The Well-Appointed Desk

Notebook Review: NYBG x Moomin Collection

I found a magical package on my door step this week, filled with the sweet Moomin stationery in celebration of The Summer of Moomin, an event at the New York Botanical Gardens. This summer, NYBG has filled their gardens with the creatures of Moominland and of course produced an array of goods to celebrate the event.

If you’re not familiar with Moomin, they are the characters from Moominland created by Tove Jansson. The stories were first published in the 1950s and continued into the 1970s as novels, comic strips, animated series and so much more. Considered a national treasure in Finland, Moominland and all the books continue to delight nature-lovers of all ages.

Its an unusual collaboration for Esterbrook as the collection does not include any pens, just notebooks and stationery goods.

The products available in this collection are:

Moomin A6 Journal and Tote Set ($24.95)
Moomin 3-Notebook Set (Large) ($14.95)
Moomin Sticky Notes ($4.95)
Moomin 3-Notebook Set (Small) ($9.95)
Moomin Memo Pad ($4.95)
Moomin Nib Bookmark ($15.95) (could not find a link)

As adorable as I think Moomin are, I of course want to know how well the notebooks and stationery perform. So, let’s get started.

A6 Journal and Tote Bag Set

I’m going to go ahead and give away the big reveal, the Moomin A6 Journal and Tote Set is my favorite in this whole collection. At first, I was a little skeptical about the tote bag. Its a canvas-style tote with just one strap and an orange grosgrain ribbon but I put everything from the collection in the bag and it all fit. The tote is a fine option for that “home purse/analog tote” for moving your journal and pens back and forth from your desk to the couch to the coffeeshop.

I wish the ribbon had been sealed or cut at an angle to prevent fraying and I’d also have loved for the tote to be a wide, short bag rather than the tall, vertical design but it works and the A5 notebooks fits so I appreciate the desire to do something different but a Moomin mini Trader Joe’s tote would be epic.

Okay, on to the A6 journal…

The A6 Journal features a soft, matte vinyl cover with graphics screen printed onto the cover.

When the cover is removed the journal has a simple, linen textured PU material cover with two grosgrain ribbon bookmarks and a light 5mm grid inside.

The only branding without the clear cover is a small mark for NYBG x Moomin and Esterbrook on the inside front page. So, if you like the A6 journal, you can use the notebook in an another cover or without the cover altogether. And if you love Moomin, you can reuse the cover on another A6 notebook.

I couldn’t find any info on the page count so I manually counted them. It appears to be about 216 pages in the A6 Journal. You’re welcome.

So, now for the big reveal:

Esterbrook claimed the paper was fountain pen friendly and guess what? It is! The paper is a warm white and relatively smooth. I’d compare it to the texture on Midori MD, smooth but not slippery. I like the paper.

The reverse side of the writing samples on the Moomin A6 Journal.

I normally find A6 to be too small for me but this A6 Journal feels good in the hand, has nice paper and a good amount of pages.

The website lists the A6 Journal is a “refillable” notebook so I am hoping that Esterbrook will offer the refills soon.

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Three Sailor Studio Inks (341, 343, 564)

AnaJuly 23, 2026July 23, 20262 Comments

I grabbed a handful of Sailor Studio Inks at the Portland PNW Pen Show. Some of the colors I grabbed are being discontinued so I wanted to be able to see if I can find some dupes* for the discontinued colors as well as just share the joy of finding a new favorite color.

*Dupe is a term used in the cosmetics community to describe a very similar color of a product that is less expensive or not a limited edition.

341 – Discontinued
343- Still in production (but there is no listing on the Dromgoole’s site at the moment)
564 – Discontinued

Overall, I love Sailor inks. The quality is excellent and the color range is excellent. I thought the Sailor Studio Inks line with 100 colors was almost perfect from the standpoint of people looking for a specific color. It was the closest I could find to the wall of paint colors at Lowe’s for fountain pen inks. That is all about to change so I wanted to grab colors I might not be able to get later and bring the collection to your attention if you haven’t tried it.

Sailor does not sell shimmer fountain pen inks (they do have a few shimmer inks for dip pens only called “Dipton”) but they do sell multichromatic and sheening colors and all of these were available in the Sailor Studio Ink collection.

So let’s dive in to the few I picked up.

Ink Swatches

I wanted to find more colors that I would use regularly so I went for a mid-saturation shading inks in blues, greens and purples — my favorite ink colors.

On all the papers I tested, the inks were all legible and shades well. I probably would have used all three for my Mermaid month so be prepared to see these inks again next July.

Ink Comparison

I assumed I would have a match for the blue-violet #343 but the closest I found was Robert Oster Sydney Lavender and Vinta Maskara. Maskara is bright and more saturated while the Sydney Lavender is a bit darker and duskier. But both are pretty close. But since #343 is staying in the Sailor Studio Ink line you can just purchase this one if you prefer it.

For #564, Robert Oster Peppermint feels really similar in person and Diamine Aurora Borealis is slightly more blue but also felt quite close. Everything else in my collection was brighter, green, or more turquoise so it is a particularly unique shade.

Finally, #341 is quite similar to the Sailor California ink from the 50 States Collection. And Pelikan Edelstein Aquamarine hovers between #341 and #564. If you already own Aquamarine, you probably don’t need either #341 and #564.

Final Impressions:

Watercolor painting with my Sailor Ink Studio inks.

I really like the aquas, greens and purples from the original Sailor Studio Inks. Honestly, I like most of the colors. I’m sad to see even one of the colors leaving the line because I think a lot of the colors were overlooked in our “shimmer ink era” and are just now getting some traction. I’m sure it was difficult for retailers to keep all 100 colors in stock especially when some colors sell super fast (hello, #123!) when others are more slow movers but dammit, we need ALL the COLORS!

I have about eight bottles of Sailor Studio Ink in my collection. I may try to get a bottle of warm brown from the Sailor Studio Ink line to “complete” my personal ink collection. What are your go-to ink colors or your favorite Studio Ink color? Am I missing something?

In Link Love

Link Love: More 10 Pens Challenges

AnaJuly 22, 2026July 21, 2026Leave a comment

More of the pen community has taken on the “Only Ten Pens” Challenge. I love these community challenges and the chance to see what other people love. Sometimes its $10 pens and sometimes its $1000+ pens… and sometimes both. I’ve continued to think on this project and if it would inspire me to remove some pens from my collection and possibly add more of what I love most? Do you like these challenges? Did you try to pick your 10 forever pens?

Only 10 Pens Posts:

Ten Fountain Pens (via Olive Octopus)
3+3+3+1 (via Line Variation)
Ten Pens, but Make it Seven (via A Gathering of Curiosities)

Check out our Patreon where you can get inspiration, gossip and free printables that include a biweekly podcast and more. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Paper Review

Daigo Tea & Diary Time – Review and GIVEAWAY

Laura CameronJuly 21, 2026July 21, 202641 Comments

A few weeks ago when I was browsing JetPens, my attention was captured by the Daigo Tea & Diary Time diaries ($11.50-12.50). These looked like the perfect little books in which to record a few simple thoughts of the day. Since I’ve written many times about how I struggle with daily journaling, I wondered if this might be the key!

I ordered three versions: a Morning Diary, an Evening Diary and a Weekend Diary. I chose to test out the Weekend version for myself.

All the books are A6 size which translates to 5.75″ x 4″ (15cm x 10.5cm) which makes them somewhat pocketable, and definitely purse friendly. The covers are cardstock. They come encased in a thin plastic which may just be for packaging, but I decided to sticker mine up and leave it on to protect the cardstock. Inside the books are filled with Daigo Diary Paper which is ivory and lined. While I can’t find a GSM for the paper, it is thicker than Tomoe River, but lighter than most of my preferred papers. Page amounts vary – for the weekend there are 110 sheets (for 2 years worth of weeks), and for the morning/evening there are 192 sheets (for approximately 6 months of days).

How is the paper? I enjoyed writing on it. I was using a Pelikan M205 Fine, which is a wetter writer. I didn’t see any bleeding or feathering. The writing did show through the opposite side more than I would like, but that could be fixed with a lighter touch and a slightly finer nib. Or it would likely be perfect for gel pens.

I’m kind of charmed by the fact that the writing spaces are so small that I really only have time for a few important thoughts. Like knitting with friends is super fun, but sometimes you will make mistakes and have to rip out your work later. Or being seated at a table next to a couple loudly breaking up next to you in Panera is quite awkward. Or that early voting has opened in your state, and it’s time to go! Clearly the deepest thoughts!

Ok it’s too far down the page and I haven’t even mentioned the giveaway. Let’s do this!

THE GIVEAWAY: You are entering to win a Tea & Diary Time Diary. I have one of each: Tea & Diary Time Evening Cafe Au Lait/Calming and Tea & Diary Time Morning Coffee/Blue. I will select two winners; each will win one journal plus a few SWAG items from me and The Desk.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us whether you’re a morning pages or a night owl journaler? 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, July 26, 2026. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Instagram, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday, June 1. 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.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review and giveaway were purchased from JetPens using my own funds. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Taccia Ukiyo-e Ink Hokusai Sabimidori

AnaJuly 20, 2026July 20, 20261 Comment

I was so excited to try a new ink from Taccia. I picked up a bottle of the Hokusai Sabimidori (40ml bottle for $32). First, I have always liked the work of Hokusai and this ink collection includes four inks inspired by the Ukiyo-e prints of legendary artist Hokusai. I was able to see an exhibition of Hokusai’s work this year at the Nelson-Atkins Museum. Ukiyo-e is a style of Japanese printing from the Edo-period (17th century) that focuses on everyday life, a trend that continue to inspire artists today.

In order to fit my bottle into my quart-sized travel bag, I had to give up the beautiful box with the Hokusai artwork.

So, let’s get into the specifics of this inks.

This ink is very sheeny but is unusual in its hue. The base color is a very dark bluish green with reddish sheen. The green seems to only show on some papers, with the bluish hue becoming more vivid on others.

Swatch on Iroful paper. Much bluer than on Col-o-ring paper.

Again, on Cosmo Air Light, Sabimidori looks much more blue than green. Crazy, right?

On Tomoe River 68gsm, more of the greenish hue is visible but still very greyish — not a vivid green.

Ink Comparison

I have a few green-to-red sheening inks but the Taccia Sabimidori is distinctly different in both base color and sheen.

Stacked swatches from top to bottom: Octopus Gremlin, Van Dieman’s Sea Turtle, Vinta Inks Andrata Teal, Diamine November Rain and Taccia Sabimidori.

Octopus Inks Gremlin is a green base with a deep blue sheen, November Rain, Sea Turtle and Andrata Teal are all a green base with reddish-pink sheen. Sabimidori almost has a coppery vibe in comparison.

Final Impressions

Overall, Tacci Sabimidori is a very unusual ink. It looks different on different papers and at different angles. Just when I think I figured it out, it seems to shift. As a result, the longer I use and the longer I stare at it, the more I like it. It’s definitely worth trying it out as it is a truly unusual color.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Taccia Pen Company for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

The Hunt for the Perfect Green Ink Continues….

AnaJuly 17, 2026July 17, 20269 Comments

I have been using a very specific ink for the past few years. The ink is Pen BBS #224 Leo Tolstoy which was released a few years ago never to be seen again. It’s a dark yellow-green that has low saturation but a dark enough ink for a fine Japanese nib. It’s not a bright grassy green but more of a brined olive color. I love this ink and keep a pen filled with it, all the time. Which means, there’s not much left.

I have made an effort to find a replacement over the years so that I can continue to write in my signature green color but results have been mixed. There have been a few similar-ish but brighter, or darker, or more yellow-y. So, last weekend while I was in Portland, I decided to make another effort to find a good alternative.

I grabbed a ridiculous amount of ink at the show and ordered a few additional options. So here’s the list:

Amarillo Stationery Not Too Much
Sailor Studio Ink #970
Sailor Studio Ink #370
Colorverse USA Special Great Plains
Vinta Inks Leyte 1944 Sea Kelp
Octopus Inks Goblin (Violet sheener green so I knew it was a long shot, but c’mon, for the name alone!)
Troublemaker Hanging Rice

The inks I collected range from bright grassy greens (Amarillo No Too Much!) to more moody, murky yellow-greens (like Sailor #970 and Colorverse Great Plains). They are all pretty and have potential in my collection but aren’t necessarily a replacement for Leo Tolstoy.

As expected, Octopus Inks Goblin is nowhere near Pen BBS #224 but I couldn’t resist an ink called Goblin with a green base and violet sheen. Yum! So, as much I like it, it will not replace Leo Tolstoy. But that’s okay.

Ink swatch samples on Iroful paper in my bible-sized Plotter.

I have been experimenting with swatching on some different papers and you’ll see that the inks look quite different depending on the paper. Iroful definitely switches ink colors in ways I find extremely unexpected. Colors seem to look a little lighter overall and in some cases, the colors shift a bit. So, beware when you are testing different inks and papers that YMMV.

I did find a few inks that I think might be good options moving forward, even though they are not quite the same hue as my beloved Pen BBS #224 Leo Tolstoy. Sailor Studio #370 is pretty close, a tiny bit lighter. Vinta Inks Leyte and Troublemaker Hanging Rice are darker but I quite like them and I think I might test these out in the next few weeks and see if I like them.

Do you have a favorite ink that might be impossible to replace? What’s your plan? Eat it up like the last slice of birthday cake or hoard it like the last piece of Halloween candy? What’s your plan? I think I’m a “use it up” kind of person but I am getting a little verklempt about using up the last of the Pen BBS #224.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s and Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Midori A6 Commonplace Book (How NOT to Commonplace!)

AnaJuly 16, 2026July 16, 20263 Comments

The cover is a simple, cardstock cover with simple gold foil lettering on the cover.

I picked up the Midori “Commonplace Book” ($5 and available in 2 colors) . This A6-sized, 61-numbered-page mini notebook includes a paper bookmark that is printed with lines to add your own key, a place to store your key in the book, and a 2-page spread index that is numbered to match page numbers.

The Commonplace Notebook Features

There is a little brochure included with the notebook that includes information on how to utilize the notebook. Unfortunately, the brochure is written in Japanese so I am following along with the pictures to try to best understand its use.

Brochure included with Commonplace Notebook

Close-up of brochure included with the Commonplace Notebook

The idea is that users will utilize the margin area on each page to color code the content in the main area to the key.

Bookmark wrapped around the cover of the notebook

Then you can use the Index pages to annotate more specific information about what appears on each page.

Then the main part of the notebook includes 2.5mm grid on smooth, cream Midori paper with numbered pages.

There is a solid (-ish) line about five grid spaces from the left edge on each page. This area is designed to be used to color code your notes.

Margin line on the left side and one of the dots that help divide the page into quarters

How NOT to Commonplace

The more research I did about this notebook, the more complicated it seemed and the less confident I felt about using a commonplace system like this. This notebook made me realize I am not great with Commonplace notebooks. My brain is not that organized.

I collaged the cover of the Midori Commonplace Book so it is now just “Book No. 3” — a random sticker I found in my stash.

But its a nice, pocketable notebook with great paper and a stellar price point ($5 for 61 pages of Midori paper!). So I wanted to figure out another way I could use this notebook? So I turned it into a junk journal! And by junk, I mean I started gluing in quotes, scraps, stickers, washi and random bits. I typed out quotes I like on my old manual typewriter and cut and pasted them into the book. I wrote things in from books and ideas I heard in podcasts.

So in the end, it did become a sort of commonplace book but not one that was stringently organized, color-coded or indexed.

So, if you are curious about this notebook but don’t think you are a “commonplace book user” don’t fret. Just stick a sticker over the title on the cover and chuck the bookmark. Make your own magic on lovely paper with. micro grid. Don’t feel constricted by the original intent. Make the notebook yours. There is no Notebook Police that will hand out citations for misuse of a notebook and if there is, kick ’em in the shins. Their laws don’t apply to you!

DISCLAIMER: Some 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.

A6 Journal and Tote Bag Set

Ink Swatches

Ink Comparison

Final Impressions:

Only 10 Pens Posts:

Pens:

Planners, Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

Ink Comparison

Final Impressions

The Commonplace Notebook Features

How NOT to Commonplace