The Well-Appointed Desk

Link Love: Be Excellent

AnaMarch 24, 2021March 24, 20212 Comments

Bill & Ted

Once again, there was tragedy in the US last week. I don’t want to dwell on it here but I didn’t feel like I could just ignore the newspaper headlines. The senseless violence saddens me. However, I am reminded of a quote from my favorite philosophers, Bill & Ted, “Be excellent to each other.”

I think it’s time to embrace that as a mantra for the foreseeable future.

I’ve often heard another adage about not knowing the struggles someone else is facing. In those moments when you want to yell at the tech support call center employee or shake your fists in anger when your delivery order is incorrect, consider that it was not done spitefully. Someone else may be struggling too or have other things weighing on their mind other than putting your sauce on the side or replying to your email request. No one intentionally makes mistakes or is less than rosy when they greet you. So, brush off your anger, indignity or frustration and be excellent. Even if being excellent is just being civil in the face of this endless string of difficulties we continue to face.

Pens:

This 3D Pen Allows You to Design and Draw Your Own Instant Candy (via My Modern Met)
Curidas (IV). One Year Later (via Crónicas Estilográficas)
Goldspot x Narwhal Fountain Pen in Poseidon Blue (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
What Pens Work With Zebra Mildliners? (via JetPens Blog)
The Kaweco Sport (Fountain Pen) (via Left Hook Pens)
Sailor Pro Gear Cocktail Series Après Ski: A Review (via The Pen Addict)
Sailor x Nonble Black Cat Fountain Pen for Cat Lovers (via Gourmet Pens)
Fountain Pen Review: Leonardo Officina Italiana Momento Zero Grande Pura Arancio Fiammante (via Rants of The Archer)
Love and money: the great fountain pen survey, part 2 (via UK fountain pens)

Ink:

Van Dieman’s Apricot on Traveler’s Company (via Inkcredible Colours)
Lamy Black (via Mountain of Ink)
Hacking ink (via Bleistift)
Krishna Sheening Inks Swatch Test (via Nick Stewart Fountain Pen Ink Art)
Montegrappa Harry Potter Inks Test (via Nick Stewart Fountain Pen Ink Art)
PenBBS #362 Zi (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
PenBBS #344 (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)

We need each other. Please support our sponsors and affiliates. Your patronage will let them know you appreciate their support of the pen community. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Pen Review

Review and GIVEAWAY: Leuchtturm 1917 Drehgriffel

Laura CameronMarch 23, 2021April 22, 202180 Comments

Do you love ballpoint pens? Then this review and giveaway are for you!

Recently we were sent a few Drehgriffel from Leuchtturm (24.95 each) for review. These fun ballpoint pens are made to look sort of like pencils.

Drehgriffel is German and loosely translates to “twist stylus.” This pen style is a revival from the 1920s and it is made from precision-milled aluminum and brass. The Drehgriffel has a spring loaded twist mechanism – to open and retract the ball point you simply twist the end cap (which looks sort of like a combination of ferrule and eraser). The pens come in tons of fun colors; we received the Sage (green), Nordic Blue and Bellini (orange) for review. The pens come loaded with a blue ink, and refills are available in either blue or black.

The pen is lightweight at 14g, and is fairly short at 5″/12.5cm long. It is slightly longer than some of my favorite pocket pens, and very similar to the Caran d’Ache Nespresso I reviewed a few weeks ago.

L to R: Franklin Christoph Pocket 45, Caran d’Ache Nespresso, Leuchtturm 1917 Drehgriffel, Kaweco AL Sport.

The Drehgriffel writes smoothly without a lot of skipping. It’s lightweight and the hexagonal body is nice to hold in your hand. The variety of colors make it a fun pen to carry, and the fact that it is refillable is so much better for the environment (as opposed to disposable ballpoints.) In general, I gravitate more towards fountain pens, but sometimes a ball point pen is the best option. I can totally see keeping one of these in my wallet for on the go writing needs.

~~So now comes the fun part, the GIVEAWAY! Leuchtturm has generously offered these Drehgriffels to TWO of our lucky readers.~~

THE DETAILS: Two lucky winners will be selected from the comments on this post to win their choice of Drehgriffel in either Sage, Nordic Blue or Orange, as well as a package of refills in blue or black. Supplies are limited so we’ll ask for first/second choice and go with first come, first served.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us if you have a favorite Leuchtturm 1917 product. 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 midnight CST on Friday, March 26, 2021. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Saturday. 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 7 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 review were provided free of charge for the purposes of this giveaway. Please see the About page for more details.

In news

News: We Have Launched a Patreon

AnaMarch 21, 2021March 21, 20211 Comment

For years, friends have asked if we had a Patreon page that would allow readers to help support the Well-Appointed Desk community. I wasn’t sure what content I could develop, or offers I could create, that would entice readers to become patrons. This past year, however, has given me plenty of opportunity to develop a plan.

As is true for so many, last year was full of unexpected life changes (I left Hallmark after almost 20 years, pandemic lockdowns, et al). These changes gave me time to chart a new course for the blog and my life. I’m hoping that you will want to be a part of it.

Most importantly:

I want to offer worthwhile perks to patrons.
No part of the blog will change.
I won’t put any of our current content behind a pay wall.

Patrons will have access to (depending on tier):

special offers (discounts, sales, coupon codes, etc)
first chance to see new Desk product releases,
virtual Ask the Desk event each month
special Patron-only products to purchase
and more…

I hope you will consider being a patron. Your support will help us bring more great content to the blog each week and offer new opportunities to participate in our amazing community.

In Fountain Pen Review

Notebook Review: Princeton Architectural Press Observer’s Notebook: Weather

Jessica ColesMarch 18, 2021March 18, 20214 Comments

I have obtained notebooks over the years for various reasons – interesting paper, a beautiful cover, an interesting size or shape, a great sale, review purposes, gifts. I need very little convincing to pick up a new notebook that catches my eye and I was enchanted when I came across a new line of notebooks from Princeton Architectural Press called the Observer’s Notebooks.

Please excuse the stained cover – I’ve had this notebook for four years so far and it’s seen plenty of miles!

This is the Weather notebook. Other notebooks in the line up include Trees, Astronomy, Birds, Butterflies, and Home.

I purchased this notebook back in 2017 from Amazon (Princeton Architectural Press Observer’s Notebook: Weather ($18.95)). It is a bit of a strange size – 7.25 inches by 9.25 inches. It’s a hard cover notebook but still slightly flexible.

The paper ruling was what first caught my eye – the notebook is separated into several sections with each section using a different paper ruling.

Overall there are 10 uniquely ruled paper sections throughout the notebook – the last four pages are a ruling for weather observations:

Sections are separated by card stock dividers, each divider a print that somehow relates to weather.

While the illustrations delight me, the paper was a huge disappointment. Every fountain pen ink feathered terribly and bled through the page. Colors looked dull and even gel pens performed poorly although I did eventually find that Platinum Carbon Black worked well on the pages in an extra fine nib.

So what do you do with a notebook like this?

Crossword puzzles.

I have a lifelong obsession with crossword puzzles. It started with helping my father with them when I was only old enough to read the clues to him. But seeing his answers helped me to figure out the way the answers worked. I would try to solve the puzzle then check the answers the following day to learn even more. Eventually the practice started to pay off and I got into the habit of keeping the finished puzzle alongside the answers.

But a pile of old crosswords isn’t exactly something that keeps nicely long term. However, notebooks look great when used for storage.

The Observer notebook was a perfect for that collection of clipped crosswords with the answers kept in the back using a bit of glue. The hard cover is a welcome support for writing, the paper becomes a backdrop for doodling and I still get to enjoy the color prints between notebook sections. This notebook has been on my desk now for nearly four years and gets more use than many of my fountain pen friendly notebooks.

The lesson I learned throughout this process – I should think a bit bigger. There are plenty of gorgeous notebooks that are useless for fountain pens that still deserve love and attention. I’ve started trying to think of more uses for my unused notebooks – magazine photos or articles, art work from kids that doesn’t fit on the fridge, old birthday cards or recipes.

I hope you can find further creative uses for some of the stationery products that might have been disappointing once they were used!

DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include 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 Link Love

Link Love: I’ve Been Training For This My Whole Life!

AnaMarch 17, 2021March 17, 2021Leave a comment

Hello all! Laura here to tell you about the event I’ve been training for my whole life. I’ve joined the Knit for Food Knit-A-Thon, a 12-hour knitting event on April 11, 2021. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness for food insecurity, and all the money raised will be donated to Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry and Meals on Wheels. If this were a jog-a-thon, I wouldn’t be much of a team mate, but knitting for 12 hours straight? PSHAW…. BRING IT ON!

If you’d have a few dollars to spare support my effort, or the project, you can find more details on the campaign and how to contribute here. What started as a goal to raise $20,000 is now up to over $81,000+ and we can’t wait to knit all day long!