Review: Story Supply Company Morning LE

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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.

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Review: Pilot G2 mini

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I picked up a 4 pack of the G2 Mini pens on a whim. The 4-pack was affordably priced and held regular blue, bright blue, red, and purple. The G2 minis perform just like their full sized counterparts- smooth most of the time and best on junky paper. On nice paper (Studio C, Tomoe River) it has a tendency to skip a bit and for the tip to feel rough.

I find mini pens of this size to be just a tad too small for longer term writing. They are okay for filling a box or two in my bullet journal and a quick note here or there. Writing more than a page in a pocket notebook puts a great deal of strain on my hand and is tiring.

I think these are great pens to toss into a bag for occasional quick notes or for children. I’m using the bright blue and purple to introduce my nephew to better stationery.

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Review: Pilot Frixion Color Stick

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I picked these up on a whim from the post back-to-school sale clearance section at my local Walgreens. The 4-pack of orange, pink, green, and blue are regularly priced at $7. I saw the price and did a double take and said out loud, “LOL, whut?”

I’ll start with the good. The ink in these flows really well, it’s a “ball” pen but writes like a rollerball. All in all it’s a comfortable feeling pen. The ink flows and it feels really smooth on all the paper I have used them on. Erasing was a breeze.

The cap posts and is replaced with a satisfying click. It stays put once capped too. I’ve been carting around the orange in my FodderstackXL and the cap stays put, despite my sitting and moving around all day. It hasn’t fallen off. The pen lacks a clip, so you need to have a pocket or case to carry these around.

So far so good. I like these little pens a lot. Now for the bad.

These look cheap. When I say cheap, I mean, like Bic sticks, or those old blue Papermate stick pens I loved in HS. I mean cheap AF. Despite the glossy hard plastic and slick clear cap with integrated eraser they exude cheapness.

The exterior tube is the refill. I had wondered if I could pop out the refill and slide it into another pen body that looked less cheap. Just take it from the inky mess I made, you cannot. The body is very sturdy, again, my fat butt has been sitting on one for weeks, and it has yet to break crack or even curve.

These are sturdy little pens that look cheap and are sold at a stupidly high price. I really enjoy writing with them, the colors of the ink are great- muted and not overly bright. They erase cleanly and feel good. However these are not $1.50 pens. The 4-pack would probably sell better at $4 or $5.

I picked these up with my own cash money from the clearance section. I got a steal of a deal- I paid 79 cents for the 4-pack, totally worth it. I should have purchased more.

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Review: Uniball Signo DX 0.38 Capped

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The Uniball Signo DX is often replicated but never quite repeated. In the past you could only find the DX on import sites like JetPens (You can still get them and refills there) last year (2017) Uniball started to bring the DX to the US! You can’t get singles but you can an eight color multipack at most major office supply chains, like Staples.

I picked up my 8-pack at my local Staples for around $12. Not a great deal. The only package you can find in the US is the 8 color pack. My local Staples hides these on the bottom shelf in the Uni section of pegs.

I’m not gonna lie, the DX is a favorite pen of mine. First it is is a classic design often imitated (remember that Pen+Gear monstrosity I posted about?) Infact Staples has its own version of this venerable pen.

The tip provides smooth writing and sketching experience. The ink flows well but not overly wet. It’s close to perfect. The ink is also lightfast. I’ve tested many of the colors and not even a shift in direct August light. The ink is also waterproof/water resistant. Which means it is great for sketching and overlapping watercolor washes. Urban sketchers, here’s a great pen for you.

True to Uniball USA’s typical antics, the refills in these pens is labeled UMR-1 instead of UM-151. The colors are identical to my imported pens. Refills are available on JetPens from $1.35 up to $2.50.

These are great pens, and the basic 8-color set is great for sketching, adding a black to the mix would be quite helpful. But I find the lighter brighter colors to be great for under sketches. Anyway, I’ve missed the US launch of these by a year, but they are still a fabulous pen to add into your sketching and bullet journal tool kit.

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Review: Capped Gel InkJoy

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Paperhate released the capped version of their lovely InkJoy gel ink pen during the 2018 Back-to-School season. The packages of the capped are similar to the retractable with the same assortment of colors.

The refills are interchangeable between pens. Which is, I guess, a useful piece of information. I noticed it so I share with you. The pens perform exactly the same, that is to say, the ink is flawless and flows well and dark and lovely. I love these refills.

The biggest difference that I notice between the two pens, other than the addition of the cap is that the tip or nose of the capped version is hard plastic while the retractable version is rubberized. The translucent colored cap clicks onto the hard plastic nose with an audible click, and stays put. The cap posts deeply and securely. In use what I really like about the depth of the post is that it doesn’t put the pen off balance or extend the length of the pen enormously. It posts as deep as it caps. It’s secure and stays put in my use.

Overall, if you like a capped pen over a retractable pen, this is a great gel ink option. Refills are available on Amazon and the pen is pretty comfortable. I find the capped version to be very comfortable, if anything more so than the retractable.

These are available just about everywhere. I’ve seen them in Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Target. If you can find them on sale or get them with a coupon, snatch them up. The InkJoy gel is a great pen.

Review: Pilot Precise V5 RT

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The Pilot Precise V5 has been around since the dawn of my stationery awakening and is a favorite of mine. I like it for just about every task- writing, notes, sketching and doodles. It is a great pen.

Until I saw these on the shelf I’ve always bought the capped version. I don’t know if I simply wasn’t aware of the retractable version or if it wasn’t available. Regardless, I have them now and I’m never going back.

The design of the pen is simple and parts of it hearken back to the capped version- the grooves in the nose and swirly silver on the color, and translucent colored plastic. The similarities end there. The rubberized grip has DX-like divots. THe knock reminds me of the Signo 207. It has a long drive down to extend the tip and click into place. It does have a satisfying click noise. The clip is a futuristic wrap around that clips tightly to the placket of my shirt or a notebook. It wiggles from side to side and feels loose when it’s not clipped to anything. It’s not, it has a sloppy feel.

Overall the Precise V5 RT is a great update to the capped version of the pen. You won’t lose a cap and the ink is fabulous. It does respond and feels more like gel ink than liquid ink. I’m okay with that. Anyway, you can get these on Amazon for around $2/pen. There are entire tubs of 48 of these pens- black and multi colors for around $55! They are also available in just about any store from Target to Walmart to Staples to the local grocery chain.

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Review: Pen+Gear Gel Ink Stick Pen

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Pen+Gear might be Walmart’s house brand but it has contained some surprising quality. I snagged the Pen+Gear Gel Stick Pens (GSP) n a whim from the clearance section post Back-to-School season. Cost in clearance was around 50 cents. Regular price is a few dollars. They are made in China.

In the package are eight 0.7mm pens. Each pen has a grippy rubber grip with circular divots to improve the grip. The tip at the working end is metal. The tip unscrews to reveal a pretty standard stick pen gel refill. Each refill has a different amount of ink. You can see the differences in the images of the package. The refill doesn’t last very long. It took less than a half week for me to blow through one at my day job.

The ink itself is nicely dark, doesn’t grey out in the middle, and has really nice flow. Some of my pens were perfectly wonderfully smooth, others were scratchy and felt gross on all paper. The ink seems moderately waterproof. I do not know if it is lightfast. I have not tested it.

The cap snaps closed securely and with a nice click. It posts in the same manner. All of it is nicely secure.

Please ignore the words. This was the one good pen in the package.

You might recognize the design from several sources- the design is a direct rip off of the Uniball Signo DX stick gel pen. It also looks like the Staples Stick Gel pens, which I suspect are made by Uniball. Frankly the Pen+Gear GSP looks as though Walmart passed a Signo DX and said, “Scan this, but change everything just enough so we don’t get sued.”

Honestly, while the Pen+Gear pencils and notebooks are a steal these aren’t. You have to find the pens that work smoothly and contend with scratchy tips to do so. Even if you need a cheap waterproof sketcher you can usually walk into any store (here in the US) and pick up a 2 or 3-pack of Uniball Signo in black for not much more and have almost guaranteed smoothness and success. The Pen+Gear GSP is a pass from me.

Review: Zebra Sarasa Grand

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The Grand is a refillable pen body made for Zebra’s Sarasa gel ink refills. It will hold almost any gel ink refill- from Pentel to Pilot to Uniball.

The Grand is available in 5 colors, black, navy silver, copper, and gold. The clip on all colors is chrome. The lower half of the pen is metal cased in a thick layer of glossy metallic lacquer. The top half holds the clip and a translucent window. It could be argued that the window is to view the ink level but it is far too high to tell you when the ink is low, and thus useless, but looks nice.

Overall, I find the Grand quite comfortable. It’s narrower than the Pentel Alloy and heavier. The weight is toward the working end and as a result the balance feels good to me. The glossy lacquer is going to be slippery for folks with sweaty hands, but works great for me. The clip is sturdy and grabs onto my lapel and holds on. The Grand has made it as a DayJob go to pen because the clip is fabulous.

I picked up mine in the clearance section of my local Walgreens for… 75 cents. They only had the copper (aka Rose Gold?) color which is really a dull metallic orange-pink. At 75 cents it was cheaper than a regular Sarasa. Regular price is about $11 almost everywhere. IF you don’t like the Sarasa refills you can get the Sarasa Clip refills via Jetpens, ranging from about 75 cents each to $2 a refill. You can also buy boxes of Pentel or Uniball refills on Amazon. Essentially, you have options of refilling this pen body.

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Review: Yoobi 3×5 Index Cards and Case

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The Yoobi Back to School sale display at my local Target included a 3×5 card case with 100 index cards, dividers, and labels. The hard poly case with elastic closure is great. At $2.99 they aren’t a steal but they aren’t a bad deal either.

The cards are paper thin and floppy. There is no header space above the ruling and the ruling itself is VERY dark. Despite being thin there is no show or bleed through with anything I wrote with, fountain pens included. The paper is smooth and crisp. Fountain pens feel great on it, and the ink looks great too. No feathering at all. Pencil tends to smear a bit and there isn’t enough tooth for pencils to feel good.

The case feels sturdy and the elastic is tight and holds the contents inside. The thin poly dividers are fun colors and the labels stick well enough.

Overall, I’m not impressed with the Yoobi index cards. They are thick paper not card. The ruling is too dark. They do okay with fountain pen ink but that’s not enough to make an index card for me. I do like the case and dividers.

Review: Moonman Pocket Mini Fountain Pen

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My Instagram feed has been full of pics of Moonman fountain pens for ages. I pushed down the FOMO for months, finally I found a version of the pocket mini on eBay for less than $13 and I pulled the trigger, and almost a month later it arrived.

The packaging is a simple white box with a glossy embossed image of the closed pen. Inside, the tiny pen is sheathed in a tight plastic sleeve and set into die cut foam. In the box are 2 pipettes and a package of 6 international short ink carts. The most difficult part of the packaging is getting the pen out of the snug plastic sleeve.

I always wash my new pens with some plain water to clean out any machining gunk left behind from the manufacturing process. I disassembled the pen to its bits and bobs- body, section, nib, feed and the screw in bit that holds the nib and feed into the section. Each of the parts that screws into the other has a small white o-ring for sealing. I added some silicone grease to further seal the pen as I intended to use it eyedropper.

Closed the pen is tiny. Smaller than a Kaweco Sport. It disappears into my pocket. Even filled with ink it is incredibly lightweight. The pen holds just over 2 ml  of ink when eyedroppered. Which is a ton of those short international short carts or 3 international long carts. The pen will only hold international short carts. I immediately inked my pen up with Iroshizuku Tsuki-yo.

Ink flow is good. It’s not wet nor is it dry. My nib out of the box was smooth, but not silky smooth. I ran it over a buffing stick to get it to the smoothness I prefer. I then manipulated it a bit to get some line variation, it’s not quite an architect grind but similar. The nib can be replaced with a (I think) number 5 nib from any of the standard sellers of nibs.

I really enjoy the seaglass green color with the slight frosted look inside the cap. It combines with blue inks to look really lovely. The overly thick body size is nice. I find that it feels pretty good when I write. The section is small enough that the pen doesn’t feel overly fat. The drop from body to section is steep and a tad sharp. Because it is a $13 pen I won’t feel bad if I file and sand this down to something that works better for my hand. As it is the step doesn’t sit on an awkward place in my hand.

This is not going to be a pen for everyone. If you have large hands you will probably not like this pen. If you don’t like the Kaweco Sport you probably will find this too small. It is a stubby tiny pen with a decent nib and feed.  We’ll see how it holds up over time I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks. I’ve certainly let it bang around in my pocket over these few weeks and it’s done okay. I’ve noticed a few small scratches in the plastic after keeping in a pocket with my work keys. Oops.