In feature

My Ink 100: Part 3 – Swatch-a-thon

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
My Ink 100: Part 3 – Swatch-a-thon

I have moved on to the “swatch the unswatched” phase of my Ink 100 Project. Check out my previous posts including, Part 1: Admitting I have a Problem and Part 2: Color Inventory is Hard.

I needed to swatch 37 bottles of ink in order to move forward in my Ink 100 project. It was a whole afternoon project to just get all the inks swatched in order to move forward with this ridiculous project.  As I was swatching, I realized I have WAY TOO many blue-greens, turquoise and teal inks. I also buy a lot of grey and dirty purple colors.

How do I pick which one stay and which ones go?

I swatched seven different greys and blacks. I person, the Colorverse Under the Shade and Dominant Industry Downpour look almost identical. Sailor Ice Gray shipped with my Sailor First Snow fountain pen and is very light. Each of these groups will get compared with the inks I’ve already chosen and then pared down.

I sampled the Manyo and multichromatic Sailor inks … the ones in the grey boxes. Do those have an official group name? I had a bad case of FOMO  when the Sailor multichromatic inks came out so I bought them all. Now I realize that was a rash decision. I need to stop buying ALL the inks and think about which ones I’ll actually use. I prefer fine nib pens so, as much as I get enticed by light, bright colors, they often do not work well in my pens. They end up being too light to be readable. These multichrome colors are so pretty to look at but I’m not sure if I’d ever actually use them in a pen. These might be good candidates for one of those inky journals Jesi reviewed.

Above are the few purples in the “need to be swatched” pile. Delightfully, they were all notably different from one another. Next step will be to determine how different they are from the inks I’ve already put in the “to keep” pile.

The above two images are the shameful number of swatches of even more blue and green inks. I need to be stopped!

The last grouping was the orange and green inks. Despite loving green more than any other color, I have a hard time finding the perfect pea green ink. Folks always recommend then to me but I am still on the hunt.

Of the 37 inks I swatched, about half of them will be leaving. Kicked off the proverbial ink island.

My box of “keepers” has been added to but I’m not done yet. I still have another two drawers to review. Then I need to review the selections I have made and see if there’s any additional inks I can let go of.

I already have 77 inks in my Col-o-ring and I’m sure to exceed my goal of 100 inks — and probably by quite a bit– I will have to do a final culling to reach my goal. Ink brands still left to review: Pen BBS, Kaweco, Pelikan, Ferris Wheel, and a lot more. Stay tuned for Part 4 where I end up in a puddle on the floor.

I think Marie Kondo would have classified my ink collection as personal items to be culled last and not like clothes which she feels should be the first thing to be weeded. Where do inks fall on your hierarchy of tidying?

 

In feature

Giveaway: 2024 Colors of Lamy AL-Star or Safari?

Author AnaPosted on 57 Comments
Giveaway: 2024 Colors of Lamy AL-Star or Safari?

For years, my friends and I have played the “Safari Forever vs AL-Star Always” when we see the “colors of the year” released by Lamy.

Some years, we have felt like Safari won and other years AL-Star. One year, we all agreed that Kaweco’s release of their five fruity colors stole Lamy’s thunder. We even made pin badges and distributed them at pen shows to show your enthusiasm for your favorite. A rep from Lamy saw us handing out pins and was shocked at the strong enthusiasm for one or the other. Clearly, they aren’t acquainted with the enthusiasm of the community. The whole Dark Lilac nonense this year only amplifies my belief about this.

Now, onto the the voting and giveaway.

Earlier this year, Lamy announced the release of the 2024 Safari colors: Pink Cliff, a matte finish, deep purple exterior and a bright pink grip section and Violet Blackberry, a glossy, plum purple with a matte purple grip section. Many people felt this was a cash grab based on the success of the Dark Lilac ink and pen from 2016.

In the last couple weeks, Lamy finally announced the AL-Star colors for 2024 are Aquatic and Fiery. The Aquatic is a light blue aluminum body with a bright blue translucent plastic grip. The Firey is a deep red body with a bright red translucent grip section. Both feature black clips.

So which pen color is your favorite? Do you think the AL-Stars or the Safaris are more successful this year? Type your comments below to be entered to win you selection. Good luck and I can’t wait to hear which one is your favorite!

Thanks to JetPens for sponsoring this giveaway!

THE GIVEAWAY: One winner will be selected from the comments and will have the option for the LAmy 2024 color of the year pen of their choice: Violet Blackberry, Pink Cliff, Fiery or Aquatic. Winner can even choose fountain pen, rollerball or mechanical pencil (subject to availability).

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and pick one of the 2024 Lamy colors of the year: Safaris or AL-Stars. 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 the monkeys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Monday, April 29, 2024 . All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, Instagram, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Tuesday. 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 post were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

In Link Love

Link Love: The Most Friendly Niche on the Internet

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: The Most Friendly Niche on the Internet

Jesi sent me a link to this video above because I get dizzy on TikTok. For your convenience, I am including the YouTube link if you too are not TikTok savvy either. The point of this video is that when the pen community has controversy, we end up being pretty nice about it. It just goes to emphasize why I love pen people.

Also, just so you know, pink hair is soooooo retro (via Vintage Hairstyling)!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

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In feature

You Can Only Keep One

Author Laura CameronPosted on 6 Comments

Last week I was intrigued by Ana’s You Can Only Keep One post, and then saw several others in the Pen Addict’s weekly roundup. So I decided to dive into my own today!

Let’s start with pens in my favorite color: TEAL!

L to R:

  • Kaweco AL Sport, Blue Iguana – It is insanely hard to pick my favorite Kaweco AL Sport. I have 6 and they’re basically all the same – fabulous writers that feel good in the hand. It’s like candy, collecting all the fun new colors. But if I have to pick only one, I guess I’m keeping the teal one because it’s so pretty.
  • Franklin Christoph P45 Vanness Limited Edition – You can pry this pen out of my cold, dead hands. I’ve owned (and sold) a few P45’s but there’s something about the nib on this one that makes it my hand’s down favorite. The nib was originally worked on by Jim Rouse, and then Audrey, the “Nib Doctor”, worked her magic on it and it’s perfection.
  • Pelikan M205 Apatite – Even though they tend to be wetter and wider writers than I prefer, I do love my Pelikans. This one was a tossup between this one, which is always inked, and a Pelikan from the 80’s that my dad passed down to me. But this one always sits on my desk so it won.
  • SchonDsgn Cheerio Waterpen – I have ooh’ed and aah’ed over Ian’s pens for years, but when he and Mike (Inkdependence) put together a special edition in teals and blues? I was in all the way!

Now let’s move on to the pens with fun designs and extra embellishments:

L to R:

  • Opus 88 Mini in Sakura Cherry Blossom – Normally I wouldn’t put such a new pen into a “you can only choose one” selection, but I’ve tried tons of Opus pens through the years and this is the first that’s mini enough to be comfortable in my hand. Add to it that I love the graphic cherry blossoms, and here we are!
  • Platinum Procyon Maki-e, Brush Warbler on Plum Tree – I’m a sucker for Maki-e and Raden (as you’ll see in the next 2). The Procyon is a really great pen. Not only does it have a fabulous Platinum nib, it’s also got the patented screw cap that keeps it from drying out. It’s always ready to go. That and it’s just darn pretty, and was not super expensive. What more could I want?
  • Pilot Vanishing Point, Raden Stripe – This is the most expensive pen in my collection and was my 40th birthday present to myself. If I’m honest, I don’t use it as often as I should, and it’s a little big for my hand, but it’s still special and beautiful and I don’t think it will ever leave my collection!
  • Retro 51 Cioppino – A few years before they re-released this model, I found one from the 1980’s in excellent condition. It combined my love of Raden with my love of Retro 51s which were among my first fountain pens. (I also have a roller ball collection I love!). My favorite part of this one is the special two toned nib. Check out the photos in the link above.

Did someone say sparkle?

L to R:

  • Carolina Pen Co. Charleston – This is the sparkliest pen I own and I picked it out myself when I attended my first Chicago Pen Show. Add to that, it now has a Regalia Writing Labs flexi nib and it’s a favorite for sure!
  • Sailor Pro Gear Slim Purple Cosmos – This isn’t my only Sailor, but it was my first and I love it dearly. It’s got a F nib and writes beautifully. Plus it’s the perfect size to carry with me anywhere!
  • TWSBI Diamond Mini AL Grape – I love TWSBIs. My first fountain pen was a TSWBI Eco and I’ve got several more, but the Diamond Mini was a surprising and delightful experience. The feel of it is so much smoother than the Eco and it is one of those writers that is always on. This might be the pen I reach for the most!

And there’s always a few oddballs:

L to R:

  • Caran D’Ache 849 Fluorescent Pink – It’s faceted and so bright you need sunglasses, but it is an amazingly fun pen. Pop in a cartridge and go!
  • Diplomat Traveler Flame – This one was a gift from Ana and I love it! It’s super slim and sleek, writes beautifully and I do love that fire-kissed anodized barrel. It’s only an oddball in that it doesn’t fit into a lot of the standard size pens, but I don’t let that stop me.

Ok let’s hear it – what are your You Can Only Pick One selections?

In feature

My Ink 100: Part 2 – Color Inventory is Hard

Author AnaPosted on 10 Comments
My Ink 100: Part 2 – Color Inventory is Hard

My phase two of my Ink 100 destash project is not going AT ALL according to plan.

I needed to pull swatches for every color ink I own from my numerous Col-o-rings and sort them by color in an effort to streamline the sorting process.

So many Col-o-ring swatch books

This was a slow process which required pulling ink out of the drawers so that I could see all of them and align a swatch with each bottle. This lead to the discovery of two things: the first was that I have many bottles that have not been swatched. AND… I found over 25 more bottles of ink I had hidden in a closet like an ink hoarding gremlin. Oh, the shame!!!

Swatch sorting by color and bottles that have not been swatched.

I have spent HOURS culling through the collection and still have at least two drawers left to pull swatch cards and verfiy if the color has been swatched.

The final box of inks needing swatching after a full day of sorting. I am guessing its well over 30 bottles I’ll need to swatch.

Of the inks I did have swatches for, I was able to start paring some down. Below is the keepers at this point after going through three drawers of inks.

With two drawers left and a book shelf, I have already collected about 60 bottles I think are “keepers”. I’m in big trouble if I think I’m going to hit my goal!
The various bottles of “keeper” inks.
So, this week, my plan is to finish going through the drawers and sorting and then doing the necessary swatching to have swatches of every bottle of ink I own. I have my fingers crossed that I can complete this process in a week but I have my doubts. 

While I know it will feel good to have my stash down to a more manageable number of inks, the process right now is chaotic and messy and feels like an uphill battle. Are you trying to destash inks? How’s it going for you?

In Link Love

Link Love: Eclipse After Effects

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
Link Love: Eclipse After Effects

I feel like I am  still feeling the lingering effects of the eclipse. The magic of doing something with hundreds of thousands of other people, witnessing a cosmic wonder, and just playing hooky from work or school to do so has really fueled my last week. I hope you are still feeling the cosmic wonder this week too.

(photo shown above was from the 2017 eclipse but the spirit of the eclipse lives on!)

Eclipse After Effects:

Pens:

Ink:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

It’s Bike Season:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other. Please support our sponsors, affiliates or join our Patreon. Your patronage supports this site. Without them, and without you, we could not continue to do what we do. Thank you!

In Paper Review

Notebook Review: Sakae TP Iroful Notebook – A5

Author Laura CameronPosted on 2 Comments

A few weeks ago I was browsing through JetPens and came across a notebook I hadn’t tried. I’m always up for testing new paper so I ordered a Sakae TP Iroful Notebook ($9.75).

This slim volume is composed of 96 pages of 75 gsm white paper with a 5mm dot grid in Indigo (it also comes in plain and graph if you’re interested). The cover is cardstock, and the binding is held together with thread and glue. The name Iroful is a playful combination of “colorful” and “iro,” the Japanese word for color, and the paper promises to be wonderful with all different kinds of inks!

I have to say – I’m suitably impressed. The paper said it would work well with alcohol inks, and I tried both a Sharpie and a silver paint pen and neither bled through or feathered. That never happens!

Fountain pen inks performed well (no surprise) and even swatching ink with a q-tip directly on the paper didn’t bleed through. The paper is a bit wrinkled, so I wouldn’t say it’s perfect for multi-media (painting) use, but it still holds up. It does feel like maybe the ink sits on top of the paper, rather than absorbing in. And according to my colleague Tina, it also handles sheen quite nicely!

Overall I’d say this is a fun, affordable paper to add to your collection – whether in notebook or loose leaf form!

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.