The Well-Appointed Desk

Enigma Stationery Acrylic Sample Vial Display

I am not sure how to describe my utter delight when I opened the box that revealed the Enigma Ink Sample Stand ($40). It is a giant acrylic fountain pen nib with holes die cut into it to reveal spots to store ink sample vials. There are 31 holes, perfect for a month of ink swatching and sampling.

The design is an extension of Enigma Inkvent Set that was released at the end of 2022. The original Inkvent design only had 25 holes to hold ink samples so the new design, made out of acrylic and is shipped flat is perfect for anyone who likes to swatch an ink a day or just needs a great way to store the ink samples you still need to swatch or try.

The set does not ship with ink samples but I wanted to show how fabulous the display looks filled with ink vials.

The stand is about 4.5″ deep so it doesn’t take up much space on your desk and stands proudly at about 14.5″ tall and 6.375″ wide at its widest. I like that it gets my ink samples up off the table and easy to see. I’ve had other ink vial holders but they are wide and flat and take up precious desk real estate.

The holes are designed to fit the standard 5ml sample vials favored by most fountain pen retailers.

The model I was shipped was especially designed for me in a sparkly pink acrylic. For the initial release of the 31-Day Ink Sample Stand, Enigma will be offering them in gold, silver and copper shimmer acrylic. More colors may be available in the future. Head over to the web site to sign up to be notified when the product launches officially.

I think this is a brilliant concept and I can’t wait to see photos on Instagram of these sitting on desks throughout the pen community.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Enigma Stationery for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Giveaway: Enigma Stationery Nahvalur Exclusive ‘Brilliant Bunny’ Nautilus Fountain Pen

AnaMarch 10, 2023March 18, 2023390 Comments

Enigma Stationery released an exclusive pen from Nahvalur in honor of the Lunar New Year, the ‘Brilliant Bunny’ Nautilus Fountain Pen ($295). This pen features a classic Chinese New Year colorway with a red blank accented with teal, blue, and purple sparkle. The hardware is gold to coordinate with the 14K nib.

The Nautilus pen design features porthole windows around the barrel, just below the cap that allows the user to see the ink piston inside. Ahoy, ink matey!

In the past we’ve reviewed other Nahvalur (formerly Narwhal) designs like the Key West and the Voyage. The design of the Voyage is similar in terms of build and size. The porthole windows being the only distinct visual difference in the two models. The big upsell on the Brilliant Bunny is the 14k nib.

The 14k nib is ~~specially~~ engraved ~~for this limited edition. I love~~ with waves around the edge of the nib. Unfortunately, the only nib size available for this special edition is M but there’s enough tipping material that it could be ground to a finer size, if desired. We did not want to ink this up so that it would be pristine for the winner but we did “dry test” it to get a feel for the nib. The 14k nib has a bit of spring to it but it is not a flex nib. It will be a very expressive nib, reacting to the amount of pressure the writer applies.

Size:

Capped: 6″
Uncapped: 5.25″

The Nautilus does not post.

Weight:

Capped: 31gms
Uncapped: 17gms

The cap is heaver than I expected but since it can’t be posted it won’t throw the balance of the pen off.

There have only be 50 of the Brilliant Bunny pens made and we are fortunate to have one to giveaway to a lucky reader. If you want to guarantee that you’ll be a proud owner of one of these pens, hop over to Enigma Stationery and order yours today.

~~TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us what your Chinese Zodiac sign is. If you don’t know, make one up. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.~~

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 Friday, March 17, 2023 (St. Patrick’s Day — oh, the irony!). All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Monday. 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.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Enigma Stationery for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: On Wednesdays, We Wear Ink

AnaMarch 8, 2023March 8, 20233 Comments

My friends and I love a good meme and we have been milking the same lame memes for years with varying success. This felt like an appropriate place to put this particular bit of silliness. What color ink are you wearing today?

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In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review: SchonDsgn x Inkdependence “Cheerio Waterpen”

Laura CameronMarch 7, 2023March 7, 20232 Comments

I hadn’t thought about getting a new fountain pen for my new job, until I was watching a Friday happy hour edition of Mike’s podcast (Inkdependence) and he announced he was releasing a special design collaboration with Ian Schon of SchonDSGN, the “Cheerio Waterpen.” And just like that I was sucked in.

Back in April of 2022 Mike collaborated with Pennonia to produce a Cheerio Waterbus ink and, at the same time, his wife Audrey created a special edition nail polish color of the same name. The ink was a lovely emerald green with lots of blue pigment – a blue green color after my own heart. So when the pen came out I just couldn’t skip it.

The Cheerio Waterpen was designed as a full size Schon Dsgn pen. It has an aluminum barrel with an anodized finish, and houses a Jowo #6 nib which I ordered in fine. Despite being a full size pen, the Cheerio Waterpen is a small size (nice for those of us with small hands!) coming in at about 5″/13cm capped, and 4.875″/12.5cm uncapped. It is postable, but I choose not to as it’s perfectly balanced without. The pen came with a standard international converter and can be used with cartridges as well.

In terms of weight, it weighs in at 27g, not unexpected for a metal barreled pen.

Pen Weights

As part of my green/teal/blue collection, it stands in good company.

L to R: Kaweco x Hello Kitty Opal Green AL Sport, Franklin Christoph Vanness Pocket 45, SchonDSGN Cheerio Waterpen, Pelikan M205 Apatite

The pen itself is exceedingly pretty, but it’s also a delight to write with. The nib is perfectly bouncy and writes smoothly, with good ink flow. The pen itself is fairly lightweight, and the section in particular is the perfect length and circumference for me to write comfortably.

So now I’ve got a pretty new pen and a great new notebook – I just need a few meetings to get started!

In Art Supplies

Watercolor Review: Kuretake Gansai Tambi Palette Graphite Colors

AnaMarch 6, 2023March 5, 20233 Comments

Review by Tina Koyama

Although I’m mostly a colored and graphite pencil sketcher, sometimes I get into a painty mood. If I haven’t used paints in a while, though, I get a bit overwhelmed by choosing and mixing colors; I just want to grab a brush and hit the page with it. That’s what I love about a watercolor set like the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Graphite Colors (palette of 6/$16.50). The neutral, near-black hues require no mixing to have fun with.

The set comes in a cardboard palette of six pans that are larger than traditional watercolor full pans (though a bit shallower). The color name (in English and Japanese) and color number appear on the underside of the pan, and the number also appears on the palette. I find the color name on the pan to be especially handy because the subtle, dark hues can be difficult to identify when dry. (Apparently, these paints are not available individually at JetPens.)

When swatched, the hues become more distinct. The lightfast colors recall the Boku-Undo E-Sumi Watercolor Palette that I reviewed a while back. While that set evokes the rich blackness of ink, the Kuretake set is more subtle and matte like graphite. (I love having both pen- and pencil-like watercolor sets!)

According to the JetPens product description, “the surface of the paint can be polished to reveal a metallic luster.” That statement piqued my curiosity, so I took a paper towel and rubbed the concentrated ends of my swatches. It was difficult to photograph to show the luster, but with light reflected directly, the paints do show a subtle, graphite-like sheen.

To make test sketches, I first used green and red to sketch a portrait (reference photo by Earthsworld).

Then I sketched my friend Skully (inspired by the X-Files character, of course) twice in a gray Stillman & Birn Nova sketchbook – once with blue and once with violet. (The white highlights were made with an East Hill Tombstone white brush pen that Ana and I both reviewed several years ago.)

I used a standard-size East Hill Kumadori water brush to make these sketches. With a finer brush (and a finer hand), I think these graphite-inspired paints would be lovely for calligraphy as well as painting.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

In Art Supplies

Quick Look: Tsukineko Soramame Ink Pad – Set of 4

AnaMarch 3, 2023February 26, 20231 Comment

I saw these Tsukineko Soramame Ink Pad ( Set of 4) in the Modern colorway ($10) and had to try them. The set includes four colors, each with a cap and contained into a plastic holder for storage and display.

The set also include stickers to label the tubes as well as a piece of double sided tape to use to connect multiple sets together.

This set of stamp pads are designed to be little caps that you can slip on to the end of your finger and then tamp the color onto your stamps. So they will work with any size stamp and you could even potentially mix colors on your stamp to create a rainbow or other effect.

The inks in the pads are pigment based and water washable.

The colors could also be applied to paper as dots or color blocking the way some people use other stamp pads, just on a smaller scale.

The colors in this set are similar to cyan, magenta, yellow and black. It’s a fun set and I am looking forward to testing it out with my stamps. Have you ever tried this little stamp pads?

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review. Some items were purchased with funds from our amazing Patrons. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

In feature

Ink Review: ColorVerse 2023 New Year

Jessica ColesMarch 2, 2023March 1, 20231 Comment

ColorVerse has released an amazing variety of ink over the last year. One of the most recent inks is ColorVerse 2023 New Year. A big thank you to Dromgoole’s for sending this ink for this review!

2023 New Year is a fabulous bright green ink with lots of sparkle – the closest I have in my collection is Anderillium Spirula green although 2023 New Year is darker.

2023 New Year surprised me with the amount of shading – that isn’t something I usually expect with sparkling inks.

The sparkle is a bit wild – both gold and silver particles. I had no issues with 2023 New Year clogging or even hard starts – ColorVerse uses a small enough particulate that the ink flows well.

Now for the paper. The first paper here is Tomoe River paper (TR7). Lots of shading on TR paper and a bit of a black halo sheen as well.

I’ve angled the same swatch so you can get an idea of the sparkle!

Cosmo Air Light paper, as usual, brings out the blue undertones of the ink, making it more of an emerald green

Sparkling inks have a great time on Cosmo Air Light paper, although the sparkle has the tendency to drift across the page.

Midori MD paper shows ColorVerse 2023 New Year much closer to a true green.

However, the sparkling characteristics of the ink are wasted on Midori MD.

2023 New Year is a 30mL bottle and is priced at $24 MSRP which works out to $0.80 per mL. While not as expensive as Sailor’s small bottles, it is a bit pricey, but I do think the novelty of both silver and gold sparkle makes this ink worth grabbing while it is around.

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided free of charge by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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