or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Sell Some Ink

By Jessica Coles

My interest in fountain pens began nearly a decade ago and it used to be under control.  Especially at the beginning of my obsession, it was easy to keep my collection small since I couldn’t really afford much.  But that changed quickly when I became enamoured with ink.  I could buy a few different inks and use them all in any pen! Wait, they sell samples of ink? Ink subscriptions?

Well, you can probably guess what has happened to my ink collection over the course of a decade.  Totally out of control.  Maybe that isn’t the right way to describe it.  I have control over the actual collection with a great system of organizing bottles, samples, swatches and knowing how to find any of them quickly.  Most of that is thanks to the Fountain Pen Companion and Col-o-ring swatch cards (not to mention a deep love of organization). However, even the best organization system can’t make up for a serious lack of space.

The older kids grow, the more space they seem to use. Since the house isn’t growing, space inside seems to be shrinking and my studio has recently been invaded by teens.  In order to stay sane during the process, I’ve decided to part with a large portion of my ink collection. The easiest way for me to do so is on my own website since it is already set up to handle orders, shipping, and inventory management. At the moment there are nearly 90 inks loaded into the store ready to go. I’ve set two prices for shipping, but if I can ship ink in a less expensive way, I refund the surplus that was collected for said shipping.

I was initially quite hesitant to post about this on Well-Appointed Desk, however, Ana forced me to do so. I hope it is a way for some people to find joy in the huge variety of ink that is out there at a lower cost! The ink sale can be found here.

The post Dr. StrangeInk appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

It’s no secret – I love finding new inks.  New and exciting colors and bottles, new ink properties and behaviors to analyze and sometimes new adventures in finding, ordering and waiting for the delivery.

Troublemaker Inks is a small and relatively new ink manufacturer located in the Philippines.  I say relatively new because they have been around for a while, they have just exploded in popularity due to their newest batch of inks described as shading colors.  These shading inks are Kelp Tea, Petrichor, Abalone, and Milky Ocean.

I first heard about these four inks on Instagram, immediately went to the Troublemaker Inks website and placed an order.  For all of them.  The website is bright and well-designed and the ordering very simple.  The ordering was so seamless that I didn’t even realize that I was ordering from a different country until PayPal showed me a currency conversion. Easy-Peasy.

For this review, I’m going to talk about Petrichor.

Petrichor is an ink not unsimilar to Sailor 162 or Sailor 123.  The ink contains several colors together which show in differing ratios depending on the width of your nib and the paper being used.  Below are several comparisons to show the various colors in the ink.

First, the greys:

Then the teals, the dominant color:

Lastly, dusty pink, present in the center of the shading in Petrichor:

So what color is Petrichor when writing?  I used Tomoe River, 52gsm paper (from Curnow Bookbinding and Leatherwork) to try to show as many colors as possible.

Here, the main color seems to be a medium grey with an undertone of teal.  Later in the writing, the grey is still dominant, and the shading is more noticible.

In a large glob of ink, all the colors are present plus a bit of dusty purple.

On my hands, the various colors are still there!

Luckily, Petrichor is relatively easy to wash off.

Although it is very difficult to show in photos, the overall impression of the ink on Tomoe River paper is a grey ink with teal and purple undertones.

The best part? ALL SHIPPING IS FREE.  Anywhere. In the world.  No international shipping charges.  No minimums to hit. Not that I would have had a problem hitting a minimum order amount.

Now for the tough part of any online ordering. The waiting. And waiting. And waiting. This was the only negative part of my experience with Troublemaker Inks.  The waiting.  I placed my order on June 5th, received a shipping notification on June 13th and then nothing.  The tracking number provided did not update for weeks.  I heard from pen friends that Troublemaker had a tough time keeping up with the sudden increase in demand and had needed to restock bottles! I can absolutely understand why.

Suddenly, I opened up the mailbox and a ray of light shone down on me.  It was here!  The inks were packaged safely in paper and bubble wrap, sealed with a thin layer of plastic wrapped around the bottle opening.  Rather than paying for the shipping in one chunk, the package was covered with various stamps from the Philippines.  I do mean covered.  Every inch of the front side of the envelope was either the address or stamps.

For the review above, I threw the ink in the first available pen I had that was uninked – a Moonman C1.  I had ordered this one thanks to Joe at the Gentleman Stationer. It’s a great pen for watching ink.

The bottles for these inks are dark plastic, square and include a small example of the ink color printed on the label.

Some inks made by Troublemaker are offered in various viscosity choices from dry to lubricated.  When I was presented with a choice when ordering, I chose the suggested: wet. It was #3 on a scale of 1-4, 1 being the driest and 4 described as lubricated. I would say that while writing, this feels a tad on the wet side of normal – not noticeably different from my typical ink choices.

Would I recommend these inks?  Absolutely.  These are wonderful additions to the ink world in every way.  Be prepared to wait about a month, though.  This wait might become longer as popularity increases, though, so act soon!

The post Ink Review: Troublemaker Inks Petrichor appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Once upon a time, the only way to acquire Sailor Studio Inks was to purchase them from sellers on eBay. But not anymore! Dromgoole’s in Houston has made it possible for folks in the US to get these unique and wonderful ink colors by calling their shop and ordering them by phone (No email or online ordering).

I know, in the days of internet ordering, this may seem a little arcane but Sailor has a strict policy that only brick-and-mortar stores can carry the Studio line of inks. So, short of showing up at the Houston headquarters of Dromgoole’s in person, calling on the phone is the only way Sailor will permit customers to purchase the inks without being in the store. (Again, let me be clear – No email or online ordering… Use Ye Olde Tyme TELEPHONE.)

That said, Dromgoole’s is making it super easy for anyone attending the DC Supershow to get some serious INSTANT GRATIFICATION. That’s right, if you call in now, they will bring your Sailor Studio inks to the DC Show and hand deliver it to you. How’s that for service?

Regardless of whether you’re going to the DC Supershow, you can call today and order any (or all!) of the Sailor Studio inks ($18 per bottle). The number to call is 713.526.4651. Dromgoole’s is open 8:30-5:30 Monday-Friday and 9-5 on Saturday (CST). They are closed on Sunday.

If you want your ink delivered to the DC Supershow, you need to call before soon otherwise it won’t make it on the van. Remember, the show starts on Thursday, August 1 and the Dromgooles need time to pack and drive all the way to DC from Houston.

Everyone else can order anytime and Dromgoole’s can ship your order to you. Again, the number is 713.526.4651. 

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.

Click to see all the reviews we’ve done of Sailor Studio Inks. (PSSST! Everyone keeps raving about #123 but I think #243 is similar but a darker, more usable version. And Jesi and I have been calling #670 “Pickle Juice”.)

The post Sailor Studio Inks from Dromgoole’s (Sponsored Post) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I know lots of other folks have already reviewed the latest sparkly metallic Jacques Herbin ink. It’s not that I meant to put it off but we’ve been pretty busy here at The Desk. So, now it our turn to show off the latest sparkly goodness from the House of  Herbin. As it’s been mentioned, 1798 is the name that Herbin give to their annual sparkly ink with silver particles versus the 1670 which contains gold particles (unless it’s Rouge Hematite and then all bets are off). So, the latest iteration is 1798 Kyanite du Nepal ($28).

To quote the J. Herbin web site:

Since the discovery of the famous mining region of Nepal, Kali Gandaki, Kyanite has been recognized as a noble mineral because of its similarities with the rich tones of sapphire.

There is a good deal of fine silver in the ink and the turquoise color is  gorgeous.

When it come to turquoise ink, there are a lot of options so I had a lot to compare Kyanite with. I was able to compare Kyanite to both metallic inks and non-metallics.  First and foremost, I was able to find the closest non-metallic Herbin ink which is Bleu Pervenche ($12.95). The two Robert Oster inks that were closest were Blue Water Ice and Soda Pop Blue ($17 each). The metallics that were close matches were Robert Oster Shake-n-Shimmy Blue Moon ($24), De Atramentis Pearlescent Cyan Blue Silver ($14), and Diamine Shimmer-tastic Blue Lightning ($24). PenBBS #275 Claude Monet ($20) is a metallic turquoise but a little lighter.

Given the options, is Kyanite du Nepal worth the few dollars more per bottle than some of these other metallic inks? I don’t know. Diamine and DeAtramentis both seem more sparkly in smaller writing but all of them, including Kyanite, require constant movement to keep the particles evenly distributed. So, if you prefer the upgraded packaging and the slightly more aged silver look to the brighter, whiter silver of the others, then consider Kyanite. What I don’t recommend is buying all five metallic turquoise inks with silver particles. It really is s bit excessive.

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

*I really wish that House of Herbin would go back to calling themselves J. Herbin. All these J. Herbin/Herbin/Jacques Herbin variations are tiresome. Louis Vuitton is always Louis Vuitton, Chanel is always Chanel and Hermes is always Hermes. It seems un-French to change your name three times in as many years.

The post Eye Candy: Herbin 1798 Kyanite du Nepal appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

With the San Francisco Pen Show just around the corner, its time to discuss all the goodies that will debut and/or only be available at the show. First on the list is Papier Plume‘s Marina Green ink ($10).

This ink is a bright, grassy green and is said to have UV protective in the ink making it less likely to fade which can be an issue with bright green inks.

I didn’t notice any sheening in the ink but there is some shading in the color. With a fine nib, the color is light and almost lime in color. Wider nibs and dip pens make the color more grassy and kelly green.

Compared to other bright, vivid greens, Marina Green is pretty similar to Akkerman #28 Hofkwartier Groen. Robert Oster’s new Vine Leaf is also a bit similar. Niether of these colors contain the UV protectant that Papier Plume is using. Since I received the ink just a few days ago, I have not had time to test and compare the UV protectant to these inks but I will certainly try to test this out in the coming weeks.

I hope this preview gives you a quick look at this color and helps you decide if you need to add this ink to your “must haves” for the SF Pen Show or if you need to get a friend to mule a bottle back for you. I suspect this ink will be a limited run as Papier Plume has done with the Chicago Show inks in the past though they have listed any leftover bottles on their web site after the show, IF there are any left. Don’t be left empty handed!

The post Preview: Papier Plume Marina Green (SF Pen Show 2019) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Review by Laura Cameron

Ana has been keeping me stocked in purples to review. Recently, she brought me a bottle of Krishna Overcast Deep Lilac (20mL, $6.00) all the way from the DC Supershow. This was actually my first experience with Krishna inks, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect!

Overcast Deep Lilac is a somewhat muted dark blue purple. In certain lights it reminds me of more cobalt or indigo than purple.

Overcast Deep Lilac is part of the Super Rich series, which is designed to provide vibrant but consistent color throughout. So if you’re looking for color-changing or super sheening, you’ll have to look outside this series. I do note that there’s some nice shading in heavier applications, though you probably won’t see too much of it if you’re using a finer nib.

Like I said, I was surprised how blue this ink really is. I really don’t have too many good inks to compare to it in my stash. The lighter parts are fairly comparable to J. Herbin Violet Pensees, which is somewhat blue as well. I also pulled out Robert Oster Summer Storm. Summer Storm is considerably grayer, but has that somewhat muted/matte tone to it.

I think in general, I prefer the redder purples (and you can tell if you take a look at my Col-o-dex!) but this is a nice purple if you’re looking for something that leans blue. It was smooth writing and dried quickly and did give a consistent color that’s easy to read. And Krishna inks are affordable and fun!

• Papers: Crossfield Journal ($24.00)
• Pen: Delike Glass Signature Pen ($37.80)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Inks: Krishna Overcast Deep Lilac (20mL for $6.00)

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.

The post Ink Review: Krishna Overcast Deep Lilac appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

Penlux is not a common ink company in the US, although they have been creating ink for some time now. The ink is made by Sailor and sold on the Taiwanese market – six colors are commonly available and three were reviewed last year by our own fabulous Ana. Recently, Penlux released two limited edition inks in their Mo line: Tangerine and Plum ($24 each at Pen Chalet).

The first thing I noticed about both inks was the packaging – the colors used have a deep, rich color and are well-matched to each ink. That wasn’t all, though. The boxes are each one piece and use no adhesive at all.

Not something I expected!

Next, the bottle size was impressive for a limited edition ink. I’ve come to expect the smaller 15-20mL bottles (thanks especially to Sailor Studio), but Penlux has lavished us with 50mL heavy glass bottles with Tangerine and Plum.

So now for the real test of these inks… The color.

Just like the colors on the packaging, both Plum and Tangerine are rich, saturated colors that feel luxurious. The names fit each color perfectly – Plum is a deep, dusty purple that is close to burgundy, shades very well and has a bit of green sheen. Tangerine is a bold orange that leans heavily toward red with a hit of gold and brown sheen. It shades from a dusty coral to dark, rusty orange.

I took the comparison photos outdoors since the studio lights were not showing the sheen at all. Plum falls somewhere between Callifolio Bourgogne and Noodler’s Black Swan in Australian Roses (the older version), but the sheen falls between the gold-green of Sailor 653 and the green of Krishna Anoki.

Tangerine is a bit of a hard color to compare. The closest is Taccia Aka Red, but the shading can range from Diamine Pumpkin to Akkerman #9.

Writing samples help to show this color range. Both inks felt slightly to the wet side of normal, did not feather and only showed through when I had pools of ink to show sheen. Plum shows a bit of water resistance although much of the color is lost. Tangerine was not legible after meeting with water.

Taken separately, Tangerine and Plum are each beautiful, rich, saturated colors. Taken together, these inks would make a fabulous halloween pairing! If you do decide to purchase these inks (and I highly suggest you do), make sure to do it soon. Out of the 999 bottles produced of each color, only a small percent are available to purchase in the US.

The post Ink Review: Penlux Mo Plum and Tangerine appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

Recently I decided to try to track down all Montblanc limited edition inks. This was a bad idea. Montblanc LE inks seem to be one of the most coveted in the fountain pen world, especially those that are no longer available. Even current Montblanc inks are among the highest-priced inks available. These pieces of reality seem to have no bearing in my desire, however. I love these inks!

One current theme of Montblanc’s ink lineup is the Legend of the Zodiacs – each year a new ink is released and is named after the Chinese Zodiac calendar animal. This calendar has a different animal that represents the year in a 12-year cycle.

2019 is the Year of the Rat, the third ink in the Legend of the Zodiacs.

As with all recent Montblanc inks, the Year of the Rat ink is presented in a heavy cardboard box with a pull-out drawer and matching ribbon pull.

Montblanc’s ink bottles never disappoint – Year of the Rat comes in a beautifully faceted glass bottle with the heavy Montblanc-logoed lid.

At first glance, the ink reminded me of Montblanc’s Golden Yellow special edition ink with perhaps a touch more orange.

On a Col-o-Ring card, however, the ink seemed to be closer to peach than orange. Not difficult to read at all.

Limited edition inks from Montblanc have lately included a few yellows. Here’s a comparison of the three most recent yellow MB inks – again, Year of the Rat seems to be closer to peach than orange or yellow.

The swatch of YotR is very close to Diamine Marigold, but in writing it is closer to Bungubox Sweet Potato Yellow.

Montblanc calls this color Charm Yellow. Although Rats and Charm are not two things I usually associate with one another, I do like the color name. Shading in YotR is definitely present but subtle. I had no problem reading the color on paper although when I used the ink in a room that was not well lit, I had to keep checking to make sure my previous line was dark enough. In normal lighting, this wasn’t an issue.

While writing with YotR, I didn’t feel like I was writing with an orange-ish ink. It is truly a yellow ink experience. In large swatches, however, orange rules.

I am very happy with my purchase of Year of the Rat – it joins only a small handful of yellow inks in my collection. I have had no desire to flush out the pen I used in this review – instead it has become a part of my daily use pen lineup (around 4-7 pens) and it brings a bright cheerfulness to my writing!

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Pen: Franklin-Christoph Model 20 Vintage Green, Broad Cursive Italic nib ($190)
• Ink:  Montblanc Year of the Rat Charm Yellow ($43 for 50ml bottle)

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided at a discount by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Montblanc Year of the Rat (Charm Yellow) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

Montblanc recently released a line called “Blue Palette”. A lineup of six new inks that are all different shades of blue (although to be fair, they include turquoise and teal in the “blue”). Why would anyone need that many shades of blue? That was my first thought about the line, however, once I saw all of the boxes together, I began to understand a bit.

I picked up my bottle of Maya Blue from the Dromgoole’s table at the Colorado Pen Show last month. On a very pleasant note, Dromgoole’s recently announced that they are offering free shipping for orders over $35 until the end of 2019! Just use the code FREE and your shipping cost will disappear. Magic.

I then learned that each of these blues was a Pantone color. Interesting.

One thing to note is that these special edition inks come in smaller 30mL bottles rather than the larger 50mL bottles, although the price reflects this as well. The Blues are $28 rather than $43.

Please forgive the dust in my photos. Rearranging a room is never good for close up pictures! From the cap, this seems to be a mid-range turquoise ink that isn’t too watery – it holds on fairly well to the inside of the cap.

Again, I must apologize here; I should have re-dipped my pen before I did. This is actually Maya Blue, NOT Mayo Blue.

I was surprised to see some red sheen in this ink – very subtle, almost a halo rather than sheen. But the shading! So many different turquoise shades in one ink!

Maya Blue seems to fall somewhere between Robert Oster Aqua and Robert Oster Pacific Ocean Teal although it shades like Lamy Crystal Amazonite. Both the Lamy and the Montblanc here show an interesting characteristic – in certain portions of the shading area, the blue actually seems a bit lighter. I’ve noted this before with Robert Oster Avocado. Possibly arising from the various dyes rising as the ink dries.

Maya Blue is just a touch on the dry side of normal, and dries quickly – this helps create the incredible shading. To achieve shading, the ink needs to dry fairly quickly so the extra ink left as the pen leaves the page only travels partially up the drying ink.

I chose my newest pen for this review – a Newton Townsend made from BSea Glacier material with a fine nib. I’ve never owned a Newton pen before and I am quite enjoying the experience. The turquoise of Maya Blue fits beautifully with the swirled colors in the material.

When the pen is out of the way, you can see what incredible shading this ink produces. A light sky blue melts into a pacific teal with the heaviest applications a slightly lighter and greener teal.

The halo around the heaviest ink pools looks, for the most part, black. However, a faint reddish sheen is present at times.

I mentioned earlier that the Blue Palette inks come in a 30mL bottle. Another option is offered – a three-bottle box that includes Egyptian Blue, Maya Blue, and Ultramarine.

I love the blending of the three blues on the box. I never would have placed these colors together in a collection myself, but once I see it presented this way, I love it.

In this set, each bottle is labeled clearly – a nice inkstand for the desk with a variety of choices. As far as my research tells me, Montblanc has not done this in the past – packaged three inks together. The price for this package is $72, bringing the individual bottle price to $24.

I have reviews for the other two inks in this box coming soon. Any of the Montblanc Blue Palette inks would be a great gift for any fountain pen user, though!

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Pen: Newton Townsend in BSea Glacier, fine steel nib ($160)
• Ink:  Montblanc Maya Blue ($28 for 30mL bottle)

DISCLAIMER: The ink included in this review was provided at a discount by Dromgoole’s for the purpose of review. Other items were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Montblanc Maya Blue appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

For several years, we try to do a 12 Days of Inkmas here are The Desk. But Diamine had the genius idea to take it even further and create in the Inkvent Calendar for 2019. Inside the paperboard windows are 24 sample sized vials (7ml each) of unique, holiday-themed ink colors plus one larger 30ml bottle for Christmas Day.

The artwork on the box is charming and will make keeping the Inkvent Calendar out on my table for a month a true delight. It was created by Sarah J. Coleman, aka The Inkymole.

Really though, I cannot wait to punch open those little windows and retrieve what’s inside!

I slid the end of the box open for a quick peek to make sure the bottles had not been damaged in transport. Each bottle is labelled to indicate if the ink is standard, shimmer, sheen or a combination of these traits. I cannot wait to swatch them up! But I am waiting and doing this properly.

For Spoilers, check out posts from Mountain of Ink or Nick Stewart. I prefer to pop each window open one at a time and be surprised and delighted at the colors in the spirit of the holiday.

To our readers in Europe, Appelboom has the Inkvent Calendar (€60.74) in stock!

If you don’t want to leave it to chance, I found a few Inkvent Calendars still in stock:

• Pen Boutique
• Bertram’s Inkwell

THE GIVEAWAY:

Now, for the most exciting part. Ms. Jesi was worried she wouldn’t get an Inkvent Calendar so, despite the fact that we order two Inkvent calendars directly from Cultpens back in August, she insisted on ordering a second one — “just in case” — from Pen Chalet when they announced they would also be receiving them. As a result, we here at Desk HQ have an extra Inkvent Calendar to giveaway.

So….

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me how/what/where do you plan to use the Inkvent Calendar inks? 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 moneys some time.

FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Friday, November 22, 2019. 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 3 days, I will draw a new giveaway winner. I want to get this in the mail ASAP so that the winner can start their Inkvent Calendar on December 1. Shipping via USPS first class/Prioirty Mail 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.

The post Eye Candy: Diamine Inkvent Calendar (and Giveaway) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

Black Friday (and the related Small Business Saturday, In-Between Sales Sunday, Cyber Monday…) has come and gone and packages ordered online last week are now being delivered. During these sale days, I happened to see a few new inks pop up on Vanness Pens – all Penbbs inks. Ok, I admit it was more than a few. It was 34 new inks. Luckily, I have amazing willpower; I only purchased samples of each.

One downside of ordering this time of year is that the Post Office is rather busy. Typically packages from Vanness arrive at my home within three (sometimes only two) days. I didn’t receive my ink this time until yesterday afternoon, so I had a busy evening swatching inks! Fortunately, this is one of my favorite things to do.

I do admit, though, that 34 inks is too much for me to review one by one. But how can I best show these ink colors if readers are curious and can’t tell the colors from the bottle labels? Rather than trying to review every ink, I have grouped them. These first six photos are the swatches in numerical order.

#381 through #392 are the large style hexagonal bottles, have no particular theme that I could see and cost $16 for a 60mL bottle.

#501 through #509 are themed on flowers and cost $18 for 35mL square bottles.

#510 through #524 are not named (please ignore the Midnight Blue label on #515) and also cost $18 for 35mL bottles.

I this second group of photos, I have grouped the inks by color and added a swatch of inks that are familiar to most people and can be found online easily if not. Hopefully these will give a reference to place these colors in the mind of the readers.

My favorites: #381 – an orange-yellow coral color, #501 – an opaque true yellow that doesn’t fade into the paper, #505 Azalea – a dusty pinkish purple, #507 Lily of the Valley – a dusty teal, #511 – purple, of course, #514 – a bright turquoise that has a faint halo in writing, and #516 – even on a paper towel, this black didn’t break down into separate colors.

I hope this presentation helps to show the colors of these inks. Pick out your favorites – samples are $3.50 or $2.50 for 4mLs so it is plenty of ink for trying out the ink – or pick a couple of bottles. Penbbs inks are one of the best value inks for the money!

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Ink:  Penbbs Season 26 and Flower series (Vanness Pens, $18 for 35mL or $16 for 60mL)
• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER: All materials used in this review were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Newest Penbbs Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

By Jessica Coles

Kyo-no-oto is an ink line from the TAG stationery store in Japan with colors designed to represent traditional Japanese dyes. The latest release from Kyo-no-oto is Sakuranezumi or Cherry Blossom Mouse (maybe the cutest name ever).

From the box, the color seems to be a dusty pinkish purple that shades well. The box is a thick cardstock with the name Kyo-no-oto letterpressed into the material and is one of those boxes that I can never seem to open without a small tear in one corner.

Opening the bottle, the ink seems to be a very dark purple and on the thin side – very little ink stayed on the inside of the lid.

Sakuranezumi is an amazing shading ink. On my swatch card, the shading varies from a dusty rose to a plum with a dark halo and a hint of a goldish-green sheen on tthe edges of that halo.

In very heavy applications, Sakuranezumi can even move towards a violet. This only happened where I allowed a LOT of ink to dry.

As I compared Sakuranezumi to other inks, there was a wide range to match. The lightest areas seemed to be a good match to Robert Oster Claret while the heavier applications looked near the lightest portions of Bungubox Ink of the Witch.

Due to the sakura portion of the name, I was inspired to draw a few flowers. The shading is great here, just don’t judge the quality of the actual drawing!

Another large swatch of ink shows again the leaning towards blue undertones.

The biggest complaint about Kyo-no-oto ink is that the inks are terribly dry. I used a pen that is normally too wet for my taste in order to compensate for the dryness and I was pleased with the results! The flow seemed perfect. I would label Sakuranezumi as a dry-ish ink, although nowhere near the dryness level of Stone Road or Hisoku.

Wide nibs and script writing (rather than cursive) show the shading very well. In writing I would actually say Sakuranezumi is a medium shading ink.

At $28 for 40mL, Kyo-no-oto inks are on the pricy side, but, in my opinion, are worth the price for the original colors. Now I need to find a stuffed Cherry Blossom Mouse for my desk!

Tools:

• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Refill ($30-35 USD)
• Ink:  Kyo-no-oto Sakuranezumi (Pen Boutique, 40mL for $25.20)
• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring ink testing cards ($10 for 100 card pack)

DISCLAIMER: All materials used in this review were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

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By Jessica Coles

Today’s post is not about a brand new ink line and not a new company. Instead, this collection is from a well-trusted company with a fun twist on a collection of bright, happy inks; Monteverde Sweet Life! Please note, these inks are named after popular desserts but they are not scented. They may make you crave sweets, though!

Monteverde Sweet Life consists of 10 inks; Pumpkin Cake, Iced Cookie, Chocolate Pudding, Cherry Danish, Strawberry Shortcake, Birthday Cake, Blue Velvet, Key Lime, Mango Mousse, and Blueberry Muffin. These inks are packaged in a durable box with a magnetic flap closure inside a brightly colored sleeve.

It bothered me at first that each ink was again packaged in its own box (excess packaging is never good), but I realized it helps tremendously to protect the bottles from hitting each other during shipping.

First, swatches of all ten inks together. I’ll get into comparing each ink to others below.

Starting with the reds.

Monteverde Strawberry Shortcake is a bright, cheery red, somewhere between Taccia Aka Red and KWZ Grapefruit.

Monteverde Cherry Danish is darker, very close to Robert Oster Burgundy.

A couple of brown inks now.

This ink is a somewhat unique color – Monteverde Pumpkin Cake. Akkerman SBRE Brown is the closest in my collection. There’s a hint of orange in the brown.

Monteverde Chocolate Pudding almost shows a black sheen in the brown. There’s still a good amount of orange in this brown, but Chocolate Pudding is much darker than Pumpkin Cake.

The two brightest inks in the collection!

Monteverde Mango Mousse is slightly closer to orange than Ferris Wheel Press Buttered Popcorn and shows up darker in writing than Stipula Sapphron. Lots of shading as well.

Monteverde Key Lime Pie is probably my favorite in the Sweet Life collection. It is a vibrant green, close to Robert Oster Green Lime but Key Lime Pie is not as likely to show crystallization on the pen nib.

Now to the blues in the collection.

Monteverde Iced Cookie is a beautiful turquoise/teal close to Private Reserve Ebony Blue and shows plenty of shading. I love this color and it has been in a pen at all times since I received the collection.

The second blue in the collection, Monteverde Blue Velvet Cake, has a beautiful dark red sheen that isn’t overpowering. Since the sheen is a secondary color for the ink, smearing isn’t an issue.

I’ve saved the best color for last. PURPLE.

Monteverde Blueberry Muffin is a beautiful purple (ok, not quite purple really) that leans heavily towards red, almost a burgundy. Robert Oster Dark Chocolate is probably the closest. There is a faint dark green sheen in heavily inked areas.

Monteverde Birthday Cake is a gorgeous mid to dark purple. Writing with Birthday Cake shows lighter than the swatch – TWSBI Royal Purple is the closest in my collection although it has more red undertones.

Now for the most exciting part! We will be giving away two bottles of Monteverde Sweet Life inks to two different lucky winners! Monteverde Cherry Danish and Monteverde Blueberry Muffin. Rules are below the photo – good luck to everyone!

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite dessert. 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 Tuesday, February 4, 2020. All entries must be submitted at wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Winners 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 the winner does not respond within 7 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 and giveaway were provided free of charge by Yafa for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review and Give Away!: Monteverde Sweet Life appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Congrats to the winners of our Monteverde Sweet Life ink giveaway.

Linda wins the Cherry Danish ink!

And Alan wins the Blueberry Muffin ink.

Congrats to both our winners and look forward to more giveaways soon.

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Review by Laura Cameron

Have you ever tried a subscription box for something you love? We were sent an Inkredible Box from Truphae for the purposes of this review, and I was super excited to see what they’re all about!

Truephae is a small pen and stationary shop located in Greenville, South Carolina founded to share a love of fountain pens and writing instruments (and paper and cases and other accoutrements) with everyone. The Inkredible boxes were created as a monthly subscription for fountain pen lovers or new collectors to receive a box in the mail with new products to try. There are three levels: The Inkmeister ($25 monthly), The Penthusiast ($75 monthly) and The Collector ($125 monthly). We were sent the Inkmeister for this review!

The Inkmeister Box promises a budget fountain pen useful for testing new inks and a selection of inks to try. The box we received had a Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen ($15.95) and 5 samples of J. Herbin Inks.

This was my first time using a Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen, and actually the first time I had heard of the brand. The pen feels like a metal body, with a carbon design on the barrel, rose gold trim and a gunmetal cap. The nib is a standard steel nib iridium point in Fine. The cap is a snap cap, and is postable (with another snap!) but rattles a bit when posted, so I chose not to. The pen comes with a converter, and I went ahead and filled mine with J. Herbin Blue Pervenche, which was included in the samples. The ink flowed through the feed to the nib easily, and the nib wrote fairly smoothly. Overall, I would say it is a perfectly adequate pen to get someone started into fountain pens, and probably a good pen for testing out those sparkle inks!

As I said, the ink samples included were selections from J. Herbin (the inks included change each month) and there was a nice variety of colors included.

Overall, I thought the presentation was fairly good. I could make a few suggestions – perhaps a cardboard insert in the box with slots for the ink samples and a slot for the pen would make sense and keep everything a bit better organized. Although I love that they included a card with the ink swatches and names (and each sample tube was numbered) I think labeling the tubes themselves, even with printable Avery labels, would help ink collectors identify them in the future.

Finally, I’m left to decide whether I think monthly fountain pen subscription boxes are a good idea. The answer is: it depends. I think a subscription box is a fabulous gift for someone who has expressed interest in fountain pens, or who is new to collecting and eager to try a wider array of inks and pens. However, I do think that after the first  (or second? third?) box the journey becomes a bit more personal and enthusiasts would likely prefer to pick out their own pens and inks, so I’m not sure that a subscription model is sustainable. If the goal is to get new users or dabblers more interested in fountain pens and more knowledgeable about Truphae through the box, and then draw them into the shop to select their next pens and inks, then I think that’s more of a winning model.

What do you think?

• Papers: Ghost Paper Notebook ($25)
• Pen: Baoer Carbon Fire Fountain Pen ($15.95)
• Inks: J. Herbin

DISCLAIMER: 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.

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By Jessica Coles

There is no way to hide my love of inks. This love of inks actually drew me into the fountain pen world – there are not enough colors in the Gelly Roll line to satisfy my quest for more colors.

This is not a cheap thing, though. Bottles of ink can cost anywhere from $6 to … well, anything, really. Samples are a great way for me to get a taste of ink, try it for a while, and move on to the next quickly. I have lots of samples by now, though. Lots. But there is always more to try – more inks coming out, limited editions, inks you can only procure if you hike 50 miles up a mountain in isolated Japan and have a two-hour interview with the only person on earth who knows how to make an exact color. The list goes on and shows no sign of stopping. In fact, the pace of new inks brought to the market seems to be increasing.

Shigure Inks is new to the fountain pen world and the ink scene.  This made it all the more impressive to me when I discovered they carried a variety of inks that are hard to find in the US – inks like Lennon Toolbar, iPaper, and Tono & Lims.

But with hard-to-find ink comes higher prices and usually smaller amounts of ink. I was only able to occasionally get one or two bottles of these inks and I despaired of ever being able to collect samples of each.

Then.

Then one day I discovered the ink sample order form.

I found that Shigure Ink will allow me to order ANY ink in ANY size. They are priced based on the per mL price of the specific ink plus a charge for the vial. ANY ink. I can order 1-2 mL of EVERY ink.

The sample form requires that you list the ink name and the volume desired for each sample. Once submitted, Shigure sends an invoice that, once paid, results in your order being shipped. Quickly!

A longer review of the actual inks themselves will be coming soon, but for now, look upon the amazing finds:

The last time I saw iPaper inks was at the San Francisco pen show where they were in short supply.

Take some time and look through the ink selection at Shigure. The inks have become so much more accessible! Small samples means more variety of ink!

DISCLAIMER: All items in this review were purchased by me to add to my ink collection. For more information, see our About page.

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By Jessica Coles

Standard Bindery Store in Australia has introduced a new lineup of original ink colors; these inks are now available at Vanness Pens! Due to feedback from my previous ink overview posts, I am laying out the entire lineup of 6 Standard Bindery inks.

I purchased my ink samples from Vanness Pens – samples of Road Trip, Clear Seas, Stargaze, Old Friend, Canyon Walk, and Luna Tone. As a side note, have you ever noticed that Vanness ink sample labels come in the color of the ink? I love that little detail.

I have to say that this is a very original layout of colors – not your standard ink color from Standard Bindery.

The first ink in the lineup is Road Trip – a yellowish-green that is very legible and has great shading.

Road Trip is a bit darker than Bungubox Sunlight Raindrops but is in the same region of color.

Luna Tone is a dark blue-black that has a subtle reddish-black sheen. I accidentally tested the water resistance – it isn’t. However, you can see that the writing is still legible after the water dried and the color spread in the water is beautiful.

Luna Tone has a strong purple undertone, close to Penbbs 524 and ColorVerse Proxima B

As I first swatched Old Friend, I was a bit disappointed – it is the one purple in the group. But as I wrote with this ink, just a touch of shading started to show. A faint sheen showed up and I started to love the ink.

Callifolio Bourgogne is the closest to Old Friend and I believe the two will look even more alike when writing with a fine nib.

Standard Bindery Stargaze also surprised me. When wet, Stargaze is nearly black, or a very dark grey. However, the ink dries to a greenish-grey that shows a bit of shading and a faint dark halo.

Stargaze is close to both KWZ Midnight Green and 3 Oysters Giwa – a group that I would classify as green-black and quite appropriate for work writing.

I predict that Clear Seas is going to be the most popular in the Standard Bindery line. It is a bright, cheerful teal-turquoise that leans towards green.  The writing is haloed by a darker teal or green and letters can appear as light turquoise or dark teal.

Clear Seas matches Kobe #13 Emerald closely but behaves like ColorVerse Photon. If you missed out on Papier Plume Lake Michigan Summer, grab a bottle of Clear Seas!

Canyon Walk is my favorite color of the bunch. It is a rusty reddish-orange that likes to shade a bit, has a halo around letters and the halo in the swatch (not apparent in this photo, but definitely there) shines a dark brown.

Canyon Walk is close to another hard-to-find Papier Plume ink, 011 which was created to go along with the TV show Stranger Things and designed to look a bit like dried blood. In writing, it reminds me strongly of Monteverde Copper Noir.

Standard Bindery inks were average when it came to cleanup time and wrote a touch on the wet side for me. They are not water-resistant, dried quickly (15 seconds or less), and did not smear once dry. At a price of $21.95 for 60mL of ink, they are a great price per mL. Vanness Pens quickly sold out of Clear Seas, but they will be restocked – you can sign up for a reminder on their website (I will be getting a bottle of it myself!). I am glad that a new ink line has come out with such unusual colors!

Disclaimer: The items in this post were provided at a discount for the purposes of this review. See our About page for more information.

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Review by Tina Koyama

It may seem like fountain pen inks come in a bazillion colors, and they do – but the vast majority are water-soluble. Finding a range of ink colors that are also solidly waterproof isn’t as easy. Some may say they are waterproof and may be sufficiently water-resistant for addressing an envelope, but if watercolors or other wet media were applied over them, they could smear. Of the ones I’ve tried, DeAtramentis offers the widest range of hues that are also sufficiently waterproof for use as an art medium.

I suppose that’s why the German ink maker’s latest line of waterproof inks is called DeAtramentis Artist. I’m not sure how different its formula is from the DeAtramentis Document line, which is also waterproof, but at least on Vanness Pen Shop’s website, the Artist inks are described as being lightfast as well as waterproof. Available in eight colors, “All inks of this group are mixable with each other. The inks can be painted and written with fountain pen, brush and quill pen.” (Awhile back, I reviewed DeAtramentis Document inks in Fog Grey, Dark Red and White.)

For this review, I tried the Artist inks in Green, Brown and Black. Green is on the slightly cool side tending toward emerald. Brown is a rich chocolate that is neither orangey nor grayish. Black is neutral, although in the brush swatch, it’s a bit on the warm side. (I had a chance to sample the inks on some Col-o-Ring Dippers!)

These inks do not show fancy features like sheening or shading, but they would be excellent for addressing envelopes or writing in a journal when you might be apt to spill a beverage on it. They are also ideal for sketching with wet media, which is my primary interest with these inks.

After making my usual swatches on Col-o-Ring cards with various fountain pens and a brush, I gave them a good hour or two of drying time. Then I swiped them with a waterbrush. Even the thick brush swatches barely show traces of bleeding (right side of cards).

My long-time favorite black waterproof ink for sketching is Platinum Carbon Black, which I have used for years because it dries very quickly and then becomes as waterproof as I need it to be with wet media. I decided to put it head-to-head with Black DeAtramentis Artist. Since I had sampled the DeAtramentis with my juicy Franklin-Christoph fude nib, I used an equally juicy Sailor Naginata fude nib for the Platinum ink.

I typically draw with ink and then apply wet media immediately afterwards, and I don’t like to be kept waiting. For this test, I waited only one minute before putting my waterbrush through the lines (right side of scribbles). As you can see, whether I wait a minute or an hour (on the left), the very minor solubility is negligible. DeAtramentis Artist is just as waterproof as Platinum Carbon and dries just as quickly. The bonus is that DeAtramentis is available in a much wider range of colors.

Convinced that the ink wouldn’t bleed all over my sketch, I stood on our upstairs deck to sketch the fully blossomed cherry tree across the street. As soon as I made the ink lines, I colored the blossoms with water-soluble Caran d’Ache Supracolor pencils. Then I spritzed it generously with water to activate the color. I see no trace of bleeding from the ink.

I know that waterproof DeAtramentis inks are popular with many sketchers, and I can see why. The collection offers fast-drying, fully waterproof inks in more colors than I’ve seen elsewhere.

TOOLS

• Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Beta ($17.99)
• Pens: Pilot Prera (M nib) ($32.50), Pilot Metropolitan (M nib) ($19.50), Franklin-Christoph 20 Marietta (fude nib) ($165 + $55 for nib), Sailor 1911 full size (Naginata Fude de Mannen nib) ($450)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) and Col-o-Ring “Dipper” ($5)
• Brush: Winsor & Newton pointed round 4 ($13.04)
• Inks: DeAtramentis Artist Brown, Green, Black ($19.95 each)

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

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

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For the last decade, I was always under the impression that the Akkerman bottles were unique to Akkerman. This past week though, I stumbled across some vintage ink bottles on Pinterest that look quite similar.

This ad for Waterman ink features a bottle similar to the Dutch Masters bottle shape, complete with the marble in the neck.

This clipping from a book (unknown details) indicates the Waterman bottle is from France circa 1930s. Looks familiar?

This gorgeous vintage box and bottle above is Gimborn ink from Holland as well but the design looks distinctly 50s or 60s. That label and box is just stunning but the bottle is fluted just like the standard Akkerman bottle. The box in the background lists an address in Holland so it’s possible that Akkerman acquired the bottle making equipment from this company. Even the pen nib on the label  on the bottle is similar in placement.

There is a very interesting thread on FPN about the history of early Gimborn bottles and wow! were they ever inventive in their bottle designs. More information about the similarities between the Gimborn and Akkerman bottles can be found in this thread as well.

In my research (AKA “I went down the rabbit hole”), I also discovered ties between Gimborn and Pelikan as well as this document. The crux of the articles indicate that Gimborn sold off the pen portion (including inks) to Pelikan in the 1980s at which point Gimborn inks were no longer made or sold in the long-neck bottles. Gimborn still exists as a company, however they focus their production on the manufacturing of pet-related products.

This image, above, is the current Akkerman bottle. According to the research I was able to dig up, there is no evidence that Akkerman acquired the design or patent but there is a comment in one of the threads listed above that it’s likely that Akkerman was a fan of the iconic Gimborn bottle and found a glassware designer to remake the bottle for them. The same thread includes schematic drawings of those bottles. If FPN folks can find those drawings, I’m sure Akkerman was able to find them as well and show them to a designer when they designed their bottles.

The image above was culled from the internet. I tried to link to the FPN thread where it appeared but it seems the original image is no longer available so I have to make do with a screen shot. It’s the only image I could find comparing the original Akkerman large bottles and current bottles to comparable Gimborn bottles. There are slight differences in fluting and sizes but it’s fascinating to see, isn’t it?

So, maybe there’s hope that Akkerman might one day attempt to recreate some of the other Gimborn bottles? We can hope.

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Carol asks:

I wrote Brad Dowdy this question and he didn’t know however thought you might be able to help me understand.

I am looking to find a way to desaturate some of my fountain pen inks.

As an artist I’m looking to add ink lines, marks by drawing on top of my watercolor washes. Most of my inks: Diamine, Noodlers, Birmingham, Faber Castell, Pelikan and Edelstein are great inks yet their values are too saturated. I’m looking for a way to reduce the saturation to create a more muted tone in the line. Birmingham are some of my favorite as Nick and Josh have created inks that are favorable to me by their faded look – yet those are still a bit dark.

Diluted water I have found does little to alter the saturation while it makes the ink obviously wetter – which is a bit defeating as I am also looking for drier inks. A permanent or water resistant quality would be wonderful to maintain as well in those inks that offer this. I love for example Faber Castell Stone Grey and Noodlers Walnut – however both come off severely too dark.

It’s an odd ask I realize. Just thought if any experience has been noted on this. Advise would be welcomed.

Kiera asks:

I’ve been using diamine marine in my hobonichi cousin, but I want to take advantage of the hobonichi’s paper more. Marine is a lovely color, but not a very interesting ink otherwise. Can you recommend some sheening or shading inks that are similar in color? Thank you!

Kiera, most sheening inks tend to sheen because the pigment-to-liquid ratio is considerably higher. As a result, most sheening inks are darker than the lovely aqua Marine because all that pigment doesn’t allow the color to be as translucent. In the fountain pen world, we think of this as an ink’s ability to shade. So, the more pigment, the more sheen, and the less shading.

At least, up until this point. Someone will figure out how to circumvent this at some point, I’m sure.

That said, there are a few aqua/turquoise inks that have more sheen than Diamine Marine.

As you will see in the photo above, the four other ink colors I found that were in the same color family but had more sheen, are Diamine Aurora Borealis, Colorverse Gravity Wave, Robert Oster Marine and Kaweco Paradise Blue. Some of these colors are considerably darker but will have a red, pink or magenta sheen. The sheen will be more or less noticeable depending on how broad your nib is.

Colorverse Gravity Wave probably has the most sheen and I was able to catch the sheen highlights in the photo above.

There are many other sheening ink options available but they are not necessarily in the turquoise or teal color range. I pulled a few for you to consider.

The classic Organics Studio Nitrogen is the first “super sheener” and it will potentially smudge but if you’re looking for lots of sheen, you can’t go wrong with this one. I would recommend a finer nib for less smudging.

Diamine has created many amazing sheening inks. Some were created as exclusives for European pen shops but others are now available directly from Diamine. The colors are not as smudge-y as the Organics Studio and have some unusual sheening. Robert (and the Pen Gallery Exclusive Manggis) is a purple that sheens green. Skull & Roses is a deep vibrant blue that sheens red. Communication Breakdown is a rust red that sheens green. November Rain is a deep teal green that sheensred-violet.

There are many other sheening inks that will pop up in places you might not expect it like this Lamy Crystal Azurite or even in the most unsuspecting inks like Waterman. I often surprise people when I show them the sheen from Waterman inks, particularly Tender Purple and Inspired Blue. Blows their mind.

I decided to swatch the Waterman inks (and some of the inks on some Tomoe River paper) at the last minute just to show more of the sheen. It’s not all the colors mentioned above, but a lot of them.

This morning it’s overcast so I was able to get the sheen better. The Waterman Audacious Red didn’t show but on some papers, it sheens gold.

Kiera, did I give you enough options?

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