In Tools

Inky Hands: Private Reserve Ink Zero, Luxury Professional Hand Ink Remover

Author Laura CameronPosted on 3 Comments

The Tuesday confessional is now open and I hope y’all will gather round and listen. I was the kid who never wanted to play in the dirt, or get in the sandbox, or finger paint because I didn’t like to get dirty. While I’ve relaxed a bit over the years, I still don’t love it. So getting ink stained hands isn’t my favorite past time, but it does happen quite a bit these days. Ana truly loves me – when she came home from the San Francisco Pen Show she brought a jar of Private Reserve Ink Zero (4 oz for $23) for me to try.

A blue jar with a silver cap reads Private Ink Reserve Zero Luxury Professional Ink Remover

As today was pen cleaning day, I decided to give it a whirl. First I needed to clean out two pens, both of which had pink inks. I find pink/red inks don’t stain as much as some of the other colors, so I decided to test an ink that I knew would give us a graphic demonstration. We all have that bottle of ink. You know the one – the one that spilled once and no matter how much you’ve cleaned the bottle, it still stains your hands every time you open it. The ink that is a GORGEOUS color that you can’t get enough of, but also can’t stop wearing. For me, that ink is Papier Plume Ivy Green.

A white hand holds two fountain pens (one coral pink, one clear and white with rose gold accents) and a jar of green ink over a sink.

A hand holds a pen under water, with a bit of bright pink ink flowing from the nib.

Since we were going for obvious, I just went ahead and dunked my fingers in the ink. Why not go for broke eh? I let the ink sit for a minute or two on my fingers before I couldn’t stand it and had to clean it off.

An open hand where the first three fingers are covered in a rich grassy green ink.

First up, I did a quick was with regular handsoap and warm water.

An open hand, with fairly obviously green ink stained fingers.

That took the stain to a dull roar, but then I gave the Zero a try. Zero is a white-ish formula made with a variety of alcohols and other ingredients. There is a full list on the package, and it touts itself as a “luxury professional hand ink remover with 100% natural silica microspheres.” I don’t know what that is. What I do know is that it’s gritty, like an exfoliant or a sugar scrub.

A blue jar filled with white hand cream.

The instructions say to apply a bit of it to the ink stains on dry hands and rub gently. Then add just a bit of water and keep scrubbing. Rinse if necessary, and repeat. (I only had one go at it this time). There is a subtle smell – it doesn’t seem like an added fragrance, but more likely the ingredients themselves. It is mild, smells fresh, and fades fairly quickly after a rinse.

Green stained ink fingers are covered in a white gritty ink stain remover.

The results are pretty darn good. I can still see a faint hint of the ink, but I’m pretty sure that will be gone by the time I do dishes tonight. The package does note that the formula may work slightly different depending on the exact ink formulation.

Three fingers, previously ink stained, are now all clean. There is a very faint hint of green on one finger.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with Private Reserve Ink Zero. It’s not inexpensive, so I’d probably save it for those really troublesome ink stains – the ones in deep colors that refuse to let up. Many inks can be removed fairly well with just water and soap alone, so I’d be inclined to try that first. But for someone who doesn’t love ink-stained hands, keeping a jar of this on hand is a great idea!

DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Yafa Brands for providing the Private Reserve Ink Zero  free of charge for the purposes of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

 

In Fountain Pen Review

Pen Upgrade: Pilot 912 with Custom Nib Studio Spencerian Nib (and Flexible Nib Factory Feed)

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Pen Upgrade: Pilot 912 with Custom Nib Studio Spencerian Nib (and Flexible Nib Factory Feed)

Sometimes, the best pen is the one you already have. But maybe, it just needs a little “something something”?

In this case, the pen in question is the Pilot Custom 912 ($240) which originally shipped with the FA/Falcon nib — its considered one of the softest Japanese nibs straight out of the package. It did have some nice flex but the feed could not keep up with ink flow and the nib just wasn’t flexy enough.

So, I enlisted the help of nib magician, Gena Salorino of Custom Nib Studio to modify the nib to her legendary “Spencerian” nib modification ($120).

I also reached out to Flexible Nib Factory for a red ebonite 3-slot feed replacement ($42).

Looking at the original plastic feed next to the ebonite it is clear to see that the Flexible Nib Factory nib will move a lot more ink!

I realize that the investment in both time and money for this pen may be more than what many folks can comfortably spend on a pen alone but I spread the expenses over the whole year making it a little less sticker-shocking.

But when we get past the cost of the pen, can we talk about how beautifully it works? The nib is so flexible. Next to a vintage “wet noodle”, the Spencerian grin on the 912 is the most flexible, accommodating nib I’ve ever used. And its smooth at the same time. Unlike writing with a dig nib which can be pokey, especially on toothier paper, the Spencerian nib grind on the Pilot 912 is smooth and silky while also being bouncy with a wide line width variation and character.

Check out the original post about the Custom 912 with the unmodified FA nib to see the difference in the line width variation.

The feed really helps the ink supply keep up with the nib’s needs. After writing for awhile, I did need to pause and let the feed keep up but I really put it through its paces. I basically covered a 12″ x 16″ page with ink. In more daily writing or a smaller scale page might have better results. I kept a scratch pad to rest the nib on to help the ink flow stay consistent.

The range of line weights and the light hand needed to create the line variations is mesmerizing. I had such a fun time just testing and writing all the sample text.

Super special nibs like this Spencerian grind is worth the investment, at least for me. If you have a dream for a special nib, save your pennies and prepare to wait (I handed my pen over to Gena in late June at the St. Louis Pen Show and I picked up the adjusted nib in San Francisco in late August). The wait is totally worth it!

Tools:

In feature

Happy Fountain Pen Day! (Giveaway & Special Offer)

Author AnaPosted on 178 Comments
Happy Fountain Pen Day! (Giveaway & Special Offer)

Happy Fountain Pen Day, friends! I hope you are having a chance to play with your pens, get a good deal from any of the many vendors offering special pricing, and all the wonderful things.

In honor of Fountain Pen Day, we have a special giveaway!

We are giving away (1) one Pilot Custom 74 in Blue Stone with a Medium nib (MSRP $176USD). This is a beautiful pen with a slightly bouncy 14K gold nib.

AND any orders placed on Etsy or Big Cartel this weekend (through Sunday, November 5, 2023) will a free Shark Pen and ink sample (while supplies last). No coupon needed.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us how you are celebrating Fountain Pen Day — or how you wish you could celebrate. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person. Multiple entries will be disqualified.

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 themonkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Monday, November 6, 2023. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Tuesday (or 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 5 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.

Oops! Forgot to mention: DISCLAIMER: The items included in this post were provided at a discount by Gentleman Stationer for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Good bye, Inktober. Hello, Nanowrimo!

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Link Love: Good bye, Inktober. Hello, Nanowrimo!

Today we say good bye to Inktober and hello to Nanowrimo. I love monthly projects. When I can commit to a daily project, I really enjoy them. But, I am sure, like everyone else, somewhere around the 15th, the real life day-to-day throws those projects over. But I commend everyone who even attempts these. So, if you are so inclined, start writing your great novel, biography, or other book. Or, if like me and Laura, launch into your Nakniswemo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month) project instead. Whatever your endeavor, we are cheering you on!

NaNoWriMo:

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In news

Trick or Treat: Sailor North America decreasing prices on select collections.

Author Laura CameronPosted on 4 Comments

Not a trick, maybe a treat? I spied this post a week ago on @sailor.pen.northamerica:

Ana and I mulled this over and came up with many possible reasons for the announcement:

  • The success of the “don’t miss the boat” sale in the last few months?
  • An increase in “grey market” sales where folks are ordering direct from Japan to avoid North American prices?
  • North American retailers having extra Sailor inventory in stock (due to the price increase and folks buying fewer Sailors?

We don’t have any answers, but we wanted to share the news!

P.S. Happy Halloween! If only trick or treating included stationery and supplies!

 

In feature

Survey: Is that ink wet or dry?

Author AnaPosted on 11 Comments
Survey: Is that ink wet or dry?

Nicole S over on Pen Addict Slack asked me (and other pen community bloggers) to give a shout out for her survey on inks and whether they are wet or dry.

Nicole S is a physicist and has tamed up with a rheologist to look at characteristics of ink. Part of this is determining how people perceive the wetness or dryness of a particular ink.

Her request is simple, just fill out her survey here.

Rank the listed inks on a scale of 1 (extremely dry) to 10 (extremely wet) based on your own experience. If you’ve only used one of the inks, that’s fine, just rank that one. Used a bunch of them? Awesome, rank them all!The more FP users we can get info from, the better we can correlate our rheological results with the subjective ones, so please share the link and encourage your pen friends to participate.

Here’s to advancing ink studies and understanding!

In feature, Ink Review

Ink Review: Monteverde Color Changing Ink Set

Author Jessica ColesPosted on 4 Comments
Ink Review: Monteverde Color Changing Ink Set

Were you one of the cool kids in elementary school or middle school or even high school who had access to markers that could change color? These markers came with several saturated colors and a marker with no color. But if you wrote with the colorful markers and then used the marker with no color on top of them, the color would change! The clear marker would change each color separately so you could impress your friends with your magic ink.

Thank you to Dromgoole’s for letting me review this set and feel like I can be part of the cool crowd.

I never did have those markers. Either I was too old when they were introduced to the market or I wasn’t cool enough – I’m not sure. However, now I can relive that disappointment with a new set from Monteverde – Color Changing Inks.

The set comes in a nice magnetically closing box that looks great on a bookshelf, saving you space in your ink drawer. It consists of 9 colorful inks and one clear color changer bottle.

The color changer ink is a bit thicker than normal inks but has little to no odor and leaves no trace of a mark on paper.

I decided to start with filling up a few Kakimori refillable felt tip pens, but I swatched the following cards as I normally do – paintbrush and a dip pen.

This part was so fun! Each color changes differently with the addition of the color changer ink. Some, like the black and brown, change rather slowly and can take several minutes to fully change. Others, especially the Green and Blue, change as soon as the color changer touches them.

I learned through trial and error that you should let the first ink totally dry before adding the color changing ink. Also, be careful if you go back over your clear ink with a second coat as it can spread.

The color changer ink acts almost like a bleach pen, but not as harsh to the paper.

You can see in the swatch below that the color changer pushed slightly to the edges of the heavier swatch. A fun effect to watch.

As a graduate from Virginia Tech, I deeply appreciate the Burgundy to Orange color since it is the school color combination.

You can see a dark version of the color changed pink haloing the entire swatch of the Dark Blue ink below – almost like the deep blue portion shrank back to reveal the color underneath.

The Fuchsia ink was nearly bleached to white with the color changing ink, but the ink itself feathered quite a bit in the swatch below – Cosmo Air Light paper.

The Pink that came from the color changing ink on Green ink is a unique combination – the pink comes through as rather dark at first but lightens over time.

I also loved the Purple to Yellow combination – a very dark ink that lightens dramatically to Yellow.

The Red ink seemed to be closer to orange than actual red.

You can see on a few of these swatch cards that some colors performed poorly in the feathering department, although this is not enough for me to not use the ink.

 

Below is the Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Midori MD paper:

The Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Tomoe River (TR7) 52gsm paper:

Finally, the Monteverde Color Changing lineup on Cosmo Air Light paper:

The set as I have shown it is available at retailers who carry Monteverde inks for $124 or $13 per ink bottle and $7 per bottle of color changer.

Which color duo is your favorite combination?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items in this review were provided at a discounted rate for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.