Canva has a free, although somewhat limited membership, to create graphics designs both on the web and as a mobile app. I use the free version to create simple graphics for my podcast (everything from Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest images, to YouTube thumbnails). The free program gives you the ability to adjust colors, fonts on a limited basis, upload and include your own photos and graphic elements. You can create simple animations, and there is some stock photography that you can use. The paid version includes many more options (tons of templates, additional stock photography and fonts, creation of color palettes, and more), but the free version is perfectly adequate for simple designs.

Which brings me to their planner templates. We’ve all found a million planners, but not QUITE the one we want. Or you just want to print out a simple calendar that you can update each month. Canva allows you to easily select your size (either through inputting a standard size like A4, or through the custom button where you indicate the dimensions you want). I just took a quick perusal through some of the weekly and monthly options available.

You can take any template and easily adjust colors and fonts to your own preferences, and if you have the hex code for the color you want, it’s easy enough to input that as well. Many of the templates are 8.5″ x 11″ US Letter size, but if you build yourself a custom sized graphic you can adapt the template to fit your size. (A paid account lets you automatically resize to different dimensions rather than recreating each time – a huge time-saver if you’re creating graphics for tons of different platforms at once). You can also share what you create with others and download in a variety of formats (mp4, jpg, png, etc.)

So if you’re looking for a new format for some planning pages, check out Canva and see if you can come up with something that’s perfect for you!

DISCLAIMER: I use Canva’s graphics application as a tool in my daily job. I received no compensation for this review and all opinions are my own. Please see the About page for more details.

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In our current era of working-from-home (or in some cases, maybe not really having a full-time job at all, like me) this is something that you can do while loading and unloading the dishwasher, washing machine, fixing lunch or doing household cleaning. This is a chore you’ll actually want to do because it means you can refill your pens with new ink!

The materials needed to make pen cleaner/pen flush can be acquired on your next trip to the grocery store. Just grab a bottle of

• a bottle of household ammonia (usually 5% solution, non-sudsing)
• a bottle of plain dishwashing liquid (the kind without any lotion or moisturizers in it. In the US, I recommend Dawn or Joy)
• a bottle or distilled water (no impurities, chlorine or hard water deposits)

Using a measuring cup, measure out 9 parts water (say 9oz or 90ml, etc) then top with 1 part ammonia (1oz or 10ml). Add a couple drops of dish liquid… one, two, three, maybe four if you’re feeling generous.

Then pour all of it into a storage jar. Make another batch if this only fills your jar a little bit. You have TONS of ammonia and water and dish soap. Pour it in too.

If you have more jars, make a batch for a friend or to keep at work — whenever you go back into the office. Repeat as needed. That did not cost anywhere near the $10+ that most people charge for pen flush. Now, you can go spend that $10 on paper or ink or something else way more fun.

Label it “pen flush” or “pen cleaner” so no one tries to drink it or pour it out.

To use, either decant a small amount into a dish or ultrasonic cleaner and drop dirty pen parts in or just flush pens in the jar until the liquid is completely black and then make a fresh batch.

Be sure to rinse your pens in clear fresh water several times after using pen flush to be sure you’ve removed any residue of soap and ammonia before storing or refilling.

The post DIY: Make Your Own Pen Flush appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Fairly quickly, I knew that I would repurpose what had been my craft room (and general holdall) to an office/craftroom.  I had a fairly long, narrow bedroom to work with so I want to build in a comfortable workspace, as well as lots of storage.

The room has a north-facing window, which lets lots of natural light in, so putting my desk near the window was a must. I decided that I needed some drawer space to hold all the bits and bobs so my work space wouldn’t be cluttered. On the other hand, while I LOVE minimalist workspaces, I knew I wanted mine to have all my tools close at hand, as well as some homey crafty touches.

I settled on building my own desk out elements from Ikea.  I selected the Glasholm Tabletop which has a nice honeycomb texture and comes across as a pale green.  Underneath, I selected two black Alex Drawer units.  I ended up stealing a desk chair from my husband that he has had for years, so unfortunately I don’t have details there!

Other desk accessories that I find a must: a mug full of Marvy Le Pens, Ink Joy Gel pens, Bic Mechanical Pencils #2 (0.7mm lead), plus bonus knitting needles, a Black Metal Task Lamp from Target, a Baron Fig mousepad (reviewed here) and various plants, mugs, teas, and scales (for weighing yarn of course)!  As I adjust to my working schedule and daily tasks, I have found the Weekly Planner from Ruff House Art (review here) an invaluable tool and my current favorite.  I also keep a handful of fountain pens that are easy on paper at my desk: my Lamy Logo, TWSBI Eco and Retro 51 Fahrney’s 2018 Cherry Blossom.

As for decorations around the room I’m still working.  As you can see on the bulletin board above my desk, I repurposed knitted swatches I’ve made over the years into wall art. I’m already out of room though!

As part of making the room do double duty, I needed to reconfigure the space and make it more efficient.  I added a photo studio right next to my desk, for ease of photographing throughout the day.  I picked up an Alex Drawer Unit on Casters from Ikea to serve as a mobile photo studio.  Inside the drawers I have all my photo props stored, as well as notebooks, ink bottles and empty pen boxes.  Since it is on casters, I can easily move it over to the window to shoot photos in natural light.  For those times I can’t shoot in natural light, I’ve been using the Foldio 3 which I purchased back when it was a Kickstarter project.  I also have a set of lights that I purchased on Amazon (not pictured) that do a reasonably good job of helping light the space.

Beyond the photo studio, I purchased a Kallax shelving unit at Ikea, and repurposed some collapsible fabric cubes that I had bought at Home Depot a while back.

The other side of the room remained mostly the same, but I’ll share a few details with you now.  The main focus of the opposite wall is the futon, which we purchased a few years ago from Nebraska Furniture Mart. I don’t find the exact model now, but it is one of their Klik Klak series.  I am a consummate blanket knitter, so there are always cozy blankets there.  I also use the spot to sit in for my weekly podcast.

The mother of all disorganization is the baker’s rack I purchased several years ago from Home Depot which holds my yarn and fiber stash, as well as a variety of shipping materials, product for my Etsy shop, and anything the closet won’t hold (closet not pictured for your sanity and mine).  I find that even though the baker’s rack is cluttered, it is behind me while I work so there is inspiration there if I choose, but not if I don’t.

Finally, in the far corner, nearer the closet is a bookcase that holds all my craft books, favorite paper and hardbacks, scrapbooks and a little bit of everything else too. It’s a work in progress!

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my new space!

The post Building a Well-Appointed Home Office appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

If you read my review of the Make Art Every Day planner, you’ll recall that I really liked almost everything about it – the charming art, the visual variety, the tips and prompts. But for a planner to be useable, especially when drawing or doodling as well as writing, the book must stay open flat on my desk. This planner’s glued, perfect binding was a deal-breaker for me – I had difficulty keeping pages open long enough even to photograph them, and I knew using it would be a problem. It was disappointing.

When Ana read my review, she had a brilliant yet simple idea: Why not have the book rebound with a spiral? I popped myself upside the head, wondering why I didn’t think of it myself, and took it to my neighborhood FedEx Kinko’s. For 6 bucks and change, a 1/8-inch slice of the binding was cut off and replaced with a smooth, round spiral binding.

Now every page spread opens completely and stays open on my desk. If I want to save space, I can also easily flip the side I’m not using to the back.

It was an easy solution to make the book useable. Boo to planner publishers who don’t think of usability, but yay for hacks!

So now the question is: What kinds of media can be used in it? I threw my usual media tests on a page, including some juicy brush pens, paint markers and a Derwent Graphik that had a messy meltdown.

The broader nibs and brushes ghosted a bit, but the only products that bled through (and only slightly) were a Kuretake brush pen filled with Platinum Carbon Black ink, a Zig Painty Fx paint marker and a Krink paint marker. Even the blorps from the Graphik meltdown didn’t bleed.

I also tried watercolor pencils with a light wash, watercolor paint on dry paper and watercolor wet-on-wet. As you might guess, the text-weight paper is not intended for wet media, so the spot where I applied water heavily buckled badly (and stayed that way after drying). A light wash applied on dry paper, though, wasn’t too bad. In my apple sketch made with watercolor pencil, I activated the shadow with a light wash, which didn’t blend well on the unsized paper.

Overall, I think this planner would be best with pens, brush pens, markers and pencils of all types. 

The post Follow-Up: Make Art Everyday Planner Hack appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

As an avid crafter, I love supporting local artists.  And who better to support than a local paperie and press shop?  When I received the Desk Calendar Floral Weekly Planner from Ruff House Art ($18), I couldn’t have been more excited to support a local artisan and plan my week.

The Floral Weekly planner is an undated spiral bound planner, perfect for those who like to make lists.  The covers are letterpress printed with a lovely floral design (front cover) and the adorable Ruff House Art logo (back cover).  Inside are 54 undated weekly planning sheets.

The desk calendar is approximately 6.5″ tall by 12″ wide, and I find it’s the perfect size to keep on my desk at work to jot down notes, appointments, reminders, to-dos and the like.

On the first page, I used my Pilot fountain pen with a super fine nib and some Robert Oster Berry D’Arche ink.  As you can see there was a bit of show through on the paper, but the ink didn’t bleed all the way through, which I consider a win, especially since I don’t plan on using the back side of the pages unless I have extreme list overflow!

On the second week, I went ahead and experimented with more fountain pen ink (Pilot Metro Pop, F nib and Diamine Purple Dream ink) as well as some of my Ink Joy gel pens.  Again, the fountain pen ink had a bit of show through, but the Ink Joy gel pens were perfect for this paper. I think it would also be great for Retro 51 ballpoints or rollerballs.

I enjoy the fact that the planner is undated so I can create my own weeks, and that the bulleted lists don’t have time slots so I can write down everything from what to make for dinner to my top five tasks for the day all in one list.  My one minor complaint is that Saturday and Sunday are grouped together.  I realize this is an area of some debate, but I tend to load up on chores and freelance work on the weekends, so having two separate days to plan would be preferable.

That said, I haven’t stopped using this desk calendar since I got it and I foresee more of these in my future.

Laura is a tech editor, podcaster, knitter, spinner and recent pen addict. You can learn more about her knitting and tea adventures on her website, The Corner of Knit & Tea and can find her on Instagram as Fluffykira.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Ruff House Art for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post Planner Review: Desk Calendar Weekly Planner from Ruff House Art appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

My favorite pen is the superb Cross Selectip rollerball. Sadly, all but two of the Cross pens that take this refill (and I’ve got a BUNCH) require you to uncap it to use it. Only the diminutive Cross Click, which is too small for my hand, and the Cross Edge, which I find impossible to open with one hand, operates without a cap. I’m looking for a pocket pen I can operate with one hand – either push-button or twist – that takes the Cross Selectip rollerball refill. Does anyone else make one? Thanks, Gary

The new Ti Arto Kickstater project from Big Idea Design claims to accommodate 200+ refills would be perfect but it, too, is a capped pen. So, I turn to the Karas Kustoms RETRAKT and a little refill hacking to solve your problem. The RETRAKT is available in aluminum and brass and is a wider barrel pen body, comparable in width to a Sharpie permanent marker so should feel quite substantial in the hand. I use and aluminum barrel version which is weighty but can be opened and closed with one hand. My husband has a heavier model with a brass grip section if you want something even more substantial. Prices for the RETRAKT start at $55.

When you purchase a Cross Selectip rollerball refill, it comes with a little plastic cap. Keep this! It is the key to my little hack. Though I suspect a rubber band or string could be used as an alternative. I cut the wide part off and used about 1/8″ or 3mm of the plastic sheath as a spacer between the base of the refill and spring to provide a bit more length to the refill barrel for the spring to travel along. I also needed to shave a little bit of the nubs off the blue cap in order to fit into the barrel of the RETRAKT. You might find a little more plastic is better (or a little less) but there is more than enough left from the cap to experiment a bit.

This last photo shows the Cross Selectip rollerball refill fully extended, with my little plastic mod and the spring inside. Voila! As Tom at Goldspot Pens likes to tease, I’ll hack any pen and any refill.

The post Ask The Desk: Karas Kustoms RETRAKT/Cross Selectip Hack appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I found a fabulous flexible nib hack over on Parka blogs and nothing says “let’s mess with a cheap pen” like a rainy day. Throw in a cool ink sample from Vanness Pen Shop and an urge to be a little tweaker and off I go.

This hack will work with either a Zebra G (Titanium pack of 10 for $33.50 from JetPens) or Nikko G nib (3 for $4 from JetPens), whichever you have available to you. Warning: you may or may not damage your pen, so proceed with caution. It is a fun hack and most Jinhao X750 pens can be purchased for $10 or less so its not a huge investment, no matter what happens. I purchased mine from Goulet Pens, the Shimmering Sands model for $9.90.

I followed the instructions in the Parka Blogs video as well as doing a little feed modification à la Leigh Reyes’s tutorial for modifying the Ranga to try to get the nib to lay down a little bit more flush with the feed by using an X-Acto to shave a bit off the feed.

So, for a grand total of $13.50 I had a wonky, but functional, flexible nib fountain pen. Its a little bit finicky and could probably use a little bit more work to make it consistent but it works. I occasionally have to dip it in water to keep it working but it writes much longer than a regular dip pen. I might just need to add more fins in the feed and since the feed is plastic it might not be as ink receptive as the Ranga’s ebonite feed.

Why did I do this hack when I had a perfectly lovely Ranga? I already owned a box of Zebra G nibs and Jinhao X750 and I was bored. The only reason I would recommend this hack over the Ranga is that it is considerably less expensive and it is considerably easier to acquire the Jinhao X750 in the US than a Ranga at this time. But if you have the means, the time or the patience to get a Ranga or a Desiderata instead, the overall experience is better. But for a quick-and-dirty option, this hack is definitely an option.

Now, let’s talk about the lovely KWZ Green Gold #2 ink. I picked this up while I was working the Vanness table at the Chicago Pen Show. Lisa said I would love it and she was totally right. Its a lovely green, golden color as decribed in the name. Pantina gold would be another way to describe it. It shades and colors nicely, ranging from a light golden wheat to a dark brown depending on the density of the color.

This is not a water resistant ink so its a good candidate for playing around since it will clean out of the pen and feed easily.

KWZ Green Gold 2 is definitely more yellow thank Bung Box 88 and Diamine Safari but its a deeper yellow gold than Pilot Iroshizuku Ina-Ho. A full of KWZ Green Gold 2 60ml bottle is $12 and a 4ml sample is $1.50. Pricewise, its much closer to the Safari than Bung Box or Pilot Iroshizuku.

DISCLAIMER: This item was sent to me free of charge by Vanness Pen Shop for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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Romain asks:

I am desperately looking for a large notebook (A5-A4) with 4mm squared paper; do you have any advice for me?

This took some hunting and I could only find one printed option that featured the coveted 4mm grid paper It’s the Miquelrius leather-look journals. They are available in 100-, 200-, and 300-sheet books with black, blue or red covers for $9.99 to $14.99. The paper quality is decent. I used a Miquelrius book for ink testing for some time early in my blog career before switching to Rhodia paper which is a bit more hardy.

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There are more images of the whole Miquelrius Grid journal I used available on Flickr.

Another option for grid paper would be to print your own paper. Paper Snake offers printable graph in a variety of quadrille and graph paper sizes in metric and imperial sizes including 4mm.

The post Ask The Desk: 4mm Grid Paper Notebooks appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

The Ranga Acrylic Fountain Pen is a very different kind of pen for me to review and to describe so I apologize in advance if this is a little strange. First of all, this pen came to me pre-modified by the fabulous Leigh Reyes. She has provided detailed instructions on her web site along with a video on how to make this modification for yourself, I was just lucky enough to get a hands-on demonstration and prepared pen.

So, to give you more details, the Ranga acrylic fountain pens come with a standard steel fountain pen nib with an ebonite feed that is friction fit and an eyedropper filling mechanism. The reason this is such a good candidate for modification for a flex dip nib is because of the ebonite feed which will allow better flow and can be manipulated to increase flow.

If you can’t tell yet, this is not a beginner’s fountain pen or project. If you averse to having inky fingers for get annoyed if your pen chokes up on you this is NOT a pen for you. However, if you are tired of dip pen dipping, then this can be your new best friend. Because, with some patience and tweaking, the Ranga can hum along beautifully.

I included the above image to show that there was a lot of trials on scratch paper and nib cleaning. I’m serious when I say this is a tweaker’s pen. But look how cool this is! If you do a lot a lettering with flex dip nib, anything that makes writing a few more lines without dipping is a bonus so you know what I’m so excited about.

The pen is about 5.5″ long capped. The cap will post making the pen almost 7″ from the tip of the flex nib to the end of the cap. Filled with ink it is pretty light, only 20 gms but the Ranga Acrylic is a little wider at the grip section in the hand than a lot of nib holders which tend to be very narrow which is really nice.

Ranga Acrylics are available on Amazon with free shipping which seems to be the best option if you live in the US. If you live in the Phillipines, Pengrafik stocks the Ranga Acrylics. Peyton Street Pens in the US stocks some Ranga pens fitted with vintage nibs that may offer some flex as an alternative to using dip nibs.

I purchased a Desiderata Daedalus pen in Chicago that I will review in the next week or so. It works on a similar principle in that it holds a Zebra G nib but is comes prepared to accept the Zebra G nib without the tinkering required to make the Ranga work with a flex nib but it still requires some preparation.

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Finally, here’s a little Instagram video I did (handheld!) and managed to misspell Ranga in the process but you can see the flex in action. I’ve since purchased a tripod so hopefully my videos will improve.

The post Review: Ranga Modified Fountain Pen appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I’m always on the hunt for good planner, journal, project management sheets. I like seeing good clean designs that can be left simple and clean — or decorated, if you are so inclined.

Here’s a few of my recent favorites:

Marcy Penner Midori Printables Last year, I bought her personal-sized planner set and it was really well done. Her new planner set for 2016 for Midori-sized books is even better. The design features week-on-one-page with either blank or gird paper on the right. Also included is month-on-two-pages calendar. Set includes October 2015 through December 2016 so if you’re itching to get organized, you could start today. $10 for digital download.

Clock is Ticking Printable Notepaper Is this not the cutest illustration? This FREE downloadable PDF is compliments of the talented Mayi Carles of Oh My Handmade Goodness. Once printed and trimmed, you can make them into your own tear-off pad with this tutorial from Playful Learning.

Elise Blaha Cripe, aka Elise Joy, made lovely, inspirational quote cards that you can add to your planner dashboard or dividers. The designs are clean and simple and there’s bound to be one or two quotes that speak to you. Even if you’re not inclined to decorate, pinning one to your wall near your desk might be all you need to inspire you to forge ahead on your goals and projects. Free download.

Do you use downloadable printables? Which designers or styles are your favorite?

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