Giveaway Winner: Noodler's & Diamine Inks, Tons of Ink Samples & Nock Co. Notebooks

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There were over 200 entries for this giveaway - I am humbled by the turnout and thankful for each and every reader of the blog.  I look forward to having another giveaway soon for all the awesome folks in this pen community!

Now for the fun part - the winner is.......

Congratulations Janis!  I'll be emailing you shortly to get your address so that I can get the package on its way to you (be sure to check your spam folder just in case)!  Thank you so much to everyone that entered - it was neat to read what everyone's favorite pens were!  If you're curious Janis' was the Pilot E95S.

Giveaway: Noodler's & Diamine Inks, Tons of Ink Samples & Nock Co. Notebooks!

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The Desk is getting a little cluttered, and what better way to remedy that than to do a giveaway to all you readers!  I have a few bottles of ink that I am not really using and a TON of ink samples in various volumes that I've reviewed and now do not need.  To put the icing on the cake, I've thrown in some Nock Co. notebooks - a 3 pack of the yellow, and a single book of the new super fountain pen friendly black.

Bottled Inks:
Diamine Grey
Noodler's Antietam
Noodler's Gruene Cactus

Ink Samples:
De Atramentis Charles Dickens
Pilot Iroshizuku Fuyu-syogun - you'll probably get 1-2 converter fills with this one
Caran d'Ache Magnetic Blue
Diamine Twilight
J. Herbin Gris Nuage
Sheaffer Blue-Black
Waterman Intense Black
Diamine Safari
Noodler's Bad Green Gator
Noodler's Army Green
De Atramentis Mahatma Gandhi
Rohrer & Klingner Lepziger Schwarz
Noodler's Socrates
Noodler's Bad Belted Kingfisher
Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black

So what do you have to do?  Enter using the Rafflecopter widget above - the only requirement is that you answer the question "What is your favorite fountain pen?" If you would like an additional 2 entries, follow @thedeskoflori on Twitter, and for an additional 2 entries per day, tweet about the contest.

Fine Print: Contest will end May 11 at 12:00AM EST. Open to US Residents only - unfortunately shipping ink bottles outside the US is insanely expensive, and since this is out of my own pocket, it's not practical for me to ship overseas. My sincerest apologies for this - I do plan on doing a giveaway in the future for smaller items that will be more practical for overseas shipping, so stay tuned!  This giveaway covers USPS Flat-Rate shipping, so if you require additional shipping options or insurance, those will be covered by you, the winner.  Please provide a valid email address for your entry so that I may contact you if you win - I assure you that your email address will not be sold, traded, given away or used in any way other than to notify you that you've won.  If I do not receive a response in 1 week, I will draw a new winner.  Thanks for entering!

Review: BamaPens Cigar Box Pen & Ink Storage

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I'd been seeing several pen addicts out there who'd gotten ahold of repurposed cigar boxes for pen and ink storage from BamaPens.  It intrigued me at first, but I quickly let the idea go because from the pictures I'd seen of these products, I knew they had to be very expensive.  On a whim, I looked up the website for these boxes, and was shocked to learn that they were VERY affordable.  I immediately knew I'd be placing an order.

I perused the site and found several boxes that I was interested in, but ultimately whittled it down to the OSOK 6-pen box, and the Hoyo de Monterrey ink storage box.  I reached out to John Hubbard, the man behind BamaPens, to see about shipping.  John was very prompt in returning my email and let me know that he could combine shipping for both boxes, which would save me a few bucks.  I was definitely pleased that the total cost for both boxes, plus shipping was $57.50.

I paid via PayPal and waited a few days while John stained and varnished my ink box.  I received updates from him as things progressed, and finally and email letting me know that they were on their way to me.  I was impressed at how great the communication was throughout this process - great customer service.

Nice handwritten note included with my purchase

The boxes arrived just a couple days later, and I excitedly tore open the box to find that my new beauties were packaged very carefully.  John wrapped each box in tissue paper, and then surrounded that with bubble wrap and filled the box with packing peanuts.  I loved the care he took to make sure that my boxes would arrive undamaged.

The OSOK box was lined with red felt and had 6 slots for my pens.  The felt was cut perfectly for the lining of the box and felt as if it was always a part of the box.  The pen tray was wide enough to accommodate even my Ahab and there was plenty of room to accommodate a pen of any length.  I really love the pirate artwork on this box, that was actually the main draw for me.  John varnished all the unfinished parts of the box, and though his site mentioned that he'd placed 4 rubber "feet" on the bottom to prevent slipping, I unfortunately didn't find these present on my box.  Not a huge deal, I can always do that myself down the road.

The Hoyo de Monterrey ink box was beautiful as well.  John stained and varnished this box, and though I love the color of mine, I should mention it looks a bit lighter than the one pictured on his website, so I'm thinking he may have used a different color stain on this one.  He placed a rubber pad on the bottom to prevent slipping which was nice.  On his site, he mentions that the depth of this box will accommodate the tall 3oz Noodler's ink bottles, which is true, but unfortunately my box will not snap shut with Noodler's bottles in there.  That was a bit of a disappointment, but not for long because this thing looks awesome on my desk, and is already full of other shorter ink bottles.

I will most definitely purchase from John again, as the craftsmanship of these boxes are spot on.  John has quite an array of boxes to choose from, and from what I can tell he's always getting new and different designs.  I am also glad that he always has these ink boxes on hand, because my ink collection is ever-growing and I love the look of this box.  I highly recommend you check out his site - the prices are very affordable for what you get, not to mention the customer service that is included!

Ink Review: Waterman Intense Black

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Waterman Intense Black (Ink Drop - April 2015)
Pen: Lamy Safari EF
Paper: Rhodia Dotpad 80gsm
Shading: none
Saturation: high
Flow: wet
Dry Time: 6 seconds

The final ink in this month's Ink Drop is Waterman Intense Black.  Waterman is one of the oldest brands in the fountain pen realm.  Lewis Edson Waterman created the first Waterman Fountain pen in 1883 and by the early 1900s they added ink to their line.  Waterman lays claim to creating the first ink cartridge in 1936 as well.

Waterman Intense Black is well-behaved black with a distinct brown undertone to it.  It almost looks like a deep, dark brown rather than black.  Being a black ink, it has no shading and is highly saturated.  It's a fairly wet flowing ink as well, and despite its wetness it has a very quick dry time with my EF nib at 6 seconds.

Back side of ink splatter, showing the evident brown undertone of the ink.

Overall, Waterman intense black is a nice ink.  Not my favorite black ink by any stretch, though I think that's because of the brown tint.  If you'd like a bottle, you can pick one up from Goulet or a similar retailer for $11.00 for a 50mL bottle.