Queen’s Night Blue is a hard blue to describe. It is a dark blue-grey, almost the color of slate in darker applications, and a more silvery blue in lighter applications.
Jesi was right though…it matches my pen perfectly!
One of the fun things about Akkerman ink is the unique bottle. The bottle is flask shaped, with a marble in the top section. This allows you to draw ink up into the top section, using the marble to hold it in place and more easily fill your pen. It means that I’ll be able to use every last drop!
Queen’s Night Blue is a smooth flowing ink, a bit on the dry side. I filled my pen and it started right away.
The one problem I had with this ink is that I couldn’t find anything that was similar to it. The closest was probably the Sailor Shikiori Shimoyo, but even that was a smidge too navy to match. Diamine Twilight was a similarly muted shade, but leaned towards teal. DeAtramentis Document Fog Grey was much darker, and again a bit too navy. Parker Quink Blue Black was also close, but a bit too blue. I guess Queen’s Night Blue is in a class of it’s own!
Recently I had the opportunity to review the Taroko Breeze notebook ($17.00). Unfortunately it looks like the Breeze is sold out, but Taroko has a variety of products available in the Taroko etsy shop if you’re interested in trying one.
The Breeze notebook is an A5 dot-grid notebook with 183 numbered pages of Tomoe River 68gsm white paper. The cover is made of sturdy black cardboard with silver foil lettering and logo on the front. Inside the covers are navy front pages.
The book itself is somewhat similar to the Rhodia Goalbook that I reviewed recently. At the front is an index page where you can note information that appears on precise pages. The following 183 pages are numbers in a pale gray dot grid. At the end of the book are a few pages for ink swatches and notes.
As you know I’m a huge fan of dot grid, and I really like this notebook. It has become my go to notebook for tracking work events. The dot grid makes it easy for me to draw a weekly calendar and then start making my lists.
The paper itself is very nice. I tend to prefer slightly thicker Tomoe River because I find show through to be distracting. While there is some show through with the 68gsm, the paper doesn’t bleed or feather, and I feel like I can use both sides of the page.
I’m actually a bit sad that the Breeze appears to be sold out everywhere. I’m hoping maybe they will reprint or bring back a different edition. Until then I have 183 pages to fill?
Update: (01/06/2020) The Taroko Etsy Shop is currently stocked with the Breeze A5 notebook as well as in their shop.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in review were provided free of charge by Taroko. Please see the About page for more details.
I have a soft spot for the more unusual Robert Oster ink colors. Most people go straight for his blues like Fire & Ice, Australian Sky, Blue Water Ice, Soda Pop Blue, etc. And don’t get me wrong, those are fantastic colors! But I have the advantage of standing behind an Oster display for hours at a time at pen shows so I get a chance to notice the more unusual colors, like Melon Tea, Caffe Creme, Viola and Australian Opal Mauve. I like to think of these as the Oster Hidden Gems. Cherry Blossom ($17 for 50ml bottle) is another one of these gems.
I’ve talked in the past about the plastic bottles that Oster uses for his inks. Initially, I wasn’t a fan but having used some down to the last few millimeters, it turns out they are easier to use than I had anticipated. They store well in drawers and shoeboxes and utilize space fairly efficiently. I find if I wrap my hand around the outside of the bottle while filling a pen for stability, its pretty easy to submerge it all the way down into the bottle without issue. Once the bottle is down to the last few millimeters and can no longer cover a breather hole, I need to either use a syringe (filling a TWSBI with a syringe or filling a cartridge with a syringe) or an Ink Miser.
If you place a bunch of these bottles on a shelf though, they can be a bit precarious. If one tips over, they all go. However, since they are plastic, they don’t break but you will be left chasing them around your room as they tend to roll away. (Don’t ask me how I know this!)
Robert Oster Inks always write well on Col-o-ring and Col-o-dex cards. Since many of the inks are on the dry side, they don’t feather or bleed when used in dip pens.
Cherry Blossom is a slightly smoky raspberry magenta color. Its a lighter ink color overall. Its not super vibrant, with more of a subtle quality. If you’re looking for an eye searing pink, this is not the color for you but if you are looking for something with a softer hue that might feel more calming, vintage or sun-faded, this might appeal to you.
It reminds me more of a wine stained napkin or a cranberry smudge, very much like cherry juice rubbed fresh out of a red cherry rather than the bright color of concentrated cherry beverages. There’s a powdery quality to the color that is interesting. This is definitely not going to be a color that is water resistant but would make for a fun color to use with water brushes or brush pens for light washes or brush lettering.
In writing, I like Cherry Blossom for morning pages as it is easy on the eyes. It performs best with wider nibs and the color darkens a bit as it dries. Australian Opal Mauve is a bit more purply where Cherry Blossom is pinkier. There is nice shading but no sheen. Overall its a drier ink which I don’t mind as a lefty. It dries quickly on Rhodia paper in this humid July climate without ending up all over my hands.
Cherry Blossom is a lighter ink color in general so it won’t be for anyone but if you’re looking for something a little different, it’s definitely not blue.
DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided free of charge by for the purpose of review.
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.
One of my last purchases at the Chicago Pen Show was a total impulse purchase. I had wanted to buy one a Faggionato fountain pen for awhile but did not know which one I wanted until we were all packing up on Sunday. I walked past the Papier Plume table and insisted Renso pause his packing so that I could purchase one. I chose the Pétrarque Carnival with the standard gold plated medium nib ($200).
The pen comes in a simple black paperboard box with velveteen lining. There is a line of black stitching around the edge and white foil stamped lettering on the box. The box closes with a magnetic closure. It’s simple but just enough care is taken to know that the pen is protected without feeling like there is more money put into the box than the pen.
The pen is made in France from custom-made cellulose acetate and the colors of the material are very unusual. It looks like dappled autumn leaves in golds, browns, and burgundies. There are even some pinks and purples dotted in the color and its slightly translucent.
The hardware is gold and the clip is custom as well. It arcs in a graceful curve.
Debossed on the clip is the Faggionato logo – two stylized F’s back-to-back making an almost pagoda-like design or wings.
The nib is listed as a Bock nib but it’s unmarked except for a debossed square with a dot int he middle making it very understated.
It’s a really stunning pen. The simplicity of the overall design on the pen shape and nib lets the colors really shine.
In writing, the nib writes really well leading me to suspect that it must be inspected before it is released into the wild. I did the writing test on this just after I did the Pineider which required a lot of concentration and effort. The Faggionato, on the other hand, just floats across the page. The grip section was long enough that I did not notice the cap threads at all. I’ve been so busy that this pen has not seen much use which is sad because its beautiful and a delightful writer.
This pen was purchased with my own money. All opinions are my own. Other items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
Today’s Link Love is Red Solo Cup-free. It’s for everyone who has to work today, the continent, those on the other side of the globe, or who might decide its just too dang hot to go outside and blow stuff up. Me? I spent too much time at a pen show earlier this week so I need to make up for lost time. Is it because I work somewhere where everyday is a holiday? Who knows but it just feels like another day.
This past weekend I attended the inaugural St. Louis Pen Show. This time around I didn’t go to work, I just loaded up the car with another knitting pen-loving friend and we went as guests. We both had to work half-days on Friday, so we didn’t arrive until Friday evening, but we managed to meet up with pen friends old and new in the lobby and all head to dinner together.
Friday evening I attended my first pen auction. I decided that I would just go to watch, but before the auction opened I got myself a bidding number just in case. You see where this is going right? I was fairly restrained and only bid on and won one pen that I had my eye on, a Gold, single jeweled, Parker Vacumatic that was advertised as “in working condition.” I haven’t gotten to flush it out yet, but I’ll do that this evening. For now I just love staring at it.
We had a wonderful time at the auction, and lots of laughs, but by the time it was over and we had all settled our bills it was time to head to bed. Saturday awaited us!
Saturday morning we got up early and enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel and hit the pen show! I was excited because it was my friend’s first pen show and I wanted to show her how it’s done. We wandered through the rooms and immediately stopped at the Franklin-Christoph table. My friend ended up buying her first Franklin-Christoph – a pocket 45 Italian Ice. She wanted it from the get go but I threatened to buy it if she set it back down. I’ll just have to wait another year for those right?
We wandered through hallways and two ballrooms of exhibitors and found lots of fun things. I was actually fairly restrained given how much I haven’t been at other shows. I purchased a mug from Ask Wooster’s, a vintage Rolodex from Ana and Bob, a notebook from Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherworking, and of course the show ink and pin. I also won a bottle of David Oscarson ink in the Pen Show after Dark social on Saturday evening.
Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherworking
I also enjoyed seeing so many new-to-me vendors. I was absolutely fascinated by the pop-up cards and paper art at Roses Without Thorns. I couldn’t resist and ended up taking home a Cherry Blossom Card. Each of their cards is pieced together by hand!
Saturday night was a typical pen show evening. We settled into the bar for some food and drinks and lots of passing pens around the table. It is always a blast getting to see and try out other people’s pens as well as welcome new people into the pen fold.
Overall I have a few thoughts about the show. This was the first year for the St. Louis Pen Show and overall I think for a first show, it was well done. The hotel was nice, the rate was reasonable and included a really nice breakfast buffet. The food at the hotel was a little pricey, but we were pleasantly surprised that it was well made and delicious. Also the cinnamon ice cream I ordered was amazing!
The show attracted a huge variety of vendors, big and small, so there was opportunity to shop at your favorite vendors and meet new ones at the same time.
Visiting the Ryan Krusac pens… one day that Moose Antler in the upper left corner will be mine!
I’m not sure the venue was entirely perfect for the show, however. The setup was that there were two ballrooms, one slightly bigger than the other, and two hallways. The hallways and the smaller ballroom were fairly cramped, with not a lot of room in the aisles. The larger ballroom had nice wide open aisles and seemed slightly brighter lit than the smaller ballroom, and one of the hallways was terribly dim which is terrible for trying to look at pens. It seemed like the larger ballroom had better “pen show buzz.” Finally, although there were tons of vendors to see, it seemed like traffic was a little light and I don’t know exactly how well the vendors did during the show.
Overall, I would say it was a successful first show and that there are definitely things they can look at to improve it for next year. Today I’m just home with pen show hangover and hungrily waiting for my next show!
($29)
Today’s Link Love is Red Solo Cup-free. It’s for everyone who has to work today, the continent, those on the other side of the globe, or who might decide its just too dang hot to go outside and blow stuff up. Me? I spent too much time at a pen show earlier this week so I need to make up for lost time. Is it because I work somewhere where everyday is a holiday? Who knows but it just feels like another day.
