The Well-Appointed Desk

Thanks to everyone for entering to win the Rollo London Hardcover A6. The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is Robert!

I hope you enjoy your new notebook!

In Ink Review

Ink Review: KWZ Meet me in St. Louis

Laura CameronAugust 6, 2018December 16, 20181 Comment

Review by Laura Cameron

Even though the show is over and new shows are on the way, I wanted to post about St. Louis’ special show ink, KWZ’s Meet me in St. Louis. Unfortunately I have no link for this one because it was a special limited run and they are completely sold out. However, you might be able to find some samples if you’re hanging out in the pen community.

KWZ Meet me in St. Louis is a saturated teal ink. In light applications it leans a little green and in dark applications it’s just dark swirling ocean teal. Sadly there’s no water that looks like that near St. Louis, but it does make me dream of the ocean.

There’s no shimmer in this one, and no sheen that I can see. Just tons of lovely shading and depth. It goes on a little lighter and dries a little darker, but for the most part what you see is what you get.

In regular applications, the ink seemed to try fairly quickly. However, in my ink splotches you can see that the ink is still a little tacky and not quite dry, even after 24 hours. And those ink splotches are so deep dark that you can barely see the teal in there.

In terms of color comparisons, I leaned greener when I pulled samples out of my Col-o-Dex. While it was tempting to pull Robert Oster Soda Pop Blue and Fire & Ice, they are much bluer than Meet me in St. Louis. I did pull Blackstone Sydney Harbour Blue, which is too blue, as well as a variety of more teal inks: J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor, Banmi Dragon and Birmingham Pen Co Kier Refinery Petroleum which is actually a bit too green. It’s interesting how putting Meet me in St. Louis next to the blues makes it look green, and the greens make it look blue.

If you missed this one, don’t worry. There will always be more shows and more show inks!

Paper: Crossfield Journal ($24.00) and Maruman Mnemosyne N182A Inspiration Notebook A5 ($10.50)
Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80).
Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Ink: KWZ Meet me in St. Louis (60ml for $15.00)

In Art of the Day

Eye Candy: Birmingham Pen Co. Inks

AnaAugust 4, 2018December 16, 20186 Comments

Birmingham Pen Co. Ink

I am sucker for these Birmingham Pen Company inks. This is batch number two for me. The first batch was so lovely I knew I would order more. First, the colors are so muted and complex and I love that Birmingham names all their colors after people and places from their community. Second, they are so stinkin’ cheap. A 30ml bottle is just $7.99. So, I can’t resist buying them.

This round I bought some of the newer colors more recently released and some that have been restocked: Andy Warhol Pop Art Purple, Southside Market Boysenberry, May Lou Williams Piano Girl Pink, Fred Rogers Cardigan Red, Thomas Mellon Evergreen and Schenley Park Thicket Green.

Evergreen, Cardigan Red and Pop Art Purple are the most saturated, vivid colors I’ve gotten from Birmingham Pen Company thus far. Schenley Park Thicket Green is a lovely forest green and Boysenberry is a good raspberry purple. However, Piano Girl Pink is no more pink than Gerbera Pink I picked up in the first batch. As long as I think of Piano Girl as a burgundy its a nice color but pink, it is not. For all the things Birmingham Pen Co. is doing right, pink is not their strong suit.

But oh, their deep, dark muted tones are so good. So, if you have not tried out some of the Birmingham Pen Company inks yet, now is the time.

I promise that I will do more in depth reviews of some of these ink colors in the coming weeks.

In Fountain Pen Review

Platinum 3776 Kumpoo UEF Fountain Pen (AKA The Kung Fu Panda)

AnaAugust 3, 2018May 26, 20209 Comments

Oh, Platinum! Why did you name such a beautiful pen with a name that sounds so awful to English speakers? I trie to resist the Platinum 3776 Kumpoo UEF Fountain Pen on the name alone but when everyone kept telling me how stunning the color was, I couldn’t hold out any longer. Then Lisa Vanness said, “You can call it the Kung Fu Panda.” I caved. And christened it the “Kung Fu Panda” and clicked on Buy It Now so fast your head would spin. My previous 3776 is a Soft Fine so I decided to go for the Ultra Extra Fine (UEF) even though many people have said it is too fine even for super fine gel pen enthusiasts. So, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

First, let’s just say that the looks did not disappoint. The Kung Fu Panda is the picture of summery life aquatic perfection. The waves and transparent teal blue is gorgeous. I cannot take my eye off it. And the silver/chrome hardware is perfect. Though, to be honest, this pen would probably have been just as pretty with gold hardware and I almost never say things like that. I am glad its silver though.

In terms of pen specifications, the Platinum 3776 is a fairly lightweight pen. Filled with the converter, it weighs 26gms. Uncapped, its a mere 14gms. It’s about 5.5″ long capped and 4.75″ uncapped and 6.125″ posted.

(Comparison chart is for pens capped and filled.)

Would you look at the wicked stiletto point on this nib? Hoo, boy!

So, I made a point of choosing an ink I knew would be lubricated for a nib this fine and chose Pilot Iroshizuku Ku-Jaku. It was a lovely match as well. I don’t know when I started matching my ink to my pens but I did. Now its just a contest with myself, I think. I love how fine it writes. It has a slight crispness to the line that my other fine pens do not have and I quite enjoy. I did some comparison writing with my 3776 Shungyu with the SF nib (the ink ran out a couple words in so I swapped it out hence the roughness at the beginning. And OMG! I can’t believe I’ve never written a review for this pen!), and two Sailors – one with a stock H-F and one with a custom needlepoint. I would say the my Sailor with the custom Needlepoint is most comparable in terms of line weight but it did require a nibmeister.

So, if you are looking for a UEF, I definitely think the 3776 is a good option and the color series is really stunning. Platinum definitely keeps upping the bar on the look and design of this line. I wonder what color is next?

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

In Ink Review

Ink Preview: Colorverse x Opus88 Inks

AnaAugust 2, 2018June 3, 2020Leave a comment

Colorverse also released a set of inks in July to coordinate with the Opus88 Koloro and Picmic pen lines. The ~~seven~~ eight colors in this collection all include traditional inks (no shimmers) and both of the bottles in the 2-bottle sets are the same colors (65ml and 15ml bottles for $36 per set).

I received samples of these colors but the Colorverse x Opus88 inks also received the same upgraded packaging as the Season 4 Trailblazers in Space did with the added foam to protect the bottles in shipping.

I was super excited about Girls Just Wanna. I mean why wouldn’t I be excited about a bright, almost-flourescent pink? I thought I might have something similar from Kobe (Sailor) but I don’t think I do after all. I think Horizon may be a bit similar to Crystal Planet without the sheen. Soul is a lovely chocolatey brown. It’s warmer than JFK’s Dog Pushinka. Laurel is a dark forest green. It’s darker than Able. Tango is a terra cotta orange that’s a bit more ruddy than V2 Rocket and there’s a lot more of it in this set. Supernatural is darker than Albert, a bit more “slime green” to the “limeade” green of Albert. The truly unique color in this set is Adobe which is one of the best non-metallic golden yellow colors I’ve seen. It is not too yellow in thin lines. It keeps a golden quality. This should have been Golden Record in the Voyager I set, IMHO.

OMG, I apologize but I don’t have a swatch for Depth. I don’t know how I missed it. Especially considering that Depth is supposed to be the ink to match my favorite Blue Blue Koloro. I’ll try to add the swatch into this post as an addendum ASAP and will definitely have a review in the future along with reviews of several of these colors, particularly Adobe and Girls Just Wanna!

Tools:

Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15)
Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Brush: Blick Synthetic Round #0
Ink: Colorverse x Opus88 Inks ($36 for 65ml and 15ml 2-bottle set)

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

In Ink Review

Preview: Colorverse Season 4 Trailblazers in Space

AnaAugust 2, 2018June 3, 2020Leave a comment

The latest edition of the Colorverse inks have been released, Season 4 Trailblazers in Space ($36 per 2-bottle set). As the home of all things space (Skylab Letterpress being our printer of choice, of course, and R2-D2 being our patron traveling companion), I couldn’t wait to get a hold of this new collection. These inks feature many of the first travelers into space, many of them animals. Sadly, not all of them survived but their contributions are commemorated in ink.

But rather than get too morbid, let me talk about some technical issues that Colorverse addressed in regards to the packaging of their ink products instead.

They continue to package two bottles of ink in each box – one 65ml bottle and one 15ml bottle and that remains the same in Season 4. This collection features different colors in each bottle and, of the seven sets, four include a standard ink and three feature a shimmering ink in the smaller bottle. What was updated was the addition of a foam liner in each box to protect the bottles and provide stability in transport.

I keep my bottles in the boxes after use because they stack easier and the graphics are so nice I can’t bring myself to throw them away anyway so I’m glad for the added stability. As you can see from the first photo, the piles of Colorverse ink is getting pretty tall.

Inside the box, Colorverse is still including extras like stickers, a brochure and a napkin to wipe off your nib.

Inside, of course, is the real treasures. Fourteen delicious colors! First thing to note is that the Felicette shimmering really shimmers as does the Ham #65 shimmering. Thank you! Previous shimmering colors from Colorverse have been a bit underwhelming but these two have some kick. Able and Miss Baker are two of the prettiest colors I’ve seen from Colorverse and JFK’s Dog Pushinka is a lovely brown.

Here’s a close-up of the Hayabusa Shimmer. Can you see the green sheen and the gold sparkle?

This is Ham #65 Shimmering. There is a noticeable reddish sheen to the sparkle. Pretty cool!

And would you look at that?!?! Felicette Shimmering! I have almost used up the whole bottle already. So cool! It’s a warm reddish orange with golden shimmer.

Now a quick close-up of some of my favorite sets: Able and Miss Baker. Able is a forest green and Miss Baker is raspberry cool pink. Great shading with both colors but no sheen.

Ah, Albert and V2 Rocket! I think of them as Well-Appointed Desk Green and Pen Addict Orange. Of course, the green is in the larger bottle because I win! Again.

Strelka is a beautiful blue and JFK’s Dog Pushinka is a solid brown. Dare I call it Sepia? Whatever you call it, this set would be a perfect starter set for a new user. A good blue and a good brown in one set. Assuming you didn’t want the Desk & Pen Addict set instead.

Arabella and Anita is probably the set I’m the least excited about. Arabella is awfully Kelly green (Hello, Sea of Tranquility) for me and Anita is somewhere between Miss Baker and the burgundy magentas in Season 1 like Lights on Ceres and Andromeda.

But overall, I am really pleased with Season 4 and I’m looking forward to doing longer reviews of the whole set.

Tools:

Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15)
Swatches: Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
Brush: Princeton Neptune Synthetic Squirrel Brush #6 Round ($5.97)
Ink: Colorverse Season 4 Trailblazers in Space ($17 for 50ml bottle)

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.