I picked up a single 3.5×5.5 inch notebook at Staples for $3.99, which seems pretty pricey for 38 pages, but that’s not pages but sheets, so you can double that, to 76 pages. Still a little pricey. All of the pages are perforated.

The cover has a plastic-y surface that is embossed with a very simple fabric like texture. It’s subtle. Inside the same fabric like theme is carried to the end sheets, where a woven like print is done in 2 colors, in all the notebooks I looked at the colors coordinated with the cover. Since I purchased a black notebook mine has black and gray printing. The end sheet has a “This notebook Belongs to:” section. then the following page has a more detailed version of the same info. I think they should stick to one or the other, having both seems like overkill. After that are a couple of lists of holidays as far out as 2014. Seriously, in a 76 page notebook? Is anyone actually going to plan 2 years in advance in a 76 page pocket sized notebook? Maybe in some of the larger notebooks I’d buy that but not in the pocket sized notebook.

These remind me of the old Moleskine Volants but with a sturdier cover. I’ve used Volants for years as a GTD tool for my DayJob. I picked this up as a GTD tool for Put it on Paper.

Inside the pages are cream/ivory colored, ever slightly so and my black notebook has blue dotted lines. I rather like that the the lines are not solid, it makes them subtle. I tested the notebook with my TWSBI 540 with heart of darkness ink. Granted my TWSBI writes wet but it soaked through on every page no matter how fast I wrote. Testing with some finer pens eliminated the soaking through but not the show through. The paper is thin. it reminds me a lot of Moleskine paper, but it behaves with ink better. With my finer nibs I didn’t notice any feathering or spread. In fact finer nibs performed really well. The paper is nice and smooth, all my nibs felt pretty good on it. It’s not as smooth as Rhodia or Clairefontaine paper but reminds me of the paper in a Moleskine Cahier.

I did a test run on the paper with a gel pen and it, as expected, performed flawlessly. I really expect that these were designed to perform perfectly with gel pens or ball points. It might even work well with a liquid ink pen in a fine point, like a Pilot V5 or the like.


I wish these came unlined. I like the fact they come in singles so I can mix and match colors. The line has a range of nice colors and patterns that don’t really strike my fancy. I prefer the big bright colors of the Moleskine range versus the subdued colors of Martha. If these were unlined I could see myself picking them up one at a time as I ran out. Staples offers a lot of coupons so these could end up being less expensive than the $3.99.

There are 2 things here that are deal killers for this notebook for me. First is the perforated pages. I can’t have all the pages in my notebook perforated. When a notebook like this lives in my back pocket, my bag, my jacket pocket, and on my desk it gets beaten up and perforated pages fall out. I’ve got a few moleskine cahiers and Volants where I’ve taped pages in with some washi tape. While I enjoy the washi tape I don’t want to have to resort to using up a roll to hold in all my pages. The final deal killer is that they only come lined. I like blank pages.

One of the other things I noticed which is  not a beef with the notebook but with the display at Staples, I can see these notebooks getting REALLY beat up fast. I noticed several notebooks with curled covers and one with a cut on the back of it and a few with dog eared pages. I appreciate the ecologically minded packaging, but perhaps the band should go the WHOLE way around the notebook instead of just around the cover? Anyway, keep an eye on Staples clearance section  a few beaten up pieces are sure to land there.

It has a chrome cap with a standard brass colored clip. The clip is springy and feels quite sturdy. It clips to the pen loop of my journal securely. I have managed to dent the cap already by letting it bang around in my bag.  The cap is relatively lightweight and for once I don’t mind it being posted. I don’t normally posts my caps so you may feel differently. The cap screws on securely with 2 full rotations. I polished my cap with a very mild polish and rubbed the brass right off the clip. I actually prefer this as I feel the clip now matches the cap.

The plastic of the pen does not have a high gloss but has a satin finish. The piston knob blends quite smoothly with the body of the pen. The piston was quite stiff at first but I found quickly loosened up after moving it a few times. It holds 1 ml of ink. There are is a large ink window around the pen just above the section. Where the ink window attached to the body of the pen is a sharp step up. I may sand this down to make the pen more comfortable but I don’t find that it rests on my finger uncomfortably as of yet.

The nib of this pen is the smallest nib I’ve ever seen on a fountain pen. It reminds me of a crow quill pen that we used to use in high school art class. It’s mini. It  was scratchy at first but I looked at it under magnification (iPod touch w/ macro lens) and aligned the tined and then gave it a quick smooth on a nail buffing stick. Perfection. It writes with good flow and is nice and smooth. I was surprised that it was so smooth with so little work. The nib is what I would call a fine. It’s not what I would call a wet writer but it’s not dry either. I also have it inked with Noodler’s Black which tends to have great flow.

The pen is very slim, about BIC stick size, so for me it’s not the most comfortable pen to hold and use. But I have found myself reaching for it continually since it arrived.

I think it is a great pen for sketching or writing.

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The Airmail 69T /Reg D is an Indian fountain pen that I purchased from Kevin at FountainPenRevolution.com It costs $16 plus shipping. I call it the Reg D due to the markings on the pen, but Kevin lists is as the 69T. For this review and currently for writing I've got the pen filled with Chelpark Royal Blue, a very nice regularly colored blue ink.

This is a good looking fountain pen. Of all the Indian eyedropper pens I've ordered this is the best looking. The blue swirled acrylic is shiny and bright the surface is perfectly smooth. The clear acrylic portion of the pen is also perfectly smooth and crystal clear. The clear acrylic has the thickest wall of all the pens I've ordered from FPR and would not crack easily. It's very sturdy feeling. The pen is thick, but not too thick just  enough to encourage a loose relaxed grip which is fantastic for long periods of writing. The section is made of the same swirled blue acrylic as the cap.*

The trim is all silver colored while the fine pointed steel nib is gold colored. I always find this odd. The nib arrived quite scratchy. I used the macro lens on my iPoo touch to find out that the tip was not aligned, the left side was higher than the right. I was easily able to adjust this down. I then ran it over a nail buffer to smooth it out. I further adjustted the nib to write a wet line, rather than the somewhat dry line it was writing. Writing and sketching with this pen is now pure joy. In it's scratchy state it was okay, adjusting the nib would have sufficed, but the added smoothing of the nib just made it better.

It is an eyedropper pen. For sealing it all that is needed is a small amount of silicone grease, I went ahead and added a small o-ring. Before tuning the pen I noticed some blobbing but I suspect that won't be the case now that I've adjusted the pen. The pen holds around 3ml of ink, which is pretty standard as far as eyedropper pens are concerned. It's also a pretty lengthy amount of drawing, especially with it's fine nib.

Over all, now that this pen has been tuned to perfection I'm quite happy with it. It's a great fine pointed pen that is great for writing or sketching.

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Today instead of a true review you get a bit of a story and some pictures. I'm sure you can deal. Back in the early 2000's I took a figure drawing class. Having taken but one other figure drawing class I decided I needed a set of charcoal in various grades, becaase the set I had wasn't good enough. This is pre-cult of stuff. My coworker and friend Chris told me about this glorious place on I95 in Woburn called Charette*. It contained all things fine art related and was a wonderland of awesomeness. One sunny weekend day I made the trek down the ever dangerous I95, so it's really only crazy dangerous during the week and during rush hour, but don't let that detract from my story. I made my way out of the city and into the dangers of I95 and finally to the office park goodness of Woburn, MA. Only to get lost multiple times trying to find the grail, I mean Charette. I drove around the Office parks, all of which looked exactly the same except for different large block numbers, until I finally found a Dunkin Donuts. Where I begrudgingly bought a coffee (maybe a donut, it was a long time ago) and asked the woman, "Can you tell me where the Charette store is." She gave me some vague directions and after a few more wrong turns, extended waits at long lights I found the right turn and found, Charette.

It was a dumpy little store situated in a dumpy warehouse off the main road and the only indication was a crappy little sign. My coworker's promises of arty goodness seemed as though they would soon be dashed in gloomy office park craptasticness. That is, until I went inside. To the right of the large double door was a copy center and tot he left, art supply glory. I wandered around, my depleted budget crying at the site of Sennelier watercolor sets, sheets of arches hot press and enough fabriano to roll around naked on, I mean, on which to paint tasteful nudes. I wandered, and wandered, and wandered. Places like THIS were why I moved out of the woods and to the city, easy access to less expensive and expensive art supplies that were not grossly inflated in price.

In the end I walked out with a set of Create-a-color leads with a lead holder and a sketchbook. I hated the lead holder that came with it, it was triangular and I never took a liking to it, and ended up using my old charcoal set from college at the figure drawing class. Recently I was at A&C and came upon their loose leads, and thought, "I should dig that out, see if I feel differently about it now." I couldn't find any whole leads, just a few broken pieces, but I did find the holder. I bought a few new leads only to find that I still hated that damn holder. The leads are super cool, all kinds of hardness and charcoal and sanguine. They are just awesome.

Jetpens started to carry a company called E+M who make a lead clutch in a variety of natural and brightly painted colors. I bought a deep blue color and it's lovely. Just a striking deep blue color that begs to be held and used. The clutch is sturdy and really clamps down on the leads, and the creat-a-color leads fit it perfectly, like they are made for it. The clutch is pefectly comfortable to hold and rests in my hand as if made for it. It's chunky and sturdy. It feels as though it can take a beating.

Another item I ordered at the same time is the E+M peanpole**, (heh) or their pencil extender. This time I opted for the bright orange red, which if you have ever driven a Volkswagen from before 2000, you will recognize as the pre-2000 Volkswagen red- a seriously bright orangey red that is striking. I won't lose this peanpole (heh) in my bag anytime soon. Volkswagen red holds a special place in my heart as the first car I learned to use an industrial buffer and buffing compound on was a 1984 Volkwagen Jetta in classic Volkswagen Red. The peanpole (heh) is identical to the General's #205 Pencil Extender, from the metal to the wood, the only difference is where they are made- General's is made in New Jersey and the E+M is made in Germany. The General's is not finished as well and the handle is fixed to the metal slightly crooked but it was 1/2 the price of the peanpole (heh.) Both are nice. All in all I can't wait to put these 2 items through their paces, they feel good and look good too.

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This pen came free with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, I wasn’t expecting much from it, honestly I thought it looked like “just another rollerball.” These are available from Jetpens, Amazon, Blick and other assorted places all over the net. Blick’s seems to offer the best price on the 4 pack of sizes, and you’re probably going to want to test these out yourself after you read my review.

So, yes, it’s a rollerball. It’s an ultra fine point rollerball with a tungsten tip. The 04 tip is fine, very fine, much thinner than any .05 tip I’ve seen. It’s close in size to the fine sized RapioCraft pen. The ink is VERY black and crisp. The edges hold up well even when writing across damp sections of the page. It doesn’t spread. It will spread if you add water to it when it’s still wet. Once dry this ink is waterproof, even on acrylic. It dries relatively quickly on paper but takes a LONG time to dry completely on acrylic. It writes well over acrylic, not quite as well as a regular cheap-o Bic but well enough that I’d use it again.

It comes in sizes from .03 up to .08, with the .07 and .08 sizes more difficult to find. The pens also come in 4 packs of sizes .03- .06. I could see a 4 pack of these becoming a regular writing, drawing and sketching tool. It comes with a cap or as a retractableThe various websites make the following claims: acid free, archival, light fast, waterproof (true), and fade resistant. I can’t address the rest of the claims but I can say that it is waterproof.

I’m definitely impressed with this pen. I’ll be buying more of these to have in my sketching kit as well as my art journaling kit.

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This is a small pen that is pretty sharp to look at. The clear acrylic is shiny and perfect. The white printing is crisp, every detail looks good. The smoke colored accent pieces on the end of the pen are nice, perfectly translucent yet perfectly gray. This is simply a really good looking pen. The nib is steel and shiny, again very good looking and is very smooth. It lays down a consistently wet line in what I would call fine but is really a medium according to Pilot.

I immediately inked it with one of my favorite blues, Private Reserve Sonic Blue. Sonic Blue is a nice dusky blue that is perfect for work, journaling, and even sketching. It was great in this pen. I can imagine this pen doing well with a variety of inks. The nib is very smooth.

The pen itself is very lightweight and for it to be comfortable, for me, I had to post the cap. When I say this pen is light I mean it, I could barely feel the pen, which caused me to write with more pressure.

I’d heard so many WOWs on the ‘net about this pen I guess I was expecting…. more… It’s a nice pen but at an average retail of about $50 around the internet I’m left underwhelmed. After using it I’d have expected it to retail around $25- $35. It feels a lot like a school pen, one, kids would use, and I suppose that’s who Pilot is trying to appeal to with the bright colors. For $25 I’d have been blown away, for $50 I feel like I gave into peer pressure and spent a tad too much.

If you are looking for a starter pen I’d steer you more toward a Lamy Safari for about $30, a Pelikano for $20, a Kaweco Sport for $22. IF you want to spend $50 get a TWSBI. All 4 of those pens offer a better value for your money than the Prera.

Check the ‘bay to see if you can find one for around $25- 35. I doubt you will for awhile, these pens are in strong demand right now and I paid a little more than I should have for mine and I waited 3 or 4 months for that deal.

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