In Pen Review

Pen Review: Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Dot Marker – Mild Smoky 6-Color Set

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pen Review: Kuretake ZIG Clean Color Dot Marker – Mild Smoky 6-Color Set

When I ordered the Stabilo Boss Nature Colors Set, I also grabbed the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Dot Mild Smoky (6-color set for $14.25). This set includes six, pastel/muted colors which is right up my alley right now.

These are the first Zig Clean Color Dot markers that I’ve gotten that are SINGLE tip. I didn’t even know there was an option for  “just dots”. So, proceed with the knowledge that some Zig Clean Color Markers are double ended with a brush or dot tip on one end and a fineliner marker on the other and others are single ended with just one of those options. The more you know.

The tips of the Color Dot markers are round, bulbous, squishy tips. The firmer the tip is pressed, the larger the dot will be. With a light tap, you can create a small dot, with more pressure, the dot can be larger, almost large enough to fill a whole 5mm square on dot grid paper.

The colors are easter egg muted tones: 490 (grayish green), 407 (pale turquoise), 408 (pale moss), 602 (oatmeal), 201 (pale rose) and 805 (wisteria). Its a pretty palette of colors that are a little more like pastels rather than “nature” like the Stabilo Boss markers from yesterday.

Using these pens to create “dots” is a great way to create your checkboxes in a to do list. You can color code your tasks with the various colors. The tips are a bit too big and the colors a bit too pale to use these tips for writing (as you can see in the numbers written below). So, I wanted to try to figure out what else I could do with these.

The tip is wide enough to use as a highlighter for textbooks, books and magazines of course. I wanted to also test these with pens to see if I could highlight over ink. In my highlighting tests, I am sad to say that the quality of these markers was not great. Whatever ink formula the Zig Clean Color Dots use is not as gentle as the Stabilo Boss markers. Even with the felt/fiber tip fineliners, the ink smeared on my 68gsm Tomoe River paper. Of course, your results may vary depending on what paper you use. When compared directly to the Stabilo Boss markers, however, the Stabilo Boss performed much better on the 68gsm paper when highlighting over pens.

So, as much as I wanted to fall in love with the Clean Color Dot markers in Mild Smoky colors, I just didn’t. The smeariness was definitely a downside. The sort of one-purpose design was also a bit disappointing. Potentially, if I had gotten double-ended versions of these colors, I might have been a bit less disappointed since I could get more mileage out of the pens by using the fineliner end for other purposes. As it is, these Clean Color Dots are really only useful for… making dots.

Just to bring it all back around, I decided to do a color comparison between the Stabilo Boss NatureColors and the Zig Clean Color Dots Mild Smoky Set. There are definitely a few similar colors. The Clean Color Dots have a turquoise, pinky and purple shade but the other colors in the set are similar to the NatureColors.

When compared, I really think I prefer the Stabilo Boss NatureColors and I suspect I will use this set more often than the Zig Clean Color Dot Mild Smoky set. Which set do you like better?

Do you have other uses for the Dot tip? Maybe you can help me find a way to love these pens?

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: Stabilo Boss Original Highlighters (NatureCOLORS 6-Color Set)

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pen Review: Stabilo Boss Original Highlighters (NatureCOLORS 6-Color Set)

I’ve been in a muted, subtle, nature-inspired color vibe lately. When I stumbled across the Stabilo Boss Original Textmarker in the NatureColors 6-pen set ($14.70), it seemed like a great chance to expand my palette of potential nature vibe colors.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever owned a Stabilo Boss Textmarker in the past. I might have had one classic yellow highlighter back in college but its been a long time since I’ve held one in my hand.

I forget how much I like the unique form factor. The flat, wide barrel shape is comfortable and doesn’t roll off the table. It just feels nice in the hand and since many people end up holding these for a long time while reading and highlighting, its nice that you want to hold it.

The set has six muted tones. The colors are only listed by number on each marker: 175 (terra cotta), 163 (greyish blue), 186 (sand), 165 (brown), 137 (moss green), and 193 (greige) . The names in parenthesis are names I’ve given to the colors. The official names are: Beige (sand), Earth Green(moss green), Mud Green, Sienna (terra cotta), Umber (brown), and Warm Grey (greige) but I don’t find them particularly descriptive. Its not important but I hope my names will give you a better idea of the colors, in case the screen images aren’t entirely accurate.

I really like these colors. There isn’t one I’d kick out of bed. And I’m surprised because I tend to avoid sets of just about anything because there’s always one or two colors that I don’t like for one reason or another. But the NatureColors set? Chef’s kiss!

The colors are beautiful and will be fantastic for any annotating I might want to do but I was curious how these would work if I was highlighting over pen in my journal or planner?

So, I wrote with a bunch of pens to test out how well these would work over fountain pen, felt/fiber tip, gel pens, pencil and various other pens.

In the photo above, stars next to the color are good highlight candidates. There was a little with some gel pens. Of course, fountain pen inks which are also water-based smeared more than anything else, except for Diamine Ghost which was surprising. Most of the fiber/felt tip fineliners were good. Pencil and Jetstream were also great. I wouldn’t highlight pages of text and paper choices will effect your results so I’d test in the back of your journal or planner before highlighting on your pages, just in case.

Overall, the Stabilo Boss pens worked pretty well with pens for highlighting. Its great with printed text like textbooks, magazines or other printed matter. The colors are gorgeous and the form factor is unique and appealing. I don’t have a lot bad to say about these. I’m low-key in love with these markers.

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: Washi Tape Swatching

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Washi Tape Swatching

This week, I discovered that journal makers Archer & Olive have a delightful blog with tips, ideas and printables to add to your planner or journal. They feature a wide variety of topics for bullet journalers, art journalers, planners and more. Somehow I stumbled on their blog when I found a post they did a couple years ago about how to make a washi tape swatch book. I think making a washi tape swatch book is a great way to use up a Field Notes book — I know so many fountain pen users have a stack of unused Field Notes that need a use. Voila!

I used a mini notebook that I received in a Stickii monthly subscription kit to start my washi tape swatch book. It fits into my travel pen case so I have it with me whenever I need it. I’ll be adding more washi swatches in the coming weeks.
Another page in my mini washi tape swatch book.

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In feature

Book Review – The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments
Book Review – The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Recently a group of us in the Well-Appointed Desk Patreon decided to read The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen (available on Amazon or in the Well-Appointed Desk Bookshop.org store).

While the book starts with a fun store about how the modern-day Moleskin notebooks came to be, it delves into the history of writing going back to clay and wax tablets, all the way through today’s notebooks. While I realized I was going to be reading a dense history of all the ways paper and notebooks came to be used, it didn’t occur to me in a broader sense that we’d be watching the time periods where we transitioned from purely oral stories and traditions into creating written histories for centuries to come.

The book is a bit dense, with lots of information and so many names and places to remember. But the chapters are short, and I found it was best digested a bit at a time. Some chapters focused on how knowledge was transferred place to place geographically through travelers journals, recording everything from flora and fauna to mechanical structures. Some chapters focused on how sea voyages were one of the original things to be forever altered by the possibility of keeping log books, maps, navigational charts and the like as records of months or years-long voyages. Still others focused on how the act of physically being able to draw on paper (as opposed to canvas or painting) could allow artistic masters to hone their craft so much better, or writers to research and assemble their works.

In short, the book was absolutely fascinating, and even spent a bit of time on modern icons and notebooks (bullet journaling gets a chapter!). If you’re a lover of analog tools and notebooks/journals, this one is a great read for you!

DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

In Tools

Product Review: Kokuyo Bobbin Mini Roll Maker for Washi Tape

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Product Review: Kokuyo Bobbin Mini Roll Maker for Washi Tape

I have a lot of washi tape. This year, I’ve been trying to USE the washi tape that I have and TRY NOT to buy more. No one said anything about buying tools to make using my washi tape more easily and efficiently, right?

Enter the Kokuyo Bobbin Washi Tape Mini Roll Maker ($9.50) and Petit Cutters (set of 4 for $4.50). I purchased extra reels (pack of 6 for $4.05) becausse I wanted to roll up a bunch of washi tapes from my stash. So here goes:

The video above shows the process of loading and rolling the reels with washi tape in real time. In the process of recording the video, I discover some really nice details in the build and construction of the Bobbin Maker, the Petit Cutters and the individual reels as well.

Kokuyo also sells their own washi tape that has already been rolled onto these little mini reels. And I couldn’t review this system without buying a couple of rolls of this tape, right? So I did acquire a few more rolls of washi but each bobbin only has 3m (approx. 36in) of tape.

The reels and Petit Cutters all have cool little holes on the sides that will click together which was such a nice addition to the design making it easier to store and carry with me. Such attention to detail!

There is also a Bobbin Washi Tape Case with Cutter ($6.50) that looks like it has an interesting mechanism to keep your tape protected when traveling but I wasn’t able to pick one up when I placed my order. I do think that I’ll probably buy one later though.

Overall, these bobbins and Petit Cutters are so handy, so cute and useful. I highly recommend investing in the Kokuyo Bobbin Maker and spools.

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 Fashionable Friday

Fashionable Friday: Easter Parade

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Fashionable Friday: Easter Parade

Someday. I’d like to attend the NYC Easter Bonnet Parade. Since I can’t make it to New York this weekend, I’m living vicariously through pastel pens, Easter egg-colored inks and Spring-inspired notebooks.

Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.

In Link Love

Link Love: Tariff-ying Future

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Tariff-ying Future

(*Featured image from Selvedge by Donovan Beeson on Patreon)

For the full story, please visit Paper & Pencil’s post on Instagram

Last week, Paper & Pencil (the Chicago-based stationery shop) posted about the new tariffs and how they have been directly affected. Because the tariffs are changing day-by-day, some vendors might receive a bill for astronomical fees one day and the next, the tariffs are on hold for 90 days. I fret for how this will effect small shops and small businesses. I purchase some items for the shop from other small makers and I know not everything they create is made in the US. I have had to hold off on making anymore custom washi tape designs until I can verify that I won’t be hit with 135% tariff fees to import it (washi tape can only be made in Asia at the present). If I were to be hit with fees that high, I’d have to double the price for a roll of tape which I don’t think would end well for anyone.

Check out the article below from Notebook Stories about how notebooks and journals will also be affected by potential tariffs. These import fees will definitely change how we, as pen and stationery fans, purchase and collect our favorite items. Time to reach into our current stash and use some of those notebooks we’ve saved for a “special occasion”.

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