This week is the San Francisco Pen Show and, in preparation for the pen show festivities, the Desk will literally and figuratively be “going on holiday”. If you will be attending the SF show, please stop by the Vanness or Dromgoole’s table and say hello to Jesi and I. If you mention that you read…
For the last year and a half, I have been assisting the Dromgooles at various pen shows, selling and educating about ink. One amazing benefit of this arrangement is that I get to see firsthand which inks are the most popular and in demand; I also get a chance to review those inks! A big…
I’ve mentioned it a couple times with my Patrons that I’ve been on a bit of a stationery and ink declutter this summer. I’ve been going through my 600+ bottles of ink and attempting to pare it down to a more manageable number. Over the past year, I’ve discovered that I tend to favor a…
Normally July and August are not the time to knit a toasty warm wool sweater, but I don’t always play by the rules. Over the summer Ana and some of the folks in our knitting group decided to do an impromptu knit along of Andrea Mowry’s The Weekender sweater. Ana used a wool/cotton blend, but…
Today I have a set of three inks that I recently found at a pen show – Penlux Mo inks, Amber, Pine, and Rouge. These can be difficult to find out in the wild. However, when your eyes are open to new opportunities, the ink possibilities are exciting! My favorite feature of the Penlux line…
What is the blackest ink on the market right now? Platinum Carbon Black? Montblanc Permanent Black? Platinum recently advertised an ink that is significantly darker than Carbon Black. Platinum Chou Kuro. The potential downside of Chou Kuro is the ease of cleaning. The first edition of this ink comes with its own converter and a…
While working at the Dromgoole’s table in St. Louis, I was able to score both of the Sailor Manyo Limited Edition Dual Shading sets (4 each with 20ml bottles, $60). Set #1 is a brighter assortment and includes Haha, Nekoyanagi, Sakura, Nadeshiko. I swatched each bottle on Col-o-ring paper and then used a 1″ circle…
