The Well-Appointed Desk

Notebook Review: Artik Coconut Pocket Notebook (Pack Of 3)

I got so excited when I saw the Artik line of pocket notebooks ($16 for a pack of 3 notebooks). For starters, each notebook in their line-up features a cover made from recycled plant by-product material like coconut, hazelnut, olive and cherry. The interior paper in all the notebooks is 100% sugarcane paper that is a warm, kraft color made with no chlorine. Their tagline is “Writing a Better Future” and with being recyclable, compostable, acid-free, chlorine-free and printed with soy ink, I have to agree they are doing their best to live up to the tagline.

All the notebook covers are heavy cardstock and feature either 90gsm sugarcane lined or dot grid paper inside. I got a lined version and the lines a just a few shades darker than the paper which is perfect — there if you need them but easy to ignore if you don’t.

Each notebook in the 3-pack set is “Singer” stitchbound for durability.

Each notebook features a whopping 80 pages which is 32 more pages than a regular Field Notes/

Artik pocket notebook next to a standard Field Note brand pocket notebook. WAY mote pages in each Artik.

I tested a wide variety of pens since I often use a pocket notebook on the go and while fountain pen friendliness is a bonus, I often use extra fine gel and felt tip pens in pocket notebooks so I can fit a lot of writing into them.

The righthand page is the back of another pen test page. See any showthrough? Nope, me either.

I had no issue with showthrough or bleedthrough with any of the pens, markers or fountain pens I tried. This is a notebook that I could really use both sides of the paper without feeling like I was compromising. There really is NO showthrough at all!

Some lighter color markers and pens might not be contrasty enough on the kraft colored, slight speckly paper but most of the pens, markers and fountain pens I tried performed well.

In more detailed fountain pen tests, I was able to get shimmer ink to show on the page but didn’t see a lot of evidence of sheen even with the sparkly sheen monster Lucky Cosmos.

I did notice a slight spread in my fountain pen ink. My EFs looked like Fs and my Fs looked like MFs. It wasn’t terrible but is probably the only downside I have about these books.

I love the designs on the covers of Field Notes but I know I cannot ever use them with fountain pens. The Artik notebooks, on the other hand, stood up to fountain pen ink with only a tiny bit of spread but still did not bleed or show through to the opposite page. So, from that aspect, I have to give these books high praise. The higher page count and epically environmental manufacturing is also worthy of high praise.

The price point is competitive with Field Notes as well so if you are looking for the same pocketability but just a little more, I can’t recommend the Artik highly enough. Of course, if you don’t like kraft colored paper then these won’t be for you. I guess that just means more for me!

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided by the generous support of Patrons like you. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Mixing a Custom Pigment Fountain Pen Ink for Midori 3-Year Diary

Thien-Kim LamMarch 26, 2026March 21, 20264 Comments

In January I shared my intentions and fears as I started a Midori 3-Year Diary. You offered some great suggestions on what I should write each day. I mashed up all your advice and wrote what stood out to me on each day.

Before I wrote on the first page, I knew that I wanted to use a special ink for it. My requirements were:

It must be fountain pen ink (why buy an FP-friendly notebook otherwise?)
The ink must be waterproof or highly water-resistant
The ink must be fun to use since I want to use it for all of 2026

A tall order for any fountain pen ink!

Maybe I could’ve bought a bottle of ink that met all 3 criteria, but I wanted to use what I had on hand as part of my low buy commitment for this year. Time to pull out my ink mixing supplies!

My Ink Mixing Supplies

I dug through my various bins of ink, mica, and shimmer potions. Faced with so many possibilities, I finally narrowed it down to De Atramentis Document Violet ink and Wearingeul Frost shimmer potion to match the diary’s lilac cover.

Other tools I used (and not pictured): De Atramentis Dilution Solution, a 5ml test tube for mixing, a stand to keep my test tube upright, a dip pen for ink testing, a metal cocktail stirring stick, and my 2026 Pen & Ink Journal (Rettacy B5 softcover notebook).

Lightening the Ink Color

I’m not always good about recording the process for my custom mixed inks, but I knew I wanted to use it for all of 2026. Hence the step-by-step records, drop by drop, milliliter by milliliter.

De Atramentis Document Violet is a very saturated pigment ink. I wanted a color closer to lilac. De Atramentis Dilution Solution to the rescue! Dilution solution is basically a colorless fountain pen ink and is specially formulated to work with the D.A. document ink line. The ease of mixing with De Atramentis is why I continue to use it for my Mad Scientist Ink Mixing classes.

It took a couple of tries to get the color close enough to how I imagined it. Why only close enough? Because I needed to. . .

Add Shimmer

Based on my past experience I knew that the shimmer color would also affect the color of my ink. I initially debated between Wearingeul Frost (blue) and Wearingeul Silver Shoes (silver).

I guessed that the Frost would make a good contrast to my now lilac ink solution. I was right! It made the color interesting enough without overwhelming the delicate lilac. It was a matter of testing to see how many drops of the glitter potion I needed in order to get the effect I wanted.

If you look at the photo, you can see I was worried about it having too much shimmer at 10 drops so I added more D.A. Violet.

Testing Water Resistance

Not being a chemist or professional ink-mixer, I had concerns on how much the potion affected the waterproofness of my new ink. The dilution solution had also thinned out the amount of pigment particles per mL so I could safely assumed the shimmer potion had done the same.

On the other side of my test page, I used a wide dip pen nib for my writing sample. After letting it dry completely (probably 30-60 seconds), I dipped my finger in some water and ran it over the writing.

You can see that my first attempt didn’t have enough DA Violet and it smeared. It wasn’t terrible but I wanted stronger water-resistance. My subsequent iterations didn’t smear as much as the first, which I could live with.

Final Thoughts

The process took me maybe thirty minutes. I ended up with 5mL of my custom color, which I’m calling Frosty Violet. Not a super original name, but I’m open to suggestions.

To keep with the lilac vibes, I inked my Mythic Pens with a Kanwrite <EEEF flex> nib with an ebonite feed. It’s been almost 3 months using this combo in my Midori 3-Year Diary. I’m extremely happy with it and haven’t had any clogging issues.

It’s so easy to be lured in by all the new ink releases that show up on my social media feeds. Because my brain likes new and shiny things. But I have to remember that I can mix almost any color I want and have plenty of shimmer options.

The next time my brain tempts me about buying more ink, I’ll dig around my collection and see what fun colors I can create.

Do you make custom fountain pen ink colors?

All items in this post were purchased with my own money. Some links may be affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Well Appointed Desk!

In Link Love

Link Love: New Projects and Recuperating

AnaMarch 25, 2026March 25, 2026Leave a comment

I am still recuperating from back-to-back pen and stationery events. It was a marathon that I had not trained for appropriately, for sure. Then, returning home meant working extra hard to catch up and tackle projects that were abandoned in preparation for everything else. New products needed to be ordered, freelance projects needed to be completed and many cats were low in their petting quotients.Why is it that we all have to work twice as hard before or after any kind of travel, whether its work-related or vacation? That does not seem right nor restful!

I am slowly getting back on my feet and feeling more rested but I think it will take at least another week or so to feel “back to normal”. As I am getting my feet under me, I wanted to let anyone attending the St. Louis Pen Show in June know I will be teaching classes, including a NEW workshop on how to Create Your Own Mini Journal. This is a great way to use up scrap papers, random paper board boxes and create something unique to use for memory keeping, journaling or just really cool notes.

As soon as the classes are live on the St. Louis Pen Show web site, they will be live in my shop so you can sign-up. For a full list of my pen show workshops on offer right now, check out the Pen Show Workshops section in my shop.

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

Review & Giveaway: Beverly Marumi Notebooks

Laura CameronMarch 24, 2026March 23, 202659 Comments

In the last few weeks I took a spin through some of the new products at JetPens in an attempt to find some small purchases – a bit of fun to liven things up. One of the things I came across was Beverly Marumi Notebooks ($6.50-$9.50 at JetPens).

They are perfect for spring and the colors remind me a bit of those pastel Jordan almonds. The notebooks come in two sizes: roughly square at 4″ (10cm x 10.5cm) and landscape at 4″ x 6″ (10cm x 15.5cm). The notebooks are wire spiral bound, and contain 60 sheets each of colored graph paper. There are 3 colors available in each size, and in each the paper is a light hue with white 5mm grid. While I admit dot grid is my favorite formatting, these did look fun.

When I got them in I really wanted to test the square one, and I dig it. It’s the perfect purse size for jotting notes, shopping lists, to dos, etc. The paper is advertised as fountain pen friendly and it seems to be. I had no feathering or bleeding with gel, rollerball or fountain pen inks. There’s a bit of show through, but even I (who hates show through) doesn’t think it’s significant.

Like I said – these were just a bit of fun for spring. But since I’m all about sharing, I decided to pick up a set for you. So let’s get to the giveaway:

You are entering to win a package that includes 1 Beverly Marumi Notebook in Whispering Waves Square and 1 Beverly Marumi Notebook in Glimmering Garden Landscape. I’ll also throw in some Well-Appointed Desk Stickers/Swag and a few ink samples in your desired color(s)!

TO ENTER: Leave me a comment and tell me what color(s) of ink you’d like me to fill those vials with! No specific named inks but things like “blues, purples, reds” etc and I’ll pull from some of my bottled inks for you. 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, March 29, 2026. 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.

A special thank you to JetPens who provided us with the notebooks for this giveaway!

In feature

Ink Review: Colorverse x Lucky Star Pens “Lucky Cosmos”

AnaMarch 23, 2026March 23, 20261 Comment

If you’ve been around here for awhile, you know that I really like Coloverse inks and I will cut to the ending by telling you right out of the gate, that Colorverse x Lucky Star Pens Lucky Cosmos (on sale! $16 per 30ml bottle) might be my favorite yet.

Lauren, founder of Lucky Star Pens, loves shimmer and makes inks that she wants to use– a product concept that I 100% agree with. Lucky Cosmos is a funky, unique, multi-effect ink. The base color of this ink is a deep reddish black with purple and pink shading, then it sheens green, and it shimmers with multi-pigment purple iridescence! It lives up to its name — it’s out of this world.

What is even more noteworthy is that depending on the application of the ink, the color can look distinctly different. When applied with a wet brush, the purple-red undertones really pop. Drops of ink are so sheeny! When I puddled the ink, the purple shimmer was so vibrant as well as the green sheen. Even with fine nib writing, I got evidence of sheen and shimmer. It’s just a roller coaster of color!

Ink Comparison:

I was surprised that I did actually have a few inks that were a deep color AND had some shimmer. Of course, the base color tone and shimmer colors were different but I figure comparing these might help you decide whether to invest in Lucky Cosmos if you already have a full bottle of one of these other hues.

Diamine Solstice is a black with an iridescent green shimmer. It doesn’t have the level of sheen that Lucky Cosmos has making it feel a little less celestial. Robert Oster Shwarze Rose is a green black with an iridescent reddish shimmer. Its a shading ink, not a sheener, so it creates a little bit different feel overall. My final comparison was Troublemaker Butterfly Dream which has some sheening and shimmer but the shimmer is blue and the ink color overall is more black. Don’t get me wrong, Butterfly Dream is a beautiful ink its just different.

This close-up picture above makes the similarities and differences a little more apparent. They are all lovely, just different.

Final Verdict:

I REALLY like this ink. It’s one of the most unusual, most adventurous inks I’ve seen in awhile. Congrats to Colorverse and Lucky Star Pens for making such a unique ink. Makes me want to try some of their other collaborations!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Lucky Star Pens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In news

Shop Updates: Mark’s EDiT, New Stamps and Creeping Moon Restock

AnaMarch 20, 2026March 18, 20262 Comments

I’m so excited to announce a new product line in the shop: Mark’s EDiT notebooks. The EDiT’s notebook uses their original planner paper, “NEO AGENDA for EDiT,” which is designed to be “thin and light” and could be a good competitor to Tomoe River 52gsm. I’ve been using a B7 Slim notebook since last fall and I want to share my enthusiasm for this paper with you all.

I’ve stocked the classic A5, B6 and B7 Slim (very pocketable!). All sizes are available with and without the PVC zipper covers. The B7 Slim size are available with the widest variety of PVC zipper cover colors: neon yellow, neon pink, clear, and black.

I finally designed new clear stamps. There are four new small sets (3″ x 4″) that include a Book Tracker, Ink Experiments, Art Supply Bin and Don’t Drink Ink and one new large set (4″ x 6″) called Let’s Be Fronds (Thanks to Julia for the name!). I’ve wanted to have a book tracking stamp set for so long. I’ve already been using the set and I think it’s a good option if you want a way to track your reading habits. The Art Supply Bin is a another set I’ve been wanting to have completed for ages but I kept tweaking it. I wanted to have lots of pen, marker and drawing tools like the glass pen to use when swatching or cataloguing my tool stash.

Ink Experiments are for those scientific ink experiments. Are you a color blender or just a bit more methodical than those kooky artists? If so, the Ink Experiments is the set for you.

Don’t Drink Ink is a set of cocktails for all those pen show celebrations, parties and meet-ups. Just remember, “Don’t Drink the Ink”.

I made the Let’s Be Fsonds set of plant silhouettes to add decorative elements to your journal, planner or letter writing. Use different ink pads to layer the branches and create your own paper garden.

I am so excited to have these completed for all your ink swatching and experimenting, art supply sampling and book journaling.

Combining Let’s Be Fronds, Book Tracker, and Ink Experiments for a layered TBR list.

Finally, while vending at the Chicago Stationery Fest, our table was right next to one of my favorite creators, The Creeping Moon. It was great to get to talk to Megan and her partner and I was able to take a few of her items home with me so she didn’t have to pack them. I was able to restock all her washi designs.

In Link Love

Link Love: Midwestern Adventures

AnaMarch 18, 2026March 17, 20266 Comments

While the Chicago Stationery Fest was an event in and of itself, the weather added a level of chaos we were not expecting. We got spoiled last year when it was in the 50sºF on Saturday and a little cooler and rainy on Sunday.

This year?!?! The weather was a full bingo card of possibility: rain, snow, 50MPH winds, deep cold, sleet, slush, tornadoes and so much more… they even dyed the Chicago River electric green on Saturday but that was more for St. Patrick’s celebrations but still… quite neon!

Our drive home was a white knuckle drive for several hours and then all the sudden, the sun came out and it was just so windy and cold. The trip normally takes about 8 hours with a few pit stops but on Monday, it took over 11 hours due to slower driving in white out conditions and driving into the wind and worrying we were going to implode the engine with the strain of pushing into the head winds.

Finally, safe and cozy at home, surrounded by my cats, I’m just glad to be done traveling for awhile. Are you an adventurer or a homebody? Share in the comments!