Notebook Review: Kleid Kraft Work Memo A6

I’m pretty sure if I were to have to pick one notebook size forever more, it would like be A5. It really is just the right size – not too big, not too small. How very Goldilocks of me!

However, I find that I can never quite make up my mind what kind of purse I want to carry. Sometimes I want a behemoth bag that’s big enough to hold a smaller purse, a knitting project, and 12 other things that I can’t seem to live without. And then other times I want a small purse to just grab and go. Either way, I need a notebook and pen, right?

Last time I was browsing Yoseka, I spied the Kleid Kraft Work Memo notebook in A6 size ($7.50). I’m currently on a small bag kick, and I thought this might be the perfect notebook for on the go. It’s small, lightweight, has an elastic loop for closure at the corner, is a spiral so it lays flat – could it be the perfect notebook?

This notebook is A6 size, meaning it measures in at 4 1/8″ x 5 7/8″ and is approximate 1/2″ thick. (10.5 cm x 15 cm, under 1 cm thick). The cover is made of sturdy cardstock, with a tight spiral. Inside are 70 pages of kraft paper with 2mm grid. The only other “frill” is the elastic strap to keep it closed at the corner.

I have to say, I like this size and I like the paper, but it’s probably not really designed for fountain pen ink. The grid is printed on the page in a way that doesn’t get covered by the fountain pen in, meaning it shows through which is a bit distracting.

Worse, I’m a lefty and I rest my hand on the page. Just that slight bit of moisture from my hand changed the texture of the paper a bit, and the ink was more prone to feathering and bleeding through there.

I did test it with my gels, fine liners and ball points though and the paper seemed to perform quite well with those.

So this may not be the perfect notebook if you’re a die hard fountain pen lover, but if you’re good throwing a ballpoint or gel pen in your purse, then this still might be a great notebook for jotting important things down when you’re out and about. And I do love that elastic loop at the corner for keeping the notebook closed and the edges tidy when I throw it in my bag.


DISCLAIMER: I purchased this notebook with my own funds for the purposes of this review. Please see the About page for more details.

That In-Between Feeling

That In-Between Feeling

Right now, in the Midwest, it is no longer winter but its not quite spring yet. This in-between weather is similar to my in-between feeling in my stationery world as well.

I am almost finished with a notebook, a Stalogy A5 that I’ve been using to journal. I’m not quite finished but close enough to consider what the next notebook will be. Do I stay in the same notebook cover (Curnow turquoise cover) and just buy another Stalogy notebook or do I try to mix things up? To be honest, actually being at a point where I’ve almost finished a notebook is a new sensation for me. I often get bored or lose momentum on a particular notebook far sooner than I reach the end of the book. It feels a little risky to mess with a formula that has actually had me writing just to try something new.

This is all the pages I have left in the A5 Stalogy — maybe 20 pages?

In my stationery cupboard, I have a few notebooks that I could pull off the shelf to be my next journal:

I am loyal to the Paperblanks heavyweight paper notebooks and any 68gsm Tomoe River I can find: in this stack are four Paperblanks MIDI sized notebooks (approx. B6) and five 68gsm Tomoe River from Endless, GLP Creations and Odyssey Notebooks.

Okay, many more than a few. I recently bought a several more Midi sized Paperblanks with the 110 and 120 gsm paper. Like so many people, when you find the paper you love, you stockpile it. We have all seen how quickly paper can change or be discontinued. I prefer the 68gsm Tomoe River paper and have been stockpiling it for sometime as well. I actually traded some of the lighter weight OG Tomoe River for the 68gsm because, as a lefty, I just can’t justify the dry-time/smear-likelihood of the lighter weight. I’ll sacrifice a little sheen not to have ink all over me, my notebook and everything else.

Inks swatched on Col-o-ring Oversize paper.

I’ve been on a purple ink trend all winter. Both my daily use pens (Don’t shoot me. They are both Sailor ProGear Slim fountain pens with EF nibs.) have been filled with purple-y inks (Monteverde Birthday Cake and Lennon Tool Bar Morning Glory which are almost identical and Monteverde Blueberry Muffin which is much more of a burgundy than purple). The Monteverde Birthday Cake is a seriously underrated ink. It has a great range of shading and it sheens under the right conditions too.

I’ve been using these three inks so consistently that that I have actually put a dent into the amount of ink in the bottles. Is this the year I actually finish a bottle of ink or am I ready to move to a different color family?

What’s your feeling on this mid-season malaise? Do you feel the itch to change things up or, if you’ve had success with a pen/ink/paper combo, do you stick with it? Do you have favorites you go back to time and time again?

Giveaway Winner: Enigma Stationery Nahvalur Exclusive “Brilliant Bunny” Fountain Pen

I cannot believe how many folks entered our giveaway for the Enigma Stationery Nahvalur Exclusive ‘Brilliant Bunny’ Nautilus Fountain Pen. Truly amazing and thanks to everyone for sharing their Chinese Zodiac signs.

I am a year of the dog, by the way. Really! A cat person born in the year of the dog?!? Craziness, I know.

Now, for our winner:

Congrats to Stephanie! May she embrace her inner rabbit this year with her new fantastic pen!

Special thanks to Enigma Stationery for providing this pen for giveaway.

Pennaquod

Do you love reading posts at the Desk? Do you ever wish you could find a ton of other pen and stationery aficionados you can follow? Do you want to search for specific topics or reviews? Then we’ve got the answer: Pennaquod.

Pennaquod is maintained by Ian and is a way to search through compendium of posts from a ton of fabulous blogs. You can search Pennaquod for a specific topic (my search here was for “Platinum 3776”) and get a full list of blog posts on the topic to browse at your leisure.

Or you can simply browse the list of blogs Pennaquod searches and check out the ones that appeal to you to find new reviews.

All the blogs included are produce genuine blog reviews, and Ian’s site is a resource to the community, and not a for-profit venture.

Happy reading!

Ink Review: Taisho Inks, Part 1

Ink Review: Taisho Inks, Part 1

I get so excited when I find a new line of ink! The manufacturer of this line is Teranishi and I’ve come across two lines of their ink – Guitar and Taisho Roman. I have three of the Taisho Roman inks to show today. I picked these up from St. Louis Art Supply for $18.95 each which works out to $0.47 per mL.

The external packaging for the Taisho inks is almost identical to some of the Taccia inks, perhaps giving hints to the actual ink manufacturer. The bottle contains 40mL of ink and has a small tag attached with space for a tiny swatch of the ink although the paper used for the tag is too absorbent to show the ink color accurately.

The three ink colors I have here are Gentle Green, Smoky Navy, and Opera Rose.

Opera Rose is an interesting color – a bit under saturated terracotta or salmon orange/pink/brown. It shades but not dramatically.

Papier Plume’s 011 ink is a few shades darker than Opera Rose, but the color is a match.

Smoky Navy has some great shading and is a lovely blue-black ink. Occasionally a hint of sheen shows up but only in the swatch.

I had a hard time finding a match to Smoky Navy in my collection. The lightest portion of the swatch is a match with Diamine Prussian Blue, and the darker areas appeared to match Robert Oster Thunderstorm, but the camera brings out much more green in Smoky Navy.

I saved my favorite of the batch for last. Gentle Green. It immediately reminded me of Taccia Sabimidori with the way is wrote blue but dried to a definite green.

When comparing Gentle Green to Sabimidori, though, the colors were further apart than I had imagined. The heavier applications of Sabimidori are close to the color in Gentle Green, but the overall color is quite different. Wearingeul Mad Hatter is a good match.

The first page below is Tomoe River (TR7) paper

Next is Midori MD paper – this paper is cream rather than the white of the other two examples.

Finally, Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper.

Here’s another shot of the Cosmo Air Light paper, turned to catch the sheen in both Gentle Green and Smoky Navy.

Scrolling through the photos of the paper types, you may have noticed how different the Taisho Roman inks appear on each. Gentle Green is the most obvious, but all three colors change between papers. I’ve photographed pairs of notebooks to show how much they can change.

Tomoe River 52gsm is on the left with Cosmo Air Light 83gsm on the right.

Cosmo Air Light 83gsm is on the left with Midori MD on the right. These don’t even look like the same inks.

So which ink and paper combination is your favorite?


DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

 

 

Link Love: Moving Right Along

Link Love: Moving Right Along

I can’t believe its already the middle of March! Normally, this time of year, I’d be preparing to head to Little Rock for the Arkansas Pen Show but due to starting a new job, I don’t have the seniority to take as many vacation days as I have been able to take in the past. So, I sit in my studio, surrounded by cats and pack orders from here.

Many of these orders are for the sale pens listed in the shop right now. Laura and I culled our collections in a rash of spring cleaning. For me, doing a bit of collection culling leaves room to try new pens and to set some free to find better forever homes. With a collection as large as mine, many pens have sat un-inked for years while other pens get used on a daily or weekly basis. I also think that over time, I’ve found the size and style of pens that work best for me so the pens that don’t fit comfortably in my hands are ready to find their Cinderella hands.

Do you get bitten by the spring cleaning bug?

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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Did someone say pen sale?

Ana and I are enormously lucky to be able to buy and try so many gorgeous pens. However, at times, we find that the pen stash has gotten a bit unwieldy, and some pens rise to the top of the ‘must-be-inked-at-all-times’ while others remain unused.

So what are we to do but have a pen sale and find forever homes for these beauties! A few notes about the sale going on right now over in the Well-Appointed Desk shop:

  • All pens are in “gently used” condition. At a minimum they have been inked and used for review, and they may have been used a little more than that.
  • All pens are listed at prices to sell. Many of these pens we bought with our own money but, regardless, prices are mostly well below retail.
  • All pens come as is in the listing (with or without boxes and converters included, with the nibs specified). We don’t like surprises.
  • It should go without saying, but these are all lovely pens in working order. We’re not getting rid of them because they don’t work. More like our pen cups runneth over and we’d like to see them get used and loved.

We hope you find a new-to-you pen and we’re thrilled to send it to a new home!