In Link Love

Link Love: A Very Papery Day (and Ereader Questions)

Author AnaPosted on 21 Comments
Link Love: A Very Papery Day (and Ereader Questions)

I need your help. I have had multiple brands of ereaders over the years. My latest ereaders are an 11-year old Kobo Aura and a Kindle Paperwhite purchased in 2018. These devices are old and it shows.

My Kobo no longer holds a charge on the battery and is having some refresh issues so its basically sat in the bottom of a drawer for about a year or so now. The Kindle is so old that it does not have the dark mode option and cannot be updated to add it which is annoying if I want to read at night.

For the last few months, I’ve been trying to decide if I should buy a new ereader and, if so, which brand I should purchase. I have been researching options from Kindle, Kobo, Onyx Boox and a few others. My goal is to read books and I check ebooks out from our library so I really want Libby support. The release of the new Kindle Colorsoft has thrown a little wrench into my research as I wait for reviews and comparisons to be posted online. So, I thought I’d throw it out to you, my lovely readers, do you use an ereader? If so, which brand/model? I could really use some recommendations. I’m leaning away from Kindle (for the most part) but I haven’t ruled it out. Let me know your thoughts!

Link of the Week:

Ooh, a Color Kindle Is Finally Here (via Kottke.org)

Now, on to the links!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Planners, Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

 

Oh, one last thing! I know I’ve told you about our Patreon but have you checked out our shop lately? We even have an Etsy shop for our international readers. We have lots of new products like stickers, exclusive Rickshaw bags and cases, washi tape and so much more! Your support helps keep us going. So, thank you for reading this and supporting our site!

In Art of the Day, Art Supplies

Doodle-tober?

Author Laura CameronPosted on 4 Comments

This year instead of participating in Inktober, where I try and use different inks during the month, I decided to do my own “Doodle-tober.” So I took all the supplies I had at hand (more about those below) and started playing. I took lots of inspiration from Instagram, and I’m hoping to develop my own style. Here are a few of my doodles!

Now since this is a pen and ink and paper blog, here are the supplies I’m using.

Paper:

Pens:

My new favorites:

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen Hard Black – I think I got this one in a sampler pack from Jet Pens a while back. It is now my FAVORITE black pen. It’s a brush pen, but the line it puts down is thin enough to almost me a liner for me. Edgings? Details? I love this pen.

TriC Art Performance Dual Brush – I don’t know what these are. A quick Google returns a set on eBay. When I started doodling my husband said, “I have some markers you might like.” He’s right. I love them. They’ve got a fine liner tip and a brush tip, and I think they’re basically Tombow knockoffs… I guess I’m saving my pennies for a set of Tombows?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided free of charge for the purpose of review, others I purchased with my own money. Please see the About page for more details.

In Fountain Pen Review

Fountain Pen Review (& Giveaway): Laban Rosa Fountain Pen in Lilac

Author AnaPosted on 41 Comments
Fountain Pen Review (& Giveaway): Laban Rosa Fountain Pen in Lilac

Laban is Taiwanese-based pen company that I’ve had a lot of experience with using so I was quite excited to get a chance to test one of their fountain pens.

The Laban Rosa Fountain Pen ($140) in Lilac with the Medium nib is an acrylic resin pen with gold tone hardware. The Rosa line includes several other color options. The cap bands on the other designs look like a Greek Key repeating pattern while the Lilac has an etched branded cap band. Its a medium-sized pen, similart in overal dimensions to a Leonardo Momento Zero in size and shape.

The pen ships in a simple paperboard drawer box and includes the pen and a converter.

The colors of the Lilac are a swirl of green, grey and a periwinkle blue violet. It’s accented with the warm gold hardware and a two-tone nib.

The nib is a smooth writer with a bit of bounce. It’s not flexible but does have a gentle spring when used.

I attempted to match some ink colors to the pen. Which color is your favorite?

I chose the Ayame originally since it has a similar color range. But it ended up being a little too light for the medium nib so I went with the Pen BBS No. 224 Tolstoy.

Because of the bounce in the nib, it doesn’t lay down a lot of ink for an over-handed left-handed writer.

When I switched to underwriting (the middle sample) the color was much deeper and the line weights were a bit thicker. There was even a little bit of line variation as a result of the bounce in the nib.

I was a bit surprised to discover the bounce in the Laban nib. Sadly, it’s not a pen that works with my writing style. The resin is very pretty and its quite comfortable in the hand.

So, my loss is your gain. I am giving this pen to one lucky reader.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what the colors of this pen remind you of. Play along and type in something. 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, October 25. 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 Luxury Brands USA/Laban for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Paper Review

Paper Review: Yamamoto Paper Tasting Silky Vol. 3

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Paper Review: Yamamoto Paper Tasting Silky Vol. 3

Over the years, I’ve tested several of the Yamamoto Paper Sampling Kits. I recently saw the Yamamoto Paper Testing Silky Vol. 3 ($11) which includes three 25-sheet pads of papers: B7 Yamaoto Bank Paper Takasago Premium, A6 Smooth Art Paper and B6 Sheep Clouds Bond.

Both the Bank Paper and the Sheep Clouds is indicated as friendly with every pen according to the slip sheet included with the tablets. The Smooth Art paper is listed as good with gel and ball point pens but we are going to test it with the same pens that we use with every other paper.

In the back of the packet, there is an information sheet that gives details about Japanese papers and paper sizes.

The Yamamoto Bank Paper performed well with all the pens I tested but had a long dry time and appeared to have a slightly different texture or coating on the front and back so I test both sides of the paper. The dry time on the back was a bit faster on the back of the paper but overall it was a good performer.

I did notice that the Bank Paper is pretty translucent if its in a stack as you can see in the above image.

The Art Paper appeard to be a matte coated stock so colors appear vibrant and too a long time to dry. You can see the washy effect in the brush pen lettering at the bottom of the page. It’s interesting but I’m not sure how useful it would be in day-to-day use.

Only a little bleed through on the back of the Art Paper but this paper, as anticipated was a little weird.

The last sheets in the packet were the B6 Sheep Clouds. Despite the somewhat goofy name, this paper is pretty fabulous. Shading and sheening showed clearly, all the pens I tested worked well and there was little to no bleed through or show through.

I would definitely be happy to have a whole notebook of the Sheep Clouds paper. The Bank Paper is a close second and while the Art Paper is interesting, I might try playing with paint markers or other creative materials to use it.

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.

In feature

Notebook Review: Nakabayashi W/U B6 5mm Grid

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Notebook Review: Nakabayashi W/U B6 5mm Grid

I grabbed a small B6 notebook called the Nakabayashi W/U ($3.20) while I was at the Dallas Pen Show. It is filled with 40 sheets of dotted line 5mm grid paper with a natural white color. The book is stitch bound with a glossy paper board cover. It’s a classic “cahier” style notebook.

I wanted it as a supplement in my planner journal for additional notes and projects.

I tested a variety of pens. On the left hand side I tested all my currently inked fountain pens  and on the right, I tested gel, brush, felt and ball point pens.

There was no evidence of feathering on the front and, from the back, there was only a little bleed through with the widest nib and the Pilot brush pen.

I took a a close-up to show the dotted grid and the bleed through of the Oster Campfire ink in the wide stub nib.

Overall, for the price point and the niche this notebook fills in the market, I would recommend this notebook as an option for anyone looking for a good B6 notebook. It’s also available in a horizontal format.

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

In Link Love

Link Love: By the Power of Tomoe River!

Author AnaPosted on 1 Comment
Link Love: By the Power of Tomoe River!

The debate has continued about the overall consistency and quality of the 2025 Tomoe River planner papers. Following my post on Monday. I received emails and comments that many folks have run into issues with the Tomoe River paper in the 2025 planners bleeding, feathering and causing general heartache. So, I recommend that you test your planner, if you have one that utilizes the 52gsm Tomoe River paper. From what I understand, the issue may not be limited to Hobonichi but other brands of planners using Tomoe River paper (the Sanzen produced papers) have also had some issues.

The plot thickens….

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

Thanks for reading this week’s Link Love. If you love Link Love, you’ll love our  Patreon, where we have an exclusive podcast called TL:DR, full of stationery products and community news.  And thanks, current Patrons! Without you, we could not continue to do what we do.

In feature

Giveaway Winner: Notegeist Bindery Everydays

Author AnaPosted on 3 Comments

The monkeys at the desk are having a bit of a rough go today so we apologize that this drawing is a little later than normal! The two lucky winners of the Notegeist Bindery Everydays are Christopher and Heather.

Congratulations to both!

And we apologize to Heather in advance that this is a dangerous blog for your wallet. Sorry, not sorry?

Winners have been notified by email. Stay tuned for further giveaways soon!