In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Wonderland 222 Tomoe River Tomoegawa B6 (& Giveaway)

Author AnaPosted on
Notebook Review: Wonderland 222 Tomoe River Tomoegawa B6 (& Giveaway)

I met the creative team behind Wonderland 222 while I was in Portland this summer and was absolutely delighted to be able to put faces to this amazing product line. Wonderland 222 is best known for their Tomoe River-based planners — simple, minimal planners in loads of formats.

While talking with Liisa, I discovered that Wonderland 222 still has some notebooks that use the classic Tomoegawa (original) Tomoe River paper.

I purchased the B6 368page Grid Edition ($24) from 2023 in Lichen (which is a very minty green). The notebook has a softcover, similar to the materials used for Stalogy and other flexy cover. And the big news of course is that these notebooks still contain 52gsm Tomoe River Paper by Tomoegawa. Yep, you read that correctly, Wonderland 222 still has old school Tomoe River Tomegawa paper notebooks still in back stock.

Inside, there is a page for a key and an index (just one page for each) and then simple pages for the remainder of the book.

The pages have numbers down the side for use as a time tracking/time blocking and at the top, there is a place to write in the date. The numbers start at 5 (am assumably) and goes to 24:00 (or midnight).

Each page is numbered which makes indexing easier.

It was fun to pen test on this classic stock and results were exactly what I expect from old school Tomoe River.

I definitely want to stock up on a few more of these notebooks especially since they are available with this delicious classic Tomoe River paper and available in an array of sizes (A5, A6 and B6) and page count (96, 192 and 368pp).

I also grabbed one to giveaway to one lucky reader. It’s a B6, 96-page softcover notebook ($10) in the Perfect Pinecone colorway which is sort of a shimmery copper color. It would make a perfect project notebook.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me your favorite notebook size. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.

If you have never entered a giveaway or commented on the site before, your comment must be manually approved by our highly-trained staff of monkeys before it will appear on the site. Our monkeys are underpaid and under-caffeinated so don’t stress if your comment does not appear right away. Give the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Sunday, October 12, 2025. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual 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. If winner does not respond within 5 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. 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. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.

In Link Love

Link Love: Finding Comfort

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Link Love: Finding Comfort

I have been curious about some of the trends I’m seeing in the pen community and in the world in general. Folks are going back to their starter pens, diving into their notebooks and paperlife with renewed fervor and everyone seems to be embracing the vibes of October with cozy sweaters, blankets and pumpkin spice everything.

Even with our media consumption, I am noticing a continuing trend towards “comfort reads” and cozy mysteries and general inclination for joyous escapism. I think this is all in direct contrast to the ongoing stress and turmoil in the world. Our news cycle has become even more ferocious and more scary and escaping for an evening with a British mystery series or reading a cozy fantasy is a great way to find joy and wonder in the world again. So, go ahead, rewatch all your favorite Ghibli films, fire up your favorite tv series from childhood or re-read a favorite book.

If you’re looking for some good escapes, I recommend the Impossible Creatures series by Katherine Rundell. I just finished reading the second book, The Poisoned King and I think I enjoyed it more than the first. These are listed as middle grade books the same way The Chronicles of Narnia are often listed as children’s books so don’t let that throw you. Instead, enjoy the wonderful illustrations in the book and let yourself be transported to another world — a rift between our mundane world and a magical world. You deserve a comfort read.

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In Fountain Pen Review

Starter Pens: Pilot Metro Recap & Thoughts

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments
Starter Pens: Pilot Metro Recap & Thoughts

Last week I shamelessly copied Ana and played around with my Pilot Metropolitans. I had to say it was a fabulous week. This past weekend I traveled to Houston on business and brought my trusty Metros with me. I took notes all weekend and then came home and updated my journal.

In short – that Green Marble is definitely back in rotation and will be getting filled on the regular. The Purple Ellipse will sadly probably go back into the pen case because that nib is just a little too fine for my liking these days.

But I had a great week and they performed perfectly for me. No messes after flying, no hard starts at all. And I was charmed when I pulled it out in one booth and the rep (a fountain pen lover herself) exclaimed “oooooo a real pen!”  I shared the blog with her of course!

I’m a real fan of this challenge, and also reminding myself that while more expensive pens are definitely appealing, the less expensive starter pens are worth keeping in rotation as well!

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Writech Sprinkles Gel Pen 0.5 mm (5-Color Set)

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pen Review: Writech Sprinkles Gel Pen 0.5 mm (5-Color Set)

I’ve talked about it in previous posts but I want to reiterate that I’ve been surprised with the quality and variety coming from Writech. I decided to try the Writech Sprinkles 0.5 mm Gel Pen ( 5-Color Set) ($12.10) which features such an unusual color set for a “basic color set”. The Sprinkles set include: Azure (blue), Coffee (brown), Grass Green, Hot Pink, and Iris Blue (purple).

The barrels feature a gradient representation of the ink color. The width of the barrel is comfortable, not quite as wide as the Uni One shape.

The tips are a conical shape like most gel pens. The knock mechanism is SILENT so you won’t make anyone antsy if you fidget click.

I mislabelled the color names but its not a big deal. The hot pink, lime green and purple (Blue Iris) are pretty common in the gel pen market but the blue (Azure) has a cornflower hue to it — a little powdery with an undertone of lavender — is pleasantly surprising, And the addition of the coffee brown color is not always included in these small gel pen color sets so its nice to see it in the mix.

Overall, these pens write beautifully, are comfortable to use and feature a quiet knock make them a fine choice if you’re looking for a set of fun gel pens at a reasonable price.

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 Ink Review

Underappreciated Ink Brand: Vinta Inks

Author AnaPosted on 6 Comments
Underappreciated Ink Brand: Vinta Inks

Once upon a time, Vinta Ink was the darling of the pen world. They came onto the market with pretty bottles, history baked into their color choices and a beautiful array of multichromatic, sheening and shimmer inks before many of the popular inks of today (like Ferris Wheel and Wearinguel). Other brands may have existed but Vinta grabbed the attention of the pen community.

Maskara was the darling and one of the first washy, multichromatic inks on the market — well before Sailor Studio 123 took the market by storm. We wrote a brand overview back in 2019 and have never stopped loving them. This summer, I grabbed a handful of colors I had not previously acquired from Vinta and fell in love all over again.

I grabbed bottles of Carlos 1960 Emerald, Nakar 1934 Mother of Pearl, Holen 1946 Marbles (Hello Rai collection) and Ubi 1663 Mulberry. I added them to my previous collection of Karnival 1908 Summer Green, Sirena 1952 Sirena, Armada 1944 Aegean and Tabuan 2022 Purple Sea Star.

Ubi was the only sheener of the four and is a deep plummy purple. Nakar  and Holen were both shimmer inks and both in the greyish color family, Nakar being a little more dark grey (with a hint of purple and green) and Holen being a little more grey-blue. Carlos was the only standard  ink and its a dark, forest-y green. Carlos does shade but its a pretty dark color so YMMV.

I definitely appear to favor the cooler colors in the Vinta ink line-up. They do have other ink color options, I just like to hang out in my swampy, deep sea, stormy sky world.

Nakar has silver shimmer  and Holen features a blue shimmer, both of which can be challenging to photograph.

When doing a color comparison, Ubi has some similarities to J. Herbin Poussiere de Lune and Montblanc Lavender Purple but the pronounced sheen of Ubi makes it hard to make a true comparison. I’d suggest that if you like the shade of Ubi but are not interested in sheen, consider the J. Herbin or Montblanc inks as alternatives.

Probably the closest comp I could find to Carlos is Colorverse Crab Nebula  (#90) but Van Dieman’s Styx Valley is also a contender but a bit lighter.

Trying to find a comp to a shimmer ink is often challenging because the ink colors might be similar but a different color shimmer particle will throw off the comparison. So I found Birmingham Pen Co Steamboat Twinkle is a fairly close match but has silver shimmer. Birmingham’s Kier Refinery Petroleum is similar to the base color without the shimmer.

With Nakar, I was able to find two similar shimmer inks — similar in base ink color but NOT in shimmer. J. Herbin Stormy Grey features gold shimmer as does Van Dieman’s Midnight Sky. So the effect is notable different.

My ink comparisons are using what I have in my stash and does not represent the entirety of inks available ever. If I find two or more similar inks, I try to choose the one that is more readily available when possible.

In closing, I am delighted to have more Vinta inks in my stash. Of all the brands people are talking about lately, I feel like Vinta is not as popular or noted despite making good quality inks.

My only complaint is, despite their bottles being pretty and well-designed aesthetically, the text is often very hard to read on the bottles, especially the specific name in the sepia script type. Vinta inks start at about $16 per bottle for a 30ml bottle.

Have you tried any Vinta inks? What are your favorite shades?

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. It does not look like Dromgoole’s is currently stocking Vinta Inks so I recommend shopping around to reputable online retailers to find one that is currently stocking Vinta. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fountain Pen Review

Shameless Copycat Challenge: Use Only Starter Pens for One Week

Author Laura CameronPosted on 2 Comments
Shameless Copycat Challenge: Use Only Starter Pens for One Week

It’s me, Laura, and today I’m shamelessly copycatting Ana’s post last week and spending a week using my favorite starter pen. My all time favorite when I first got into fountain pens was the Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pops! They were priced slightly differently back then, more at an introductory level (around $15-17 a piece if I remember correctly), and come in all sorts of fun colors. I found that I really liked the weight of a metal pen in my hand!

Technically I have three Metropolitans, though only two appear here. I started with a Purple Ellipse with a F nib and a Green Marble with a M nib. I have a third, the Turquoise Dots with what they used to call the Calligraphy Nib (now Medium Italic). I haven’t loaded that one with ink this week for a few reasons. The first is that I can’t find the converter (or a proprietary cartridge), but the more important reason is that I didn’t take to the Calligraphy nib well. I found it hard to write with. I also found that either the bigger nib or the cap seal meant that the pen dried out fairly quickly and would hard start.

I’m currently “mid-week” in my usage as I write this since I loaded the pens up last Friday with ink and set off on my weeklong adventure. So far I’m enjoying revisiting these old favorites. I admit I have a slight preference for the Green Marble because it has a medium nib and puts down a satisfying amount of ink. I think I’ve spoken about how I gravitated towards finer nibs when I started and I’ve wanted slightly bigger nibs as time has gone on. The Pilot nibs are very nice to write with, but I’m finding the fine a little bit too fine for my liking.

Technically I think this is going to be a 2 week experiment for me, because I’m topping off the ink in these babies and heading out for a work conference where I’m sure to take lots of notes so I’ll be back next week with a final report!

In Link Love

Link Love: Is it Inktober already?

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: Is it Inktober already?

I cannot believe its October already. I love pumpkins, crunchy leaves, and more sweater weather. But I completely forgot today starts Inktober. The list of the official prompts are available but I like to create my own list. In the past, I’ve created an A-Z list (26 drawings with bonuses for any over the 26) of office supplies and knitting terms and I’ve also participated in Lisa Congdon’s 31 Things to Draw project on CreativeBug. This year, I need to decide if I am going to try this but I have already decided to participate in the Bewitched Reading Challenge. Can I juggle everyday work, life and creative/reading challenges this month? I will have to think on this for a bit.

Are you doing any month long challenges? Have you tried them in the past?

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