In feature

Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Curious Collaborations: Paper Tree

Author Jessica ColesPosted on Leave a comment
Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Curious Collaborations: Paper Tree

I recently received a set of inks from Ferris Wheel Press called Curious Collaborations. The set is has been created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Paper Tree, a family-owned stationery store in Tokyo.

There are three inks in the set: Glimmering Greige, Chidori Cherry Blossom, and Dearest Navy.

Dearest Navy is a strong blue-black ink with a touch of purple undertone and just a hint of a red sheen occasionally – it is very close to KWZ’s iron gall blue-black (a gentle iron gall).

Hints of the red sheen show up on Midori MD Light paper:

Cosmo Air Light paper shows no sheen at all, and the purple undertones drop out:

Tomoe River paper (TR7) shows the sheen clearly in a swatch and haloing in the writing.

Glimmering Greige is a lovely warm grey with gold sparkle. The base color is close to Kirk-same – Kaweco Smokey Grey was the next close grey I could find in my collection. It isn’t very close.

Glimmering Greige on Midori MD Light – the glimmering portion didn’t show well here.

Cosmo Air Light paper shows the gold sparkle very well and brings out the blue in the ink base. On CAL paper, this ink looks like a cool grey rather than warm.

Tomoe River Paper (TR7) shows the sparkle through the swatch and the writing plus a warmer grey than the CAL paper.

The final ink today is Chidori Cherry Blossom. It seems to be exactly in between Strawberry Macaron and Lady Rose Gold (this one was a limited edition).

Again, the sparkle doesn’t show well on the Midori MD Light paper. The base ink color also comes out very pale.

 

Cosmo Air Light paper shows plenty of the rose gold sparkle. CAL paper also seems to let go of the sparkle fairly easily – not rubbing off, but rather spreading on the page. I’ve noticed this with other sparkle inks in the past.

Tomoe River (TR7) paper doesn’t spread the sparkle like CAL paper, but it doesn’t show as brightly, either.

Here is an overview of the three inks (plus a bonus ink that I will be reviewing soon) on Midori MD Light paper.

The inks together on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Finally, the inks together on Tomoe River Paper (TR7)

 

It is interesting how a change in paper can drastically change the base color of an ink. Glimmering Greige is a great example of how Cosmo Air Light paper draws out the blue undertones more than Tomoe River paper:

 

The three inks colors I’ve shown here today are each $22 for a 38mL bottle (or about $0.58 per mL), a price per mL comparable to Sailor Manyo inks, Montblanc standard line inks, or Diamine Shimmertastic inks. I love the idea of ink collections that celebrate special events of stationery stores and bring attention to retailers that I don’t yet know about! Glimmering Greige is also a unique grey to my collection. Thank you to Ferris Wheel Press for sending these for review!

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this review was provided free of charge by Ferris Wheel Press for the purpose of this review. The other items in the review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: The Handwriting Debate… again.

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments
Link Love: The Handwriting Debate… again.

I was torn whether to include the ubiquitous “Is handwriting important?” article in this week’s Link Love. This issue has been rehashed and mentioned on this site countless times (1, 2, 3… there were more). Pretty much each Fall, when students head back to school, the topic re-emerges. Each year, more and more students rely on computers and tablets for their studies and one of us stalwart pen users will pop up with the same list of why handwriting is still important. This time, it was a list from Lindsay at The Postman’s Knock, a blog focused on handwriting and calligraphy.

She left out one regularly touted talking point, however. Handwriting does not require electricity, an app, or any specific hardware or software compatibility. You can write with a pencil on the back of an envelope or napkin, use a ballpoint pen on an old receipt or use a beautiful Italian-made journal and fountain pen. They will all work to capture your message. In five years (or 50 years), as long as the ink or pencil did not fade or the paper was not damaged, the text can be read by anyone without having to find compatible software or hardware. Any of us who still have a stack of old hard drives, computer discs or CD-ROMs will tell you that accessing old files can be challenging.

If you’re reading this blog, though, you probably don’t need to be convinced of the benefits of handwriting. You already reap some sort of benefit from the experience. The likelihood we can convert anyone else to our way of thinking though? That remains to be seen.

Love Ana

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In Ask The Desk, From the Archives

Extra extra! Pen Show Calendar Update!

Author Laura CameronPosted on Leave a comment

The highly trained staff of monkeys at the Desk has been hard at work updating things around here! Today’s update includes a shiny Pen Show Schedule for the remainder of 2022 and 2023.

Of note, it looks like the LA Pen Show has been canceled and a new California Pen Show is launching around the same time.

As always we’ll be updating the list from time to time. If there’s a show you’d like to see included, if you have more up to date information than we do, or if you’d like to send us any pen show gossip, we’re always here for the good stuff!

In feature

Spooky Samples: Ink-a-Pet Halloween Editions

Author AnaPosted on 4 Comments

I am getting into the spirit of October with pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin oatmeal cookies but what really gets me in the holiday spirit is making sure my ink samples are decked out too! Ink-a-Pet, which we’ve mentioned here on the blog in the past is the clever creations of 8-year-old Calvin and his team of furry helpers, Rocky and Chai. Any business with feline interns is a business I will support. Those feline interns need kibble! And Calvin, as a young pen enthusiast, is an entrepreneur worth supporting too.

I added to my ink sample vial holder collection with another sleeping cat stand and cat ghost costume ($4) and the new penguin holder ($7) with witchy accessories ($4). I also got a pumpkin costume ($4)  for my Inktopus ($7) to wear.

These ink sample holders are cute, stable and effective. If you haven’t gotten an Ink-a-pet to keep your sample vials from tipping over, what are you waiting for?

I have had several more of these holders but I keep giving them away when people oooo and ahhhh over them. Since my first Ink-a-Pet was a gift, it seems appropriate to continue to pay it forward.

One of the best things about the new costumes is that the cat ghost costume GLOWS IN THE DARK! Oh, yeah.

Calvin also included the cat pen rest ($5) with microsuction base to add even more cats into my house. Calvin, I have enough cats already!!!! At least this one doesn’t require more kibble. I really like the pen rest. I didn’t realize how often pens rolled on my desk and this lovely stand has put a stop to it. I think I need one of these pen rests in glow-in-the-dark material too!

In feature, Ink Review

Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Fall Collection

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Ink Review: Ferris Wheel Press Fall Collection

This week in Colorado has been cool and crisp – sweatshirts and sweaters are replacing shorts and short sleeves. It’s the perfect time to show this collection from Ferris Wheel Press – The Finer Things collection.

Oyster Hour, Steeped Umber, and Spruce County Post feel like perfect fall colors in my state – we don’t get many colors in autumn, but we do have plenty of cozy fires and hot chocolate that I can imagine with Steeped Umber:

 

And there are more than a few evergreen trees, the color of Spruce County Post:

 

Oyster Hour (we have no oysters here) brings to mind the leaves that are already heaping up here. I personally love crunching them outside:

 

 

I’m very ready for cold fall nights that will soon lead to snow.

The three inks in this fall lineup have a flow that is a bit on the dry side but that isn’t bothersome. They contain no glitter and I saw no bleeding or feathering.

Oyster Hour is a fascinating color – darker and less pink than Sailor Studio 273, a bit more yellow than ColorVerse Soul. Even on the slightly yellow MD Light Paper, it was completely legible and it looks even better on Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light paper.

Steeped Umber looks reddish on Midori MD Light paper but Tomoe River and Cosmo Air Light paper flatten out the color to a more neutral brown. The change between paper works differently on the Spruce County Post ink. Midori MD Light shows a slightly unsaturated, dusty forest green, Tomoe River paper shows a much darker green that appears a bit bluer, and Cosmo Air Light paper shows dark haloing and a greyish-blue tone in heavy swabs.

Midori MD Light paper:

Tomoe River paper (TR7):

Cosmo Air Light paper:

Oyster Hour, Steeped Umber, and Spruce County Post can be found at retailers that carry Ferris Wheel Press inks for $22 for a 38 mL bottle or $16 for the charger set with 5mL of each ink.

Do you have a favorite color?

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this review was provided free of charge by Ferris Wheel Press for the purpose of this review. The other items in the review were purchased by myself. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: Is it Thursday Already?

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

Do Over Button

Somehow, I completely misplaced Wednesday. It happens sometimes. Things get a little chaotic and BOOM! I forget what day it is and when sense returns, I am stunned to realize I misplaced a whole day. I blame it on a rift in time. At least we remembered to put out the trash last night. That would have caused a much bigger stink than being a day late on Link Love, right?

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In podcast

Update: Pen-Related Podcasts

Author AnaPosted on 5 Comments

It’s been a while since our original post talking about our favorite ink and stationery related podcasts. We decided we have enough that it was time for Inky Ears to get it’s own page!

Since our last post, we’ve become aware of the following podcasts:

As The Pen Turns: Hosts Brad, Jason and Jonathan create a podcast made by pen makers for pen makers and pen enthusiasts as well. If you’ve ever had questions about what goes into the Bespoke pen making process this is a place to get those answers!

 

Fountain Pens & Stationery: Frank and Collins discuss their love of fountain pens and stationery.

 

 

 

The Goulet Pencast: Brian Goulet and Drew Brown of GouletPens.com talk about all the fountain pen things that pen fans love. They talk about what’s going on at The Goulet Pen Company, what’s new in the fountain pen world, there are interviews with people in the fountain pen industry, and lots of jokes and fun segments to keep you entertained and maybe even educated about fine writing and fountain pen-related products.

 

The Pen Noobs: Hosts Jika and Ryan say, “We’re just two pen noobs, standing in front of the pen and stationery community, asking them to love us.”

 

 

Stationery Adjacent: Join Stuart and Justin for a podcast at the intersection of analog and digital technology.

 

 

Take Note: Ted Walker and Adam Webb met during a five-week writing program when they were seventeen. They haven’t lived in the same city since — but they have been friends for twenty years. Take Note is their conversation about notebooks, attention, parenting and appreciation for the poignant and preposterous possibilities of any given moment.

 

 

As always, if we’ve missed anyone, please let us know in the comments – the more podcasts to enjoy, the merrier!