My favorite feature of the Penlux line is the boxes. Each box is cut from a single piece of cardstock and folded in such a way that no glue is necessary.

Ok, I was wrong. My favorite feature of the Penlux ink line is the colors. They are fabulous! The three inks I have here are in the vintage line of the Mo inks.

Penlux Mo Pine is incredibly close to Sailor Rikyu-cha. to the point that it seems likely that Penlux may have been utilizing Sailor’s ink manufacturing skills when producing Pine.

I also love the changes in Pine on various papers. Tomoe River paper brings out a subtle coppery sheen.

Penlux Mo Pine on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

Midori MD paper shows off the yellow and brown undertones.

Penlux Mo Pine on Midori MD paper:

Pine looks like a completely different ink on Cosmo Air Light paper. The shading here is amazing.

Penlux Mo Pine on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Penlux Mo Amber has a lovely combination of rusty orange and brown, again with plenty of shading.

The shading seems more pronounced on Tomoe River paper with a hint of greenish sheen.

Penlux Mo Amber on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

Midori MD paper has shading but some of the depth of the color is flattened out.

Penlux Mo Amber on Midori MD paper:

On Cosmo Air Light paper, I saw a touch of feathering in some of the writing. Here, the ink looks a bit dusty as well.

Penlux Mo Amber on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Penlux Mo Rouge is not a color I usually reach for. But as part of the set of vintage colors, I couldn’t pass it up.

Tomoe River paper shows more of the blue undertones for a burgundy ink with green-gold sheen.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Tomoe River (TR7) 52 gsm paper:

On Midori MD paper, Rouge has a dusty and faded appearance.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Midori MD paper:

The change in Rouge on Cosmo Air Light paper is dramatic – the blue undertones dominate the color for more of a grape purple.

Penlux Mo Rouge on Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper:

Do you have a favorite from this trio of inks? Have you found rare or beloved inks in strange locations?

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: PenLux Mo Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I appreciate the minimal packaging with all Troublemaker inks – a simple card stock box and large plastic bottles that are dark enough to protect the ink from most light.

Troublemaker Nenita is a dark burgundy red – not so dark that it appears black in writing, though.

The sheen is what makes this ink pop, however. A green-gold sheen shows up in the correct light. The sheen is a bit muted – this keeps it from overwhelming the base color and keeps the ink from smearing after it dries.

Troublemaker Nenita on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Troublemaker Nenita on Midori MD paper:

Troublemaker Nenita on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

Troublemaker Moon River is quite different from Nenita. This is a multi-chromatic ink that shows plenty of shading with a color somewhere between grey, pink, and green. It brings to mind other recent multi-chromatic inks like Sailor Studio 123 and Sailor Yurameku Seki, but I think it is more helpful to show it compared to other standard inks. The swatch is close to Vinta Pangtangi but in writing, Moon River appears as a dusty rose.

Troublemaker Moon River on Tomoe River 52gsm (TR7) paper:

Troublemaker Moon River on Midori MD paper:

Troublemaker Moon River on Cosmo Air Light 83gsm paper:

I love the degree to which Moon River changes from paper to paper.

Troublemaker inks can be a bit hard to find in the US, however, it seems that more retailers are beginning to stock the ink. At $0.28 per mL, I would definitely recommend picking up a bottle!

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased by me. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Troublemaker Nenita and Moon River appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The color is solidly richly cranberry reddish pink with a red wine undertone. While the ink does not appear to sheen, it is a good shader showing a range of tones from red wine to pinky, saucy cranberry jelly.

Surprisingly, I was able to find many similar colors in my ink collection but many are discontinued or pricey. Colorverse Conjecture was part of the Johannes Kelper set, Birmingham Pen Company’s Gerbera Pink is from their previous ink-carnation, Montblans’ Antoine de Saint-Exupery is, well, a limited edition Montblanc ink. Oster Dusty Pink is a bit more purple-y and Ferris Wheel Press Royal Rhubarb is a little more brick reddish. So, if you’re looking for a sweet, tangy cranberry color, Vanness Cranberry Sauce will have you craving seconds.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia Uni-Blank No. 16 with 6mm guide sheet
• Pens: Midori bullet pencil modified dip nib holder with Zebra G titanium nib ($33.50 per 10-pack), Acrylic dip nib pen (Approx. $15), James Finniss Serendipity Nib Holder ($79 AUD) with Franklin-Christoph SIG fine nib
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Ink Testing Book ($10) & Col-o-dex Rotary Cards ($15)
• Brush: Silverwhite 1500S Round #2

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.

The post Inkmas Day 2: Vanness Exclusive Cranberry Sauce appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This post today will be giving a first look at the two ink lines: the Cephalopod Series and the Avian Series. I will dive deeper into reviewing the characteristics of the inks in further posts, but I wanted to give an overview of the colors as soon as I could.

The first Series is Cephalopods. This line consists of Bobtail Squid Green, Colossal Squid Dark, Flapjack Octopus Orange, Vampire Squid Red, Blue-Ringed Octopus Blue, Spirula Green, Cuttlefish Brown, and Flying Squid Blue.

The Avian Series consists of Common Loon Black, Shoebill Stork Grey, Roseate Spoonbill Pink, American Goldfinch Yellow, Purple Gallinule Purple, Green Kingfisher Green, Pompadour Cotinga Burgundy, and Indigo Bunting Blue.

I was sent 0.5 ounce bottles of each ink – these are sold for $14.50 in 1.5 ounce bottles at various retailers.

Cephalopods:

Avian:

On Col-o-Ring cards, the only smearing I noticed was from my own clumsiness.

• Above: Cosmo Air Light paper

• Above: Cosmo Air Light paper

I attempted to remove the sticker that was used to close the bag ofCepholapod samples, but my clumsiness showed up again. I did want to show off the wonderful drawing on the sticker, however. Just ignore the fact that it is in pieces…

The Avian Sticker came off in one piece, though!

Cosmo Air Light shows plenty of shading and hints of sheen in Flying Squid, Blue-Ringed Octopus, Vampire Squid, Roseate Spoonbill Pink, and Common Loon Black. Haloing is also showing up in several colors.

• Above: Tomoe River Paper

• Above: Tomoe River Paper

The same five inks sheen on Tomoe River paper as well where the colors are softer and shading is less pronounced.

• Above: Midori MD Light paper

• Above: Midori MD Light paper

I love the depth of these inks on Midori MD Light paper. Vampire Squid sheens quite a bit here and Cuttlefish has a fascinating variety of layers.

As I said above, this is only meant to be a quick teaser of the Anderillium ink lines. In the coming weeks, I will dive deeper into how these inks perform. Don’t forget to check back next week!

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 Anderillium Inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The last three inks today are Cenote, Cardona, and Mar Caribe.

Cenote is a deep blue ink with a somewhat matte, pinkish sheen. It is close to Ferris Wheel Press Tanzenite Sky or Diamine Regency Blue, but the sheen factor is higher. One nice feature of Cenote – the ink never seemed to smear unlike most sheening inks.

Monarca Cardona is the other sheening ink in the line. The base color is a deep burgundy-magenta, close to Robert Oster’s Hot Pink while the sheen is like a toned down version of Cult Pens Robert, an ink that pushes sheen to the max. As with Cenote, I never saw the ink smear.

Monarca Mar Caribe is a beautiful light turquoise with plenty of shading potential. It is a bit lighter than Robert Oster Pacific Ocean Teal (a past special edition) but still dark enough for easy reading.

A lineup of the last three Monarca inks!

Once again I have the entire Monarca ink collection together, first on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Then on Tomoe River paper:

I have enjoyed showing the new inks! It is a great lineup of unusual colors for an introductory offering, but it is refreshing to see non-standard colors.

Each Monarca ink is priced at $20 for a 30mL bottle (except the special edition Rey Jaguar which is $29) and includes a small ink stand with a pen rest. You can find samples of Monarca inks at $4 for 4mL at Vanness as well.

DISCLAIMER: The ink in this review was provided free for the purpose of review. You can help support this blog by joining our Patreon. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Monarca Inks Part 3 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Robert Oster has started to release inks inspired by various cities in the United States. As of today, seven inks have been released:

Napa, California- a deep wine red
Chicago, Illinois- steely, snow-inspired blue
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma- a grassy plains green
Kansas City, Kansas- a golden brown inspired by the wheat belt
Miami, Florida- a blue-green inspired by the water
New York, New York- bright red for The Big Apple
Las Vegas, Nevada- a shimmering purple inspired by the glitz of Las Vegas

I purchased my samples from Vanness where they were $3.00 ($3.75 for Las Vegas) for 4mL and the bottles run $18 for 50mL ($26 for Las Vegas).

Oklahoma City is a grassy green color, somewhere between Robert Oster Lemon Grass and Robert Oster Grun-Schwarz. This is going to be one that Ana likes!

Napa is a fabulous burgundy – very much a wine color.

Chicago. This one is probably my favorite (other than Las Vegas, because, of course, it’s purple)This is an ink that shows multiple layers of color – not quite multi-chromatic, but almost. It is very close in color to several vintage iron gall blue-black inks.

New York is a bold red lighter than Robert Oster Red Candy.

Kansas City is a great ink for shading. I would say ripe wheat is about right for this color description – a brownish gold.

Miami is an ink that I had expected to be more turquoise. Like Chicago, it is close to several vintage blue-black iron gall inks but it leans much more towards the blue side.

The swatches I had seen of Robert Oster Las Vegas looked nothing like the color that came out of this sample. Las Vegas is a mid-lavender with plenty of sparkle – either silver or a pale blue. Although the sparkle is hard to see in this photo, the second photo below is better.

WONDERFUL sparkle. Amazing purple. This ink makes me feel like I’m 8 years old again.

I mentioned that Chicago and Miami both looked like vintage blue-black inks – here they are side by side.

Below are swatches of the seven inks on Tomoe River Paper:

And Las Vegas shimmer close-up on Tomoe River paper:

The seven inks on Cosmo Air Light paper:

And the Las Vegas shimmer shot on Cosmo Air Light paper:

Tomoe River paper is on the left and Cosmo Air Light paper on the right. The difference in how color shows on the two paper types still amazes me – on CAL, Miami is darker but Chicago and Napa are lighter.

So there you have it! Robert Oster Cities of America inks:

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

The post Ink Line Review: Robert Oster Cities of America appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Private Reserve inks can clearly be divided into old and new versions. The brand was purchased by YAFA who has updated the line but kept the ink color names. I was curious if these colors stayed true through this change, especially some of the more popular inks. I recently received a bundle of the new PR inks from YAFA for review and this is the first batch: Burgundy Mist, Arabian Rose, Black Cherry, DC Supershow Blue, Tropical Blue, and Naples Blue.

First up is Private Reserve Burgundy Mist. This is the only ink in this batch where I do not have a swatch of the original ink, but I have compared it to other inks to see the color. Burgundy Mist is very close to Mercury Noir with better shading. I did see feathering with Burgundy Mist.

Black Cherry is up next. The new Black Cherry is close to Monteverde Blueberry Muffin. No feathering was present here and the shading is wonderful.

The new Black Cherry ink is a great match for the original Black Cherry but the shading has been enhanced. This is a great change, in my opinion.

Arabian Rose. This ink is the one that worried me – Arabian Rose is one color where I have never found an adequate replacement. ColorVerse Einstein Ring is the best I’ve found

Here’s a comparison between the new and old Arabian Rose inks. I like the new color, but I’m not completely satisfied with the change – the original Arabian Rose had a dusty finish that isn’t present in the new version. New Arabian Rose is darker, contains a bit more blue, and there is a sharper differentiation between the light and dark shades.

Private Reserve DC Supershow Blue was originally made for the DC pen show (supershow). It is a brilliant medium sheening blue that stands out on white paper.

This ink is one that has made a positive change in the move to YAFA. The blue is a touch more brilliant and the sheen has been played down just enough to deal with the smearing problem. I found no smearing in my use of Supershow blue.

Tropical Blue has just a bit more green in the undertone than DC Supershow Blue and is one of my favorite blues ever. The shading makes the color pop in writing.

I believe the old and new Tropical Blue inks are identical although new Tropical Blue has more shading.

Finally, Naples Blue. This is the lightest blue in this batch and seems to be an almost perfect match for Pelikan Edelstein Topaz in writing. It has a hint of red sheen as well.

Again, the base color is a perfect match here but the shading is better.

Here’s a look at the changes in the red/pink inks in this batch:

And a comparison of the blues.

The trend here is that the new Private Reserve colors are very close to their older versions but each one shades more readily or dramatically. So far the change is overwhelmingly positive, but I will mourn the loss of my beloved Arabian Rose ink.

Private Reserve inks have increased slightly in price but are still an amazing deal. Any of the bottles above retail for $15 and are sold in 60mL bottles. That comes in at $0.25/mL, slightly less than the $8 for a 30mL bottle of Diamine. I’m looking forward to seeing more of what YAFA has in store for these inks!

• Swatch Cards: Col-o-Ring Cards ($10 for 100 cards)
• Inks: Private Reserve (60mL for $15.00)

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: Private Reserve Old vs New appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I’ve broken the inks into groups of five so the colors can be compared to each other and to already familiar inks.

The first group is Black, Sepia Black, Pine Tree, Caramel, and Orange.

Diplomat Black is much more accurately called a blue-black ink.

Sepia Black is very close to Kobe Antique Sepia but has more shading.

Diplomat Caramel is quite close to the ever-popular KWZ Meet Me In St. Louis from 2019 – Butterscotch. the colors are nearly identical but Caramel has great shading.

Diplomat Pine Tree was actually tough to match. Not only is it a strange-ish color but also looks different in every light. Bungubox Nostalgia was the closest I could find that is similar in more lighting.

Diplomat Orange is just like Bungubox Fresh Oranges. Orange is a good option since it is cheaper, not to mention the fact that Fresh Oranges is currently not produced!

The second set of inks includes Diplomat Moss Green, Deep Green, Caribbean, Royal Blue, and Deep Blue.

Diplomat Moss Green has a base color identical to Diamine Ultra Green but the shading and sheen are close to Monteverde Green.

Diplomat Deep Green has a base color just like that of Monteverde California Teal with shading and sheen similar to Lamy Crystal Peridot.

Diplomat Caribbean is a touch darker than Kobe #48 Water Source Marche.

Diplomat Royal Blue and Deep Blue have the same base color which is close to Monteverde Blue (now called Malibu Blue). Royal Blue is closer to a washable blue while Deep Blue is what I would call a Royal Blue.

The final set of Diplomat inks contains Red, Burgundy, Orchid, Purple, and Lilac.

Diplomat Red is a slightly more saturated version of Diamine Classic Red. A bit on the pink side of a true red.

I believe Diplomat Burgundy is closer to true red than Diplomat Red. Diamine Red Dragon is a close match.

Diplomat Orchid would be better named Hot Pink. It is nearly identical to Bungubox Sweet Love Pink, complete with gold halo sheen.

Diplomat Purple is a bit less saturated than Manyo Akebi but has a hint of the same sheen.

Diplomat Lilac is a wonderful purple similar to Papier Plume Violet although a touch less blue.

So that concludes the overview of all 15 Diplomat inks. I swatched each ink in both Tomoe River 52 gsm Paper and Cosmo Air Light 83 gsm paper to give you an idea of the colors on each paper type.

I covered up one swatch which made it into these pages but isn’t part of the Diplomat ink line. Oops!

Finally, here are all 15 Diplomat ink swatch cards. In my opinion, Lilac and Orchid are absolutely the best inks in the line, with Sepia Black and Pine Tree being the most original colors. Other than disputing the color names, I have nothing bad to say about the new Diplomat inks! As I use them further, I’ll post other reviews diving deeper into individual colors and their performance in a pen. Hopefully, though, this helps when browsing for a new ink!

• Swatch Cards: Col-o-ring cards (100 for $10)
• Paper: Musubi Tomoe River Folio and Musubi Cosmo Air Light Folio (Approximately $35 for 384 pages and $25 for 208 pages)
• Ink: Diplomat inks ($11 for 30mL each or $2.60 for 4mL sample)

DISCLAIMER:  The inks in this review were provided at a discount by Vanness Pens for the purpose of this review.  All other items in this review were purchased by me.  Please see the About page for more details.

The post Ink Review: Diplomat inks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

In comparison to a few other sheening burgundies, Ume doesn’t show much sheen and when it does, it isn’t bright.

But this subtlety can be great when trying to pass off Ume in the office.

I love how Ume looks in a fine nib.

Ume isn’t waterproof nor is it water resistant. But it does hold the information conveyed in writing even with a soak. The red washes away but the writing should still be legible.

• Paper: Hobonichi Cousin – Tomoe River paper ($54)
• Pen: Diplomat Traveller Flame, Fine nib ($52)
• Swatches: Col-o-Ring Cards ($10)
• Ink: Sailor Manyo Ume (50mL for #$20)

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.

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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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