I know it sounds hokey, but in the last few years, since I haven’t attended pen shows that much, I’ve been concentrating on what I already have in my collection and trying to use it more. That doesn’t mean I haven’t bought new things (I surely have!) but I’m also focusing on what my favorites are turning out to be in everyday usage.
This is the current lineup of pens on my desk. From left to right:
Meister By Point Pocket Felt Tip Marker: I’m generally not a huge fine liner or felt tip aficionado, but somehow I’ve been enjoying this one. I filled it with a fountain pen ink cartridge, which makes it THAT much more fun and it’s on the small side which means it fits my hand really nicely. I find it perfect for marking up my daily calendar. I expect this one will be in rotation for a while.
Platinum 3776 Shape of a Heart: The newest entry to the desk set, the Platinum 3776 is a really nice writing experience. I suspect I may have the nib tuned or ground just a bit at the next show I attend, because it occasionally catches a bit, and I’d like to get it set for my left-handed use. But the pen itself is gorgeous and I’m really glad I picked it up!
Kaweco AL Sport: These are kind of my latest addiction. I currently have three and I have my eye on a few more colors. I actually do like the metal a bit better than the regular plastic Sport. The Kaweco is the perfect pocket pen – it always writes when I open it, it’s easily cartridge-filled, it’s inexpensive enough to own different colors and nibs, and there’s always at least one on my desk!
Schon DSGN Pocket Six: I picked up my first Pocket Six in April of 2021 after eying them for a while. I love Ian’s fun color combinations – there are so many that are tempting – and this pen is pure fun. It’s currently loaded with a cartridge that came with it, but I can’t wait to refill the cartridges with the inks of my choice. My only complaint on this one is it’s perfectly smooth and round so it sometimes rolls away from me.
What are you using most these days? Anything special live on your desk?
Let’s start with the description of this extra special limited edition pen set from Enigma Blanks. I think the full title should look something like this:
Enigma Blanks x Shawn Newton x Custom Nib Studios Purple Striped Jellyfish Eastman Fountain Pen with Reverse Architect Nib plus Vinta Inks Tabuan Purple Sea Star and Frieheit Freestyle Notebook in Ocean.
That’s a mouthful and took up more space than my title would allow! This is such an epic set featuring a 3x collaboration. The set is limited to just 24 units and will be available at the San Francisco Pen Show.
So let’s get into the details and peel back the many layers that make this so extra special. Enigma Blanks, inspired by a local species of jellyfish, the Chrysaora Colorata found in the waters around northern California, created these alumilite pen blanks with pinks, purples and shades of blue in translucent and opaque material and then added a healthy amount of iridescent shimmer.
Enigma Blanks then passed the blanks to Shawn Newton of Newton Pens to shape them into pens using his Eastman pen design. The shape is a simple, flat-ended tubular shape. This simple shape shows the swirled color of the blank to the best effect, IMHO. I find the more complex the material color, the simpler the pen design should be.
There is tapered grip section that fits comfortably in the hand, even for someone like me with itty bitty baby-sized hands.
pens for scale, left to right: Kaweco Sport, Pelikan M200, Opus 88 Koloro, Pilot 912, Enigma Blanks/Newton Eastman, Pelikan M600 and Franklin Christoph Pocket 45.
The pen is 5.75″ long when capped and 5.375″ when uncapped. The cap does not post in this design. Its a fairly sizable pen but not too heavy thanks to the material used to make the pen. Capped and filled with the included converter, the pen weighs 24gms. Uncapped, it’s a mere 16gms.
Pens for scale uncapped and posted where possible. From left to right: Kaweco Sport, Pelikan M200, Opus 88 Koloro, Pilot 912, Enigma Blanks/Newton Eastman, Pelikan M600 and Franklin Christoph Pocket 45.
THEN… (yes, there’s a then!) the JOWO No. 6 nib was shaped by Gena Salorino at Custom Nib Studio into a reverse architect nib. To quote Gena’s web site: “The Architect Point is on the reverse of the nib. This allows you to have a more usable nib for normal writing, but access to a more expressive nib on the reverse.”
Now, let’s flip the nib and see what we get.
Oh, well that’s fun! I don’t think I’ve worked with a full reversible nib before. When the pen is flipped over (so the feed is facing you and the nib is closer to the paper), the line weights vary pretty significantly.
And amusingly, when an overwriting lefty uses an Architect nib, it becomes an italic. When overwriting lefties use Italic nibs, they look like Architect nibs. So, that’s a bonus.
Extras:
The pen comes with lots of information about the care and maintenance, a certificate of authenticity, info about all parties involved and, of course, stickers!
Then there’s an exclusive ink:
Vinta Inks Tabuan Purple Sea Star
Enigma Blanks worked with Vinta Inks to create a complimentary (Zoey the Mama Cat added: iu’;/÷÷. I think it means “Fabulously sea inspired”) ink, Tabuan Purple Sea Star. This ink is a beautiful, shading ink inspired by another sea dwelling creature, the Purple Sea Star. The ink coordinates beautifully with the pen and presents as more purple, blue or pink depending on the paper, shading or line width.
I was able to compare this ink with a few other pink-to-purple/violet shaders I had in my collection, from top to bottom: Ferris Wheel Press, Kobe #57, Troublemaker Foxglove, Sailor Jentle , Papier Plume Violet and then Vinta Inks Tabuan Purple Sea Star. I put the colors in order from pinkiest to most violet.
Oh, and we must not forget the notebook. It is a Freiheit Freestyle Notebook in Ocean.3 (a lovely sea blue) with ivory pages and a 5mm dotted line graph printed in brown. the notebook is approximately 9.5″ tall x 5″ wide which is not an A5 slim nor a B5 slim. It’s its own unique size.
The paper is very smooth and worked well with most rollerball and felt tip pens in my collection. Pencils felt amazing on the smooth paper but could smear more easily since the paper is not overly textured.
There was some showthrough on the reverse of the stock but not terrible. With fountain pens, the paper does show more ink showthrough and may have a little feathering but its a good notebook for the price (or included in the set).
The complete set includes the Enigma/Newton/Custom Nib Studio pen, a bottle of the Vinta ink, and the Freiheit notebook for $300. The ink will also be available separately for $18. The notebook can also be purchased separately for $9. If any items are left after the SF Pen Show, they will be made available on their website.
Even More Cool Stuff:
The folks at Enigma Blanks also included a rubber stamp set in the package they sent me. This is a 6-rubber stamp push button set called Kodomo Mo Kao Pochitto 6 ($10 per set). This unusual strip of tiny stamps works by letting you remove the cap on the bottom and then just push down on the stamp you want to use. The stamps are pre-inked so its great to use with your bullet journal or planner.
Before depressing the buttonAfter pressing the stamp button.
The stamp does not require a lot of pressure to transfer the image. It took me a couple tries to get the right pressure but I like the pen, ink and nib stamps. They would be perfect to note the pen, ink and nib used on a particular page. I like the book too because I regularly include a “what I’m reading” item in my daily journal. The tape and clip are a little more esoteric for daily use but if you have some ideas for them, let me know.
Reverse page of the Freiheit Freestyle Notebook with fountain pen ink and Pochitto 6 stamps.
This rubber stamp set will be available at the San Francisco Pen Show as well but is not part of the Purple Striped Jellyfish Pen and Ink collection and is sold separately. It will be available on the Enigma Blanks Pen’s Desk Site after the show.
Final Thoughts:
This pen and ink set really encapsulates the spirit of the pen community. There are so many talented people in the pen community and folks are great about combining their skills. Enigma Blanks combined their skills with Newton and Custom Nib Studio then added the Vinta Inks and Freiheit Notebooks and created something that is really a pen show in a set. What a delight!
I think by blending all these elements Enigma created something better than the individual parts. Not to say that the individual parts aren’t great on their own but this set makes it great times three!
And before we go:
Okay, technically there are only 23 of these pens available and, if you’ve read this far, you will be prepared. Later this week, we will be giving away this pen — #24/24. So, stayed tund for your chance to win this beautiful pen.
PS: Not to shamelessly plug but my darling husband printed the pillow pen sleeve for Enigma Blanks at his shop, Skylab Letterpress. This pen packaging meets a bevy of my personal requirements — recyclable, protective without being ostentatious and it’s pretty too.
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Enigma Blanks for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
The Washington DC show was an amazing place to be this year – many people have not seen one another in two years and the reunions were everywhere. This did, however, lead to shortages on popular items at the show. One of these was a new, exclusive ink from Galen Leather, a KWZ ink that sparkles called Prairie Green. Thank you to Galen Leather for giving me a bottle to review!
This is an ink that can be ordered from their store, though! So if you missed out on Prairie Green, take a look at the color and order online. The ink sells for $15 for a 60mL bottle.
As usual, the KWZ ink comes in a dark brown glass bottle, packaged in a simple white box. I’ve noticed that the normal faint vanilla scent is not present in this sparkly ink or it is so faint that I can’t detect it.
I inked up a Wing Sung 698 with a fine nib to really push the chance of the ink clogging in the pen. The demonstrator barrel is a huge plus – I love watching the particles inside.
I allowed the ink to sit in the pen for two days before writing this entry, again to see the extreme limits of the ink. I did need to dip the nib in water to get the flow going again, however, once I did that, the ink had no problem.
Prairie Green has two colors – the ink color is a green gold that looks perfect for the name.
It also has a brilliant, bright gold sparkle that is visible at the correct angle.
The ink color is close to KWZ Green/Gold, but slightly less yellow. Birmingham Arugula is a great match.
Prairie Green looks even closer to KWZ Green/Gold when the sparkle shows. You may notice that there isn’t much sparkle in the writing on the Col-o-Ring card below – I swatched the card without shaking the bottle again which led to non-sparkly writing. I have not run into the same issue while writing with a fountain pen.
Cosmo Air Light paper:
Cosmo Air Light paper at the sparkle angle:
Tomoe River paper (old):
Tomoe River paper (old) at the sparkle angle:
I don’t know if KWZ has ever created a sparkly ink before – I have never seen one. Let me know in the comments if you have knowledge of one! I am enjoying playing with Prairie Green this week; it is a great color and so sparkly. At $0.25 per mL, this may be the best priced sparkle ink currently on the market – I highly recommend ordering some soon! I will be reviewing additional Galen Exclusive inks in the near future, so check back soon!
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Galen Leather for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
While the big news for lots of folks was a good trip to DC for the pen show, for Brad effin’ Dowdy, it was an exceptionally big week. And friends celebrate friends. So, let’s all cheer for (and tease) Brad for appearing on WNYC and also launching a collaboration with Rickshaw Bags to release the new version of the Sinclair 3-pen case which will be available in a couple weeks at the SF Pen Show.
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Thanks so much to everyone who entered our giveaway for the Ferris Wheel Press Brush Fountain Pen & Ink Charger Set. I’m glad the post helped to introduce a lot of folks to this delightful Canadian pen and stationery brand.
Our winner is:
I will be contacting Robert directly to arrange delivery of his new pen and ink set.
I’m getting ready to head out of town on vacation for the first time in a few years, and I’m super excited. My husband and I like to travel with Race2Adventure – he loves the running, I love the yarn stores (no one’s surprised right?) This time we’re headed to Norway for sightseeing, running, yarn and more.
So I was thrilled a few weeks ago when Ana handed me a Paperblanks journal with the suggestion I use it to commemorate the trip. She’s so right – I’ll forget all the details if I don’t write them down, so thanks for the nudge.
I did decide to give the notebook a bit of a test run before I left home – today I’ll share what I found.
The journal Ana gave me is a Paperblanks Midi Notebook from The New Romantics series ($18.95). The hardcover is made of 100% recycled binder boards and covered in a pretty cover paper. The blue is called “Peacock Punk” and is lightly embossed in some fun patterns and a bit of yellow/gold color. (The notebook also comes in Velvet Cape (green) in Midi and Mini, and Midnight Rebel (black) and Urban Glam (red) in Ultra size.)
Inside the notebook has front and end papers in a kraft brown paper, along with a memento pouch in the back (perfect for ticket stubs and the like!). There is a black elastic which can hold the notebook closed (if I stuff it too full!) and a gold colored ribbon bookmark.
The paper in this notebook is great! It is thicker (120gsm) in an off-white color, and there are 144 pages. The pages are lined (lines are 6.67mm apart) which makes for easy journaling on the go without using lining sheets. The journal has sewn binding and feels pretty sturdy.
This one is a nice travel size: 5″ x 7″ and 0.75″ thick (130mm x 180mm; 20mm) though it does come in heavier than a Field Notes. With the hard cover, it weighs in at 9.8oz/279gm. That, to me, is the only drawback, especially on a trip where we’re always on the go moving our own luggage!
The paper performs really nicely. I tested it with everything from my magic rainbow pencil through Sharpies and Copic markers and nothing shows through except those last two.
I’m heartily looking forward to my vacation, and now I’ve got a pretty sweet little journal to travel with. I think I’m going to take my Kaweco AL Sport in Violet with me (plus extra cartridges). I chose that because it’s reliable and I can always toss out an ink cartridge if it leaks and start a new one. My journal won’t be colorful, but it will be fun to take notes, remember small moments and places we travel. I’ll share more when I get back!
As I’ve mentioned earlier this year, I am doing a very slack, modified bullet journal system that combines a lot of the elements of a commonplace book and a log book as well as the standard to-do lists. It’s not the prettiest (i.e. Instagram-worthy) planner system but I like it and it works for me.
As we move into the last half of the year, my daily bullet journaling has been a bit more sporadic. I’ve skipped more than one day in a row and I wanted to inspire myself to get back into regularly writing the daily ebbs and flows of my days.
So, I decided to purchase a few sets of stamps in hopes that doing a little pretty-ing of my journal/planner might help inspire me to be more active with it. I could have gotten more brush pens or stickers or other methods for embellishment but I decided to start with stamps and go from there.
I found an assortment of fun and interesting clear stamps on JetPens that I decided to try.
I started with three sets of MU My Icon “Splice Stamp” clear stamps ($4.40 per set). I purchased the Moon Phase Set (Lunar Phases), a Wildflower set (Flowers – B) and a Frame Set (Large Frames -A). There were 16 different sets available on JetPens and they were all pretty so it was hard to pick just three.
I also bought the BGM Ink & Pain Clear Stamp set (no longer in stock!). I didn’t realize when I bought it that it would be out of stock so I apologize for (potentially) tempting you with a product that is not available. I thought it was cute and I wanted to see how someone else did an ink bottle stamp. The large ink spots and spills are not particularly useful to me — I can make a mess all on my own, thankyouveddymuch. But I thought the paint tube and star chart was cute.
In better news, I also got the BGM Cat To-Do Clear Stamp Set ($10.25). The largest stamp in the Cat To-Do sheet is the “checklist” stamp that measures approximately 2.5″ x 1.5″. There is one stamp with Japanese writing (according to Google Translate it says YEAR/MONTH/DAY with a bit of space between each word to fill in your current info) but the others are written in English. The stamp in the lower right corner looks like a cat sitting on a lunch bag which is perfect for adding in info about what you had for lunch or if you like to meal plan.
The final set of clear stamps I found on Etsy and was so charmed by the little tarot symbols that I had to buy it. This set came from Writual Planner Shop and sells for $45. Its a bit pricey but it is the only stamp set I’ve seen like this so I purchased it. I’ve been learning to read tarot and I thought the stamps would be a fun way to keep tracking of the cards I pull each day. The set includes the full Major Arcana and a stamp for cups, wands, swords and pentacles so I just have to write the number next those for the full deck. Really, the set was so stinkin’ cute it was hard to resist. The tarot stamps came with a small acrylic block and a free teeny stamp pad which was nice to have included!
Acrylic Blocks:
If you’re unfamiliar with using clear stamps, you need to adhere them to a firm surface in order to use them. Many makers of clear stamps recommend clear acrylic blocks. The advantage is that you can see where you are placing the stamp so you can be a bit more accurate in aligning the stamp to the rest of the content on your page. I have, over the years, acquired an array of different sized acrylic blocks. Some have printed guidelines on them, round corners, one even has a hole to attach the block to a keychain.
While purchasing the clear stamps on JetPens, I found this set of MU round acrylic pegs ($4.90 for the set of 2). The set include one peg that is 2.3cm in diameter and one that is 1.8cm in diameter. Since I purchased a couple sets of stamps that were quite small, I thought this would be a great addition to my acrylic block collection.
The pegs are long enough to be easy to maneuver at 2.5cm tall. They are also kind of cool to look at — these little pillars of clear acrylic.
The smallest of the clear stamps that I purchased fit neatly on the end of the peg. I kind of want to find more tiny stamps to use these cool little pegs.
I have heard that some folks just stick the stamp to the clear lid from their stamp pad which I think is supremely clever and cuts down on buying a lot of extra stuff. The Ranger Archival Stamp Pads ($7 and up) I sell in my shop do not have clear lids so I think I’ll stick to using the clear blocks for the time being. If I switch to less permanent stamp pads (most of the water-based pads have clear lids) I will have less to carry in my kit.
Using the Stamps:
I tested the stamps on both Tomoe River and my daily bullet journal notebook, a Paperblanks 120gsm notebook. I wanted to see how the stamps and ink pads performed on both papers as they are the papers I use most frequently. Dry time was pretty reasonable for the Ranger pads on the Tomoe which was a surprise.
When using clear stamps, there is less need to press hard to make an image. In fact, the lighter the touch the better because the material is much squishier than the traditional woodblock stamps. If I pressed too hard on the stamp pad or on the paper, the line widths of the artwork would get a little wider than needed.
On the Paperblanks paper, I added my dates for the coming week and layered the stamps a little bit. It took about 15 minutes to test drive the stamps and then combine into a little collages for each page. I love the cat doing the splits. He looks so stoic. The large frames stamps are perfect for my date on each page. The frames just elevated my dates a little bit. I may start adding color with pencils or brush pens to make my little dates pop a bit more.
Final Observations:
Overall, I’m pretty happy with my stamp purchases. I don’t think it’s a big deal that the Ink & Paint set is sold out because there were only a couple stamps on the whole sheet that I liked. Suffice to say, you’re not missing anything there. I love the MU My Icon “Splice Stamp” clear stamps. The lines were delicate and the designs were beautiful. I will definitely be picking up a few more sets of those. I realize that the tarot stamps are probably a bit specific to my interests but maybe it will inspire you to looks for stamps you could use in your own planner/journal that relate (fitness trackers, books, film, music, etc).
Let me know if you are looking for any themed stamps or what hobby you are into these days.
DISCLAIMER: Some 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.
