In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: Venvstas Carbon-T Fountain pen

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments

I’m always interested in modern pens, so when the chance came up to review the Venvstas Carbon-T Fountain Pen (€123.14 or $149 from Appelboom), I took it!

Venvstas is manufactured in Italy and their Carbon Collection is made up of several instruments designed in “a consistent minimal approach… [in] materials, function and details.” Indeed the sleek carbon body hides a piston system in a way I hadn’t seen before!

The pen is made up of carbon and steel and boasts a titanium nib. Nibs are available in fine, medium and broad. I received a broad for review and it was nice and juicy, laying down a satisfying amount of ink.

Left to right: Caran d’Ache 849, TWSBI Eco, Venvstas, Platinum 3776, Carolina Pen Company Charleston

Then pen weighs in at 24g and is longer than most of my other pens coming in at 155mm or 6 1/8″ with the cap on. Even with the cap off, the pen is still long, owing to the piston. The body is a consistent circumference of approximately 40mm/1.5.” There is a small step down near the nib, but not enough of a section to hold it there. I did find that my small hand found it a bit wide for my liking. The cap defined as a “snap on” although I would say there’s no real snap there. It does fit fairly snugly.

To fill the pen with ink, simply pull off the back of the pen to reveal the piston.

I did enjoy writing with this pen. The nib, as I said, was really smooth and wrote nicely, laying down a decent amount of ink. It would be a great pen for your sheening or shading inks since you can get a lot of ink down on the page. My only major complaint about the pen is that the nib dried out super quickly. I filled it up with ink last week and used it on and off. When I went to use it again today it was COMPLETELY bone dry. I had to walk to the sink and let the nib run under water for a few seconds to get any ink out of it and then it still took a bit to start reliably. I do have a few ideas on why this is. First of all, I am living in the Midwest in record cold temperatures and running the heat constantly so the air in my house is very, very dry. That said, I don’t feel that the materials allow for an optimal seal on the cap and I do think that contributed to the nib drying out. If I’m being honest, the dry nib alone is a bit of a deal breaker for me. No matter how much I love writing with a pen, I feel like constantly having a dry start would annoy me over time.

However, that’s really my only complaint about the pen (the width wouldn’t be an issue if my hands weren’t small and I think many writers wouldn’t even notice it.) So if you’re willing to risk a dry nib sometimes, test this one out and see if it’s a good fit for you!

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

In Pen Review

Pen Review: Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen (0.5 mm Olive Body)

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Pen Review: Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen (0.5 mm Olive Body)

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

I’ve been binging on the TV series Endeavour on Amazon Prime the last few weeks and I immediately noticed that Inspector Morse continually uses a Parker Jotter to make notes in his not-entirely-period-accurate pocket Moleskine. Regardless of the slight period inaccuracies, I was getting itchy to use a classic Parker-style Jotter. Along comes the Ohto Rays Flash Gel Pen in period appropriate avocado green with a 0.5mm gel refill. For the extremely reasonable price of $3.90.

To get a taste of the vibe of 1960s Oxford, check out the set decorator Anita Gupta’s photos of the sets. See the appeal?

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

The Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen features a metal knock, clip and  end section and a plastic body.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

The ink delivers on its promise to be quick drying, even on slick, smooth Rhodia paper (A4 blank pad, $13.75) and creates fine lines that work with my tiny handwriting.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

Compared with an actual Parker Jotter, the Ohto Rays is a bit longer in its overall design. The tip of the pen is strengthened with a metal cap.

Ohto Rays Flash Dry Gel Pen in Olive

Inside, you’ll see that the Ohto Flash Dry refill is a standard Parker-style refill. So, if you already have a Parker Jotter or another knock pen that uses a standard Parker-style refill, you could always just invest in this sweet gel refill ($1.90).

Either option is a no-brainer. No matter how much we love fountain pens around here, sometimes you need a ballpoint or gel pen and this is a great option.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. This review also includes affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

In Pen Review

Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush & Felt Tip Pens (Set of 5)

Author AnaPosted on 17 Comments
Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush & Felt Tip Pens (Set of 5)

When the Kuretake Karappo Empty Brush Pens (Set of 5 for $17.50) and Felt Tip Pens (set of 5 for $15)  first arrived on JetPens, Jesi, Jaclyn and I pretty much hoarded the entire inventory and then argued about who was going to write the review about them. I believe Jesi and Jaclyn got the Kuretake Ink-Cafe Set that included the empty pens and a set of inks that will allow you to mix your own ink colors. Because we need more ink colors like we need a whole in our heads, right? So, look forward to either Jaclyn or Jesi writing up a review of their ink mixing experiments in the near future.

I purchased the pens because I wanted a chance to find new and different ways to use my fountain pen inks. Would these Karappo pens work with sheening inks? Would they work with shimmer inks? I needed answers to these questions!

I also wanted to experiment with the difference between the brush pen and the 0.4mm fine pen.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

First, I wanted to know how long it took to fill the pen? Answer? About one minute with regular fountain pen ink.  I did not use any special tools. I just dropped the cotton-y looking inserts into a bottle on ink and watched as they wicked up the ink.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

I filled two of the “fine” 0.4mm on the left and three of the “fine” brush pens on the right.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

I tested a sheening ink — Diamine Skull & Roses in one of the 0.4mm fine tipped pens and the sheening qualities of the ink are still visible. The advantage, for me, of theses pens over other pens which accept fountain pen ink is that they are fiber-tipped rather than rollerball. As a lefty, I tend to choke rollerball pens or I don’t hold them at quite the right angle to get them to write. With the fine 0.4mm and brush tip Karappo pens, I had no issues with ink flow!

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

The other fine tipped pen was filled with a delicate grey ink: Colorverse Matter. All the shading properties remained! I like how the 0.4mm pens write. They are very similar to the width of a Sharpie Pen, IMHO.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

The brush pens were not super flexible or brushy but just gave a nice bit of line variation and would be perfectly acceptable for embellishing the titles or headers in a notebook or addressing an envelope. Since I tend to buy a lot of very light inks and very fine nibbed fountain pens that do not show the inks to their best  result, these pens are a great opportunity to give some of the paler inks a second life.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens

My last experiment was to put Pen BBS #111 (a shimmer ink) into one of the Karappo brush pens. While the color looks amazing, none of the shimmer is evident. I don’t think the material was able to absorb any of the shimmer particles. So… that answers that question.

Kuretake Karappo Empty Pens Labels

Each package of pens comes with a set of stickers to mark with the color of ink in your pens and attach to the cap.  (Please ignore my winter parched hands.)

Of all the fountain pen ink-fillable pens available, the Kuretake Karappo Brush and Fine Pens are by far my favorites even if shimmer inks don’t shimmer. Now to decide what inks to put in the other empty pens…

Tools:

DISCLAIMER: Some 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 Link Love

Link Love: Hello, Sketchnote Army!

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: Hello, Sketchnote Army!

We here at The Desk may not have our own podcast but we seem to “get around” quite a bit. This week, Mike Rohde over at Sketchnote Army released his new episode where he and I talk about all sorts of things. I am a huge fan of Mike’s Sketchnoting process and getting a chance to talk to him again was a true honor.

(Note: Don’t panic about the photo Mike posted. We joked that I have no idea where he found the photo but at present, my hair is as pink as it’s ever been with a couple inches of dreaded quarantine roots.)

In the links this week, there is Star Wars, Giant Cats and some beautiful inks. The highlights from the USPS quarterly report are eye-openeing:

…Postal Service’s sales from Shipping and Packages increased by approximately $2.8 billion, or 42.1 percent, on a volume increase of 435 million pieces, or 25.0 percent, compared to the same quarter last year, as a result of the record holiday Shipping and Package volumes impacted by the surge in e-commerce associated with the COVID-19 pandemic…

Hope you are having a good week!

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In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Endless Recorder

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments

I always love trying new paper so when Ana presented me with The Endless Recorder to try, I was thrilled. The Endless Recorder (€18.14 or $21.96) is a journal designed in Madrasa and manufactured in India. It is an A5 hard-bound journal, with a leatherette cover available in Deep Ocean (Blue), Infinite Space (Grey), Crimson Sky (Red) or Forest Canopy (Green) and measures 5.5 x 8.25″ (21 x 14 cm).

Then end pages are ivory and include a nameplate page up front and an expandable pocket in the back. A turquoise ribbon bookmark and elastic band help you keep your place and hold the notebook closed.

The journal includes 2 pages up front for a Table of Contents and the remainder of the 192 pages are white square grid (0.5 x 0.5 cm squares). The notebook includes 187 numbered pages and 16 perforated sheets. And the main draw of the notebook (least to me) is that the pages themselves are acid-free 68 GSM Tomoe River promising “zero bleed-through and feathering.”

So let’s dig into this paper!

Normally my only problem with Tomoe River is how thin is it. I dislike it when my writing shows through the other side of the page; I find it distracting to read and write on the next page. This paper doesn’t do that! There is a nice level of shading in the inks I used and true to claim, no bleeding or feathering. Now if only it were available in dot grid?

PS – So the photos tell a different story huh? When I look at the page I see very little of the writing through but in the photos it’s more visible!

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

 

In feature

Pen Review: Maiora Impronte Oversized

Author Jaclyn MyersPosted on 1 Comment
Pen Review: Maiora Impronte Oversized

The Italian brand Leonardo has received a lot of attention over the last year or so and also earned a meaningful place in my own pen collection. Over the last several months, another Italian brand Maiora has entered the market. In a year without pen shows, this new release stayed a little more under my personal radar than it otherwise may have, so I was excited to finally get the chance to get one of these pens in hand to test out. Both brands are resurrections of the Delta pen brand, and there’s no denying their similarities. However, there are also a few meaningful differences.

The first difference that is immediately noticeable is the packaging. The Maiora packaging is unlike any other pen packaging I have personally seen. The outside box covering opens to reveal a plastic cover attached with elastic bands to a layer of protective foam. It seems a little unnecessarily large (to be fair I feel this way about most pen packaging), but at least it’s a diversion from the dozens of other typical black pen boxes I have sitting in my office closet.

The pen section and the clip are the other two differences I immediately noticed. The section is wider than the Leonardo section and has a more distinct shape. Unlike other shaped sections (I’m thinking of the Lamy Safari or TWSBI Eco), this section seems to be one that would likely be almost universally comfortable. Visually, I prefer the section of the Leonardo pens. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the feel of this section in actual writing. Honestly, if there’s one feature that would have me reaching for this pen over one of my Leonardo pens it may be the added comfort of this section shape.

The clip is also a major diversion from the Leonardo brand and also the original Delta brand. It is multi layered and square. It’s a solid clip, and for me it is really just a matter of personal taste as to which type of clip you prefer between the two brands.

Comparing the Maiora directly to two of the Leonardo (one regular and one oversize) pens in my collection, the similarities in overall shape and styling become apparent as well as the similarities in materials. Just like Leonardo, the initial material offerings in the Maiora line are excellent.

The Posillipo material of this specific pen not only incorporates several shades of blue but also has areas of transparency that give the material depth and texture. Looking across the Maiora line, one thing that catches my interest is that they not only have a solid black matte pen, but they also have several pens that have matte black caps and ends mixed with the other resins utilized for the pen barrels.

The Maiora Impronte line is fitted with steel Jowo nibs, and the M nib of my specific pen was a smooth, wet writer and overall a joy to use. One area where I feel Maiora lags behind Leonardo however, is that the nibs are not completely customized, but are the standard line Jowo nibs with added laser engraving in the middle of the nib with the company logo and name.

Unfortunately, the laser engraving on my specific pen was decently off center. While this type of detail certainly doesn’t impact the use of the pen, it detracts from the overall look of the pen especially when you compare it to something like the recent ACS pen release that Ana covered last week in a similar price range.

The initial Maiora pens share the same “captured converter” filling system of the Leonardo pen line. The converters are long enough to stick out of the end of the pen, so that when you unscrew the endcap you have immediate access to the end of the converter and can fill the pen without taking it completely apart. The Maiora converter is a little longer than the Leonardo version with a slightly different shape at the end of the converter and added branding.

Overall, I’m impressed with the initial Maiora offerings and think the Impronte line is yet another strong contender in the $175-$200 price range. As of right now, the Impronte comes in two sizes with the Oversize being priced at the exact same price as its smaller counterpart. The Impronte only comes with steel nibs options, but I did notice that Appleboom now has a limited edition Maiora with a gold nib. I will definitely be keeping a close eye on the Maiora brand to see how it continues to evolve and how their path stays similar or diverts from their fellow Italian maker Leonardo.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were loaned by Appelboom for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Art of the Day, Ink Review

Eye Candy: Papier Plume Desire (New Orleans Collection Fountain Pen Ink)

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment

This week, Papier Plume released a new ink in their “New Orleans Collection” fountain pen ink line: Desire ($10 for 30ml bottle). Inspired by the legendary Tennessee Williams play “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the passion and desire of the characters, this ink captures their interpretation of a New Orleans Desire.

Papier Plume Desire

The ink is a red violet which reminds me of a wine or delectable fruit jam. It’s the color of velveteen curtains or a satin gown.

Papier Plume Desire

There is lots of shading and a range of hues in the shading from lavender to deep purple.

Papier Plume Desire

This ink is not a sheener but the shading is delicious.

Papier Plume Desire

Tools:

Papier Plume Desire

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Papier Plume for the purpose of review. This review also includes affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.