In feature, Ink Review

Ink Review: Montblanc Homage to Victoria and Albert

Author Jessica ColesPosted on 3 Comments
Ink Review: Montblanc Homage to Victoria and Albert

Today I’m excited to show a new ink from Montblanc – Homage to Victoria and Albert. I purchased my bottle from the online Montblanc store, but it is also available at Dromgoole’s, Pen Boutique, and other Montblanc retailers.

Homage to Victoria and Albert (referring to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert) is a minty green ink that is much darker than the box had lead me to expect.

I love the artwork on the inner box, but I was disappointed that the outer box is plain white. Most Montblanc inks have artwork related to the theme of the ink on the larger box along with a colorful inner drawer box featuring the color of the ink. I wonder if this could be a sign of Montblanc cutting costs on printing.

While some mint-colored inks lean heavily blue, Victoria and Albert is absolutely green with blue undertones.

Callifolio Teodora is close in color when swatched, however, in writing, Victoria and Albert is much brighter.

Shading is the biggest feature of Victoria and Albert with no apparent sheening or haloing.

The combination of Victoria and Albert on Cosmo Air Light doesn’t show the same extreme shading as Tomoe River paper.

My newest paper addition, Midori MD Light, is cream-colored paper (not my favorite), shows the ink as a greener shade and darker as well.

Tomoe River paper (top) and Cosmo Air Light paper (bottom) in the same photo make it easier to see the shift in blue tones.

The 50mL bottle of Montblanc Homage to Victoria and Albert sells for $40 or $0.80 per mL. Compared to the price of Sailor 50 States inks ($20-$25 per 20mL), Montblanc special edition inks are beginning to seem more reasonable. I’m always excited to add a new color to my collection and I’m very glad to see another original color from Montblanc!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Grateful

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: Grateful

First, I would like to say thank you to all you amazing people who purchased prints and/or made a donation to our kitten fund. I am touched beyond words at your generosity. The kittens have their first check-up tomorrow and we will have a better idea of the overall expenses for their vaccinations and spay/neuter. Right now though, they are eating us out of house and home and growing more everyday.

Clover & Carrot

Zoey, our mama cat, had some serious GI issues when she first came into the house. She went to the vet last week and was completely tested and examined. The determination was that the change in her circumstances left her inside a little discombobulated. We left with some special food and probiotics and she’s doing much better now. What a relief.

She’s still quite underweight but we are doing our best to give her all the food she wants in hopes that she puts on a pound or two.

Apple helps with mailing

The kittens go from rambunctious to sound asleep in seconds and its fun to watch them frolic and then collapse with exhaustion. The kittens are quickly developing distinct personalities — adventurer, lap cat, climbers, attackers, and more. I suppose this is how proud parents feel watching their children grow up.

Pickle Video (for some reason my little video won’t embed. But its worth a click, I promise)

Now, back to the pen world, already in progress! We have pen show recaps, Galen Leather reviews, lots on ink reviews and more this week. Enjoy!

Pen Show Recaps:

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In Pen Review

Pen Review: Meister by Point Pocket Felt Tip Marker

Author Laura CameronPosted on Leave a comment

My fountain pen ink stash overfloweth, so I’m always looking for good ways to use that ink in other pens. So I was excited when Ana handed me the Meister by Point Pocket Felt Tip Marker ($12.50, JetPens).

This reusable Pocket Felt Tip Marker comes in at a cool 4.8″/12.5cm capped, and 4.2″/10.5cm uncapped. It has a smooth metal body, and comes in a variety of colors (Black, Cream, Macchiato, Ocean Blue, Red and White) with silver colored metal hardware. The cap is a snap cap with a soft closure, and is postable. Finally,  the marker comes standard with a 0.8mm tip, but tips are also available in 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 mm.

L to R: SchonDsgn Pocket 6, Kaweco x Hello Kitty AL Sport, Meister Felt Tip Marker, Diplomat Traveler

L to R: SchonDsgn Pocket 6, Kaweco x Hello Kitty AL Sport, Meister Felt Tip Marker, Diplomat Traveler, Marvy Le Pen Fineliner

The Pocket Felt Tip Marker is designed to work with standard international cartridges. It can use a converter, but no converter is included, and the specs say that a full sized converter won’t fit in the barrel. There’s no converter indicated, which leads me to guess maybe the Kaweco mini converter would work? But I can’t be sure.

My favorite part about this pen is that you get a fun fine liner and you can use any ink you want. The instructions recommend that you not use shimmering or pigment-based inks because they can clog the feed and be difficult to rinse out of the pen, but as far as your regular fountain pen inks go? The sky’s the limit!

The biggest drawback on this pen for me is the section. The section near the tip is very short, and the transition to the body is very pronounced – it feels like a hard metal ring against your hand. Based on just a short time writing, I don’t think it would be comfortable for longer use, unless I could train myself to hold it above the section. While I love the fact that’s its a reusable metal body, I just don’t know if it will make it into my routine that often?

What do you think?

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

In feature

WAY Off-Topic: Kitty Fundraiser

Author AnaPosted on 4 Comments
WAY Off-Topic: Kitty Fundraiser

I realize that today’s post is WAY off-topic but I hope you’ll forgive me for the unusual post for today. I promise not to inundate you all with kitten posts forever.

Happy, healthy kitten cuddle pile

The story:

We found a mama cat, Zoey, and her litter of SIX kittens under a garden shed in our neighborhood. We cared for Zoey as best we could until the kittens were old enough and mobile enough to come out from under the shed and into our home. We were able to capture them all on May 3, 2020 and they are now growing safely and quickly in our home.

We named each kitten after something from the garden that kept them safe in their infancy: Tater, Carrot, Apple, Clover, Pickle and Pepper.

Tater is a little out of focus but looking regal.
Zoey, our mama cat, tired and thin but happy and getting some much needed rest thanks to her team of foster humans.

They are all happy and healthy but vet and food bills for 6 hungry kittens and Zoey is more than we were expecting so we are going to be doing a series of fundraisers to help offset the costs and make sure that these kittens get the best possible care before they are adopted to their forever homes.

If you would like to contribute to our kitten fund, our delightful, supportive friends, Tag Team Tompkins, have donated prints for us to sell. to purchase the prints, please visit our Big Cartel site.

If you would prefer to make a small donation, you can send funds via PayPal.

If you are in the Kansas City area and are interested in adopting any of our little cuties, please drop me a message via the “Ask The Desk” form at the top of the website.

Thanks so much for allowing me to go off-topic today and for any support you can give. We will be back to our regular content tomorrow.

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Staedtler Lumocolor Permanent Markers

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Pen Review: Staedtler Lumocolor Permanent Markers

Review by Tina Koyama

I have been looking for waterproof, write-on-anything markers that are less stinky than Sharpies. As a secondary issue, and perhaps I need to lift more weights, but am I the only one who has difficulty pulling caps off of some Sharpies? I usually end up marking myself somewhere due to the violence necessary to pull them off! Some caps also feel dubious when replaced – they appear to be on, but when substantial force is used, it finally closes completely with a sluggish thud. I might be spoiled by Japanese pens with caps that are removed and replaced easily, but I don’t think that’s too much to ask for. Anyway, it was time to give Staedtler Mars Lumocolor Permanent Markers a try. 

I picked up a wallet-enclosed set of four basic colors in point size medium (4/$10.80). The Lumocolor is also available in extra fine, fine and chisel points in sets of four or eight colors ($21.60), and black is available individually ($2.70).

Containing an alcohol-based ink, the Lumocolor does have an odor, but I find it less offensive and not as strong as Sharpie. In addition, the Lumocolor gets major points for having a cap that pulls off easily and is replaced with a satisfying, audible click – as you’d expect from any decent pen. Yay!

The Lumocolor’s medium bullet point looks smaller than the Sharpie’s fine point, but its written line is broader. I tested it on three notebook papers (from top) against the Sharpie: Hobonichi’s Tomoe River, Field Notes’ 70-pound Strathmore Cambric and Col-o-ring Oversize. I also show the reverse sides in the same order. The Lumocolor bled through slightly more than the Sharpie did, but it’s also a broader nib.

I also tested the Lumocolor on a glass jar and its metal lid. It writes very well on both. The ink did not budge with vigorous scrubbing.

For the cap alone, I was ready to switch to Lumocolor as my waterproof, permanent marker of choice. Reading the fine print on the barrel, however, piqued my curiosity in a different way: It says that the pen is refillable. What? 

According to JetPens’ product description, the pen is not refillable. I tried unscrewing the end cap, expecting to find a removable cartridge inside, but nothing unscrews. A little Googling led me to Staedtler’s site, which confirmed that the Lumocolor is, indeed, refillable! In fact, it’s refillable in a way that is familiar to all Desk readers: The ink comes in a bottle similar to fountain pen ink, and it refills through the nib (with the bottle’s “refill station”). Bonus points for being more environmentally sound than most toss-away markers!

Less stinky, easy cap, less plastic to toss – all reasons to use the Lumocolor.

tina-koyamaTina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

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 Pencil Review

Pencil Review: Uni 3-Color Erasable Mechanical Pencil

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Pencil Review: Uni 3-Color Erasable Mechanical Pencil

In a recent JetPens shipment, I purchased the Uni Color 3 Erasable Multi Mechanical Pencil  0.5 mm in Pure White ($8.25) which is a 3-color multi-pencil. While I suspect you could “build your own” multi-color multi-pencil by purchasing several pencil inserts for a multi-pen, this is a simpler and probably less expensive route for carrying more than one color pencil at a time.

While three color options might not be enough for most people, for quick sketches, proofreading or grading, this might be a perfect solution.

The mechanism for the Uni Color 3 works the same as other Japanese multi-pens. There are three slides at the top of the pen (one being the clip) that will reveal a tip when pressed down until it clicks. Tapping the slide repeatedly will advance the lead, holding down the slide will allow you to push the lead back up into the housing and clicking on any other slide will cause the revealed tip to spring back into the housing.

Because the leads are 0.5mm, if they are out too far, they will break so be careful not to expose too much lead or press too hard when using them.

I’m happy with the color of the red and blue leads though it is fairly easy to find 0.5mm red or blue leads if I wasn’t. The orange, which is more unusual is a bit lighter in overall pigment density. It would probably work fine for underlining or adding small details in a sketch or drawing but it would not be my go-to color in this set. In fact, I would probably consider swapping it out for a standard graphite lead rather than try to replace the orange lead when it runs out.

I decided to test out the Uni 0.5mm Smudge-Proof Lead in F ($2.95) as an alternative to the orange colored pencil lead. While the smudge-proof lead wrote smoothly, this lefty was able to smudge it a bit when I ran my thumb over the scribble swatch. The Rhodia paper is very smooth and may be more likely to smudge than toothier stocks.

In the erasing test on both Rhodia paper and on Col-o-ring paper, using a foam eraser, the color came up pretty well. I’d say the eraser, used with average pressure (I didn’t tear up the paper trying to remove the color), lifted 85-90% of the color on the Rhodia paper and about 75% of the color on Col-o-ring paper.

Eraser test

I also did a quick little still life of a bottle of Robert Oster ink sitting in a Monarca wooden bottle holder on a Col-o-ring card to see how the leads perform on toothier paper.

I am a fan of this pencil concept. When on the road, I prefer not having to sharpen my pencils and having three colors all in one tool is great for when you’re traveling, in a coffeeshop or library or in a meeting so this pencil solves some problems I didn’t know I had.

Tools:

In Link Love

Link Love: The Kitten Edition

Author AnaPosted on 9 Comments
Link Love: The Kitten Edition

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know I have a soft spot for cats. We have several house cats and have taken care of (and taken in, when we can) any stray cats that show up in our yard. Recently, we had a stray arrive who turned out to be pregnant. She was very skittish and so we weren’t able to catch her before the kittens were born. We did discover that she was caring for her young under a nearby shed in the community garden of the church at the end of our block so we have been taking food to her a couple times a day. Some days, she even wandered up to our house for food. We had hoped that, by caring for Mama Cat, we were helping her take care of her kittens.

Somedays, if we sat quietly after Mama went back under the shed, we could hear the kittens shout for her. When we heard that, we knew we were doing a good thing.

We attempted to calculate when Mama, who we named Zoey, had her kittens so that we could extrapolate how old the kittens were and when they would need to start moving to solid food. By this weekend, we knew that the kittens would be about three weeks old and starting to be more active and mobile.

Sunday was a warm, sunny day and Zoey came up to the house for food and then walked me back to the garden where she let me coax the kittens out from under the shed and give them some wet food. It was a frenzy of wobbly-legged little puff balls that left Bob and I giddy but exhausted. I can’t imagine how Zoey must have been feeling caring for all SIX of these little critters on her own!

The first sighting of kittens

We weren’t prepared to catch them on Sunday but we knew we needed to do it soon before one adventurous kitten wandered away from the nest and got lost or injured.

Monday it rained all day so we did our best to get food to Zoey but we suspected we wouldn’t see the kittens.

Yesterday, however, was a different story. Zoey met me on the back step the minute I got home, hungry and ready to eat. I fed her and then we walked back to the garden together where all the kittens came out as soon as I got there. Eeeek! I fed them and then ran back to the house to get a carrier and Bob. We went back to the garden, fingers crossed that we would be able to catch all the kittens and that Zoey would be accepting of joining them and coming back to the house.

The kittens did come back out and we scooped them up and put them in the carrier, one by one. After catching the last kitten, we picked up Zoey and set her gently in the carrier with the babies and they all settled down. Relief! We walked slowly back to the house and, thanks to video advice from the Kitten Lady on YouTube, we set them up (temporarily) in our bathroom. The kittens are safe in our tub with cushions and a cardboard box hidey hole and Zoey can lounge with her kittens or on the floor nearby on blankets with plenty of food, water and comfort.

Zoey with her kittens

We have an appointment scheduled to take them all in for their first round of shots and a check up early next week. If you want to follow along with all the kitten adventures, check out our cat-only Instagram.

Carrot eats his toes

Thanks for listening to our cat-tales. Now, to the content you actually came her to read!

Pens:

TWSBI Nib and Line Comparison (via Yoseka Stationery)

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors, affiliates or join our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!