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!

Ink Review: Caran d'Ache Magnetic Blue

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Caran d'Ache Magnetic Blue (Ink Drop - April 2015)
Pen: Lamy Safari EF
Paper: Rhodia 80gsm

April 2015 Ink Drop is here!  The theme is Rain Rain Go Away - quite fitting for this month.  First color in the drop is Caran d'Ache Magnetic Blue.

Magnetic Blue is part of the Caran d'Ache Chromatics line.  You'll recognize the Chromatics by their cool tilted bottles.  This ink is a nice greyish blue with nice flow and not too overly saturated.  Despite the medium saturation, the shading is still fairly low.  No feathering on my Rhodia pad and ghosting/bleedthrough is non-existent.  Dry time was around 7 seconds with my Lamy EF nib with a light hand.

One downside to the Caran d'Ache Chromatics inks is their price.  From what I can tell, it is the highest priced ink per mL of all the major brands that I've been exposed to.  A 50mL bottle will set you back $33.20 at Goulet or a similar retailer.  The bottles are really nice looking and I'm sure that's part of what you're paying for, however I don't think it is enough to justify the price.

I do like Magnetic Blue, though I think that I'd be able to find a comparable color that wouldn't set me back so much.  Of course if it's your absolute favorite ink ever, it's certainly going to be worth the price to you.