In Link Love

Link Love: Getting our Naka-Ya-Yas in Sinagapore

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Artwork by Madeline Tompkins of Tag Team Tompkins with a Krink Marker.

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In news, Paper Review

Notebook Review and Giveaway: Rollo London Softcover A5 and Hardcover A6

Author AnaPosted on 29 Comments

Review by Laura Cameron

A few weeks ago Rollo of London offered us an opportunity to try their A5 Diary as part of their promotional campaign to announce that they are partnering with Paperchase stores.

I selected The Softie Collection, Larkin in British Mulberry A5 (£19.25).

Rollo of London

The Larkin is a soft sided journal, with a dark mulberry pliable cover, and embellished with the Rollo logo.  The notebook itself measures 8.5″ x 5.5″ (21.5 cm x 14.0 cm) and has 96 sheets of 70gsm cream paper.  This means that the book has 192 pages to fill. As an interesting note, each of the pages is perforated, meaning you can choose to remove it from the notebook.

Rollo of London

There are two cream front and end pages of the book, and the inner covers are plain, simply the back of the faux Scotch grain.  There is also a long black ribbon for marking your place in the notebook.

The notebook is organized like a diary, with two reference pages up front.  The remainder of the notebook is narrow ruled, and leaves a place for a date at the top of each page.

Rollo of London

I was eager to test this book, as it is kind of similar to the Rhodia Goalbook and the Taroko Breeze in its format.

The first thing I did was test the paper.  Unfortunately, this paper is not as friendly towards fountain pens as I had hoped.  Despite being lovely and smooth to write on, my fountain pens bled right through the 70gsm paper, rendering the other side unusable.  There wasn’t much feathering, just a lot of bleed through, even when I used my finest nibs. I had somewhat better luck with my gel pens, so if you’re partial to gel pens, ballpoints or pencils, this book might be for you.

Rollo of London

Rollo of London

As for the organization of the diary, I have no complaints.  I could easily see using this book to maintain my daily to do lists, or notes on the day.  The narrow ruling isn’t too narrow for medium sized writers – I found that I filled the lines, but that I didn’t splash over into the other lines.  That said, if you’re a large writer, this ruling may not be for you.

I do love the feel of the cover and the fact that the notebook is super slim.  It fits nicely into my purse without adding a lot of weight or bulk. Overall, I think this is a nice notebook, although it might not end up a favorite because I can’t use my fountain pens with it.

Rollo is excited to announce that its journals are now available in Paperchase stores, specifically the Flagship stores Manchester, Tottenham Court road and Glasgow.  They will soon be available online at Paperchase, but for now if you’re interested in purchasing you can head on over to Rollo of London.

If you like what you see here, then I have good news for you! In honor of their launch at Paperchase, Rollo sent an A6 Eliot from The Hardy Collection for you. The A6 diary is in the same British Mulberry, but is a hard sided journal with a band to hold it closed.

Rollo of London

TO ENTER: Leave a comment ON THIS POST ON THE BLOG and tell us how you would use your new diary! Only one Eliot notebook is available.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 1pm CST on Friday, August 3, 2018. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday afternoon, August 6th. 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 – just email you if you win. If winner does not respond within 7 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class. Additional shipping options or insurance will have to be paid by the winner. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US residents and APO/FPO only please.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in giveaway were provided free of charge by Rollo of London. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fountain Pen Review

Pen Review: Desiderata Precession Flex (Zebra G Nib) Fountain Pen

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
Pen Review: Desiderata Precession Flex (Zebra G Nib) Fountain Pen

Desiderata Pens is known for making some of the most unique pens that utilize the Zebra G calligraphy nibs in a modern fountain pen housing for flex writing experience. Every time I see Pierre at a pen show, he has developed a new design and refined, retooled or improved upon his previous designs for a feed or pen shape. His desire to constantly advance his designs is one of the things I admire about the work he does and why I was excited at the chance to take the Precession Pen for a test drive.

Desiderata Precession

The model that I tried is a clear acrylic with threads of red throughout. The material is called “Phantom Mist.” When empty, the pen is really stunning to see. The design of the pen is also quite unique as both the cap and end are removable. The end cap covers the bulb filler which features a clear sac and helps to provide suction to fill the entire barrel of the pen with ink. The Zebra G flex nib uses a good deal of ink so the clear body and large ink chamber are handy for keeping track of how much ink is left and how quickly its filling when using the squeeze filler.

Desiderata Precession

When I filled the pen, it took a good 30 or so squeezes to get the pen barrel full of ink. YMMV. But it does hold a full 4ml of ink and the squeeze filling is a fairly tidy method for filling requiring only a towel to wipe of the nib when I was done compared with an eye dropper which requires a syringe and silicone grease which makes an eyedropper pen a little less portable.

Desiderata Precession writing sample

Once filled, ink will obscure the details of the Phantom Mist acrylic and there may be some evidence in the cap and sac of the ink. The inside of the pen is polished, however, so its not likely to stain or be too difficult to change inks.

The model I tested did not have a clip but a clip is available as shown on this version of the Precession.

Filled with ink the Precession weighs 16gms capped and 11gms uncapped. It’s 6″ long capped and 5.5″ long uncapped. It cannot be posted. The pen is long but lightweight and very comfortable in the hand. I was worried that it would be too big or too long but honestly I just wanted to keep writing with it.

I get all zen when I can just sit and write with a flex pen and not have to worry about dipping it. So that is what I did with the Precession. I basically wrote it dry. Over and over again. The ebonite feed could keep up with the Zebra G nib without railroading or running dry.

Normally, with flex nibs I prefer the titanium version ($33.50 per dozen) of the Zebra G which is less prone to rusting and is certainly worth trying in the Precession, if you have any on hand, though some find them a bit stiffer than the steel version.

Desiderata Precession writing sample

If you’ve been looking for a flex nib option that utilizes a modern body and easy-to-replace nibs (Zebra G nibs can be had for a $13.50 for a dozen) than the Precession would be a great option. Desiderata offers this model in acrylics starting at $200 or Matte Black starting at $150.

The Precession will also accept a #6 Jowo nib unit so, should you decide that flex writing is not for you or you want to switch things up, this pen can become an everyday writer by swapping out the nib unit. Talk about accommodating!

Hopefully, Desiderata will be at the DC Pen Show this weekend. Hope to see you (and Pierre) there!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Desiderata Pens for the purpose of review. Other links provided for reference and conveniene, some may be to sponsors or advertisers. Please see the About page for more details.

In Pen Review, Pencil Review

Baron Fig Writing Tools: Elements Archer Pencil, Squire, & Squire Click

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Baron Fig Writing Tools: Elements Archer Pencil, Squire, & Squire Click

Since all the Baron Fig writing tools I had seemed to coordinate so well, I decided to just review them altogether.

Baron Fig Elements Pencils, Squire and Squire Click

The Archer Elements Pencil

Baron Fig x Caroline Weaver Elements Writing Sample

First, I’ll cover the newest item, the new Archer pencil release called Elements ($15 per dozen) which is a collaboration with Caroline Weaver from CW Pencil Enterprise. Like previous Baron Fig Archer pencils, the set of a dozen pencils come in the matte finish tube with graphics that coordinate with the pencils contained inside. As a package, the overall effect is striking. The graphics on the tube depict the assembly of the pencils although it does suggest a cap on the end of the pencil that is a little misleading. The actual finished pencil is probably just dipped in paint to finish the end rather than having an actual hex wood cap place on the end but I didn’t sand down the paint to prove or disprove the diagram so maybe they did?

Inside, the pencil is a sight to behold. The greige (that warm grey color that is not grey entirely but not brown/beige) and millennial pink is the perfect “of the moment” color choice and the paint is gloss smooth. The clear coat is smooth and rounds out the hex shape to give the pencil a softness without feeling completely round. The graphics printing is clean. I can’t tell if it foil or screenprint but either way it is well done. On one side are the icons of the ingredients used to create a pencil like on the packaging and on the reverse side of the hex is the brainding “Baron Fig x Caroline Weaver”.

What they created is aesthetically one of the nicest looking and most modern pencils I’ve seen. The pencil feels great in the hand.

My only caveat is the actual graphite. Its scratchy. It’s audibly noisy on any paper I tried from silky smooth Rhodia to Tomoe River, to copy paper and various scratch pads in the studio. I pulled out an array of other pencils ranging from mid-grade to premium to compare and found several in my stash that were comparable in finish that were much smoother.

What I established was that pretty much any Japanese pencil will write smoother than the Archer Elements. I tested the Tombow 8900 HB ($0.80 each or $9.60 per dozen) but a Tombow Mono 100 HB ($18.50 for 12) or Tombow 2558 HB ($1.20 each or $14.40 per dozen) would also be excellent alternatives. The Blackwing and the Uni I used in my review were not listed as an HB, they wrote fairly similarly and I feel confident that switching lead grades to an HB would probably result in a equally smooth writing experience. The Blackwing 344 was a limited edition release but features the “firm graphite” core listed in the Blackwing 602 ($21.95 per dozen) as well as several other special editions. The Uni Palette 2B has a rounded triangular shape but has the same smooth finish and finished end cap. I couldn’t find an exact match for this pencil online as it came in one of the C.W. Pencil Enterprise Pencil Box subscriptions ($30 per quarter) but a Uni Mitsubishi 9000 ($1.05 each), 9800 ($0.85 each), 9850 with eraser ($1.00 each) or Hi-Uni HB ($19 for a dozen)would be a comparable pencil, and probably a step up in term of graphite quality.

So, while I love the look of the Elements pencil, I couldn’t get past the scratchy core. I will end up sharpening these and leaving them on my desk for people to use for leaving notes at work rather than for any long form writing. They look nice in a pencil cup but like people, its what’s inside that really matters.

The Squire & Squire Click

There’s two signature pens in the Baron Fig line-up: The Squire (Rose Quartz, $55) and the newer Squire Click (Fig Wine, $45). Baron Fig has offered special editions of the Squire in custom colors (with different icons on the barrel besides the sword) but currently offers the Squire in five standard colors plus the stainless steel model ($85). The Squire Click is currently only available in two colors: charcoal and fig wine.

The Squire and the Squire Click are almost the same size, however, the Click is a bit slimmer with a less noticeable taper towards the pen tip.

Both pens are aluminum (with the exception of the special edition Squire models in other metals). The Squire uses a twist mechanism that, for me, requires two hands to activate. One hand to hold the pen and one to twist the end to release the point. The Click can be operated with just my writing hand so my other hand can hold my notebook. For a ballpoint/rollerball pen, this is it’s sole purpose really. I want a quick access pen for taking notes on the go. Both of these pens live in my purse, bag, car, or backpack. If I can’t grab it, activate the writing end and scribble a note on a receipt, scrap of paper, back of a napkin or in my pocket notebook quickly, then it’s failed its purpose.

I understand why people who carry pens in their skinny jeans pockets might prefer a pen that requires more effort to get the point to be exposed. If your pens live in a bag or a car door, this is probably not going to be an issue for you. This is a situation where many ladies might understand me. Many of our clothes don’t have pockets designed to hold much more than a coin, if that. A pen like this is all about ease of use for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Squire in Rose Quartz in gorgeous. I don’t begrudge it’s more two-handed operation. It’s just not the rollerball/ballpoint for me. However, it isn’t going to get stuck in drawer. OH NO! In fact, I have a fountain pen that matches it almost exactly (see below). The Squire gets to live on my desk at work for meetings and such but does not get to be the go-to travel pen. It did not pass the reverse Picard test. It must DISENGAGE!

Baron Fig Squire & Click Writing Samples

The Click… oh, it is a thing of beauty! I like its quiet clickiness. I like its slightly slimmer design. I find it infinitely more comfortable to hold with its ever-so-slightly slimmer silhouette. And it was so accommodating when I swapped out its refill for a new Premec Parker-Style Black 0.4 mm Gel Refill  ($6.90 for 2-pack) which made it write with a fine-fine gel line. The Squire also happily accepted a Premec refill too, even though Baron Fig recommends the Schmidt 8126/8127 style rollerball refill. Hack away. Parker-style refills fit.

Baron Fig Squire Rose Quartz & PenBBS 350 FP in pink aluminum alloy

Baron Fig Squire Rose Quartz & PenBBS 350 FP in pink

One last thing about the Squire in Rose Quartz – it is an almost perfect match for the PenBBS 350 in pink aluminum alloy. Or should I say that the other way around? Either way, the two make a delightful pair. The Squire is all roundy goodness and the PenBBS 350 ($16.99) has an angular cap creating a perfect fraternal twin to the Squire.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Baron Fig for the purpose of review. Other links provided for reference to advertisers and others as a convenience to our readers. Please see the About page for more details.

In Ask The Desk

Ask The Desk: Parker Refill Pens & More Refill Options

Author AnaPosted on 10 Comments

Alex asks:

I’m new to refillable pens and am a bit confused. I know I want a ballpoint and I know I want a comfortable grip that doesn’t slip. I have found some pen refills that I want to try but not sure which pens would work with the refills. I like the look of Schmidt easyflow 9000, and read that it is Parker style G2 size. I guess there are different pens that can be used with this size? The actual Parker pens look too slippy for my hands so I don’t think I will go for those. How can I find out what my options are?

The EasyFlow 9000 is a standard Parker-style refill. That does not mean you have to use a Parker pen. Lots of refillable pens take Parker-style refills.

I don’t know if any of these will qualify as “comfortable grips” but here are a few Parker-style refill compatible pens:

Parker Compatible Ballpoint Pens

From top:

Pens you’ll want to avoid would be Lamy, Pilot, Montblanc, Sailor, Sheaffer, and Cross which all use proprietary refills (there are probably others but I can’t think of them off the top of my head). Caran d’Ache uses their “Goliath” refill which is almost a Parker-style refill. It’s pretty easy to modify Parker-style refills to fit into a Caran d’Ache if you decide you like their pens.

Van asks:

First, I think we’re kindred spirits, as I love an extra fine point pen (gotta try that Fisher Bullet hack of yours). I have several Japanese EF nib fountain pens, and I just recently discovered the Pilot G2 .38 gel refill. I immediately bought an Aurora Ipsilon rollerball, and the G2 fits it perfectly.

So, my question is – I have always been in love with Parker rollerballs – Sonnet and Duofold – but IMHO the Parker refills are terrible, and certainly not fine point. Is there, to your knowledge, any fine point (<=.4) refill that would fit a Parker rollerball, including hacked ones? Failing that, how ’bout Parker ballpoints? Thanks in advance.

We fine point fans need to stick together!

For the Parker rollerball refill, your best option is a Tofty adapter on Shapeways. There are several options available: Parker RB to D1 Mini (new version), Parker RB to Uni UMR-109, and Parker RB to Pilot Coleto. There is also a Parker RB to Parker G2 (ballpoint). Each adapter sells for about $5-$6 plus shipping and will allow you to slide a smaller refill into the adapter that will meet your standards for a finer gel refill. The D1 minis, Coletos and Uni UMR-109s can all be purchased on JetPens.

As for a gel option for Parker ballpoints, I recommend looking for Premec gel refills. They are available in a variety of colors but here are links for the standard in  Parker Style G2 Black 0.4 mm Gel Refill-two pack and Parker Style G2 Black 0.5 mm Gel Refill-two pack. ($6.90 each per 2-pack)

Richard asked:

any options for levenger (rollerball) refills that are less expensive?
thanks!

Levenger uses rebranded Schmidt 6126/6124 rollerball refills for their rollerball pens. So, the first option would be to just buy the Schmidt 6126 or 6124 refills. The lower priced versions of these refills from Schmidt are the 5888 (metal casing) or the 888 (plastic casing) series. The Schmidt German Roller Pen Black Refill Safety Ceramic Roller 888 F (2 Pieces) ($4.57 for 2 refills) being less expensive due to the plastic housing rather than metal. These refills are all listed to measure 110.6mm in length.

Schmidt-5888-F

Schmidt-888-F

Monteverde also makes their own versions of these refills though they list the measurements at 4.1″ which translates to 104.14mm on the packaging so the fit might not be perfect or their measurements might be a little fuzzy. If your pen has a spring inside, this might not be a big deal. Monteverde also has both plastic and metal housing options and prices vary widely on Amazon. I found Monteverde Refills Metal Tube Black Fine Point Rollerball Pen  (one refill for $8.50) which seems a bit pricey but does provide another brand to check.

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 Ink Review

Ink Review: Robert Oster Avocado

Author Jessica ColesPosted on 10 Comments

Review by Jessica Coles

I don’t know about any of our readers out there, but I can’t resist picking up a sample of new Robert Oster inks when I see them. Like the new Robert Oster Avocado ($17 for a 50mL bottle).

All new inks are fairly thrilling in the pen world, especially so to those who grew up when the best you could hope for with color was the pen that had the four ink colors — I’m sure you remember.  The one where you would inevitably try to push all four down at the same time and get all of the refills stuck.  Red, Green, Blue, and Black.

Now the world seems to have no end in sight to the number of fountain pen ink colors that will come out.  I love trying the new colors, but Robert Oster inks seem to be on an entirely different level.  Some Oster inks sheen, others shade deeply, all of his inks are extraordinary.  Each new ink holds its own surprise.

When I saw a couple new inks when placing an order from Vanness Pens, I threw them in the shopping cart before checking out.  Avocado and Smokescreen are their names — I’ll post the review on the Smokescreen a little later.

I wanted to get this information out as soon as possible, though.  Because this ink has even more strange quirks.

What a wonderful ink!  The shading is there, even while writing in cursive.  Sometimes cursive keeps the ink flowing along the page rather than letting it settle to form darker pools.

Avocados are not a single color.  The unripe fruits are a light, dusty green, the ripe fruit a deeper green with tones of brown.  The inner flesh is a spring green while the edge of a halved avocado is a dark ring.

Robert Oster Avocado ink does the same.  In writing, the ink looks like the dusty light green of an unripe avocado.  As the ink shades, the darker areas are the color of a more mature fruit.  The pooled ink in a heavy swab is the color of a ripe avocado and includes a dark halo that appears to sheen a very dark green or black.  The pooled ink also shows a strange phenomenon.  The yellowish brown appears in the dried ink but appears a lighter color than the unpooled ink.  Lighter where the coverage is heavier? I have never seen this before in an ink.

The chromotography of Avocado shows distinct bands of color — a dusty pink, magenta, a very light yellow to bright yellow and a thin band of cyan at the very top.  The original band of ink is nowhere to be seen, indicating that the ink is absolutely not water resistant.

I highly recommend this new color.  Maybe we will even have a new term for inks that show an entirely different color when laid down heavily!  At least the ones that don’t really sheen.  Morphing inks? Lighter shade inks? This is the best thing that could happen with a new ink — a whole new category!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were paid for by myself purchased from Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review.

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Nanuk

Author Jessica ColesPosted on 7 Comments

Review by Jessica Coles

I love notebooks.  Doesn’t matter what they look like.  What size they are.  I love to look at them and buy them and then… well, I have a harder time actually using them.  What if I mess up something that could have been an incredibly lovely piece of art?  What if I waste the pages? It doesn’t matter that I have more notebooks than a resonable person should have at one time.  I want each one to be perfect.

When I first saw the Nanuk notebook ($14), I was intrigued by it – the dimensions are unusual, the creamy paper cover has no exterior markings, and the logo is a bear face.  How could this not be a fabulous notebook?

The notebook is packaged in only a plastic sleeve to protect the cover and contains a slip of paper with the details of the paper and dimensions. I had been correct about the unusual dimensions of the Nanuk notebook.  It’s nearly B5 size, but just a bit off – 252mm x 162mm.

For those of you who aren’t well versed in B sized dimensions (I admit that I personally have no idea about the dimensions whatsoever and had to look them up), B5 is traditionally 250mm x 176mm, or 9.8in x 6.9in, or right in-between A4 and A5 (A5 is often the size of bullet journal notebooks or the larger size of paperback books). You can somewhat see the size with my hand holding it, but I have pretty small hands.  So take that into consideration as well (that’s my pinky finger by the way).

The Nanuk notebook uses 180 kg paper for the cover and 83.1 gsm paper for the pages.  This comes in around 55lb pages.  For comparison, Rhodia uses 80lb paper in their standard line of notebooks. The paper is a lovely light cream and has a bit of tooth to it, but not much.  The cover has a flap in the front and one in the back – I always use flaps like that as bookmarks.

The notebook is only made of one signature, or one stack of paper that is folded in half to form the notebook. The binding is a single row of red stitching and looks great against the cream paper, plus it does it’s job perfectly.  No loose pages and the notebook will stay open to any page, even the first page. I did need to press firmly opening each page, but then the notebook remained open on its own.  I didn’t need to bend it backwards on itself at all.

Since I got to test this notebook, I dove in.  I pulled out all of my currently inked pens (ok.  Not all of them.  But several) and got to playing, I mean got to work. I have a terrible time starting a nice, clean notebook for myself, but I seem to have no trouble whatsoever jumping in to test one.  I should probably keep that in mind in the future.

 

Here you can see the front and back of my test page.  I may or may not have had a lot of fun with this one. As you can see, there was a lot of show-through with this paper, but that’s fairly normal in my world since I also love Tomoe River paper.

 

The lovely and talented Well-Appointed Desk Ana also joined in the doodling – testing – of this Nanuk notebook with me.

There were a few times that ink bled through, but it was mainly with the brush pen and the Pilot 912.  What did concern me, though, was the feathering.  Feathering occured with the brush pen and with bold and medium nibs from several brands using a variety of inks.  However, there was no feathering at all with fine or extra fine nibs!

The Nanuk loved any type of fine or extra fine nib.  Organic Studios Nitrogen was allowed to sheen with all its might.  Kyo-no-oto Nureba-iro was able to sheen it’s beautiful silver.  Shading stood out with most inks and the J.Herbin 1798 Amethyste de L’oural sparkles away on the paper.  Gel pens, Micron pens and pencils look and feel amazing and glide over the surface.  It’s also great for sketching (although I’m not brave enough to show that here!)

Overall, I enjoy this notebook — beautiful color, unique dimensions, smooth and creamy paper texture.  I was rather disappointed with the feathering, though.  I wouldn’t recommend this notebook for use with fountain pen inks other than very fine lines, especially at the price point of a 96 page notebook for $14.    However, if you plan to use a Nanuk notebook for non-fountain pens or, even better, for sketching, by all means this is a great notebook for you!

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

Other items 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.