On the first day of Inkmas…

This is my first post as a traveling reporter! I’m spending the weekend down in Houston, TX at the Dromgoole’s store and have had the worst time choosing an ink to feature today. Sitting in the midst of hundreds of inks, I find it very hard to focus on any single color. So I’ve chosen an all-time favorite of mine, Robert Oster Las Vegas.

I inked up the best TWSBI on the market – the glow-in-the-dark purple Eco pen – with Robert Oster Las Vegas as soon as the pen arrived. The two are the perfect combination. TWSBI Eco pens feature a transparent body so sparkle inks are even more fun – almost as good as a lava lamp.

I was very surprised when I first swatched Las Vegas – most purple inks are too blue, too pink, so dark that they look black, or so light they aren’t legible.

The sparkle is what makes Las Vegas so amazing, however. It’s hard to tell if the glitter is silver or purple with this ink, but it is perfect. The sparkle is fine enough to flow easily through a feed and it shows well while writing.

The above and below photos are on Cosmo Air Light paper, so the blue undertones are more obvious. Below is a different light angle to show the sparkle.

Tomoe River paper (TR7) shows a redder ink, but surprisingly darker. Typically, ink looks slightly lighter on TR paper than Cosmo Air Light paper.

The photo below is again on Tomoe River paper, angled so you can see the shimmer.

As I said before, most purple inks are too light or too dark. I knew Las Vegas was special when I wrote on wheat straw paper and the shade was still fabulous.

The shimmer shows up very well on this wheat straw booklet.

As the first post of the Inkmas season, I hope you love this quick look at Robert Oster Las Vegas! It doesn’t look too Christmassy, but it is absolutely great for any celebration.

Link Love: Inkmas is coming!

Link Love: Inkmas is coming!

Starting tomorrow, the staff here at WAD will start our annual inky tradition of an ink review a day until Christmas day. We want to share with you some of our favorite inks, whether they are just released or old favorites. So, don’t forget to check back in everyday for the next 12 days to experience our weird and inky holiday tradition. You can also use our Inkmas tag to check out previous Inkmas posts. There’s no better time to make a list of your must-have inks!

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Fountain Pen Review: Pelikan Classic M205 Apatite Fountain Pen

Teal and turquoise are among my favorite colors, so when I saw the Pelikan M205 Apatite, it was an insta-buy (approx. $149.23 via Appelboom). I preordered early and waited for a while and last week it finally arrived!

There’s not a lot to say about the M205 that we haven’t already said in the past:

The Pelikan M205 comes with a resin body, and trim in a variety of colors. They chose silver trim with the Apatite, and I think it’s a great match – blue and silver is so classy. The Pelikan M205 is a piston-filled model so no options for cartridges, but especially in the demonstrator body I think that adds interest. My inaugural fill was with a sample of the Pelikan Edelstein Apatite ink, made to match the pen! The only thing to know about Pelikan, particularly if you like finer nibs, is that Pelkans are definitely Western nibs, and often err on the wider side. They are available in EF, F, M and Broad; I chose a fine nib this time.

Pelikans are a great, albeit wet, writing experience. In playing with in the last week or two, I’ve really enjoy the fine nib. It’s wet enough to be very smooth (without being scratchy), but also fine enough for my tastes. Overall, I love the color of the Apatite and I’m always happy to add another bird to my effin’ (Pelikan) flock.

Disclaimer: The items featured in this post were all purchased with my own money and review contain my own opinions. For more information about review products please view our Sponsorship & Review Page.

Pen Review: Ferris Wheel Press The Scribe

Pen Review: Ferris Wheel Press The Scribe

I was surprised to discover the Ferris Wheel Press The Scribe ($45) ballpoint pen recently. It is a beautiful, lacquered ballpoint pen in the spirit of the Caran d’Ache 849 and the Parker Jotter. It’s sreamlined, elegant and beautifully packaged.

Normally, I prefer easy-to-recycle packaging and The Scribe is both posh and recyclable. The pen comes in a square-shaped tin embossed with the company logo and a friction-fit cap. The packaging can be recycled because its metal but can also be reused. It’s pretty enough to look good on-shelf in a shop and present as a gift. This would definitely qualify as a pen that would or could be gifted to a graduate or someone who just got their doctorate or passed the bar.

While most readers here are avid fountain pen collectors, I suspect we all own some upscaled ballpoint or rollerball pens and The Scribe would sit beautifully amongst our fountain pens.

The Scribe is available in several different lacquer colors but I chose the millennial pink because …. why not? The pen itself is a rounded square shape that is comfortable in the hand. The hardware is gold tone and the pen features a hex-shaped, knurled end that will advance and retract the pen tip. The clip is long and slender with subtle engraving on the clip with the company branding.

The most disappointing part of The Scribe is the refill.  I discovered that The Scribe utilizes the Cross screw-in refill.  It’s probably one of the most limited refill options. While the Cross screw-in refill is available at most big box office supply stores, options are limited in terms of tip widths, colors and ink type. With the (more common) Parker-style refill, users can choose a wide variety of options and these refill are readily available just about any place that sells stationery from a drugstore to a pen shop.

For a non-pen-snob, the refill might not be a dealbreaker.  The Cross ballpoint refill is long lasting and available in blue and black. Its a solid refill.

For picky folks, like myself, this lack of refill options is a sad turn of events. Unfortunately, until I purchased the pen, I didn’t know what refill it would take. With most ballpoint pens, I already have a cache of refill options that I’ve hacked or modified to work but the Cross screw-in refill is the hardest to create an alternative. So, if you have. preference for gel ink, microtips or a wider range of color options, I wouldn’t recommend this pen. It’s beautiful but its usefulness is severely limited by the refill. I wish The Scribe had used a Parker-style refill or even the Schmidt rollerball refill. If it had, I would have definitely put The Scribe in the same class as the 849 or the Retro 51 Tornado as a new “modern classic”.


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.

Ink Traveling Kit

Ink Traveling Kit

December has arrived! With the multitude of holidays that land in December, many pen and ink fans will be traveling to see family and friends while others may take vacations away from home. We thought it would be appropriate to show a few ways the team at the Desk travels with pen, ink, and paper.

I travel to plenty of pen shows during the year and will be making a guest appearance at the Dromgoole’s store next weekend to talk about ink as well. This frequency has helped me to hone my travel kit down to what I consider the bare minimum. My kit has become modular so I can quickly grab the mix of items I will need at any gathering.

First is paper. I won’t show up to any pen gathering without great paper and typically several kinds. I use the Lochby Notebook holder (I purchased this from Gentleman Stationer) because I can fit 1, 2, or even 3 notebooks into it and still cinch it closed. Currently I have a Tomoe River notebook (from Musubi), a Cosmo Air Light notebook (also from Musubi), and a Midori MD Light notebook (I think I purchased it from Vanness).

Also, I love stickers.

My next piece is an ink swatching brick. Nock made these pouches years ago to hold business card-sized items and a pen, but it’s also perfect to fit Col-O-Ring cards, a dip pen (made from a Traveler’s ballpoint pen body and a dip nib), and a travel paintbrush. In locations where I won’t have easy access to water (to rinse the paintbrush), I substitute several q-tips for the brush.

These Nock pouches are no longer produced but I’ve found great replacements – Rickshaw Bags makes a great zippered pouch and a Pac-Man wallet that fit the same items perfectly.

When I can’t get ahold of a pouch for this purpose, I’ve substituted a full Col-o-Ring and a rubber band that can hold a dip pen and q-tips as well. I do believe this is the most minimal ink swatch kit possible.

The next piece in my modular design is another Lochby piece – the Venture pouch. This one I also purchased from Gentleman Stationer. I like the two pouches on this piece – on the side that is two pouches, I throw in my larger swatching tools – a second paint brush, a capped glass dip pen, and a brass nib dip pen. Sometimes a folded pen will also find a place here. I also keep a few un-inked pens like TWSBIs or Preppys (the ones below are inked from my last venture) and a few pens that can write on most surfaces – you would be surprised how often these come in handy.

The other side of the same pouch opens up to elastic loops. Here I keep tools that I currently find handy.

In the photo below, the top group is a glue pen and a retractable sharp blade. On the right are two versions of water brush pens – sometimes I will fill the larger one with ink rather than water. The group on the left consists of a highlighter/felt pen combo, a white gel pen, and a mechanical pencil. On the bottom of the photo are a Pilot Preppy pen and a refillable felt tip pen, both filled with a waterproof black ink. All of these tools are for playing with ink and paper.

The final module of my kit is the clean and repair portion. I’ll still bring this to most get-togethers, but it doesn’t come out as often. This kit lives in a plastic-y pouch so I can put wet items in on the way out of a meet up but I can also safely store tools that are every pokey.

This kit contains (clock-wise from the top left) Mylar paper for nib smoothing, an old rag that I cut from a baby swaddling blanket, a snot sucker tool for cleaning pens, a pokey dental pick (I got this one from my dentist when it was too old to be resharpened and they were going to throw it out), a nib flossing thing, section pliers, wire cutter (blue handle), a piece of rubber tube that helps grip, a sunshine cloth for polishing, an ink syringe, a retractable Sharpie (probably one of the most used items in this kit), and a few empty ink sample vials.

This kit is remarkable for the variety of problems it can solve in the field – at pen shows, meet-ups, traveling, and even just on hand near my desk.

I always stuff things together as much as I can!

So that is my entire travel kit. This doesn’t include pens themselves – that is a whole different post for sometime in the future. Various portions of this kit are always with me whenever I travel. Each has an easy way to carry by a handle or loop, and they stack together well. I’ve refined these over then years until I am fairly certain I will be prepared for 99% of what I will encounter at pen-related gatherings. Do you have a kit you like to take?

DISCLAIMER: The items in this post were purchased by me. For more information, see our About page.

Link Love: It’s beginning to look a lot like Gift Guide!

Link Love: It’s beginning to look a lot like Gift Guide!

While I am excited about the release of the 2022 Holiday Gift Guide episode of the Pen Addict Podcast, there has also been other events this week worth noting.

Laura recorded the 400th episode of her YouTube vlog, The Corner of Knit & Tea. That’s a lot of knitting. And tea!

Pantone, though they are near the bottom of my shit list for the shenanigans they pulled this year removing support within the Adobe apps, is on the cusp of announcing their “color of the year”. Should I care? No. Will I discuss and consider at great length? Yes. Stupid, Pantone. Pretty, PITA, Pantone.

Pencils are “in the news” this week — at least in our world. Yeah!

Birmingham Pen company got featured in an article in the NYTimes!

Pelikan raised their prices and Rachel’s Reflections gives advice to slow spending. Both of these make me reconsider what I buy and how much I need. It’s timely to consider our spedndgin particularly at the beginning of the biggest shopping season of the year. Maybe I should use what I already have to document and appreciate the people and animals in my life?

Love AnaAnd Modern Daily Knitting recommends the Never Gonna Give You Up episode of the podcast Song Exploder. And since I now got the song stuck in your head, you might as well go listen to the episode.

You’re welcome.

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Yarn + Ink: Perfectly Primary

With all the amazing ink colors out there, sometime I just go back to the primary colors and marvel that these 3 hues can be mixed in various proportions to make all the other colors!

Recently I finished a sweater that had the primary colors, plus turquoise thrown in. So I had to search through my ink stash to see what might match!

The Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Party Time

Pattern: Maema Cardigan by Megan Nodecker

Inks: