Guest Post: Notebook Love

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1986. A “Wuzzles” notebook and pencil. My first session at The Brownies. I took notes. 
1987. A blue, A5 hardback lined notebook. Torquay, Devon on a family holiday. I wrote poetry. 
1989. My cousin’s pale green typewriter from the late sixties and handmade paper fashioned into a book with punched holes and string. I wrote a horror story.
1993. A petite flower print, cushion covered journal with cream lined paper, each page edged with gold. I wrote secrets.

Just a few of the pivotal writing books I encountered on my journey from childhood to adolescence. They set in stone a path I continue to follow to this day. You might call it an addiction; Or perhaps an obsession? If Paperchase were a person I’d be a stalker. Sometimes, when I know I don’t have the money to buy, I’ll avoid going in, but walk past it several times and gaze longingly at the sale section near the front. If Waterstones were also a person,  I’d probably be in jail, on account of the times I simply go there to wander the bookcases, trailing my fingers over the many covered stories and breathing in the heady smell of paper filled with words.
My obsession ensures I now have a pile of notebooks; all different sizes, shapes and types of paper within. Some are lined, some are not. There’s a selection of A5 and A6 ones that are perfect for handbags. 

You never know when you might get the urge to let the pen take over. The hardback maroon and gold one is good for tales of adventure, because it looks like it may have been designed in some far off ancient land. The A6 one with the dolls on and the plastic cover, that one’s good for writing introspectively. Probably because the dolls are all identical; Many versions of one girl but although they look the same, they could be very different underneath.  The purple one has glitter crushed under the plastic cover. I like a bit of sparkle. That one’s for the stories that have a bit of sparkle too. 

Every Christmas and every birthday I ask for more. They are probably the one thing I know will never go to waste, because I will always write. Part of the writing process that I enjoy the most, is opening a book and staring at a blank page. The possibility; the promise. The feel of the paper, and how it might feel to someone else one day, when they find my notes and stories and poems and say “this is an original D A Pegg piece!”, because yes, one day I intend to be a fully-fledged writer whose work attracts attention. 

I will walk into Waterstones and see my name on the shelves and I will watch as others come in and buy my stories. And I’ll still go to Paperchase, maybe in disguise, to buy more notebooks. More pads and pens. 
I’m the one who in a service station or newsagents, will always check out the notepads and envelopes. I’ll hold the queue up picking out 1 black Bic, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 green and a 15cm ruler; Things to go with my nice new, clean notebook. 
Nowadays we have laptops. Tablets. Desktops. Even phones to record our thoughts, and yes, I do use them, but I still find the best writing always begins on paper.

2013. The poet’s notebook, soft, thin black card cover. Cream watermarked pages with quotes decorating headers and footers. Quotes from poems. I wrote the opening of a masterpiece. If it doesn't turn out quite as I hope, there’s always the next new notebook to fill.

Thanks to Danielle Pegg, a published writer who also loves sparkly things, poetry and lots of lovely things, why not check her out www.apeggortwo.webs.com

Pens in the wild - Tratto 1

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A new theme of posts, possibly, lost/discarded/abandoned pens.
This inaugural post is of a Tratto 1 twist action Biro, very much like a standard Bic Biro we all know and use, but with a twist action to extend the nib. 

A nice little design touch I thought,  rather like the look of this pen, no idea what it writes like, so please leave a comment if you have used these or any of their extended range, all of which can be found here www.fila.it (english page link).
They seem to have a very nice range of disposable and refillable pens, as well as a large range of arts and crafts materials and also make up, bit out of leftfield there.

NATIONAL STATIONERY WEEK!

Yes, that's right, it's National Stationery Week here in Britain, ran in conjunction with Royal Mail and The National Literacy Trust, supported by Sheaffer, Uni-Ball, Faber-Castell, Letts and Filofax.
There is a great competition to enter and a list of participating retailers who will be running special promotions and other activities as part of the campaign.
Why not have a look and join in, I certainly am.

@NatStatWeek

W.H.Smith Euro Cartridge Mini Rollerball

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W.H.Smith is a UK retailer of books, stationery, magazines and much more besides.
A great national chain of shops for fetishists like us, admittedly their prices are higher than online shops but I do believe it's good to patronise them for some things and to check out new stuff before buying.
These pens I bought a long time ago, having only recently got round to using them properly, I was so very excited and intrigued by them but ultimately disappointed, let me explain.

 They are unusual in that they are rollerballs that are;

1. Refillable and,
2. Accept a Euro cartridge, just like a fountain pen.

They are/were sold in a twin pack with the standard 2 cartridges free, one each of blue and black for a nice change, instead of the usual blue only. Each having a colour corresponding ring on the barrel/nib end connection.

They are a "mini" variety of pen, more of which later, as you can tell from the size of the lid in relation to the unposted pen length in the above picture, comprising a cartridge accepting barrel and standard style rollerball veined delivery system.

The clip is suitably strong enough to work with any pocket, a nice clear design appeals to me and gives a nice look in general to the pen, as well as aiding viewing of ink levels of course.

The writing nib is very fine, something I like, but of course that is all up to personal taste, the written line is very fine and precise, consistent and great for those who like a very small letter size, ideal for pocket notebooks, or so I first thought.

Although the written line is very fine, it is very easy to control and still lays down an even and useable thickness, a very strong fine line, some fine line pens are too fine to be usable and result in skipping and faintness of letter. (apologies for the cropped scan).

Here we can see the disassembled pen, clearly illustrating the comparable size of lid, barrel and nib/ink delivery section, further highlighting the "mini" size of the pen, another reason why I initially thought the pen would be ideal as a daily "pocketer".
I find them very difficult to write with for one main reason, when the cap is posted to the end of the barrel the length is very comfortable and perfectly acceptable for extended writing or quick notes, what isn't is the behaviour of the cap when posted. it simply will not stay on teh barrel, it doesn't fit far enough down the barrel to retain a secure fitting, the slightest movement will dislodge the cap, sometimes even popping of itself without any encouragement, meaning that it's almost impossible to use (for me) as the barrel without a posted cap means the pen is too short and "falls" into the hand, wobbling about without the bracing against the hand option.

And here is the Euro cartridge accepting nibe section at the business end as it were, pushing onto the cartridge accepting post is very easy and retains cartridges snugly and securely without any danger of leaking or coming loose in normal use and transportation, but there is still a let down coming...

The pen in normal, everyday use and transport is very wet, in that it leaks a lot, not from the actual writing nib, but from the junction of ink delivery veins and surrounding barrel, so much so that after every use the pen leaks ink all over the fingers gripping it, more than is acceptable and tolerable, both pens exhibited this behaviour. This got to such a point that I had to dispose of both pens, sadly, I was very optimistic and excited with these pens.
One last point, W.H.Smith no longer sell these pens and for a long while I didn't see them or anything similar for a long time, until I came across these...

These form Paper-Mate are virtually identical to my eyes, bar the odd design difference and packaging variation, hopefully from an international maker the leaking will not present in these as much as in the test models above, full test and review coming soon.

WINNER!

Won £50 voucher with Artifolk to spend on their site.
I am ridiculously pleased, why not check out www.artifolk.co.uk for great products at great prices.
In weeks to come there will be posts on results of all the lovely stuff I have bought from them with this voucher, keep checking back.

Wilkinson Gel Roller Ball

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Wilkinson is a UK department store (click for more info) that usually has a very good range of stationery at the budget end of the market branded as their own make as well as branded makes, here.
This particular pen is sold as a pack of 5 for a very reasonable £1.15 ($1.76/C$1.79) in a plastic wallet in the standard blue and black, all of which are a fine nib.

As you can see it is a very basic looking pen without frills or ornamentation, what else can you expect or want for the price? It is in fairness a nicely balanced pen and a very robust construction, it is not refillable.

As I have found with most Gel Rollers the inked line is very wet and susceptible to smudging and wiping, but this could be down to my writing style as much as the ink wetness. The line laid down is a very pleasing solid black wiht little or no skipping, writes from first use consistently and evenly.

Posted or capped the pen is nicely balanced and not overly long or short, the crip part of the barrel is covered in a soft knurled rubber cover which stands up to use for the writing life of the pen, more on this later, the cap has a pocket clip denoting ink colour but it does nto hodl the pen in pocket very firmly on thin pockets or material, the clip also comes away form the lid easily, perhaps due to the breathing hole designed into the lid.

The lid does cap with a reassuring click and stay on the pen barrel well in transport.

Other than the comments above there is not much more to say about the pen, but there is one final point to make which I believe is vital, and that is the writing life span.

When using this pen solidly for note making on an A5 writing pad the pen only lasted for 4 or 5 pages, I've used two now over 10 pages, admittedly the full page was covered in writing, but I feel that a pen of this size should last longer, does anyone else have any thoughts or comments on the writing life if ink in pens of this sort? But in fairness what can you expect for the price, some pens of the same style and ink cost 2 or 3 times more for just one. In closing I can't really fault or criticise the pen any more than above, I think they write very nicely, have a reassuringly black line and are very reasonably priced.

*UPDATE*

Just finished another pen, this one lasted a bit longer, 6 and a half pages, but not much more. The pen and ink do write consistently until the very last letters, no skipping or reluctance to write evenly, so you do get to use every last drop of ink. I'm still undecided f these are a bargain or a waste of money, if only the refill was larger/lasted longer, I would gladly pay more as the pen itself and nib are very nice for the current price.

Paper Mate Flair Nylon

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So here we have the ubiquitous Paper Mate Fibre Tip writing pen, again I have issues with manufacturers stipulating what pens should be used for, surely it's up to the user, but I guess they have to discern their intended use for design, ink properties etc.
Personally I like these pens a lot, for writing they are effortless to use, for quick notes on the 
post-it notes etc (how I usually use these for) they are ideal, as well as for marking up labels and discs etc where permanence is not needed or wanted, the ink I have found can easily be washed away from smooth surfaces easily, although i agree not everyone may have such a specific need or use in mind.
They do bleed through heavily on many papers, even heavy ones, they are in my opinion quite a "wet" pen all be it a fibre tip, the nib I have found over time does wear on the writing side and find it advisable to rotate the pen over long writing or marking sessions to avoid heavy wear on one side, if not the nib becomes very flexible and approaches a level of wear such that it is rendered unusable.

As you can see the pen itself is a very basic affair, a solid colour plastic barrel with the maker's mark only appearing on the metal pocket clip, a sticker is usually placed on the barrel with barcode when bought singularly, though these can be bought in multipacks, of single colours of various colours, I have seen the black, red & blue versions everywhere but other colours are available, such as purple & turquoise which I have only ever spotted in Staples.

As you  can see the line is very black and wide, even though the tip can be rather fine when new the line from first writing is a Bold thickness, over time the line widens with use to the point of almost writing like a brush pen. Although the ink lays down wet and can show through on most paper types feathering is not too much of a concern, the paper used for test is standard 5" x 3" index cards and very absorbent, the line draws rapidly despite these characteristics. Paper Mate assure the ink will not bleed through, so maybe I should clarify that it "shows" through more than bleeds through, it is after all a very black, thick line so draw your own conclusions on where and when you should or shouldn't use it, I personally would not use it in a pocket notebook or on any papers less than 100gsm if you intend to use both sides. Be aware also that over time, considerable time admittedly, the ink does yellow and exhibit a rainbow corona, especially if ever exposed to dampness.

Here's the nib in it's new state, and the ever present bar code, as you can see the point presents a nice writing size for those who prefer a more Bold line than a fineliner, the cap i sery long in retrospect which does make for a long posted pen to write with, some prefer this some don't, which ever way you like it I find it very easy to write with posted or not as it is a very light pen and does not exhibit and back heavy ness when posted or feel to short when not.

The pocket clip does stand up well to use and carries the pen firmly when used on shirt/thin pockets, but it does fatigue quickly when it has to stand up to any sort of abuse or exuberant fiddling, I actually de-clip these pens when I intend to use them for any length of time, I just find it a more aesthetically pleasing look without the clip.

Available almost everywhere.