The Nebula Guide Sheet set includes five pages, printed on cardstock with guides printed on both sides of the sheets. The sheets fit into A5 notebooks. This set is unique in that it features swatch style guides a well as various grids, lines and cursive angled lines.

Surprisingly, the only online shops I could find carrying the sets were in Australia and Italy. When I googled Atlas Stationers came up but the link was “404”. Weird.

What I found surprising is that the insert sheets in the set that provide the front and back sheets in the cello bag are bright white, matte finish cardstock.

In a tear test, the cover sheets appear to be Yupo or similar tear proof paper. When I initially saw the set I thought “How genius!” Of course, you’d make guide sheets on a plasticized paper so ink or water could be wiped off and the tear-proof quality would make it more durable for long term use than traditional paper.

However, the actual guide sheets are printed on a soft white, textured, uncoated cardstock. It’s lovely paper and I bet it would take ink beautifully but that’s NOT THE POINT of a guide sheet!

In a perfect world, Nebula would read this post and follow my recommendation to print all the guide sheets on Yupo paper as they would be much more durable.

As the guidesheets are right now, they are 100% functional and the variety of page layouts provide lots of standard options as well as some great ink sampling layouts. The line weights are dark enough to show through Tomoe River paper just fine. Some thicker papers may be more difficult to see the guide lines but in most situtaions, these sheets will probably work just fine.

Please email your favorite pen shops and ask that they start carrying this nifty little product. Otherwise, I might have to stock it in our shop.

DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by Luxury Brands USA for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Product Review: Nebula Guide Sheet Set appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

This is probably the hardest category of planners to comprehensively discuss. There are literally hundreds of options available on the market including both dated and undated options. There are themed planners for moms, flower lovers, effin’ bird lovers, people with ADHD,  planners that focus on productivity, planners that focus on goal setting and some that are just pretty. If you have a particular interest, there’s probably a planner designed with your interest in mind.

These all-in-one planners often feature an overview calendar for the year, weekly or monthly pages and then some feature daily or weekly spreads. If you like the compact nature of having all the year neatly bound into a book, an all-in-one planner may be a good option.

Fountain pen compatibility is not the main focus for many of the all-in-one planners on the market so I am attempting to focus on options that are more likely to be fountain pen-friendly. There are so many all-in-one planners on the market that I needed a way to streamline this post or it would have gone on FOREVER.

That said, sometimes you just want the planner you want and, fountain pens be damned! So, where noted, I’ve included planners that might not be as fountain pen-friendly. These will give you a chance to put that stash of gel, brush, ballpoint and rollerball pens to use. Most planners include a few sheets of note paper in the back. Be sure to use a page to test the pens you want to use before starting to use your all-in-one planner.

I am dividing up our recommendations into hardbound/softbound options and spiral options and just featuring our best recommendations.

Hard Cover Options

The advantage of a hard- or softbound planner is the compact quality. If you commute back and forth, go out on job calls, travel for work or need a planner to occupy the least amount of space, a hard- or softbound planner is a great option.

The most Fountain Pen Friendly: Hobonichi Techo and Jibun Techo

By far the most talked-about planner in the fountain pen community is the Hobonichi Techo (starting at $42). Available in A6 and A5 sizes and a pocketable Weeks format, this fountain pen friendly daily planner includes monthly calendars in the front. The A5 also includes weekly planning pages. While the Tomoe River paper is hotly debated as the stock has been updated/changed over the last couple years, the Hobonichi is far and away some of the best paper for fountain pen ink.

Hobonichi also offers a wide array of cover options to personalize your A6, A5 or Weeks planner. The simple black softcover is classy and can be used without a cover if you prefer.

The Kokuyo Jibun Techo (starting at $35) is available in A5 and A5 Slim versions. The DAYS edition features a page-a-day while the standard versions are a vertical weekly planner. The covers are soft but a plastic cover protector is available to improve durability.

The DAYS version (starting at $6) is a page-a-day planner and is a good competitor to the Hobonichi Techo.

The A5 Slim standard version does require tiny writing to make use of the layout to its full effect. The paper is Kokuyo’s own lightweight paper, similar to Tomoe River. If what you’re looking for is fountain pen-friendly paper and portability, you can’t go wrong with the Jibun Techo.

Runner up: Stalogy

While the Stalogy Editor’s Series 365 (starting at $25) feels more like a notebook with undated pages, many consider it a planner for the calendar at the top of each page and the 365 pages included. The Stalogy notebooks with the date options at the top of the page are available in A5, A6, B5 and B6 with a softcover. In the US, A5 is the easiest size to find.

I tend to use the  Stalogy for journaling or meeting notes as it offers little in the way of pre-printed pages for year- or month-at-a-glance pages. The Stalogy website provides some templates and tips for making your own calendar page à la bullet journaling but if you’re looking for some of that work to be done for you, then the Stalogy is not for you. The paper is fountain pen-friendly.

The Classics:

When I think of all-in-one planners, my brain immediately goes to the classic Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 daily and weekly planners. For many years, these were the go-to for a simple all-in-one planner. But the market has exploded and while these both continue to offer their original layouts, for many fountain pen enthusiasts, the paper just isn’t friendly enough.

The New Classic: Endless Recorder Planner

When it comes to the classic hardcover planner, there’s a new sheriff in town: The Endless Recorder Planner ($27.50 with black or beige cover) features their new flagship Regalia paper and a page-a-day layout as well as a year overview and monthly planning pages.

The Most Fun Planner: Brass Monkey Perpetual Late Show Planner

Color me biased but the folks at Brass Monkey (formerly the brains behind Easy Tiger here in KC) are witty with a serious dash of snark and an impeccable design aesthetic. That’s the perfect recipe for me. Their Perpetually Late Show Planner ($20) carries on the tradition of a planner packed with trivia and entertaining facts with space leftover for daily to-dos. The planner measure 6 x 9″ (slightly little larger than A5) with a fabric cover and is set up to be an undated planner so while the pages start in January, they leave it open for you to select the day of the week.

I can’t guarantee how fountain pen-friendly the paper is. Our previous tests with an earlier version of their planner was pretty good with a standard array of pens so I’m holding out hope for the Perpetually Late Show Planner to perform decently. Especially since I’m planning to order one for myself. Whether I start it this year or next — this is a planner I am going to need to own.

Runner-Up: Ink + Volt Goal Planner

The Ink + Volt Goal Planner ($49) focus on setting goals for the year, month and even a focus for the week.  Aesthetically, I find the simplicity and clean lines of the Ink + Volt planner a great starting point, whether your goal is to keep it simple or add your own creative embellishments. In the past, we’ve tested other Ink + Volt notebooks so the paper should be equally fountain pen friendly.

Spiral Options

One of the best things about a spiral bound planner (whether coil or spiral) is the ability to fold the planner in half. This will make these slightly bulkier planner fit more easily on your desk.

The Queen of Spiral Planners: Erin Condren

If you have been in the stationery community for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the name Erin Condren. The Erin Condren LifePlanner (starting at $60 for the original 7 x 9″ version) took the world by storm several years ago and practically single-handedly reinvigorated the planner industry. From Erin Condren came Happy Planner, Emily Ley, and many others. The Erin Condren planners and her competitors create bright, colorful planners that tend to cross the line between planner and scrapbook with stickers, washi and lots of decorative plusses.  Erin Condren offers licensed cover designs from Hello Kitty, Disney as well as beautiful painted options. There are customizing options like adding your name to the cover to choosing from three weekly layout spreads. The paper is 80# text so it should handle most pens. Our previous experience with Erin Condren was the Focused Productivity Planner and the paper quality was not great. I am not sure if the latest iterations have improved paper but the appeal of this planner collection is the layouts, color and the cult of Erin Condren more so than the paper quality.

Most Customizable Options: Agendio and Golden Coil

We have been long-term friends with the folks at Agendio (starting at $47) and now there is Golden Coil (starting at $70). Both companies offer an array of customizing options so if a bound planner appeals to you but you’ve like to build it yourself, its definitely worth spending some time on both of these sites to decide which system might work best for you. Agendio offers three different paper weights. The thickest is 120gsm/80# text which is the only paper weight option available from Golden Coil.

Both Agendio and Golden Coil offer options to add custom events and dates (you can pre-load your pages with birthdays, recurring events and holidays) as well as dozens of page layouts for monthly, weekly and daily pages. Agendio offers editable fields to further customize sections within the planner and even offers inserts to fit a Filofax or other binder.

Spiral Runner Up: Get To Work Book

This hefty Get to Work Book planner ($55) is aesthetically stunning and includes all the monthly and weekly pages as well as action-oriented goal planning in a sturdy, simple black cover. This is less blingy than the Erin Condren-style planners and perfect for the minimalist with maximal plans. There are no specifics on the paper stock, hence, the runner-up position.

Conclusion:

By no means is this all, or even some, of the all-in-one planners currently available. Did I forget your favorite all-in-one planner? If so, leave it in the comments.

For more planner recommendations, check out The Strategist, Marie Claire and SPY for even more recommendations.

DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include affiliate links. 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.

The post A Deep Dive into All-In-One Planners appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Over the years, we’ve done all sorts of gift guides and wishlists. This year, we tried to keep it simple. These are a few of the things on our wishlists that might inspire you. I promise we didn’t intentionally make everything teal and purple, it just worked out that way.

Ana’s Wishlist

One of the things I really want this year is the perfect monthly and weekly inserts for my personal-sized Filofax planner. So far, I’ve not been able to find the right combination of layouts and paper online or on Etsy so what I need is a day without anything else on my schedule so that I can just design the pages and print and cut them. Shop Brooklyn Grace Weekly and Monthly pages are REALLY close!

For actual purchasable goods, I’ve been eyeballing the Jam Studio Sticker Album in Twinkle Aqua ($15) to select and organize some of the stickers and washi tape that I’ve collected. I’ve also been wanting a Kaweco AL Sport (starting around $66) as I don’t own any AL Sports. Okay, I have one but it’s so rare I’m afraid to use it. If I were to select just one color of the AL Sport, I’d probably choose the Rose Gold or Violet.

Even though I own a ridiculous number of Birmingham Inks, I still see more colors I want. Antique Sepia, Rotten Seaweed and Periwinkle are all beautiful ($13 per bottle).

Laura’s Wishlist

Laura has spent the last two weeks on the road so I think what she really wants this holiday is the comforts of home: her own bed, good home cooked meals, access to all her yarn, fiber, pens and inks and sitting still for a bit. But she did take a few minutes out of her busy travel schedule to put together a quick list of her favorite things.

1. The new inks from Dominant Industry (Yoseka Stationery)
2. Sailor Pro Gear Slim in Blue Green Nebula (Pen Chalet)
3. Musubi Sakura in Purple (Musubi)

Tina’s Wishlist

As an urban sketcher, I frequently stand on the sidewalk to draw, but there’s another kind of urban art that requires kneeling on the sidewalk: David Zinn’s! The Ann Arbor, Michigan, artist draws whimsical characters on pavements and walls with chalk, which means the ephemeral art eventually washes away. Before they do, though, he documents them with photographs and videos on Instagram, and I look forward to each post. High on my wish list is his newest book, Chance Encounters, which will be out in March. If you’re looking for gift ideas, I recommend his delightful 2022 wall calendar Street Art (I already bought one for myself, and several friends will be receiving them for the holidays) and postcard set. I also have his how-to Chalk Art Handbook, which is intended for young, would-be sidewalk artists. Although I’m not sure my knees are ready to draw on the ground, I learned so much about perspective and anamorphosis (the book explains what that is)!

A pencil geek would not be fulfilled without an El Casco sharpener. Friends who have one swoon about the perfect, slightly concave point this iconic sharpener makes, even on colored pencils. This has been on my wish list for a while, but there are many to choose from – 23kt gold? Chrome? Vintage? Decisions, decisions.

Also on my wish list for a while is something that I haven’t seen yet – but I’ll know it when I see it. I have been trying to make my tiniest sketch kit ever, which would be a small box just large enough to contain four half-size colored pencils and a waterbrush. Contemporary craft tins are the easy answer, but I got the idea in my head to find the perfect vintage box. The eBay rabbit hole is deep.

What’s on your wishlist?

The post Our Holiday “Gift Guide” Wishlist: 2021 Edition appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Laura recorded the 400th episode of her YouTube vlog, The Corner of Knit & Tea. That’s a lot of knitting. And tea!

Pantone, though they are near the bottom of my shit list for the shenanigans they pulled this year removing support within the Adobe apps, is on the cusp of announcing their “color of the year”. Should I care? No. Will I discuss and consider at great length? Yes. Stupid, Pantone. Pretty, PITA, Pantone.

Pencils are “in the news” this week — at least in our world. Yeah!

Birmingham Pen company got featured in an article in the NYTimes!

Pelikan raised their prices and Rachel’s Reflections gives advice to slow spending. Both of these make me reconsider what I buy and how much I need. It’s timely to consider our spedndgin particularly at the beginning of the biggest shopping season of the year. Maybe I should use what I already have to document and appreciate the people and animals in my life?

And Modern Daily Knitting recommends the Never Gonna Give You Up episode of the podcast Song Exploder. And since I now got the song stuck in your head, you might as well go listen to the episode.

You’re welcome.

Pens:

• Mini Review: Pentel Fude-Hajime Brush Pen (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• LAMY Pens and Pencils: A Comprehensive Guide (via JetPens Blog)
• Rapidograph designs (via Bleistift)
• Danitrio Maki-e Ancient Dragon Unboxing and Review (via Penultimate Dave)
• Pelikan Raises Prices, Launches A New Website, And Puts The Wish Nib On Hiatus (The Pelikan’s Perch)
• Chinese Naginata (via Crónicas Estilográficas)
• Franklin-Christoph Model 20 and Pocket 20: Wonder Pens Exclusive Rides (via Wonder Pens Blog)

Ink:

• Ink Review #733: Tono & Lims Into U (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Ink Review #1958: Robert Oster Hickory Aflame (via Mountain of Ink)
• Shokido Venezia on Midori MD (via Inkcredible Colours)
• Ink Review #1959: IWI Autumnal Equinox (via Mountain of Ink)

Pencils:

• Mitsubishi 9850 HB Pencil Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Whimsy! Caran d’Ache Colour Treasure Maxi Graphite Pencils (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• Mini-Collections: Fancy Pencils are a (Relatively) Inexpensive Guilty Pleasure (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• Whimsical Wood Chandeliers Look Like Giant Pencil Shavings (via My Modern Met)

Notebooks & Paper:

• I store my tasks digitally but work on paper (via Stationery )
• WMS & Co Keyboard Planner Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Journals For An Inkophile (via An Inkophile’s Blog)
• Filofax New Releases (via Philofaxy)

Art & Creativity:

• David Bowie on Creativity and His Advice to Artists (via The Marginalian)
• Can you believe it’s episode 400? (via The Corner of Knit & Tea)
• Video flip-through my Sketchbook #145 (via Apple-Pine)
• Pantone Color Of The Year 2023: Announcing Soon (via The Designest)
• Tracey English on rediscovering her creativity, making collages, and the benefits of artistic challenges (via Creative Boom)

Other Interesting Things:

• Two Brothers Write Their Future With Fountain Pens (via The New York Times)
• Knit to This: Never Gonna Give You Up (via Modern Daily Knitting)
• Slowing the Shopping (via Rachel’s Reflections)
• Happy Holidays 2022: The Indie Gift Guide (via The Gentleman Stationer)

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

The post Link Love: It’s beginning to look a lot like Gift Guide! appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Now, I want to remind you of two big events coming up.

First, Friday is the most consumer of all holidays, Black Friday. As most of us are probably already inundated with email newsletters about upcoming sales, I won’t list them all here as we have done in previous years. There are too many deals, discounts and sales to keep up with. Suffice it to say that this weekend will be chock full of fountain pen related deals. If you are hoping to recommend a gift idea to your family to purchase for you or you like to pick up a few things for yourself in the midst of shopping for gift cards for your nieces and nephews (like I will be doing — teenagers, need I say more?), then check out all your favorite online shops starting today through Monday.

Second, the annual Pen Addict Gift Guide episode is back! And unlike last year, I will be on the podcast to make lots of recommendations and generally heckle Brad for waiting so long to have me back on the show. I am not sure exactly what date the episode will go live. Myke will not be available to record the episode with us so it might not go up until next week but be assured… it’s coming!

Gift Guides:

• The 2022 T.G.S. Holiday Gift Guide is Live! (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• Yoseka 2022 Holiday Gift Guide (via Yoseka Stationery)
• 2022 Holiday Gift Guide for Pens & Inks & Writing Accessories (via Pen Chalet)

Pens:

• A Salute to the Lowly Bic (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• The Best No-Plastic And Low Plastic Pens And Refills (via Unsharpen)
• risky business: montblanc 146 legrand (via A Fleeting Ripple)
• TLDR: Pelikan Pens 101 (via The Pen Addict)
• Writing with an edge and an angle (via mnmlscholar)
• Wancai Mini Eyedropper With Diamine Aurora Borealis (via An Inkophile’s Blog)

Ink:

• Ink Review #731: Faber Castell Midnight Blue (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Monteverde Sweet Life – Pumpkin Pie (via dapprman)
• Ink Review #1948: Kobe Bauhaus Orange (via Mountain of Ink)
• Private Reserve Midnight Blue on Midori MD (via Inkcredible Colours)
• Ink Review #1945: Kobe 54 Goshikiyama Ocher (via Mountain of Ink)
• Ferris Wheel Press SEPTEMBER Inks (via Nick Stewart FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART)

Pencils:

• The Best Japanese Mechanical Pencils (via JetPens Blog)
• Golden! Caran d’Ache Colour Treasure Prismalo Bicolors (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• Blackwing color pencils (via Stationery )
• Caran d’Ache Graphite Pencil Guide (via Unsharpen)

Notebooks & Paper:

• Conditioning and caring for leather. (via Philofaxy)
• Chris W. / Mairtini Watercolor Notebook Review (via Notebook Stories)

Art & Creativity:

• iPad 10 (2022) artist review (via Parka Blogs)
• One More Thing about Tools Changing the Way We Draw (via RozWoundUp)
• Rethinking Packaging with a Digital Lens (via Dieline)

Other Interesting Things:

• Reader Conversations: How Do You Want to Feel? Setting Intentions for the Rest of the Year (via My Giant Strawberry)
• Dolly Parton Gets $100 Million Award From Jeff Bezos (via My Modern Met)
• As Tech Layoffs Continue, Meta Slashes Arts Program Staff (via Hyperallergic)
• The Messerschmitt KR200: A Sunny Day out In Germany’s Two-Seater Tandem Bubble Car, 1959 (via Design You Trust)
• A Daily Cloud: Artist Creates Funny Doodles Of Clouds That Makes Everybody Smile (via Design You Trust)
• Self-care: Let’s Talk About Gratitude (via Modern Daily Knitting)
• A mindset of rose tinted glasses, a mnml digest (via mnmlscholar)
• New Orleans Adventures (via The Pen Addict)
• Good Made Better Made Portable (via Penquisition)
• Pelikan Hubs 2022 – Philadelphia: A Recap (via The Pelikan’s Perch)

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

The post Link Love: Black Friday Edition appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Pens:

• Homage! Colour Treasure 849 Ballpoint Pen (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• Sailor Fountain Pens: A Comprehensive Guide (via JetPens Blog)
• Fountain Pen Review: BlueDew Writer Lapis (via Rants of The Archer)
• Aurora 88 Unica Nera Fountain Pen Review (via The Pen Addict)
• A Pen Gift-Giving Guide, on WNYC (via The Pen Addict)
• Faber-Castell Textliner 38 Highlighter Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Four Pens Under $40: New Releases That Won’t Break the Bank (via The Gentleman Stationer)

Ink:

• butterflies: kwz monarch (via A Fleeting Ripple)
• Ink Review #738: Pilot Iroshizuku Tsuyu-Kusa (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Diamine Inkvent 2022 Day 11: Appletini (via Writing at Large)
• Ink Review #737: Pennonia Balaton Blue (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• Ink Review #1990: Van Dieman’s Bass Strait Cobalt Blue (via Mountain of Ink)
• #1014 DIAMINE Upon a Star (via HAPPY INK DAYS archives)
• Ink Review #1975: Kobe Nankinmachi Fortune Red (via Mountain of Ink)
• Van Dieman’s Deciduous Beech on Muji Planting Tree (via Inkcredible Colours)

Pencils:

• Vintage Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth Mini Aviator Colored Pencils (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)

Notebooks & Paper:

• Using an A5 Original for work – by Anita (via Philofaxy)
• Review: Unlined Smythson Notebook (via Notebook Stories)
• Stalogy 365 Days Notebook; a notebook that should have been, is. (via Baum-kuchen)
• The Best Refillable Notebooks (via JetPens Blog)
• New Year, New Plans: 2023 Calendars to Organize Your Year (via Colossal)

Art & Creativity:

• 2022 Temperature Blanket: Final Countdown (via Modern Daily Knitting)
• *FREE* – More Calming Calligraphy Drills (Pointed Pen + Brush Pen) (via The Postman’s Knock)
• Artist Rachel Spelling discovers a new niche in miniatures with her tiny artworks on paint charts (via Creative Boom)
• Master the Calligraphy for Personal and Professional Use (via The Designest)
• 12 designers share their creative resolutions for 2023 (via Creative Boom)
• 4 Gifts for the New Knitter in Your Life (via Modern Daily Knitting)
• Interesting sketchbook pages from this year (via Liz Steel)

Other Interesting Things:

• New LEGO Icons Eiffel Tower Set is Nearly Five Feet Tall (via My Modern Met)
• Gordon the Shiba Inu is the Cutest Rescue Dog of 2022 (via My Modern Met)
• Best of 2022: Top Astrophotography Images of the Year (via My Modern Met)
• Read This Before You Jump on the Lensa “Magic Avatar” Trend (via Hyperallergic)
• Christmas Gift Guide 2022 (via The Tech Guru)

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

The post Link Love: Countdown to the Holidays appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

As of last Thursday, I have had a succession of little irritations. You know, little things.  I got a flat tire, the blog had some backend issues, I am having issues with my CINTIQ drawing boards, the cats went berserk and tore out a screen on the catio one night, we had workers at the house, meetings were rescheduled at the last minute… you get what I’m saying. Nothing terrible or life-threatening but lots of things that have just worn me down emotionally. I suppose, like an oyster, all these irritations will one day make me a pearl, right? On the topic of tropical, has anyone else binged MerPeople on Netflix! Such a delight!

I hope, for all of you, that you have a week without irritations, full summer joys and mermaids.

Pens:

• Pen Review: The Good Blue R615 “Titanium Blue” Vanness Exclusive Edition Fountain Pen (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• Franklin Christoph x Stilo e Stile 03 Sparkling Rock (via Writing at Large)
• Sailor 1960s Slim Mini Pocket Pen (via dapprman)
• Review: M800 Green Demonstrator (2023) (via The Pelikan’s Perch)
• Bonkers for Bright Colors! (via Pen Boutique Ltd)
• Beginner’s Guide to Nibs and Nib Holders (via JetPens)
• Araw ng ‘Kalayaan’ as Kasama teases new pen model (via Pen Noob)
• Those Chinese Fountain Pens (via An Inkophile’s Blog)
• andhand Brass Method Fountain Pen Review (via FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART)

Ink:

• Three kind angles on living for ink maximalism (via mnmlscholar)
• Diamine Sherwood Green (via Inkcredible Colours)
• Ink Review #2211: Inkebara Cyan (via Mountain of Ink)
• thINKthursday – Sailor Shikiori Shigure (via Anderson Pens Blog)
• Van Dieman’s Mandarin Duck (via Mountain of Ink)

Notebooks & Paper:

• 2024 Planner Notification Sign-Ups (via JetPens)
• Travel Journaling Workshop with Abbey Sy – July 31 & August 1 at Yoseka (via Yoseka Stationery)
• Connecting with Roterfaden! (via Baum-kuchen)
• systematizing: traveler’s notebook (via A Fleeting Ripple)
• Guest Post – Filofax Compact Setup – Sally S (via Philofaxy)

Art & Creativity:

• Alex Pascual’s distorted drawings are a diary of the beauty in everyday life (via Creative Boom)
• Messing Around with Sennelier Ink Brushes (via Fueled by Clouds & Coffee)
• YUPO® Synthetic Paper Pads Review (via Doodlewash)
• Calligraphy 101: The Ultimate Guide for Calligraphy Beginners (via The Postman’s Knock)

Other Interesting Things:

• Celebrating a new job with all the cool new blue pens and nibs (via mnmlscholar)
• Shibui Pocket Pen 12-Pen Case Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Vintage Analog Photo Booths (via Kottke.org)

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

The post Link Love: Topic of Tropics appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

My friends and I love a good meme and we have been milking the same lame memes for years with varying success. This felt like an appropriate place to put this particular bit of silliness. What color ink are you wearing today?

Pens:

• Kilk Orient Fountain Pen Review (via The Pen Addict)
• Fountain Pen Review: BENU Euphoria Forest Pond (via Rants of The Archer)
• A Left Handed Guide For New Fountain Pen Users (2023) (via Left Hook Pens)
• Esterbrook’s Estie Nibs, Part Two — The Possibilities are (Almost) Endless (via Pen Boutique Ltd Blog)
• Uni Jetstream: A Comprehensive Guide (via JetPens Blog)
• A sticky Faber-Castell (via Bleistift)
• Magna Carta Denima (via dapprman)

Ink:

• Ink Review #758: De Atramentis Deepwater Black Red (via Fountain Pen Pharmacist)
• The Best Black Fountain Pen Inks (via JetPens)
• Ferris Wheel Press November-January Inks (via FOUNTAIN PEN INK ART)
• Ink Review #2070: Inkebara Fairytale Pink (via Mountain of Ink)
• #1053 IWI Summer Solstice (via HAPPY INK DAYS archives)
• Lennon Tool Bar Winter Bamboo Shoots on Tsubame (via Inkcredible Colours)
• Ink of the Week – Sailor Ink Studio 123 (via Fountain Pen Love)
• Ink Review: Laban Greek Mythology Apollo Orange and Aphrodite Pink (via The Gentleman Stationer)

Pencils:

• An upcycled Tradition (via Bleistift)
• The new, upcycled Noris (via Bleistift)

Notebooks, Paper, Planners:

• Plan like a Pro: 12 Tips and Tricks for Better Paper Planning (via Planner Fun Plus)
• Men and planners… (via Philofaxy)
• Don’t Let Your Brain Be Your Calendar: How to Find Your Ideal Digital Planner (via Planner Fun Plus)
• 18 Ways to Use a Notepage with Your Daily Page (via Planner Fun Plus)
• The Paper vs. Digital Planning Dilemma: Finding the Best of Both Worlds (via Planner Fun Plus)
• Diane Arbus Notebooks (via Notebook Stories)
• How I Use My Nolty Planner (via Notebook Stories)
• 3 notebooks (via Austin Kleon)

Art & Creativity:

• One Week 100 People Day 4: Fountain Pen Sketches (via Writing at Large)
• The Piratetess (via Abigail Halpin)
• On My Table: Beginning of March 2023. (via Apple-Pine)
• List of hotpress watercolour sketchbooks (via Parka Blogs)
• Starting my day with simple shapes, generous washes and a little watercolour magic (via Liz Steel)
• Digital Artists Are Pushing Back Against AI (via Hyperallergic)

Other Interesting Things:

• Couple Finds 2,000 Vintage Cameras in Abandoned Storage Unit (via My Modern Met)
• Cardboard Cat Forts: The Ultimate DIY Project for Feline Fun (via Design You Trust)
• Knit to This: Print Is Dead Podcast (via Modern Daily Knitting)
• A Letter Writing Month (via Wonder Pens)
• The Day the Stationery Store Came to Me (via From the Pen Cup)
• February In Three Parts – California Pen Show & Other Adventures (via The Poor Penman)
• Pen Show Prep: What’s Coming With Us to Baltimore? (via The Gentleman Stationer)
• “Boring” Can Be Better: In Defense of Standard Stationery (via The Gentleman Stationer)

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The post Link Love: On Wednesdays, We Wear Ink appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Once you get a handle on choosing nibs, there’s a giant rabbit hole waiting for you on the other side: customization. I’ll make the same disclaimer here as I did in the part one. Nibs are very person-specific. Knowledge about nibs can be chock-full of research but a large majority will be experience and personal opinion. That’s just as true with customization as it is with choosing a nib, so read the rest of this guide through that lens.

Speaking of lived experience, I owe nearly everything I know about nibs to Dan over at The Nibsmith. When the pen show circuit is in full swing, you can find me behind the Nibsmith table at many shows. Through those shows, I’ve gotten a behind the scenes view into lots of different people getting their nibs worked on, and naturally accumulated a decent collection of various grinds. All of the nibs in this post were ground by Dan.

Italics, Architects, and Needlepoint Nuances: Navigating Nib Customization

Let’s start with this. You could stick with normal, out-of-the-box nibs on every pen you ever buy for the rest of your fountain pen life and live happily ever after. But when you’re ready, prepare yourself, because this, my friends, is where things get really fun.

Beyond the width of the nib, the physical size, and the material (all covered in Part 1)– the shape of the nib can also be altered. Nothing produces larger differences in your actual writing than this type of customization.

Some companies offer certain nib shapes like factory stubs and italics, but let’s save those for the outliers section. In my opinion, the best way to experience different nib shapes is to hand over your pen to a nibmeister and let them work their magic.

An oversimplification: When you start thinking about sending your pen off to get a specialty grind or sitting down at a show to get nib work done you should be focusing on the result you want on the paper.

Even more simply: the primary purpose of a nib grind is to impact the look of your handwriting on the page.

For the sake of comparison, throughout this guide I will compare my writing with different nib grinds to the TWSBI M Nib. As you can see below, an un-touched nib is rounded on the end- and that tipping portion is where nib grinding will change the shape of the nib itself, and subsequently the shape of your writing.

Before we jump head-first into nib grinding, let’s discuss two basic things that you can ask a nibmeister to do to a nib that don’t necessarily change the shape of the nib.

Tune & Smooth

If you have a nib that isn’t writing as smoothly as you want it to, or just doesn’t feel right— first, you should stop and consider the variables. Clean the pen. If that doesn’t work, change the ink. If that doesn’t work, change you paper. And if none of that works, it may be time to consider sending the nib off for some love.

In my opinion, tuning or smoothing a nib might honestly be the best $25 you can spend transforming a pen from a “just-ok” or problematic pen into one of your favorite writers. I’ve spoken before about how having some of my vintage finds tuned turned them into a permanent part of my daily carry. If you’re on the fence, it is definitely worth trying at least once.

Disclaimer: You will often hear that tuning and smoothing is something you can learn to do on your own. I agree. However, I wouldn’t recommend trying it on any pen you really care about unless you’ve practiced and perfected your technique on several other pens you’re willing to throw away. I’ll level with you. I can only speak to my personal experience, but I have attempted smoothing my own pens on multiple occasions, but the result has never been as good as when I get it tuned by an actual nibmeister.

When you ask for a nib to be tuned, my advice is to give as much information as you can about what specifically about the writing experience you would like to change. In general, there are three things I consider asking about:

1. I want the pen to feel smoother on the page,
2. I want to pen to write a little wetter, or
3. I want the pen to write I little drier

Anything beyond that requires more significant grinding and customizing.

Reduce Width

If you choose the wrong nib initially (and your choice was aimed too broad) another thing you can consider is getting the nib width reduced. In addition to taking a broad to a medium or a medium to a fine- you can also get nibs finer than typically available in standard line nibs. Some call this UEF, or ultra-extra fine, or even needlepoint. The point here is if you’ve tried an EF nib and it’s still not fine enough for your taste, consider sending one off and asking for a reduced width. Another instance where reducing the width of a nib is helpful is when you want to purchase a pen from a brand that is known to have thicker than usual nibs (eg. Pelikan), and you would like your EF to be a little more EF and a little less M. (Note: From what I understand, reducing the width of a nib is a time- consuming and labor intensive process. But, its not meant to change the shape of your writing or the nib- so that’s why I pulled it out separately from the nib grinds below.)

With those two options covered, that brings us to maybe my favorite of all rabbit holes in the fountain pen hobby.

Nib Grind Rabbit Hole Level One: The Stub

The first thing you can do to a nib is change the tipping of the pen from the typical round or rounded shape to a square or square-ish shape. This shape creates line variation by making your downstrokes thicker than your side strokes as you write. The amount of variation is largely dependent on the original size of the nib. Broader nibs produce broader stubs, and more line variation than finer nibs.

Nib Grind Rabbit Hole Level Two: The Italic

In my mind, an italic is a square nib without the training wheels. Stub nibs are square nibs that have intentionally rounded edges to make the writing experience smoother, but the rounded edges also make your lines in your handwriting less crisp.

On the other hand, italics are fully squared off nibs without (or mostly without) the rounded edges. Less rounded edges give you a writing experience that is usually a little less smooth and lines that are significantly more crisp and square. There are several types of italic nibs with various amounts of rounding (eg. cursive italic), so it’s worth asking about specifics when you’re getting work done, but I will just leave it at that for now.

Nib Grind Rabbit Hole Level Three: The Architect

Here’s where things get really fun. An architect grind is squared in the reverse direction of a stub or italic nib. This shape creates line variation by making your side stokes thicker than your downstrokes. Again, the amount of variation you see with an architect is largely dependent on the original size of the nib.

Some additional notes about architect nibs are needed. Grinding an architect is meant to be specific to the angle that you hold your pen in relation to the page. If someone who holds their pen at a very high angle gets an architect grind, and someone who holds their pen at a very low angle tries to use it- the second person will not get a great idea of what an architect grind is meant to be. Every architect grind has a “sweet spot,” and if you use enough of them you can start to immediately identify where that sweet spot is. There is one specific spot on the nib that produces significant line variation while still feeling smooth on the page. If it’s ground correctly, you should easily hit that sweet spot at your normal writing angle.

Because writing angle is so important, many nibmeisters, including Dan, ask for photos of your writing angle to be sent in when you submit a nib to get an architect grind. Or if you’re in person at a show, expect them to want to see you write before they begin.

Very fine architects are very fun and produce a unique look on the page, but they are definitely more finicky and specific to the individual that had the nib work done. Broad architects are a little more forgiving and smooth, and a pretty good starting point if you’ve never had one ground. One of my favorite grinds of all time is an architect on a Broad Sailor nib (which is a Japanese broad so keep that in mind).

Even more fun for throwing ink down on the page is taking a speciality nib like a Sailor Zoom nib or a Platinum Coarse Nib and getting an architect grind. Due to the amount of tipping on these specialty nibs, they are particularly well suited for the architect grind because they can produce some very wide side strokes and extreme line variation. Maybe not an every day writing pen for everyone (although I use them as such), but highly recommended if you’re looking for something fun that really shows off ink.

Nib Grind Rabbit Hole Level Four: The Naginata-Togi

And finally, probably one of the coolest looking grinds you can get on a pen, the togi. I’ve made Dan grind two of these suckers for me over the last year– one from a Sailor Zoom Nib, and one from a Platinum Coarse Nib. They are two of my favorite nibs in all of my collection. This very well may be my “deserted-island” nib grind.

Just like the architect, broader and speciality nibs with the largest amount of tipping are the best candidates for the naganata-togi grind if you want the greatest amount of line variation. The thing that separates the togi nib from other nib grinds is that the width of your writing (both horizontal and vertical lines) changes with the angle of your pen to the page. When you hold the pen at a lower angle, you get broader lines, and when you hold the pen at a higher angle, you get thinner lines. The amount of variation you get can from this type of nib is unlike any other type of nib modification.

Since both of my togi nibs started life as very broad speciality nibs, the line the nib produces at a “normal” angle for me is decently broad. But if I want to sneak in some tiny writing, I just change the angle. In a way, it’s like having multiple nib sizes within one pen. The Sailor Zoom nib has a similar effect with writing angle, but the togi adds a crispness and character to the writing that the Zoom’s ultra rounded nib can’t match.

There are definitely other crazy things that you can ask to be done to a nib, but the above options are by far the most common and definitely a really good starting point for most types of grinds people ask for for their pens.

If you have any questions about Part 1 or 2 leave your comments below, because a bonus round Part 3: Outliers and Q & A is coming at you soon.

Tools:

• Paper: Rhodia DotPad Notepad No.19
• Ink:  Iroshizuku Take-Sumi

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were purchased with my own funds with the exception of a few of the grinds which were completed in exchange for pen show labor. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Lines and Grinds: A Guide for Choosing and Customizing Your Nibs- Part 2 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

First, the initial request was for a version of the guide sheets in A5 with darker lines for heavier weight paper. Done. If anyone needs these in other sizes, let me know.

Then, I also created one great big PDF file with all the standard guide sheets so you only have to download one file and you get everything. In Adobe Acrobat, if you open the bookmarks tab on the lefthand side, it will reveal a series of bookmarks to the page/format you might need. Click on it and the document will jump to that page. Choose print and make sure print “current page” is selected. Then you don’t have to remember page numbers. The screenshot further down will show the box checked accordingly.

Also remember to set your print size to actual size or 100%.

Then trim the page to fit into your notebook.

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