Category Archives: Review

Review: Paper-oh Ondulo Black A5 Journal

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A few weeks back I visited my local book store (how excited am I that I can say that my city has a bookstore!?!) and while browsing found a good selection of Moleskine, Rhodia, and other brands of notebooks. On a whim I picked up a lined Ondulo Black Paper-oh Journal for $12.99. 

The Ondulo is 148x210mm or 6×8 inches aka A5. The outer cover is corrugated black paper. The front cover sports a small oval cut out near the spine. It’s nonsensical but does allow for a firm grip when pulling the notebook in and out of a back or slot. There is a magnetized flap that holds the whole thing shut. The magnets aren’t particularly strong but they do stay shut for the most part. I like the cover material. It does show wear and tear relatively quickly, but I like that look. The other cover materials offered likely would not show wear as quickly. Inside the cover are 112 pages of smooth cream colored paper. The weight and brand of the paper isn’t reported. It feels like a pretty standard weight text paper to me. The pages are stitched and glued in a standard smythe sewing. The ruling is very pale gray in color and it recedes to the background with every pencil and pen I’ve used. I like the ruling, though it is a very wide 8mm and doesn’t extend to the edge of the page. Rollerball, ballpoint, gel ink, and pencils are really nice on this paper. There is enough tooth that even harder pencils like the USA Gold or the Caran d’ Ache Stinkwood perform well. Softer smoother pencils tend to smear and smudge.

This paper is garbage with all the fountain pen and ink combinations I’ve tested. All the inks in the narrowest of pens soaks, spreads, and bleeds through. Even the finest of nibs is a broad on this paper. The feathering is intolerable and awful. It’s too bad because pens feel nice on this smooth paper and the color of the page is nice with my teal and blue inks. 

Included as a bonus type item is a unique book mark. You can use it one or two ways. I opted to use the stick and flap style versus the typical bookmark style. See the pic for a better description.

There is a lot that is nice about this notebook. They look spectacular and work well with pencils. They aren’t so great if you write or journal primarily with fountain pens. I’ve been using mine as part of my media intake journal (needs it’s own post) for a few weeks now, and I do like it for that purpose and with pencils. For $12.99 it’s not a great value but it would be a good gift for a stationery nerd.

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Review: Story Supply Co X CW Pencil Enterprise Pencil Pusher Pocket Staple Notebook

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The name of these is such a mouthful. We’ll just call them the PPN for the rest of this post.

The PPN is a lovely collaboration of design aesthetics by Story Supply Company and CW Pencil Enterprise. I’ve reviewed the regular SSC notebook as well as their lovely Number 2 Pencils in the past. CWPE is a great store for buying pencils and notebooks. The combined their greatness into a set of 3 pocket notebooks.

One of the great things about all the SSC notebooks is that they always have nice sturdy covers. Still flexible but when combined with the nicely weighted paper inside, they are great for writing in hand while out and about. They look great in a cover but don’t need one to be useful tools. The same goes for the PPN. Each PPN cover is a lovely shade of pale blue, tomato red, and mustard yellow on white heavy cover stock. The pattern is of a hexagonal pencil that races all over the front and back covers. The eraser and point of the pencil meeting on the top right corner of the notebook. The back cover sporting the CWPE and SSC logos. I love the colors I love the patterns and I love how the logos are integrated into the overall design. The edges are cut perfectly and the corners on all of mine are perfectly trimmed. Bravo, quality control is spot on. The inner covers have info about pencil grades and the back cover has places to test your pencils. More on that later.

The PPN sports a pair of silver staples along the spine. These have held the notebook secure enough in my usem but still I prefer three staples. That’s just me. I prefer an odd number of staples on my spines. Inside the covers are 48 pages, 24 leave, or 12 sheets of lined paper.  If you like the 70lb cream colored Cougar in the original Pocket Staple notebook, you are in luck, this is the same paper but in bright white. The paper is nicely smooth with pencils and fountain pens. That said it is quite absorbent and you’ll notice FP lines are a hair or two larger than on less absorbent paper. That said, it does quite well with FP and I had little trouble with bleed or show through due to the heaviness of the page. I didn’t get any lovely sheen on this paper but then again this paper performs amazingly well with pencils. The paper isn’t rough and it’s not like glass. It’s just right for getting great mileage out of your pencil with a minimum of sharpening. I’ve tested everything from the Cd’A Stinkwood to Nataraj Metallic to Neon Casemates to Wopex and I’ve yet to have a pencil perform poorly on this paper.

My big critique of these notebooks is that the lines feel a tad too narrow for my liking. They are ruled at 5mm which is not a bad distance, and one that I thought that I liked. Apparently I prefer a 6 or 7mm width for my lines. My writing is cramped on this ruling size. The ruling is a nice subtle shade of gray, as if the lines were made with a nice H grades pencil. The ruling fades to the background as you write making it easy to read everything you’ve written without distraction.

More on that previously mentioned test page on the inside back cover. I think it’s a wonderful idea and a really good thing in general. I like to test my notebooks on the last page of every notebook. So I find the test page on the inside back cover less useful because it’s not on the actual paper I’m using in the notebook.I think it’s a good idea to get into the practice and I love the hexagonal rating system for how much you like the pencil. The set up is very useful and usable, but in my mind in the wrong spot.

Overall I’m very pleased with my PPN , it’s sturdy, has survived my abuse, and I really  like the paper. It is nice to have a bright white choice when compared to the regular cream pages of the SSC notebooks.
Get ‘em for $12 a pack here for 40% off. You can also pick them up at CWPE.

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Review: Nataraj Jumbo Plasto Eraser

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Nataraj (and Apsara) includes a block eraser and sharpener in every pack of 10 pencils you buy. The eraser measures 3.5*1.7*10mm, is made of firm white plastic, and sports red printing on one side. The red printing has the brand name Nataraj in a red stripe and the words Jumbo Plasto. On both my erasers the printing is slightly different and the color of the red differs ever so slightly. In use the printing blurs under my fingers, but leaves no marks upon paper or my hand.The firm white plastic reminds me very much of the Staedtler Mars Plastic and performs as well, if not better. It is not dust gathering. I’ve tested it across No Brand Notebooks, Field Notes, Yoobi Composition Notebooks, cheap 3×5 cards, Story Supply Company notebooks, and the cheap recycled paper at work. Overall it performs really quite well removing most of the graphite from most of the papers. Here and there it would leave a  ghost of an image but if one is writing over the space, it isn’t noticeable.

The size is perfect for pocket carry. It’s small so it disappears in a pocket but isn’t so small (think of the KiN pebble) that it is lost when you reach for it. The edges are rounded and comfortable to use. The Nataraj eraser is naked while the Apsara is sleeved in a little card stock sleeve. Somewhere in  my piles of stationery shit, I have a sleeved Apsara, one might think I could find it for this review, but no, it remains hidden. I’ve been carting this eraser around in my pocket and it has provided not only useful for erasing but has also served as a very pleasing worry stone.

I have to say, that though this is a “freebie” it certainly adds to the appeal of the bonus items in the Nataraj boxes. Some bundled erasers are truly horrible, but these are darn nice.

Review: Jane Davenport Butterfly Effect Book AKA Travelers Notebook

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Do you love the idea of the traveler’s notebook system? Maybe you’re vegan or vegetarian and the idea of carting around a thick piece of animal hide grosses you out. Maybe you’re crafty and you like the idea of making your own but don’t have time. My thoughts on the BEB haven’t changed much since my first impression post over here.

Enter the Jane Davenport Butterfly Effect Book (BEB). The BEB is a  $13 Traveler’s Notebook knock off made of 2 pieces of nylon canvas stitched around a piece of stiffish card. It’s got a pair of eyelets at the top and bottom center as well as one to hold a thick elastic cord around the center of the book. The cords included with the cover are all pale teal colored. They are also thick and quite sturdy. It is important to note that the BEB is eligible for the Michael’s store coupons, so that $13 can be cut down to $6 with a 40% off coupon. Which is a steal for this fun little cover.

The white nylon canvas isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s intended to be a canvas not the final product. I highly recommend that you look at all the stitching and edges to make sure they are secure before decorating. Use a lighter to heat seal any loose or frayed edges. After which you should gesso the living hell out of the cover. I didn’t gesso my first and it soaked up so much paint that it was difficult to decorate. Whatever card is in the center of the book- it is very absorbent. That said, once gessoed and dried, it is a great canvas for your decorative self. I did mine with a faux copper finish and loads of texture.

I’d recommend sticking to acrylic paint and flexible media for the cover because the cover does flex especially around the center fold. You wouldn’t want your hard work peeling right off.

The insert included with the BEB is garbage. A few sheets of cardstock folded and stapled. You are better off heading down to your local office supply store, buying a pack of card stock and folding up 4 sheets yourself and trimming it down with your paper cutter and rounding the corners with a corner punch.

I really wasn’t sure about using the larger sized TN setup, I’m quite dedicated to my pocket notebook sized books, but really found myself falling in love with the slightly too narrow shape and size of the TN inserts. Adding dot grid to the mix was a no brainer. I’ve been using one insert as a journal, one as a planner for No Brand Notebooks, and another as a reading journal. I’ve since added an insert for reviews and another for planning my new podcast RSVP*. I cannot emphasis how nice the size is for long running entries, or quick notes about the stuff I’m reading**.

I think that the BEB is a good purchase for anyone who wants to test out the Traveler’s size without a huge investment. $6 with a coupon is a no brainer. Continue reading →

Review: Nataraj Metallic and Glimo Super Black Pencils

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Nataraj pencils are made and distributed by Hindustan pencil company, much like my previously reviewed and adored Casemates (which are distro’d by Walmart). I picked up these two packages of pencils from the ‘zon for $4.99 each with free shipping. Each pack holds 10 pencils, a white plastic block eraser, and a plastic sharpener. For anyone keeping track, that’s about 50 cents per pencil, though factoring in the sharpener and eraser it is about 42 cents per item in the package. The package itself, I should have taken a picture, was well done. The pencils were in a tough plastic envelope, then in styrofoam packaging, and the 2 boxes were wrapped like a gift inside the protective foam package. All in all it was like unwrapping a slightly bizarre gift. Shipping did take about a month. It reminded me of old school mail order. Ahh memories. After unwrapping my gifty to myself I was greeted with Nataraj’s fun pencil packaging. While companies selling in the US seem to have moved toward clear plastic shrink wrap and stickered belly bands, Nataraj uses cardboard boxes. Each package matches the contents well. The Metallics have a metallic box with a pebble finish, while the Glimo has pastel colored diamonds in the colors of the pencils. The Glimo has a diecut window. The packaging is nearly identical except for package date stamps and a line that the metallics meet international quality standards. My pencils were all packaged in 2015, so they aren’t particularly fresh. But then pencils really seem to last forever if stored properly.

Anyway, inside the packages are some nice metallic pencils. The Metallics have gorgeous jewel tones that really shine. The camera cannot pick up the color well at all. It’s seriously glimmery and shiny and reminiscent of dragon flies of nice metallic flake paint on a car. They sport a nicely done and jaunty white and black end dip that looks awesome with the metallic paint. There are blue, purple, green, and red. The Glimo features silver stripes with a coordinating pastel colors of magenta, pink, peach, yellow, and pale teal. The end caps are a nice thick dip of the pastel color. The silver is barely metallic and in some the pastel shade is a touch thin, but overall these are quite well done.

On all of the pencils, either Metallics or Glimo the paint is mostly well done, with the occasional pencil with drips and runs. I had one in each box that had not only visible but runs that could be felt under my fingers. Mostly they were okay. The wood is jelutong and sharpens well in all my sharpeners. The cores are centered in most of the pencils, off in about half, and out of each box one was badly off centered, but still usable.

The core in these is the same, Nataraj’s “Super Black.” The super black core is very dark for writing. It is also nicely smooth and glides across most papers that I’ve tested them upon- from Yoobi Comp books, Field Notes, Story Supply Company, Life, Tomoe River, and No Brand Notebooks. (Handwritten review is done on a NBN dot grid traveler’s size.) They glide, which is the best way to put it. Not quite skate, but glide. It’s smooth dark and a nice feel. I believe this is the same core as the Casemates Premium, which is slightly different than the Casemates Neon. It’s darker and smoother. The Neons seem to have more occasional bits of grit and are slightly harder with better point retention/durability.

Speaking of point retention and durability, there is batch variation. I’ve sharpened a few of each, okay one of each color and I’ve found that most of them are almost the same in terms of how many comp book or NBN pages I get, but one, the blue metallic is super soft and even darker than the others. The rest I’d rate around a Staedtler B in terms of point retention and durability the one oddball is closer to a 4B. The majority are closer to a Staedtler 2B in their darkness. That is to say I’m able to get around 4 composition book pages written before I reach for another sharp pencil.

I love how these look and how they write. Sure they are about 50 cents per pencil, roughly 4 and a half times the cost of most of the Walmart Casemate pencils. The trade off is the better paint jobs, consistent cores, no badly afixed ferrules, and  eraser turds. That said, if you don’t want to spend the money, getting the Walmart Casemate Premium pencils is still the best priced option. That said, I immediately sharpened one of each color way and added it to my novel writing pencil cup. The fun colors and metallic sheen make me smile.

My one worry right now is that these have gone the way of the Nataraj/Apsara Pop, which have an awesome coloring scheme, and have been replaced with the less awesome color scheme of the Nataraj Joi.

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Review: Casemate Neon Pattern Printed Pencils Hex

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The current iteration of Walmart’s Casemate pencils are darn good. Made by Hindustan pencil company they feature a top notch HB core that is dark and smooth. I find the neon and multi-colored packages to be better than the plain yellow pencils. The key to getting good Casemate pencils is to look and make sure the pencils are made in India. I’ve heard other reports that these are often round. The package that I picked up is a hex pencil.

I had hoped to pick up a pack of the plain unprinted neon pencils or a package of the premium tinned pencils. Neither was to be found so I took a chance that the 30 pack of printed neon pencils was as good as the neons.

The packaging for the 30 pack is a pillow box made of stiff clear plastic, with a bit of foam at the base to protect the points, and a thick label wrapped around the belly. In a pinch it could suffice as a decent pencil case. Each tube has 6 pieces of 5 colors- pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue. All are neon except the blue, which in my package is a royal blue color. Each 30-pack is $3.24, which is roughly 11 cents per pencil.

The pencils themselves sport a standard Hindustan HB core. That is to say it’s silky smooth across most papers and is nicely dark. I’ve found very occasional bits of grit in some of my pencils, but this is rare and to the same extent that I find them in much more expensive pencils. The core has excellent point durability/retention. I get a few pages from a sharpening with my Carl A5. The wood is jelutong which sharpens well but has no distinct odor that I can detect*. It is lightweight and I have grown fond of the look of this wood. It ranges from pinkish tan to nearly white to speckled. All of my sharpeners handle it well.

The paint appears to be a layer of white, with neon atop that with an overprinting of a very thin coating of black. The black is nearly see through in some areas and the neon colors definitely pop through the black patterns. The black patterns are a pox upon an otherwise lovely pencil. On my pencils- every single pencil the printing is crooked, the grade designation is not only off center of a side, it’s often printed on a hex point and at an angle. Further the crooked printing is overlapped in some areas and not others. The patterns are also everso slightly stretched on some of the pencils. The images I’ve included in this review do not do justice to how truly abominable the print job is. It’s atrocious. It is laugh worthy. It is, as my Grandmother would say, ugly as sin.
The silver ferrules are affixed well to the pencil and hold a pink eraser. The erasers are typical of Hindustan and Casemate awful. This batch of erasers is stiff and gritty. In use they have a hard time removing graphite from even the smoothest of pages, and yet seem to lift the fibers of the page. Through repeated use I could see these erasers tearing a hole in the paper. They remind me of the old grey ink eraser like the Papermate Union.

In short these are great pencils for a very low investment. The core is wonderful, its’ just the exterior that makes these look awful.

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Review: Camel HB Pencils

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I have resisted the allure of the Camel HB pencils for quite some time. I told myself, “they won’t be great, they are pretty but they aren’t great.” Finally in  my last CWPE order I broke down and order 4 of them. At $1.50 each they aren’t cheap but they aren’t Caran d’Ache Stinkwood prices either.I resisted them because I’m in complete and utter lust with their minimalist design. The sleek lacquered finish, with a clean white imprint, and a ferrule-free eraser is simple pencil perfection. They are available in 2 color combinations (plus some pastel shades)- cedar with clear lacquer and a grey eraser cap and cedar with a warm honey stain and lacquer, with a off white eraser cap. Stunning. I really love how these look.

I sharpened one of each of the colorways and told myself they were going to suck, this despite the glowing reviews they’ve received just about everywhere. I’ve used them for page after page in my most recent novel in a Yoobi Composition notebook (more on those at a later date.) I’m getting 3 to 4 pages per sharpening in the Carl A5 and the same with the KUM masterpiece. Other than point retention/durability the feel of the core is smooth on all the papers I’ve tested it on. It performs well on Yoobi comp, Tomoe River, Moleskine, and various Field Notes. I like these pencils a lot. I’m bummed I only bought 4 of them. I should have bought 10, or a dozen, but more than the mere 4 I have in my grubby paws.
The eraser works admirably well, though I am loath to use it lest I grubby up the clean lines of these pencils. I purposefully pulled one off to see how it worked and the pencil itself is whittled down to fit inside the eraser just like a regular pencil cap. A dab of superglue reacquainted the two pieces and now even when I try I cannot remove the eraser.

The bottom line on these pencils, is that they have a beautiful clean design, crisp printing, a thick coating of clear lacquer, and that ferrule free eraser cap is a stunner. Overall the minimalist design of these pencils makes me super happy. The fact that they perform well means I can keep using them over and over again.

Review: Curnow Back Pocket Journal with Tomoe River Paper

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I’ve been using a Curnow Back Pocket Journal with cream Tomoe River paper for a few weeks now. In fact the one I started with is nearly filled.

Mine has a plain butcher orange card cover. Which has survived and is quite sturdy. It is the standard pocket journal size of 3.5X5.5 inches, with 48 pages of paper. Because it’s filled with Tomoe River paper it’s ultra slim and roughly half the thickness of a Field Notes or Word notebook. There isn’t anything groundbreaking happening with this notebook. The one change from other pocket notebooks is that this is stitched in a traditional pamphlet stitch with 3 holes using waxed linen thread. It’s very sturdy and has stood up to my abuse this month quite well.

The great thing about the Tomoe River paper is being able to use any and all of my fountain pens in it without fear of bleed through. I did have to worry about smudging and dry time. But to be able to use a wet medium nib was really kind of nice. I stuck to mostly using my fine and ef pens as that is what I use while I’m out and about and allows for faster dry times.

I really enjoyed harder pencils on this paper. I’m not sure why they performed so well, perhaps there is some toothiness there that isn’t perceptible with fountain pen. No matter- the Caran d’Ache Swiss Wood (aka Stinkwood) and the Les Crayon De La Maison Cd’A (aka Fancy Plywood Pencils FPP) were really amazing on this paper. I actually grew to link the Stinkwood and ignore it’s foul odor of burnt soy sauce on it’s pages. Pretty shocking. Curnow offers some of their notebooks with limited edition covers, some mined from Creative Commons Imagery* and some from artists working with them. They also offer a variety of papers. The prices vary according to the paper inside with the Tomoe River as the most expensive option and it’s the same price as a pack of Field Notes with non-fountain pen friendly paper.

These are a great little notebook and worth the cost if you want to use fountain pens. They are well made and wear well. I have another with the other paper that they use and can’t wait to crack into it.

Oddly the only way to buy these little notebooks is through facebook or email. Honestly, I hate that, but head over to their facebook page, look at their offerings and send them a message and they will send you a paypal invoice.

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Review: Baron Fig Archer

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So I’m a few days late and a few bucks short when it comes to this review. I’ve been sitting on it hoping my opinion would change. For the TL;DR crowd- it is pretty, if you like pretty, go ahead and buy them. If you want performance, go elsewhere.

I picked up a few of these from a friend for a few bucks. I didn’t want to spring for a 12-pack of pencils where the whispered undertone to all the reviews read, “scratchy.” I sharpened one up and used it extensively in a cheap Staples comp notebook during NaNoWriMo. I’ve forced myself to use it on slick as teflon Tomoe River paper and silky smooth Maruman and Life notebook pages. I’ve even jotted a shopping list on the nondescript paper in Field Notes.

Ignoring the feeling of the point on paper, the looks of these pencils is gorgeous. The matte finished cool gray paint with a perfectly end dipped darker charcoal gray end is just pretty. It is simplistic and pretty. It works. The imprint is also minimalist- a simple Baron Fig on one flat, with a stylized arrow on the opposite- both in crisp perfectly imprinted white. The pencil is perfectly minimalistic in design. They are gorgeous to look at.

I sharpened mine in, gasp, the Carl Angel-5 with it’s dangerously chewy teeth, which chomped into the soft linden wood body.  I suggest linden over bass based off scent. Linden smells like bay leaves to me and these pencils when freshly sharpened have that dusty odor of impending kitchen magic. Linden is ridiculously light weight. These pencils feel lighter than most pencils. I have not weighed them to be sure. the absence of a ferrule and eraser make them lighter but even compared to other pencils without ferrule and eraser they feel significantly lighter. I should weigh them and and take the subjective out of this review, but I’ll leave this here to let you know they FEEL lighter than other pencils. I prefer a little bit of heft to my pencils

This brings me to the core of these pencils. Scratchy is an apt description of these pretty pretty pencils. I’d lean more toward gritty. They are the antithesis of smooth.  If you are a fan of pencil points gliding over your page like butter on a hot griddle, look elsewhere, these aren’t the fix you are seeking.  They have a durable point that lasts for a good long time. I found myself getting pages in the comp book with the Archer. But it was an effort to write with- I had to force the graphite off the pencil. Compared to *gasp* my penny-per-pencil Casemates, these were a disappointment in use. Going back to kitchen based comparison- writing with these on most papers, even the glassy smooth Tomoe River, is like spreading chilled butter on cold toast- a gritty mess that is simply unpleasant.

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Sunday Study: The Perfection of the Paper Clip

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All my stationery nerd friends said, “Read this book, you’ll love it.” Well, I have and I don’t.

When I spot a factual error in a book it makes me question all other information held as facts in the book. The first factual error I found was on page 26 where Ward states that reed pens are “filled by pouring ink into the top of the pen.” Apparently Ward has never used a reed pen because this is  hilariously wrong. Reed pens are dip pens. You soak some reed pens (bamboo) in water before use to activate the capillaries in the bamboo, but even still they are still dip pens. They function similarly to quill and steel dip nibs.. You dip them in ink. After this point I was left wondering what else was wrong.

In the section about Moleskines he writes that the “first” time a moleskine was labeled as “Made in China” was only after the company had been purchased by SGCapital in 2013. I suspect this may be a typo and he meant 2003, which was certainly before Modo e Modo was purchased. Further I remember the online uproar the “Made in China” label created. I remember my first “Made in China” Moleskine. I got that Moleskine long before 2013. In fact 2013 is long after I’d given up using Moleskines due to quality control issues. It is true that the Moley had always been made in China, and had previously been labeled, “Designed in Italy.” Further I have some issues with his “historical” facts of small-m moleskines. Yes there was one Parisian supplier that sold those made by someone Chatwin loved, but moleskines are a style of small pocketable notebooks- not just the one sold in that one shop. Rather, moleskine was used to describe all manner of small pocketable notebooks covered in oil cloth and were available all over Europe.

After this point I began to hate read the book. The section on pencils is quite good, though I’m reticent to take anything he’s written as factual given the previous factual errors. The section on King’s The Dark Half may not be totally accurate.

Ward’s humor is not funny to me. He tries really hard to be pithy and funny but often his jokes fall flat. Where Rees has deadpan down pat Ward’s attempt at humor fall flat and scratching my head, wondering how did he think that was funny? I got what he was trying to say, I just never found the humor in what he had written. Frankly, Ward’s writing style bores me. I’ve read many of the books on his reference list, and while those are boring they are far more informative than Ward’s book and because the writing was solid, well researched and informative with out wannabe pithy commentary, they were good.

I’m sorry, but The Perfection of the Paper Clip is anything but perfect, and I can’t even say it’s good. I’m not including an Amazon link for this one. just because I tortured myself doesn’t mean you should too.