Stationery Mini Haul #1
Every once in a while, Sarah will send me a large care package full of fun things, and I received one late last month! As I was unpacking the box and sorting them to snap a few photos, I decided this was all too fun not to share, so let’s talk about it! Looking at it, maybe it’s not so mini of a haul after all — it’s an accumulation of things she’s been collecting to send over the last half-year, but we’re gonna roll forward with it anyway. Mini Haul!
We may as well start with one of the big ones: A Traveler’s Company Tokyo Edition notebook! This was a gift that was picked up for me during Sarah’s last adventure at the 2024 Pacific Northwest Pen Show, and my goodness — I already knew I liked the cover from the marketing photos, but I hadn’t realized how beautiful the iridescence of the foil design would be in person! It even came with a red elastic band that I think I’ll have to swap in for the default black one as soon as this post is done.
And let’s not forget the matching Traveler’s Tokyo Edition accessories! A blank Midori MD (white) refill with a unique matching cover, a postcard refill, an amazing sticker set, and of course, the taiyaki and cherry blossom brass charm set (which also need to go on the cover immediately).
Some other surprise stationery bits as well: brass Cat & Mouse Page Markers, Midori foil stickers, and this adorable cat bookmark from Curled up Corners.
There are plenty of inks as well! Two Wonder Pens exclusives from Dominant Industry: Tuna Grey and Ginger Chicken, and the Dominant Industry Ink Muddler! This is a cool mini glass dip pen with one end for writing and the other for swabbing inks. There’s a lot more I can say about this, but I think it would be better suited for a more detailed overview in a future post.
Some other exciting inks acquired recently during a killer sale were these 4 Ferris Wheel Press inks: Writing Desk, Bookkeepers Brass, Velvet Ballet, and Lady Rose. Tragically, like so many Ferris Wheel Press inks, these are discontinued already, so I don’t know with what urgency I would ever get to reviewing them, but hey, they’re pretty.
And because one of them was an 85ml, I had the opportunity to test it with this gorgeous bottle stand from Fountain Pendulum. This one is in the Blonde Walnut color, and it's actually designed to stabilize the Endless Alchemy ink bottles! Of course, I've tried it with all sorts of different bottles I had available, but I had a suspicion it would also hold the 85ml Ferris Wheel Press bottles, and I'm glad I wasn't wrong. It holds them very stable, but if the bottle does tip over, it will just roll in place rather than roll away. And just look at it!
Another one I’m excited to dig into is the full set of inks (as of writing) from Oblation Papers & Press! Sarah and I have had our eyes on these for a while now, and she finally completed the set at the PNW Pen Show this summer! From my understanding, these are Papier Plume-made inks, and I haven’t had the opportunity to give those a try in the past, but I’m certainly excited to get to them this fall.
A couple of inks from Wearingeul: The Autumn NIght after a Thousand Years and Hades (which I'm excited to finally pair with our bottle of Persephone that we picked up earlier this year). Also, we have 2 sets of the swatch cards that I have a lot of fun using in our photos. In short, they're swatch cards with a hydrophobic print on them that produces an image when you brush over them with ink (such as a panda or ink drop etc. — they have many options to choose from).
I haven’t had much of a chance to work with Colorverse inks yet, but I did review Rainy Day earlier this year, and I’ve had my sights on the rest of the Joy in the Ordinary set ever since. I’m not sure how quickly I’ll be getting to these, especially with Inkvent 2024 on the way, but hopefully I can squeeze them in somewhere soon.
And a few more inks from Diamine! Writer’s Blood, Midnight, and Noel. Not pictured are Roasted Chestnut and Holly, who misbehaved during shipping. 🙄😒
A few more Herbin inks that I’m grateful to have now that I’m finally starting to get to them. Rouiille D’Ancre, Corail Des Tropiques, Ambre De Birmanie. I’ve always enjoyed the variety of Herbin’s colors, but I’m especially interested in seeing the Coral.
And the last of the inks are two Manyo inks from Sailor! Kakitsubata and Ukikusa. That green looks like it's going to be awesome!
[Note from Editor Sarah: it’s awesome.]
And I’m sure some of you noticed the green Nahvalur in the last photo, so I won’t hold it back any longer: a Nahvalur Original in the “Spring” colorway with a medium nib. The Nahvalur Original is a pen that I’ve become particularly fond of, especially for use with shimmers. We have plans for this one later this month, but for now, it came inked with Van Dieman’s Bonfire Night. This is a really cool orange-red with a ton of golden particulates.
It’s the first shimmer I’ve tried from Van Dieman’s and thus far, it’s been great. I haven’t been able to review any Van Dieman’s inks as of yet, but I always enjoy the chance to try them. I look forward to tackling them in the future.
And something from Galen Leather! It’s a tiny leather case specifically designed to hold a single Kaweco Sport. A Kaweco holster, if you will.
And holster a Kaweco it does! Look at it go! Yeah, it jiggles around in there a little, but it’s cool. I have a soft spot for the Kaweco Sport so this was right up my alley.
If you’re a regular reader, you may have picked up on my enjoyment of playing cards by now, and these are a deck Sarah found from Paper Blanks! And it absolutely matches their aesthetic. The foil on the tuck case looks incredible. If I had a single complaint, however, it’s that they’re terribly difficult to open.
The ranks and face cards are mostly standard, but just look at those card backs! These come in a few other colors, too, and with different designs. It’d be cool to collect the set!
And that’s the haul! But it really wouldn’t be a complete Sarah haul without some chocolate, and thank goodness, there are Truffle Pigs (and they do, in fact, look like little chocolate pigs). But she also sent this cool caramelized white chocolate (that had an adorable sticker surprise inside) It’s very… milky? In both flavor and texture. They claim it has a strong dulce de leche flavor. Having an Argentine parent and knowing dulce de leche pretty well, I wouldn’t say it’s strong, but it’s closer to the flavor than most things claim to be. Anyway, I think I have a lot of inks to swatch now, but this was fun. Maybe it will be a regular thing!