Every now and then, I feel the need to invest some of the budget fountain pens available on the market. I often gift these types of fountain pens to friends and co-workers when they express interest in fountain pens. The Platinum Preppy ($5.50-$7.80 per pen) is probably my favorite fountain pen gateway pen.
In the nib close-up photo above, its easy to see the difference in the width of the nibs. The 02 EF is very fine and perfect if you or a friend loves super fine Micron pens or other itty bitty nibs. The 03 is closer to a standard fine-tipped pen, particularly when ink spread is factored into the equation. Fountain pen ink spreads more than gel or ballpoint ink so if you’re trying a fountain pen for the first time, the narrower nibs will have less noticeable ink spread on a wider assortment of average papers.
I installed the cartridge that shipped with both pens so the ink is the same but, in writing, the ink in the 02 looks noticeably lighter. This phenomena is familiar to regular fountain pen users but may come as a surprise to new users. The finer the nib, the less ink on the paper therefore the lighter the ink color.
Thanks to the Platinum “slip and seal” snap cap, these pens will not dry out quickly so if you want to have a back-up fountain pen at the ready in your desk drawer, the Preppy will be ready and waiting.
I like to upgrade these pens with a box of Platinum Carbon Black ink cartridges ($4.50 for a box of 4). Yes, the cartridges are pricey but these fine nibs use ink so sparingly that it will take a good deal of time to use it all up. By the time you or a pal has used a whole box of cartridges, you’ll know if you want to invest in a converter and a whole bottle of ink.
The Preppy remains one of my most recommended entry-level pens. Yes, it requires proprietary cartridges and a converter that costs as much as the pen itself but for a first taste of fountain pens, it can’t be beat.
The Preppy is also quite hackable. Many people will add some silicone grease to the threads and just eyedropper the pens. They are easy to clean and the nibs are smooth for such a fine nib.
How many Preppys are in your collection? Or what pen do you gift to would-be pen fans?
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.
Moving into 2023, as a stationery nerd, I use Dead Week and the first few weeks of the new year to start fresh with new planners, new journals and new plans for the coming year.
The last few years have been a challenge for everyone. Family losses, illness, job changes and all the other struggles that have plagued the world over the last few years made it hard to keep positive.
I’m not the only one feeling this, am I?
Some people make resolutions but I prefer to make plans–things I’d like to accomplish in the coming year — both big and small. Travel plans and financial goals on the “big” end and things like repotting plants, clearing out the basement and reading 50 books are just a few of my “little” plans. This ritual, for me, helps to spur positivity, optimism and even action.
Plans and Goals
I use GoodReads to track my reading challenge goals and have done this challenge for over a decade now. I have a stack of books on my nightstand that I collected last year that will be where I start with my reading challenge.
Knitters often use January and February to assess their yarn stash and projects for the coming year. One knitter refers to this as the “annual airing of the stash” and Laura and I often participate in a February “Fix it, Finish it or Frog it” challenge which I think we made up.
Many people try to choose a word for the year — something that embodies their commitment or inspiration for the year. Goalchaser features a list of over 100 possible words you might consider choosing as your “word of the year”. I am working to choose my word of the year this week. I want the word to embody a trait I want to have more abundantly in my life so I am weighing my options at the moment. What word would you pick as your “word of the year”?
Cleaning up
While many of us, myself included, like to take the new year to consider paring down, clearing clutter or cleaning, we often think of our homes, closets and collections specifically. The start of the new year is a good time for a digital declutter as well. I like to consider what apps I can remove from my phone, ipad and computer that I no longer use. I back up photos and other files to an external hard drive. I take some time to delete endless screenshots and other random photos from my photo library. I don’t need to archive those photos of price tags I took at the store to text to Bob (“Is this the one you wanted?”).
I also go through any subscriptions I have and consider if I’ve been using them. These are mostly digital subscriptions but they can add up. Newspapers, streaming services, podcasts, substacks, patreon projects, etc — can all be up for consideration.
While on the topic of podcasts, this is also a good time to consider refreshing your podcast collection. Are there podcasts you’ve been skipping for months? Time to prune them from the collection and maybe add some new podcasts that might align with goals for the new year. Or maybe just mix it up? Here are some recommendations from Avery Trufelman of Articles of Interest. The top of the post includes links to “best podcasts” lists which are also a great source for new content.
The Tools
Since switching to a bullet journal/undated planner set-up, I don’t need to start or switch to a new planner at the start of the year. I just turn the page.
I do think I will start a new sketchbook for 2023. I want to make more time to sketch and draw and having a place specifically set aside for this will be a nice “fresh start” for me. I am testing a couple B6 sketchbooks as possibilities but there are not a lot in my favorite size so I may need to switch to an A5 to find the right paper for the way that I want to work.
I have really streamlined the pens I use on a regular basis and it’s making it clear that I could pare down my collection this year. I have paired certain pens with certain notebooks and that has made the process of choosing a tool when I need to work much easier. I also took several bottles of ink to work so that I can easily refill pens.
I have also taken some time to sort through gel pens, markers and other writing tools and clear out some of the clogged/dried out ones and make a pile of the ones I just don’t use to donate to a charity.
Setting Aside Time
More than anything, I think making and sticking to resolutions or plans or whatever you call them, requires making time to do the tings you want to do. I realize this can often be easier said than accomplished. Work, family and life can often take up our time but there are other things that can sap our time like social media, consuming media like tv or YouTube that we might want to consider taking back for other projects.
Starting in 2023, I will be allowed to work from home on Mondays and Fridays which means I gain an hour of time on these days I would normally use for commuting. What do I plan to do with that time? I am not sure yet. Maybe Mondays will be dedicated to getting a longer workout in and Fridays will be for an hour of drawing time?
Are there other activities stealing our time? How will you make time in the new year for what you really want to do?
In May of 2022 three kittens easily fit into this basket.By November, even one cat didn’t quite fit. Pepper looks like he melted.
May 2023 be full of the things and people you love with enough time to enjoy them!
Ferris Wheel Press has not been shy with the number of new inks they have released recently. Their latest collection, Alice in Wonderland, is part of the FerriTales line and recently concluded with Tears of Sapphire. But don’t worry! A new collection is beginning with today’s ink, Lapis Lullabies.
I do love the detail in the packaging for all of Ferris Wheel Press inks and Lapis Lullabies is no exception. This is the first ink that starts into the tale of Sleeping Beauty, so the heavy bed curtains are surrounded by roses with spinning wheels carved into the bed posts.
As with all of the FerriTales inks, Lapis Lullabies is in an adorable bottle – a miniature version of the full sized inks in the normal ink line.
Lapis Lullabies is closer to a deep sea or dark teal color than a true lapis. The ink has a reddish-copper sheen with gold sparkle added – not unlike Emerald of Chivor (although Lapis is bluer).
The base color of Lullabies is close to Lamy Petrol.
Even the sheen in Lullabies comes close to the same sheen in Petrol.
My writing below is on Tomoe River 68gsm paper in a notebook from Odyssey Notebooks.
I love the more coppery tone in Lullabies’ sheen rather than a bold metallic red.
The FerriTales inks each come in a small, 20mL bottle for $21 at most ink retailers which places the ink at about $1.05 per mL – rather expensive on my charts. It is, however, a beautiful ink for a special treat. As with each of the small bottles from Ferris Wheel Press, I must warn about the small opening – large pens will not fit into it. The largest diameter pen I can fit into the bottle is a TWSBI Eco – this pen is a tight fit. Please keep this in mind when deciding to purchase!
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purposes of this review by Ferris Wheel Press. Please see the About page for more details.
When I read Austin Kleon’s substack newsletter this week about Dead Week, I knew that would be my theme for Link Love this week. I love the idea that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is a “dead week”. Whatever needed to be done for the year was either completed before Christmas or can wait for the start of the year.
Since I started a new job this fall, I haven’t accumulated any vacation time yet so I am going into the office this week. It’s a bit of a ghost town since most people took the week off to fully embrace Dead Week. Those of us going into the office are living out a different sort of Dead Week where we can only accomplish so much without the majority of the decision makers available to sign off on projects.
Embrace Dead Week. Whether you are working this week or taking some time off, take the pressure off yourself this week to be productive or effective. That can wait until next week. Spend an extra hour in bed or take a long hot bath, drink cocoa for breakfast and eat cereal for dinner.
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Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Part of me LOVES the idea because I like setting goals and achieving them. And then the other part of me is ready to just enjoy this last week of the year and not clutter it up with expectations for the new year.
This year I do have a few ideas in mind on how I’d like to start 2023, and you know they say “start as you mean to go on.” So here’s what I’m thinking about:
Record more of my daily life. I talked about starting a common place journal a few months ago, and two weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought a Midori 5-Year Diary ($42). I don’t know quite yet what I’ll record, but I’m thinking what I’m knitting, reading and watching, plus any general thoughts or quotes I’m enjoying. I don’t plan to specifically record my inky adventures, but I do plan to use whatever pens and inks I’m digging at the time.
Use more of what I already have. This has been a goal for a few years running now. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful stash of pens, inks and papers, along with crafting supplies. Though I don’t like to admit it, I suffer from FOMO and “oooo shiny” and add to my collections each year. I have so much that sometimes I forget what I have, and I certainly don’t delve into it as often as I’d like. Don’t worry – I’ll still find new things to share here, but I’d like to enjoy what I have.
Explore new authors. I love reading. This year I was part of two book clubs, one of which was specifically geared towards more diverse voices. Even if I don’t always love the books that the groups pick, I am constantly pushed into new genres and new voices and I enjoy getting outside of my comfort zone.
Be more active. I don’t want to make a fitness goal because that’s very cliched and also not very interesting to me. What I would like to be is more active. I’d like to take more breaks with a walk outside, get more comfortable riding my bike, and generally try and up my daily activity level.
Enjoy the good times more. Let’s face it, sometimes the state of the world can be pretty overwhelming. But there are still so many wonderful conversations to be had, books to be read, hobbies to be enjoyed and time to spend with family and friends. I’m no Pollyanna, but I want to savor the good times even more and hold them close when things are less fun.
Just when I thought there couldn’t be a new notebook that would entice me, the Midori Soft Color Notebooks arrive on JetPens. These A5 dot grid cahier-style notebooks come in five pastel colors and white for $3.50 each. There are 28 sheets (56 pages) in each book. I decided to try the gray but it was hard to pick just one color.
The notebooks feature a light cardstock cover that matches the interior pages. The graphics on the cover are minimal and not too distracting.
The interior pages feature a light grey 5mm dot grid and paper with a slight tooth. It’s not super smooth like Rhodia but not as textured as Col-o-ring paper.
Above is a comparison between a white sheet and the color of the Soft Color Notebook in gray. The gray creates a nice backdrop for early morning writing and note taking when your eyes aren’t ready for eye-searing bright white stocks.
When testing the paper, the slight tooth seemed to be calling for colored pencils and lo and behold, colored pencil colors POP on the grey. Even if you are not inclined to draw much, adding a bright colored pencil to your writing tools will be a great way to underline key notes, or add titles or callouts to your pages. At the bottom of the page, I did some ink swatch test to see if the color would sheen or bleed through.
The paper did not feather with fountain pens and was fun to use with an array of gel pens. I think gel pens, particularly Dual Metallic or Pastel colors would look great on this paper.
While the inks didn’t show sheen, some of the shading and color shifting properties were visible but not to the same extent that they would be on Tomoe River or Endless Regalia paper.
From the back of the same page, you can see there was no bleed through which is a great bonus.
These little Soft Color cahier notebooks from Midori might not be for everyone. However, if you are looking for a small, fountain pen-friendly notebook for projects or specific topics, and have always wanted to try colored paper stocks, then this notebook might be for you. The ability to color code via the whole notebook is great and, for the price, you could easily purchase the whole rainbow which makes these hard to resist.
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.
On the last day of Inkmas, we ate Sweet Tater Pie ($14.75 for 30ml bottle). Okay, we’ve discussed this before. Do NOT eat or drink the ink no matter how tasty it looks or smells. Though it is hard to resist an ink that you want to top with toasted marshmallows and dig into with a giant spoon.
When I look at Sweet Tater Pie, I can smell the pie spices (it’s not scented, they are phantom smells.). Maybe it should have been scented? nah.. I’d rather imagine the smells. The color though reminds me of pumpkin pie for sure. OR sweet tater pie, if you prefer that as a holiday treat. Either way its a bright orange that’s not too garish, there’s a nice warm undertone that keeps it from searing the retinas. Depending on the tool you are using the ink with shade from a bright orangey to a deeper baked orange color.
When compared with some other russet oranges in my stash, I would say the closest similar ink color is Callifolio Inti which may be ever-so-slightly more brownish. Robert Oster Campfire is close as well and since that was a Phidon Pens exclusive, Sweet Tater Pie might be a good alternative for those of us south of the Canadian border. Lamy Bronze isn’t even in the ballpark colorwise.
DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
