This is another eBay purchase. I found this pen for a mere $2.60USD. I ordered the blue anodized demonstrator version. It is available in many other colors. Prices on this pen flucuates, $2.60 is the lowest price I could find, with $15 or so at the highest. After ordering I waited about 3 weeks for it to arrive from China.

It arrived in a thin plastic envelope. INside it was swaddled with copious amounts of bubble wrap. A single cut to the packing tape and it unfurled. Inside the pen was safe.

Immediately I uncapped the pen and checked out the nib and feed. I washed the pen out with clear warm water. I then inked it with De Atrementis Deepwater Black. My intent was to use this pen at work for a week or so before posting my review. (Good news: I did.)

The piston mechanism clicks into place and clicks as you start to use the mechanism, then it slides smoothly down the barrel. The pen sucks up the ink with ease. It seems to hold 2ml of ink. I did not do any rigorous testing on this, just looking at the sample container I used to hold the ink as I filled.

The nib itself is silky smooth and feels great on all the paper I used it on. I did test this extensively at work. This means I’ve tested it on all the crappy paper at work as well as Story Supply Co Morning, HP LaserJet 24lb, Staples Sustainable Harvest, Staples 20lb office copy paper, and Baron Fig Confidant paper. The pen felt smooth and perfect on all paper. The only paper that it had any drag on was the colored paper we use for particular assessments. It’s made for Staples but it is rough even with gel pens. It is terrible paper. This pen performed as well as could be expected on such an awful paper.

The cap can be posted but sticks quite tightly to the silver ring that holds the piston in place. Pulling on the cap pulls on this ring, which also seems to remove the blind cap. Dangerous. The clip is well proportioned to the cap and very sturdy. It holds to my shirt with ease. I quite enjoy the elongated coffin shape of the clip.

I was shocked at the performance of this pen. I had very low expectations given that I ordered a $2.60 piston filling fountain pen. I’d read great reviews but didn’t know if they were realistic. They were.

This is a great pen, for $2.60 you can’t beat the performance and the look. The fact that with very little work- in screwing a few bits here and there, you can disassemble the pen to its parts means you can completely clean any ink stuck inside. This also means it is a good candidate for sketching.

This is another pen design that is clearly influenced by a couple of companies- the body and look by TWSBI Diamond AL series. The nib and feed by Lamy. The end reminds me of the Pilot Prera. It takes all the elements that I like about a lot of pens and mashes them together in something that doesn’t quite makes sense but does. Overall it works for me but it leaves me scratching my head.

The leather version of the Fodderstack XL (LFXL) has all of the great attributes of the nylon version- it carries 1 or 2 pocket notebooks safely along with one or two pens. It can slide effortlessly into a back pocket or into a jacket pocket.

The form factor is a tad different than the nylon version. LEather after all is a different material that requires different handling. The LFXL is slightly wider than the original which means that it requires slightly wider pants. It also means that it won’t fit into smaller pockets, like those found in women’s pants. Le sigh. It does fit in  most of my shirt pockets. Not that I carry the LFXL in a shirt pocket, but if I did it is possible.

If you’ve used any of One Star LEather Goods products before you know that the leather they use is high quality and patinas to a deep dark caramel color. It is stunning. It’s gotten softer with use. The clips of my pens, pencils and the texture of denim has scarred up the exterior. The scars stay there too, even after I’ve polished and cleaned the leather. I like the look, it marks the LFXL as mine and only mine.

Overall the LFXL is a divine piece of leather work, perfect if you want to have a case that gets better with use and keeps your pocket notebook and PDC pen safe in your pocket. I love mine and use it daily.

The Parkr Jotter is a classic in the pen world. Both the ballpoint and fountain pen version has been around forever. Where the ballpoint is a timeless classic the fountain pen version is… not.

The brushed stainless steel exterior is lightweight and feels pretty nice. The section is made of cheap plastic and has visible mold lines. The pen does not come with a converter, rather 2 international small cartridges. The carts take some serious force to get them to seat properly. Until one is properly seated in the pen you get weak ink flow. As soon as the cart is in place ink flows and keeps flowing. The pen will also take an international long cartridge.

The nib out of the box was smooth and once ink began to flow, it wrote well. Here and there the pen would skip. Looking at it under a loupe I found that the tipping suffered from baby bottom. A tiny amount of work with my polishing stick solved that problem. Since then the pen has worked well in every instance.

I have found that it performs less well on rough crappy paper- the paper at work makes it feel like I’m writing on sandpaper.

The pen has a classic look- brushes stainless steel body, the classic Parker Arrow clip, and flat ends. I like how it looks but the feel is beyond cheap. The raised visible mold lines leave me feeling flat. The diminutive size makes me feel like I’m writing with a child’s pen or pocket pen. This isn’t a pen you’ll want to carry around in a pocket either. The cap takes very little force to remove and could easily fall off as you walk around.

It’s a pen you won’t mind losing or giving away. I’m entirely meh on this pen. What is really horrible is that this is often a pen people pick up because it’s readily available and it is their first introduction to fountain pens. They’d be better off buying a Wing Sung 3008 or a CaliArts Ego. There are a hundred better first pen options at a lower price point than the Parker Jotter Fountain Pen.

The CaliArts Ego is available on eBay for about $10USD. The pen is available with fine and extra fine nibs. I ordered the fine nib.

The pen arrives in a bubble mailer roughly 2 weeks after ordering. Inside the mailer was a silver colored box. Within that box is a silver tin. The tin has a die-cut foam insert to hold the pen in place during shipping. Inset into the foam is a silver wrench and 2 new silicone orange o-rings.

The pen is a clear piston filling demonstrator. The feed is also clear. Upon arrival, I cleaned the feed and interior with some clean water. I did not remove the feed to do this, and I should have, the feed would not allow ink to move freely. I removed it and gave it a quick scrub with a toothbrush and warm water. After drying I installed it again and the ink has moved perfectly since.

I inked my pen with a classic ink- Diamine Chocolate. There is something about this ink that reminds me of fall and the harvest but also of gingerbread. It is a lovely ink with perfect flow and is well behaved on most papers. It is a great ink for testing a pen.

The nib out of the box was smooth and feels great on all the paper I’ve tested it on. Thus far I’ve used it on Story Supply Co Morning, HP LaserJet 24lb, Staples Sustainable Harvest, the cheap recycled garbage at work, Staples 20lb office copy paper, and Baron Fig Confidant paper. Overall the pen feels great. I was surprised it felt so good on the rough garbage work paper, which makes most pens feel terrible.

The fine nib is very fine for a fine. The feed seems to allow a decent amount of ink to flow through to the nib. It’s neither dry nor wet. It is just right, for me.

The cap cannot be posted. It connects to the blind cap and flops around until it falls off. Useless. The cap itself is fine. It screws on snugly and an o-ring prevents you from over tightening. It also keeps the cap airtight.

Let’s talk about that clip. The pen itself is pretty decent looking. SImple clean and useful. That clip is an abomination. It is too small and reminds me of one of those skinny neckties, but at the wrong proportion to the body. Yeesh. Ugly. It is snug enough and holds my pen clipped to my shirt. But it’s ugly.

Overall I like this pen. Sure the clip is ugly but it is a minor issue for a pen that works really well and with a really nice nib for $10. I like that it arrives in a nice protective foam-lined tin. Because it can be completely and relatively easily disassembled it is a contender for filling with India ink for sketching. (Don’t @ me. I know you shouldn’t.)

A final thought on this pen. It is clearly, uh, influenced, by the TWSBI Diamond and Eco pens. I’ve been told that the piston and blind cap fit the TWSBI Diamond and vice versa. The nib and feed look like Pilot nibs and feeds. This pen looks as though someone took design “cues” from both companies decided that they could make their own pen and set off to make one. Honestly they pulled it off but this could have ended badly.

I’m a big fan of the Sakura Foam eraser. I’ve been a fan of it for a long time. When I make an order from JetPens, I add a few onto my order. I use them in trades, swaps, and often give them away.

When I was at my local Artist and Craftsman I picked up a Sumo Grip retractable. They are quite affordable chunky click style erasers. The Sumo Grip is offered in a variety of sizes, all of them large. This is by design. I was able to chat with Peter from Sakura of America who filled me in on some of the design choices around the Sumo Grip. Sakura has a line of mechanical pencils designed for kids that have a sturdy chunky style the company chose to call them Sumo Grip after the sport of Sumo Wrestling. The image of the sumo wrestler was purposefully chosen to match the style of the pencils, and now erasers.

Coming back to the eraser itself, Sakura created the sticky non-smudging technology by combining the tech behind the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a standard white plastic (PVC) eraser. The result is a soft sticky eraser that wraps around graphite (and other materials) and trapping the graphite in the sticky eraser without harming the fibers of your page. Which is one of the reasons I LOVE the Sakura foam, it takes less effort to clean graphite off the page and the erasers don’t burnish the fibers of the page down like so many other erasers styles. (Lookin’ at you Mars Plastic.)

Sakura then upped the ante by removing philates from the PVC and making the eraser nontoxic. As someone who often uses her erasers as fidgets, I can appreciate this. Also, it makes me feel a lot more comfortable about giving a fat Sumo Grip to my nephew.

Bringing all this back to the Sumo Grip Retractable. I love this as much as I like the Sakura Foam, or Arch- it’s the same eraser but colored black. My inner angsty emo kid loves black stationery items. The chunky black click mechanism means that when I carry this around in my pocket it doesn’t get worn away via movement. The nock ejects 3mm of the eraser at a time. The chunky body is comfortable and feels great in use.

I’m as much a fan of this eraser as I am the original Sakura Foam. Every person who uses pencils or makes art should get some version of the Sakura Foam- I just happen to really love the fat chunky black Sumo Grip a whole lot.

I’ve read a review or two where folks express, concern, over the logo. Just as an FYI Sakura is a Japanese company that is based out of Osaka, Japan. Design choices are made by the company and with pride over their heritage which includes Sumo Wrestling.

If you follow bullet journaling on any social media you are likely familiar with Zebra Mildliners. I admit my FOMO was so strong on these that when I saw a set at Target priced well above my budget I almost put everything in my cart back to spend $20 on a handful of not-highlighters.

I’ll be blunt, the Mildliner is a dual-tipped marker. It’s a really nice one, but at the end of the day, it is a marker. The ink is translucent enough that you can see any writing you are highlighting.

The core point of the Mildliner is that they aren’t highlighter bright. The colors are muted and mild on the page. The shades do pop off the page but function as almost any marker might. I picked up 3 Mildliners in the loose stock at Michael’s. At $1.99 each or more in a set these are pretty pricey little markers. Loose with a coupon at Michael’s brings these into an affordable price range.

In terms of performance, I find both tips suitably sturdy. I’ve only used mine for a few days but they haven’t crushed or deformed in my use. I don’t generally have a problem with mushing chisel tips but I do with bullet tips. But the bullet tips have stayed at a nice fine point. I have found that I quite enjoy the bullet tip for making a few notes or underlining notes in my pocket notebook. The size of these is nice too, it is close enough to a regular pen that it will fit into a regular pencil case, so you don’t need to find an extra long case, I’m looking at YOU Tombow Dual Tip Brush Markers!

I’m biased, but I picked up 3 colors I knew I would like and use, so I like the colors and they work well for how I use highlighters. Which is to say, that I use highlighters for minor emphasis in my notes- underlining some of my text or by circling notes. I also use them in my bullet journal to denote weekends and other important events. I need to figure out how I’m going to use mine in my “side-hustle bullet journal” (SHBJ) and what I’m going to denote with them.

In use, they smear with the same inks, pencils, and pens as any other highlighter. So expect that if you use waterbased inks or fountain pens that you’ll get smearing. IF you want to use pencil stick to HB or F grades for less smear, those 2b and Blackwings are going to get graphite all over the place.

Overall I think that the Mildliner performs wonderfully and the colors are great. They are just different enough that finding these shades in another brand of marker is going to be a pain in the rear. Frankly, any chisel tip or bullet tip marker will perform similarly, but finding a chisel tip marker that is in a compact package with these colors is going to be difficult. The closest you’ll get to these shades is the Tombow Dual Tip Brush Pen. But that has a brush tip which many will find hard to control, though is great for the same purposes as the Mildliner.

I like these, but I also guaranteed my like by purchasing only the 3 colors I knew I’d use in my bullet journal or in my lifelong learning quest. The best place to purchase these is at Jetpens.  Their prices are the best online and their sets are at the best price I’ve seen. You can also get them at Michael’s from the singles display at the register. Which is the best price I’ve seen in person. I’ve seen the 15-color set at Target during BTS but not since.

I reviewed the standard Story Supply Company (SSC) pocket notebook and pencils over here. Plus I’ve picked up and reviewed their collab with CW Pencil Enterprise called “the Pencil Pusher” over here. They began as a Kickstarter and have evolved into a small but growing company that makes their own notebooks in a small shop in York, Pennsylvania. I love this little company.

There is a lot to love about this company. First, their LE game is on point, their summer 2018 edition “SMR” is a gorgeous series of orange and yellow shades across the cover of a notebook. It perfectly evoked the hot August sun.  

The Fall 2018 LE, “Morning” is muted and gorgeous. I don’t know how many of you have needed to get up super early in the morning in the fall and happened to look out across a field or lake. Watching the fog lift and the changes in temperature occur is really gorgeous, and the Story Supply team captured that feeling in this cover. It’s a grey to black gradient but done a little differently to get that fog like feel. I love it. Inside is a lighter grey version of the gradient plus some printing.

The cover stock is thick and beefy, it’s some of the thickest cover stock available in the pocket notebook game and it is the one to beat. The thick cover stock makes this a great notebook to use for notes on the go-  the sturdiness of the covers means you can actually write in hand without a great deal of bending.

Inside the covers are 48-pages of thick creamy paper. It’s smooth but toothy enough that all my pencils respond well on its surface. Fountain pens do pretty well on this paper as well. It’s thick so there isn’t a great deal of show through. I had no feathering or bleed through, but the largest nib I used was a medium and most of my inks are well behaved. Rubber stamps do well on this smooth but toothy paper.

Overall, the SSC notebooks are top notch and are just amazing to use. At $11.99 their pricing is standard for materials that are anything but. The combination of quality and durability can’t be beaten. You could buy another brand but why? If you want to test them out without buying an LE their regular notebooks are $10, but they also have sales on older editions for $10 as well.

SSC donates notebook and pencil sets to schools in need. You buy a pack of notebooks and a kid gets a notebook and pencil set of their own.