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Ink 100: Part 4 Hitting My Goal

Author AnaPosted on 2 Comments
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…

In Planners & Organizers

May Planner Update: Strawberries & Mushrooms

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments
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.

In Link Love

Link Love: A Little Check In

Author AnaPosted on 8 Comments
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!

In feature

Giveaway Winner: Lamy AL-Star vs Safari

Author AnaPosted on Leave a comment
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!

 

In Ink Review

Ink Review: Robert Oster Peach

Author Laura CameronPosted on 1 Comment

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.

In Planners & Organizers

A Poor Person’s Plotter

Author AnaPosted on 7 Comments

After falling in love with the Plotter ring-binder system, I started wondering if there were any more budget-friendly options available. There’s lots to love about the Plotter but there are a couple big cons: they are VERY pricey, they are only available with leather covers and the rings are extremely small at just 0.375″.

I found a vendor on Etsy who makes a slightly less expensive Plotter alternative but its not what I would consider “budget-priced” (prices start a $83.99)  called Wuhzi Studio. They also make leather covers so it doesn’t solve for the cons listed above.  I dug deeper until I found Personal and A5- sized translucent plastic binders which were less than $5 a piece. The binders ship from China and took about two weeks to reach me.

I think $5 each is definitely budget-priced. The binders are plastic which isn’t ideal but its not leather so it checks the second box on the cons. Finally, the rings measure about 0.75″ which is larger than the Plotter which can be a plus or minus depending on your preference.

For your $5 investment, the binder comes with a sheet of plain white diecut stickers to put on the exterior of your binder and two additional elastics in red and brown. The binder shipped with the black elastic pre-installed.

Go ahead, tease me about the tab divider that says “You’re so pretty!” It makes me laugh every time I see it. Does you planner dividers make you smile? Maybe you need a “You’re so pretty!” sticker too.

I hesitated testing this binder because I was concerned that the plastic cover would not lay flat. But lo and behold, it does lay flat! I’m stunned!

I found all my pre-existing papers and tab fit into the binder without issue, even my Plotter paper refills.

With a similar volume of paper in the translucent binder as my Plotter, there is still plenty of room to add additional paper.

When compared to the Plotter on the left, above and a traditional Filofax Original in Personal size on the right, the translucent binder is definitely in-between. It’s a bit larger overall than the Plotter but its not as bulky as the Original which is actually one of the slimmer Filofax binders.

When stacked, you can see the size differences based on the ring sizes and the material thickness. The thin covers help to keep the overall bulk of the translucent binder. The absence of any pockets or slots inside the translucent cover also helps keep the cover slim as well. It’s also comparable to the Plotter which eschewed any built-in pockets or slots so if you need anything to hold ephemera, pens or business cards, you’ll have to purchase additional components.

I purchased the A5 sized translucent binder (also about $5) as well but could not figure out what to use it for right now. I have been using the A5 Filofax Domino to store notes and research and it absolutely requires the oversized 1.25″ sized rings. Like the Personal sized (AKA Bible Size), the binder shipped with extra elastics and a page of stickers.

I think I might end up using both of these binders to hold my extra refills and/or completed pages through the end of the year.

I am not going to give up my Plotter for these budget binders but I like knowing there are some other options.

Are you convinced to try a ring binder system yet?

 

In feature

My Ink 100: Part 3 – Swatch-a-thon

Author AnaPosted on 10 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?