Apologies for low quality, scanner is out of order, back soon!
I've been drawing...
Chavs, a British word for ... well, I do not know what American, Canadian and rest of the world calls them. All done with a Zig Memory System Millenium 01 (review comming soon) drawing pen from Cultpens
Blog Roll round-up
My favourite posts of late from the sites I follow:
- Nice notebook review from write me often! of an Ecologic Notebook Review / Ecologic Defter Incelemesi
- Another nice review of a Pilot Petit1 Mini Fountain Pen over at A penchant for paper.
- And for all you ink fans, like me, check out he last post from Inkophile of Noodler’s Purple Martin.
- For all you pencil fans, hers a little tip from Bleistift that may just save you some money, the e+m Motus Pencil Lengthener.
- Economy pens are a lot after my own heart, I love a reasonable pen as much as the higher cost end of the market, they have a nice review of a Platinum mini ball point .5.
- Gourmet Pens have a review of a lovely looking ink I have never encountered, Sailor Jentle Ink.
- A pen I have always wanted to a own, the Montblanc Starwalker as review by Palimpset.
- Peacable Writer has a nice post idea regarding notebooks, something I would like to do one day.
- Exhaustive and great read reviews from Pencil Reviewer.
- Too many to list, but these are all great post by Pencil Revolution, it's not just pencils.
- I love a mechanical pencil, it's not all about pens, and so does Pencil Talk, check out their review of the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto multipencil, I must get one of these!
- Pocket Blonde has some great give aways and posts, especially this back to school special.
- Stationery Traffic, so informative, especially this special on Ikea pencils.
- Penaddict also does podcasts as well as reviews, like this on Noodlers Romes Burning.
Pilot V5 Hi-Tec point 0.5
** There is now a www.pensetc.tk shop (click here) or use the link at top of page **
Here we have a Pilot writing pen, although in my opinion I like them for a multitude of other uses to which they are very suited, more of which later.
The ink itself lays down very well and drys quickly, no discernible smudging or wetness is left on the page when writing. This is in contradiction, for me anyway, to the pure liquid ink advertised on the barrel, I would have expected a very wet line to be laid down with care haign to be taken to avoid smudging, but happily I was very wrong in my initial expectations.
The pocket clip is very springy and firm when slipped over over pockets, especially thicker material ones, the clip itself is very robust and stands up to a lot of abuse, so much so that if the spring on the clip is not enough it can be gently bent to provide a stronger grip.
Further to the comment in the opening paragraph, I really like drawing with these pens, a great use for them I think, the pen and the nib suits my style and drawing technique, if they came with artist grade ink, permanent, lightfast etc I think they would be come my default and go to pen for drawing, especially with a range of nib sizes offered. And yes, that is my representation of Leon played by Jean Reno in the film of the same name, the remake anyway, one of the very few examples where the remake is as good as the original, possibly.
Here we have a Pilot writing pen, although in my opinion I like them for a multitude of other uses to which they are very suited, more of which later.
What to say about this? Well, its very much what you see is what you get, there is no fancy over designed additions or build in the pen itself externally, barrel, cap and pocket clip are all there are, it does not come apart and is not refillable, but what it does do is endure, and write very well from start of ink flow to finish, a solid black line with no skipping or missed curves. As you can expect from the 0.5 on the barrel, the nib and the written line is very fine, but still strong and very legible, if you do not have terrible handwriting like I do.
And here is the nib itself, as you can see it is fine, a needle point in my opinion, but surprisingly robust and stands up to a lot of abuse, I'm a bit heavy handed when writing and I have not had any issues with the nib or the writing performance.
What, precisely, the pure liquid ink is supposed to benefit or deliver I'm not too sure, but I suppose liquid ink flows smoother and more consistently than other inks, on reflection the ink flow is rather like fountain pen ink and the line when writing does have that feel to it, so I guess the intention is give the best of both worlds in a fine nibbed rollerball.
Parker Lanyard Pen
** There is now a www.pensetc.tk shop (click here) or use the link at top of page **
So here we have a Parker Rollerball pen, a lanyard version.
There is really not much to say about this pen, it's a Parker and comes with a lanyard to wear it aroudn the neck, I have never found pens to be comfortable or indeed all that more accessible when worn on a lanyard usually just getting in the way, but i do know people who think they are invaluable when they can be attached or worn to lanyards and the like.
So here we have a Parker Rollerball pen, a lanyard version.
There is really not much to say about this pen, it's a Parker and comes with a lanyard to wear it aroudn the neck, I have never found pens to be comfortable or indeed all that more accessible when worn on a lanyard usually just getting in the way, but i do know people who think they are invaluable when they can be attached or worn to lanyards and the like.
The lanyard (I have lost mine, that says something about lanyards or me, not sure which) attaches to the top where the writing nib comes out, it is also retractable the push part being the green section visible there and like all retractable pens I have encountered the barrel has a little play in it when the nib is out.
Here the writing nib/rollerball can be seen protruding ready for writing, the lanyard attaches over the pointed section of the pen seen here, it does fit securely and with a "click" when attached.
Here is the pen disassembled showing the refill, a standard Parker rollerball refill, this one happens to be blue, why do all new pens come with blue ink?
Other than the above there is not much else to say about the pen, the ink flows OK typical Parker quality and easy to refill, here comes the test, remember the test always includes a literary quote, see if you know it and comment what it is from if you know it, just for fun and your own pleasure there are no prizes or rewards.
Staedtler Lumocolor Fine Permanent
So here we have a permanent fibre tipped pen from Staedtler called the Lumocolor, that american spelling again, COLOUR! that is also lightfast and waterproof.
What exactly "Dry Safe" is meant to tell us about the ink qualities of the pen I'm not entirely sure, so if you do please leave a comment and let me know.
Anyway, I'm not really one for using fibre tipped pens as everyday writing instruments, even when fine nibbed as this one is, though they do of course have their place, in most cases (if not every) the ink bleeds through really too heavily on most papers except the thickest, not the sort you would want to use for notes/writing etc.
As you would expect the pen lays down a very definite and solid line throughout the cursive turn, in other words there are no skips or blanks when writing any letter, and is very black, in a nice way though, a nice assured and authoritative line, but again, unless needed and used on the correct medium, not an everyday general writing pen.
Having said that the Lumocolor is a great pen for other uses, I have used them for all sorts of applications disc labeling (but only on ones with a print surface, permanent markers can "burn" though discs), art applications, label marking for technical work, pretty much anything where you need indelible writing with a fine point, to my mind I actually prefer them to Sharpies for this sort of thing, but to their detriment they do not come in as large a range of colours, black being the only option, but there is a range of nibs.
The nib being fibre does have anice flow across the surface and never feel liabel to flex or bend when writing, I do know through personal use that the nib does wear and spread, although I put a lot of that spread down to being used on rough surfaces and with unnecessary pressure when writing with it, we all know a heavy handed writer!
There is really not that much more to say on the writing experince, it feels pleasant in the hand, does not skip while writing and the barrel feel s sturdy enough, I would personally have preffered the pen to be a little wider in the barrel, just for comforts sake during prolonged use, but agian this is down to personal taste.
So, down to the construction, the pen is not refillable unlike the Pilot V Super Color (there's that missing U again) of which there is a post review in the coming weeks, apart from size and colour range, but it is a completely different type of marker with different intended uses.
There are fine tip (the classic according to Staedtler), chisel tip and an extra soft tip for CD/DVD marking versions available, ranging from 0.4mm for the extra fine tip up to 2/5mm for the chisel tip, depending how it is held and used, the writing pen is a 0.6mm line.
What exactly "Dry Safe" is meant to tell us about the ink qualities of the pen I'm not entirely sure, so if you do please leave a comment and let me know.
Having said that the Lumocolor is a great pen for other uses, I have used them for all sorts of applications disc labeling (but only on ones with a print surface, permanent markers can "burn" though discs), art applications, label marking for technical work, pretty much anything where you need indelible writing with a fine point, to my mind I actually prefer them to Sharpies for this sort of thing, but to their detriment they do not come in as large a range of colours, black being the only option, but there is a range of nibs.
There is really not that much more to say on the writing experince, it feels pleasant in the hand, does not skip while writing and the barrel feel s sturdy enough, I would personally have preffered the pen to be a little wider in the barrel, just for comforts sake during prolonged use, but agian this is down to personal taste.
So, down to the construction, the pen is not refillable unlike the Pilot V Super Color (there's that missing U again) of which there is a post review in the coming weeks, apart from size and colour range, but it is a completely different type of marker with different intended uses.
As you would expect from Staedtler and a permanent marker the top fits snugly and securely to the barrel, a very reassuring thing with permanent markers, and the pocket clip is very sturdy but I would have licked it to be a bit more springy and hold tighter than it does.
Faber-Castell - Textliner & Jumbo Grip - Multi-Post
Faber Castell Textliner 1148
The Textliner is at the top of the picture here, the orange one, next to two Jumbo Grip pencils, all from Faber-Castell, as you can see they are all exactly the same except for the names.
The Textliner itself is a very bright luminous orange when used on plain paper, understandably the lead is soft, no rating given by Faber-Castell, as it will have to put down it's colour easily without much pressure, presumably to avoid damage to paper used on, as this could well be textbooks and similar I think it's a good thought on their part when designing and conceptualizing the pencil.
Above is the standard test card scan, this time it didn't come out very well, but does give some idea of the line when used for writing, not that I would ever do so or expect users to use it as a writing pencil, although I guess there are times when you would want to.
Because of the scan issues below is a photo of the same card, as you can see it is a very vibrant and "highlighter-esque" orange, why I did a timed smudge test I do not know, but it's there if it is of any use, rest assured thou' that the line put down is resilient enough to stand up to what the intended use of the pencil would have to go through.
After the above tests where carried out, the nib from a sharp point was as in the picture below, a fair and reasonable amount of were I would say, expecially on a pencil that is over 6 and half inches (17 cms) when new, plenty of life and service in these. I bought these in Gerona, Spain, (the Spanish love a stationery shop, watch out for a post on these in the months to come) for about £1 each, that's about $1.49 four our American readers, Canadian readers that's about the same for you too, C$1.53 to be precise, all at today's exchange rate mid March 2013.
And here we have the Gold and silver tests, like the orange Textliner the gold line does not seem to have scanned very well, so see below for a photograph I'm putting this down to some sort of fluorescence in the lead to achieve the bright and metallic finish, although the silver has transferred very well in my opinion so maybe that is another terrible theory.
Personally I think the silver gives a more definite line, and better colour representation when laid down, but it depends on your own view and which colour you actually need or want.
These gold and silver pencils are labelled as Jumbo Grip, but either are any different in size to the Textliner, I would expect a pencil with this moniker to be of a considerable size, perhaps a fist clench size pencil, but I guess Faber-Castel thought they may be getting into the novelty pencil market if they where any bigger.
So here we are with a 3 pencil post, all from Faber-Castell, grouped together because i think they are all the same use of pencil, although Faber-Castell think differently going by the names given to them
First up is the Faber-Castell Textliner 1148, I presume the number derivation must be for the colour, the Textliner is essentially a Jumbo Grip (more of which later) but in luminous orange and also available in fluoro yellow.
Because of the scan issues below is a photo of the same card, as you can see it is a very vibrant and "highlighter-esque" orange, why I did a timed smudge test I do not know, but it's there if it is of any use, rest assured thou' that the line put down is resilient enough to stand up to what the intended use of the pencil would have to go through.
And just to prove that it does highligh text, here is an example.
It may have been the quality of the paper that the book used, but i would have expected something more like above, a brighter, more vibrant laying down, but as it is I think its acceptable for a non-bleeding source, possibly especially useful for borrowed books or when paper is especially thin in textbooks, as some are, at least with a pencil highlighter you should be safe from bleed thought to reverse of the page.
All 3 pencils are finished with the standard Faber-Castell nodules on the shaft to aid grip, a hob which they handle as well as can be expected, I do get very swreaty hands when using a pencil over a period of time, so maybe it's just me that finds them just a little too ineffective.
I would personally prefer a larger and more substantial nodule, but, hey that's just me. Tell me what you think is the best anti-slip/gripping addition on a pencil you have used, use the comments box below.
All 3 pencils are of triangular construction with no ferrule on the top end, not that I can imagine anyone would even attempt to erase the pencil line from these, but I would say a putty eraser would be the best to attempt that.
And here we have the Gold and silver tests, like the orange Textliner the gold line does not seem to have scanned very well, so see below for a photograph I'm putting this down to some sort of fluorescence in the lead to achieve the bright and metallic finish, although the silver has transferred very well in my opinion so maybe that is another terrible theory.
Again the lead softness is as the Textliner, wear and line thickness etc being the same also.
These gold and silver pencils are labelled as Jumbo Grip, but either are any different in size to the Textliner, I would expect a pencil with this moniker to be of a considerable size, perhaps a fist clench size pencil, but I guess Faber-Castel thought they may be getting into the novelty pencil market if they where any bigger.
Remember each test features a literary works first line, if you know it pop it in the comments box and a short review of the book.
804 views since posting? WOW! but no comments?
804 views since posting? WOW! but no comments?
Sheaffer Prelude Fountain Pen Medium Nib
So, this year marks 100 years of Sheaffer pen manufacture, Walter A. Sheaffer founded his company with 7 employees in Fort Maddison, Iowa in the back of his jewelry shop to capitalise on his idea of a lever filling system for fountain pens, and he we are 100 years later still using Sheaffer pens. So what follows is a review of my Sheaffer pen.
The medium nib on my Sheaffer writes a very controlled and precise line, thou as with all most fountain pen inks smudging is always an issue, that lays down and assured and accurate line even on the more fibrous/rougher papers, not just the smooth 80-150gsm papers, when using Sheaffer ink, which in this case just so happens to be their turquoise cartridge ink, although this does not seem to have scanned very well or accurately, so please refer to the third picture for a true to life representation of the ink colour.
On 80GSM plain paper (above) the nib and ink combination does not exhibit any feathering tendency's either when writing or rough sketching, of course this can change from paper to paper as it relies on the paper quality more than anything, but on plain copier paper of 80GSM feathering does not occur, so draw you own conclusions form that for the use your intending.
As you can see the ink colour is on the light side of turquoise when flow has been established, when starting a new cartridge the first few strokes are considerably darker, so if consistency through the document is important, a special letter or greetings card message then I would recommend getting flow going before writing.
Generally the ink is very good value, plenty of writing in a standard Sheaffer cartridge, although I must worn the writer of the messier ilk that the ink is very stubborn, more so than many other inks and will take a lot of washing to remove from fingers and clothing, if any little accidents happen.
This particular model is the rainbow colour style, similar to gun metal finishes but with a gold ground to the body and cap.
The pen comes in a nice presentation case, covered in faux metallic gold leather and a standard twist to fill Sheaffer converter for bottled ink users.
The pen itself has a nice feel in the hand, neither too heavy or light, just right, for me at least, a nice firm capped and lidded feel, with very little or no play in either position. The screw barrel also feels very firm when full screwed on, to the point that a couple of times I have had trouble and a bit of effort expanded when unscrewing for cartridge replacement.
The finger grip part of the barrel is finished in plain black plastic, which is comfortable to hold for long periods of time, and perfectly adequate for this every day pen, some like a metal grip but i prefer plastic, it's all about personal choice, so decide what is best for you and stick with it.
The nib does exhibit a very wet writing profile but thankfully does not seem to lay down too much ink when writing. The ink delivery is the standard and usual plastic veined affair found across a multitude of fountain pens, does the job perfectly well and as expected.
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| index card test |
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| Feathering test |
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| Ink colour representation |
Generally the ink is very good value, plenty of writing in a standard Sheaffer cartridge, although I must worn the writer of the messier ilk that the ink is very stubborn, more so than many other inks and will take a lot of washing to remove from fingers and clothing, if any little accidents happen.
This particular model is the rainbow colour style, similar to gun metal finishes but with a gold ground to the body and cap.
The pen comes in a nice presentation case, covered in faux metallic gold leather and a standard twist to fill Sheaffer converter for bottled ink users.
The pen itself has a nice feel in the hand, neither too heavy or light, just right, for me at least, a nice firm capped and lidded feel, with very little or no play in either position. The screw barrel also feels very firm when full screwed on, to the point that a couple of times I have had trouble and a bit of effort expanded when unscrewing for cartridge replacement.
The pocket clip is reassuringly firm and will perform adequately in most situations.
The finger grip part of the barrel is finished in plain black plastic, which is comfortable to hold for long periods of time, and perfectly adequate for this every day pen, some like a metal grip but i prefer plastic, it's all about personal choice, so decide what is best for you and stick with it.
The nib does exhibit a very wet writing profile but thankfully does not seem to lay down too much ink when writing. The ink delivery is the standard and usual plastic veined affair found across a multitude of fountain pens, does the job perfectly well and as expected.
Notebooks...
I have a bit of a thing for notebooks too, the paper kind.
So much so that even I readily admit that I have too many.
But that's not the point, I use them everyday, not all of them of course, this is just the stock for future use, which is always being added to, and, bar a few exemptions, they are all bargain finds, from various sources, more of which later.
Within these notebooks I also class generic organisers, such as the three in the second from top row in the photo below (#2); the black A5 (petrol station gift), green A5 (Wilkinson) and brown FC Barcelona A5 (FCB shop) examples are my regularly used ones.
There are some other interesting types and paper below, more of which later, examples of paper quality and writing reviews will follow in the days and weeks ahead.
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| #1 Collection Part 1 |
Above are some interesting examples (#1), the blue and yellow hard backed A5 books in the middle are actually Miquelrius manufactured notebooks, only ever seen for sale in Barcelona Airport duty free shops, the Warhol inspired hardback A5 in the same row was a discount shop find, many years ago no, with no distinguishable maker, although I suspect it is a named maker as the paper quality is very nice.
Bottom left and top right art punched index card folders, with subject dividers, I'm not sure what I will ever use these for but I've got them for when I do and that's the important point. Top left are 2 packs of punched rainbow index cards, not refills for the two folders, but the smaller 3" inch size, a folder for these was not included as its identical in all aspects other than size to the red and blue examples shown.
Bottom right is a Muji aluminium A6 folio folder, this is what i use when I know I'm going to be making a lot of notes, factual or descriptive notes, not creative notes, Muji refill paper and their notebooks in general I find take a pencil very well, among some of the best pencil notepaper I've used. Top middle are 2 ASDA (Wal-Mart for American readers) A5 black 3 pocketed ribboned cream plain and squared notebooks, two of which are in my daily users, see further below.
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| #2 Collection Part 2 |
Above (#2) second from right on the bottom row are two very interesting new pocket notebooks, from Miquelrius they are marketed as Stonepaper, essentially they are waterproof, so much so that in store displays have example books fully immersed in water, how exactly the stone comes into play is never really explained beyond what can be found on the Miquelrius website, "gypsum, limestone and marble mixed with resin and we have stone paper", check back soon for a paper test with these books, I'm very excited myself to see how they take ink and stand up to water in the real world. More on Miquelrius and these Stonepaper notebooks.
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| #3 Every day users |
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| #4 The ever trusty Sharpie method of spine labeling |
As you can see I have used the ever popular and trusty Sharpie method for labeling the spines, though it's fine for these everyday books I would personally use a labeling machine for long term archiving, mainly because my writing is terrible and even more so when trying to write on a spine.
Cretacolor Classic Black 5.6mm Leadholder
The Cretacolor.43000, an unusual name for a lead holder/clutch pencil, is definitely from the budget end of lead holders (or clutch pencil, whichever you prefer), but is very well made never the less. Comes supplied with a 5.6mm black 2B (not actually identified on site, but my guess at lead softness) 123mm long lead, more leads are available in Graphite, White Pastel, Sanguine Oil, Sepia Light, Sepia Dark, Graphite 4B, Charcoal, 2B, 4B & 6B, as well as light/dark sepia & Sanguine, from various manufacturers via Cultpens.
All available from www.cultpens.com, free shipping for orders over £10 and shipping worldwide available.
Schneider Slider Memo XB *UPDATED*
The Schneider Memo XB is a very nice smooth writer, ink flows easily and instantly from first use, what the actual names means is open to discussion, thou it may have something to do with it being marketed as a scholars, or pupil as the manufactures website has it, pen, but as a "memo" pen, then its does it's job admirably, writing quickly and efficiently with a quick drying time. Ink is also "wipe proof" when used with highlighters and waterproof, some nice considerations and presumably why its marketed as a school/pupils pen. A nice range of colours is also available, apart form the normal blue. black and red, there are Green, Orange, Violet an Lilac (these are my interpretations of the colours on official website, as there are no supplied colour names by the manufacturer), each colour having its own barrel colour combination, the inner black part barrel of test pen changing to math ink colour.
The drying time is acceptable for any but the quickest of left handed writers, I am not left handed so please let me know if a "dryer" pen is best, with a strong, even and medium thickness line, again stated by manufacturer as 1.4mm, laid down easily and with little effort. Presumably due to the Viscoglide (R) - Technology used by the German manufacturer.
Below is a plain paper ink test with bleed through. As you can see its a nice fine dark and constant line with very little show thought to reverse side. |
| Written line test, plain "copier" paper |
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| Bleed thought test, 80 gsm plain white copier paper |
The body of the pen itself is very comfortable, light and easy on the hand, with a slight rubbery feeling to the bulk of the covering (blue bits). The pocket clip feels very strong and has a reassuring heft in it's spring, this pen is going nowhere in every day use and carrying, the cap itself fits snugly over the nub and even more snugly when mounted for writing, a stop lug is in place to prevent over fitting (see second picture below).
All in all a pleasant and promising everyday/pocket pen. The nib itself is stainless steel and wear resistant. The pen does not appear to be user dissemble, so i would say it is a disposable.
See www.schneiderpen.de/en/ for more info, using the penfinder to find this pen, and to browse the other products from manufacturer.
I received the pen as a free sample from www.cultpens.com when purchasing other items, I can heartily recommend them for any of your pen, refill and ink needs, free delivery on orders over £10 and ship worldwide.
Include the book the test quote is from in the comment area for personal kudos, all tests will have an (CLUE) opening line from a literary work.
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