The Well-Appointed Desk

I know lots of other folks have already reviewed the latest sparkly metallic Jacques Herbin ink. It’s not that I meant to put it off but we’ve been pretty busy here at The Desk. So, now it our turn to show off the latest sparkly goodness from the House of Herbin. As it’s been mentioned, 1798 is the name that Herbin give to their annual sparkly ink with silver particles versus the 1670 which contains gold particles (unless it’s Rouge Hematite and then all bets are off). So, the latest iteration is 1798 Kyanite du Nepal ($28).

To quote the J. Herbin web site:

Since the discovery of the famous mining region of Nepal, Kali Gandaki, Kyanite has been recognized as a noble mineral because of its similarities with the rich tones of sapphire.

There is a good deal of fine silver in the ink and the turquoise color is gorgeous.

When it come to turquoise ink, there are a lot of options so I had a lot to compare Kyanite with. I was able to compare Kyanite to both metallic inks and non-metallics. First and foremost, I was able to find the closest non-metallic Herbin ink which is Bleu Pervenche ($12.95). The two Robert Oster inks that were closest were Blue Water Ice and Soda Pop Blue ($17 each). The metallics that were close matches were Robert Oster Shake-n-Shimmy Blue Moon ($24), De Atramentis Pearlescent Cyan Blue Silver ($14), and Diamine Shimmer-tastic Blue Lightning ($24). PenBBS #275 Claude Monet ($20) is a metallic turquoise but a little lighter.

Given the options, is Kyanite du Nepal worth the few dollars more per bottle than some of these other metallic inks? I don’t know. Diamine and DeAtramentis both seem more sparkly in smaller writing but all of them, including Kyanite, require constant movement to keep the particles evenly distributed. So, if you prefer the upgraded packaging and the slightly more aged silver look to the brighter, whiter silver of the others, then consider Kyanite. What I don’t recommend is buying all five metallic turquoise inks with silver particles. It really is s bit excessive.

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

*I really wish that House of Herbin would go back to calling themselves J. Herbin. All these J. Herbin/Herbin/Jacques Herbin variations are tiresome. Louis Vuitton is always Louis Vuitton, Chanel is always Chanel and Hermes is always Hermes. It seems un-French to change your name three times in as many years.

In feature

Giveaway: Opus88 Koloro Fountain Pen (F)

AnaAugust 8, 2019August 8, 2019237 Comments

With back-to-school right around the corner for many folks, this seemed like the perfect time for a giveaway. And we have the perfect thing, a brand new Opus88 Koloro from Appelboom.

One of my favorite models from Opus88 is the Koloro. The Orange/Yellow is reminiscent of school buses and No. 2 pencils. The large capacity eyedropper filled ink system means that you’ll be able to take notes for weeks without having to refill the pen.

Special thanks to our hand model and photographer for this giveaway — Bob. You can actually see the size of the pen in a larger man’s hand. If you’d like to read our full review, hop over here.

This is a brand new pen, graciously provided to us (and to our winner) by Appelboom.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me your favorite back-to-school memory or ritual. 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 moneys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Tuesday, August 13, 2019. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Wednesday. 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 giveaway were provided free of charge by Appelboom for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: This Week was Love, Actually.

AnaAugust 7, 2019August 7, 20192 Comments

The DC Pen Show for 2019 is in the bag, as is the Urban Sketch Symposium. Gentleman Stationer and Looped Square have a recap of the pen show and our intrepid, wandering sketcher Tina (Clouds & Coffee) has some sketches from Amsterdam and the symposium.

Like all pens shows, DC was all about seeing friends –old and new!

I finally got to meet the radiant Zenyp from Write to Me Often who is as amazing in person as she is online. And the Saturday morning line started early. The fire marshal shut it down and people were allowed in early to clear the hallways.

DC is the busiest and one of the most exhausting pen shows for me. This year, though, it was one of the happiest. I was blessed with kind friends and readers who kept us well-stocked with snacks, poke bowls, and chocolates. Other folks came bearing gifts from far and wide and I cannot tell you how touched I was by the gestures. I was literally struck speechless by the kindnesses. I was afraid to speak for fear of bursting into uncontrollable sobbing. Brad, on The Pen Addict, talks about crying from the kindnesses but I think I would have fallen into full-on ugly crying I was so taken by surprise. So, I stiff-upper-lipped it, tried my best to say thank you as graciously as possible and then gushed in private.

These are some of the gifts I received. There will be reviews for some of them.

I also had many people come up and tell me how much they enjoyed reading the blog, the email newsletter (blog posts by email) or seeing our Instagram posts and I was equally touched. Thank you to everyone who came by and said hello. It meant the world to me.

Finally, there was a little ink-cident on the way home that caused everything to get covered in a lovely shade of Petrichor. Thanks, TSA! My suitcase totally needed to be inspected.

Ink Review: Robert Oster Velvet Crush

Laura CameronAugust 6, 2019August 5, 2019Leave a comment

Review by Laura Cameron

I think last year proved I love purple inks so of course I had to snag another one to try in my last JetPens order. I opted for Robert Oster Signature in Velvet Crush (50mL for $17.00).

Velvet Crush is a bit difficult to capture. The pictures make it look like a blue purple, but on the Col-o-dex card I see a hint of reddish plum in there in the saturated parts.

It shades a bit during writing with different nibs, and in large splotches it sheens with a crazy yellow green.

When I went stash diving for a purple that was close, I found Birmingham Pen Co.’s Vaudeville Regalia was pretty close in intensity and tone. Robert Oster Signature Viola was a bit plummier than Crushed Velvet, and I had thought Diamine’s Frosted Orchid might be a good match but it’s a way too red. I did also compare Diamine’s Purple Dream, but Purple Dream was much darker than Crushed Velvet.

Overall, I was please with this color. I’m still amazed I can try so many shades of purple and not quite duplicate what I have in stash. If you’re looking for a super-saturated sheening purple (say that five times fast) then this one might be a good option!

Papers: Crossfield Journal ($24.00)
Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80)
Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Inks: Robert Oster Signature in Velvet Crush (50mL for $17.00)

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 Paper Review, Planners & Organizers

Notebook Review: Quo Vadis Life Journal

AnaAugust 5, 2019July 28, 20192 Comments

The Quo Vadis Life Journal ($22.99 from B&N) is an A5 notebook that takes the elements of bullet journaling and pre-formats a lot of the details while leaving a good portion of it open for the user to fill with content as needed. All of this is on the finest 90gsm white, dot grid, Clairefontaine paper.

The covers of the Life Journal are matte black, soft touch faux leather with gold foil logos. The paper wrap is easily removed.

There is a white, vertical elastic with gold stitching that will lay flat on the back of the notebook if you choose not to use it. My paper wrap was damaged in shipping.

The pages in the book are numbered and the book includes 5 index pages, a 2-page spread for your yearly calendar, twelve 2-page spread for pre-formatted for monthly calendar, 60 2-pages spreads formatted for weekly calendars, dot grid pages in the back for books, films, tv shows, trips, restaurants, and more.

There is one ribbon bookmark. While is is long enough to use, it is not finished on the end and by the time I was photographing the book for the review, it was already starting to fray. I will need to trim it and seal the end with FrayCheck, glue or try singeing it with a lighter to keep it from fraying any more. I’ve gotten spoiled by other planners having more than one bookmark to mark the monthly pages and another for the weekly pages.

There are a few introductory pages at the beginning to help show you how to use each of these pages.

If you are familiar with the Bullet Journal video, The Bullet Journal Method book or any of the various blogs, many of these pages will be familiar.

The index page is a key element of the Bullet Journaling system. At the end of each month, there are two blank pages that can be used for notes that would be the most likely candidates for indexing.

There is also a page for creating your own key for symbols or implementing symbols from other Bullet Journaling resources. These symbols can be as simple or complicated as you want them to be.

This is a peek at one of the two pages of the “Annual Schedule” pages. The flags at the top of the boxes seem a little large but I don’t know how much most folks would write in these boxes. Some might use these for forward planning, others as places for goals or even the books, movies or events attended?

The nice thing about the Life Journal Infinite is that it is undated so it can be started at any time. However, since the set-up is done with the monthly calendar being followed with five weeks of weekly pages, if you start the book towards the end of a month, you’ll need to skip several weekly page spreads to get to the next monthly calendar.

There are columns are the bottom of the monthly pages for tracking regular tasks or activities like working out, drinking water, taking vitamins, charging your devices, whatever it is you want to remember to do. Walk the dog?

The placement of the mini calendar at the top of the weekly page sis a little wonky. It doesn’t precisely line up with the dot grid so it was a little difficult to line up the dates. There was enough room at the top page to align the monthly calendar with the dot grid to make this easier. I wish the calendar just aligned to the grid. The same thing with the weekly calendar boxes… they don’t align precisely to the dot grid which drives the Swiss-trained designer in me up the wall! Either use the dots or don’t include them but the blatant disregard is like nails on a chalkboard. Do you see how the line of dots above Thursday doesn’t quite line up with the box for the the day? How much does your inner Tetris brain want those to line up? You’re mentally trying to fix it right now, aren’t you? Me too.

The collection pages just have a header at the top and a page number at the bottom. There isn’t any other information on the page so they can be used and divided up however you see fit. They can be used to list completed reads (watched, etc) or things to read (or watch, etc). Or make a column for each.

There is a pocket in the back of the book with a gusset for loose ephemera.

I’m not going to comment on the use of the brushy typeface. You’re either going to like or you’re not. It’s printed in gold ink. It’s not quite metallic but a gold-bronze color.

Overall, if you want to try the Bullet Journal method but are put off with having to draw in all your own calendars and don’t think you’re “arty enough” to do fancy lettering, this book will give you a foundation to start with. For others, though, I fear that it may feel too prescriptive and fussy. And so help me, the fact that the grid doesn’t align with the lines printed might drive me to an early grave.

On the plus side, the paper is fantastic, the cover feels nice in the hand and the elastic and pocket are sturdy and will withstand a year of abuse. Being able to start today or next week or whenever you feel like it is another bonus.

So, really, you’ll have to decide for yourself if the plusses outweigh the minuses.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Quo Vadis 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

Pen Review: Akashiya Sai Thin Line Brush Pens

AnaAugust 2, 2019July 21, 2019Leave a comment

Review by Tina Koyama

Akashiya Sai ThinLine Brush Pens ($4.95 each or set of 5/$14.25) are, by far, the thinnest brush pens I have ever used. Available in five earthy colors, the pigment-based inks are waterproof, which is still relatively rare among bristle brush pens. After waiting less than a minute, the inks could be washed without a trace of bleeding.

These slender pens look a bit like eye liners (if you use both brush pens and eye liners, avoid unfortunate accidents by storing them far apart in your purse).

I chose Seiboku (a cool gray) and Hiwadairo (a purplish brown) for this review.

Like most brush pens, the extra-fine brush tips are made of a synthetic material that can be reshaped easily to retain the point. With the pen held vertically, the tip can impart a remarkably thin line. Used at an angle, the brush can make a relatively broad stroke, too.

I sketched a tree with the Seiboku color in a Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook to see the range of line variation, and I love the organic look of the strokes this brush delivers. I think calligraphers and letterers would also appreciate the flexibility and thinness of the brush tip.

If I have any quibbles, it is that the slender barrel – about the same as a pencil – is not very comfortable to work with for any length of time. I prefer a chunkier barrel on a brush, especially for the delicate work that this brush invites. Still, it’s a lovely addition to my (admittedly sizable) arsenal of brush pens.

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

In Fountain Pen Review

Nib Review: Grind from NibSmith

Jessica ColesAugust 1, 2019August 1, 20192 Comments

By Jessica Coles

As promised in last week’s review of the Pelikan Violet & White fountain pen, this week’s review is all about the nib I chose for this beautiful pen.

I have previously had experience with both steel (Amythyst M200) Pelikan nibs and gold (Honey and White M400) Pelikan nibs. I have enjoyed the quality of both the steel and gold nibs, however, my writing preference has always pulled towards very fine nibs. Even with the extra fine nib in the Pelikan line-up, I found they were still too broad for my taste.

With the Pelikan Violet & White fountain pen, I decided to look outside of the standard nib offerings from Pelikan into a custom ground nib.

For anyone who has not experienced a custom ground nib, I cannot recommend this option enough. No stock nib (extra fine, fine, medium, broad, etc.) can come close to the feel of a nib that has been ground by an experienced nibmeister.

Typical stock nibs (excluding stub nibs) are tipped with a small ball of iridium. The effect of this ball is to give a smoother writing experience (because of the rounded tip) and to give the nib a longer life (iridium is a very hard material, harder than steel or gold). However, the rounded surface of the nib also gives a wider line. Imagine using a used crayon with a rounded tip. It writes smoothly but puts down a wide line.

Enter a nib meister. Using various tools, a nib meister removes a portion of this tipping material to shape the amount of the nib that will come into contact with the paper while writing. by changing the shape of the nib tip, the width and shape of the written lines also change.

Common nib grinds include narrowing the tip (changing from a fine to an extra extra fine, for instance), a stub nib (shaping the tip of the nib into a rectangle rather than a ball), italic nib (a stub nib with sharp edges for a crisp line) and others. Here is a more detailed explaination.

* From Nibsmith.com

Now for the tough part. Because custom ground nibs are, well, custom, they are not an item that can be ordered from the manufacturer. Some manufacturers offer custom ground nibs for an additional fee with their pens, and nib meisters offer their grinding services on nibs that you already have purchased. Nib meisters, however, often have long waits for their services. Pen shows are the best place to find these services since the nib meister can also make minute changes to make sure the nib is right for your writing style.

Unfortunately, not everyone can attend a pen show. Even at a pen show, nib grinding services are in high demand and waitlists often fill as the show is starting. Dan Smith of Nibsmith offers an interesting way around this problem by offering a variety of custom nib grinds on any pen sold in his store. These are also offered at his table at pen shows where he grinds nibs to order.

The first time I tried a custom ground nib, my fountain pen experience reached a new level – a needlepoint nib that was finer than any I had ever tried previously. Stub nibs that created a thick line (but with clean edges) in one direction and a fine line in another direction! My writing looked completely different (much nicer in my opinion).

This is the reason I decided to obtain my Pelikan pen from Dan. I requested a cursive italic nib grind on a medium nib (this means the tip of the nib is made into a rectangle with somewhat sharp edges) and I asked Dan to make the cursive italic a bit on the crisp side (to make the edges a bit sharper).

These small changes in the nib (only a small amount of material is removed from the nib but in a very specific way) make a world of difference. The vertical lines are thick, the horizontal lines are thin and the edges of all lines are well defined and not rounded. I am amazed at the difference in the appearance of my line and each time I write, I smile at the feel and look of my writing.

If you are able to attend a pen show, Dan offers each of his nib grinds on sample pens to help with selecting the nib grind best for your taste. If you can’t get to a show, you can still experience these next-level nibs on pens purchased from Dan just by ordering online!

Paper: Rhodia Blank #19 A4 ($8.99)
Pen: Pelikan M600 Violet & White ($440-$535)
Nib: Custom ground medium cursive italic by Dan Smith (No additional cost)
Ink: Rohrer & Klingner Cassia (50ml for $11.95)

Disclaimer: Some of the items in this review were provided on loan for the purpose of this review. Other items in this review were purchased by me. For more information, visit our About page.

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