire Gokoro, it seemed like a pleasant blue-black ink, but it… changed.

With the five newest Yurameku inks lined up, the overall presentation is dark, somewhat lacking in variation.

This is the point where the inks show their unique properties – paper types.

I’ve kept the order of the inks consistent on each page below.

Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7):

Cosmo Air Light 83gsm:

Midori MD paper:

Suki Gokoro is the first ink to catch my eye with the dramatic changes in color between paper types. Zare Gokoro loses all blue on Midori MD paper while the same paper removes the brightness and red undertones in Date Gokoro. Hana Gokoro shifts from blue to purple to brown-grey but Kokoro Guma doesn’t seem to fit in the same shifting pattern. One characteristic the is consistent across all papers and all inks is the dramatic shading.

I have loved every Yurameku ink so far and the second line is no different. At first glance, the two Yurameku lines don’t seem to belong in the same line, I have a feeling that further writing will start to show more unique properties. Keep an eye out for the second part of this ink sneak peek!

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge from Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons.

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In Link Love

Link Love: Schon on, You Crazy Nib

AnaFebruary 1, 2023February 1, 20231 Comment

Oh, Ian Schon! You crazy diamond! If you’re not familiar with the amazing products that Ian Schon has created, this is the week to do a bit of a deep dive. Not only is he continuing to up his game in fountain pens but now he’s also making his own custom nibs.

And the coolest thing ever is a typewriter that types in RUNES! Can you believe it? Check out the link in “Other Interesting Things”.

Pens:

“Serious Nibbage”: Do No. 8 Nibs Live Up to the Hype? (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Spotlight on Nahvalur Fountain Pens: Introducing the Year of the Rabbit Limited Edition (via The Gentleman Stationer)
Monoc Monoc: Schon DSGN Monoc Nib Review (via The Pen Addict)
An avalanche of mini nib grinds (via mnmlscholar)
Schon DSGN Peek Fountain Pen Review (via The Pen Addict)
Nine-Bespoke Pens Rosetta (via dapprman)

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 feature

All Hail InCoWriMo!

Laura CameronJanuary 31, 2023

Tomorrow is February 1st and that signals the return of International Correspondence Writing Month (InCoWriMo), otherwise known as a great excuse for us to use our pretty stationery and fountain pens (and ink!) to write to all our nearest and dearest. Not only that, but it is the tenth anniversary of InCoWriMo!

InCoWriMo - a box of floral stationery lies open with a teal fountain pen on top, waiting for letters to be written.

Obviously InCoWriMo takes its inspiration from NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and suggests that participants write and send one letter or postcard a day in the month of February. If 28 letters or cards seems daunting, I’m of the opinion that you should participate at whatever level feels good to you! Catch up on your overdue correspondence, write a long letter to a friend you haven’t seen in a while, send a fun “thinking of you” postcard to a loved one just because.

In the last few years many of us have gone quite virtual, but there really isn’t anything like receiving a handwritten letter in the mail. (Yes I’m one of those weird folks who is cheered by going to the mailbox – it could be yarn! Or letters! Or pens or ink or notebooks!)

If you’re wanting to participate, but haven’t anyone to write to, InCoWriMo can help – you can share your address, and write to others who have shared their addresses! (just a note – your address will be publicly searchable, so if you’re keeping a low profile because of that last fountain pen heist, you may want to skip this step.)

So stock up on stamps, ink up those pens, find all your stationery and airmail paper, buy some fun postcards, and let’s do this thing!

In Tools

Paper Review: Curnow Fountain Pen Friendly Notepaper & Box

AnaJanuary 30, 2023January 22, 20233 Comments

The Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherwork Fountain Pen Friendly Notepaper & Box ($15) was an item I picked up on a whim at the Curnow table at the St. Louis Pen Show. The Curnows only do a couple pen shows each year: San Francisco and St. Louis, but their table is always a treasure of paper goods. Their products can be ordered online by emailing (address is on their Facebook Page) or reaching out via Facebook.

The unfinished wood box is assembled with tongue and groove laser cut and is filled with more than 100 3″ x 5″ sheets of lined paper. The paper is probably about 24 or 28 lb bond — we used a micrometer but it was also what my printer husband guessed just by holding it in his hand. It’s not index card weight but not too floppy. The paper is very smooth and features medium-grey 5mm lines.

I love to have 3 x 5’s on my desk for a quick calculation, grocery list or other random note. This box gives me a perfect coral for the stack of paper and it looks great too.

I tend to use 3 x 5s in portrait rather than landscape so the lines are a bit odd for me and they are printed on both sides so I can’t just flip them over and use the other side. Personally, I prefer blank paper for 3 x 5s — years at Hallmark hammered them into me head.

Close-up view of fountain pen writing tests

As for the claim that the paper is Fountain Pen Friendly. I can attest that, yes, it is.

writing sample, back view. No show through or bleed through

The only thing that stumps me is the lines on the paper. It’s fine but I think when I use up the sheets in the box, I’ll just have Bob cut some scrap paper to size for me.

In Planners & Organizers

Planner Review: Midori 2023 Pocket Diary B6- Clovers

AnaJanuary 27, 2023January 22, 20231 Comment

With January almost over, it probably seems a little late to consider a planner. However, if you are ike me, you might have waited to make a decision or discovered that you needed something your current planner wasn’t delivering. This is where the Midori B6 Pocket Diary in Clover Design (currently on sale for $21) comes in.

I had been trying to do all my planning freeform in a B6 Stalogy notebook but I realized I had not built in any “future planning” for myself. I don’t mean lofty 5-year goals or anything as grandiose as that. I mean I didn’t have those month-at-a-glance pages in my Stalogy unless I drew them all out myself. Color me lazy but I realized a small pocket diary/planner could be added into my notebook cover that would provide me with a place for those planning pages. Things like birthdays, holidays, trips and other events that are not happening today. My Stalogy is for tracking the daily to-do’s — go to post office, print outs for meeting today, etc. But the sort of bird’s eye view pages weren’t there. The “I have X weeks before this project is due and I’ll be out of town for these days so….” view that a monthly calendar or a week-on-a-page can provide.

So, I went searching for planner/diaries that were still available. Trust me when I say by the middle of January the pickin’s get pretty slim. I lucked out (pun intended) when I found the Midori B6 Pocket Diary.

First, it fits into my leather cover and is the same size as my Stalogy so I can corral both books together and flip back and forth between my daily page in the Stalogy and the weekly or monthly view in the Midori.

Utilizing the notes pages in the back of the planner for pen tests. The last few pages of the diary are Japanese subway maps which are fun to see but wont be too handy here in KC.

Second, the paper quality is excellent. I know the expectation with Midori is that the paper will be fountain pen friendly but because of the size and cute graphics, I thought the paper quality might have been skimped on. Nope. Lovely paper. The paper is slightly ivory colored and the right hand page on the weekly pages is lined with light grey lines that don’t bother me too much.

The paper works well with my finer nib fountain pens which are appropriate for the small spaces available to write notes. I’m not going to use a big fat nib to try to write holidays and birthdays in the boxes on the monthly calendar but the paper withstood the ink just the same, if I needed to.

Reverse side of the writing tests. There’s a tiny bit of show through but it’s minimal.

Third, the die cut tabs for the months is super convenient and makes flipping around to different months fast and efficient.

Finally, I am actually kind of charmed by the graphics. I bought the Clover designs because I like the color green but was worried that the graphics would be too busy of cutesy. After using the planner for a couple weeks, I actually like the designs. Each month has an animal featured. January is a pig, May is a deer. I am not sure what that means but I find the artwork cute and adds a bit more color to the largely green pages.

I would actually consider purchasing one of the other designs. The Birds design or the Vehicles design are particularly fun.

Should you decide to use the Midori Pocket Diary without a cover, it does ship with a plastic slipcover over the softcovers to provide durability. Overall, I think the Mirodi Pocket Diary is a good value with a lot of great features. If you miss out on ht remaining stock of 2023 editions, be sure to put a 2024 on your wish list.

In Tools

Product Review: Inky Converters Washi Tape Cards

AnaJanuary 26, 2023January 22, 20232 Comments

I have been hoarding the delightful little set of business card-sized Washi Cards from Inky Converters ($2.50 for one card, $10 for a pack of 5) since the St. Louis Pen Show. These cards are foil-printed plastic with a matte finish that are designed to wrap strips of washi tape around for travel or for sharing with friends. Unfortunately, the design printed on the cards are not currently available in her shop but there are a couple other designs that are all equally as cute.

The grid lines printed on the cards help to keep your tape wraps parallel which I didn’t realize I needed until I started applying tape to the cards.

I wrapped tape two to three times around the card to give myself a “week’s worth”. I color coordinated the tape on this card to all look nice together and will probably wrap up some other color coordinated cards as well. The cards are sized to fit into the business card pocket on the inside of a Hobonichi or other planner covers.

I have so much washi that I will definitely wrap a few cards up to send to friends in an effort to help pare down my stash. Also, being able to easily carry around a bit of washi will help me use it up… at least I hope it will.

Sometimes, in my pen adventures I find an item I didn’t know I needed until I had it. These Washi Cards are just that type of product. I didn’t know I needed it and now I don’t think I could live without them.

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