The Well-Appointed Desk

Link Love: Be Creative!

AnaJune 24, 2026June 23, 2026Leave a comment

There’s a bunch of travel reports from folks visiting favorite shops around the world, mid-year reflections and lots of creative ideas this week. I think my interest in more collage-y, art journaling projects is that these can be created with things I already have — reuse and repurpose — in a time that making something beauitful on a budget is a great way to spend time.

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In photo

Fabric + Ink: Feeling Beachy

Laura CameronJune 23, 2026June 23, 2026Leave a comment

As someone who sometimes struggles to put multiple colors together in a cohesive way, I’m fascinated by fabric collections. As I delve into quilting, I find fabric collections of 18-20 different prints somehow designed to all go together. They also give me inspiration for fun ink palettes.

This fabric is called the Coastal Collection and was designed by Craig Conover of Sewing Down South and Southern Charm fame. He designed a collection that fits right into southern beach style – think a cottage at Myrtle Beach or the like.

So I found some shades of ink that might work with it. Many of them are super close in color, but just different enough that they are fun to work with. The only thing I was missing was a good navy – nothing I had was just right!

In feature

Shop News: New & Restocked

AnaJune 18, 2026June 17, 2026Leave a comment

Wow! I have gotten so many new things in the shop this week and restocked a bunch of favorites.

Kitta Portable Decorative Tape Booklets

First, we are now stocking the Kitta Portable sticker/washi booklets. Some designs are on traditional washi paper, others on clear PET, craft paper and even some on fluorescent paper! Each Kitta booklet folds up like a matchbook to make the perfect portable selection of stickers for journaling and planning.

CoraCreaCrafts Journal Clips

Next, we restocked our favorite journal clips from CoraCreaCrafts and even added a new design. I can’t decide which was is my favorite. I think I love them all.

Gothic Pre-Inked Push Button Number Stamps

We also got these fun self-inking push button number stamps in a gothic font. They are super portable and a great way to add dates to an undated planner or journal or a very gothy to-do list.

Archer & Olive Notebook & Stationery Resotcks

We brought in Archer & Olive earlier this month and have already restocked and added their Everyday Deluxe A5 Soft Cover Refill Notebook (Dot Grid) which is a great option if you have a favorite cover already or want a less expensive option to try their thick 160gsm paper. We also have some of Archer & Olive washi sets and clear stamps.

There’s so much more but I’ll share one more…

Stickii Sticker Sheets

We restocked Stickii stickers including new designs and old favorites. There’s lots of new spooky, witchy, goth stickers since Halloween is everyday here at The Desk but there are also lots of sea and ocean styles, cute animals and vintage deliciousness.

Don’t forget to check out the Mark’s EDiT restock, new Retro Rainbow stickers and all the washi!

In Link Love

Link Love: A Little Techie

AnaJune 17, 2026June 16, 2026Leave a comment

This week we have a lot of posts about technology — the kind of tech that analog people might be interested in like a university professor making students type papers on typewriters so they can’t use AI, a flip phone from Commodore (as in 64) and 40 rage-inducing problems in tech which made me laugh so hard I had tears rolling down my face and had to reach for my inhaler (asthmatics know… laughing can be life-threatening!)

Pens:

Pilot Frixion Revisited: Do I Have a Use for An Erasable Gel Pen? (viaThe Gentleman Stationer)
New Pen Day! Setting Up the Tom’s Studio Ori Refillable Highlighter (And Cleaning Out the Lumos) (via The Gentleman Stationer)
5 Things to Know Before Getting into Fountain Pens! (via Yoseka Stationery)
The Best Machined Pens (via JetPens Blog)
Meet Your Maker: James White, Bonecrusher 7 Studios (via The Pen Addict)
Pilot Custom 74 – Ranking the Nibs (via The Pen Addict)
I Don’t Understand (via Line Variation)
Just buy a Pilot Parallel already – by Ricardo (via Extra Fine Writing)

Ink:

Ink of the Week: Diamine Arctic Blast (via Dime Novel Raven)

Pencils:

Pencil Sharpener Revolution: Introducing Henry (via Apple-Pine)
Caran d’Ache + Paul Smith Bicolors Special Edition (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
The Best Erasers (via JetPens)

Notebooks & Paper:

What is a Shared Journal? And How to Set One Up! (via Archer and Olive Blog)
Personal, A6, Pocket, A7 and Mini size confusion. (via Philofaxy)
Three Ways to Use a Traveler’s Notebook (via Archer and Olive Blog)
Smythson Beatrix Potter Notebooks (via Notebook Stories)

Art & Creativity:

4 Tips for How Build a Creative Practice When You’re Not a Creative Person (via My Modern Met)
Bad Sketches (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
Chatting with Mike Rohdes on the Sketchnote Podcast
Everything’s Coming Up Crochet! (via LoopKnitlounge)

Tech:

The 40 Most Rage-Inducing Problems in Tech. (via Kottke.org)
Commodore (you know, the 64 folks) is releasing a flip phone… (via Kottke.org)
‘Big Walk’ Is a New Video Game about … Walking and Talking (via Colossal)

Typewriters:

College instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work | AP News (via The Cramped)
Recovering the platen on a Fox 23 (via The Typewriter Revolution blog)

Other Interesting Things:

Deadmau5 Donates $30K To Cover Costs for 27 Rescued Cats in Canada (via My Modern Met)
‘Women in Trees’ Celebrates a Quirky Collection of Anonymous Snapshots (via Colossal)
Don’t Toss It! Mail It! (via From the Pen Cup)
Review: Luddite Random Denim Zipper Case (via Inky Imaginings)
The Chennai Pen Show 2026 – Rahul Gupta & Pen Galaxy (via INKED HAPPINESS)

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In Paper Review

Endless Recorder Notebook – Stealth Special Edition A5

Laura CameronJune 16, 2026June 16, 2026Leave a comment

What’s your favorite size notebook? I dig A5 and if we’re being choosy I like dot grid the best. So when Ana returned from the Chicago Pen Show and handed me the Endless Recorder Notebooks – Stealth Special Edition A5 ($26), I was pretty psyched.

The cover on this one is leatherette, and it’s got rounded corners, an elastic closure and two bookmarks. The outer edges of pages are printed black, as are the end pages and back pocket, but inside the paper is white/cream with gray dot grid. The paper itself is 80gsm and acid-free, Endless’ proprietary Regalia paper. The book has a table of contents, and 187 numbered pages (for a total of 192 pages). Finally, the sheets are perforated in case you need to remove them!

So what’s it like to write on? I’m going to go with mixed. I didn’t even get into too many pens, but I used a TWSBI Eco with a Fine Nib and if I added any extra ink I got a bit of feathering and bleedthrough. With regular writing, it was better with just slight show through because I was pushing harder than I ought to. (Gel pens are making me sloppy with the fountain pens!)

Overall this one is sleek and easy to carry but not my favorite paper given I tend to favor bigger nibs that put down more ink. Have you used one?

(It appears that Ana feels sort of meh about the paper too!)

DISCLAIMER: This notebook was provided to us free by Retro 51 for the purposes of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Ink Preview: Exclusive St. Louis Pen Show 2026 x KWZ “MOBOT”

AnaJune 15, 2026June 15, 2026Leave a comment

The full name of the ink for the St. Louis Pen Show this year is KWZ 2026 “Meet Me in S.t Louis” MOBOT. It is a warm reddish pink, sort of dusty shading color. No shimmer and no sheen.

As a classic KWZ ink, MOBOT does have the slightly vanilla-y smell that all KWZ inks have. Some people love it, others don’t. Just be aware.

MOBOT is an acronym for the “Missouri Botanical Gardens”. The color is inspired by the iris which is the city flower because it is shaped like the Fleur de Lis featured on the city flag. And the color comes from the Tall Bearded Iris which is also called the “Missouri Rose”.

When compared with some of the colors in my library, there are some similar shades — some a little more saturated, some sheenier, and some that lean more pink or purple.

If you like the MODOT color but prefer sheen, Iroshizuku Yama-Budo is a good option. J. Herbin Larmes de Cassis is a close match, maybe a tiny bit brighter, more saturated and slightly more purple. Robert Oster Cherry Blossom is a little more pinky but quite close. Colorverse Miss Baker is slightly more red. Miss Baker, and Larmes de Cassis are the closest in normal lighting, even Yama-Budo looks quite similar in non-photoshoot lighting.

I really appreciate that St. Louis Pen Show is branching out in the colors they offer but I already have so many colors similar to MODOT that I’m not sure I’m going to be compelled to purchase a whole bottle. Someone try to talk me into it.

Top to bottom: J. Herbin Larmes de Cassis, Colorverse Miss Baker, Robert Oster Cherry Blossom, KWZ MOBOT and Pilot Iroshizuku Yama-Budo

There will be 200 (60ml) bottles and will be on sale at the show exclusively for $20 each (limit 2 per person), while supplies last. If there are any leftover bottles, they will be sold on site towards the end of the show. I’ve been advised that the limited edition ink often sells out before the show closes so if you are interested, be sure to try to acquire a bottle before the how ends.

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

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: SIX Japanese Notebooks from JetPens (Tsubame, Teranishi, Tomoe River, Kukuyo, Yamamoto, & Nuoto)

AnaJune 12, 2026June 11, 20269 Comments

There are several that the community has been talking about recently like the Canopus and the new Teranishi notebooks but I dug deeper and found a few others worth considering. I went through the whole inventory on JetPens and purchased every A5 Japanese paper-filled notebook I could find. I found six notebooks that I had not tested and some had paper I was not familiar with so this was quite an adventure.

All six of the notebooks are A5-sized, all feature some variation on a soft cover and all are designed to be fountain pen friendly. (There are some details that I left out of this review for brevity, like if you want to know about the color and texture of the end papers, drop a comment below).

What I wanted to do is see what the differences are, what features might be a make-or-break for you, and what the cost breakdown was for each of them. I’ve seen other breakdown the cost per ml for fountain pen ink, today I’m going to give you the cost per sheet for these six notebooks.

To start, let’s run down what these notebooks are:

Nouto Nombre Notebook (available in 8 different cover colors)
Tsubame Fools Cream Notebook (available in A5 or B5, cover colors relate to ruling/grid)
Teranishi Guitar Taisho Roman Haikara Notebook (cover colors align with ruling/grid)
JetPens Kanso Noto Notebook (five different cover colors available)
KOKUYO Century Edition THIN Paper Notebook (only one size/style available but offer ruling/grid options)
Yamamoto Paper CANOPUS NOTE Notebook (only one size/style available)

Notebook	Price	Sheets	Pages	Price/sheet	Available formats	Paper Weight	Paper Information	Paper Color	Construction
Nouto Nombre Notebook	$24.00	94	188	$0.25	Grid	58.1 gsm	Siebundo Paper	Natural White	Exposed spine
Tsubame Fools Cream	$7.00	32	64	$0.26	Graph, Blank, Lined	81.4 gsm	foolscap paper	Cream	Taped spine
Guitar Taisho Roman Haikara	$17.00	64	128	$0.26	Dot Grid, Blank, Graph	95 gsm	No add’l info	Natural White	Taped spine
Kanso Noto	$20.00	160	320	$0.13	Dot Grid	52 gsm	Tomoe River Sanzen	Natural White	Taped spine
KOKUYO Century Edition THIN Paper	$24.00	184	368	$0.13	Blank, Dot Grid, Lined	52 gsm	same THIN PAPER as the KOKUYO Jibun Techo	Natural White	Wrapped cover
Yamamoto Paper Canopus Note	$25.00	88	176	$0.28	Blank (includes guide sheet)	73 gsm	“Inspired by the discontinued Cosmo Air Light “	Bright White	Taped spine

(* formats used in this review are in BOLD)

This review is long so I’m putting in a break here….