Shop News: Ink Sale!

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I’ve gone through all my inks in my Ink 100 series and chosen selections and now is your chance to acquire all my overages. Inks are priced at approximately half of retail. And there are several rare and limited edition inks too!

The inks have been used for reviews, swatches or a fill or two so most bottles are almost completely full. They have all been stored out of the light and at room temperature.

Shop here and don’t delay. Patrons got an early preview of the sale so many items are already gone. If you want to be “in the know”, you can join our Patreon too. We’d love to have you part of the Patron family!

US Shipping only. No returns on inks.

Ink 100: Part 5 The Final Reveal

Ink 100: Part 5 The Final Reveal

This is the final part of my Ink 100 series. If this is the first time you’ve seen these posts, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 to get caught up on this journey.

Since I started this project, my goal was to keep at least one or two bottles of ink across the ROYGBIV spectrum. For the sake of organziation,  I am going to reveal my final “ink keepers” in that same order. What I didn’t consider was some of the more unusual inks like the multi-chromes and shimmer inks. I have separated out the multi-chrome inks but I left the shimmers within their color category.

The biggest surprise in the process of this project was how sentimental I would become over certain inks. Some were purchased at specific events or when I was with a friend. Maybe a bottle was my first swap or remind me of a specific pen? I am glad I went through this process. I was able to make my ink collection feel a bit more manageable and it is easier for me to see what I have. Will I add new ink to my collection at some point? Probably. Will I pare down what I own a bit more? That might also be a possibility. Either way, I am happy to be able to sort through my collection more efficiently.

Now, on to what made the cut!

Red:

For the red category, I groups red-purples and pinks so its a much bigger category than I anticipated. I went into this project thinking I’m not really a red ink person so I’d keep one or two specific bottles. Instead, I ended up with 28 inks in this category.

Colorverse #31 Electron, Bungubox Lycoris Red and Sailor Jentle Irori can look orange or red depending on the paper and nib width.

There are two shimmers in the red group (No Fixed Address by Robert Oster and Pen BBS #140 Bloom Ink) and a couple super sheenrs: J. Herbin Rouge Hematite and Sailor Jentle Grenade, .

If you bet me 100 bottles of ink at the beginning of this project that I’d have more than 10 red/pink/red-purple inks, I would have taken that bet. You win! I had so many more. HA!

Orange/ Yellow/ Ochre/ Brown:

When I first planned this project, I forgot about browns and ochre colors so I am lumping orange and yellow together and it encompasses the brown, sepia, ochre colors as well. I ended up with 11 colors in this category. This included one shimmer ink (Pen BBS #111) and one pigment ink (Platinum Sepia Pigment Ink) and way more brown inks than I would have imagined I would need. Who knew I wouldn’t be able to part with brown ink? Not me.

Green:

Shockingly, I ended up with only 10 green inks and one is a shimmer ink. There are three inks which are very similar (Sailor Waka Uguisa, Pen BBS #342 Match Green Tea,  and Pen BBS #Tolstoy) so I need to probably ink these up and figure out which one or two will stay but they are all the closest to my dream green. I didn’t dave any kelly greens or bright green which, while I love them in general, I never use in a pen. The other greens I saved are unique and provide a nice range of hues.

Aqua/ Teal/ Blue/ Indigo:

I knew this would be my biggest group and it totals at 25 inks. This includes bluish greens, greenish blues, aquas, turquoise and tumbling into deeper blues.

As I got to the end of the sorting, I hit decision fatigue. Some of these inks are quite similar in color like Bora Bora Waters by Robert Oster and Inspired Blue by Waterman but they serve different purposes within my collection and therefore both are staying. Waterman inks are great for vintage pens and the Bora Bora Waters has slightly more sheen and safe for modern pens.

In my blue category, I have three shimmer inks: Pen BBS #338 Guardians of Good Fortune, J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor, and Van Dieman’s Parrot Fish.

Violet:

I ended up with nine violet/blue-violet inks. I love Monteverde Birthday Cake so much I was surprised that I kept any other violets but I found some violets in my collection that are similar but different from Birthday Cake. So, yeah! I have more inks to try and experiment with and I’m excited about that. Only one of the inks in this category is a shimmer: Colorverse #89 Mystic Mountain.

Neutrals:

This category is my grey and black inks.

I figured I’d only have one black ink (Platinum Carbon Black) but I forgot about Kyo-no-oto #1 Nurebairo which is a dry but sheeny black and I also kept the Colorverse Office Series Permanent Black and the Colorverse Pigment Black, Selectron. So, three out of four blacks are waterproof or water-resistant. I want to do more painting and multi-media work, so I’m keeping the additional blacks to see if they are a good alternative to Carbon Black.

I love grey inks so I should have guessed I would end up with eight different greys ranging from purply-grey, blue-grey and a neutral grey from Dominant Industry called Downpour. The last ink in this category in Colorverse Vortex Motion which is such a wonka-doodle sheening dark ink that is almost black but lean purply with a green sheen. Its also a bit sentimental to me.

Multi-Chromatics:

These seven inks are those color shifting colors and can look different on different papers or is a different color when wet than when it dries. I separated these out since they are hard to fold into the standard ROYGBIV rainbow. I saved seven inks in this group and they are mostly greens, blues and purples because that’s how I roll.

Final Thoughts:

The final count? 97 bottles of ink. I can’t believe I actually did it. And honestly, I don’t feel like I am at a loss for choice. I still have FOUR different blacks!

I was fairly ruthless in saving only the colors I truly loved rather than making decisions based on having “all the Sailor inks” or some other brand. If I were to break the inks down by brand, I kept about 23 bottle of Colorverse, 17 bottles of Sailor and 13 or so bottles of Robert Oster. Every other brand I kept less than 10 bottles. In some instances, I now have just one or two bottles from some brands and, other brands, I didn’t keep any of their inks.

My final selections are not a reflection on any brands. My decisions are entirely based on my personal preferences for color. In some cases, a color I particularly liked but had more than one bottle meant the decision came down to flow and usability for my particular pen preferences. I prefer fine nibs and drier inks so I based my decisions around those needs. Hence, more Sailor inks survived in my collection for their easy flow in fine nibs. With Colorverse, its a very dry ink but I keep a stash of White Lightning handy for just such moments.

Are any of the inks I kept on your favorite list? Are there any inks that you are surprised I kept?

Ink 100: Part 4 Hitting My Goal

Ink 100: Part 4 Hitting My Goal

This is Part 4 of my Ink 100 series. If this is the first time you’ve seen these posts, check out Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 first to catch up on my inky adventure. Now onwards…!

The Ink 100 project is reaching its conclusion (thank the ink gods… it feel like this went on forever!). While I had some large collections from specific brands left, some of the inks left were onsie-twosies and other oddball inks.

Some ink bottles only had a dribble of ink left and those were culled immediately. That eliminated six bottles. I also had some inks decanted into nagelene bottles from an ink purchase Jesi and I did a few years ago. Sadly, any inks that were decanted into the nagelene bottles developed cracks in the caps and the inks have started to evaporate changing the consistency and fluidity. Those all got chucked too. Sad but they were no longer functional. I also had a bottle of older Birmingham ink that changed color DRAMATICALLY. Originally, Canterbury Raisin was a beautiful shading lavender purple but for some unknown reason, the ink is now 100% pale turquoise. Weird, right? Also, garbage now.

This leads me to some of the true lessons of this Ink 100 project. Owning more ink than I could possibly use in several lifetimes can result in inks that shift in color, evaporate or suffer from other ink-tastrophes. I need to keep the inks I love and use the inks I own.

I need to keep the inks I love and use the inks I own.

As I worked my way through all six drawers in my Ikea Alex unit, I was able to start getting more ruthless as I reviewed colors across brands that fill a similar space in my collection. I don’t use certain color categories a lot — like golden yellows — so I only need one option in this color range.

In other cases, I had several options that were quite close in color so I needed to decide which one would be better for me. For example, the lovely Bungubox Kaoru and Vinta Karnival 1908 are quite similar in hue. As much as I love the tiny little  shoe bottle that the Bungubox uses, the Vinta Karnival is just a bit darker and will be better for me in the long run.

Many of the light, multi-chrome inks are not used frequently (see previous comments about FINE nib pen preferences) but they are so pretty its hard to let them go. I have a couple stub nibs I use so I will keep a few of these colors but I did make some cuts if the colors were close.  And shimmer inks? I slashed 90% of the shimmer inks I own. I just don’t use them no matter how much I find them pretty. I only kept seven shimmer inks.

Colorverse Culling:

Ollie says, “You still have more inks?!?! When are you going to pet me!??!”

Just when I thought I was done, I realized that I forgot about the Colorverse inks that I had on a bookshelf. Sigh… more culling!

Since these Colorverse inks were still in their boxes, I laid all the swatches out on the boxes in their sets. Since I’d gone through the other ridiculous volume of inks, and despite my sentimentality about many of these Colorverse inks I was ready to hit my goal, feed my cats and be done with this part of my project.

Hitting my goal:

After culling the Colorverse inks, I did a count and my total counts was… drum roll, please… 94 bottles of ink! Woot!

Rule breaking:

So, there was a bit of breaking my own rules so I will ‘fess up to those now.

In the end, I didn’t count my special, limited edition ink sets. I think of them more as collectibles than daily use inks. I have three sets from Colorverse, all space themed, a couple sets from Vinta and then two very rare, unique box set ink collections. I may change my mind on some of these sets in the next few months but for right now, they are bookshelf sets so they are not clogging up my ink drawers and therefore do not count in the final tally.

I also did not include any samples or the minis included in the Diamine Inkvent sets. Again… sets, right? I would like to verify that I’ve swatched all the Inkvent colors before I let those go or maybe, purchase full bottles of favorites (I have 6 slots open before I have to start doing the “one in, one out” game).

The Final Selections:

Would it be fair not to give the final list and not show EVERY SINGLE COLOR? Of course not, so stay tuned. The final Ink 100 selections will have a whole post dedicated to my selections. Stay tuned, that post will go up next week. I might even trim a few more colors before then…

May Planner Update: Strawberries & Mushrooms

May Planner Update: Strawberries & Mushrooms

I am continuing my planner/journal/diary set-up the same way each month this year (check out my March and April set-ups, if you missed them). May will continue this process and each month my process is getting a little more streamlined and easier to do.

I start by pasting in a monthly overview calendar. The last few months, I’ve been using both a two-page spread monthly overview that I cut out of a planner I was not using and a Midori single-page, self-adhesive diary stickers. I use the Midori sticker calendar to track habits and the 2-page calendar for events, birthdays, pen shows — you know? important stuff.

I pick a theme for each month — maybe a color, maybe something else — to be a jumping off point for any flourishes I add to each page and then search through my sticker and washi tape stash to cherry pick items that fit with the theme or maybe match somehow. For May, my theme is strawberries and mushrooms. I picked strawberry and mushroom stickers from my stash and I even found a roll of washi tape printed with strawberries. I supplemented these with red, pink and green washi tapes and a handful of pens to coordinate.

I made a video this month to share my process. Links for products are listed below. I hope that watching me fumble around with setting up my monthly planner will give you the confidence to try this yourself.

The Supply List:

Sadly, my stash of washi tape is old and most are no longer available or I don’t remember when or where they were purchased. I recommend MT brand above all others but I’ve been known to buy small sets of themed tape from Amazon.

For my fountain pen selections, I continue to use my matched set of Nagasawa/Sailor Pro Gear Slim Fountain Pen in Gakuen-Toshi Fresh Green (no longer available) with fine nibs. I’ve filled one with Pen BBS 224 Match Ice Cream and one with Callifolio Andrinople ($13 for 35ml bottle). I also have a clear TWSBI Eco with 1.1mm nib ($35.50) filled with Diamine Olive Swirl (Inkvent Green Series)($22 for 50ml bottle).

Above are a few of the pagesI set up so you can get a better look at them.

I’m still using my vintage-inspired lap desk from the now-defunct Victorian Trading Company. It’s great to store my pens, washi tape and stickers inside and then just grab my planner and plop down on the couch with it for instant desk! The closest comparable item I could find is the Schoolhouse lap desk ($49.99) on Amazon. Just paint and decoupage it to simulate that dark academia vibe.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. Please let me know in the comments here or on YouTube if you liked seeing a video.

Zoey says “Planning is boring but snack are fun!”

DISCLAIMER: Some items in this review include affiliate links, some items were provided for the purpose of review. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

Link Love: A Little Check In

Link Love: A Little Check In

As the reality of my new life has finally settled in on me, I’ve had some serious moments of doubt and terror about the foolishness of throwing away the security of a steady job, healthcare and a regular schedule. So, when I saw the post Check In On Those Around You (via Kottke.org) this week, I remembered that I am not the only person going through big scary life events. There are other people out there fighting their own demons, maybe you are one of those people.

So, I want to ask, “How are you doing this week?” Did you have a bad case of the Mondays or did you find lucky clover on the way to work? Maybe you lost a pet this week and if so, my heart breaks for you or you are suffering from an appendicitis and instead of the life of the party, you are holed up in home hoping the pain will subside?

So know, I am thinking of you all, those who are having a “meh” week, a shitty week or an awesome week. Whatever is going on, take a moment to write a few things down with all those pens you’ve got to remember this moment. If its a shitty moment, writing it down might make it feel less shitty or maybe in a week or a month or a year, you can look back and see how far you’ve come. We can get through this life, one page at a time, one ink refill at a time, one moment at a time. Love you all!

Pens:

Ink:

Pencils:

Notebooks & Paper:

Art & Creativity:

Other Interesting Things:

We need each other more than ever. The world is a big, scary place but there are beautiful people like you who leave comments, support our sponsors, and join our Patreon. Your kindness brightens this world and makes me glad I’m in it with you. Thank you!

Giveaway Winner: Lamy AL-Star vs Safari

Giveaway Winner: Lamy AL-Star vs Safari

In the hotly debated Safari vs AL-Star I think the Aquatic AL-Star squeaked past the rest but there were lots of shoutouts for the Safari Violet Blackberry as well. Early in voting, it looked like the AL-Star Fiery was a real contender and the Safari Pink Cliff had lots of votes too. Overall, the votes were pretty evenly divided.

Here’s how the voting broke out:

  • Aquatic -22
  • Violet Blackberry – 17
  • Fiery  -15
  • Pink cliff -10
  • AL-Star-8
  • Safari – 4
  • Undecided -3

So, the AL-Star Aquatic won but just by a few votes over the Violet Blackberry. If I tally all the Safari votes and all the AL-Star votes, it breaks out to 45 votes for AL-Star to 31 votes for Safari.

This year seems to be a #ALStarAlways year. Congrats, Team AL-Star. Better luck next year, Safari fans.

So, what did the winner of the giveawaay drawing select?

A Safari! Maybe this is Safari’s year afterall!

Thanks to everyone who voted and a big congrats to Carolyn! Also, thanks to JetPens for sponsoring this giveaway!

 

Ink Review: Robert Oster Peach

I only have a few more ink samples in my quest to find the perfect peach fuzz ink for 2024. I can let you know that not only did I buy one sample twice (oops!), none of them are going to give us that ethereal look like the Pantone color. And today’s color is no exception.

Robert Oster Peach (50mL, $18) is all that a ripe juice peach should be, with lovely orange shading. It screams of summer and stone fruits and peach bellinis (my favorite!) and vibrant, lovely orange. It is not that delicate peach fuzz, but it is lovely just the same.

The ink shades lightly with various nibs, and those gorgeous splotches are ink are orange perfection.

When it comes down to it, I have a few things in my ink swatches that come close. Lamy Bronze is actually quite close. It’s a little more yellow, and has more shading depth on the light end, but the colors are very close. J. Herbin Orange Indien is another close match. I thought Mont Blanc Lucky Orange might be close, but it’s brighter than the others. There’s a subtle dusty note in the Peach and Orange Indien.

I’ll say it now. I’ve never really been an orange person, but as I see these deeper, more sophisticated tones, I’m finding there’s a lot to like about orange. And give me a juicy peach color any day!


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