Eye Candy: Esterbrook Estie Maraschino Fountain Pen (F)

Eye Candy: Esterbrook Estie Maraschino  Fountain Pen (F)

Esterbrook has released another amazing color for the Estie: The Maraschino and it’s selling out faster than cocktails by the pitcher at happy hour.

The Maraschino is available in both the silver palladium trim and gold tone trim with coordinating nibs in both the regular and oversize. The retail price for the regular size is $156 and the oversized is $200. Both models accept the vintage Esterbook nib adapter ($39).

We have reviewed the Estie Lilac Slim, Estie Honeycomb, Estie Blueberry, and Estie Tortoise with Gold Trim so going into a great deal of detail about the shape and overall handling of the pen at this point seems redundant. Discussing the color and material, however, seems entirely appropriate.

Wowsa! This material is GORGEOUS! It is a beautiful crushed ice red ranging in color from a deep reddish-burgundy to a pinky-almost-white.

Of course, I had to mix a drink with this pen and YES, I speared a maraschino cherry with the nib. There is no length I will not go for a good photo. Pen flush will definitely be needed. I do recommend using Luxardo cherries in your cocktails.

Estie Maraschino Nib

Estie Maraschino Writing Sample


Tools:


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

Pen Review: The Procyon’s Place in the Platinum Line

Pen Review: The Procyon’s Place in the Platinum Line

I’ve been carrying the Platinum Procyon around for almost an entire week trying to figure out what to make of it. Let’s start from the beginning, which is well before the Procyon showed up in my mailbox. Pre-Procyon, my experience with Platinum was limited to my Platinum Preppies ($4 pen) and my Platinum 3776s (nearly $200 to over $400 pen depending on the model).

That’s a HUGE gap in the middle. And I’ll be honest; I went into inking up the Procyon for the first time with a healthy dose of skepticism that anything in that gap would prove to be worth the price point. The question at the top of my mind all week has been, “What about this pen justifies a $50 price tag for a pen with a ‘$5 Preppy nib’?” My assumption about the nib proved to be slightly incorrect in the end, but the basic premise remained.

When I first started blogging about stationery, I would draw the items I was reviewing almost every time. Sometimes I would post it, and sometimes I would not- but I remembered this week why I was so fond of the practice. Sometimes everyday use and the review writing samples aren’t enough. Sometimes I need to sit with something for a while and mull it over. So while I typically leave the drawing and sketching to the professionals we have around here- today, you will have to accept a B team sketch.

The Procyon isn’t the only pen that falls in the gap between the Preppy and 3776 in the Platinum line- and so for comparison sake, I inked up a 05M Preppy, a Medium Prefounte, a Medium Procyon, and a Medium 3776 going into the start of my week. (Note: I purposely left the Platinum Desk Pen out of this review and out of my rotation this week. Technically it’s a Platinum pen with a price point that fits the premise, but it’s a bit of an outlier in its design, purpose, and availability. The Platinum Plaisir is also absent because I do not currently own one.)

As soon as I had everything inked, it became immediately evident that some of my assumptions about the Procyon were a little off-base. The nib looks similar to the Preppy nib, but it is not identical.

The physical size of the nib is larger (around the size and shape of Lamy safari nib). Interestingly, the M nib writes a much thinner line than its 05M Preppy counterpart- putting it directly in step with the higher portion of Platinum’s line.

As others have mentioned, you can unscrew the entire nib unit and section from the Procyon and screw it into a 3776- and vise versa! The same is true of the Prefounte and the Preppy- this pair’s sections are also interchangeable. That presents some interesting options. In particular, switching a 3776 section into the Procyon would allow you to carry an excellent gold Platinum nib around in a metal aluminum body. There’s a certain appeal to this for me- I’m not afraid to carry my 3776 pens by any stretch of the imagination. Still, the metal body makes the pen feel inherently more durable and gives some variation to my otherwise almost entirely resin-bodied 3776 collection.

That brings us to what I believe the Platinum gets right about the Procyon. The matte aluminum body of this pen is killer- full stop. The combination of the feel of the matte finish and the color of the aluminum makes for a surprisingly quality and enjoyable pen all around. The section of the pen is plastic instead of metal, and some may think this cheapens the look of the pen, but it’s not that different from a 3776 section, and I like the look of the transparent accent. The shape of this pen is also a significant selling point. Hands down, I prefer it to anything else in the Platinum line, including the 3776. Call me crazy- but the tapered body, clean lines, and subtly raised finials speak my language.

The nib is nothing ornate or beautifully decorated, but it’s an excellent writer. Spending most of my week writing with these pens has reminded me just how good steel nibs can be. I do think the increased size of the Procyon nib puts it a touch above the Preppy and Prefounte in terms of writing experience.

There are a few things I’m not crazy about with the Procyon. The clip design isn’t offensive by any means, and I’ve seen much worse on many, many pens- but it’s still not my favorite. The metal threads are fine for me, but I could see them being a problem for anyone with larger hands or a grip that lends to sit back farther away from the nib of the pen. For me, the section is just large enough for the threads to stay out of the way during writing.

And that brings us back to the big question. With pros and cons considered, does the pen live up to the $53 price tag? It’s a tricky question for a couple of reasons. Overall, I think this segment of the pen market is very, very difficult to get right. In almost all cases, I would prefer pens equal or less than the price of a TWSBI Eco or above $100. You can get some excellent quality gold-nibbed pens around that $100 range, and I think that’s what makes the $50-$100 range an incredibly difficult sell. That being said- there are some things that I believe Platinum gets right about playing in this range- the first of which is utilizing material and a finish that sets the pen apart from the rest of the line. I think I would honestly prefer carrying a 3776 nib in this pen body than a basic black 3776 body any day of the week. The nib is also just different enough from the lower end pens to distinguish it as a higher-price point pen.

The question of worth is always going to be a personal one. If you are starting from nothing, would you rather have this pen ($53) or a TWSBI Eco ($33.50) and a Kaweco Sport combo ($24.50)? That’s a battle I’m not sure this pen wins for me. But there is also a world where I theoretically already have several 3776s and would prefer to add this pen to my collection over and above another 3776 that’s just a different color from the ones I already own. I’m not sure how both of those statements can be true simultaneously, but for me, that’s where I land with this pen for today. It may take me a little more time to settle my final opinion about the worth proposition of this pen, but I am happy to see companies attempt new things at this price point.

 

Tools:


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

Ink Review: Sailor New York and Sailor Texas

Ink Review: Sailor New York and Sailor Texas

By Jessica Coles

I’m happy to see Sailor continuing on with their 50 States Collection which began with Colorado and California. Today I get to show you Sailor New York and Sailor Texas (20mL each, $25 each at Dromgoole’s) which were sent to me for a review. Thank you, Larry!

The first ink is Sailor New York (I’m only going alphabetically – I’m not trying to put New York above Texas!). Included with the ink is a small card explaining a bit why this color was chosen for New York.

“Sailor’s New York Ink was inspired by a famous baseball team that resides here. Can you guess which one?” The answer, of course, is the New York Yankees, who use a dark blue as an official color (HEX COLOR: #002D72). Even the first glimpse of the ink seems like it will be accurate. There’s a nice sheen on the threads of the bottle – not an overpowering sheen, but definitely present.

The color of New York on a Col-o-ring card is a lovely dark blue-black with a touch of a green-black sheen. This blue-black does lean towards the purple side, but not much. The sheen showed up in writing around each letter – not quite a halo, but at the edges of letters (I typically define a halo as an outline around the ink that makes the writing appear to pop out from the page). It is not a permanent ink but it does show water resistance.

The second ink today is Sailor Texas. The included card states “Sailor’s Texas ink was inspired by the state’s history of making leather goods”.

Unfortunately, there is no standard color of leather for me to compare, but the color definitely does fulfill my idea of a leather color! The first look at the ink shows an orangey medium to light brown.

Swatching Sailor Texas showed a darker brown than I had expected and also shows a small amount of a dark brown to black sheen. The shading on this ink is medium and definitely shows up in writing. I even found that a hint of the sheen showed up occasionally.

Texas is close to Aurora Sepia in shading and saturation but Sepia has red undertones where Texas has orange. Franklin Christoph Honeycomb is the closest in tone. Again, the ink is not waterproof, but is very readable after getting wet.

In my opinion, Sailor has once again selected great colors to represent these states with two inks that are very useable, office-safe colors. The price is the biggest downside of these inks. At $25 for 20mL, this puts the 50 States inks at $1.25 per mL, on par with some of Montblanc’s Elixir inks. The true worth in the Sailor States inks is in the link between state, color, and the reason the color was chosen. The purple Colorado was one that I purchased as soon as I could! If there is a state or states that are dear to your heart, the 50 States collection will definitely call to you.

I’m happy Sailor is continuing with this series and I’m looking forward to seeing further releases. Do you have any guesses as to which states will be next? Any requests?


DISCLAIMER:  Some items in this review were provided free for the purpose of this review. Except for the Col-o-ring which was provided to me by a wonderful person who pays me to write blogs by keeping me supplied with Col-o-rings. Please see the About page for more details.

Link Love: Ollie Got Mail!

Link Love: Ollie Got Mail!

Ollie Mail

First, I have to point out that Ollie got mail this week. And it was AWESOME (it’s the postcard above with the evil kitten on top of the demon)! I get lovely mail regularly (like the postcard above on the right) but this is the first time one of our felines got mail. He may be a chair-stealing, crappy intern, but he is pretty dang cute and even you all seem to agree. My students have even started to call him my TA because he sleeps on my work table behind me so he’s on camera for our Zoom class every day (photo below) and sometimes even “helps me” draw.

Ollie

In other news, the USPS is raising postal rates for the holidays which will require many small businesses to raise either their shipping rates or their products prices or both to absorb the costs. Below is a list of the price increases. Supposedly, these prices will come back down in January.

October 18th–December 27th USPS temporary rate increase:

  • First Class Package: 25 cents/package
  • Priority Mail (including Flat Rate, Regional Rate, and Cubic): 40 cents/package
  • Parcel Select Ground: 40 cents/package
  • Priority Mail Express: $1.50/package

On a more (plug-the-firm side), we’ve made some under-the-hood updates to shop this week. We have added Stripe to our payment options. Doing this expands how customers can pay and means you do not have to have a PayPal account to make a purchase. It also means that you can now use Apple Pay (if you are using Safari and have it set up on your phone, iPad or computer). This is all in preparation for our restocking ALL the Col-o-ring products which we are manufacturing now. So, if you are waiting for new Col-o-ring, Col-o-dex, OVERSIZE or DIPPER, hold tight! They will all be listed on the site in the next two weeks or so.

All Col-o-ring Products

In Link Love news, Mattel released a Day of the Dead Barbie this year which absolutely tickles me. Years ago, Bob and I went to every thrift store for miles around and bought up Barbies, dipped them in white, house paint and then drew Day of the Dead designs on them. Then I think we participated in a Barbie Art Show with more refined versions of the Day of the Dead Barbies. So, to see these available for sale warms my  former Albuquerque-dwelling heart.

It’s starting to cool off here in KC so the knit-related links are increasing including one of my favorite YouTube knit vloggers, Constance, who was featured on Fancy Tiger Crafts this week. And of course, it wouldn’t be Link Love without at least one Star Wars link (season two trailer for The Mandolorian) plus a ton of creative and design links, ink, pen and paper links. No pencil links this week but I can say with some authority that progress is being made on the next issue of Plumbago (I did some illustrations for the new issue) so hopefully there will be info in the upcoming week about when it will be available.

ONE LAST THING:

Art Supply Posse is swiftly approaching its 100th episode. If you have been a regular listener of the podcast, or even an occasional listener, would you record a message of support, congratulations or praise to Marcus and Kim for keeping it afloat? Record a message and tell them if you learned something new, were inspired to try a new supply, or maybe mention who your favorite guest was.

You can record a message using the voice recorder on your phone or the built-in microphone on their laptop or computer. Then they hit the share button and email it to hello@artsupplyposse.com

(HINT: You may want to listen to episode 100. I have it on god authority that the special guest is a fan favorite.)

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Pandemic-Related:

Other Interesting Things:


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Review: Formal Dept Notebook Case (& Giveaway)

Review: Formal Dept Notebook Case (& Giveaway)

Several months ago, the team that creates Formal Dept (illustrator Kate Pugsley and industrial designer Charlie McArthur) launched a Kickstarter to develop a watercolor dish and cup set. I was super excited to see the project reach it’s goal. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter launched in the middle of pandemic lockdown which affected the outcome and it didn’t fund. I hope that Formal Dept attempts the watercolor Kickstarter product again once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. In the meantime, I wanted to introduce you all to some of their other products.

Formal Dept Notebook Case inside

Their Notebook Cases will be of particular interest which are available in a foliage grey ($30) or a shapes ($30) pattern created by Kate. Kate’s pattern is excellent but I’m biased because I am a fan of her illustrations. The material on the shapes pattern is cotton canvas-y where the foliage grey is nylon so they have a slightly different feel. The foliage grey, like all nylon, attracts cat hair like I attract cats.

The Notebook Cases hold an A5-sized notebook in a pocket on the right-hand side and a zip pocket for small ephemera and 4-slots on the left for pens and drawing tools. The case zips all the way around with a big zipper. There is no structure built in to the case so depending on how stiff the notebook is that you put into to the case will determine how stiff the case becomes. I put a sketchpad in mine so it was not rigid but stiff enough that the case did not flop around or feel unstable.

Formal Dept Notebook Case inside

I filled the gray model with my drawing tools and doubled up pens, pencils and waterbrushes for sketching. Since the case is large enough for an A5 and the slots for pens are not blocked by anything, a full-sized waterbrush will fit and the pockets are large enough for the widest pen or two smaller pens. In the zippered pouch, I stored extra leads for my mechanical pencils, a Tile and some stickers and business cards.

Formal Dept Notebook Case inside pocket

Formal Dept Notebook Case inside

I was even able to stick my cellphone in the notebook pocket and zip up the case. This makes the notebook case a great option for taking out for a walk-and-draw, out to the patio, or (someday) to conferences or lectures. It holds everything you’d need for a day of notetaking, plus phone, some credit cards or cash in the pocket. And the price on these can’t be beat.

Formal Dept Notebook Case zipped closed

Formal Dept Notebook Case shapes

THE GIVEAWAY:

We are giving away one Formal Dept Notebook Case in the Shapes Pattern (new, unused) to one lucky reader (pictured here).

Formal Dept Notebook Case inside


TO ENTER:

Leave a comment below and tell me what you’ll put inside the Formal Dept Notebook Case. 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 Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. 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: I was not paid for this review or giveaway. I purchased these cases with my own money because I think they make really cool stuff. Please see the About page for more details.

Inky Ears: Stationery Podcast Roundup

These days there are so many stationery-themed podcasts we can hardly keep track so we decided to put together a list of all the ones we know about. If I missed you, I apologize – please leave me a note in the comments and I will update the post to add you!

Otherwise grab a cup of your favorite beverage, a project (knitting anyone?) and give these a listen!

(In alphabetical order.)

1857: Join Stuart and TJ, two guys talking about analogue pursuits in a digital world – and a fair amount of nonsense too. Make the Past, the Present in the Future, this is 1857.

 

 

 

The Bent Tines: Hosted by Kat and Matthew and focuses on fountain pens and ephemera, the people in the pen community community, and other topics like food and drink, home ownership, art, and life.

 

 

 

Erasable: Join Andy, Johnny and Tim as they explore their love of pencils and, more recently in the pandemic, their newfound love of pens!

 

 

 

Fountain Pen Companion: Urban, Ana, and Daniel podcast about fountain pens and related stationery items with a European perspective.

 

 

 

The Nib Section: This podcast features rotating hosts in a roundtable discussion podcast about fountain pens, ink and the people who go crazy for them, from Fountain Pens Oceania.

 

 

 

The Pen Addict: Brad & Myke host a long-running podcast that’s your weekly fix for all things stationery. They love pens, pencils and Sailors with an unholy devotion. You’ll find the latest pen industry news here, as well as links to Kickstarters, new releases and more.

 

 

The Pentertainment Podcast: Join PenBoyRoy for all things fountain pens (yammer and more!)

 

 

 

RSVP: Dade, Less and Lenore chat about all things stationery! I love their discussions of journaling, gameplaying and other analog hobbies that make use of the items we love.

 

 

 

Tinterías: A podcast in Spanish about all things fountain pen related! (Un podcast sobre la estilográfica y los materiales de papeler.)

 

 

 

Tokyo Inklings: Join CY and Jacob as they share two Tokyoites’ insider views on the Japanese fountain pen world. Japan has a HUGE stationery market, much of it hard to find for Westerners – get the inside scoop from these two!

 

 

There are also a few folks that host streams that are not quite podcasts. We’ve added those here in case you want to give them a try!

Inkdependence: Mike and his wife Audrey (the Nib Doctor at Franklin Christoph) host a weekly Friday “happy hour” live on YouTube which is my “don’t miss” at the end of the week.

The Pen Addict: Brad from the Pen Addict streams on Twitch several times a week. From unboxings to what’s on his desk on any given day, he’s got more pen content and live chats for you!

Again, if we’ve missed anyone please let us know in the comments below!

9/21/20 Edited to add a few recommendations from our readers!

The Stationery Cafe: Enjoy candid conversations between the co-hosts April and Phyllis, or journaling-related topics with artists and stationery enthusiasts.

 

 

 

Stationery Orbit: Do you love fountain pens, ink, wax seals, and stationery as much as John does?

 

Highlighter Review: JetPens Highlighter Sampler

Highlighter Review: JetPens Highlighter Sampler

Review by Tina Koyama

In a strange moment of synchronicity, several highlighters in my home went dry at the same time, and my stash of spares was nearly empty, too. Instead of stocking up on my usual go-to brands, I thought it would be fun to try some new ones. JetPens offers numerous highlighter sampler sets by color theme, which made it easy to try six in my favorite highlighter color – magenta (6 highlighters/$10).

JetPens Six Highlighters Sampler

Included in the set are two Zebra Mildliner Double-Sided Highlighters (one Mild Magenta, one Mild Fuchsia), one Lilac Pink Stabilo Boss Original Highlighter, one Red Purple Uni Mitsubishi Propus 2 Double-Sided Highlighter, one Purplish Red Zebra Optex 1 EZ Highlighter and one Purple Pilot Spotliter 2 Double-Sided Highlighter. If purchased separately, the total would be $10.55, so the sampler set offers a bit of savings. They all come in at least 10 colors (though it’s hard to beat the Mildliners that come in 25 colors).

A distinguishing characteristic of the Spotliter 2 and the Optex 1 EZ is that they are refillable with convenient cartridges (also available at JetPens). These environmentally friendly options are appealing, though the skeptic in me wonders whether the tips will mush down before the highlighters need be refilled. (My heavy handedness will tell the tail soon enough.)

All but the Stabilo Boss and Optex 1 EZ have both a standard chisel point and a fine point, so it’s like having two highlighters in one. Of course, I have always used a chisel-point marker on both its side and its tip (see my chart below), so it can be used two ways also. Here are closeups of the tips.

 Stabilo Boss

Pilot Spotliter chisel

Pilot Spotliter fine

Zebra Optex

Mitsubishi Propus chisel

Mitsubishi Propus fine

Zebra Mildliner chisel

Zebra Mildliner fine

Below I made lines with each highlighter tip to show the differences in colors and point sizes. Though they are all similar, even the two Zebra Mildliners, the scanned image shows the colors a bit more accurately. Unfortunately, the biggest difference in color doesn’t show well in either image: The Stabilo Boss is closer to a neon hot pink while the others are more like pale magenta. (Strange… whenever I try to photograph or scan neon-colored inks or colored pencils, the fluorescent properties seem to disappear from the images.)

point size with highlighters

point size

Next I made a bunch of scribbles with a Blackwing graphite pencil, Uni Jetstream ballpoint, Uni-ball Signo gel and Pilot Petit fountain pen containing water-soluble ink. To test for transparency and smearing, I drew each highlighter through the scribbles several times. As expected, all highlighters smeared the water-soluble fountain pen ink, but the other pens and pencil showed little smearing. All were sufficiently transparent.

smear, transparency

Finally, I highlighted a line of text in a catalog page with each highlighter to again compare their relative transparency and color. Since I most often use highlighters in books, catalogs and other printed matter, this test is most important to me.

catalog

My favorite? I like the bright ink color of the Stabilo Boss best. Unfortunately, its unwieldy body is the least user-friendly highlighter design I’ve used. It’s awkward to hold, and the tapered cap is difficult to pull off.

Which brings me to the Optex 1 EZ’s “EZ cap,” which I had nearly overlooked: To uncap it, you simply squeeze the four dots above the arrow, and the cap pops off. I love it when small conveniences like this take almost all the effort out of using a simple highlighter! The cap also posts securely, which is always a big deal to me because I’m prone to losing caps that don’t post well. Both of these features make the Optex 1 EZ my favorite, and it’s refillable, to boot. I don’t mind that it doesn’t have a fine point on the other end, but if you prefer one, the double-sided options are equally good performers.

Zebra Optex EZ cap


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.


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.