New Arrivals: Midori MD Dip Pens, Stalogy Notebooks, and Laban Aphrodite Pink!

July 11, 2023

At customer request, we’ve also started adding some dip pens to the shop. The first to arrive are the Midori MD dip pens, featuring the same super smooth nib as on the Midori MD fountain pen. I’ve been using this pen to swatch inks, and am very much enjoying the hexagonal holder, which is apparently made from a blend of paper and plastic and has a unique tactile feel. The nib on this dip pen has a medium point, and it’s intended for standard writing/ink testing as opposed to calligraphy.

Stalogy Notebooks are also back in the shop, including the 2022 and 2023 limited edition covers in both 1/2-year and 365-day formats. Colors include, from left, Cream, Forest, Salvia, and Fog.

Finally, yesterday’s pleasant surprise was the arrival of a full box of Laban’s Aphrodite Pink ink, the perpetually backordered favorite color from this ink series! We now have a full restock of all colors of the Laban Greek Mythology Inks, available to ship immediately.

Is it a pink? Is it a red? Is it a “Brown Pink?” However you describe it, I absolutely love this color and it’s long been a go-to when I want to write with something interesting.

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including the brands sold here.

New Arrivals: Inks from Laban, Including Aphrodite Pink!

June 27, 2023

Yesterday we received a restock of the Laban Greek Mythology Ink Series, including favorites such as Athena Grey, Artemis Blue, and the seemingly perpetually backordered Aphrodite Pink. The latter we have in very low stock, so if you’re looking for this particular bottle, please do act fast. I plan to continue to carry these inks in the future, so if you miss out on a preferred color this shipment, there will be more.

We’ve also received some updates to our collection of desk accessories, including new colors in these Midori rulers that have sold phenomenally well. Between the Traveler’s Company Brass Ruler, one of these Midori versions, or the compact tape measure in the Midori XS Stationery Kits, my measuring game is strong!

The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Laban, Midori, and other brands shown here.

Ink Review: Laban Greek Mythology Poseidon Green and Hera Dark Green

March 29, 2023

The Laban Greek Mythology Inks continue to impress me with their range of colors, and today I’ll look at the two excellent greens from the lineup (though one I would characterize as a bit more blue/teal). Either way, as someone who loves ink in both of these particular shades, both the Poseidon Green (Blue?) and Hera Dark Green have become standbys in my work pens.

Laban Poseidon Green (or Blue? or Teal?)

First up is “Poseidon Green,” which I view as more of a teal/turquoise blue, but whatever you might call this color, I love it. It’s actually the first ink from this series that I tried, and it has some wonderful shading properties in a nib that provides line variation, especially in those places where the ink pools on the paper. Laban nailed the color matching here. Poseidon (Roman equivalent: Neptune) is the ancient Greek god of the sea, and while this particular color may not necessarily evoke the ocean where I personally go to the beach, they’ve attempted to capture the blue of the Mediterranean islands.

Laban Hera Dark Green

Hera Dark Green is more of your traditional dark green “workhorse ink”. Hera (Roman equivalent: Juno) is the ancient Greek goddess of marriage and “the home,” so I’m not sure I see the connection between the dark green color of this ink and Hera’s traditional affiliations, but it’s a lovely ink nonetheless. As with Poseidon, you’ll experience some shading, with dark teal and grey undertones. Both Poseidon and Hera are drier inks than some of the other Laban colors like Athena Grey, Artemis Navy Blue, and Demeter Brown. That’s not to say they hard-start or dry up in the pen, and I’ve never had that issue with either. It’s more that I’ve noticed they take very little time to dry, making them quite good for work. These are two of the better Laban inks for working on cheaper papers at the office.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Laban continues to impress me with the Greek Mythology series. As I’ve mentioned before, it’s one of the few ink lines where I purchased a bottle of every color as quickly as I could, but again that says just as much about my personal fascination with mythology as it does about their excellent quality.

You can purchase the Laban Greek Mythology Inks directly from us in the T.G.S. Curated Shop, priced at $25 for a 50ml bottle. At this point, I’ve almost made my way through the entire lineup of the Laban Greek Mythology inks, and have reviewed Athena Grey and Artemis Navy Blue, Apollo Orange and Aphrodite Pink, and Ares Red. Some really interesting options remain, including Demeter Brown, Hermes Sky Blue, and Zeus Purple. Stay tuned as I round out this series of ten!

My Leonardo Momento Zero Maestro in Burkina Celluloid, alongside my Montblanc 146 UNICEF (with the small sapphire on top).

Bonus! The Return of Two Favorite Pens with New Nib Grinds

Back in September at the San Francisco Pen Show, I left a handful of pens with Gena at Custom Nib Studio for modification. Just before the Arkansas Pen Show, I received my pens in the mail, including two to which Gena had added their “Perspective” grind that I love so much. Both of these grinds are just as good as the original I had added to my Pelikan M800 Stone Garden and reviewed last year. You’ll notice that both pens I’ve used for today’s ink reviews feature Perspective nibs, which I highly recommend to those who are looking for some of the line variation of an Architect without the sharp edges. Plus, you get the ability to change line width from EF to Medium by adjusting your writing angle!

Custom Nib Studio Perspective Writing Sample

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program, and is an authorized retailer of all brands sold, including Laban.

Ink Review: Laban Greek Mythology Apollo Orange and Aphrodite Pink

March 4, 2023

In the interest of building out a library of ink reviews similar to the current T.G.S. Fountain Pen Archive, I’m going to keep plowing ahead with my write-ups of the Laban “Greek Mythology” Ink Series. This week’s inks up for review are Apollo Orange and Aphrodite Pink. Apollo Orange is a solid mandarin orange ink that will see a lot of use as an annotator. Aphrodite Pink is a truly unique shade that’s difficult to describe and even harder to compare to anything else, but I love the muted tone for everyday use.

Aphrodite “Pink” and Apollo Orange, side-by-side.

This isn’t the first review of inks in this series (see below for links to the prior reviews), so I won’t spend too much time rehashing a history of Laban, but the company is based in Taiwan and has been a longstanding fixture at pen shows. I was somewhat surprised to see Laban launch this line of Greek Mythology-themed inks last year, and was pleased at the obvious level of effort that went into putting together not just excellent ink but an aesthetically pleasing product, packaging and all.

Apollo Orange with my current ink swatching tools. More on that below.

Apollo Orange Should Please Most Fans of Orange Inks

Apollo Orange is named for the Greek God Apollo, God of phrophesy, music, and healing (Roman equivalent: Phoebus), and the traditional association of Apollo with the Sun makes this pairing particularly appropriate! I would describe Apollo Orange as a classic “mandarin orange” with red tones when the ink is wet. Unlike many orange inks, Apollo Orange isn’t a particularly dry writer, so I’ve not had any issues with hard starts or nib crud. I’ve also found the ink cleans out of pens fairly easily, which is always a pleasant surprise with oranges.

Apollo Orange is just different enough from the lighter Saffron TWSBI ECO-T fountain pen to make this pen and ink a perfect match.

Aphrodite Pink: The “Stunningly Weird” Ink From the Series, But Possibly the Best

Finally, this brings us to Aphrodite Pink, one of the most popular inks in the Laban Greek Mythology series and, in my opinion, probably the best simply because it’s so unusual. In fact, I would have to put Aphrodite Pink up there as one of my favorite discoveries over the past year, because there just aren’t that many “pink” inks in general, and certainly not many with this unique shade that falls well outside the typical “hot pink” or “electric pink” colors that companies try to release. Named for the Greek Goddess of love (Roman Equivalent: Venus), Aphrodite Pink is more of a dusty brick red with pink undertones than a true pink. At first, I thought it might be comparable to KWZ Brown Pink, but the latter has much more purple. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter - this ink simply makes for a great everyday writer that I’ve used fairly regularly over the past year, and it’s now in my Pilot Custom 823.

I love nontraditional, muted colors like this one. As with all of the Laban Greek Mythology inks that I’ve used, this one dries quickly and has no maintenance issues.

Takeaways, Where to Buy, and Reviews of the Rest of the Line

I’m currently five inks into my review of the Laban Greek Mythology Series, and I’ve not yet found one that I don’t enjoy. These inks all behave well, and I’ve personally experienced no issues with feathering, bleedthrough, staining, or slow dry times. You can check out my prior reviews of Ares Red, Artemis Navy Blue, and Athena Grey here. In fact, I enjoyed these inks so much that I purchased the entire line at last year’s Baltimore Pen Show for my personal collection, and recently brought them into our own shop. The T.G.S. Curated Shop stocks all colors with the exception of Aphrodite Pink (currently on backorder), and these Laban inks are priced at $25 per 50ml bottle. The packaging alone is a work of art, especially with the incorporation of fountain pens into the different depictions of the various gods and goddesses.

A Note on Swatching Inks and my “Organizational System”

Somebody recently asked me how I organize ink swatches (probably prompted by my Ink-o-Dex video), and what paper I use to photograph samples and organize my collection. The simple answer is that I really don’t have any sort of system. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and many different storage and sampling options have come and gone over the years.

Laban Aphrodite Pink on a Col-o-Ring Card. (Stamp courtesy of Angela at Inky Converters!)

Currently, I use a combination of Col-o-ring cards (stored in the repurposed Rol-o-dex), A5 planner paper, and a 68gsm Tomoe River notebook. Typically when I’m reviewing/archiving an ink I’ll use a q-tip and my Kakimori Brass Dip Pen to make a standard color sample on Col-o-Ring paper, which goes into the Col-o-dex. Blog posts nearly always feature ink swatches and writing samples on A5 sheets of Midori MD Cotton paper and 68gsm Tomoe River paper (while I can still get it), since these are the two papers I use the most. Lately, in addition to individual ink swatches, I’ve been creating comparison sheets so that I can easily view multiple colors from a single brand or line.

Laban Greek Mythology Ink Sheet — My ongoing ink comparison sheet for the Laban Greek Mythology Series

The Gentleman Stationer is supported entirely by purchases from the T.G.S. Curated Shop and pledges via the T.G.S. Patreon Program. The Gentleman Stationer is an authorized retailer of certain brands, including the Laban inks shown here. This post otherwise does not contain paid advertising or affiliate links.

Ink Review: Laban Greek Mythology Athena Grey and Artemis Navy Blue

February 22, 2023

Because I have so many inks in my collection, it generally takes either an unusual color or an interesting story to prompt me to make a purchase. If I’m inspired to buy the entire line, the ink must be really special, and that’s where I found myself at last year’s Baltimore Pen Show, visiting multiple vendors trying to put together a full set of Laban’s Greek Mythology-inspired inks.

This one is all about nostalgia for me: I’m a huge history fan, was an even bigger fan of Greek/Roman mythology as a child, and I now have a child who loves history, including the ancient myths. While there’s nothing particularly unusual about most of the ten colors in this series - they’re all fairly standard riffs on inks you would expect to find in a lineup made by a pen manufacturer - each ink writes really well, and the color has been paired with a god or goddess from ancient Greek mythology. (While the colors themselves are different than what is typically associated with each of the specific namesakes, only a hardcore mythology nerd will catch this, and frankly these colors are far more practical and will appeal to more people than gold or silver, for example.)

Athena Grey

Athena Grey was the Laban ink that I first jumped at, not necessarily because of the color but because of the association. The Greek goddess of wisdom (Roman equivalent: Minerva), Athena holds a special place for me because my hometown hosts a full-scale replica of the Athenian Parthenon, complete with statue of Athena. You can read more about the backstory here, but a version of the Parthenon was first built for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition before being made permanent, with the Athena statute added later in the 1990s. The venue serves as an art museum located in Nashville’s Centennial Park.

Athena Grey is a very dark grey ink, which some might even consider black, especially when writing with fine or extra-fine nibs. In a wetter, wider nib, the ink will show as more of a dark grey with purple undertones, similar to a dark, more concentrated Sailor Chu-shu. I’ve found this particular color to be an excellent ink for everyday office work, as the color is conservative while still remaining interesting enough to intrigue fountain pen users looking for those slightly offbeat shades of classic tones.

Artemis Navy Blue

A true navy ink is surprisingly (and somewhat frustratingly) hard to find. Artemis Navy Blue is a dark, rich blue with a touch of sheen - think the now-discontinued JFK Navy Blue from Montblanc, only darker (I would say “richer”) and with less grey. Named after Artemis, the Greek goddess of animals and the hunt (Roman equivalent: Diana), the artwork features the classic motif of Artemis reaching for her bow and arrow, only to find that her bow is a fountain pen! (See the gallery below for the images from the packaging, which I find really well done.)

Like Athena Grey, this ink is a bit of a sleeper and actually one of the last inks I tested from the lineup because I thought it would be a “boring” blue. As it turns out, it has become one of my favorites, and was the surprise hit at pen club a couple weekends back when I brought it for people to test in person.

Takeaways and Where to Buy

It’s rare that I’ve purchased all of the inks in a given series of releases, much less in a single weekend, so that should tell you something about how much I enjoy what Laban has done here. In fact, I liked these inks so much that I put them on the short list for inks I wanted to sell in our own shop, and we’re happy to be able to offer the Laban Greek Mythology inks directly as of last week. Each ink comes in a 50ml glass bottle, priced at $25.

Laban Poseidon Green (or Blue? or Teal?)

Laban Hera Dark Green

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Bonus! The Return of Two Favorite Pens with New Nib Grinds

Apollo Orange Should Please Most Fans of Orange Inks

Aphrodite Pink: The “Stunningly Weird” Ink From the Series, But Possibly the Best

Takeaways, Where to Buy, and Reviews of the Rest of the Line

A Note on Swatching Inks and my “Organizational System”

Athena Grey

Artemis Navy Blue

Takeaways and Where to Buy

Further Reading

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