[All My Hues]

Envelopes Envelopes Everywhere

2011-01-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

Going off of my last post, how about some more hand-crafted envelopes?

Polar bear for winter, which I ~~vandalized~~ enhanced with stickers, penguins, and wrapping paper :

Front

Back

Have some contrast-- here's one I made over the summer, featuring a pitcher of lemonade. This envelope traveled to the Philippines:

Front

Back

Fields of lavender. I had some extra room on the address label I made, so I drew a flower there. Hey, why not?:

A pretty waterfall (this was one of my favorites, sent to an ex who decided he didn't want to get back with me after all. Talk about wasting a good envelope XD; (Hehe) :

Front

Back

Part of the fun of making these was deciding not only the cut of each envelope, but the shape, color, and location of the address label.

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How to Recycle Magazines and Calendars

2011-01-04T20:30:00.000-08:00

By now, most of you probably know that I went through a massive envelope-making phase around this time last year. I cut up magazine and calendar pictures and used them to make fun, quirky envelopes to send to my pen pals. This is the template I used (feel free to print out and use it yourself, if you so desire):

This is how the front of an envelope looks right after I make it and before I add any labels:

Step 2: Adding the address labels. You can have a lot of fun deciding their shape and placement on the envelope (at least, if you're an arts-and-crafts mail geek like me):

Finally, an unimpressive back shot:

If you are an avid snail mailer and haven't tried making your own envelopes, give it a try -- it can really add some originality and personalization to your correspondence.

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Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Happy belated new year! I hope everyone had a wonderful new year's eve, and that you all have a wonderful, healthy, and lucky new year!

In case you haven't already started hunting around for a new agenda planner to purchase for 2011, here are some viable options from Exacompta, the company which owns Clairefontaine and Rhodia:

~Exacompta Journal 21

~Rhodia Weekly Notebook Agenda Planner

~Quo Vadis Ib Traveler Weekly Planner

And now,

My New ~~Year's~~ Semester's Resolutions:

+ Blog on a regular basis, perhaps weekly. This should also help me unwind from studying in a semi-productive way

+ Alternately, make time for leisure activities

+ Make time for martial arts; hunt around for a nearby, affordable dojo

+ Get back into meditation. (Deeeeep breath...)

I'm not stupid enough to write, "Excercise on a weekly basis!" or something, because let's face it: Everyone writes that and nobody actually accomplishes it. Come March, the gyms have mostly emptied out. Which is why I resolve to make time for martial arts, instead. I'm hoping that indirectly referring to exercise will result in not jinxing the resolution. Yes, I know I sound crazy. So what else is new? :D

So, what are your new year's resolutions for 2011?

Ink Review: Diamine Havasu Turquoise

2010-12-30T19:56:00.000-08:00

Wow. Just...wow. Grad school grabbed me by its teeth, chewed me up like crazy, and then spat me back out, an exhausted and discombobulated pile of....uh...student. Lots of stressing and mini-freakouts have occurred over the past 3 months or so -- new environment, new living situation (the first time I'm living on my own, actually. I always dormed or stayed at home) -- but at the end of the day I wouldn't want it any other way. I love learning, and I love the fact that at the end of this, I'll have a grad degree in something I'm passionate about. Whoohoo!

But, Christmas break has allowed me a chance to take a breather. This means, BLOGGING!!! It will be a Diamine inkfest with snail mail art thrown in, and whatever else pops into my head.

Let's start off by looking at one of those Diamine inks:

Havasu Turquoise was released waaay back in Fall 2009. This review is long overdue (sorry, Diamine Ink company! Here you go!).

I did something a bit different than I usually do for ink reviews, which I'm going to do from now on. I included samples from different types of paper to show how the ink fares in terms of drying time on various papers; you can see a closeup of them below the review. Below that is a closeup of the color swatches.

Color looks lighter than it actually is; but for the most part, very true to life.

In case you can't read the handwritten review:

COLOR: Light blue-turquoise. Not seeing any green here. A bright light blue

PROPERTIES: Average flow in this Cross ATX (m)
Shades on the back of thinner paper but no bleedthrough
Colorwise, lovely shading
No feathering :)

CONCLUSION: A well-behaved blue-turquoise ink. Pleasant color. More blue than Noodler's Navajo, brighter than Asa Blue.

Closeup of drying times on different paper types. I didn't bother to do any color-correction, so the ink looks darker than it is:

Closeup of color comparisons, very obviously color-corrected (:P) :

As mentioned above, Noodler's NT, though not by ANY means "green", definitely has a stronger greenish tinge than Diamine HT; it's more visible in real life.
Both are bright blues, but Diamine HT is darker and bluer.
Lighter and brighter than Diamine Asa Blue and Diamine MB

Diamine Majestic Blue (Diamine MB) has, in the photo, some odd splotches that kinda make it look like a petri dish. This is because of its near-legendary saturation: Diamine MB is so highly saturated that light bounces off the darkest parts of your writing (or, in this case, ink splotch) and creates this effect where it looks like the light reflected back is almost red, not blue. Diluting your MB with some water is a commonly used solution, assuming you don't like the reflect-red effect (I don't, personally).

The above are the only two turquoises I own, but out of them I prefer the Noodler's. I feel like the Noodler's NT color is more interesting with its green hue, as opposed to just being a pretty shade of blue.

So what's your favorite turquoise?

Ink Review: Diamine Hope PInk

2010-09-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is really a lovely color, and a portion of sales from this ink goes towards breast cancer research. If you like pink inks, buy it!

Color comparisons seem accurate enough:

Hope Pink is bright without being neon, and a true pink
Noodler's Rachmaninov is more neon and leans towards magenta-blue
J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne is warmer in tone, and looks almost earthy compared to the other two.

Here are some close-ups of how this ink fares on different types of paper in terms of feathering. There is slight to moderate bleedthrough, depending on how wet your FP is. (NOTE -- in these photos, Hope Pink looks cooler in tone than it actually is)

I would caution against using this ink in a wetter pen because the flow is very good, so it might be a tad too wet and really cause some feathering issues in, say, a Pelikan with a medium or broad nib.

Washes out very easily, so it's a snap to clean out if you like to switch inks a lot.

Overall, a well behaved ink that I definitely recommend for pink lovers!

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Going Postal: A Traveling Journal

2010-09-08T18:36:00.001-07:00

Waaaay back in January, I received Bianca's traveling journal to decorate. The theme was "mail" or "postal"; basically, anything associated with a mailbox or the postal system. I had a lot of fun decorating 3 pages. Here they are!

Avian Air Mail: When carrier pigeons just aren't enough. The albatross is missing from his post, because he's off to deliver a letter overseas.

See?

No one had done it yet, so I decided to make the last one a "love letter" theme.

Can you decode the message?

Ahh, it feels good to be posting again!

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And The Winner Is....

2010-08-28T17:02:00.001-07:00

The winner of the Diamine Classic Red giveaway is..... axolotl66!!!

Axolot166, please e-mail me your address at allmyhues@gmail.com so I can send you your ink :)

To everybody else: Thanks for participating! I just finished moving in to my new apartment, going grocery shopping, registering for classes, going to grad student events/workshops....man, talk about hectic.

Speaking of classes, mine start on Monday. I'm going to try real hard to do....biweekly reviews/posts? Does that sound good? We'll see. I'm sure I'll need the wonderful world of pens, inks, art and penpals to keep me sane as I proceed through grad school :^)

Upcoming: Ink review of Diamine Hope Pink

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Diamine Classic Red Giveaway!

2010-08-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

Remember, giveaway ends on Friday the 27th of August, at 10 AM EST.

Contest and details here.

Good luck!

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Diamine Classic Red Giveaway!

2010-08-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

There will be no new posts for a while, because I am currently in Wyoming with my family to see Yellowstone National Park (yay!). So, to hold you over till then, how 'bout a giveaway?

I'm not really a red ink person. So this ink that was generously given to me by Diamine to review should go to someone who will actually use it, right?

Since I'm currently in a "red" state, I'll be sending out a bottle of Diamine Classic Red to one winner. The contest will end when I get back to my own state. (Isn't that a nice tie-in?)

Rules & details--

Prize up for grabs: Diamine Classic Red, 30 mL

Contest duration: Sunday August 15th to Friday August 27th, 10 AM EST

How to enter: My big summer trip this year was to Wyoming state to see Yellowstone National Park. What about you? Comment to this entry, and tell me where you went this summer Day trip to the local beach? Valid. A week in Costa Rica? Valid. An afternoon picnic in a nearby park? Valid. Antarctica? Valid. Basically, it doesn't have to be a huge exotic excursion to count. Just as long as it isn't your house :)

(Your living room? So NOT valid.)

Winner will be chosen by random draw when I get back.

Ink Review for Diamine Classic Red HERE.

Good luck!!!

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Ink Review: Diamine Classic Red

2010-08-14T18:33:00.000-07:00

I find it a bit odd that Diamine has waited until fairly recently to release a "classic red" color. Isn't that a color you'd release for the original lineup? Well, it's never too late to go back to basics, I suppose...

The colors are slightly deeper in tone than they appear in the swatches, but look pretty accurate in relation to each other. Specifically --

Rouge Bourgogne is dark pink
Poppy Red is red-orange
Widowmaker is a very deep, dark red (without being maroon)
Classic Red has no orange tones at all

Close-ups of the writing:

Do you like this color? (of course you do!) Would you like to own it? (of course you would!)

If the answer is "yes" (and you know it is), stay tuned for a Diamine Classic Red giveaway!

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Homage to a Bat

2010-08-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

After seeing the bat that decided to visit my new home, I decided to pay it a little homage. Unfortunately, I incorrectly identified it as a small brown bat, not a big brown bat. So, I drew an image of the latter instead of the former. Oh, well. Live and learn, I guess. Either way, it's still kinda cute:

Done with Sakura Micron Art Pens on a smooth Bristol pad.

By the way, this is interesting: Quite a few cultures (Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Native American) think of bats as good omens. Go figure that India is one of the countries that considers bats to be BAD omens. Boo. Not that this does anything to change how I view my little fuzzy visitor :-)

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Bat Medicine

2010-08-08T18:52:00.001-07:00

Some of you may know that I shall soon be packing my bags and moving from the suburbs of New Jersey to upstate New York for graduate studies (WHOO!). This past spring consisted of me frantically trying to find a place to live for the school year, starting this fall.

At the end of May, I finally found a place! The day after I saw it, I went back to sign the lease -- and discovered that I already had my first visitor:

Do you know what that is? It's a bat! Fast asleep, clinging to the screen with its tiny bat feet. It was actually inside! I guess it's not that surprising, considering that I'm technically underground.

I'm pretty sure that this is a big brown bat. Here's a close-up of the critter:

Because I love animals and was so excited at seeing a bat up-close, I considered the creature to be a good omen. I was really surprised, however, when a pen pal of mine pointed out that to the Native Americans, bats represent rebirth, transformation, new beginnings, taking a journey of spiritual and personal growth, and release of old habits or ego for a new way of life. Bat symbolizes the need for letting go of a way of life that no longer suits your new growth pattern. Maybe that's why, she wrote, I received bat medicine that day.

Hmm...sounds pretty fitting to me!

(By the way, before I left I told the owner of the house to have it humanely removed. No worries. Also, the photos were taken with my cell phone camera, hence the lousy quality)

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Year of the Tiger (Now in Technicolor!)

2010-08-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Here are the finished works from the last post:

^It's difficult to tell, but the dragonfly glimmers.

In the above piece, a tiger is startled by a gorgeous (and glittery) butterfly that suddenly appeared. That directly reflects how pleasantly surprised I was by the good fortune this year has brought for me. Done with waterproof ink (outlines), watercolors, and glittery gel pens (accents).

Hmm. At some point I'm going to have to redo the list of links to other blogs. But that's boring, and so true to form I have been procrastinating on it. I know, I know...

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Year of the Tiger!

2010-08-02T15:28:00.001-07:00

It's pretty well known that this year is the Chinese Year of the Tiger. This has special significance for me, because I am -- you guessed it -- a Tiger. Not only that, but this year has brought me some pretty amazing new opportunities and chances at self-improvement on a variety of different fronts. So several months back, I created several Year-of-the-Tiger-themed, handpainted stationery on Crane & Co Letterwriting Sheets.

Here are some rough sketches:

My attempt at tiger realism...

...as well as a simpler style.

Here is one that I'd already finished by the time I got to work on the above ones. This one went to an excellent pen pal of mine in Canada. You can't really tell, but the eyes are glimmery -- I used gold glittery gel pen to make them stand out. I used a brush pen with waterproof ink for the outlining, then colored it using watercolors.

This paper handles both fountain pen ink and watercolors incredibly well, and you can see previous works I did on Crane paper here and here.

Roar!!!

Ink Review: Diamine WES Kensington Blue

2010-08-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

WES is an acronym for The Writing Equipment Society, an organization for which the ink was named. I personally find it to be a very boring shade of blue...but that's just me. I way prefer Diamine Midnight.
Here's the review -- I darkened the image because the original photo showed the ink as being too light. Likewise, the darker areas on the color swatches in the Ink Comparison section show where I had to use Photoshop for color-correction.

Ink Review: Diamine Midnight

2010-08-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Great flow, great color -- what more to ask for when looking at blue-black inks? It's certainly not the darkest blue-black I've ever seen, but this does allow for excellent shading. Take a look--

The obligatory close-up:

Ink Review: Diamine Marine

2010-07-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

This has become one of my favorite colors, ever. It's kind of ironic, though, how an ink color called "Marine" positively melts off the paper with a splash of water. Oh well. The fact that this color is so beautiful makes me not give a damn as to the waterfastness of the ink. Average flow, good lubrication.

Ink Review: Diamine Delamere Green

2010-07-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

This is the only non-dark green I've ever owned that I actually like! It's one of my favorite colors, now.

Ink Review: Diamine Rustic Brown

2010-07-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a set of 10 Diamine inks that I'll be reviewing. It was released in the fall of 2009. This is a nice red-brown ink.

Close-ups of the writing:

~ Blogwarming ~

2010-07-28T21:30:00.001-07:00

Hello, hello! Blogspot will now be the new home for All My Hues. If you scroll back or check out the tags, you'll see that I tranferred almost all my entries from LiveJournal to here to make it easier to access past reviews and such.

Please let me know what you think of this new layout. Is the font too light? Too small? Hard to read? Just right? Are the colors too glaring? Your feedback will help me tweak the design as needed.

Thanks for your patience!

Diamine Inks (Fall 2009)

2010-07-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

...take two!

Last year I started but never got around to finishing reviewing the new colors Diamine released for for Fall 2009. So, guess what will be happening over the next few days?

Here, once again, is the color comparison chart I made for the Fall 2009 Diamine inks, next to several other similar colors. You can see that I color-corrected the ink swatches.

The Diamine Fall '09 ink swatches (Hope Pink, Classic Red, Rustic Brown, Majestic Purple, Lavender, WES Kensington Blue, Midnight, Marine, Havasu Turquoise, and Delamere Green) are outlined in black, plus there's a pink highlighter that separates them from the other inks.

Artists' Essentials: Palette & Scraper

2010-07-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

My own palette and "scraper".

If you use tube paints -- be they watercolors, acrylic, or oils -- investing in a palette is a great idea. Palettes are used for mixing colors upon, and they are MUCH better than those mixing trays with several tiny compartments. I had one of those, and believe me, it was a nightmare to clean. Apparently they keep colors moist longer, but personally I would much rather re-moisten paint rather than deal with cleaning out several small wells after the fact...but that's just me :) But that being said, palettes are a great deal easier to clean, as they are just a flat surface. This also makes them easy to store. The palette I currently have is made of plastic -- a very durable, reusable material. I'm not a fan of disposable palettes, as they create unnecessary waste. Buy reuseable! :)

In addition to a palette, you'll also want to have on hand a scraper. These are nifty for, well, scraping off dried smears and globs of colors from your palette after you're done working. It makes it much easier to clean than just using, say, a napkin or sponge. Palette scrapers are cheap, so you should definitely invest in one. Too frugal to do so? No problem. You can easily use something you already have -- my "palette scraper" is actually an oil painting spatula. You can even use a plastic knife for this job. Scrapers make cleaning your palette much easier and faster. And really, who wants to spend a lot of time cleaning up?

The National Postal Museum

2010-07-28T21:17:00.002-07:00

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST AHEAD!

Hello hello! Since I know that many of you are fellow mail lovers, I figured that I would dedicate this post to describing for you theNational Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. that my sister and I went to see.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't expect anything that interesting. My sister was the one who really insisted that we see it, and I am so glad for it! The National Postal Museum was absolutely fascinating, and I certainly encourage anyone who is in the vicinity to go and visit.

The museum is located right by Union Station -- literally across the street -- and admission is free.

My sister (right) and I (left) in front of the Museum.

The National Postal Museum used to be the actual post office for Washington, D.C. Here's my sister posing by some old mail boxes.

Going down the escalator, this is what we saw:

On the left is a modern mail delivery truck; in the middle is a mail-delivering aeroplane; and to the right you can see the blunt end of a mail delivery train. You could walk inside the train, where there was a setup of how the inside of a mail-sorting train looked, back when railroads were first beginning to connect the nation.

Look familiar?

A mail-delivery stagecoach:

The Alphabetilately Exhibit (Sept 26, 2008 -- Oct 29, 2010)

Creative!

The Gift Shop

I wanted the above poster. So. Badly. Alas, it was $25 and out of my price range ;__;

Gotta love the placement of the V-mail poster, yes? That's me on the left, my sister on the right. Yup, this shot was orchestrated.

At the National Postal Museum gift shop, I also found the book Good Mail Day, from the lovely ladies at the Good Mail Day blog. If you haven't checked out their book or blog yet, I strongly encourage you to do so!

In addition to all this, there was an exhibition called Binding the Nation, that basically showed the evolution of the postal system in the U.S.: From old Native American trails in the woods to the Pony Express to the system we have now. There was also a section on coded messages and telegraphs sent during various wars, such as the Civil War, the World Wars, and the Cold War. They also had a V-mail section. I sadly didn't get a chance to see/photograph these, as the museum was closing early *sad*

Needless to say, the National Postal Museum is an amazingly interesting place to visit, and I encourage everyone to drop by (and, if you're feeling generous, drop a donation).

Review: Quo Vadis Journal 21 Daily Desk Planner

2010-07-28T21:17:00.001-07:00

Quo Vadis Journal 21 Daily Desk Planner

INTRO

This is my favorite one of the three Exaclair agenda planners I have received for review. Period. As the name implies, it’s not travel-sized, so it’s not really meant to fit in a purse or pocket. This is meant for a bookbag, briefcase, or just sitting home at your desk. The purpose of this agenda planner is to help you map out your day in detail...and it includes PLENTY of tools for you to stay organized not only throughout the current year, but for the entire next year as well. This planner was made in the U.S.A.

DESIGN

This stylish and REFILLABLE planner has a black pleather cover which you can keep even as you ditch the used planner itself for a fresh one.

There are some cool tools, such as a list of major holidays around the world and this handy chart of international telephone access codes (for all you globe trotters out there who shun BlackBerrys for paper planners).

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Exactly like the Quo Vadis IB Traveler and the Rhodia Weekly Notebook Agenda Planner, the Journal 21 has an “anno-planning” section -- for the current year as well as the next year! In addition to this, it also has a full calendar layout for the current and forthcoming year:

Here is the actual layout of the planner:

As you can see, each page is devoted to one day (with the day, date and month prominently displayed at the top). The day is divided into half-hour segments, running from 8 AM to 9 PM. I personally really like this aspect of it. The top of each page near the binding has the month; the week you are currently in is in bolded print. The top of each page on the outer side, on the far side from the binding, tells you how far you are into the year in terms of week and day (eg, for Tuesday May 11: 19th week, 131-234).

The different months are “tabbed” by blue swatches that you can see from the side, when the book is closed. This makes it easy to find different months:

Another feature the Journal 21 shares with its cousins the Quo Vadis IB Traveler and Rhodia Weekly Agenda is the contact info section in the back -- 14 pages for you to fit all your contacts.

It’s no contortionist, but it’s flexible enough yet sturdy enough to withstand being tossed in and out of a bookbag or briefcase, and can stand being squished due to its pliability. At the same time, it's thick enough that I can put it on my lap and write. To me, it’s just the right combination of flexible and sturdy.

Another design feature which I really like is the tear-off tab on the bottom of each page, so you can find your place easily as you progress through the year. I love this simple but efficient feature (it's the little things).

Comparison shot. Left to right: Journal 21, IB Traveler, and Rhodia Weekly

PAPER

All the paper in this wonderful planner is FP-friendly. See for yourself:

No feathering, some shading, but zero bleedthrough.

The paper itself is smooth, just slightly off-white so that it’s easy on the eyes, and really nice to write on.

PURCHASING THE JOURNAL 21

An Exaclair product, this planner can be found wherever Exaclair agenda items are sold. Some websites include The Daily Planner, or even the Quo Vadis Web site. You could also go to Writer’s Bloc.

I have no affiliation with any of these stores, of course. I’m just listing them as viable options from which to purchase the Journal 21.

CONCLUSION

My conclusion: I freaking love this thing. No, seriously. This is my favorite of the planners I’ve reviewed, and it has been my loyal companion throughout the school year, helping me to stay organized. For me, this is a perfect planner: highly FP-friendly, divides the day into very small segments for exact planning, and a lot of room with which to do said planning. Those are the three things I look for, and the Journal 21 nailed them all. Plus, it looks really great and is very durable.

Come next year, I will definitely be purchasing a refill! If you’re anything like me and the above points look attractive to you, go ahead and make the plunge; buy this planner. You won’t regret it.

Review: Rhodia Weekly Notebook Agenda Planner

2010-07-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

Rhodia Weekly Notebook Agenda Planner

INTRO

On today's agenda (see how clever I am?), we'll be taking a look at the Rhodia Weekly Notebook agenda planner. How does it compare to its cousin, the Quo Vadis IB Traveler weekly planner? In many ways they are similar: Both are small, have similar layouts, and have very little space for writing things down. However, there are some marked differences as well, and we'll be exploring those now.

DESIGN

The most striking difference between the Rhodia planner and IB (aside from shape) is the elastic band that the Rhodia agenda planner has. If you're in the habit of stuffing loose notes and bits of paper into your agendas (like me), then the elastic will help keep it snugly inside the planner and prevent it from falling out. I really like this design feature.

This is another pocket/purse-sized planner, measuring 4x6 inches (10x15 cm). Here's how big it is compared to the IB (and an iPod nano):

Rhodia on the right, Quo Vadis on the left

The Rhodia Weekly Notebook is not as flexible as the IB, as you can see:

In addition, it seems as though the soft black material covering the stiff cardboard cover is rather flimsily attached:

I don't know if this just happens to be a defect with my particular agenda planner or if this is a defect that is generally found throughout the entire line.

Open up, and just like inside the IB we have an Anno-Planning chart that covers the whole year:

Detail

Like I stated for the IB review, this would be useful to reference when you need to plan around things, like vacations or out-of-town meetings, or even to help plan when to hold conferences.
At the end of the agenda planner is another Anno-Planning chart, for the upcoming year. The IB also shares this feature.

Here is what the inside layout of the agenda planner looks like:

It is different from the IB agenda layout...

Inside layout of the Quo Vadis IB Traveler agenda planner

...due to the prominent gridbox that appears where the IB has blank boxes for jotting down extra info (top to bottom: Phone, Fax--E-mail, See--Do, and Notes). I MUCH prefer the grid, as it gives a lot more flexibility in terms of what you want to jot down.

I'm a bit disappointed, however, that the Rhodia planner doesn't include the mini-calendar that the IB has on the top right corner of its right page which depicts which week of the month you are currently in. Ah well. More room for grid, right?

This is a closer view of the left page in the Rhodia:

You can see how it compares to the IB's page:

Extremely similar in terms of layout, except that the Rhodia planner has 8 a.m. to 7 (p.m.) listed on the left side of the lines, and the IB has 2 (p.m.) to 8 (p.m.) listed on the RIGHT side of the line, not left.

In this regard, I prefer the Rhodia agenda again.

At the very end of the Rhodia agenda, there is a page for notes followed by a mini address book-like section. And I really do mean mini; this section for jotting down contact info spans a mere 8 pages. Hopefully the person who purchases this doesn't have many friends (kidding).

Rhodia Weekly Notebook contact info section

The IB, however, has its own removeable-yet-snugly-in-place address book which boasts a full 28 pages (hey, compared to 8, it's a lot!)

Quo Vadis IB Traveler contact info section

PAPER

The vital question -- how does it handle fountain pen ink?
Don't expect it to have Rhodia-pad-quality thick paper; the paper is much thinner, but still FP-friendly.

True to Rhodia form, this paper handles FP ink with zero feathering. There is shading on the back but no trace of bleedthrough:

Warning, however: As with the IB, the section for jotting down people's contact information has paper which is a bit thinner than the body of the agenda. Don't be surprised if you have a little bit of bleedthrough here and there (likely not a problem if you use a fine or extra fine nib).

The bottom of each page, just like in the IB, has a little tab you can tear off to mark your place as you go through the planner.

EDIT: Brian Goulet of The Goulet Pen Company adds,
"The paper in the Rhodia planners is 64g...the reason it's thinner is to keep down the overall thickness of the planner and to help the ink to dry faster on the page (so you can quickly jot down something and close the book, without having to wait for the ink to dry). I've found most planners have different paper than their notebook counterparts, for exactly these reasons."

Thanks, Brian!

PURCHASING THE RHODIA WEEKLY NOTEBOOK/QUO VADIS IB TRAVELER

Though under different brand names, both agenda planners come from the parent company Exaclair. Exaclair products can be found in online stores all over the Web, wherever paper prodcuts are sold. Try The Daily Planner.

NOTE: At The Daily Planner, it's listed as a "Rhodia Academic Planner".

CONCLUSION

To be perfectly honest, though I really like the trademark Rhodia grid included in the agenda planner as well as the elastic band, overall I like the Quo Vadis IB much better. It seems to be better constructed, and it's far more forgiving to being squished in a purse or pocket or briefcase. I feel that bending the Rhodia agenda planner too far will break its cover. No such fears with the Quo Vadis IB. In addition, the Rhodia planner doesn't have the "International Telephone Access Code" page in the back that the Quo Vadis does (Which I find insanely cool)

All this makes me think that this is less for business travelers and more for, say, students (though you'll have to take care that you don't bang it around too much; I don't know how much abuse the stiff cardboard cover can handle). But if you're looking for a simple agenda planner with some flexibility of use (not physical flexibility, mind) then this agenda planner may well be for you.

NOTE: Commenter Duncan notes that in spite of "6 full months of what is basically reckless abuse", his Rhodia agenda "has a few light dents but is nearly as good as it was in January." So, perhaps I did get a lemon and Rhodia agendas are generally more durable than the one I received. If anyone else can put in their two cents, I'd be grateful!

...So, which do YOU prefer?

Review: Quo Vadis IB Traveler Weekly Planner

2010-07-28T21:13:00.002-07:00

To be perfectly honest, I kind of feel like a jerk for not posting these agenda reviews sooner, if anything because half the year has gone and so these planners are only half as effective. I really did want to post them sooner, but, well...my previous post explains the delay. Nevertheless, I feel it neccessary to apologize to Exaclair and Karen Doherty, their VP of Marketing for not posting these sooner. I shall try my hardest to be more consistant in the future (considering that I'm not paid to do this or anything).

With that out of the way, let's get on to the actual review.

Quo Vadis IB Traveler weekly planner

INTRO

I really like the look of this agenda planner. The cover is pebbly and black, simple and classy. It was certainly designed with function in mind, as it comes neatly equipped with several tools to help you manage your busy schedule. Plus, it's refillable and comes from an ecologically responsible source!

DESIGN

The measurements for this planner are 3.5" x 6.75", or 8.8 cm x 17 cm. This makes it small enough to slip into a purse or pocket. I really like how flexible it is; very utilitarian. This is a planner designed to be as accommodating as possible.

At the beginning is the Anno-Planning section, where you can quickly map out the year in advance. I'm thinking it would be useful for jotting down things like vacation dates, things you'll need to plan around as the year progresses.

In the back is another Anno-Planning table for the next year, which again seems very useful for vacation planning or even planning when to host conferences and events. In addition to this, there's a traditional calendar view of the next year:

Here is what the actual inside of the agenda planner looks like:

The left side has the days of the week for jotting down your schedule (meetings, appointments, etc) whereas the right side has space for jotting down phone numbers, notes, and e-mail addresses. From top to bottom, the sections on the right read: Phone, Fax -- E-mail, See -- Do, and Notes.

Personally I feel that this space should have been blank (or VERY narrowly lined) extensions of the days on the left. That way, there would be some much-needed extra room to elaborate on the appointments that you barely have room to write.

Here is a close-up of the left page:

The left column has 8 AM to 1 PM written to the left of the line; the right column has 2 (PM to 8 (PM) written to the right of the line.

It also includes maps of the 4 continents in the back for the buisnessperson who is always traveling:

A feature I really like is the little address book included in the back that you can take out as needed and then slip snugly back in. It definitely will not fall out on you, and is very accessible. This would be extremely convenient if you're in a meeting and need to jot down somebody's contact information real quick.

There's a large area for e-mail addresses, and spaces for the person's name and contact number (phone, fax, etc):

The bottom of each sheet of paper has a small tear-off corner, so you won't have to worry about finding your place -- you just tear off a corner each week, and the agenda will be tabbed to where you currently are.

PAPER

The paper throughout the entire agenda planner is fountain pen friendly. You'll want to use a fine or extra-fine nibbed pen in here, since it's so small. The paper in the removable address book is thinner than the paper in the actual agenda, but just as FP-friendly:

On the back, however, there is a teensy bit of bleedthrough in the address section:

I have not noticed this problem on the agenda paper. Remember: I was using fine tipped nibs for writing in this, which tend to be drier. You'll not want to use a wet bold in this type of agenda. There's simply not enough room!

CONCLUSION

This is a very nice looking, practically built, and nifty agenda for people who are constantly on the go, traveling and needing to jot down conferences and meetings and dates. There's zero room for elaboration, so if you're going to use this agenda planner you'll need to keep it concise -- eg, Group meeting (Rm 212) is the extent to what you can fit on one of the lines. I can't help but think that the sort of people who'd find this planner helpful are also the kind of people who are more apt to use BlackBerrys than paper planners...but, what do I know. I'm a student, not a working professional ;) So assuming that you lead a busy life (working professional or not) and are a fan of travel-sized pen-and-paper planners, I would highly recommend checking this out.

On the Subject of Sealing Wax

2010-07-28T21:13:00.001-07:00

It's generally known that temperatures inside a locked car on a hot summer day can quickly soar to as high as 120 degrees F. We must never leave a child, dog, or any living thing inside a locked car on even a mildly warm day -- the results can be deadly.

Fortunately, sealing wax is not sentient. If so, I'd be slapped with a hefty fine for sealing wax abuse via neglect. Today the temperature was 95-98 degrees F. I left some letters in my car STACKED IN A PILE as I drove around doing errands before heading to the post office. Imagine my shock when I saw that the heat inside the car had actually started to melt the sealing wax!

Some before/after shots:

Never leave letters with sealing wax stacked on top of each other in a hot car, because the wax will start to melt and cause the letters to adhere to each other. In many cases (as you can see below) the wax will smudge onto the letter below it.

Pulling apart letters with melting sealing wax melding them together --> not fun. So to those of you who use sealing wax, take heed!

Pretty Envelopes

2010-07-28T21:12:00.001-07:00

Over the past few months, I found that making envelopes was a relaxing and, yes, therapeutic respite from graduate school application madness. Here are some of my creations:

Back

Front

Back

A closeup of the lettering, because I like how it came out :o)

The back

Front

Back. The little note on the opening flap says, "Enter the jungle!"

Here's the opening. I made the cut curvy instead of straight

All of them came from old calendar pictures, except the last one. That one I made from wrapping paper that I doubled up for strength.

Deciding what part of the picture to display, how to cut the envelope, choosing the shape of the address box and return label...it's postal art! A great way to distract yourself temporarily from all the busyness at hand. Certainly helped keep me sane!

Pen Review: Pilot V Ball RT

2010-07-28T21:08:00.000-07:00

Pilot V Ball RT

-made with "real ink", according to the packaging (as opposed to...what?)

-great construction: clip is springy, the retractable point means that you can open it with one hand AND no cap to lose. Rubber grip ensures no slipping out of your hand.

-takes highlighters VERY well, unlike the Jimnie Gel Rollerball (which, I discovered too late, posses gel ink that tends to clump up at times)

-extra fine point!!!

-refills available :)

NOTE: The scanner made the ink seem lighter than it is; though it is lighter than both the Zebra Jimnie and Uniball Signo, it's still really nice and dark.

This is one of my favorite pens to use. I love the extra fine line it produces, the smoothness and reliability, and how waterproof and smearproof it is. I'm actually on my second refill for this pen! Highly recommended.

Nature Sprite

2010-07-28T21:06:00.001-07:00

The image I had in my head when doing this was a field scientist combing through the woods and stumbling upon a nature sprite, startling the hell out of the both of them. Nature sprite flees, and scientist does a quick sketch in his notepad of what he remembers from the sprite (right down to the stunned facial expression). So if the picture looks kinda "sketchy", that's why -- it was intentional.

I made her body and limbs long, like a tree. Painted with J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage, diluted with water to get the various shades. Also, I made her eyes golden brown but you can't tell in the photo. Darn.

WIP: Nature Sprite

2010-07-28T21:05:00.001-07:00

To thank Karen Doherty for sending me a handful of wonderful fountain pen inks to test out, I've started doing a series of drawings using the colors she sent. This was the piece inspired by J. Herbin Lierre Sauvage, which is French for "wild ivy".

It's a nature sprite, and judging by her expression....she's as surprised to see you are you are to see her. I'm sure any nature sprite would be this startled if a human stumbled upon it....

This is a WIP, or work in progress :)

The initial pencil sketch

Outlined in ink partially

More Watercolors on Crane!

2010-07-28T21:02:00.001-07:00

Here are the last two watercolor-on-Crane-paper that I did: Another peacock, and...an owl!

It finally occurred to me how to photograph these to try and capture the sparkliness....hehe. I like how the two-tone gold circles on the tail feathers came out...I'll have to do that trick again.

Here's the owl:

The eyes glitter, as do feathers on the top of the owl's head (a little) and a teensy bit on the tufts on either side of its head:

Too bad it didn't capture how the lines on its tummy glitter. It's kinda subtle but looks nice, IMO.

Finally, here's a simple "sunburst" design I did with my new markers (yay!). High quality art markers they ain't, but they work well enough, AND have a brush tip on one end and fine tip on the other :D Whoo!

Upcoming:
Diamine ink swatches
Artwork using J. Herbin inks
Quo Vadis Habana/Rhodia Webnotebook comparison review

Watercolor on Crane Paper

2010-07-28T21:01:00.001-07:00

Remember yesterday's post where I reviewed Crane & Co. stationary, and mentioned that the thick cotton paper took watercolor extremely well?

The sheets of Crane paper are blank, and although the paper is nice, I decided to spruce it up a bit using my (very bad quality) brush pen -- I was going for a Far Eastern brush drawing sort of look.

Well, that ended up going out the window; I only have one brush pen, and I'm not very good with it (Inkophile is much better -- though, granted, she does have an actual brush pen with bristles, unlike mine which has a felt tip...lame). But I could control the line variation a little bit, and liked the look of the image that came from using a brush pen.
But it was still a bit too dull, just black ink against an ivory-cream background. I decided that adding watercolors would fix that, and make it more interesting. And, what do you know -- it did :^)

Done with Sakura Brush Pen and Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colours

After the watercolors had dried, I used a gold glittery gel pen to highlight the tail feathers; if you look closely, you might be able to tell that it's glittery.

I really like how it came out, especially the contrasting effect of yellow-gold tail feathers glittering against the flat watercolor image when you hold it at an angle. Plus, I had a ton of fun doing it. It was quick and easy and I wasn't going for detailed perfection -- casual coloring looked good for this image, I thought. It looked even better after adding in the glitter pen embellishments.

Which is why I proceeded to do about 5 more, all with different designs.

More to come!

Crane & Co. Ecruwhite Kid Finish Letter Sheets Review

2010-07-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to doing this review, as I really do enjoy this paper. As always, hope that this is useful. Enjoy!

Crane & Co.'s 100% cotton paper is currently my favorite stationary paper to use for writing letters (I like to pair it with one of Crane's equally high quality wasabi green or celadon blue envelopes, which I then seal with wax before mailing off to a snail mail buddy).

The paper combines two very important elements for me: It's environmentally friendly, being made of cotton waste instead of trees; and the quality of the paper is excellent. There's a reason Crane & Co. is a highly preferred brand among fountain pen users, and that is what we will explore today.

Each pad comes with 50 removable, high-quality sheets. The pad is gummed on top.

THE PAPER

The paper is a bit more cream-colored than the photo shows, but not by much. It's a very soothing ivory-cream color which is easy on the eyes, as opposed to glaring white -- however, this stationary also comes in pure white if you prefer that.

The measurements of the sheets are 6 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches.

This paper is not smooth like Clairefontaine or Rhodia paper is; it's textured, so there is some feedback when writing. Though I usually like to write on smooth papers, I must say that I enjoy the texture of this stationary: It feels nice under your fingers, a nice subtle texture that gives the paper elegance and character.
If you are a paper junkie, like me, you'll be able to understand/appreciate what I'm talking about; if you're not, I probably sound like a crazy person to you. Heh.

EDIT: A number of fine folk over on The Fountain Pen Network have pointed out that very fine nibs may get "caught" on the paper when writing. I'm assuming that this refers to fine nibs with dry flows only, as I've used wet fines and extra-fines and had no problems whatsoever :) You can see the thread here. Thanks to everyone who commented for your input!

THE INK TEST

So let's get to the good stuff, already. Check it out:

Beautiful. Not a hint of feathering anywhere at all, even with feathery inks like J. Herbin -- which is fantastic, because I can use my beloved J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne ink (reviewed here) on this paper without it feathering like mad. Hooray!

Something to note, however: Though Crane's letter writing sheets are indeed fantastic on the front side, the back side of the paper is of slightly lower quality. Meaning, certain inks or wet-nibbed pens may feather slightly.

No matter what side you write on, however, the paper is adequately thick to ensure practically zero chance of bleedthrough.

PURCHASING CRANE & CO. ECRUWHITE KID FINISH LETTER SHEETS

This wonderful paper can be purchased at the Crane & Co. website, and any retailer that sells Crane & Co. products.

On the Crane website it is listed as costing $13 per pad (which come with 50 sheets).

CONCLUSION

The combination of high quality and eco-friendliness (more so the latter than the former, truth be told...I'm such a hippie...) makes me want to keep restocking on these once I run out. Unless I find some paper that is lower in cost but that matches this in terms of quality, this will be my go-to paper for letterwriting. Highly recommended.

Speaking of, you know what else this paper takes well? Besides fountain pen inks? Watercolor. Done very lightly of course, but that's still impressive. And why would I bring this up?

Well, stay tuned to find out!

Ink Review: Private Reserve Arabian Rose

2010-07-28T20:57:00.001-07:00

How about another "pink ink" review?

I didn't do a color swatch with this ink because I don't have a bottle of PR Arabian Rose; instead, I have a 12-pack of international size cartridges. Something odd: The closer I got to finishing the cartridge, the darker the ink got! I'm guessing it has to do with pigment settling to the bottom, just like with bottles. Shake your ink cartridges, people!

The truest color representation, I think, can be seen in the henna-like doodles at the bottom right (the bird is supposed to be a phoenix).

The paper is O'bon notebook paper.

Ink Review: J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne

2010-07-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

About damn time I did another ink review. This is my first ever J. Herbin ink review, and it was really my first time playing around with J. Herbin inks. The verdict? The feathering is an acceptable trade-off for the gorgeous shading (and there can be quite a bit of feathering with J. Herbin inks, sadly).

J. Herbin inks are sold in 50 mL bottles. I've heard a lot of complaints about the bottle design and how it makes for a lot of difficulty refilling your pen when the ink level drops, but my bottle is full and so I can't say I have any comments as to that (yet). The pen rest on the bottle is an interesting feature.

And heeere we go:

The crossed-out scribbling above the PR Burgundy Mist sample is PR Arabian Rose.

EDIT: While the ink is indeed feathery on most papers, on Staples bagasse the feathering is barely noticeable. I just took note of it for those picky about feathering. It's certainly not enough to keep me from using it on the bagasse paper :)

O'bon Notebook Review

2010-07-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

INTRO

I was pleasantly surprised by this notebook. Like the Staples sugarcane bagasse paper, the O'bon notebooks are made from the waste pulp of sugarcane after it's been crushed for juice. Now, how does this notebook stand up to its cheaper Staples counterpart?

CONSTRUCTION

The notebook comes in a variety of cover designs; I happened to get the signature green one. On the back cover is a paragraph explaining what sugarcane paper is, and why one should opt for it instead of regular paper (saves trees, duh).

The notebook is wire-bound, but unlike most other wire-bound notebooks, this one has a double loop of wire, so it won't get easily twisted and warped while in your backpack. Goodness knows that's a huge gripe I have about most wire-bounds.

The lines look weird in this photo, at least on my monitor; IRL, the lines are very clear.

There are 80 sheets of paper per notebook. Sadly they are not perforated...ah well. Not a big deal.
One interesting thing is that the lines inside the notebook are actually black (instead of, say, blue or grey). Oh, and the pages are college-ruled, not wide-ruled. Hooray! I'm always dismayed when great notebooks/journals have big wide lines, so I was happy to see that the lines in this notebook are nice and thin :D

PAPER

So, how does it fare with various different pens?

I tried out my Pelikan M200 once with Noodler's Navajo Turquoise and again with J. Herbin's Rouge Bourgogne. The RB displayed a bit more feathering than the NT. This plus the fact that the Poussiere de Lune from my vintage Waterman 56 feathered a lot leads me to conclude that J. Herbin inks (which have feathery tendencies) are not the best choice for this paper. Private Reserve inks, on the other hand, seem to fare very well. Noodler's displays moderate feathering, and my MontBlanc Violet was surprisingly well behaved. So, I'd suggest Private Reserve as the best choice for this paper. Not that there's a particularly bad choice for this paper; even though there is feathering, it's so slight that you have to really look hard to notice it! Even with wetter nibs. What remarkably resilient paper :D

It's odd; the scanner made it look as though there's far more prominent shading than there actually is. In reality, cut the shading down by 30% or so. It's there, it's noticeable, but it's not glaring. Anyway, on the back we see that there's shading but extremely little bleedthrough. The J. Herbin bled a bit (especially coming from my Pelikan, which is a wet writer), and the MontBlanc did too (though again, I was using a wet nib). Other than that, there was a moderate amount of shading. Not as much as the Staples paper, but fairly noticeable.

The blue astericks indicate which lines have been written with fountain pen ink, both front and back, so I could easily judge how FP ink fared overall as compared to other inks.

PURCHASING O'BON NOTEBOOKS

O'bon notebooks can be purchased at -- gasp! -- the O'bon website, which is:

www.myobon.com

Check out some of the other cool goodies O'bon offers, as well =)

CONCLUSION

O'bon paper is some of the best recycled paper I've tried. With the majority of pen/ink combinations, there's no feathering or shading, and like I said -- the feathering/shading that DOES occur is very, very slight.

Thus, I find myself liking this notebook more and more. It has thicker pages than the average notebook and it takes fountain pen ink remarkably well. If you're hunting for school supplies ('tis the season, after all) I definitely recommend the O'bon line of sugarcane tree-free notebooks!

EDIT: I was asked how O'bon fared against Staples bagasse paper, and which I preferred. That's an excellent question. My response is: Both are excellent papers, BUT the Staples bagasse takes fountain pen ink better than the O'bon does. The Staples bagasse is more tolerant of feathery inks. In addition, the O'bon notebook paper is toothy, whereas Staples bagasse paper is much smoother. So, for me personally, I would choose Staples bagasse over O'bon.

However, coming from a dryer nib -- for instance, my Pelikan extra fine nib -- even J. Herbin inks behave on this paper. So if you write with dryer pens and like toothier paper, this is the stuff for you.

Thanks for asking!

Have An Envelope Template

2010-07-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Making your own envelopes is fun and cheap, and certainly saves money. Plus, it can be done in less than 10 minutes! While I was sick and unable to do anything remotely productive, I made envelopes.

Here are some really cool ones I've received. Check out this Obama-themed one from James at Everyday Correspondence; it made my week.

Isn't that great? He made it out of a magazine page, I believe.

Or this one, from Passion at The Pen Archives.

So much flexibility and creativity when making your own envs, and Passion certainly took advantage of it. In addition to a great quote (which appeals wholeheartedly to the writer in me!), she even wrote my name in Elfish on the bottom :) And you gotta love the random elephant. I know I did.

Then there are some that I made, like this watch one with a choppy address label:

I really enjoy corresponding with this person, so I hope he writes back soon.

And a daisy one (part of my flower series), in which I had fun with the back and side flaps, making them curved instead of angular.

Why don't you try making your own? Here's a template I made. Print it out, trace the shape around any picture/paper you desire, and start folding! You'll need tape or glue to hold the flaps shut; for the envelope's main opening flap, I use sealing wax.

Once you get the hang of it, feel free to alter the template as you would like, changing the shape of the flaps to suit your creative tastes. If you're going to post this on your blog/site, feel free; just give me credit and provide a link back, please :)

And, please ignore the writing you can see on the back; I try and reuse paper as much as I possibly can, and this includes the back of rough drafts of my thesis paper ;)

Upcoming:
O'bon notebook review
Monkey-themed envelopes (no, really)
Sharpie Pen review
J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne review
O'bon art pencil set review

Postcard Dreams Deposit

2010-07-28T20:46:00.001-07:00

I came across this post on http://postletters.org/, and it is possibly the best postcard sentiment EVER:

Meanwhile, if you have a dream about your dad being turned into a tray of things – and he wants to push himself off the table because he doesn’t want to be a tray of things anymore – or if you have any such dream that wakes you up and makes you cry!, I think the best idea is to write someone a postcard about it. A dreamy postcard! When we go on holiday we send postcards, so why not when we go on dream? Perhaps there should be a Postcard Dreams service – a national deposit for all our night posts.

"When we go on holiday we send postcards, so why not when we go on dream?" I love it!! I would totally write someone a dream postcard.

Thoughts? Comments? Weird dreams? :^)

O'bon Color Pencil Review

2010-07-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

INTRO
Eco-friendly art supplies? Yes, PLEASE! O'bon is a company who brings us school supplies -- notebooks, pencils, erasers, journals, the works -- made of tree-free, recycled materials. How cool is that? As an artsy tree-hugger, this excites me to no end. O'bon was kind enough to mail me some of their supplies for reviewing -- and for the next couple of weeks, I will be doing exactly that. Whoohoo!

Today's agenda: O'BONanza Series -- Color Pencil Set

COLOR SWATCH:

CONSTRUCTION
This fun colored pencil set discards normal color names in favor of fruits. The set contains:

Pineapple (light brown)
Kiwifruit (dark brown)
Strawberry (red)
Orange (orange, duh)
Banana (yellow)
Apple (green)
Watermelon (dark green)
Blueberry (light blue)
Grape (dark blue)
Mangosteen (purple)
Dragon Fruit (pink)
Raspberry (black...aren't BLACKberries the black ones? :P)

The barrel is made of 100% recycled newspaper (read more here, which you can see as you sharpen them:

A major flaw: Some of these pencils are not sharpener-friendly. Some of them sharpen just fine, whereas others are absolutely horrendous. It's a really odd inconsistency. I have a very good sharpener (iridium, made in Germany, all that), and some of the colors simply won't sharpen properly. This can be extremely annoying, especially because the lead is very soft and breaks easily when you do manage to get a point, and before you know it you've sharpened your colored pencil down by 2 inches on the first day. Since details -- and thus well-sharpened pencils with sharp points -- are important to me, this was extremely disappointing. The tightly-rolled newspaper may provide superior core protection to the lead (according to the O'bon website), but it sure does a lousy sharpening job. If anyone has better luck, feel free to let me know :P

THE LEAD

So, how do they work?

Let's see :)

As we can see, for the most part the colors blend together fairly well....EXCEPT the dark brown. I don't know what it is about the dark brown, but it doesn't seem to want to play nice with the other colors...at least on the Lamali Lokta. Oddly enough, it performed quite a bit better on standard Strathmore Sketch 300 series drawing paper, blending normally into the other colored pencils. So there's a discrepancy in blending characteristics, apparently, depending on the paper one uses. Hmm. It appears to do better on toothier paper (like aforementioned Strathmore), but take that with a grain of salt as I haven't tested it out on very many papers (only 3 -- two smooth, one toothy).

Overall, the colors blended a lot smoother on the Strathmore than they did on the Lamali Lokta.

As far as color goes, the black is not nearly as dark as I'd like it to be.

PURCHASING O'BONANAZA COLOR PENCIL SET

The O'BONanaza Color Pencil Set can be purchased from the O'bon website:

www.myobon.com

The pencils normally cost $5, but are on sale for $4. I'm not sure how long that sale is going to last, though, so if you're thinking about snagging a set, now is a good time.

O'bon is also looking for folks to review their products, so if you're interested in that, contact them -- there's information on their web site.

CONCLUSION

While the idea of these pencils is simply wonderful to me (recycled, tree-free, art stuff, yadda yadda), I simply can't warm up that much to a set of colored pencils which are picky about paper and snooty about sharpening. For the price of $5, they perform okay -- though don't feel like you're the only one if you're left feeling like you didn't get enough bang for your buck. They're not fantastic, they're not the best, but they're good enough for what they were intended for (basically, the occasional school color project). If you want to purchase environmentally friendly colored pencils for your young, non-arts-inclined child/sibling/whathaveyou, go ahead and pick up a set. For all serious artists of any and all ages -- look elsewhere.

O'Bon Color Pencil Color Swatches

2010-07-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

The end part of O'BONanza got cut off, but eh. Here's a color swatch teaser of the colorful goodness to come.

My apologies for the delay, people; it's been a very busy weekend, what with the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, and all :)

Part 2: Inking

2010-07-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

Used my Sakura Micron Art Pens to ink the fishies and the anemone, then erased almost all the pencil lines -- if you look carefully, you can still see some lines I left in place (to remind me to shade there, or whatever).

{OBLIGATORY GEEKY ART EXPLANATION; SKIP IF DESIRED}

I was debating on line thickness in drawing this picture. I knew that I wanted to make the clownfish's outline less bold than the anemone. Usually, the subject of the picture (clownfish) is outlined slightly thicker than the background (anemone). This is a pretty subtle thing, a trick that draws the viewers' eyes towards the main subject of the piece. However, I wanted this picture to convey that the clownfish was hiding in anemone, so I made the anemone's outline thicker and the clownfish's outline thinner. Besides, clownfish are so ostentatiously colored (not to mention their natural black lines!) that the viewers' eyes are drawn towards them anyway.

So, there we go. That's my geeky art explanation ;)

Step 1: Rough Sketch

2010-07-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

This is the picture I'm working on for the upcoming O'BONanaza Color Pencil Set review. I'll post the WIP*, then showcase the finished piece in the actual review. I will most likely do another picture which utilizes the colors not being used for this one (brown and green, for instance), and on paper with a slightly different texture.

And, as to the reason I picked clownfish: Hey, why not? :)

Oh, and I'm doing this piece on a Lamali Lokta Passport Journal sketchbook. I love these things.

(*WIP=work in progress)

Flower Power Envelopes

2010-07-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

What else would you call the slew of handcrafted envelopes I made after my mom let me have her old calendar? I call this my "flower series"! Like I said before, this is how I passed the time when I was sick. I also made several more, but I'll wait till I actually use them to post photos :)

For starters, I made my first ever fold-and-mail! I made it out of thick, textured scrapbooking paper. I like the way it came out; my sister asked me where I bought it, which told me that it did indeed come out nicely :)

BACK, OPEN

This was the shape I cut it in.

FRONT, OPEN

FRONT CLOSED

BACK CLOSED

Number 2!:

FRONT

BACK

I REALLY like how this next one came out.

FRONT

BACK/SIDE

I think I can safely conclude that I need much cooler stickers. What an embarrassingly piss-poor collection.

It was a lot of fun designing these -- including the actual structure! Most people don't really stop to think about the edges or cover flap of an envelope and how it should be cut. But it was a lot of fun deciding which cut -- rounded, sharp, blunt -- looked best on which design. This is especially apparent with the fold-and-mail, and way more apparent in my next batch, when I'd gotten the hang of it.

Pen Review: Zebra Jimnie Gel Rollerball

2010-07-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Once you get over the insanely weird name, you realize -- these are really sweet gel pens. I like my black pens to be super-dark, and these are like black holes ^_^

Zebra Jimnie Gel Rollerball pens, uncapped (top) and capped (bottom). The yellow, squarish writing on the end just says "MEDIUM".

The actual review :

When I did the water test, I rubbed the ink with a wet finger. It still stubbornly clung to the paper with impressive tenacity, and I'm thinking that if you accidentally spill water on it, it won't smudge nearly as much. I'm fairly certain that these are widely available just about anywhere.

I wasn't planning on doing this review, but I love these pens so much that I just did it on impulse. ALTHOUGH -- they do tend to clump up sometimes, and then you have to wipe the clumps off the point. That can get very annoying.

In addition, it smears when you go over it with a highlighter :( Sadness.

Stamps from the Grand Cayman Islands

2010-07-28T19:37:00.002-07:00

I was lucky enough to spot some lovely Grand Cayman Island stamps when I was in a gift shop in Hell (an actual town there). Of course I had to purchase them as well! The lady behind the cash register asked me if I collected stamps. I replied, "Sort of, yeah." In response, she pulled out a postmarked envelope she had (probably was keeping it for scrap paper), and gave it to me. I shrieked in glee, and she laughed. I'm guessing she found my nerdy enthusiasm for stamps adorable.

The postmarked envelope:

The stamps:

Isn't the land crab cute? I thought that acquiring these was a real treat!

Caribbean Postcards

2010-07-28T19:37:00.001-07:00

I'm going to hold off on posting Caribbean photos till I start working on my travel log/scrapbook, so I'll just take photos of that as I complete it. It'll be much cooler than just posting photos, anyway, don't you think?

(Click the link to view)

How about some from the Florida Everglades?

I got this one just because I held baby Snappy, the 2-year-old, 2-foot-long baby American alligator.

FRONT

This one's my favorite :)

BACK

FRONT

BACK

I like it when postcards have nice backsides. Adds a little flair.

And don't forget the British West Indies -- the Grand Cayman Islands. I purchased these from a gift shop in Hell (yes, that's really what the town is called):

FRONT

BACK

FRONT

BACK

The scanner clipped off a little bit....but, can I just say that the backs of these postcards are too cool?

Recipes! And wildlife where the stamps should go! That is so awesome. If anyone is interested in above recipes (papaya & avocado salad, fish in foil), I can post them in a separate entry.

Finally, here are some really interesting postcards I purchased in the GCI. Apparently they were designed in watercolor by a local artist. I'm all for supporting local art/artists, so of course I felt compelled to purchase two out of the three designs they had. I really should have gotten more of these to send out, as they are beautiful...

I've never been into postcarding much, which is why it didn't occur to me to purchase extras to mail out. Plus, there was no place to mail them on the cruise ship! Oh well. Live and learn. Next time: Purchase plenty of postcards!!

Upcoming:
-GCI stamps & postage
-homemade envelopes

Watercolor Scenes From the Caribbean, Mon

2010-07-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

While I was sick, I wasn't completely useless. I made some nice envelopes out of a Macy's catalogue and scrap paper (which I'll show in the future), and did bit of -- well, a lot of -- watercoloring. I broke in my Faber-Castell watercolor pencils as well as my Winsor & Newton watercolor tubes, and spent my sick time unwinding by painting scenes inspired by our Caribbean cruise.

NOTE: W&N watercolors are extremely thin and transparent, and while this creates a neat effect in real life, it's incredibly tricky to capture on a computer monitor. Some scanned better and some photographed better. Some I had to adjust, others I left alone. So that's why the pics seem to vary dramatically in terms of brightness and such.

First up we have a green sea turtle. We saw a LOT of them at the turtle farm/breeding center on the Grand Cayman Islands, and got to hold the baby ones :) While there, I did some sketching in my mini Rhodia pad, and used the rough sketches as a reference when I painted this guy:

For some reason, the pale, washy blue in the background was almost impossible for the scanner and camera both to pick up. It's more vivid IRL.

Next up is a quintessential tropical sunset. Sorry...I had to ;)

I did the palm tree/grass with a Sakura Brush Pen.
I had a lot of colors left over after painting these two and didn't want to waste them, so I randomly painted a shell, then added a hermit crab hiding inside :)

And the final one:

I'm posting both versions, because I'm not sure which one captures the colors best (Both do a sucky job).

This depicts Dunn's River Falls, located near Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This is actually how we scaled the Falls: By holding hands in a line and weaving our way up! It made sense, since people stumbled occasionally, or lost their footing, and they had someone (or two people) to help them regain balance. Though, sometimes we needed to use both our hands to get up the rocks. This style was definitely inspired by Kate T. Williamson's A Year in Japan postcard book, which I received and blogged about yesterday (In a lot of the postcards, the paintings are rather simple and outlined in black). My mom and sister liked this one; they thought it was cute.

I had fun making these; I'm planning to do a couple more.

Pretty Page Numbers

2010-07-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

This woman's lovely page number illustrations know no bounds. Not to mention the gorgeous stationary she sent over. Click the link to continue.

FRONT

BACK
(blank, except for this:)

Next sheet, with her signature punched page corners:

Close-ups of the page numbers she drew:

FRONT

BACK

Also: I realize now that in the last post, my scans of her decorated page numbers did not do them justice. So, here they are again, full size:

I love corresponding with artists.

Review: Diamine Spring 2009 Inks

2010-07-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

Here are all the FP inks released by Diamine in Spring 2009. Enjoy!

The review for Diamine Pumpkin:

Majestic Blue:

Onyx Black:

Poppy Red:

Chocolate Brown:

Rhodia Pencil Review

2010-07-15T12:37:00.000-07:00

I haven't ever stumbled across a review for Rhodia pencils, which I thought was unusual, considering how beloved the brand is. So, here is my humble contribution to the world of passionate pencil reviews:

RHODIA PENCILS

INTRO
I'm going to admit, right off the bat, that the reason I wanted to try one of these pencils so badly is because of the black wood color. I think that pencils with colored wood are just so cool-looking. I'm usually pretty utilitarian when it comes to writing instruments...but come on, colored wood! The question we must ask is, does this pencil match up to its better known half -- the Rhodia notepad?

CONSTRUCTION
The paint covering the barrel of the pencil is the same bright orange color as the cover to the Rhodia pads. It will most definitely jump out at you from a cluttered desk, which is a VERY good thing for me ;) This is by no means a "quiet" pencil; ebony-colored wood and eraser coupled with a bright orange body practically screams to be picked up and used. Which isn't a bad thing.

Sharpening seems to be a little tricky. When I used my sharpener (which is a pretty damn good sharpener), the pencil sharpened very jaggedly. This didn't bother me, since, jagged = sharp points with which to write. But if you're a pencil perfectionist, well...maybe your sharpener will be more cooperative than mine? Still, I think it did a good job:

The only type of embellishment or decoration on the otherwise plain orange body is the Rhodia logo, stamped in black on all three sides of the pencil, near the eraser. Yes, that's right: All three sides--

Head shot -- a front view of the triangular build.

This is a triangular-shaped pencil, not round or 6-sided (hexigon). This makes it far easier to keep from rolling off the desk; I'm sure many of you have experienced how frustrating it can get when even your hexagon-barreled pencils start to roll off of a desk. I know I have. So, a triangle-shaped body is great. PLUS, a 3-sided pencil is obviously urging you to try and hold it correctly (I don't, but I'm a lost cause), which is nice.

How to hold a pencil correctly. Step one...

THE LEAD
Why don't we let the scan speak for itself?

Scanned (a bit lighter IRL; it scanned dark):

Photographed:

The smudge resistance is above average, but definitely not the best I've seen. The lead is a nice average medium-dark that erases well.

And, they're pretty damn good for sketching:

Drew this guy in about 20 minutes while waiting for my grandma to prepare lunch. Rhodia pencil on a Rhodia gridded pad. I've never drawn/attempted to draw a fox before, and wanted to practice. I think it came out quite well.

PURCHASING RHODIA PENCILS
I'm not sure about B&M (brick & mortar) stores, to be perfectly honest, but Rhodia pencils can be found online at the following retailers:

www.thedailyplanner.com -- 3 for $5.95
www.vickerey.com -- 8 for $12.80
www.pencilthings.com -- 1 for $1.60
www.lisart.com -- 1 for $2.00
www.shopwritersbloc.com-- 3 for $4.50
www.swisherpens.com -- 1 for $1.60

CONCLUSION
No doubt, these pencils are quite pricey, at no less than $1.50 each. So the big question is, are they worth the cost?

Good question. I like these pencils very much; sadly, I haven't tried enough pencils to be able to do any sort of in-depth comparison. I'd recommend it to people who like to try different types of pencils, because I do think it's a well-made pencil. However, I can't say that I'm crazy to replace it once it's finished. Like I said, it's a good pencil...but, to me, just not good enough* considering the price. Would I purchase it if it were around $1? Probably. But $1.50? No, thanks.

*You have to also remember that I normally favor pens over pencils (though occasionally I do get the urge to write with a good pencil) -- especially fountain pens -- so please take this review, like all reviews, with a grain of salt.

Upcoming:
5 new Diamine inks for Spring '09:

Pumpkin
Majestic Blue
Onyx Black
Poppy Red
Chocolate Brown

Rhodia Pad Review (Grid)

2010-07-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Aaaaaand here's the second half!

INTRO
The graph pad I received for review from Exaclair's Karen Doherty (who is an amazing person to work with, btw) is decidedly smaller than the lined one; however, I find myself eager to use it more -- both due to the smaller ruling (and y'all know I have a thing for small rulings...the more lines on the paper, after all, the more words I can fit! Very economical...plus I like to write small) and the nifty size (roughly "5 X "4.5) that fits nicely in my purse. However, the gridded pad comes in all sizes -- the one I happen to have is teeny tiny. In fact, I saw a whole Rhodia display at Paradise Pen the other day...and am kicking myself for not getting the full-size gridded pad! Yup, I'm in love.

CONSTRUCTION
What's nice is that even though the pads are different sizes, they all have what seems to be the same amount of pages inside. This is refreshing, as it keeps me from feeling cheated of paper just because I wanted to purchase a smaller size.

The back of the smaller pad is different than the back of the larger one:

No measurements here; just the facts. Don't know what the 5 X 5 is about, though.

Time for a size comparison:

How big is it really? Compared to a stack of Post-It notes.

Like I said, the perfect size (IMHO). I'm always on the lookout for pads that I can slip into my purse for jotting down notes/addresses/memos/etc, not to mention doodles when I'm bored, so this is wonderful.

Like its big brother, this pad sadly can only bend so far back, prohibiting you from really using the back of the pad (I stretch the pad out on the table, awkwardly, and write on the back anyway to keep from wasting paper):

The paper is perforated on top for easy removal (unlike Red n' Black notebooks), while still being attached well enough to keep from accidentally ripping off (unlike Mead 5-star notebooks).

PAPER
The paper in this one is gridded. I believe that this is the original paper format of the Rhodia pads, since the lined one was marked as lined, while this one wasn't marked with anything at all. The lines are blue, and slightly darker than I'd like. It would be really nice if the lines were a pale grey like the Aplca notebooks are.....then it would be perfect. Oh well.

The gridded paper. The lines are definitely darker than what you see here.

The spacing between the lines, I think, is excellent. Here's a shot comparing the gridded paper to the lined one. As you can see, the spaces on the lined pad are wider than the ones on the grid, which makes sense. Check it out:

Lined VS gridded.

A close-up of the lined pad VS the gridded one.

I didn't bother doing a pen-ink test of the paper, since it's exactly the same caliber as the paper reviewed previously. Same exact paper, just...gridded, instead of lined. Instead, here's a link to the Rhodia (lined) Pad review, where you can check to see how well the paper fared against various writing instruments. To be honest, though, I think that if it can stand up to FP ink, it can probably stand up to most anything else (with the exclusion of Sharpies, naturally), since FP ink is the "problem child" of the stationary world, so far as paper compatibility is concerned (I say this with the utmost affection, of course).

PURCHASING RHODIA PADS
Rhodia pads can be found just about anywhere:

They're available at Borders bookstores;
at Pear Tree Pens
at SwisherPens
at Pendamonium
at Dick Blick
at The Daily Planner
at The Journal Store

Basically, many places that sell journals/stationary/paper are bound to have it, including your local art supply/stationary store. And you can bet that any fine writing store (whether online or brick & mortar) worth its salt will be carrying it.

CONCLUSION:
Probably the only two things that would improve these things are lighter, more subtle gridlines and some way to be able to write on both sides of the paper without turning the pad into a spiral-bound (don't ask me how, I'm no notebook engineer...). And, wouldn't an inner pocket be nice (sort of like Moleskines have) for stashing loose notes and such? I would also suggest a slightly heavier/stiffer cover since over time, the front cover will bend up like so:

However, I'll be the first to admit that these are all minor, nitpicky points, the latter of which can be fixed with a rubber band to keep the cover snugly against the pad. These small Rhodia pads are fantastic for on-the-go sketches, notetaking, whatever. I think that these will be my on-the-go memo pads of choice, at least until I try the much-raved-about Field Notes :P
As for the larger gridded Rhodia pads, I recommend them wholeheartedly to any artist or architect who wants a good gridded pad to jot down notes/ideas. This is definitely good paper that won't rip or fall apart on you. It's a bit pricier than your average, run-of-the-mill gridded pad, but it's also a great deal better in quality.

In a nutshell, these are hands down the best gridded pads I've ever used, and I strongly feel that they are an excellent investment to make for any artist/architect who's sick of bleedthrough and wants good quality paper to work with. I will certainly be purchasing more of these in the future. Highly recommended!

:)

Upcoming:
Rhodia pencil
Diamine new Spring 2009 inks:
-Pumpkin
-Majestic Blue
-Onyx Black
-Poppy Red
-Chocolate Brown

Rhodia Pad Review (Lined)

2010-07-15T12:21:00.001-07:00

Well, here we are! The Rhodia review I've been yapping about. I'm going to be out of state (MD) for a karate tournament/get-together this weekend, so expect no new posts till Sunday evening at the earliest, Monday evening by the latest (hopefully).

Leaving super early tomorrow morning -- have a good weekend, all!

Since there are a lot of photos, I'm putting the review behind an LJ cut:

RHODIA PAD REVIEW -- Part 1 (Lined)

INTRO
Ah, the Rhodia. I'm well aware that about 90% of you are well aware of what makes the Rhodia pad so popular, and sing its praises to all those yet unacquainted with it. (After all, it's the famous orange notepad with the cult following , if the advertising is to be believed). This review is for those aforementioned folks who are yet unacquainted with it -- the ones who are new to FPdom, and are unfamiliar with some of the more well-known brands of paper out there. For those of you who know all about Rhodias (and perhaps own a few, or more than a few), you won't find anything here that you haven't already discovered for yourselves. For the newbies (of which I was once ;) ), hopefully this will enlighten you as to why exactly Rhodia is one of the best-loved paper out there.

The size I have is 7.5" tall and nearly 6" wide. A nice size!

CONSTRUCTION
This has got to be the best designed notepad, ever. First of all, it has a COVER (which is more than I can say for Staples sugarcane bagasse paper...honestly. Is a cover too much to ask?) to protect it from the academic elements of sweaty hands, dirt, ink, and being tossed in and out of a knapsack or bag. I also dig the understated simplicity of the cover: The black logo, against an orange backdrop. Period. Nothing more. It has a vintage feel to it, which I appreciate.

Secondly, check out the top:

See those lines/creases? Well, it's built that way so it can...

...fold back, neatly out of the way.

Isn't that clever? I was quite impressed.

Again, the reason I like spiral bound pads above stapled ones is so I can write on both sides of the paper. I can't do that with this notepad -- not effectively, anyway. Alas.

That's the furthest I could get it to go :(

Another nice thing is that these pads are perforated on top for clean, easy ripping (in fact, when I'm done with a sheet, I simply rip it out and use the blank, clean back for scrap paper and jotting memos). Unlike Red n' Black (which I personally dislike), these pages are WELL perforated, and are easy to remove from the pad, yet they are attached very securely...you'll never have to worry about pages suddenly disengaging from the pad. VERY well constructed. Maybe there's something behind all the marketing hype after all.

The perforated edges are easy to remove from the pad, but strong enough to hold even when folding the paper over on itself, if you choose not to remove the pages.

Finally, let's take a look at the back of the pad, which is very interesting:

At first I thought the numbers were multiplication tables or something, but then realized that they were just a rundown of the different size pads Rhodia offers. Infinitely less useful, but still nifty to have.

In addition to having a Rhodia-pad-size-table-thing, the back of the pad is very stiff cardboard which is not totally inflexible, but still very firm and rigid, giving an excellent support to the paper and the hand writing upon it. It's a very nice balance between semi-flex and rigid backing.

PAPER
Though beautifully smooth, it has a little more tooth than its sister brand Clairfontaine. It's barely noticeable -- just enough to give you some control over your steering, so to speak (I personally prefer the glassy Clairefontaine, but that's just me :) )

The lines are college ruled, which I like (I tend to write small), although definitely a bit wider than Apica. I don't know why the left side margin is so huge; to me, it just signifies a big waste of space :P Minus .5 there.

Of course, it fares stupendously with fountain pens:

FRONT

BACK

See? Look at that. No bleedthrough, except (as always) with the Sharpie (and, seriously, who uses Sharpies for day to day writing? I'm really curious about this...you really need to have a true diehard love of Sharpies to put up with that godawful smell and unholy bleedthrough). Let me just note here that even though it looks like there's a lot of shading, that's just due to the light in the scanner. In actuality, there is zero shading, and even the Sharpie is 55% shading and 45% bleedthrough.

PURCHASING RHODIA PADS
In addition to Borders bookstores, Rhodia pads have many, many online venues. Check out the following Rhodia retailers:

Pear Tree Pens
SwisherPens
Pendamonium
Dick Blick
The Daily Planner
The Journal Shop (UK)

Basically, many places that sell journals/stationary/paper are bound to have it, including your local art supply or stationary store. And you can bet that any fine writing store (whether online or brick & mortar) worth its salt will be carrying it.

CONCLUSION
This has been my first experience with a Rhodia pad, and despite the slightly frustrating aspect of not being able to really write on both sides of the sheet [while still being attached to the pad], it certainly won't be my last.
Suffice it to say, I certainly understand why Rhodia pads have such a huge following. Consider me a fan!

Upcoming:
Rhodia review, pt 2 (gridded)
Rhodia pencil
Diamine ink (Spring 2009 series): Pumpkin, Majestic Blue, Onyx Black

Mushroom Stationary

2010-07-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

I was going to post the Rhodia review today, but didn't get a chance to finish uploading/editing the photos I took, so instead you all get to look at juicy, fungi-related...stuff. Heh. I'll wrap up and post the Rhodia review tomorrow. Tons of pics :D

I saw some mushroom themed stationary online which I liked immediately (I love mushrooms), and was thus inspired to make my own! Customized, no less. That's me out mushroom-picking in the woods*, surrounded by a dream haven of glorious, colorful mushrooms in all shapes and sizes (including, ok, fly agaric).

And a close up:

I like the bunny, hehe. I was inspired to put a rabbit in the picture when I saw one on my way to martial arts class. Then I saw it again on my way back home -- in the same exact spot, almost 2 hours later! For some reason this amused me to no end. So, this is my homage to you, Rabbit That Would Not Move.

Anyway, moving on...I liked the way this came out so much that I decided to make color copies of it to use as stationary for other snail mail correspondents. Which gave me the brilliant idea of creating several different stationary designs and making copies, so I wouldn't have to hand draw each letter I send out.

Here is the original (top) compared to the copies (below):

Hey, not bad. The colors stayed true to the original, for the most part.

Now, what should my next theme be?

EDIT: Forgot to add, that this was done using O'bon colored pencils...which are slated to be reviewed in the near future ;)

*I have indeed been mushroom/toadstool picking before -- my friend and I wanted to dry them to make colorful mushroom potpourri. Sadly, after leaving them out to dry it rained and our beautiful harvest was destroyed (read: gross and slimy) and had to be thrown. Boo.

Kali & Kali

2010-07-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

Who remembers that Hindu goddess stationary which had previously been sent to me? Something about seeing a cutesy Kali:

...made me want to draw my own, slightly more realistic, version.

This is just a quick sketch I did. She's standing on the headless bodies of two demons she's slain. She does that a lot :-]P Kali, the destroyer of evil! I actually folded up and included this piece in the envelope I sent back to the correspondent.

EDIT: Confirmed with my dad. Kali is a goddess that destroys demons and evil (both within and without). She has absolutely NOTHING to do with time. I have no clue where the creator of GheeHappy got that notion from.

Going Batty

2010-07-15T12:17:00.001-07:00

Since I'm far too cheap to spend money buying pretty stationary (I know, I know, I'm a total immigrant) I usually decorate the paper by hand before sending it off. Like this one, which was made for The Missive Maven, whom I know likes bats:

Yay bats!

The first page was decorated with bats; the second one was mostly blank (hey, I only have so much energy) with the odd doodle of a horseshoe crab here and there. When you work at a beach educating kids about the endangered horseshoe crab, and handle the creatures on a regular basis, they start to endear themselves to you. No, seriously. It's reached the point where I think that they are quite adorable. Like this one here:

Awww. See? Cute!

Oooh, and this is neat: The pirate-themed stationary which I made a while back was featured on The Missive Maven in this entry. Sweet!

Sketchbook Review: Lamali Lokta

2010-07-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

This has certainly been a long time coming. Blame work; trooping up and down the beach and wading around in a salt marsh with a classroom full of superexcited kids tires you out like nobody's business :]P But, here it is finally. Hooray!

LAMALI LOKTA PASSPORT JOURNALS

INTRO
These beautiful, hand-made Nepalese blank books were news to me. I acquired them in a trade over FPN, and am SO GLAD I did -- these are fantastic! The slightly off white paper is made from the lokta plant, "an unassuming shrub with the ability to regenerate every six years", according to the insert. In addition, the making of this paper is old custom, and "every step in the production process is done by hand: from the harvesting of the long, sturdy fibers to the careful binding of every journal. Each resulting item is a piece of art, combining elegant design with a rustic yet soft look and feel.
Lamali Lokta is made by artisan workshops committed to social responsibility, environmental conservation and maintaining traditional Nepalese culture. A portion of all proceeds goes towards rural economic development projects."
Wow. Now that is cool. Perhaps there is some exaggeration there; but in all honesty, it looks as though purchasing this item supports some really great things. Great cause, great paper...Consider me on board!

CONSTRUCTION
The covers on these notebooks are fantastically gorgeous. They are made of what seems to be thick, stiff (lokta?) cardboard: Textured, slightly wrinkled, and come in a variety of colors and patterns. Open them up...

...and this is what you see (minus the writing/doodling, of course ;P)

The three sizes that are available are as follows:

Large: 5.25" x 8.25"
Oblong: 3.5" x 7"
Small: 3.5" x 5"

The binding is sewn--

AND, it lays flat :)

All in all, it seems extremely study and flexible for its size and build. Unless you REALLY abuse it, I can't imagine this notebook getting twisted or disfigured in your briefcase or (in my case) a messy, disorganized handbag.

PAPER
Though they are referred to as notebooks, I really can't think of anybody using this as a notebook so much as a sketchpad (art notes?), due to both the construction and the paper that's in it. The blank pages feel smooth to the fingers, but definitely have tooth to them, typical of sketchpads (this paper has far subtler tooth than most sketchpads, though). It's nice and thick, good quality paper. How does it fare with fountain pens?

If you look carefully you can see areas where it looked as though the ink either feathered, or "missed a spot". Neither is true. That's simply due to the toothiness of the paper, making for uneven ink coating. This is a primary reason I wouldn't use this as an actual notepad; the inconsistency of the ink coating (as well as the drag) would bug me.
In addition there was no bleedthrough AT ALL. Even with the Sharpie there was mostly shading and less so bleedthrough. With all the other pens, there was zero shading as well as zero bleedthrough. Nice!!

HOWEVER! How does this paper fare with art materials? I am of the opinion that if it can survive water colors as well as fountain pens, it's a definite keeper and can stand up to pretty much anything else.

Done with watercolor, which I let dry and then attacked with colored pencils. Since I'm a perfectionist, and attempted to get the water shade even by diluting the watercolors with even more water and sponging it off, the poor paper suffered quite a bit of abuse under my hand. Even so, it held up amazingly well!

((Geeky art explanation here, skip if desired ;P))
If you'll notice, the four main parts of the painting -- the lotus, the leaf, the bud, and the lily pad -- are done in four different styles of watercolor. This was the result of me experimenting, having not jumped onto the watercolor horse in ages ;P

My workspace

The flower bud looks more like traditional watercolor, and I think it's my favorite style of the four (though nothing in the picture except the water is done in pure watercolor -- even this bud was accented with colored pencil). The big main lotus was outlined in Sakura Micron Pens and then colored in with light, washy watercolor. This I went over with colored pencils. My major mistake ("mistake") was to use marker to outline the striations in the petals, which, while accurate, should have been done more subtly with colored pencil or watercolor, and not with black ink. So, the realism factor was automatically slashed (to my disappointment). Making the best of it, I used shades of pink, red, yellow (for highlighting) and purple (for shading) colored pencils to make an almost surreal, artsy-style lotus (does it count as surrealism? I'm not quite sure).
The big leaf near the main lotus (the artsy one) looks more like my typical watercolor/colored pencil hybrids from eons ago; painted with watercolors and then using colored pencils to achieve deeper shading effects.
Finally, as for the lilypad...er....I'm not quite sure what to make of that. It looks almost cartoony, and I do not like it at all. So...yeah. That's more of a failed experimental fluke, than anything XD

The WIP

Ta da!

There are 40 unlined pages in each journal.

PURCHASING LAMALI LOKTA
I got my Lamali Lokta sketchbooks through a fellow Fountain Pen Networker, acquired through a trade. I....haven't actually been able to find places online where one can purchase them *embarassed*. The FPNer in question lives in Hawaii, and found them in a local arts store. Here's the web site, which is the only real info I've found about them:

www.savoirfaire.com

EDIT: Also, fabulous blog reader Okami found this source for obtaining the notebooks, through www.plazaart.com.

I know, it's a little obscure....but is it worth it? I think so.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, these mini sketchbooks are great for traveling. They're study, yet slim and reasonably flexible, and you can be sure that the paper won't rip or tear easily. No wonder that they're called "passport journals", then. I wholeheartedly recommend them, and if I can ever get a hold of that FPNer again, or find a place that has these, I will most definitely stock up. If you're an artist, or simply a notebook/journal/sketchbook junkie, give it a go!!

NOTE, however, that not all lokta paper is created equal. This particular brand using this particular paper-making process is fantastic for FPs and watercolors alike; however, I've heard very iffy things about other lokta-made products so far as FPs are concerned, and can't speak as to their quality as I personally have not tried them. If I do, I'll let you know :P

Upcoming:
Rhodia pad
Rhodia pencil (I'm curious as to this one, myself)
Diamine inks (5): Pumpkin, Majestic Blue, Onyx

Pirate Snail Mail

2010-07-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

The envelope:

Open the envelope to find two neatly folded notes inside:

and

I really, really like how the first note came out :D Open it up....

I stained normal blank paper with used coffee grounds/paper filters, and crumpled it up after writing on it and decorating it to give it that old-treasure-map-looking effect. The "anachronistic" (ish) spellings was me attempting to be clever. I'll let you judge how successful I was on that ;P
The second note was just regular Red n' Black (I think....or was it Clairefontaine?) notebook paper, with a fancy shmancy message-in-a-bottle design on the outside to make up for it. Hehe. Apparently Ilona liked it lots, which made me happy. I was pretty late in responding (or so I thought), so I did my best to make it worth the wait for her.

Upcoming:
Lamali Lokta
Rhodia pad
Rhodia pencil
Diamine ink series (5)

Gothic Art, Completed

2010-07-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

Remember that gothic WIP (work in progress) pen & ink piece that I was working on? The one with the angel on the tombstone? Well, it only took me about a MONTH, but I finally got around to finishing it XD

I used Sakura Micron art pens (click the link to see the review), but the roses were colored using Caran d'Ache Storm fountain pen ink, and I believe the blue butterflies were colored using Diamine Majestic Blue fountain pen ink (review forthcoming :) ).

Hmm. What do you think? Should I have left it b&w? Do the colors detract from the image or make it richer? Should only the roses be colored? Only the butterflies? Discuss.

EDIT: My one friend said that the colors seem to detract. Anyone else? Feedback would be appreciated...

Upcoming:
Lamali Lokta sketchbooks
Rhodia pad
Rhodia pencil
Diamine ink series (5): Pumpkin, Majestic Blue

Ink Review: Noodler's Van Gogh Starry Night Blue

2010-07-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Confession: I have to admit, I bought this ink only because of the name and used it despite hating the color because, well....it had such a great name!!! However, it's grown on me lately (tis always a good thing to not hate your inks, yes?). So, yay for that.

Yup, that's him chasing his (runaway) ear. Poor guy.

Sakura Micron Art Pens Review

2010-07-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Art Supply Review: Sakura Micron Art Pens

INTRO
Portable, reliable, permanent. Chances are, if you're someone who's constantly on the go and looking for art pens, those are the three top factors which appeal to you. Sakura Micron pens are an excellent alternative to the messier (though somewhat more professional) dip pens, and far more travel-friendly. These are great for beginners to the pen & ink medium as well as professionals who don't want to bother with the hassle of cleaning and taking care of dip pens. Just uncap, post, and off you go :-) Though I love the old-fashioned feel of dip pens, Sakura Micron art pens are, for me, the next best thing.

CONSTRUCTION
Sakura Micron art pens come in a variety of sizes (in terms of line width; the pen bodies themselves are pretty much the same size). This is incredibly convenient; all you have to do is pick a couple of sizes, and you're good to go! No need to bother switching nibs mid-drawing to vary your line thickness.
The caps have firm, springy clips which seem very reliable, and the caps themselves are designed to post. Because the pens are so lightweight, balance is not really an issue. Speaking of size and balance, these pens are very slim, and pretty small. I have small hands and thin wrists, so for me that's great, but those of you with larger hands might want to skip over these.

How big is it really? Comparison with a cube of Post-it notes.

It's hard to tell because the tips are so small, but I think that the smallest width (.005) is a rollerball while the larger ones are felt tips.

The .005 pen tip.

The .08 felt tip.

In order: The .005 tip; the .05 tip; the .08 tip; and the brush pen, all on standard American wide-ruled paper.

INK AND PERFORMANCE
The patented ink contained in these acid-free pens is both waterproof and archival. Translation: Whatever you write or draw with these pens will last a very, VERY long time. Sweet.
The fact that these pens are waterproof is a beautiful thing; it makes them perfect for use with watercolor drawings, especially if you aim to get that "washy" anime look:

Ok, so it could definitely be "washier" (I tend to paint rather thickly), but that's besides the point. I sketched the drawing out in pencil, outlined it with the Sakura Micron pens, and then watercolored over it. Though they do sell waterproof drawing ink, these pens are fantastic if you're traveling or have very limited space, since they don't require as much room as a bottle of ink, several pen bodies, and a scattering of nibs that you can lose/knock into the trash (I lost one of my favorite dipping nibs :( so this sounds pretty nice to me).

The nib sizes range from .005 to 0.5 -- I have .005, .02, and .08 (which is the second thickest next to 0.5). The fact that these pens come come in ultra-thin widths makes them fantastic for detail work, and in this regard they outdo the dip pens in terms of reliability and control.

Not that you have to choose between dip pens and markers! By all means, combine the two; you can get some amazing results by combining mediums, which I wholeheartedly encourage. Here's a pen and ink I did using dip pens for the thick to medium lines, and markers for the finer details.

The goth picture I'm currently working on consists almost entirely of Sakura Micron pens.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, if you are a pen & ink artist, you NEED to own these pens. Kidding, kidding. But I do recommend them, both for those who are starting out with pen & ink drawings and want to experiment before investing in dip pens/drawing ink, or professionals who would like the ease and comfort of just switching pens to vary line thickness instead of switching nibs (which, you have to admit, can get really annoying). Also you don't have to worry about having ink drops fall onto the paper while you're drawing, which ALWAYS happens to me. I tend to be a bit messy D:
Now, they are a tad expensive, being more than a $2 each. But if you are serious about the visual arts, it's a great investment :-)

PURCHASING SAKURA MICRON PENS
You can buy these pens at most art stores, and if there isn't an art store by where you live, never fear! That's what the internet is for.

www.jetpens.com stock them up, and if you buy $25 or more, you get free shipping. Shiny.

www.dickblick.com also has them, for slightly cheaper prices (and they discount if you buy in bulk, though I think this is more for art teachers). I'm not sure about shipping costs, though, as I've never purchased from them.

Upcoming:
Staples Bagasse paper review
Staples Bagasse paper giveaway

On Artists

2010-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

This is an old post I made waaay back in the day on my LJ, but I still sorta like it:

While reading the Pulitzer Prize winner The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (I haven't yet discovered what's so wondrous about his life even though I am more than halfway through the novel. Maybe it'll all come together at the end? Let's hope so. Sorry for digressing.), the author (Junot Diaz) made an interesting point. He noted:

"What is it with Dictators and Writers, anyway? Since before the infamous Caesar-Ovid war they've had beef. Like the Fantastic Four and Galactus, like Foreman and Ali, Morrison and Crouch, Sammy and Sergio, they seemed destined to be eternally linked in the Halls of Battle. Rushdie claims that tyrants and scribblers are natural antagonists, but I think that's too simple; it lets writers off pretty easy. Dictators, in my opinion, just know competition when they see it. Same with writers. Like, after all, recognizes like." (Paraphrased)

Hmm. Interesting stuff. But, I think it's a little bit different than what Diaz notes (a good portion of his novel takes place in dictator-ruled DR, so that's probably his own personal paradigm). I don't think it's so specific as he makes it out to be.

See, it's not just writers...it's writers, painters, musicians, filmmakers...in other words...it's artists. And it's not just dictators they protest bitterly against. It's not just government. My revised statement is,

Artists have always had issues with authority, and authority figures have always been irked by artists.

It only hit me, really, because my sister remarked (jokingly) that the government was going to lock me up for being an anarchist. I started to argue, then realized: Just about every major storyline I've toyed with committing to paper has a strong theme in defying government authority. The graphic novel I'll publish some day? Looking past government propaganda and lies to see the ugly truth behind how far people will go to stay in power. The 3-part novel series? The horrors of having a monarchy overthrown "for the people"....by a religious group which exterminates and crushes all opposition. Jeez.

And, it's not like I'm anti-government or anything, either. Really, I'm not. I'm a communitarian, for God's sake (not to be confused with communist. In a nutshell: heavy taxes in exchange for universal healthcare, regulation on industries and private interests (which, let's face it, can do whatever the fuck they want without consequence as long as they have enough money), free education, and other social welfare programs. Just look at how happy the Danes are! They figured it out! Yeah, I'm a crazy liberal. Bite me.)! I mean, I am way more distrustful of giant corporations and CEOs than I am of politicians*.

Why? Well, a lot of artists (not every, obviously) have ADHD (myself included). One big trait that runs in this spectrum disorder is a tendency to challenge authority. Not because we want anarchy, but because we hold on to our ideals (namely: justice, integrity, and human rights) with a death grip, which is why we question: Is what we're doing right? Is it working? What should we change? How can we make it better?

It's not hard to figure out why authority figures would find this grating.

Humans are not welcoming to change. It's an inbuilt thing. We like what we are comfortable with. We like to stay in our comfort zone. Do what is known to work. Don't take unnecessary risks. Seems sensible enough, right? I feel that this is especially true with authority figures: Do what works, stick to what people (ie constituents) are comfortable and happy with (ie not complaining about)...even if there are serious flaws in the system.

ADHDers are a different breed altogether. We perceive things a little differently -- society, concepts, the world. Everything. And because we see things differently, we make connections that others can't. We see possibilities where others don't. And because we are usually highly creative, intelligent, passionate and daring, we are ready and willing to take risks. Look at any ADHD book. I'm not writing anything that hasn't been written before. I'm just plugging it into a different concept (if you don't see what I mean by that, hopefully you will soon. Bear with me.).

In short, ADHDers -- artists -- are constantly questioning things, especially how the world is run. How can we fix this? How can we make the world a better place? How can we help more people? These are hard questions that involve, inevitably, policy change.

Change is bad because change is risky. Change can lose votes. Change is a direct threat to your authority because through change you can lose your authority. If people demand change, it could be most inconvenient for you and what you've worked to set up for yourself. The power and authority you worked so hard to get.

Authorities resist change. Artists insist on it. This wouldn't be a problem if artists weren't so...well...stubborn. Seriously, we're crazy headstrong. And the more they tell us to Kindly shut the fuck up, you're creating a disturbance, the worse we get.

It's a matter of paradigm, really. To those in power, we're spreading unease and doubt, upsetting people for no reason at all, and now they're demanding things they never even mentioned before. What the hell?
To artists, we're publicly criticizing because We see how things are run, We think it's immoral and unethical, and Because we feel so strongly about it, we feel the need to express it -- through essays, through paintings, through musical pieces, through documentaries. Isn't that what art is about, after all? Expression? We express what we feel is the truth. We can't help it if others either begin to realize what's wrong, or feel the same way and are now inspired to start pestering their leaders about it. Whoops.

Art is about expression. Art is about creation. Art is about values -- through your art, you show to others what you believe in, how you see the world. Art can criticize, expose, mock, and challenge -- all in subtle, indirect ways. Art is a pretty fucking powerful tool, especially because art has the power to move people.

Authority figures are threatened by artists. Artists are suspicious of authority figures.
Authority figures work with what is. Artists see what could be.
Both groups can sway the public.
Both groups have the power to change society.
Like, after all, recognizes like.

*Think about it. Who can afford the best lobbyists? Who can, through top-notch lobbyists influence public policy? Who controls the economy, and thus has a lot of weight to throw around? Who has all the money, and consequently, all the power? Cities, states, and even 3rd World Nations will waive all sorts of laws -- usually environmental -- to attract large industries, which naturally pick whichever area gives them the most leeway and wiggle room make PROFITPROFITPROFIT. Oh, and who has the power to enforce restrictions that keep businesses from abusing their power (custom jet planes, anyone?)? That's right -- the government.

Obviously this isn't true for each and every individual politician, businessperson, and artist. But it's a generalization I've noticed, a pattern. Stereotypes exist for a reason, after all.

Apica Notebook Review

2010-07-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

INTRO
Apica has (currently) got to be, hands down, my favorite notebook brand. Ever. This Japanese notebook has helped me -- a diehard spiral-bound user -- to not only appreciate non-spiral notebooks, but even prefer them in some cases! As you'll see later in the review, the Japanese have somehow managed to streamline a notebook. Super affordable, lightweight, excellent smooth paper....what's not to like?

FRONT

BACK

CONSTRUCTION
Well...the floppiness of Apicas may detract a few. These things are meant to be rolled up and stuffed into your back pocket as you run to class. This is the most flexible notebook I own.

See?

I admit that I was a bit dubious at first, given my preference for sturdy spiral-bounds. However, they're tougher than they look, and unless you play floor hockey with your notebooks, your Apica will definitely hold up to daily use.

PAPER
Open view:

How big is it really? Size comparison: 7" X 10" Apica with "king-size" Kit Kat bar.

The pages! Here's where a notebook really shows what it's made of (literally). Apica paper is not only wonderfully smooth, but the soft off-white color and subtle gray lines are not as harsh on the eyes as pure white and blue, something else that I like. The paper is certainly thinner than, say Clairefontaine or Red n' Black notebook paper, but it still feels substantial between your fingers, not the kind that will easily rip (by accident). Apica paper also takes many different inks astoundingly well, with absolutely zero feathering with 90% pen-ink combos. The only feathering I've ever had was with a very wet nib and very flowy ink (Cross Century II (M) with Noodler's Galileo Brown), and even then, the feathering was negligible.
But, what about shading, you ask? Observe:

And now the back--

Wow! Look at that. Practically zero bleedthrough and very slight shading, if that. The only bleedthrough was, predictably enough, from the Sharpie and huge markers. And since you're not going to be using a Sharpie or thick scented markers for daily writing anyway (right?), it's a moot point :)
It's also silky smooth to write (or draw) on with regular pencils--

(I doodle in class...in case you couldn't guess)

At the top of each page is a header:

Now, some might be wary of the fact that not only are Apicas smaller, they aren't as thick and stuffed with pages as regular American notebooks*. However, Apica's got some great things going for it to make up for that. Not only are the lines on Apica spaced very closely together (they are slightly thinner than American college-ruled), but Apicas don't have that ridiculous side margin that American notebooks have. This frees up a lot more room for you to write in. It may not seem like a lot of extra space, but you'd be surprised at how much extra you can fit on a page. In addition, the header margin is a great deal thinner.
Given the much narrower rulings and header (not to mention, complete lack of side margin), I'd say that Apicas can fit just as much information as regular American notebooks, in less space (if not more!!). Is it possible to streamline a notebook? Because if so, the Japanese have managed to streamline a notebook. (Taking into consideration just how insanely awesome the Japanese are at making...well....anything...I suppose it was only a matter of time.)

*That's not to say that Apicas have substantially fewer pages; they have 60-80 sheets per notebook, on average, which is about the same as lower-end American notebooks.

PURCHASING APICAS
I got mine from Asian Food Grocer, but there are a few other vendors that sell them, as well.

-JetPens only sells in bulk as of now, but if you're buying for school, hey, why not? (Plus, free shipping for purchases $25 and up. Beautiful.)

-The Daily Planner sells Apicas singularly, if you don't care for bulk.

-Asian Food Grocer also sells them singularly if you only want a handful.

-An ebay seller "taylorintherockies" also sells them, and from what I've heard she's a very reliable seller. I believe she sells in both bulk and single notebooks.

If you enter any of these vendors into an Internet search engine, you should find them easily.

CONCLUSION
Apica notebooks come in a variety of different sizes, and this combined with their flexibility makes them highly transportable. I kind of wish they had an inner pocket to hold loose papers in; I don't think it would sacrifice too much flexibility to do so. Too bad.
Of course, the thinner rulings might not be everyone's cup of tea. I personally prefer thin lines, as I like to write small and fit as much onto the paper as possible. But for people on the go, students with way too many textbooks to lug around, or anyone really...if you like/don't mind writing small, the Apica is a great notebook choice. I haven't found another notebook of this quality for the price. Highly recommended!

Goth Art

2010-07-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Remember I said I was working on more (goth)art? This one depicts a tombstone embellished with a mourning angel, crumbling from age. A rose vine began growing nearby, winding its way up the stone carving and binding the angel to the tombstone. Here's the work in progress --

I personally love seeing the WIPs of artists. I love seeing how they sketch, what they start shading first, color combinations, etc. I feel as though it gives insight into how they perceive art and the world around them.

Pen & ink, done not with dip pens this time but Sakura Micron art markers. Those things are great. The patented ink is waterproof, so you can outline a figure and then paint over it with watercolors to get that neat "washy" anime look. They're a great alternative to dipping pens when traveling. I'll do a review of the markers sometime soon :-)

Ganesh Snail Mail

2010-07-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the actual stationary. I added dots of gold glitter for embellishment along the bottom purple border, the box around Ganesha, and decorated Lord Ganesh himself :)

Ta da...

Namaste is the Hindi greeting; Namascar is the Marathi greeting.

And, here we have the front. If you look, you can see that I added gold glitter again, to accentuate the bottom purple part and the little yellow spots on the sides. The envelope just looked way too plain with nothing but our addresses and a stamp on it (my address label has pears on it, hehe. I thought the color matched the envelope well). What to do? What to do? Finally, I added the Om symbol with a circle around it, so it looks sort of like a stamp or seal or something. I painted it on with a Sakura brush pen.

And for kicks and giggles, here's the Mew stationary I practiced paint-writing the Om on:

Ink Review: Noodler's Walnut

2010-07-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

A really nice, dark brown ink:

Ink Review: Noodler's Coral Sea Blue-Black

2010-07-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

This ink is an exclusive Noodler's ink, released only in Australia. I had to order it abroad from Pendamonium (not to be confused with Pendemonium):

This ink is now my favorite!

Ink Review: Caran d'Ache Amazon Green

2010-07-15T11:52:00.000-07:00

~ Click on the image to see a full-scale version over at Photobucket.com
~ Color looks just right on my monitor; hopefully it looks that way on yours too

Enjoy! (I know I did ^_^)

Mail Art: Under the Sea

2010-07-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

Some mail art I did a while back:

Calendars can make the best envelopes.

The jellyfish was drawn, the fish is a glittery sticker.

Melody also blogged about the above oceanic stationary at her blog S.mail ~ A Penpal Experiment.