The Well-Appointed Desk

Notebook Review: Newton Design Co. Memo Books

It takes a lot to convince me to review a new pocket memo book. To be honest, many of them are just variations on a theme and theme is “another Field Notes”. However, when I saw the new designs from Newton Design Co., I knew these were something a little different.

The Newton Design Co. Memo Books ($10 for set of 3 books) are hand screenprinted with Zach’s stellar sense of humor and superior design chops. Printed in yellow on black cardstock covers, the books are classic in looks but modern in sensibility.

The books measure 4.5×6″ and feature 60 pages of paper in either blank or dot grid.

I was tickled to discover that the paper was more resilient to fountain pens than most Field Notes. None of the pens I tested feathered or created wider-than-expected results.

The dots visible on the reverse side of the paper are due to ink that wasn’t dry on the facing page. There was no actual bleed-through or show-through.

When adding in some brush pens, I still had no real issues… other than my green fountain pen ink was not drying in a timely manner and I kept sticking my hand in it. I do not blame the paper as all the other inks dried at a consistent and fast rate.

Even from the back of the page, there was no bleed-through and only some show-through.

These memo books are witty and well-designed and stand up to most day-to-day pen carries. While this particular edition is currently sold out, a new limited edition of black-on-black “Crook Looks” is available. Get them while you can!

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

In feature, Ink Review

Ink Review and Give Away!: Monteverde Sweet Life

Jessica ColesJanuary 30, 2020February 6, 2020129 Comments

By Jessica Coles

Today’s post is not about a brand new ink line and not a new company. Instead, this collection is from a well-trusted company with a fun twist on a collection of bright, happy inks; Monteverde Sweet Life! Please note, these inks are named after popular desserts but they are not scented. They may make you crave sweets, though!

Monteverde Sweet Life consists of 10 inks; Pumpkin Cake, Iced Cookie, Chocolate Pudding, Cherry Danish, Strawberry Shortcake, Birthday Cake, Blue Velvet, Key Lime, Mango Mousse, and Blueberry Muffin. These inks are packaged in a durable box with a magnetic flap closure inside a brightly colored sleeve.

It bothered me at first that each ink was again packaged in its own box (excess packaging is never good), but I realized it helps tremendously to protect the bottles from hitting each other during shipping.

First, swatches of all ten inks together. I’ll get into comparing each ink to others below.

Starting with the reds.

Monteverde Strawberry Shortcake is a bright, cheery red, somewhere between Taccia Aka Red and KWZ Grapefruit.

Monteverde Cherry Danish is darker, very close to Robert Oster Burgundy.

A couple of brown inks now.

This ink is a somewhat unique color – Monteverde Pumpkin Cake. Akkerman SBRE Brown is the closest in my collection. There’s a hint of orange in the brown.

Monteverde Chocolate Pudding almost shows a black sheen in the brown. There’s still a good amount of orange in this brown, but Chocolate Pudding is much darker than Pumpkin Cake.

The two brightest inks in the collection!

Monteverde Mango Mousse is slightly closer to orange than Ferris Wheel Press Buttered Popcorn and shows up darker in writing than Stipula Sapphron. Lots of shading as well.

Monteverde Key Lime Pie is probably my favorite in the Sweet Life collection. It is a vibrant green, close to Robert Oster Green Lime but Key Lime Pie is not as likely to show crystallization on the pen nib.

Now to the blues in the collection.

Monteverde Iced Cookie is a beautiful turquoise/teal close to Private Reserve Ebony Blue and shows plenty of shading. I love this color and it has been in a pen at all times since I received the collection.

The second blue in the collection, Monteverde Blue Velvet Cake, has a beautiful dark red sheen that isn’t overpowering. Since the sheen is a secondary color for the ink, smearing isn’t an issue.

I’ve saved the best color for last. PURPLE.

Monteverde Blueberry Muffin is a beautiful purple (ok, not quite purple really) that leans heavily towards red, almost a burgundy. Robert Oster Dark Chocolate is probably the closest. There is a faint dark green sheen in heavily inked areas.

Monteverde Birthday Cake is a gorgeous mid to dark purple. Writing with Birthday Cake shows lighter than the swatch – TWSBI Royal Purple is the closest in my collection although it has more red undertones.

Now for the most exciting part! We will be giving away two bottles of Monteverde Sweet Life inks to two different lucky winners! Monteverde Cherry Danish and Monteverde Blueberry Muffin. Rules are below the photo – good luck to everyone!

~~TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite dessert. 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 Tuesday, February 4, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Winners 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 the 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 and giveaway were provided free of charge by Yafa for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Ups and Downs

AnaJanuary 29, 2020January 29, 20205 Comments

This week has had some unusual ups and downs. In pen news, I broke my favorite Caran d’Ache 849 fountain pen. The plastic threads on the grip section cracked so the grip no longer connects to the pen barrel. I was able to reach out to Creative Art Materials, the US distributor for Caran d’Ache, and they are sending me a replacement nib unit. It lasted about three years with almost daily use and the rep at Creative Art Materials said that Cd’A was aware of the issue. Maybe that means that the replacement nib unit is made from slightly different plastic or material that is a little more durable? I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, I HAD to get a new Caran d’Ache 849 to tide me over until I have a new nib. Luckily, I have access to an instant-gratification pen shop. I ran across the street at lunch and purchased a lime green 849 (this week’s featured photo) so that my life was not too disrupted. (Keep reading… you’ll understand why I needed one less disruption.)

In non-pen news, Bob and I finally updated our antiquated iPhone 6 phones — to clarify, these were five years old and could not be updated to the new ios13 operating system. My phone was no longer holding a charge and basically made me tech-less for the last month. Not only have I been tech-less, but my beloved car has been in the shop since December 30. I got a call today to say he is finally repaired and ready for pick-up!

And finally, once my new iPhone was set up, I discovered that someone had hacked my Spotify account. What does this mean? They filled my library with garbage playlists and my listening history was horrifying! I was able to reach tech support at Spotify and they were able to back-up my playlist library to one week prior which removed the 50+ garbage playlists. Unfortunately, they could not do anything about my listening history so I have Spotify playing non-stop from my playlists for the next month to correct my listening history and, thus, my recommendations.

Pens:

Curidas’s Name (via Crónicas Estilográficas)
Platinum Announces New Product: Curidas – Retractable Fountain Pen (via Rediscover Analog)
Pilot Custom NS Fountain Pen (via The Pencilcase Blog)
Franklin-Christoph Steel Flex Nib Review (viaThe Pen Addict)
Worcester Pen Company Serenity (via dapprman)
Karas Kustoms Retrakt Review (via Writing at Large)
PenBBS 323 (via Flex & Other Follies)
Update on the Yard-O-Led Astoria Grand (via dapprman)

Ink:

Ink Brand Profile: Platinum Mix-Free Inks — The Gentleman Stationer
Radical Ink (via Crónicas Estilográficas)

Pencil Review: Staedtler Mars Lumograph 12B

Laura CameronJanuary 28, 2020January 28, 20205 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

When I started using the Mitsubishi Kohitsu 10B “brush pencil,” I thought I had the softest graphite core I would ever meet. I figured graphite couldn’t go much softer without needing to be mixed with something else like carbon before it loses its stability. But when I saw that the Staedtler Mars Lumograph now comes in 12B ($2.20), of course I had to try it.

I use several other grades of Mars Lumograph, and when compared grade for grade, Staedtler is typically at least a couple of grades harder than Mitsubishi Hi-Uni or Tombow Mono 100 (my two favorite lines of Japanese graphite drawing pencils). The Mars Lumograph in 10B is harder than the Kohitsu 10B and the Hi-Uni 10B, so I expected the 12B to be no softer than either of those 10Bs. While the 12B is not quite as silky-soft as that Kohitsu “brush pencil,” it does feel slightly softer than Hi-Uni’s 10B.

So while it may not be the softest, the Lumograph 12B is among my four softest graphite pencils. And when compared to the other three, its core gets the prize for being the thickest (in my photo, it’s the top blue one).

It’s a joy to use at life drawing, where that 12B graphite can be smudged with a tortillon almost like charcoal (though without as much smeary mess, of course). I have hit an occasional gritty spot, however, which I’ve never experienced with Hi-Uni or Mono 100.

Even non-sketchers can have fun with a core this thick: Take a knife to it and cut a chisel “nib”!

I write with it like a fude nib, but I bet calligraphers would really go to town with it. I hope one of you will!

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

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 Tools

Bag Review: Baron Fig Venture Slimline Backpack

AnaJanuary 27, 2020January 27, 20201 Comment

I have been using and flip flopping between the original Baron Fig Kickstarter Minimal backpack and the second edition, the Venture Slimline Backpack ($85). Since the original model is no longer available, I will focus on the Venture Slimline model. It’s really more of a 1.5 upgrade of the original rather than massive changes. What has been updated in the Venture Slimline backpack was in response to feedback and usage and are small tweaks.

The size of the bag measures about 11″ wide by 17″ tall with a depth for 4″. The original backpack was about an inch taller. The interior comfortably fits a 15″ laptop, a tablet computer (I have an iPad Pro 11″) and a pile of notebooks and accessories.

The zippers feature large teeth metal zips, as close as they could probably get to YKK zippers or they are YKK. They have custom pulls so I can’t say for sure. Either way, they work pretty well and feel durable. If you run into any friction issues, you can use some wax paper on them to make them less sticky.

The straps on the bag are thick canvas. Even fully loaded, the bag is comfortable without excessive padding on the straps. I did not traverse the Andes with the Venture Slimline backpack so I can’t say for certain that they are comfortable over the long term but I have about a quarter mile walk to and from my office each day and I never noticed the backpack, even stopping for chats. I never noticed the weight or any pinching from the straps. Non-padded straps might be a make-or-break for you, though.

The grab handle on the top of the bag is folded canvas webbing like the straps. The fabric is very soft and the placement of the grab handle is wider than on the original Kickstarter Minimal Backpack which was stitched a little too close together and made it uncomfortable to use. This is a definite improvement.

One of the nicest features of the Venture Slimline backpack are the pair of hidden side slit pockets that are perfect for holding your phone or keys. They are kind of hidden along the seam line so they are not super visible to passersby and keep your phone and keys from ending up at the bottom of the front pocket.

The zippers and pulls on the side pockets were upgraded between the release of the Minimal backpack and the Venture. The pulls are now branded and easier to open and close. I find this more convenient but the original Kickstarter backpack had smaller pulls that were a little fiddly which could make the bag feel a little more secure against pickpockets.

The front pocket is large enough to hold a lot of miscellaneous items. I have my vintage Girl Scout (Be Prepared!) zip bag for charging cables and other accessories for my electronics, my pill case and my Hobonichi Weeks calendar in this pocket.

The main compartment has slash pockets on the back for laptop or large notebook/folders. It’s not quite deep enough to hold a large ring binder but a standard-sized notebook, laptop or file folders would fit here. There is another pocket about halfway down to hold a tablet or smaller notebook. Then at the bottom are a couple additional slash pockets for cards, a pocket notebook, etc. The bottom two pockets have not ended up being all that useful to me but I tend to keep all my miscellany in pouches or cases rather than requiring my bag to have specific pockets for my specific needs.

The Venture Slimline backpack unzips all the way around like a suitcase which means that the bottom of your bag does not end up becoming a wasteland for detritus. From the inside, you can access the side pockets on the front of the bag as well as two additional pockets above and below the side pockets that are only accessible from inside the bag. They are small pockets but could be used for cord wrangling, storing a small wallet or other items.

The back of the backpack had room for a pencil case, my Moment wallet, another pouch for cosmetics and a sketchbook. Of course, since these pouches are floating freely in the backpack, should the bag accidentally unzip, my pouches will end up on the ground. The zippers never unzipped on me but I was always a little worried that if both pulls weren’t at the top of the bag, the possibility existed.

The photo above is everything I was carrying in the backpack. The laptop was subject to change depending on whether or not it was a weekday or weekend. My work laptop is a 15″ while my personal laptop is a 13″.

For comparison, the grey color of the fabric from the original Kickstarter Minimal backpack (in front) and the darker Venture Slimline in the back. You can also more easily see the different in the side zipper pulls.

The original Kickstarter Slimline backpack featured a large logo label centered under the front pocket.

The Venture Slimine backpack now features a small embroidered logo in the lower right hand corner on the front of the bag.

Overall, the improvements are welcomed and the bag is a good value for the price. If you live in a particularly wet climate, I’m not sure how waterproof the fabric is since its just canvas without any waterproofing treatment.

If you are just schlepping your goods from your house to your car to your office or coffeeshop of choice and back, then this is probably not a deal breaker. The fabric could probably be treated with something but I’m out of my depth here. (I recommend searching on YouTube for videos on waterproofing canvas. It’s essentially one part wax and one part linseed oil and heat. There are some serious outdoorsman demoing the process. Find the one that seems doable for you.)

For all the pockets on this bag, there is no outside water bottle slot. While I seldom carry water around with me, I do carry a travel mug of coffee with me wherever I go and it would be nice to have a convenient place to put it.

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge (none of the Apple products were free. I bought those with my own money but, hey Apple, if you want to sponsor this blog, I think the whole staff would be on board for that!) for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Paper Review

Sketchbook Review: Stillman & Birn Nova – Beige

Laura CameronJanuary 25, 2020January 25, 20201 Comment

Review by Tina Koyama

Stillman & Birn sketchbooks have been my favorites for a long time, especially Beta (toothy paper for wet media), Zeta (smooth, mixed media paper) and the Nova series of toned books in beige, gray and black. This review is of the beige Nova in the versatile 5½-by-8½-inch, portrait-format softcover ($19.99).

The plain, dark gray softcover has a pleasant matte finish. After the bellyband is removed, the only branding is the slightly shiny logo and book series type on the back cover.

That solid dark surface is a blank slate just waiting to be festooned with stickers! (The first thing I do when I start a new sketchbook is put my contact info on the inside front cover and stickers on the outside.)

According to the bellyband, the 92 pages are 150gsm intended for dry media, light wash and ink. The paper has a mild tooth that I adore with every form of pencil I’ve used on it – graphite, colored, charcoal, pastel. The model below was sketched with soft graphite and white colored pencil. The garlic was colored pencil. The beige paper has just the right amount of tone for white highlights, which I especially like for life drawing.

Wet media will cause a bit of warping, but light washes will leave almost no trace after drying. The costumed models below were sketched with a Kuretake Fudegokochi brush pen, which has water-soluble ink, and washed lightly with a water brush.

A huge benefit of all Stillman & Birn softcovers is that each page spread opens completely flat and stays open – very helpful if you scan your pages as I do. The paper is also completely opaque, so I can use both sides of the page with no ghosting.

In addition, the sturdy binding can be flexed so that the covers touch. (I prefer holding a sketchbook this way with one hand when I sketch while standing.)

A few months ago, Clairefontaine Rhodia announced that it had acquired Stillman & Birn. Initially, I was wary that the European parent company could make undesirable changes to my beloved sketchbook line, but the announcement included this statement: “[Stillman & Birn] sketchbooks are made with robust, high-performance Schut paper and are bound in the USA. . . . the Schut mill has been manufacturing fine paper in the Netherlands since 1618. And in 1998, Clairefontaine Rhodia acquired Schut Papier, B.V. as a subsidiary of Exacompta Clairefontaine. So it makes perfect sense for Clairefontaine to add Stillman & Birn to its fine art lines.” That’s good news; at least the paper quality is unlikely to change. I know that some of my sketcher friends outside North America have had difficulty sourcing S&B sketchbooks, so perhaps Clairefontaine’s ownership will bring with it wider distribution.

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

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 feature

A Place to Buy Ink!

Jessica ColesJanuary 23, 2020January 23, 20209 Comments

by Jessica Coles

Finding a local store that carries fountain pen supplies can be tough. Not many stores are expanding in this direction and many online stores do not have brick-and-mortar shops. So when I find a retailer carrying fountain pens and ink, I get very excited! (much to the embarrassment of my kids!)

I apologize for the small format of these photos. Somehow I had left my phone behind so I was using my husband’s phone while trying to not draw attention to me taking photos.

I have enjoyed shopping at Meininger’s Art Supply for several years now and have visited each of their three locations in Colorado (although one location closed recently due to an expanding college campus).

When I first walked into Meininger’s, the store was overwhelming – two stories of every kind of art supplies I could imagine. But one thing was quite underrepresented at the shop – fountain pens.

The notebook selection is amazing. Pencils, everywhere. Some of the older editions from these manufacturers have stuck around and you can often find some products that sold out quickly in the past. Notice in the photo to the left that our own Well-Appointed Desk has merch here already.

The display behind the counter shows off more expensive inks, recent limited editions, and Galen leather products.

A large wall display shows off the various pen refills – ballpoint, rollerball, and fountain pens. The glass counter displays show Lamy, Sailor, Retro 51, Kaweco, the list goes on.

But to my absolute delight, the ink selection is wonderful!

The selection includes ColorVerse, Organic Studios, Noodler’s, Krishna, Sailor, Lamy, Platinum, Pilot, Parker, Waterman, Diamine, Kyo-no-oto… I may be forgetting some!

Notebooks had been represented well before this expansion of pens and ink, but the store now carries plenty of Midori, Strathmore and Tomoe River paper! I found an entire wall dedicated to fountain pen friendly paper.

I have been told that the expansion of the fountain pen selection is due to the work of one woman – Patty. Although I have never met Patty, I am grateful. My corner of the world has been devoid of fountain pen supplies (well, not my house, but I’ve missed having a local supplier!).

If you are ever in the Denver area, make sure to drop into Meininger’s and tell them they have fans! Hopefully this is a trend we will see more of in the future.

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Paper & Notebooks:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things: