The pen is mightier.
July 27, 2017 5:45 AM Subscribe
Overwhelmed by all the choices in pens, pencils, paper, and other stationery items? JetPens has a guide for you! Colored pencils, fountain pens, highlighters, mechanical pencils, and paper notebooks are just a few general categories available. Not specific enough? How about a guide for teachers on pens and inks for grading papers or brush pens for comics? Have all the supplies, but don't know where to start? The Art of Letter Writing has you covered.
I really miss old stationery stores. I really do.
posted by allthinky at 6:18 AM on July 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by allthinky at 6:18 AM on July 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
This post is awesome!
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:18 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by A Terrible Llama at 6:18 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
get thee behind me Satan
I don't need to aquire any more notebooks or things to make marks in notebooks.....
posted by thelonius at 6:28 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
I don't need to aquire any more notebooks or things to make marks in notebooks.....
posted by thelonius at 6:28 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
I don't need to aquire any more notebooks or things to make marks in notebooks.....
Mmhmm. My husband is always poking around on JetPens ordering various mechanical pencils and trying to tell me about all their features. It is a recurring theme of our (clearly quite exciting) married life, him researching mechanical pencils and me making fun of him for it. Well, thanks to this post I have discovered they have NOTEBOOKS and, wanting to order some, just texted him to find out his account log-in information for the website. His response: "Why. What's going on here." NOTHING, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
posted by something something at 6:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [19 favorites]
Mmhmm. My husband is always poking around on JetPens ordering various mechanical pencils and trying to tell me about all their features. It is a recurring theme of our (clearly quite exciting) married life, him researching mechanical pencils and me making fun of him for it. Well, thanks to this post I have discovered they have NOTEBOOKS and, wanting to order some, just texted him to find out his account log-in information for the website. His response: "Why. What's going on here." NOTHING, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
posted by something something at 6:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [19 favorites]
Nothing on pencil crayons?
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 6:36 AM on July 27, 2017
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 6:36 AM on July 27, 2017
Am I a bad person for standing by the old, cheap, disposable Paper Mate SharpWriter for all these years?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:38 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:38 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Overwhelmed by all the choices in pens, pencils, paper, and other stationery items?
Don't be ridiculous. Uniball Vision. Pentalic Traveler Pocket Sketch. Black. Actually, I'm due for another notebook, and I think the next one is going to be purple, and a size up.
I know I used to confuse the heck out of my local stationary store when I was a wee kid going in and buying synthetic vellum, ink and technical pen nib cores by name and number. Oh, and drooling over all of the Copics I could never afford.
I think I've managed to run a Uniball Vision out of ink only once without someone stealing it. I remember buying one specifically for work and even labeling it with a labelmaker and everything specifically to make everyone's lives easier when it came to signing receipts and crap and some random non-regular customer had the gall to instigate this interaction right after leaving no tip: "That's a nice pen." "Thanks, I just bought it." "Can I have it?" "Heeell no. Next!"
It felt like someone coming up to me and complimenting my dog and then asking then very seriously asking if they could have my dog, like it wasn't a family member or wouldn't be missed or something.
Look, what I'm trying to say is you better not take my good pen. I know where it is. I put a GPS tracker in it.
posted by loquacious at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
Don't be ridiculous. Uniball Vision. Pentalic Traveler Pocket Sketch. Black. Actually, I'm due for another notebook, and I think the next one is going to be purple, and a size up.
I know I used to confuse the heck out of my local stationary store when I was a wee kid going in and buying synthetic vellum, ink and technical pen nib cores by name and number. Oh, and drooling over all of the Copics I could never afford.
I think I've managed to run a Uniball Vision out of ink only once without someone stealing it. I remember buying one specifically for work and even labeling it with a labelmaker and everything specifically to make everyone's lives easier when it came to signing receipts and crap and some random non-regular customer had the gall to instigate this interaction right after leaving no tip: "That's a nice pen." "Thanks, I just bought it." "Can I have it?" "Heeell no. Next!"
It felt like someone coming up to me and complimenting my dog and then asking then very seriously asking if they could have my dog, like it wasn't a family member or wouldn't be missed or something.
Look, what I'm trying to say is you better not take my good pen. I know where it is. I put a GPS tracker in it.
posted by loquacious at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2017 [12 favorites]
Am I a bad person for standing by the old, cheap, disposable Paper Mate SharpWriter for all these years
I think what matters is that you have a pen or pencil you love more than which pen or pencil it is:
It felt like someone coming up to me and complimenting my dog and then asking then very seriously asking if they could have my dog, like it wasn't a family member or wouldn't be missed or something
posted by Room 641-A at 7:09 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think what matters is that you have a pen or pencil you love more than which pen or pencil it is:
It felt like someone coming up to me and complimenting my dog and then asking then very seriously asking if they could have my dog, like it wasn't a family member or wouldn't be missed or something
posted by Room 641-A at 7:09 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Have you heard the good word of the Uniball Signo? It's my favorite pen in the world.
With a cap
Clicky version
I use the 0.28 for math, notes, and whatnot. I use a 0.38 for letters, forms, checks, and math that other people have to read (sometimes with 0.28 for sub/superscripts). The blue-black is lovely for professional purposes.
(The G-Tec-C, Jetstream, and Sarasa lines are more than ok. They're pretty nice, but they just don't compare to the Signo lines above)
posted by MengerSponge at 7:25 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
With a cap
Clicky version
I use the 0.28 for math, notes, and whatnot. I use a 0.38 for letters, forms, checks, and math that other people have to read (sometimes with 0.28 for sub/superscripts). The blue-black is lovely for professional purposes.
(The G-Tec-C, Jetstream, and Sarasa lines are more than ok. They're pretty nice, but they just don't compare to the Signo lines above)
posted by MengerSponge at 7:25 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
Many moons ago while helping my Aunt (who is a retired teacher, and from whence my pen obsession came) pack her classroom I came across a pen. A pen that became my favorite pen ever: The Uniball Vision Exact. It was a free pen extra in a pack of "regular" uniball pens. I used that thing till it ran out and spent many months hunting down a place to buy them. This was before literally everything was available on the internet, and of all places, the only store that sold them was somehow Target. Not Staples, not Office Depot, nope. Target.
A few years ago, i stopped in at Target to replenish my stash and couldn't find them. I gave it a few weeks. Still nothing. Then the facing disappeared off the shelf. I panicked. Took to the internet and bought a box. Slightly marked up, but not highway robbery. Shortly after that, the amazon prices started to skyrocket. I went to every pen selling website and bought up everyone they had, including an ebay lot of about 24.
I still have at least 30 or so of them, but there will come a day when that stash dries up and I will probably cry. My wife knows that those pens are off limits to any guests.
Why yes, I do have a problem with pens, why do you ask?
posted by Twain Device at 7:30 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
A few years ago, i stopped in at Target to replenish my stash and couldn't find them. I gave it a few weeks. Still nothing. Then the facing disappeared off the shelf. I panicked. Took to the internet and bought a box. Slightly marked up, but not highway robbery. Shortly after that, the amazon prices started to skyrocket. I went to every pen selling website and bought up everyone they had, including an ebay lot of about 24.
I still have at least 30 or so of them, but there will come a day when that stash dries up and I will probably cry. My wife knows that those pens are off limits to any guests.
Why yes, I do have a problem with pens, why do you ask?
posted by Twain Device at 7:30 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
MengerSponge, have you seen this pack of twenty different colors of those Uniball Signos?? I was just admiring it. Obviously I'm going to need a wide variety of shades of ink for all my new notebooks.
posted by something something at 7:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by something something at 7:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I think I've managed to run a Uniball Vision out of ink only once without someone stealing it.
At work everyone was like "why are you making us buy these "expensive" pens!", then three months later once everyone had stolen them from everyone, it's pretty much the only thing anyone uses. We order them regularly now.
I <3 my Uniball Vision.
posted by mayonnaises at 8:00 AM on July 27, 2017
At work everyone was like "why are you making us buy these "expensive" pens!", then three months later once everyone had stolen them from everyone, it's pretty much the only thing anyone uses. We order them regularly now.
I <3 my Uniball Vision.
posted by mayonnaises at 8:00 AM on July 27, 2017
Back in the day, there was aa company called Pen Island. An early adooter, the company was able to obtain the url for its exact name. It didn't translate well. I wonder if they changed it or closed but I'm afraid to pull up the site. www.penisland.com
posted by janey47 at 8:04 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by janey47 at 8:04 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm in a Slack channel that was called penisland until the membership reluctantly conceded that some of us use it at work and changed it to pen_island.
I was a Pilot V7 partisan for a lot of years but these days I favor the Pilot Petit 1 rainbow. Blue-black is my favorite.
posted by clavicle at 8:15 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
I was a Pilot V7 partisan for a lot of years but these days I favor the Pilot Petit 1 rainbow. Blue-black is my favorite.
posted by clavicle at 8:15 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
Once I discovered the Pilot Varsity, and the fact that you can, actually, refill what's meant to be a disposable fountain pen, I have not looked back.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 8:28 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 8:28 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Back in the day, there was aa company called Pen Island.
I'm in a Slack channel that was called penisland until the membership reluctantly conceded that some of us use it at work and changed it to pen_island.
Somewhere Sean Connery is smirking wryly.
posted by briank at 8:32 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
I'm in a Slack channel that was called penisland until the membership reluctantly conceded that some of us use it at work and changed it to pen_island.
Somewhere Sean Connery is smirking wryly.
posted by briank at 8:32 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
My pen problem started with Jetpens. They got me into inexpensive fountain pens and now I spend most of my pen budget at gouletpens.com.
posted by Drab_Parts at 8:40 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Drab_Parts at 8:40 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I bought a Jetstream Alpha-Gel. As a lefty who tends to grip my pen too tightly, this has been a revelation. It's a pain waiting a month for it to travel from Japan, but it was worth it!
posted by Harpocrates at 8:45 AM on July 27, 2017
posted by Harpocrates at 8:45 AM on July 27, 2017
If you like this sort of thing you may also enjoy The Pen Addict blog.
posted by Western Infidels at 9:02 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Western Infidels at 9:02 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
Last year, I subscribed to the iPenbox subscription box from iPenStore. I'm never going to be a pen connoisseur, but my kids and I really enjoyed exploring the different pens and inks that came each month, and we learned a lot about fountain pens. Also a great way to accumulate a pile of nifty little notebooks, if you're into that kind of thing.
posted by Orlop at 9:23 AM on July 27, 2017
posted by Orlop at 9:23 AM on July 27, 2017
My husband got me a Visconti Rembrandt rollerball for Christmas, and I thought it was incredibly sweet.
Then I discovered that Pilot G2 refills fit in them, and it became incredibly AWESOME.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2017
Then I discovered that Pilot G2 refills fit in them, and it became incredibly AWESOME.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:28 AM on July 27, 2017
Damn you, like I need more pens. I will be on that site today for hours.
posted by chocolatetiara at 9:50 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by chocolatetiara at 9:50 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I don't need to aquire any more notebooks . . .
They won't help me survive.
posted by Herodios at 9:59 AM on July 27, 2017 [5 favorites]
This thread is not complete without more notebook recommendations
posted by Ber at 10:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Ber at 10:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I still have at least 30 or so of them, but there will come a day when that stash dries up and I will probably cry.
I've been doing the same thing with Pentel Hybrid Technica. Even JetPens stopped carrying them some time ago. I'm not sure why I've developed an attachment to this particular pen.
posted by yath at 10:53 AM on July 27, 2017
I've been doing the same thing with Pentel Hybrid Technica. Even JetPens stopped carrying them some time ago. I'm not sure why I've developed an attachment to this particular pen.
posted by yath at 10:53 AM on July 27, 2017
Pilot Hi-Tec-C, black, 4.0 4lyfe! I keep two with me in case one should die. And the red 3.0 is my editing pen.
For me, the JetPens emails are the model for vendor enticements. Not only are cool new arrivals announced, but there are always instructional videos that compare products or explain a type of pen.
Something I've wondered: Iis there a reason all the pens I own are, to my knowledge, of Japanese manufacture? Is there a great U.S. or European (or anywhere else, really) maker of disposable pens that can play on the same field?
posted by the sobsister at 11:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
For me, the JetPens emails are the model for vendor enticements. Not only are cool new arrivals announced, but there are always instructional videos that compare products or explain a type of pen.
Something I've wondered: Iis there a reason all the pens I own are, to my knowledge, of Japanese manufacture? Is there a great U.S. or European (or anywhere else, really) maker of disposable pens that can play on the same field?
posted by the sobsister at 11:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
The thing they never tell you is what the solubility of the ink is. Uni-ball Vision, Vision Elite and eco pens are just about insoluble in everything once dried. Whereas the uni-ball ONYX in red it is Water-soluble, and I’ve lost a number of entries in a log I was keeping due to a spilled glass of water. Uni-ball jet stream pens are also pretty much useless, due to the incredibly soluble ink.
What is the point of keeping a lab book if one acetone or ethanol spill will take out all of your notes?
posted by Canageek at 11:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
What is the point of keeping a lab book if one acetone or ethanol spill will take out all of your notes?
posted by Canageek at 11:19 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is not complete without more notebook recommendations
Leuchtturm. I like them better than Moleskines. Their drawing book paper is brilliant white, and their notebooks are great. Similarly, the paper on Rhodia pads is so nice to write on.
posted by the sobsister at 11:23 AM on July 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
Leuchtturm. I like them better than Moleskines. Their drawing book paper is brilliant white, and their notebooks are great. Similarly, the paper on Rhodia pads is so nice to write on.
posted by the sobsister at 11:23 AM on July 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
Since we are on Jetpens, and they stock Japanese stationery, I am not kidding, just get some Japanese ones. I love their paper, as a fountain pen user. And if you have small handwriting they would have lined pages in smaller heights (but I do like dotted paper the way Rhodia/Clairefontaine reliably makes them), and their paper tends to be in an off-white or cream, definitely not the bright Rhodia white. Somehow they can make them thin but still fp-friendly. I've used Midori, the Hobonichi series, Mossery, Campus, and even the Muji paper. They're all good. I love Rhodia as well, but it depends on how you like your paper. Rhodia is coated in such a way that it feels very slick to write on, but it will rarely bleed because of that. Japanese stationers tend to make their paper with slightly a bit more teeth to it so the sensory experience is different, but not distracting. I think because Japanese nibs run thin, they go best with such pens.
Leuchtturm for me tends to ghost too much with fp inks, otoh I love their collaboration with Whitelines. It feels gimmicky, but soft grey paper with white lines really do feel less stressful on the eyes.
posted by cendawanita at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
Leuchtturm for me tends to ghost too much with fp inks, otoh I love their collaboration with Whitelines. It feels gimmicky, but soft grey paper with white lines really do feel less stressful on the eyes.
posted by cendawanita at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2017 [4 favorites]
The thing they never tell you is what the solubility of the ink is.
The flip side of this "advantage" is what happens when you accidentally end up with a mark on your desk, or your pants just me? ok
posted by R a c h e l at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2017
The flip side of this "advantage" is what happens when you accidentally end up with a mark on your desk, or your pants just me? ok
posted by R a c h e l at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2017
Did someone say left-handed?
Did someone say Made In America?
Somewhere Sean Connery is smirking wryly.
He's in the title of the post!
posted by Room 641-A at 11:42 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Did someone say Made In America?
Somewhere Sean Connery is smirking wryly.
He's in the title of the post!
posted by Room 641-A at 11:42 AM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
→ What is the point of keeping a lab book if one acetone or ethanol spill will take out all of your notes?
Is there any ink that will survive those solvents?
→ Is there a great U.S. or European (or anywhere else, really) maker of disposable pens that can play on the same field?
Stabilo pointVisco. Staedtler TriPlus (their global website isn't loading for me). For the high-end art marker, Korea's ShinHan Art.
I'm very glad that Jetpens cost quite a bit to ship to Canada, so that I can actively shun them. I'd have no money otherwise.
posted by scruss at 11:53 AM on July 27, 2017
Is there any ink that will survive those solvents?
→ Is there a great U.S. or European (or anywhere else, really) maker of disposable pens that can play on the same field?
Stabilo pointVisco. Staedtler TriPlus (their global website isn't loading for me). For the high-end art marker, Korea's ShinHan Art.
I'm very glad that Jetpens cost quite a bit to ship to Canada, so that I can actively shun them. I'd have no money otherwise.
posted by scruss at 11:53 AM on July 27, 2017
Any good multi-color pens with refills for the black and/or blue colours?
I like the classic BIC 4-color (both standard and 'girls' palettes).
But recently I've switched to MUJI's six colour pen which is colour blind safe (and has 50% more variety).
Anyone else?
posted by anthill at 1:10 PM on July 27, 2017
I like the classic BIC 4-color (both standard and 'girls' palettes).
But recently I've switched to MUJI's six colour pen which is colour blind safe (and has 50% more variety).
Anyone else?
posted by anthill at 1:10 PM on July 27, 2017
Oh god... my bank account cannot handle this post right now. /runawayrunawayrunaway
Awesome post, Room 641-A!
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:23 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
Awesome post, Room 641-A!
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:23 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
This thread is not complete without more notebook recommendations
These are my new favorite notebooks for work-related purposes. They fit in my favorite notebook cover, the paper is beautifully thick and smooth, and I love them.
posted by darchildre at 2:10 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
These are my new favorite notebooks for work-related purposes. They fit in my favorite notebook cover, the paper is beautifully thick and smooth, and I love them.
posted by darchildre at 2:10 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I don't know whether it is worth an FPP or not, but technical pens are now governed by an ISO standard such that when you enlarge or reduce a drawing from one metric standard size to another, all the line widths enlarge or reduce to the corresponding ISO line width. I think that's really clever.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:24 PM on July 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:24 PM on July 27, 2017 [7 favorites]
O hai, did somebody say 🖋?
I am a sucker for things that are slightly old-fashioned technology, so long as they have something reliable and frugal about them. This is part of what drew me to an indestructible steel bike of a 1930s style, a double-edged safety razor and brush, and ukuleles. These are things that initially cost a little more than you'd normally spend otherwise for equivalent equipment, but thereafter become an object to take care of and get what you need without much outlay.
So when I look at stationery, I am looking for utter practicality and comfort, with perhaps a little style if there's room. But I don't feel the need to spend much money, usually, and do more window-shopping than actual shopping. I tend to research things to death!
So here's what I went for when I switched to fountain pens:
All this can seem hipster, old-fashioned, or pretentious when you first see it. But to me it's just this durable set of possessions I'll probably keep as long as my keys or my bicycle. It's something that you take a little care of and it'll last you a lifetime. I like that.
And I don't need to start a collection. Although I do plan on picking up some of those gorgeous genie-bottles of ink from Akkerman when I go to Den Haag in September. The little marble is damned clever!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:43 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I am a sucker for things that are slightly old-fashioned technology, so long as they have something reliable and frugal about them. This is part of what drew me to an indestructible steel bike of a 1930s style, a double-edged safety razor and brush, and ukuleles. These are things that initially cost a little more than you'd normally spend otherwise for equivalent equipment, but thereafter become an object to take care of and get what you need without much outlay.
So when I look at stationery, I am looking for utter practicality and comfort, with perhaps a little style if there's room. But I don't feel the need to spend much money, usually, and do more window-shopping than actual shopping. I tend to research things to death!
So here's what I went for when I switched to fountain pens:
- Lamy Vista. The Lamy Safari range (of which the vista is the "demonstrator", or transparent model) are the go-to starter fountain pen. I asked a good friend who has similar tastes and research proclivities to recommend a starter fountain pen (I hadn't used the things in years) and he said get a Safari, hands down. Lamy is German, so it's a bit easier to get in the UK than the other starter fountain pen (the Pilot Metropolitan). The Safari has a lot of good thought put into the engineering and design, but doesn't take standard international ink cartridges. I started with the Lamy proprietary cartridges and then went for a twist-piston converter to suck ink out of a bottle. It's part of the frugality to look at a couple bottles of ink on the shelf and think "That could last me a decade!" The Lamy pens also tend to have a shaped section that makes it easy to grip the end in such a way that the nib lands correctly on the page. It's definitely the best experience for someone who's still trying to work out if this is for them.
- Two Kaweco Sports. These are lightweight plastic pocket pens that only take the short variety of standard international cartridges. There are little silicone bulb converters, and you can apparently do easy eyedropper conversions to these with a daub of grease, but the benefit of these little things is that you can tighten the caps and chuck 'em in your pocket with your keys and they'll come out in great shape. I have a green one and a red one, with matching ink cartridges from Kaweco themselves. I find myself using these more often than my Lamy because they're just always there in my pocket. This is despite the fact that every time I go back to the Lamy I think "oh wow, this is nice and smooth compared to the others!"
All this can seem hipster, old-fashioned, or pretentious when you first see it. But to me it's just this durable set of possessions I'll probably keep as long as my keys or my bicycle. It's something that you take a little care of and it'll last you a lifetime. I like that.
And I don't need to start a collection. Although I do plan on picking up some of those gorgeous genie-bottles of ink from Akkerman when I go to Den Haag in September. The little marble is damned clever!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:43 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
I don't know whether it is worth an FPP or not, but technical pens are now governed by an ISO standard such that when you enlarge or reduce a drawing from one metric standard size to another, all the line widths enlarge or reduce to the corresponding ISO line width. I think that's really clever.
I did not know this. Does anyone still use technical pens at all? For actual drafting purposes it seems like CAD would have taken over entirely.
Also, it's intense how visceral a reaction I had to the image of the Staedtler Marsmatic pen in the wikipedia link. Those things were garbage. There were such a pain in the ass and clogged and leaked if you even asked them to consider working. Rotring or Koh-I-Noor all the way.
My experience with technical pens is much less from the drafting side of things and more from the commercial art side of things, where we used them for lettering, keyline illustration production, blocking out pinholes in films and other discrete color separation production tasks.
They were also absolutely marvelous for technical sketching, illustration and stippling. That's one of my only complaints about modern gel precision roller pens is they don't stipple consistently for crap, and fiber tips tend to just get quickly destroyed by stippling.
I also have another "don't take my pen" story, and it actually involves drafting and technical pens. I was in a drafting elective program in high school mainly because it wasn't auto shop or woodworking and I liked drawing and I already knew my way around a T-square and triangle set set so I figured how bad could it be?
Well, the instructor was some grizzled old bastard of the drafting world, all rotundly stuffed white short sleeve shirts and slightly too-short ties and all that. He was being dragged kicking and screaming into the CAD era, too. It was telling that he had half a dozen CAD-ready PCs set up in a bullpen of cubicle walls along one wall that no one in the program was allowed to touch until they completed at least two years of traditional drafting, except for his weird toady assistant, of course. And thus they sat there mainly unused at all because very few people came back to his class for a second semester.
Which brings me to his other really irritating rule. No pens in class for the first year. Pencils only. If he even sees a pen visible, sitting out on your desk or in your bag he'll confiscate it and throw it in the trash.
I made the mistake of leaving my 00 Rotring out on the desk at one point after getting out my pencils and his toady assistant walked by and snitched me out.
This triggered about 15 minutes of pretty heated arguing between myself and the teacher, because seriously you're not throwing out my $20 frickin' technical pen. It's not going to happen. Come on, man, of all people you know what a technical pen is and how much they cost. We're not talking about a Bic, here.
No, seriously, don't take my pen. I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
posted by loquacious at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I did not know this. Does anyone still use technical pens at all? For actual drafting purposes it seems like CAD would have taken over entirely.
Also, it's intense how visceral a reaction I had to the image of the Staedtler Marsmatic pen in the wikipedia link. Those things were garbage. There were such a pain in the ass and clogged and leaked if you even asked them to consider working. Rotring or Koh-I-Noor all the way.
My experience with technical pens is much less from the drafting side of things and more from the commercial art side of things, where we used them for lettering, keyline illustration production, blocking out pinholes in films and other discrete color separation production tasks.
They were also absolutely marvelous for technical sketching, illustration and stippling. That's one of my only complaints about modern gel precision roller pens is they don't stipple consistently for crap, and fiber tips tend to just get quickly destroyed by stippling.
I also have another "don't take my pen" story, and it actually involves drafting and technical pens. I was in a drafting elective program in high school mainly because it wasn't auto shop or woodworking and I liked drawing and I already knew my way around a T-square and triangle set set so I figured how bad could it be?
Well, the instructor was some grizzled old bastard of the drafting world, all rotundly stuffed white short sleeve shirts and slightly too-short ties and all that. He was being dragged kicking and screaming into the CAD era, too. It was telling that he had half a dozen CAD-ready PCs set up in a bullpen of cubicle walls along one wall that no one in the program was allowed to touch until they completed at least two years of traditional drafting, except for his weird toady assistant, of course. And thus they sat there mainly unused at all because very few people came back to his class for a second semester.
Which brings me to his other really irritating rule. No pens in class for the first year. Pencils only. If he even sees a pen visible, sitting out on your desk or in your bag he'll confiscate it and throw it in the trash.
I made the mistake of leaving my 00 Rotring out on the desk at one point after getting out my pencils and his toady assistant walked by and snitched me out.
This triggered about 15 minutes of pretty heated arguing between myself and the teacher, because seriously you're not throwing out my $20 frickin' technical pen. It's not going to happen. Come on, man, of all people you know what a technical pen is and how much they cost. We're not talking about a Bic, here.
No, seriously, don't take my pen. I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
posted by loquacious at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
While we're talking about notebooks, it's time for me to mention "Bullet Journaling". I bring this up because of course I have the notebook that became popular thanks to this trend.
I think when most people think of Bullet Journaling, they think of artistic scrapbooking. It's the thing you do with lots of doodles and colour and Pieces of Flair to show off how stylish you are. Note how that video focuses on stationery purchases, then a geode and a scented candle. It's a complete presentation of an imagined lifestyle.
But it actually just started as a way for a dyslexic person to organise notes with some simple chicken-scratch symbols. The word "bullet" in the title just means you make lists with semantic bullets (. o > < X etc.). There's still the focus on recommended Products to Buy, and a lot of stuff encoded in the presentation (Why rename a yearly calendar the "future log"?), but it's nearly the exact opposite of the scrapbooking from the other video. And this is actually recommended viewing from the scrapbooker above. So how did we end up here without actually discussing it?
The thing that strikes me most is how gendered this all is. YouTube is packed with people showing off their gorgeous scrapbooking in their bullet journals, and that can be really satisfying to watch! But they're almost all female-presenting. And if you want to look up less involved, more speedy and low-overhead examples, they show up as bullet journaling for MEN.
My favourite summary video about this whole situation is here. This is a woman with an attractive and tidy home who presents a neat and organised aspect in the video, and then just shows a completely honest experience of having trouble with the scrapbooking angle. She shows all the pages she had to give up on because she made mistakes. She kind of blushes but chuckles through a TMI moment on one of her pages that tracks personal information.
It is perhaps fitting that the trailhead of my excursion into this topic was a buzzfeed article that shares my sensibilities about the whole thing.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
I think when most people think of Bullet Journaling, they think of artistic scrapbooking. It's the thing you do with lots of doodles and colour and Pieces of Flair to show off how stylish you are. Note how that video focuses on stationery purchases, then a geode and a scented candle. It's a complete presentation of an imagined lifestyle.
But it actually just started as a way for a dyslexic person to organise notes with some simple chicken-scratch symbols. The word "bullet" in the title just means you make lists with semantic bullets (. o > < X etc.). There's still the focus on recommended Products to Buy, and a lot of stuff encoded in the presentation (Why rename a yearly calendar the "future log"?), but it's nearly the exact opposite of the scrapbooking from the other video. And this is actually recommended viewing from the scrapbooker above. So how did we end up here without actually discussing it?
The thing that strikes me most is how gendered this all is. YouTube is packed with people showing off their gorgeous scrapbooking in their bullet journals, and that can be really satisfying to watch! But they're almost all female-presenting. And if you want to look up less involved, more speedy and low-overhead examples, they show up as bullet journaling for MEN.
My favourite summary video about this whole situation is here. This is a woman with an attractive and tidy home who presents a neat and organised aspect in the video, and then just shows a completely honest experience of having trouble with the scrapbooking angle. She shows all the pages she had to give up on because she made mistakes. She kind of blushes but chuckles through a TMI moment on one of her pages that tracks personal information.
It is perhaps fitting that the trailhead of my excursion into this topic was a buzzfeed article that shares my sensibilities about the whole thing.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2017 [10 favorites]
Finally, a lot of folks in the US seem to really like Noodler's for inks. I looked into them, and the bulletproof inks do seem nice, but I can't get over the proprietor's politics. A lot of his ink bottles look like a Libertarian version of a Dr. Bronner's Soap label, and his videos ramble on about things like how slavery was bad because it was a threat to property rights of all things.
I'm not looking for ethical consumption under capitalism or anything, but I'm pretty sure any ink bought there would partly fund causes I'm not a fan of.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm not looking for ethical consumption under capitalism or anything, but I'm pretty sure any ink bought there would partly fund causes I'm not a fan of.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
JetPens introduced me to the world of pigment-based pens, which I like for their minimal bleed-through and smearing. With the Amazon behemoth devouring so many specialty websites by offering the same products for a lower price or faster shipping, I'm always afraid that a site like JetPens won't be able to stay in business. They're worth supporting because their enthusiasm is so obvious, and they get the details right. Like how they show you photos of text written using each pen on the product page, alongside the same text written with other pens. Or pictures drawn with the art-oriented pens. So useful.
posted by hyperbolic at 5:23 PM on July 27, 2017
posted by hyperbolic at 5:23 PM on July 27, 2017
I bought a Pentel Slicci 0.25 a few months ago and it's been amazing for me, but I think I want to move up to 0.40 next. It's taken me years to find the perfect pen for my handwriting style, which is primarily sloppy and loose, and I am very anal retentive about the way it looks, to the point where I get immense anxiety if my handwriting looks bad to my standards. I definitely want to buy a Pilot Hi-Tec-C, I'll have to see if my local art store has them in stock.
posted by gucci mane at 5:52 PM on July 27, 2017
posted by gucci mane at 5:52 PM on July 27, 2017
I love the Pilot Varsitys (I'm fancy enough to use a fountain pen, but chill enough to use a disposable. I'd like to think that says about me, if anyone at all except the other nerds in this thread cares). I also have a Pilot Kaküno that I bought because there's a little winky face on the nib that I think is just adorable. But mostly I prefer writing with mechanical pencils. Every one I have has it's charms, I have to say. In perhaps the crowning Nerd moment of my life so far, I accidentally de-railed the d&d game a while back while refilling one and someone asked about what I was using and I had just been reading up on graphite composition on the JetPens website, so special-ordered some kind that was all graphite, no filler, or something, and and and whatever.
I have a friend who draws in graphite, like, for a living, and I excitedly asked her what kind of pencils she used, hoping to go deep. She just gets some cheap kind of pencil, I guess, but buys in bulk and her extravagance is replacing her little sharpeners a little more often than technically necessary. Which I suppose makes sense, my own art tools that I use on a daily basis also tend to be pretty utilitarian. Like, I appreciate if they're a joy to use but really they have to WORK, and I don't want to be constantly experimenting. That's when they're for FUN.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 8:17 PM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have a friend who draws in graphite, like, for a living, and I excitedly asked her what kind of pencils she used, hoping to go deep. She just gets some cheap kind of pencil, I guess, but buys in bulk and her extravagance is replacing her little sharpeners a little more often than technically necessary. Which I suppose makes sense, my own art tools that I use on a daily basis also tend to be pretty utilitarian. Like, I appreciate if they're a joy to use but really they have to WORK, and I don't want to be constantly experimenting. That's when they're for FUN.
posted by jeweled accumulation at 8:17 PM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]
There are four tin cans on my desk holding pens and that's just the current rotation. Japanese department stores are my weakness.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:06 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 9:06 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]
45 minutes later and $27.90 lighter in the wallet, thanks Mefi. Purple pens + notebooks, my personal semi-secret crush.
posted by diode at 5:18 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by diode at 5:18 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Grumble grumble learned about sketchnotes on the darn website spend $30 on starter kit plus a replacement for the Rotring drafting pencil I lost in college grumble grumble
posted by bluejayway at 11:16 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bluejayway at 11:16 AM on July 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
Is there any ink that will survive those solvents? - scruss
Uniball Vision, Vision Elite, and Eco pens will. Well, ok, they smudge in acetone, but they are still legible in all the common lab solvents I've tested them with.
posted by Canageek at 11:53 AM on July 28, 2017
Uniball Vision, Vision Elite, and Eco pens will. Well, ok, they smudge in acetone, but they are still legible in all the common lab solvents I've tested them with.
posted by Canageek at 11:53 AM on July 28, 2017
Hello, Metafilter!
Those are the pens that aren't currently knocking around in my pen roll. Nearly all of them are fountain pens. I have two boxes of ink bottles next to the wooden toolbox. I might have a problem but really it's not going to stop me.
Favorite pens: Right now I'm into stub nibs. Franklin-Christoph's Masuyama and SIG (Stub. Italic. Gradient.) nibs are delightful and I have plans to pick up another (plus one of their semi-flex nibs) at the Colorado Pen Show come October.
Favorite inks: J. Herbin, though their bottle shape is iffy and the price point is high. Diamine is also a favorite. And Sailor. And Pilot. Look, I like color, and will try pretty much any brand at least once. Noodler's does have issues both with politics and, more importantly, with quality control -- he can't guarantee a color will stay the same bottle to bottle. That disturbs me.
Favorite notebooks: The Clairefontaines darchildre recommended above for my A5 leather notebook, Traveler refills or Goulet's Tomoe River (ooh, sheen!) refills for my Midori knockoff, and Rhodia pads for work. Oh, and Maruman Mnemosyne paper is also pretty fantastic. Field Notebooks and Moleskine don't handle fountain pen ink well so I've given them up. Sadness.
Favorite shops: Jetpens as above, GouletPens (Virginia-based, free Tootsie Pop in every order, great social media), AndersonPens (Wisconsin-based, best ink sample sizes), Vanness (Arkansas-based, carries harder-to-find Japanese inks), CultPens UK (best prices for Pelikans and for Diamine ink). There are some seriously fantastic vendors online, and if they come to a pen show near you they're also super friendly in person. Bless 'em all.
posted by rewil at 12:57 PM on July 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
Those are the pens that aren't currently knocking around in my pen roll. Nearly all of them are fountain pens. I have two boxes of ink bottles next to the wooden toolbox. I might have a problem but really it's not going to stop me.
Favorite pens: Right now I'm into stub nibs. Franklin-Christoph's Masuyama and SIG (Stub. Italic. Gradient.) nibs are delightful and I have plans to pick up another (plus one of their semi-flex nibs) at the Colorado Pen Show come October.
Favorite inks: J. Herbin, though their bottle shape is iffy and the price point is high. Diamine is also a favorite. And Sailor. And Pilot. Look, I like color, and will try pretty much any brand at least once. Noodler's does have issues both with politics and, more importantly, with quality control -- he can't guarantee a color will stay the same bottle to bottle. That disturbs me.
Favorite notebooks: The Clairefontaines darchildre recommended above for my A5 leather notebook, Traveler refills or Goulet's Tomoe River (ooh, sheen!) refills for my Midori knockoff, and Rhodia pads for work. Oh, and Maruman Mnemosyne paper is also pretty fantastic. Field Notebooks and Moleskine don't handle fountain pen ink well so I've given them up. Sadness.
Favorite shops: Jetpens as above, GouletPens (Virginia-based, free Tootsie Pop in every order, great social media), AndersonPens (Wisconsin-based, best ink sample sizes), Vanness (Arkansas-based, carries harder-to-find Japanese inks), CultPens UK (best prices for Pelikans and for Diamine ink). There are some seriously fantastic vendors online, and if they come to a pen show near you they're also super friendly in person. Bless 'em all.
posted by rewil at 12:57 PM on July 29, 2017 [6 favorites]
something something, get thee behind me, Satan.
Actually, I'm a man of simple tastes: I like to use black for equations/technical notes, blue for annotations, red for markup, and blue-black for letters. I've tried greens and purples and whatnot, but I always come back to the classics.
posted by MengerSponge at 12:22 AM on July 30, 2017
Actually, I'm a man of simple tastes: I like to use black for equations/technical notes, blue for annotations, red for markup, and blue-black for letters. I've tried greens and purples and whatnot, but I always come back to the classics.
posted by MengerSponge at 12:22 AM on July 30, 2017
I've tried greens and purples and whatnot
I used to work with a copy editor who used green ink for marking up copy - it is less alarming and more reassuring than the traditional red ink.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:09 AM on July 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
I used to work with a copy editor who used green ink for marking up copy - it is less alarming and more reassuring than the traditional red ink.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:09 AM on July 30, 2017 [1 favorite]
it is less alarming and more reassuring
True, if I were grading students, I'd be much more mindful of the psychological impact of reds vs blues. I use red on my own notes though, so I can make my notebook look like it's survived a battle, as long as it codes useful information that's easy to access!
posted by MengerSponge at 8:45 PM on July 30, 2017
True, if I were grading students, I'd be much more mindful of the psychological impact of reds vs blues. I use red on my own notes though, so I can make my notebook look like it's survived a battle, as long as it codes useful information that's easy to access!
posted by MengerSponge at 8:45 PM on July 30, 2017
Relevant to this thread's interests: The next J Herbin Anniversary ink has been announced: 1798 Amethyste de l'Oural. Purple with silver shimmer. Yay! I love Emerald de Chivor as much as the next nerd but purples are my thing. I am ready for this.
posted by rewil at 9:13 AM on August 2, 2017
posted by rewil at 9:13 AM on August 2, 2017
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posted by needlegrrl at 6:03 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]