The Well-Appointed Desk

Maybe you all are more “in the loop” than I am, but this week was the first time I had seen the acronym “PKM”. If you, like me, have never heard this term before it stands for “Personal Knowledge Management”. I saw it in reference to a new app called Obsidian (link below in Other Interesting Things). Maybe I’ve hit the “hey kids, get off my lawn!” phase of life but when I saw the description of the app and PKM all I could think is “we call that a notebook.”

(the above paragraph is brought to you by an excessive use of quote marks)

While I appreciate that my brain is a messy place and writing things down either on paper or digitally helps to keep me from forgetting something, I don’t know that I need yet another app that attempts to solve the problem that pen and paper has been solving for centuries. Sure, paper can be lost or damaged but digital solutions can be neglected by the creators or abandoned entirely until the software is no longer compatible or formatted in such a way that the information is accessible any longer. We all have experiences with trying various app solutions and a trail of data that we can’t access any longer. On the other hand, I may not finish a notebook or remember specifically where I wrote something down but all the notebooks I’ve used for the last decade are piled in my attic should I ever want to relive, find or reference something I wrote, drew or pasted into the books.

What is your opinion on digital vs analog PKM?

Finally, we spent a good deal of time playing “what does PKM stand for?” and here were some of the better ones:

People Know Me
Pen Knowledge Matters
Pen Kit Mafia
Pretend Karen Melted
Please Keep Messaging
Paper Knows More

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In Paper Review

Review & Giveaway: Ayush Paper A5 Fountain Pen Book from Peyton Street Pens

Laura CameronAugust 10, 2021August 10, 202162 Comments

Teri from Peyton Street Pens was sweet enough to send us tons of items for review and giveaway in her last package. Today we’ll be sharing some of our thoughts (and a few items you can win) on Ayush Paper.

Ayush Paper is an Indian company that creates a variety of sketchbooks, canvases and office supply products including a line devoted to fountain pen friendly paper. Specifically, I played with the A5 Fountain Pen Book ($8.00). This spiral top-bound notebook comes with 50 sheets (100 pages) of 100 gsm paper that is a soft ivory. The notebook measure 5 7/8 x 8″ (148-203mm), and each page is perforated at the top for easy tearing. The book comes in dot, grid, plain or lined formats (mine is lined, at approximately 9mm spacing).

So let’s talk about this paper. It’s advertised as fountain pen friendly and promises no feathering or bleeding. It is designed to work with flex nibs and sheening inks, and aims for minimal show-through. It also boasts quick drying times.

I’d say the paper lives up to these promises nicely. I tested it with a variety of fountain pens (plus brush pens, a pencil, various gel and rollerball options) and save for ye olde Sharpie, I had no bleedthrough, no feathering and only minor ghosting on the opposite side. Further, we tested a few ink swatches and nothing bled through! We threw in a few Colorverse inks to check out the sheen (it’s not bad) and it was only those bottle cap swatches that had any bleedthrough at all.

The paper is ever so slightly toothy to the fingertips, but feels smooth to the nib. I have to say, I hadn’t tried this one before and I’m excited to keep using this notebook.

So let’s get to the part where you get to try it too! Peyton Street Pens generously sent us two notebooks for giveaway.

GIVEAWAY: One lucky winner will win two notebooks.

I’ve left them wrapped in the packaging but will send them out to you with some stickers!

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below telling us about your favorite paper! (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 Friday, August 13, 2021. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. ONE 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 post were provided free of charge by Peyton Street Pens and other vendors for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Pen Review

Ballpoint Pen Reviews: Victorian Trading Company Pens (Part 2)

AnaAugust 10, 2021August 10, 20211 Comment

Yesterday, I reviewed the dip pens currently available through Victorian Trading Company, the company where I work. Today, I’ll review the ballpoint pens currently offered.

Victorian Trading Company currently stocks two pen necklaces from 1928 — the Adela Cameo Pen Necklace and the Floral Pearl Seed Pen Necklace (both are currently on sale for $39.95)

Both are slim gold tone twist ballpoint pens with a 28″ gold tone chain. The Floral Pearl Seed Pen features a decorative cloisonne rose with pearl flowers on the clip. The Cameo features –well, a cameo design on the clip. These decorative elements make up the clip but since this is a necklace pen, the clip is more for decoration than functionality. I would be worried I’d bend the decorative elements or break them if I tried to use it as a functional clip.

The pen tip retracts with a twist mechanism that is smooth and snug. The likelihood of the pen coming untwisted unknowingly is pretty slim. The overall pen shape is slender like the classic Cross Century. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the pen was entirely designed on the Cross Century chassis.

Both pens rely on the classic Cross style twist ballpoint refill. I scavenged through my refill stash to see if there were any comparable refills that could be hacked to fit into the pen but didn’t find any other solutions. Monteverde sells compatible refills in Medium and Broad in a wide variety of colors. There are other options for the Cross refill but I am confident to recommend Monteverde and Cross.

The pens have a lovely engraved pattern in the body that gives them a retro vibe.

While no one (myself included) really wants a pandemic era torso photo, I needed a model to show the length of the chain. So… no comments about the crappy, unflattering photo, ok?

This pen is OFF THE CHAIN! Okay, technically it’s on the chain at the moment but I couldn’t resist making the joke.

I am quite short and short torso-ed and the pen chain and pen hit at my natural waist. The pen clips on with a lobster claw for easy-on and -off and there’s another closure at the back of the neck to make putting the chain on easier though I was able to just put it on over my head. I am sure it would be easy to add length to the chain or just swap out for a longer chain so long as your could add a lobster claw for attaching the pen.

In writing tests, the pens write like a standard ballpoint pen. Ballpoint pens are not my favorite writing tool as they always feel a little “skippy” to me. But I love the idea of having a pen on a chain so I might continue to research hack options so I can replace the refill with a gel pen.

Victorian Trading Company also carries the Anna Griffen Rose Garden Gift Pen ($24.95)

This pen is a capped pen with gold hardware and a floral motif printed on the barrel.

The cap snaps tightly to post on the end which is a nice design feature. It is also a snap cap so it makes it a quick on-and-off.

The pen takes a standard Parker-style refill which means, although it ships with a bog-standard medium ballpoint refill, there are a lot more options for upgrading this pen.

Since we all need at least one ballpoint pen in our collection, these pens are definitely an option. If you like roses and gold hardware, it’s definitely fun and eye-catching. Or if you have a friend or family member who has always wanted a “nice pen” but isn’t quite ready to dive into the world of fountain pens, any of these might be good options. I would definitely include a few extra refills though.

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

In Pen Review

Dip Pen Review: Victorian Trading Company Dip Pens

AnaAugust 9, 2021August 9, 20213 Comments

I was given the opportunity to dig through our inventory of pen samples and review everything currently in stock at Victorian Trading Company. I’ve decided to break this into two posts: today will be the dip pen assortment and tomorrow will be the ballpoint pens. At present, Victorian Trading Company is not carrying any gel pens or fountain pens but, as part of the new product development staff, our goal is to change that.

First up is the Brontë Bone Dip Pen & Stand ($29.95). This set is a beautiful, embellished brass pen stand with a bone handled dip pen with gold hardware.

The stand will work just as well with other pens in your collection and is weighted nicely to support a range of pens without tipping over when you reach for your writing instrument.

The nib that shipped with the holder is unlabelled and was a very firm nib. I chose to skip the nib and replace it with a titanium Zebra G dip nib ($27.50 for 10) — my go-to dip nib.

While the Zebra G nib is a bit more curved, it fit into the grip housing with little effort. I had more trouble getting the original nib out and had to use a piece of rubber to get a good grip and pull it out (pro-tip!).

Once I had the Zebra G nib in place, I took a flame to the tip to remove any oils from the nib and increase ink adherence. (photo above is before I took a flame to it).

Since the pen did not ship with any specific ink, I tested it using the closest bottle of ink I had: Montblanc Beatles Psychedelic Purple (which I bought at the recent Patreon-only sale from Gentleman Stationer). The holder is long like a paint brush and fairly slender which may not be to everyone’s tastes. The cost for the set, however, seems to largely be for the holder, not the nib holder. If you’re looking for a beautiful decorative pen rest, it would be worth it to purchase this set just for the stand.

The next set is the Crimson Tidings Dip Pen Set (on sale now for $19.99). The set includes a glass dip pen with a decorative brass grip section and a “pointy finger” nib. The set also includes a bottle of Calligraphy Ink (do not use in fountain pens). On the interior of the box is a wax seal marked “Le Seal” but there is no other branding on the set. After some research, I was able to determine that the pen set is from Hong Kong.

The pen holder body is a blown glass with silver foil inlaid under the clear glass and below the silver is a bright candy apple red. The decorative brass grip adds weight the the “business end” so if you have a light hand, the weight will help create a thicker, darker line without adding pressure. It will all be from the weight of the pen.

As a lefty, I figured out quickly that the pointy finger nib is a right hand and after using it for a bit, I felt like the nib was flipping off everything I wrote. Luckily, its easy to swap out the dip nib with your favorite non-opinionated nib should you want to do that.

Even though the nib was a bit odd, it wrote quite well. It is a good deal stiffer nib than my preferred Zebra G but it still provided some flex. If you have a heavy hand, this might be the amusing swatching nib of your dreams. I tested the Calligraphy Ink that shipped with the set which is a warm brown/sepia color. The calligraphy ink is a bit looser in feeling than the fountain pen ink I’m used to using. When I say “looser” I mean its wetter, more fluid feeling — fountain pen ink often has more surface tension, IMHO.

The last set currently in stock at Victorian Trading Company is the “Steampunk Calligraphic PenSet” ($37.95). This set features a feather quill dip pen with a brass decorative grip section and two bottles of Calligraphy Ink in black and amaranth (red). On the box is the name “Lo Scarabeo” which turns out to be European company specializing in tarot and oracle cards. How delightful!

When I first saw the feather quill pen, I was skeptical that it was “all feather, no quill” but after I started using it, it turned out to be my favorite set.

The nib included in the set is a Leonardt 300 ($0.99 each) which is a decent, albeit a bit stiff for me, calligraphy nib. The shape of the grip section is a bit more oval than round which created a surprisingly comfortable grip even with the decorative details engraved in the grip section.

Once again, I swapped out the nib on the Steampunk Set with my tried-and-true Zebra G and tried the inks. The inks seemed to have the same bottle design and functional characteristics of the ink in the Crimson Tidings set.

If you’ve been looking for a fun, funky dip pen for ink testing or to practice your calligraphy, these options would definitely inspire you to write more and any of the three are functional. You just have to decide which design in your favorite.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Victorian Trading Company for the purpose of review. I was not compensated to write this review (other than the fact that I am on their payroll). Please see the About page for more details.

In Art Supplies

Art Supplies: Viviva Colorsheets

AnaAugust 7, 2021August 7, 2021Leave a comment

I did an epic sketchbook review a few weeks back and I included watercolor swatch tests in each sketchbook. Those swatches were created using the Viviva Colorsheets (original set of 16 colors is currently available for $20, new Inktober edition for 2021 is coming soon).

Viviva Colorsheets have been on the market for a couple years but this is the first time I’ve tested them. Tina has reviewed them in the past but I thought it would be handy to (1) try them myself and (2) provide another perspective about the product.

The Colorsheets come in a folded heavy cardstock booklet with a square of thick, dried watercolor pigment for each color included. Each page in the Viviva Colorsheet booklet has four colors, two on each side of the fold with water resistant, translucent divider stock in between. The divider stock helps to keep the colors from merging together, particularly if they are still damp.

The bottom of the pages are stair stepped with a color key to make finding colors faster and easier.

Often, the dried paint swatches do not look at all like the color they are when applied to paper. Doing a swatch key is definitely important in order to recognize each color accurately.

The set of Viviva Colorsheets I purchased was the 2020 Inktober edition which featured 20 colors. Two of the colors were basically black and an opaque-ish white which I seldom use in watercolor.

Above are swatch tests on three different papers — the top is the Leuctturm1917 sketchbook then the Stillman & Birn Delta and finally (bottom) Alpha.

There is a little bit of color shifting depending on the paper stock but overall the colors are pretty consistent on good multimedia or watercolor paper.

The swatch above is in the Shinola Sketchbook.

I get hung up on the three largely similar shades of red and the dusk orange and gold ochre being nearly identical as well. On some papers, the Vermillion or Burnt Umber also looked quite similar.

I’ve been trained that with a portable watercolor palette, you need a red, yellow and blue — each with one in a warm version of the color and a cool version. Then maybe a specific pre-mixed green, a a warm and cool earth tone (ochre and sepia, for example) then whatever is your whimsy — maybe a pre-mixed pink or purple, payne’s grey, etc. So, 10-12 colors maximum and then mix thee rest.

There is a coated paper palette included that can be attached into the back of the booklet but it’s relatively small so I am not sure how effective it would be for mixing paint. The paper squares of pigment are difficult to look at and determine how much pigment is left on each square. Also, if you use up one color in the palette there is (currently) no easy way to replace that one color short of buying a whole new set.

I like the idea of having a very portable little watercolor palette to keep tucked in my bag with a waterbrush so I have quick, easy access to colors when I need them. This set is definitely small but lacks a truly functional mixing palette and no easy way to replace or add new colors easily. I still think a small watercolor pan set with swappable pans which can be replaced or refilled is still the better solution. If I decide I want to paint four pages in my sketchbook blue, I want to know I have enough blue paint and that I can add more pigment to my palette as needed.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. The Viviva Colorsheets were purchased with my own money however. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ink Review

Ink Overview: Esterbrook Ink

AnaAugust 5, 2021August 4, 20216 Comments

Esterbook introduced its own ink line with the same enthusiasm for color that it has shown in its Estie pen line. I was lucky enough to get a hold of five of their standard ink colors and three of the shimmer colors. As far as I can tell, the inks are not yet available for sale but I decided to go ahead and whet your appetite anyway.

Details regarding pricing and full color range have not yet been announced so I will provide an overview from the samples I have on hand.

The Esterbrook inks are available in 50ml bottles, similar in shape to Kaweco inks and

The samples I received were:

Aqua and Shimmer Aqua
Tangerine and Shimmer Tangerine
Cobalt Blue
Evergreen
Scarlet
Shimmer Lilac

I suspect there is a standard Lilac formulations and the potential for shimmer variations of the Scarlet, Cobalt Blue and Evergreen though I do not have confirmation about this.

All three shimmer inks I received have gold particles. The particles seem very fine but seem to settle in the bottle quickly so, despite the fineness of the particles, I suspect pens will need to be rolled regularly while using in order to keep them evenly distributed. I does make me wonder if the next Estie won’t be a demonstrator model to take full advantage of showing off the ink colors and shimmer particles?

The color difference between the Aqua and Cobalt Blue is very minor. Instinctually, if an ink is called Aqua, I tend to expect it to be more, well, aqua. The Esterbrook Aqua is much more of a royal blue. The Scarlet and Tangerine are pleasing shades of “stock colors” while the Evergreen and Shimmer Lilac are more adventurous colors in an IIO (initial ink offering). Both the Lilac and Evergreen seem to have been designed to coordinate with the Estie pen colors.

Shimmer Ink Comparisons:

I don’t have a ton of shimmer inks but I was surprised to discover that I had very close matches for all three of the Esterbrook shimmer inks. Depending on the price per bottles from Esterbrook, there are some options or alternatives for each ink color.

Esterbrook Evergreen is a dark pine-y green. Finding similar ink colors was a game of finding other dark greens that were neither too blue or too yellow. The Ferris Wheel Press Misguided Mistletoe, though a shimmer ink, was the closest match. The other deep greens were either a little darker or a little more blue.

Esterbrook Scarlet is a classic red albeit a little on the orange side. There is no sheening like several of the comparison swatches (Irori and Aka, specifically).

Esterbrook Tangerine is sitting in that sweet spot of oranges that is so popular these days in the pen community. Esterbrook Tangerine is very close in color to Robert Oster x Pen Addict Fire on Fire. I’d be hard pressed to tell them apart if they were not on labelled cards.

Finally, the Esterbrook Cobalt and Aqua. I found these two inks too similar in hue for a first ink launch. I also think that the Aqua ink was not what most would view as aqua. I’ve included swatches above that are colors I tend to associate when I hear the word aqua. I think the Cobalt Blue is a good rich blue to include in aa first ink release but the Aqua left me seriously wanting.

Overall, the launch of the Esterbrook ink line is interesting. The color range chosen is a bit different than many classic pen companies (Waterman, Sheaffer, Cross, etc) but covers similar ground. The addition of shimmers to its IIO (initial ink offering) is a bold move. I’m curious to see if this is all the colors that Esterbrook is planning to do or if this is just the first collection of many.

Tools:

Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15), Shawn Newton Esterbrook Nib Holder with #9556 nib
Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
Ink: Esterbrook Ink Collection ($? for 50ml bottle)

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

In Link Love

Link Love: A Farewell to Susan

AnaAugust 4, 2021August 4, 20211 Comment

This week marks the departure of Susan Pigott from The Pen Addict as she forges ahead in a new life challenge. I was amused when reading her post that many of her favorite reviews and posts over the years were also products I have also loved reviewing. While Susan may be leaving The Pen Addict for now, I don’t think she is leaving the pen community forever. Best of luck to you in your new adventures. Your beautiful photos and posts will be missed.

Hey Susan, if you ever want to guest post here on The Desk, you are always welcome!