In feature

Three Years of The Well-Appointed Desk

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Today is the third anniversary of The Well-Appointed Desk. In that time, I’ve posted over 1800 times, reviewed dozens of pens, notebooks and other office supplies, given away lots of goodies and made tons of new friends. I am amazed that I find new things to talk about every day!

To celebrate, I am going to give away a pile of samples. Everyday this week I am giving away a stack of goodies — some were review products with one or two pages used in the back for pen testing, some are brand-spankin’ new. Keep your eyes peeled.

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Here’s a sneak peek of the assortments to be given away this week. Happy blogiversary to me (and to you)!

In feature

Field Notes Night Sky Edition

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Field Notes Night Sky Edition Summer 2013

Whenever the folks over at Coudal announce a new edition of the Colors series, the frenzy to get a set (or four) begins. I am lucky enough to have a subscription so as soon as the emails go out announcing the latest series, I know at least two sets of the books are winging their way to me. For Summer 2013, the new set is called Night Sky. The aesthetic is a smooth black, uncoated cardstock cover (French Construction 100#C in blacktop) with gray ink for the logo, branding and information. The back features constellations of the night sky in gray, dotted with holographic foil stars. It looks magical!

Inside, the folks at Field Notes must have heard the enthusiasm over the Finch 70#T used in the America The Beautiful sets because the same stock has been used for Night Sky in the 50#T weight — a little lighter weight but should hold up pretty well. Instead of lines or grid, they have printed each page with reticle graph markings in gray that evoke star charts and NASA photos.

I would like to remind you that these limited edition sets sell out very quickly so if you want one, I recommend you hop over to the Field Notes shop right now and order one because chances are, by this time next week, they will be sold out.

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I will follow up with some writing samples in a few days and compare it to the 70#T paper used in the America The Beautiful set (which I realized I never tested).

View all the images of the new Field Notes Night Sky Colors set on Flickr.

In feature, Ink Review

June Ink Drop Reveal?

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This month, Goulet Pens decided to trip up the Ink Drop subscribers with a “What’s in a Name?” theme. In other words, they send unlabelled vials and its our chance to guess the colors. If you guess correctly and enter your guess into the contest on Ink Nouveau, you could win a bottle of the ink. I must confess, I am absolutely clueless. None of the inks had a distinctive odor so that ruled out scented inks… after that… hmmm…?

I thought I might know a couple but, upon closer inspection, I am pretty sure my guesses are wrong. Inkdependence didn’t provide any clues in his write-up and I haven’t seen anyone else post about the colors yet. Any guesses?

Inks were tested on my new Quo Vadis Habana blank bright white notebook using a Noodlers Creaper flex pen.

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Link Love: Book It, Dan-o

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Word Notebooks have four new cover designs that can be mixed and matched with their existing designs to make your own pack of 3.
Word Notebooks have four new cover designs that can be mixed and matched with their existing designs to make your own pack of 3.

Pens, Pencils and Inks

Notebooks

Scout Books just released a new, larger sized notebooks. At 5x7, it includes the same kraft cardstock covers as its little brother but with more room to write. Available in grid, dot, lined or blank. Two-pack for $10
Scout Books just released a new, larger sized notebooks, the Scout Books Mega. At 5×7, it includes the same kraft cardstock covers as its little brother but with more room to write. Available in grid, dot, lined or blank. Two-pack for $10

Misc:

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Ink Inventory

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While testing out my new Quo Vadis Habana notebook with bright white paper, I decided to do swab tests of every single bottle of ink I currently own. To be fair, most of my ink was a recent acquisition thanks to Julie at Pens Paper Inks…Whatever. I won her giveaway for a mystery box of inks. What I thought would be maybe three bottles of ink turned out to be somewhere in the neighborhood of two dozen bottles, mostly full, of top-end inks, some sample bottles of ink (not shown), some notebooks and a colored pencil set. I was speechless, for weeks.

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I added in my paltry collection of maybe half a dozen inks to create almost two full pages of swab samples. As I ink up a pen with the color, I am adding a small handwritten sample with the swab. I plan to do individual reviews of each color over the next couple months. If there are any that you are particularly curious about, leave a note in the comments and I’ll move it to the top of the list.

I tried to color correct these photos to the best of my ability but some of the colors were so vibrant that some of them got a bit blown out and I am discovering the challenge of color correcting for white paper. I will be experimenting with the best ways to photograph my writing samples so hopefully they will get better and more accurate.