Running a pen blog lead to some unique situations.  One unique situation is hearing about a certain pen, in this case the Uniball Jetstream, and not being able to find it.  All over the internet, specifically the office supply are of the internet, the Jetstream is spoken of with reverence.  My problem was getting my hands on one.  Driving around one day I made a random stop at a Staples I had never been too before, and to my surprise they had a nice offering of Uniball Jetstream's available.  I snagged a couple and went to work testing it out.

The body of the pen is really cool looking.  It's simple but doesn't look plain.  The Jetstream also does something I love, they match the barrel of the pen to the color of the ink.  In this case the Jetstream I bought was a 0.7mm with blue ink, and a blue barrell.  There is a lighter strip of blue around the clicker.  The tip, a Jetstream logo, the clicker and the clip are all silver colored plastic.  I think the silver and blue combo looks good.  The grip isn't anything special, but it's not bad.  It's the same material as the rest of the body but it has little indents in it.  When writing a lot your hand does not get fatigued so even though it isn't the fanciest grip it does the job well.

What had gotten me excited about the Jetstream was the hype around how smooth it was writing.  I felt like I was gliding across the page.  It didn't matter whether I was writing on my 17 cent Marble Composition book or my 15 dollar Black n Red notebook, the pen just glided across the page.  The ink is a really dark blue which I love.  The only problem that I noticed is a little bit of white space when writing.  But it's not so bad  as to completely ruin the writing.  Honestly I am just nitpicking at this point, because this pen is great!

Obviously this pen has a ton of positives and is a great all around pen.  Despite the positives it still doesn't have the WOW factor for me. It seems to me as above average/good, but not great.  It's hard to explain, there is nothing technically wrong with it, but to me it just isn't a great pen. I prefer .05mm pens or lower, so a pen that's smallest tip is 0.7mm tip is going to limit how well I like it.  So for me I have to say that I like it, and I would write with it again.  I wouldn't worry about lending this to a friend though.

8 out of 10 mummies.

Platinum Mini Ballpoint .5 - Economy Pens

Conference Sketch Noting - From the Pen Cup

Ohto Pieni Wooden Body Mini Needle Point Ballpoint Pen .05 - No Pen Intended

A Traveling Sketchbook - Notebook Stories

Moleskine Professional Series Project Planner - Office Supply Geek

Lamy Tipo Rollerball Pen - The Pen Addict

Alicia Klein's Pen Quiver - The Well Appointed Desk

When I first heard the news that Sharpie was going to be making a liquid pencil I was interested immediately. I press very firmly when I write, so when using traditional pencils or mechanical pencils I would break the tip quite often. It's a cool idea and something that sounds like it's out of the future.  It sounds like something a robot would use to take a math test.  Sadly the Sharpie Liquid Pencil does not live up to its futuristic sounding coolness.  It has the potential to be a great product, but just isn't there yet.

The body of the Sharpie Liquid pencil is nothing extraordinary.  It has a simple design that looks good but not great.  The top 1/4 of the pencil is actually used to deploy the tip of the pen/pencil/cool metal thing refill that writes with the liquid pencil ink.  This makes the design a bit more unified but causes a bigger problem.  When deployed the top 1/4 of the pencil rattles constantly while being used.  This might not bother some people, but it drives me crazy.  Other than this there are no real problems with the body of the Liquid Pencil.  The design is simple but uninteresting.

The other major problem with the Sharpie Liquid Pencil is the way it writes.  To be blunt, it writes badly.  It skips, leaves a ton of white space, and requires a ton of pressure to produce a mark on the paper. It leaves a lot to be desired.


Once again it is a cool idea, and I like thinking about robots taking tests with this.  But until Sharpie makes some tweaks to this product, which I think they will do, I won't be using it very often.  Cool can only get you so far.





5 out of 10 mummies

Today we are starting a weekly post where we will link to other blogs that have interesting things we have been reading.  We weren't sure whether or not to name it something serious or to try and make a pun.  We decided on the pun, so it's PEN + INTELLIGENCE = PENTELIGENCE.

Montblanc Starwalker Red Gold-Plated Fountain Pen  on Gear Patrol

Ohto Graphic Liner Needle Point Drawing Pen 03 Review on The Pen Addict

Moleskine Monday: Great Lakes Writing Set on Etsy on Notebook Stories

Monteverde Artista Crystal Fountain Pen Medium Nib Transparent Turquoise Body on No Pen Intended 

Review: Pentel EnerGel-X Gel Ink Pens - 0.7mm on Gourmet Pens

Pentel Hybrid Technica 0.5 on The Well Appointed Desk 

Fortnightly Inkings #5  at On Fountain Pens 

How to Write a Letter to a New Penpal on The Blog of the European Paper Company 

Every Day Carry on the JetPens Blog

Carnival of Pen, Pencil Paper at Comfortable Shoe Studio

 

 

On lunch break the other day I decided to take a stroll through my campus store. I came across a fantastic deal on what seemed like a pretty solid notebook. I picked up a few.

During my recent trip to New York I stopped at the Muji Store.  I bought a lot of assorted stationary at the store.  The first thing I saw was this nifty little Blue Passport Pocket Notebook.  I love pocket notebooks and this was a really smart looking book so I picked it up.

The Passport notebook has no info written inside of it about the type of paper used, and I couldn't find it on the Muji website.  There are 24 pages of unlined cream colored glossy paper.  The cover is a faux leather-ish material in navy blue, reminiscent of the cover of a passport.  The book is a bit smaller than other notebooks in the pocket category.  It is 4 3/4 inches long and 3 1/4 inches wide. 

The paper in the book is average at best.  It's a glossy type paper comparable to the paper in a Moleskine.  There is a lot of showthrough for most pens.  Every pen except for the sub .5mm gel pens showed through so don't get used to writing with heavy flowing pens.  The wide nib fountain pens bled through a very little bit but this isn't the type of notebook you would normally be using a calligraphy pen in anyway. 


Overall the book is a quality little pocket notebook that will be a good company on your everyday note taking missions.  The paper isn't super high quality, but if you have .5mm or smaller tips for your pens you should be fine when it comes to showthrough. This notebook was around $2.50 so you really can't beat it for the price.

7 out of 10 mummies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Winner of the Muji Notebook is Melissa Winner of the personal letter is Chris Lo Winner of the poorly drawn postcard is Ira F. Stone email or direct message us your mailing address and we will ship your prizes out as soon as possible. Thanks everybody for participating in our first ever giveaway here at #penswag. You can expect more throughout the year.

Hey everybody. Sorry for not posting as usual on Tuesday, but I was in New York on a mini-vacation.  While in NYC I picked up some pretty cool products.  Some of which we are giving away at the end of this post!

 First, my family and I went to the Museum of Modern Art.  It was a fantastic trip and very interesting.  As we were leaving I decided to check the gift shop.  In there I found a very cool booklet of blank postcards that doubled as a sketch book.  I picked it up and can't wait to send some postcards.  Check the end of this post for a chance to win a personalized postcard from #penswag.

After some more sightseeing we went to Times Square. While there I saw one of several Muji stores in New York.  These stores have been on my to do list for a while now and I was excited to try out some of their products. When I entered Muji the stationary section was right up front. I felt like I had gone to stationary heaven.  There were cups filled with pens of all different colors and tip sizes.  Stacks on stacks of notebooks of all sizes.  I bought a little bit of everything.  I bought three mid size ruled notebooks, a ringed smaller notebook with dot grid paper, a letter set, and a small passport size pocket notebook. I also bought 4 pens, ranging from .3mm - .5mm. You can expect reviews on all of these in the coming weeks. Below you'll find a chance to win one of the ruled notebooks, and a personal letter from #penswag.




Now for the giveaway. Use the Rafflecopter submission form below to enter.  One person will win the Muji Notebook, One person will win a personal letter from #penswag, and One person will win a postcard with a something badly drawn by #penswag. Enter below and tell your friends!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last semester at college when things really started to pick up with the blog, and infatuation with writing materials I thought it was a good idea to pick up a journal. Many people think it may be corny or childish, but I think it is a great way to get down lingering thoughts that one may have at the end of they day, it is therapeutic. I didn't do much research on journals, so I just went to my local staples and picked one up that suited my needs.


The Eccolo World Traveler is your basic leather journal, with one of those nifty strings to mark your page. It is a good looking piece, and makes me feel legitimate while writing in it. The pages are a yellowish off white, with grey lines. It gives a nostalgic feel that I really care for.



The quality of the pages are good. Compared to my black and red notebook, they are a little less glossy but provide a fine writing surface. The pages show little to no bleed through regardless of what pen you are using (I use a plethora of pens while writing in it). This is essential to a journal because you usually write on the front and back of the pages.


Now I am not going to share one of my personal entries, but here is a little writing sample.


I would highly recommend a journal (doesn't have to be this one) to everyone. It is a great way to collect thoughts and to end a day.

8 out of 10 mummies.


-Cody

I have very bad memories of erasable pens.  In third grade when we learned to write cursive I was not allowed to use a real pen because my handwriting was so bad.  Instead of a beautiful liquid ink or regular gel pen I was forced to use erasable gel pens.  I believe the brand I used back then were Papermate's but I'm not positive, all I know is that they were awful.  The pens clumped, didn't erase properly, and were all around displeasing to use. Now I see these Pilot FriXon's and all of my bad childhood memories come flooding back.


Erasable gel pens are, to my knowledge, mostly used for beginning writers learning their letters and what not.  Right off the bat you can tell that the Pilot FriXon is designed for young boys, and 25 year old guys wearing ED HARDY tee shirts.  The barrell is covered in what looks like a tribal tattoo from the aforementioned 25 year old's bicep.  Also, don't forget that the x in FriXon is capitalized, for XTREME COOL FACTOR!!!!.  I find both of these design elements cheesy and unnecessary.  I'm not going to lie I felt like an idiot in Walgreen's when I was buying these.  I was embarrassed to be associated with these poorly designed pens.  I told the cashier they were for my younger brother.  She didn't care, and I don't have a younger brother. 


The writing is not as bad as I remembered.  There is no clumping of the ink around the point of the pen. However, slightly better than awful is still bad.  The ink is barely dark enough to be called black, and is more like a watery grey color.  There is a ton of white space in the lines.  The pen does erase pretty well.  I was quite happy to erase the horrible grey ink off my paper.  The eraser is a bit of a conundrum to me.  It is placed on the back of the pen, not the cap.  So if you want to erase something you can't have the cap posted on the back of the pen.  Although before I knew this I tried using the cap and it worked surprisingly well at erasing.


 Obviously I am pretty biased towards erasable pens, but they really are crappy. Overall this pen is an improvement on the erasable pens I remember from my grade school days.  However, I can't say that I will ever use these pens again.  I would rather use a pencil if I need to erase something.

3 out of 10 mummies

I could not tell you the first time I have ever tried one of these pens. It was a very long time ago, when I was just a wee little lad. However I can tell you that I have loved this pen ever since that first time of use. I always keep one around, it is a great writing utensil that I consider to be one of the classics.


I love the look of this pen. It has a very simple shape and color scheme. It has matte finished bits at the front and the back of the pen and in the middle you will find a shiny metallic section. The cap posts firmly on the back with no wiggle room which is a must for me. When the cap comes off you find that gated clear section that are found in most roller ball pens. The cap itself has a clear top with a little black bead that indicates the color, and also a very sturdy metal clip.


This pen writes as good as it looks. Right when the cap comes off it puts down a smooth black line with no start up procedures. The ink is jet black, and looks very nice. At some times the ink can come out a bit quick. Knowing this if the pen stops while writing it can get blotchy, but it is not a serious issue.


Overall this is a fine writing instrument that I would highly recommend, especially to those that are fines of the roller ball genre of pen.

9 out of 10 mummies



-Cody

Recently my brother and I went to the Franklin Institute to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit (btw this was very cool).  On the way out I stopped by the gift shop to pick up some astronaut ice cream and while in the store noticed some quill pens lying around.  Being the adventurous pen reviewer that I am, I picked it up for a review.

The quill and ink set came with one quill and a small glass bottle with a cork stopper and a small bag of dry ink.  In order to make the ink you add a small amount of hot water to a small amount of ink.  The less water you add the thicker the ink will be.  A thicker ink makes a thicker line.  The ink is a nice dark black when writing but quickly fades to a grey-black.  The ink takes quite a while to dry, so be warned.

The quill itself needs no preparation before use, you just dip the tip in ink and begin writing.  Surprisingly the quill isn't very scratchy at all.  I was expecting a very scratchy writing experience and it wasn't. Now don't confuse me saying "It's not scratchy" with me saying "It's a smooth writing experience". The pen has resistance on the page and cursive writing is a hassle, but the scratching I expected wasn't present.  Directly after you apply ink to the tip is when the quill feels the smoothest, and it begins to drag a bit against the paper as the ink runs out.  Also, this pen is extremely squeaky.  If you need to write something in a discreet manner this isn't the pen for you.  Then again if you are looking for discretion you probably aren't carrying a quill and bottle of ink.

The quill is a precursor to the modern pen and it is interesting to be able to look into the past of writing utensils.  I can't imagine people writing with these things as an everyday task.  I definitely recommend trying one out if you get the chance they are a lot of fun.





No ranking for this because it is so different.

A couple of months back I saw a post on A Penchant for Paper about her specific notebook system. It was nice to see someone else with a bunch of notebooks with similar (for the most part) uses.  As pen enthusiasts the notebook is often overlooked. Without paper and notebooks half the fun of pens would be gone.


My Notebooks:
This is not my entire collection of notebooks, and specifically these are the notebooks I use during the summer.  Once school resumes I keep a separate notebook for each class, which adds at minimum 4 more notebooks to my collection. I also have a bunch of sketchbooks, old class notebooks, and empty composition books waiting to be used.  But enough about what is not here.

Black n' Red Wirebound a4 notebook
This is my workhorse.  I use this for writing drafts of projects that I am working on.  Part of the reason I'm so interested in pens and notebooks is that when I write something I start it in analog, in a notebook.  This is where the first drafts of papers, blog posts, and pen reviews go.  I also use this notebook for random thoughts and hashing out bigger projects.  My only complaint, is that the back cover has come off of the wire binding.  I am hoping this is just a faulty product that I have gotten because the paper quality is amazing.

Black n' Red Casebound a4 notebook
This is another notebook I use almost every day.  This notebook, which I previously reviewed, is where I do my daily writing.  I try to write 1000 words a day to keep myself in a constant state of creation.  By forcing myself to write daily I learn to push through the times of writers block.  Like the other Black n' Red products this is a joy to write in.


X-Large Moleskine Notebook 
This is my journal.  I don't write very long passages in it, but instead just list anything interesting that happened that day in bullet points.  I learned this super easy, super simple, and very quick journaling process from ZenHabits. I also keep a list of the books that I have read in the front of the notebook.  I bought this notebook before I really knew anything about Moleskine or any other notebooks.  Moleskine's are kind of like everybody's first experience with semi-high quality products.  It wasn't what I expected but is still cool looking and a quality product.

Standard Marble Composition Book
I love how these books look. The classic marble copybook, it is a staple in student's school bags.  I use this book for notes on non fiction books that I read.  I like to have a simple reminder of the main points of the books that I read so I can get an easy refresher later down the line.




Large 18 Month Academic Planner Moleskine Soft Cover
This was my planner from my Sophomore year of college. It is the type of planner with the entire week on the left hand of the page and a page for notes on the right. I used the note pages to write poems in.  The style of poem I write, combined with my handwriting, makes these pages the perfect length for my poems.  Actually this notebook is all filled up and needs to be replaced. 



Large Red 18 Month Academic Planner Moleskine Hard Cover
This is my current planner.  It is coming to the end of its usefulness and needs to be replaced.  This version has the week split on the left and right of the page.  There are no note pages and I use it just for writing due dates and other assignments.  I am not a huge fan of Moleskine notebooks as notebooks but I absolutely love their planners.




 Field Notes Dry Transfer Memo Book "Sage 02"
This is my book of quotes.  When I am reading a book, or listening to a speech, or consuming any type of media and see something that I like and applies to my life, or I want to adapt to fit my life, I write it down.  This book is sometimes called a commonplace book, but I call it my Sage book because it is filled with wisdom.







Field Note County Fair Pennsylvania Edition Memo Book
This is my everyday carry notebook.  I love these memo books by Field Notes and have a whole cache of them saved away so I always have a replacement.  I use this notebook as an inbox.  If I hear a quote and don't have my Sage notebook with me I write it down in this notebook to be copied later.  I write random thoughts and story ideas.  I use it for lists and to do's and do not's . It goes everywhere with me and is a quality companion for almost any pen.



Post-It Flags
These little guys are how I keep my notebooks semi-organized.  If something is important I put a flag next to it so I know to come back to that page.  Since I've started using these little flags I have become a whole lot more organized.










Not Pictured
Field Notes Steno Book
This is my absolute favorite notebook. My most recent one is all filled up right now so I'm not currently using it. However, I normally keep this open on my desk and use it for everything. It is my go to notebook when I have one and the paper is amazing.  Now I just have to order some more.









 Do you have a specific way you use your notebooks? Leave a comment and let us know.